“You know who Groot is?”
“Yeah, I was in prison, Wyatt, not in an alternate dimension.” Izzy put the figurine back.
Wyatt laughed. “You want to watch the movie?”
“Sure,” Izzy said.
It felt so good to lie together on Wyatt’s bed, the pillows shoved behind them, their bodies pressing together as they watched the movie on Wyatt’s laptop. It wasn’t the dirty fantasies Wyatt had imagined a million times in the past, where he got Izzy in his bed and things got hot and heavy. It was better, in some ways, because it was real, and because it just felt so good to be allowed to have this. They kissed a little, but their kisses were sweet rather than heated, and Wyatt didn’t think either of them needed to take it any further tonight. They were rediscovering one another in a new way, slowly and gently.
It was close to midnight by the time the movie ended, and Wyatt took Izzy down to the kitchen and made chicken cordon bleu paninis. He made extras for Izzy and Sam for breakfast as well.
“You really are amazing,” Izzy told him, reeling him in for a kiss.
Wyatt laughed, heat rising in his cheeks. “It’s a chicken sandwich. Anyone can make a chicken sandwich.”
“I wasn’t talking about the sandwich.” Izzy rubbed his thumb along Wyatt’s cheekbone. “I’m talking about you.”
Wyatt’s heart skipped a beat.
“I love you,” Izzy said softly. “I love you so much, Wyatt. I don’t ever want to have this taken away from me. Not again. I—I couldn’t deal.”
There was fear in his eyes that Wyatt guessed was mirrored in his own, because neither of them had had this before. And both of them were terrified of losing it.
“I know,” Wyatt whispered back to him, his chest swelling. “I know. And I love you too.”
They kissed again under the bright lights of the kitchen.
