He’d been on his feet a lot more today than he had been before, so it made sense that he was starting to wear out. Still, he was making great progress, and Eliot was proud of him.
It was probably time Eliot moved out, but they hadn’t discussed it yet. His lease had expired a week after he’d moved in with Danny, and since he hadn’t needed anywhere else to go, he hadn’t bothered to ask for a renewal. All three of his kitchen appliances were in Danny’s garage, and the rest of his stuff had slowly made its way into the house.
Eliot had gotten the impression that neither of them wanted him to leave. He was happy to go along with that.
“I’m sorry for springing that on you. She’s never gotten to meet someone I was bringing home before, she’s kinda excited.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Eliot said. “Your mom sounds sweet. I do actually want to meet your family. I mean, I’m terrified, but I think it’s important.”
“Well, it is, because you’re family too,” Danny said. “Or, uh. I want to think of you as part of my family? If that’s okay?”
Eliot’s heart skipped. He had to take a moment to remember to breathe.
“Yes,” he said. “I mean, that’s okay. Better than okay. I want you to think of me as family.” He looked down at his lap, chewing on his lip.
“You okay?” Danny asked softly, dropping a hand onto Eliot’s back, between his shoulder blades.
Eliot nodded. Tears had sprung up in his eyes. He didn’t expect to be so overwhelmed by the idea of being part of Danny’s family. “I… these are happy tears, promise. I’ve been so alone since I moved out here and I just… want to be with you. So much. Even when I am with you, I almost can’t deal with how happy it makes me.”
“Oh,” Danny said softly, pulling Eliot into a sideways hug and kissing the top of his head. “I feel like that, too. Sometimes I watch you working in your own little world and I can’t handle how glad I am that you’re in my life. Right up until now that kinda seemed a little too clingy.”
Eliot sniffed, wiping his eyes, and then chuckled. “I guess we’re both idiots.”
“Idiots in love?” Danny asked, ducking his head to catch Eliot’s eye.
“Idiots in love,” Eliot agreed, leaning in to kiss him, letting his eyes fall closed.
As long as he had Danny, he didn’t care about being the biggest idiot in the whole goddamn world.
