Work Text:
”I…”
Lucy Gray takes a small bite of her croissant, and gives him a patient smile. It’s nice and safe, Coriolanus tells himself once again. They have been coming to this coffee shop once or twice a week since high school. This is his best friend in the whole world, and the other customers are focused on their own issues and discussions. Nobody is paying them any extra attention.
”I went out last night”, he continues, mentally patting himself on the back.
”Okay?” He had pondered inviting her too. She would have painted her eyes with silver, and perhaps put on her little purple dress. She is supportive and open-minded, and it would have been a good experience, but in the end he had wanted to test the waters alone.
People didn’t need to be getting any wrong ideas, when he was in such a situation, wanting to show that he could be available, that he wouldn’t mind if a person with big, safe hands and smelling of good cologne wanted a piece of his attention.
”I met a boy.”
It’s so wonderfully weird, so unfamiliar and exciting to say that aloud. It’s a thing now. He might go out, and meet guys who say he has pretty eyes, and carefully add their numbers in his contacts.
”What kind of boy?”
Lovely boy, Coriolanus almost responds.
He had liked the place. Coriolanus didn’t look around himself, but he felt the glances on his body, and welcomed the attention. At the counter he had been able to give his order in a normal talking voice before pulling out a chair at the empty corner table. They had soft jazz playing and even though he had been a little light-headed, he had done it.
Some people were mingling, going from one group of people to another, alcohol making them a little warmer and perkier than usually. Coriolanus was content enough sipping his drink, and confident enough not to feel the need to pull his phone out, and pretend there was something important happening on social media or in his texts.
”Are you ready to have your last first kiss tonight?”
The voice was young, around his own age. Coriolanus turned around, hiding the silly excitement from his face. He was facing a pair of warm, brown eyes, a jawline that would deserve to be kissed, and a naturally worried smile. The stranger was clearly nervous, fingers tugging the sleeve of his blue button up.
”Depends on who is offering.”
”Sit down”, he made a soft invitation only a blink later, seeing that the stranger was teetering, too tense to read Coriolanus and understand that a nasty rejection wasn’t coming.
”Did you ever plan it further than this?” Coriolanus kept his tone light and friendly.
”I never make moves.”
”Why did you do that now?”
”You took my breath away.” His attention was shy, like a question mark. It wasn’t lewd, but something that was Coriolanus’ to take if he wanted it.
”I’d like to hear more about you. Such a pretty boy surely has a pretty mind too.” Coriolanus was using the power of his intense blue eyes, biting his lip a little, and the beautiful boy swallowed, pleased.
He was gentle. Coming from the same financial security as Coriolanus himself, but caring about things like homeless kittens and people going to bed hungry. He hadn’t been above using daddy’s money though, and had divided the year between high school and college between volunteering and traveling in Europe.
Coriolanus went back to the counter, getting them some iced tea and fries.
He hadn’t had his last first kiss yesterday, but they had lingered together outside the bar, Coriolanus liking having him this new person in his own space.
”Can I call you?” Sejanus had double-checked.
He could do a lot more than that.
Right after opening his own home door Coriolanus had shot a text to this new number, safely home, wanting Sejanus to believe that any contact from him was wanted. He had responded with similar words, and continued this morning, dropping a picture from his morning run in Hudson River Park.
Coriolanus had liked that, a guy who went out for a few drinks, and still prioritized his exercise schedule.
”Your butt looks so good in those jeans.” With those words he had finally sent Sejanus to catch his train, the warm glow on his cheeks leaving a silly smile on Coriolanus' lips.
”A calm boy, a soft boy”, he tells Lucy Gray and her worried eyebrows.
She is the only person who knows about this for now. That Coriolanus doesn’t like girls. For a long time he had tried so hard to be like the boys around him, and he could have played the game, get a girl to fall in love with him, and have perfect 1,8 kids in a perfect Manhattan apartment. Every summer he would have taken his model family to Europe, and his faceless wife would have been known for raising great funds for some appropriate charity.
He would have hated himself only a little every day.
”Do you have a photo?” She is cautious, and he can understand the reasons. Lucy Gray had been fantastic about the whole thing, hugging him fiercely, and thanking him for sharing this with her. She had been by his side like she has been for over a decade, but she worries of him diving into the deep end without knowing what’s waiting under the gentle waves.
If they have gone out, it has usually been in a big group of people, happy, loud friends, people who have been there longer than they can remember. It’s easy. It’s fun. Lucy Gray reads him like a book, and when one of them has been receiving attention from the wrong, too persistent person, they have navigated to each other, pretending that they are way more than friends.
He pulls out Sejanus’ Instagram on his phone, turning the screen towards his friend.
Seeing the photo softens her shoulders a little.
”I hope this will be a good thing, I really do.” They share a hug, the flowers in her perfume smelling very much like home.
Yeah, you could be the last first name that's ever been worth askin'
Yeah, you could be the last phone number I write down on a napkin
Yeah, you could be the last girl that I take back home to mama
The last time that we're talked about in this small town drama
Jon Pardi - Last Night Lonely