“This is what I’m like in the morning,” Julian said. “I think the best description I’ve heard iscaustic.”
“That’s too much of a vocabulary word for this hour,” Isaac said, though he did actually know what caustic meant. He was just in the habit of playing dumb.
It wasn’t a fair description of Julian. He was a little sarcastic at best. It was cute.
The waitress came back with breakfast, and Isaac’s stomach rumbled as soon as the smell of bacon hit him. He grabbed the knife and fork eagerly and started in, making happy sounds as he chewed and swallowed.
His fingers brushed against Julian’s as they both reached for the maple syrup, but he let it go to Julian first and started on his eggs while he waited for Julian to pass it back.
A few minutes of silence passed while Isaac took the edge off his hunger and Julian… picked at his pancakes in delicate bites.
“Are you sick?” Isaac asked, suddenly concerned.
Julian raised an eyebrow.
“You’re not eating,” Isaac said, gesturing to Julian’s plate with his fork.
“I’m eating,” Julian defended. “Just not as quickly as you are. Some of us don’t burn a million calories a day.”
Isaac hummed, accepting that Julian probably wasn’t as hungry as he was.
“So, uh…” Isaac began between mouthfuls. “I was thinking, I’m going back to training full-time on Monday, but… I’d like someone to warm up with tomorrow, maybe, if you’re free?”
“You wanna play tennis with me?” Julian asked, apparently suspicious.
“You know how to play,” Isaac said. “I’ll go easy on you, obviously. I just… thought it’d be fun. And I’m realizing how much I missed you, and I just… wanna hang out, I guess.”
Julian hummed, taking another small bite of his pancakes. “As long as you’re not expecting much.”
“Just for you to show up,” Isaac promised, shoveling the last mouthful of pancake into his mouth and sitting back with a happy sigh.
“Showing up sounds doable,” Julian agreed. “Text me the time and place later. I don’t have to wear shorts, do I?”
“No, no shorts required. EvenIdon’t wear shorts unless I have to.”
Julian smiled at that, pushing his plate away with three-quarters of a pancake left.
Isaac glanced between him and the plate a few times, then decided that if he didn’t ask…
“You gonna eat that?”
Julian snorted. “All yours,” he said.
Isaac picked the remainder of Julian’s breakfast up with his fork and put it on his own plate, more than happy not to see it go to waste. “Mom would kill me if she found out I ate half your breakfast. She wants you to come to dinner, by the way.”
“I’d like to see your mom,” Julian said.
That wasn’t a surprise. Julian’s own parents hadn’t exactly kicked him out when he’d come out, but they hadn’t been happy, either, let alone supportive. Isaac’s mom had been quick to take Julian under her wing, inviting him over for dinner and sleepovers until he practically lived with them and only went home to grab different clothes.
As awful as having his parents reject him must have been for Julian, those were some of the happiest days of Isaac’s life. He’d had his best friend close by all the time.
This week had reminded him how good that felt. When this was all over, he didn’t plan on losing touch with Julian again.
“I’ll let her know. You tell me when you’re free for dinner, and we’ll all go over there.”
“She still living in the old house?”
Isaac nodded. “Yeah. I wanted her to move to the city, planned on buying her a nice apartment, but she won’t budge. Said she wants a yard for her grandkids to play in.”
Julian chuckled. “I could see you with a kid. I feel like you’d get along.”
“I’m gonna choose to take that as a compliment,” Isaac said, unable to stop himself from grinning.
Yeah, this whole hanging out with Julian thing was awesome.
