“A coffee shop, then?” Reid tried. He could actually imagine approaching Gabriel in a coffee shop, being drawn to him, wanting to get to know him.
“Maybe. I probably would’ve ignored you if I was working.”
Reid snorted. “I get the feeling you’re always working,” he said.
“I’m not working right now,” Gabriel responded. It was a simple truth on the surface, but Reid could tell it meant more than that. Gabriel wasn’t the kind of person who’d stop working for justanyone.
Reid was special. That was obvious in everything Gabriel said, every new detail he revealed about his life.
It felt really, really good to be special.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Reid said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
He felt like an idiot for that, in some ways. One slightly awkward handjob and he was apparently falling head-over-heels for a cute rocket scientist.
On the other hand, Gabriel was special, too. Reid didn’t think he’d appreciate hearing that just yet, but they could ease into it. Reid definitely wanted to be around him more often.
“Me either,” Gabriel said. “And I don’t usually… I mean… I’m not the kind of person who daydreams about other people.”
“But you were daydreaming about me?” Reid asked, thrilled at the idea.
Gabriel nodded. “I got caught, too, by the woman I share an office with. Turns out she’s gay. Her girlfriend is very pretty, but then I guess she’s pretty, too. I wasn’t really paying attention.”
“Once you start looking, the world’s full of queers,” Reid said. “You haven’t really started looking yet.”
“You know, she said approximately the same thing. You two should compare notes.”
“She sounds smart. Though I guess she would be if she’s working with you,” Reid said.
No matter how many times he thought about it, Reid couldn’t get over the fact that he was sitting around eating dinner with one of the tiny number of human beings who’d been to space. Gabriel was a rarity.
Exceptional in every way, except in the ways where he was completely normal. He liked dumplings. His wardrobe seemed to be made up entirely of jeans and nerdy t-shirts. And he’d been to space.
It was weird, but it was the kind of weird Reid was into.
“She’s very smart. Smarter than me, probably. What I lack in raw talent I’ve always made up for in hard work,” Gabriel said. “I’m not the most talented engineer on the planet. Things don’t just happen to you because you’re the best, though. They happen to you because you want it the most. My mom taught me that.”
“She sounds smart, too,” Reid said.
“She is. She raised me on her own and made sure I’d have a better life and more opportunities than she did after dad left. I just want her to be proud of me.”
“I bet she is now,” Reid said, taking his first bite of food. “We need wine. Red or white?”
“I’ll let you figure that out. I know nothing about wine except how to drink it when it’s free.”
Reid chuckled at that.
“Well, you bought dinner, so I can supply drinks.” Reid stood, stretching his arms over his head before turning to the kitchen. “I’ve been looking for a good excuse to open this bottle.”
He didn’t really want to admit it, but Reid was lonely, too. Like Gabriel, he didn’t have many friends. Acquaintances, sure, he had those coming out of his ears, but real friends, people he actually felt connected to… they were few and far-between.
So that meant that he’d been hanging onto a really nice bottle of red wine that one of the companies that loved to send him samples had given him for Christmas, and now was his first opportunity to share it.
It was a Friday. He only worked on Saturdays under special circumstances, so he could afford to drink half a bottle of wine and fall asleep beside Gabriel on the couch.
Which actually sounded like Reid’s idea of heaven right now.
He brought the bottle and two glasses back to the coffee table with him, twisting it open and pouring them a generous measure each.
