Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 118125 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118125 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
“I...um...” Chris winced. “I... I know you like the stuff I do in art class...but... I don’t...really wanna do art, either. It’s okay, but... I don’t think it’s my thing. Though I’ll finish my semester project! I—I just...”
Blinking, Rian just looked at Chris—then couldn’t help laughing, looking away and tucking his hair behind his ear. “Well. There went my ego, thinking you preferred my class to football. You really are talented, too...but no hard feelings, Chris. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. This isn’t about me. It’s about what you want.”
And Rian didn’t need to hold on to that, to try to control that.
As long as Chris was happy.
“That’s just it,” Chris said shyly. “I... I know I’m good at it. And at football. That’s why I don’t want to do them. What’s the point if I don’t have to try? If it’s so easy it doesn’t feel like anything?”
That question hit so hard Rian couldn’t help how his gaze flew to Damon, his heart struck and quivering—and found Damon looking back at him with the same stricken gaze, unspoken things trembling in the silent connection between them.
If it’s so easy it doesn’t feel like anything.
This had never been easy.
Learning how to talk to each other. Learning how to listen. Learning how to work together, instead of at cross purposes.
But God...
It was starting to feel like everything.
At Chris’s uncertain sound, though, Rian shook himself, turning his attention back to the boy. “What do you want to do, then?”
“I...” Chris flushed, ducking his head. “I want to write. Maybe like, shoot for a creative writing major in college. And maybe try for AP English next year.”
Damon grinned wryly, his eyes crinkling bright with affection. “I’ve seen your scores in English,” he teased gently. “You might get As for completion...but getting up to AP levels is gonna take a lot of work.” His knuckles stood out as he lightly shook Chris’s shoulder in a companionable grip. “But I know damned well you can do it.”
“That’s just it,” Chris said breathlessly. “I’m not good at it. I know I’m not good at it. Like, grammar, sure. But like, I gotta try. And that’s why I want to. Because I want to be good. Without it being easy.”
Something sweet softened inside Rian, and he watched both of them fondly. “Then you can do that,” he murmured. “And I’m so proud of you for wanting to.”
“He’s damned right,” Damon said. “You got a good head on you. You really are a good kid. And I think you can do anything you set out to.”
Chris’s eyes widened, hope lighting in them. “Y-you really think so?”
“Hell yes,” Damon said firmly.
They only had a moment’s warning—a sniffle, Chris’s mouth crumpling up—before he burst into tears again. But this time he was smiling, wet globules running down his face, breaths coming in great heaving gasps as he grappled at Rian’s hand and Damon’s wrist.
“Th-thank you,” he rasped out. “I...it’s...it’s gonna be okay? It’s really gonna be okay?”
“It is,” Rian said—then let himself be pulled in as Damon stood.
And gathered them both into a firm hug.
Rian allowed himself to be enveloped, held in close with Chris, and hung on to that feeling of family for just a few moments longer. Just until Chris started to fall still and quiet; just until the tension in the boy began to ease. But even if he knew this was for Chris...
Rian couldn’t help loving it, too.
Feeling a part of something bigger.
A part of something with Damon.
And he was reluctant to part, but it had to happen. It was late, and they needed to sort out so many things still, and get things moving for Chris’s sake. So when they broke apart...it was with smiles, quiet promises. Assurances that Chris should and would rest, and take his time getting better; that they’d make sure he got his homework in the infirmary. Vows that they would fill in Principal Chambers and Assistant Principal Walden so Chris could make up his missed assignments, and get things started with applying for financial aid. Chris’s embarrassed mumbles about getting his parents to actually pick up the phone.
And then they were outside.
Less by choice and more because Nurse Flanaghan said Chris had had quite enough for one night, and evicted them into the hallway with the door closed firmly in their wake.
Rian stood there numbly for several seconds, just blinking. “Uh.”
Damon looked over his shoulder at the closed infirmary door, wide-eyed. “...did he just pick me up and bodily remove me from the room?”
“It...felt like it.” Then Rian laughed, pressing his face into his palms. “Oh my God. Oh my God, I feel like...like...”
“Like we just got a reprieve on a death sentence,” Damon said, then let out a laugh of his own, before groaning and raking his hair back, glossy black looping between his fingers. “I don’t know. I don’t know, man. But fuck, it feels good to finally sort this out.”