“You’ll have room for dessert,” he said. “It’s a hike.”
“I don’t think I’m physically capable of standing right now,” Gabriel said.
Reid wasn’t sure he was ready to stand up yet, either. That was the point of a decent meal, though. The comforting fullness, the feeling of perfect contentment, those were things he cherished in life.
“Take your time,” he said. “We’ve got all night.”
“I’d like a little privacy for part of the night,” Gabriel said.
This time, Reid blushed as the waitress brought him the bill. Gabriel reached for it, but Reid held it away from him.
“I invited you out, this is on me,” he said. “You picked up the tab last time.”
“Okay. That means it’s my turn next time,” Gabriel said.
Reid smiled at that as he gave up on working out the tip in his head and dropped an extra ten dollar bill on the tray instead. Their waitress had more than earned it.
Gabriel wanted to do this again. He’d just more or less said so.
That was awesome.
“So you didn’t hate this?” Reid asked, wanting to make sure that he was reading the situation right.
“Not at all.” Gabriel finished the last of his beer, throwing his head back to swallow the last mouthful. Reid watched his throat work, wetting his lips as he did.
He wasn’t sure he’d entirely gotten it into Gabriel’s head how gorgeous he was and how much he wanted him, but he had time to work on that. Obviously, that was something Gabrielwantedto work on.
After another few moments, they both forced themselves to stand up, Gabriel stretching his arms high above his head.
He’d shown up in a coat and aSpidermant-shirt, which was the icing on the cake for Reid. Nothing was enough to make Gabriel be anyone other than himself.
He’d seen the real Gabriel on day one, and he was just filling in the blanks now. That was why things seemed so easy between them.
The cool air outside hit Reid hard, waking him up after he’d been warm and full for so long. Gabriel stood beside him, just outside the door, looking up at him like…
Like he was one of the most fascinating things he’d ever seen. Like hemattered, like he was important.
Reid smiled, his heart swelling, and ducked his head to catch Gabriel’s lips, just the briefest, softest contact, just enough to let him know that he felt the same way. That Gabriel was important, that Reid was fascinated by him, that he wanted more of this.
Behind them, someone wolf-whistled.
Reid turned his head to see three teenage boys walking past, laughing among themselves.
“That your boyfriend?” one of them asked, the other two still laughing.
“Yeah,” Reid said. “Those your boyfriends?”
It wasn’t the best comeback he’d ever come up with, but they’d caught him off guard. He didn’t really care for himself—he was used to this, and he wasn’t afraid of a few teenagers—but he cared for Gabriel’s sake.
Thankfully, weak as it was, it got them to shut up and keep walking.
When he looked back at Gabriel, his heart sank. Gabriel had gone pale as a ghost, his eyes wide and darting, watching the three boys as they walked away, but not staring after them.
Too afraid to. Reid could practically feel the tension rolling off him, the way he was holding himself tight, like a deer in headlights.
“They’re just idiot kids,” Reid said, not sure how else to assure Gabriel that it was okay, that nothing bad was going to happen.
It wasn’t. That kind of thing happened all the time, but Reid had come out of it with nothing more than a few traded insults. Insults that, these days, rolled right off him.
