Chapter Thirty-One
Gabriel couldn’t help smiling the moment he spotted Reid coming through the door to the coffee shop. He’d gotten up long before Reid this morning, left before he’d been awake, and he’d missed him all day.
They hadn’tquitemoved in together yet, but they were getting close to that. More and more of Gabriel’s stuff had found its way into Reid’s apartment, and the place was starting to look like a home.
It was nice. It was nice to feel, for once, like he really belonged somewhere.
The grad student he was talking to—Matt—glanced over at Reid as he approached them, watching as he slid into the booth beside Gabriel, pressing their hips together.
His joy at seeing Reid come in faded as soon as he saw the look on Matt’s face. He couldn’t decipher it, exactly, but there was definitely surprise in there.
Gabriel’s stomach turned over.
He’d never had to come out to a student before.
He hadn’t thought about it in a while, since he’d largely had time to ease into it since Reid’s award night, but this was different.
Gabriel cleared his throat. He wasn’t going to let this defeat him. Not now that he’d come so far.
“This is Reid, my boyfriend. Reid, this is Matt, my prospective grad student.”
Gabriel could refuse to supervise him if he reacted badly. It was within his power to do that. But if Matt took offense, he could also make a big deal out of it.
It was a risk.
But it was a risk worth taking. He wasn’t going to deny that he was in love with Reid. He wasn’t going to disown the man who’d changed his life, who was his first thought in the morning and his last before he fell asleep.
Reid meant everything to him.
More than enough to take this risk.
“Oh.” Matt’s eyes widened. “It’s, uh, it’s great to meet you. Are you an engineer too?”
Reid chuckled at that. “I’m a physical therapist, but I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“I just… figured nerds tend to stick together,” Matt said, blushing. “My boyfriend’s studying math.”
Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief.
Matthadbeen surprised, but in a good way.
In fact, his whole posture had changed. His shoulders straightened up, and he looked less nervous, less small and unsure of himself.
Because he knew he wasn’t alone.
Gabriel knew that feeling. Every time he realized he wasn’t the only one of his kind in a room, he felt a sense of peace. Security.
The knowledge that he wasn’t the only one meant alotto him, so it probably meant a lot to Matt, too.
Maybe the whole coming out thing wasn’t so bad, after all. If Gabriel could give just one person the comfort of knowing that they weren’t alone… it was worth it.
He’d hidden himself away for so many years because he hadn’t had anyone. Maybe it didn’t have to be that way for everyone if he was brave enough to live openly.
Maybe he could do somerealgood in the world. He’d told Reid he wanted to give back, and he was starting to feel as though he might actually be able to.
“Oh, he’s a huge nerd,” Gabriel assured Matt, grinning up at Reid.
Reid didn’t argue. He wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on if he had, anyway.
