Gabriel nodded again.
Reid sat back, finally letting himself relax. “I keep as fit as I need to so I can enjoy things like this without suffering for it,” Reid explained. “That’s it. And I advise my patients to do the same. Not everyone needs to be able to bench press a car.No oneneeds to be able to bench press a car. If that’s what you want? Fine, go for it, live out your wildest dreams, but there’s a limit to how fit it’s useful to be.”
Gabriel smiled at that. “I knew there was a reason I always liked you,” he said. “Aside from the stunning good looks.”
“Stunning good looks?” Reid asked, happy to fish for a compliment if he had to.
“Yeah.” Gabriel looked down at the table, blushing again. “You’re incredibly attractive. I think you know that.”
“I like to hear it, though,” Reid said. “And I’ve told you half a dozen times that you’re cute, so I hope you’re starting to get that.”
“I can’t see why you’d pick me over basically anyone else. There’s no way you have trouble getting a date,” Gabriel said, playing with his paper napkin, tearing tiny strips off the edge.
Reid reached out to touch Gabriel’s hand, making him look up again. “I have trouble finding someone Iwantto date. Someone smart and funny and surprisingly sweet when he wants to be. Know anyone like that?”
Gabriel smiled a tiny, wry smile in response, which Reid took to mean he was getting through to him.
“Doesn’t hurt that you’re willing to ask for what you want in bed,” Reid added.
… exactly as the waitress came back with their beer.
Despite the embarrassment of getting caught talking about that, he smiled broadly at her as though it was no big deal, trying to deflect attention from Gabriel, who looked as though he would have liked to crawl under the table right now.
“Thank you,” Reid enthused, still grinning.
The waitress winked at him and walked away.
He definitely needed to leave her a generous tip.
“Sorry about that,” Reid turned back to Gabriel. “But the point stands.”
Instead of responding, Gabriel grabbed the beer in front of him and took a sip, sighing happily. Reid got that.
He hadn’t promised there’d bezeroawkwardness, but things seemed to be going okay.
“I like being with you,” Gabriel said. “I mean, in the sense of just sitting here across from you and talking about nothing in particular. This is nice. There aren’t a lot of people in the world who I want to relax with. I’m kind of a loner.”
“Me too,” Reid admitted. “But it’s nice to be around you, too.”
Gabriel smiled at him, another genuine smile like the one he’d worn when he’d been talking about the people he’d gone to space with, and Reid’s heart soared.
Somehow, some way, he’d worked himself into Gabriel’s life, and he wanted to stay there. Gabriel was magical.
The look on his face when their burgers came wasalsomagical, and Reid didn’t hate the soft, happy sounds he made as he ate, alternating between bites of his hamburger and mopping up the sauce and juices that had fallen out with fries.
Reid loved that he barely paused once to wipe his mouth or care how he looked while he was eating. He got the feeling that Gabriel hadn’t gone out of his way to enjoy life before now, but healsogot the feeling that Gabriel was on the verge of wanting to enjoy everything.
The idea of showing him all the fun he could have was exciting. Reid wanted a partner, someone he could depend on to be around, to stave off the worst of the loneliness, to make him feel like there was some reason to keep going in the world.
He also wanted someone he could play with. Someone who could enjoy things with him.
Gabriel seemed like the perfect person for that.
“Wow.” Gabriel sighed as he sat back, one hand resting on his stomach and his plate practically sparkling. “That was so much more food than I’d normally eat.”
Reid chuckled, licking his fingers clean before wiping them on his napkin. “But you enjoyed it.”
“Oh yeah,” Gabriel said. “I just never need to eat again.”
