“Around then,” Fletcher confirmed.
Cap couldn’t help but let out a little laugh of disbelief. “Shit, guys. Well,” he sighed. “Gretch saw you guys kiss on the camera footage. She said it was really hot. And then she changed her mind because she said it was like watching her son make out with someone.”
Taylor and Fletcher let out nervous chuckles. “That sounds like something she’d say,” Taylor laughed cynically.
Cap clapped his hands together and rested them on the table. Like he was putting his Captain Hat on. “Is this something that will be disclosed to the team sometime in the future? Is it casual, or is it—”
“We’re together,” Taylor quickly admitted to him. “He’s…my boyfriend.”
Fletcher tried to hide a smile. A huge wave of warmth and acceptance flew through him. This was good, he told himself. Taylor just called him his boyfriend. Actually, this was probably one of the happiest days of his life.
“So, you’re gay, then?” Cap asked Taylor earnestly.
Taylor answered, “I’m not sure,” at the same time Fletcher snorted and said “definitely.”
Taylor quickly craned his neck up to look at him with a dumbfounded kind of look on his face before letting it go. “I don’t think so. Fletcher’s the only guy that I’ve ever really…”
“Same here,” Fletcher said.
“Wow. Okay then…” Cap said, still sounding shocked and confused. “Whatever floats your boat, I guess.”
“Oh, I float his boat,” Taylor joked lightly.
Cap gestured the same way a conductor did when they wanted the orchestra to stop playing. “I don’t need to hear anymore. You guys are entitled to your own privacy, so let’s just…”
Cap stood up and gave them a little head nod before grabbing his cup of coffee and joining the rest of the family upstairs.
“Well, I think that went well,” Fletcher said only half sarcastically. He removed the ice pack from the back of Taylor’s neck and put it down on the table. He really wanted to kiss Taylor. Someone knew. Someone knew and it was okay!
Taylor looked at him and nodded. “He knows,” he said indisbelief. “Pancek knows and it’s…”
Fletcher looked at him and nodded.I love you, he told him with his eyes.I love you, Taylor and it’s going to be okay. We’re going to be together and it’s going to be okay.
He wanted to tell Taylor so badly, but he didn’t want to overwhelm him. One step at a time. “It’s good,” he told Taylor, cupping his jaw. He leaned down and pressed a very quick, chaste kiss to his lips. He didn’t want to accidentally give Gretchen another show. “Everything’s okay, Taylor.”
“It’s good.”
“So, good, baby.” He brought Taylor’s hand to his lips and kissed it.
Taylor smiled at him and nodded again. “So good, Fletcher.”
25
The Plane Game
“Hey Jess, we’re about to board the plane. We have two rooms at the Hilton, so you don’t need to keep staying at Caroline’s,” Fletcher told Jesse over the phone.
“You and who?” Jesse asked him.
“My…boyfriend,” he answered hesitantly. It was only his second time saying it out loud. Taylor still couldn’t believe it. It felt so weird to call Fletcher his boyfriend. So surreal.
Jesse snorted. “Since when are you gay?” he asked his brother.
“I’m not fucking gay, you fucker. I don’t know the politically correct term for it, but I’m not gay.”
“Emogen likes to say queer,” Jesse snarked.
“Well, I don’t listen to Emogen, and neither should you,” Taylor told him a little bitterly.
