Mike was working late, and by the time he’d finished, all the coffee shops were closed, so Elijah agreed to just meet him at his apartment. By the time he got there, Mike was already naked in bed, half-asleep. Undressing, Elijah crawled in with him and cuddled up against his boyfriend.
“Mmm…” Mike murmured, rolling over and kissing Elijah’s forehead. “What d’you have to talk to me about?”
Elijah’s eyes widen, and he tries for innocence. “…what do you mean? All I said was, want to have coffee…”
Mike grinned in the dark, fully awake now. “Yeah, and I know what that means. It means ‘we need to talk’.”
“No it doesn’t…!” Elijah is quite astonished that Mike has broken his code.
“The last time you said ‘want to have coffee’, you wanted to talk about not using condoms with each other.”
“Oh. What do I say when I just want to have coffee?”
“‘Want to hang out?’”
Elijah frowned. “I guess I didn’t notice…sorry…”
Mike ruffles his lover’s curly hair, propping himself on an elbow. “It’s alright. What did you want to talk about?”
“Well…I sort of…you know that concert thing I went to with James?”
Flicking on the bedside light, Mike nods. He has a feeling where this is going, but he’s enjoying watching Elijah squirm, so he doesn’t say anything to help him.
“And, you know, I totally thought it would suck, and it did at first, and then they started playing, and the cellist…” he trails off again, blushing.
Mike just raises an eyebrow, gesturing for the smaller man to continue.
“And, I, uh…well…” Elijah struggled with wording for a moment. “I ended up hanging around after they were done so I could talk to him, and we started talking, and I think I scared him a little…”
Out of Elijah’s sight, Mike rolled his eyes. No, really? he thinks.
“And he asked if I wanted to go for drinks, and I said yes, and I asked if I could carry his cello, and he said I could, but he took my car keys, and then we went outside, and I put his cello in the trunk, and he was sort of looking at me weirdly, and he told me to get in, so I did…and I really liked it.”
Mike raised an eyebrow, getting the feeling he’s missing something. “…you really liked getting in his car?”
“What? No. In the trunk.”
Instantly, Mike is no longer calm and enjoying watching his boyfriend’s discomfort. He rolls Elijah onto his back, looming above him. “You got into a strange man’s trunk. A man you had just met and knew nothing about. What the fuck, Elijah?! He could have raped you or dumped you in the woods or…fuck, I don’t have to tell you, you know better!” His anger burned off quickly, he grabbed Elijah roughly, and held the smaller man against his chest, seething into his hair.
Elijah felt pretty close to tears; he’s already feeling guilty about what happened with Antonin, and now Mike is yelling at him about something he knows he shouldn’t have done. “…sorry…” he squeaks, his chest a little squished.
Mike sighs and relaxes his grip, petting Elijah’s hair softly. “It’s ok. I know that you know better, and you’re here and you’re safe. I just worry about you. So then what happened?”
Elijah sighs deeply and settles more comfortably against Mike. “Well, we went to this cool little restaurant and he ordered a bottle of wine, and I was all ‘I knew you’d drink red wine!’ and he was all ‘wtf’ and I felt really dumb, but it was ok.”
Mike rolls his eyes again, but doesn’t say anything. He’s used to Elijah’s stories taking a long time to get to a point.
“And…I really like him, and I want to see him again, but I wanted to tell you, ‘cause I got a boner and stuff…”
“What do you like about him? I didn’t think you liked classical music.”
“I don’t!” Elijah wails. “It’s just…something. Like how he holds the cello between his legs, and strokes it. And his voice…that’s why I got in the trunk.”
“I understand, but I can’t be a part of it.”
Elijah feels the blood drain from his face, and tries to respond calmly and rationally like an adult. He had, after all, brought this on himself. “I understand, too,” he whispers. “…can we still be friends?”
Mike peers down at the man in his lap. “What? Oh. Elijah, I’m not breaking up with you.”
“…you’re not?”
“No. You can do what you have to with him. I just don’t want to be involved. I still want to be with you, but I can tell that you want to try something with him, even if you’re not sure what it is yet.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Mike bends so he can kiss Elijah’s forehead, the other man’s big, worried eyes looking up at him.
“…he jerked me off in the restaurant.”
Mike takes a deep breath and counts to ten. “And you waited until now to tell me?”
“…I just remembered.”
“Of course you did. I love you, Elijah."
"...I love you too, Mike." It's the first time he's said it. Out loud, and in so many words, anyway.
