Zach had lost count of the number of times he had tried to text Shane. Every time he got the nerve, by the time he had written out what he had hoped to be a witty and flirty pick-up line or greeting, he’d chickened out and deleted it. The longer he waited, the more it felt like an impossible hurdle to jump. Besides, Shane hadn’t tried to contact him, either. What if he didn’t even want to speak to him again?

It was really starting to get ridiculous, and each day he grew more frustrated with himself.

But to his pleasant surprise, it ended up being Shane who contacted him first after all.

It was late in the afternoon when he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He leaned back in his chair, bobbing back and forth a bit on its springs as he dug out his phone to unlock. His breath caught when he saw who had sent the message.

Shane: Hey, sorry to bother you, but think you might be free sometime soon? I’d like to talk to you.

Zach chewed at his lip nervously as he read. It didn’t sound as warm or flirty as he might have hoped, but he had ghosted on the guy for a week, so what could he really expect?

Zach: Hey. No bother. :) But sure, I could be free soon. Do you want to meet up for coffee or something? I’ll be getting out of work in a bit.

Coffee was good. Something easy and casual. His heart jumped as he got a quick reply.

Shane: Coffee sounds great. I’m finished with school. Grind?

Zach: Yeah! I’ll be there in an hour.

Shane: Awesome, thanks. See you then.

Zach let out the breath he had been holding while they texted, then his mouth split into a wide grin, excitement bubbling up inside of him, making him feel giddy.

He was going to see Shane again.

Sure, it probably wouldn’t be a date. Whatever Shane wanted to talk about, it sounded like it might be urgent. Maybe he was having issues with the whole coming out thing. Either way, Zach was going to do his best to be there for him. And maybe flirt a little too, if the right time ever came up.

He just needed to not mess things up this time.

An hour later, he was pushing his way into Grind. It was a cute little coffee shop in the heart of the town, and almost everyone went there to get their coffee fix and enjoy the delicious baked goods they had on offer.

His heart jumped up into his throat when he saw Shane was already there, sitting at a table with a cup of coffee. Their eyes met, and Shane smiled that gorgeous, warm grin that made Zach’s knees wobble a bit as he approached.

Why the heck had he put off seeing him again? It felt absurd now that he was in the man’s presence, being drawn into his orbit like he was the sun.

“Hey. I already got a coffee, but consider this my treat,” Shane said, pushing to his feet. “Whatever you want.”

Zach cleared his throat, but didn’t argue. “I’ll take a white chocolate latte, and if they have any of the white chocolate chip cookies—well, I’m addicted, so I wouldn’t complain.”

Shane chuckled. “One white chocolate latte and crack cookie coming right up.” He grinned then headed for the counter, so Zach settled into the chair across from his and nervously watched the teacher order.

Zach hadn’t managed to get a good look at the man from behind during their date, but… dang, it was a very good view. Shane was wearing pants tight enough to show off a very nicely shaped ass, and Zach had to quickly look away when he turned so he wasn’t caught staring. It sure was hot in here suddenly.

“Here you go,” Shane said as he returned, setting the drink piled with whipped cream down in front of him, as well as a cookie covered in cling wrap. Shane had one for himself now as well, which he unwrapped. “Figured I’d give one a try too.”

“You won’t be disappointed,” Zach said, picking up his cup to sip from, then licked his lips after. “Um. I uh… wanted to apologize. For not texting this week. I had been meaning to, though.”

“It’s okay,” Shane assured. “You don’t need to apologize, if you needed some space.”

“I guess, but…” Zach shifted in his seat. “I just want you to know I wanted to. I just wasn’t sure what to say.”

Shane’s eyes were gentle and sympathetic, and he merely nodded. “That’s okay. No pressure. I’ve kind of been in the same boat. Wanted to text, but wasn’t sure if I should… And it’s been a crazy week. Speaking of… There is something specific I wanted to talk to you about.”

Zach could tell it was in fact something serious by the way Shane’s smile faded and his shoulders squared. He pushed aside his anxiety with a nod, setting his drink down.

“Okay, I’m listening.”

Shane drew in a deep breath before speaking. “So, I have these two queer students. One is a girl named Millie. She’s just recently started dating this other student, named Jesse. Jesse identifies as agender, but gets misgendered as a girl by almost… everyone. They’ve been having a pretty rough time at the school, lately. Being teased and bullied a lot.” His lips pursed tightly. “Nothing is really being done about it, though. And to top it all off, the superintendent has made some new bullshit rules about school dances. There’s this whole formal thing where couples walk in together at the Winter Formal, get their pictures taken, all that. They’re not allowed to walk in as a couple, and if they want to go they basically have to hide they’re together, and they’re not going to let Jesse wear a suit instead of a dress like they want to.”

Zach stared in shock, mouth hanging open. It took him a moment to find words, and even then he stumbled over them clumsily. “That’s—what the hell? Are you serious?”

Shane nodded somberly. “Very serious. It’s bullshit. I’ve already talked to the principal, and the school district’s superintendent, who is overseer of all the schools in the county.” He picked up his coffee to sip from with a sour expression. “He’s a real asshole. Doesn’t even care that what he’s doing is shitty, and refuses to even consider changing his mind. Which is why I wanted to talk to you about it.”

Zach stared into Shane’s eyes for a moment, seeing the hope and desperation there. He sat a bit straighter and nodded. “You think I can help?”

“I think so,” he replied. “I was wondering if you could write an article about it. I figure there’s enough people in this town that will be upset about what’s happening, maybe there will be enough pressure from the community that he’ll change his mind. Maybe start a campaign to get people calling and sending in emails, gather signatures for support—I don’t know. Anything, really.”

He thought it over as he leaned back in his chair. The newspaper had written quite a few articles about the LGBT community over the past year. He had personally covered tennis champion William Tyler Florman’s coming out, and the recent opening of several LGBT friendly businesses, like Phoenix, the gym, and the community center. For the most part, the public had taken the articles fairly well. The negative feedback they’d received had been small compared to the positive. But this would be the first time the newspaper would be used to help actively campaign for LGBT rights, and likely kicking up a fair amount of debate in the process. People tended to get more defensive when it came to their kids, as well. But he wasn’t about to let fear get in the way of helping children that needed it.

“I think that could work,” Zach agreed with a nod. “I’ll do everything I can to help. It shouldn’t be a problem getting an article in. I’ll have a talk with my bosses if there’s any trouble.” He paused. “Have you talked to the kids about this already? It’s gonna be a lot of stress on them, I imagine. People can get pretty nasty when you put something like this into the public eye. Are they willing to deal with things possibly getting worse before they get better?”

Shane frowned, looking down at his coffee. “Yeah. I talked to them about it. I think they’re both scared, but determined. They don’t want to just sit back and do nothing, you know? And I don’t blame them. But I’ve assured them they’re not going to be going through this alone.”

Zach smiled softly. “You’re a really good teacher, Shane. I wouldn’t think most would stick their necks out for their students like this.”

The other man’s shoulders lifted. “I can’t stand to see kids suffering alone. I’ve been there, you know? Growing up feeling like you have no one to turn to. The only role models I had for most of my life were people that stepped up when they didn’t have to. Teachers aren’t just people that teach, they’re people kids should be able to look up to and get support from. When I saw Jesse and Millie going through all that, I knew I had to do something. It’s why I came out, so they’d feel like someone was there for them that understood, and maybe it’d take some of the heat off of them too.”

Zach bit his lip as he listened to Shane talk. His chest felt tight, and he had to blink a few times to clear away the stinging threat of tears.

His mother and father were alive and well, even still happily married, living in the house on the outskirts of town where Zach had been raised. He couldn’t imagine what Shane had gone through, how incredibly lonely it must have been. If the same had happened to Zach, he didn’t know what he would have done, or who he would have become. Shane could have easily hardened his heart to protect it, and put his own survival before anyone else. But instead he had dedicated his life to protecting kids that needed him. He had stepped up to create a better world than he ever had for the next generation, and was prepared to change his life, to come out of the closet, if it meant someone else didn’t feel alone.

Zach had never been that strong or selfless before.

“Wow,” he breathed, trying to keep his heart from pounding out of his chest. “That’s pretty incredible, Shane. I mean… you’re incredible.”

Shane’s brows lifted, lips twitching upwards. “Thanks. But like you said, these things happen at the right time.”

He cleared his throat, then grabbed up the cookie to stuff half of it into his mouth. The sweetness of the white chocolate chips melted into against his tongue, and he chewed the large bite to give himself a moment before he’d have to speak.

“Right, so,” he started once he’d composed himself. “I’m all in. But it’s too late to get anything into this Sunday’s paper. When is the Winter Formal?”

“December 21st,” Shane said.

“Okay. So we can get it in for the Sunday release on the 16th. It will be cutting it close, but we can go ahead and start talking to people in the meantime, get people behind us. I can go to the community center and see if they can help us get a petition going. It’ll look better if we have a lot of signatures by the time we publish the article anyway.” Zach took a smaller bite of his cookie while he thought it over.

“That makes sense.” Shane smiled wider, looking more hopeful and excited. “Jesse and Millie are going to be relieved to have so much support.”

“That’s the hope. I’d like to come interview them too, if that’d be all right?” Zach asked.

“Shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll email them about it this weekend, just in case, and I can let you know?” Shane offered.

“All right. But since they’re minors, I’m assuming, we’ll need to get their parents’ permission for their statements to be published too.”

“Absolutely,” Shane agreed. “I’ll call their parents.”

Zach nodded. “Okay, great. I can come by after school on Monday if everything works out, or where ever they’d be most comfortable, and we can go from there.”

Shane’s eyes lingered on Zach for a long moment, and the intensity of the stare made him squirm with delight. Was Shane checking him out? Then the other man let out a soft sigh, and smiled. “Thanks, Zach. I can’t tell you how much this means to me, and how much it’ll mean to the kids.”

“You’re welcome,” he said softly. “I mean… I’m honored you even came to me in the first place. That you thought I could help… That’s the main reason why I wanted to be a journalist.”

“I could tell you were a good guy. I figured it was worth a shot, and I’m glad it’s looking like it’ll work out. Besides…” Shane grinned. “Now I have an excuse to see you more often.”

Zach’s face flushed, and he cleared his throat. “Yeah. Definitely. You’ll be seeing me more often for sure. Which, uh, you know, I’m happy about, too.”

Shane eyed him playfully, but didn’t comment, instead breaking off a piece of his cookie to pop into his mouth. “Ooh, damn, you weren’t exaggerating. These are pretty good.”

“I take my cookies very seriously,” he said in a mock-serious voice. “I’m basically a cookie expert.”

“Hmm, they have certificates for that?” Shane teased, taking another bite.

“They do. I am a grandma-certified cookie connoisseur. She doesn’t look at me like I’ve betrayed her legacy when she tries one of my cookies, so I’m pretty sure that counts.”

Shane chuckled, but looked a little wistful. “If the ones you make yourself are that great I’ll have to try some, sometime.”

“I could bring a batch when I come to do the interviews?” he offered, his mind racing to already come up with ideas of what he could make.

“Oh man, the kids would love you. Food bribery always works.”

“I’ll make sure they’re perfect, then.”

They continued to chat casually about food until their coffees were drained and all cookie crumbs had been devoured. He quizzed Shane on his favorite baked goods and desserts, and by the time they parted ways he had a plan to set in motion—both for the school campaign, and to get to Shane’s heart through his stomach.