Koby spent almost every Saturday of the year at the Hidden Creek farmer’s market in Moore Wood. He had a craft stall and had been selling his goods in the park for a few years. A lot of people thought he had it bad, having to spend half his weekend sitting outdoors, waiting to see if any customers came along.

But Koby found having one fixed day working at a certain location gave structure to his otherwise chaotic week. Half the time he didn’t even know what day it was, only how far he was through whatever project he was currently working on. Saturdays gave him an anchor to get him through the rest of the week.

It helped he’d made a couple of his best friends while working there. Koby still had buddies from college, although a lot of them had moved out of town now. However, he just felt he, Gabe and Cas had very similar energy. That was why they’d started the brunch club with Chase, Kris and Kris’s friend from school, Hale. Koby considered himself lucky.

But today, the way the stall allocation had worked out meant he hadn’t seen Gabe or Cas at all. Not that Gabe even worked at the market that often now that his landscaping was taking off. Koby hadn’t spoken to anyone else besides customers all day.

Luckily, there was hardly a shortage of those this weekend. It felt like there were a lot of people coming from out of town. Most notably, same-sex couples. Tourists who seemed enthralled with the little town of Hidden Creek. Koby wondered what that was about.

At least if he didn’t have his friends around him, the Christmas lights had gone up around the park a couple of weeks before. There was a general sense of Christmas cheer in the air. Koby enjoyed the park all year round, but there was something especially magical in seeing all the trees covered in thousands of fairy lights. Snowflake and candy cane decorations hung from lampposts and there were some endearingly dopey reindeers and Santas in the kids play area. There were more stalls around than usual, selling fruitcake and handmade ornaments. A choir had been singing carols earlier. Hanging out at the market in December was like getting an extra four Christmas Days, getting to share the joy with hundreds, if not thousands of other people.

Even when sales got manic, like today had been, Koby always felt a sense of peace working the Saturdays of the holiday season here.

Which was why it was such a shock to look up and feel a jolt of panic before Koby even got a chance to register why.

Vince Russo was approaching his stall, a shy smile on his gorgeous face.

“Hi,” Vince said with a little wave. Then he seemed to feel self-conscious and shoved the hand into his jeans pocket. Even though Koby was wary of bigger guys, he had to say the way Vince was wearing those pants was positively sinful.

Koby got over his strange panic and thoughts about Vince’s ass in less than a second, not sure why either had caused his heart to skip a beat like that. Despite his size, Vince really wasn’t threatening. So why would Koby react in this way?

“Hey, man.” Koby smiled as Vince stopped in front of his table. Koby found he was genuinely happy to see the guy before their next modeling session on Thursday. It reinforced his hope that they actually might be able to get along in spite of their obvious differences. “How’s it going? You doing some Christmas shopping?”

Vince looked around. Now evening had settled in, the lights looked amazing in the darkness. Normally, the market closed in the later afternoon, but with the Christmas rush, most stalls stayed open a few extra hours.

There was a slight chill in the December air, but Vince was just wearing a lumberjack shirt – appropriate given his nickname – and his biceps strained through the soft cloth as he moved. Koby had to pay attention to such things for the creation of his sculpture, but he had to admit he felt a little fizz in his belly at the sight, too.

All right. Vince was hot, even if he wasn’t Koby’s usual type. There was no harm in admitting that to himself.

“My cousin Maria dragged me along.” Vince turned back to Koby. “I remember this place being kind of boring as a kid, but now I love it. It’s awesome. I’ll have to come back next week armed with lots of cash.” He laughed. “It’s going to make Christmas Day a lot easier, I think.”

“You have a lot of presents you need to get?” Koby asked. He was glad foot traffic had died down at that moment. It was nice to catch a second with Vince without adoring fans swarming him, asking for autographs or Koby having to ring up change.

Vince rolled his eyes. “I have, like, the biggest family. Catholics, right?” He and Koby shared a laugh. “We do Secret Santa, so you’re only supposed to buy one big gift, but everyone buys little things for everyone anyway. It gets a bit crazy.” He picked up one of Koby’s pieces with surprising delicacy for someone with such big hands. He turned the hummingbird over in his fingers, admiring the craftsmanship. “Wow. I bet I could get loads of people something cute from you. You make all these by hand?”

Koby was used to getting praise for his art. It wasn’t vanity. He had worked incredibly hard at honing his skill and knew he had talent. But for some reason, hearing Vince’s honest praise given without thought or pretense made Koby’s skin tingle with goose bumps. Vince didn’t know anything about art, or so it seemed. He just liked what he liked, no bullshit. To see the way he was marveling at the tiny cogs and springs Koby had welded together to make the little bird was heart-warming.

“Yeah.” Koby grinned. “Every single one. I can custom make something for you by next week if you don’t see what you’d like here already.” He paused, not sure why he’d offered that. He had a ton of stock and all his time was currently being poured into the sculpture. But he felt like if there was a custom piece that Vince wanted, he’d make time to build it.

Vince beamed at him, carefully placing the hummingbird back down. “That’s real nice of you, man. I bet you already have some perfect ones here, though.” He looked sheepish. “I probably won’t buy anything tonight. I like to make a list of all my presents before I buy them, to make sure they’re just right.” He chuckled. “That’s kind of dumb, I know. But will you be back next week?” He sounded hopeful.

“I think that’s sweet, not dumb,” Koby said sincerely. “I’ll definitely be here next week, so don’t worry about it.”

“Cool, cool.” Vince nodded. He looked kind of bashful, like he didn’t know what to do with himself. He’d put his hands back in his pockets and twisted a bit on his feet. “Hey, uh.” He removed a hand almost immediately and pointed down the lane. “I saw there was, like, a hot drinks truck and they did vegan options. Did you want to go get a tea or something?”

Koby did his best not to blink. Vince was asking to get a drink together? It was hardly a beer down at Phoenix, but still...it was interesting.

Interesting. Chase’s voice rang in his head.

“I can’t really leave the stall, I’m afraid,” Koby said with genuine reluctance. He had the crazy idea of suggesting they could meet at Grind coffeehouse sometime this week, but that was nuts, right? The moment had gone.

Except Vince just smiled down at him. “I could get us something and bring it back here.” Then he looked a little unsure. “I mean, if you want company. You’re working – I could just get you something and leave you to it-”

“No,” Koby interrupted. “No, some company would be lovely. There are less customers now. I can get you a chair from one of the other stalls.”

Had his heart rate sped up? Dear lord, he needed to calm down. He was never normally one to lose his cool when a hot straight guy was nice to him. It wasn’t like Koby cared Vince was a celebrity, either. But it was neat that someone he didn’t even know that well was being thoughtful. Maybe they really had struck up a friendship in the workshop the other day.

Vince looked thrilled. “Awesome. It was English tea with almond milk, right?”

Koby wasn’t sure he kept his surprise from his face that time. Cecily hadn’t even made him a drink in the workroom as she only had coffee and iced tea. Yet Vince had remembered.

“Uh, normally, yeah,” Koby said. “But that truck does a mean vegan spiced chai latte. I can give you some money-”

“Oh, no, it’s on me,” Vince said, already walking backwards. “Back in a shake of a lamb’s tail.”

He almost reversed into a couple of guys. A slim dark-haired guy was hand in hand with a slightly chubby guy with glasses. They all laughed and apologized. Koby watched as Vince jogged off and the couple walked on by, hugging each other close.

He realized he was grinning to himself.

“It’s just a latte. Calm down,” he grumbled, rearranging several of his pieces on the table in front of him.

By the time he slipped over to one of his neighbors to get a second folding chair, Vince was back with two drinks in his hands. He passed one of the steaming cups over to Koby as he came and joined him sitting behind the stall, sipping his own drink through the slit in the lid.

“So you do this every week?” Vince asked.

Koby nodded and told him a little about the process. How he spent most of his time making the same couple dozen designs over and over, and how he added a few different seasonal pieces depending on the time of year. Vince listened, nodding along as Koby spoke.

They lapsed into a pause. Ordinarily, Koby would just find something else to talk about. He was interested to hear about Vince’s life in Oklahoma and wanted to ask how his recovery was going. Brain injuries were no joke. Koby knew nothing about football, but even he knew concussions and the like were a serious problem for the NFL.

But Vince was chewing his lip and frowning, like he had something on his mind. So Koby just sipped his chai latte and waited patiently.

“I was hoping to ask you something, but…” Vince blurted out, “…I don’t want to sound like a jerk or a bigot or…I don’t even know. I tried talking to my buddy about it, but, uh, he was kind of a dick. I figured you might…not be a dick.”

Koby laughed warmly and squeezed Vince’s thigh. He was almost comically big sitting on the folding chair Koby had gotten for him. “I will definitely try not to be a dick,” Koby assured him. He was intrigued what might be on Vince’s mind. “Ask away.”

Vince toyed with his drink cup. Koby noticed the server had written ‘Lumberjack’ on the side rather than Vince’s name.

“I don’t remember Hidden Creek being so gay,” Vince said in a rush. “Was it always like this and I didn’t notice? Or has it changed?”

Koby took a second to process the question. He’d assumed Vince was going to ask something more about his art. He was a little surprised, but not in a bad way. Vince was looking at him anxiously. He seemed troubled by this topic. Koby would have to unravel why. His gut twisted as he hoped Vince wasn’t having a negative reaction to the way Hidden Creek was.

“It’s changed.” Koby nodded and smiled, signaling that he certainly saw it as a positive development. “It happened organically, but a few people moved here at the same time a couple of business opened or went out of their way to show their support for the LGBT community. I guess over the year it’s become a bit of a place to come in these parts if you’re queer.” Koby had seen a blog on that recently, encouraging LGBT people to visit over the holidays. Actually – could that explain the increase in same-sex couples today?

Vince let out a breath and grinned. “Oh, good,” he said with feeling. “I felt terrible thinking I’d just ignored it before, y’know? Cool. So it’s new. Well, I think that’s swell, really. I’ve been places where folks who are even just a little bit different aren’t welcome. I’m glad it’s not like that back home.” He looked around the market fondly.

Koby looked at him fondly. “Thank you. It means a lot to hear people are allies.”

Vince turned back to him, that bashful sort of look returned to his face. “Uh, can I ask you something? Else. Sorry, I ask a lot of questions, I know it’s annoying.”

Koby frowned. “No, it’s not,” he said genuinely. “It shows you’re inquisitive. That’s a good thing.”

Vince blinked. “Oh.” He sounded surprised. “Okay then. Uh, well. You’re gay, aren’t you? I just wanted to check, so I didn’t put my big foot in my mouth or nothing.” He grinned and glanced at Koby through his dark lashes.

Koby’s heart wanted to react again and do something obscene, like flutter. Koby forced it to behave. Vince was a straight guy being incredibly sweet asking about Koby’s world and life. Yes, it was endearing, but it didn’t mean anything other than Vince was coming across more and more as one of the good guys.

“I’m technically pansexual,” Koby said warmly. “But I don’t mind being lumped under the general umbrella of ‘gay.’”

“Pansexual?” Vince repeated.

Koby nodded. “It’s kind of like being bisexual. It’s attraction regardless of gender. I just like people as people…I don’t really care what’s between their legs.” He winked. “I don’t have a physical ‘type’ I particularly go for, but I tend to find myself with people who are kind, funny, like to smile…that sort of thing. Regardless of gender.”

Vince rubbed his strong jaw and nodded fractionally. “Okay. That’s pretty cool. You’re just, like, chilled about the whole thing. I get that. I feel like, well, people should just live their lives, y’know?”

Koby got the impression Vince wasn’t used to being encouraged to share his opinion without fear of being shot down. So Koby made sure to nod along and keep good eye contact. He was genuinely interested in Vince’s opinion. It was refreshing to meet a straight cisgender person who wanted to think outside the box on LGBT plus issues.

“I couldn’t agree more.” Koby sipped his drink. The warmth was nice on his hands. It was getting colder now the sun had set. “People always get hung up on my labels, even though I just…” How best to describe it? “I love defining parts of myself with specific words because it means I can bond with people like me or similar. But people sometimes see them as stop signs, whereas I just feel they’re parts that make up my bigger whole.”

Vince considered him. “Like…you want to know what your own ingredients are, but feel like other people should just enjoy the final dish for what it is?”

Koby did his very best to not leap to images of being eaten by Vince…

“I like that metaphor,” he said sincerely. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“So what are your ingredients?” Vince asked.

There was a slight thrill to the question, like Lyla when she found an adult to bug about how engines work or what makes a rainbow. Vince was excited to learn. About Koby or about these issues in general, Koby wasn’t sure. It was safer to think it was a more general query. He wouldn’t be interested in Koby sexually, after all.

“Well, I’m vegan.” Koby pointed at his latte. “For ethical reasons. I’m pan as I explained. I’m agender too, which…” How to tackle that? “That means I don’t really care about the gender binary system in the way I present myself. I think people should be as masculine and feminine as they want, regardless of their gender assigned at birth. It’s kind of the punk rock branch of being nonbinary.” Vince looked at him. Koby guessed he might have used a couple of words and terms there that Vince wasn’t familiar with. “I think clothes are just clothes and people should wear whatever they want,” he elaborated.

“Oh,” Vince cried, looking pleased. “Like your kilt!” Koby had opted for black jeans today, but Vince pointed at his legs anyway. “That’s so cool, seriously. I dig it.”

Koby wasn’t sure in the semi-darkness, but he thought Vince might have gotten a tinge of blush on his cheeks. Was he nervous discussing issues outside of his comfort zone? If so, he was doing really well.

“You like the kilt?” Koby asked. Vince nodded and Koby couldn’t help but beam. “Yeah. I love that thing. My buddies tease me, but it’s become kind of my signature look.”

“Like a superhero costume,” Vince said sagely, looking out over the market.

Koby smiled at him. “Yeah,” he said softly.

He wondered if he should add that he was aromantic to his laundry list of labels. But people generally struggled to get that the most. They tended to assume he was only interested in sex and didn’t worry about hurting people’s feeling. But that wasn’t it at all. He just didn’t get lovey-dovey stuff that easily. For some reason, he didn’t want Vince to think he was some soulless guy incapable of falling in love or caring for anyone else. So he didn’t mention it.

Vince tilted his head back to finish his drink, then turned to grin at Koby. “Thanks, man. I’m glad I could ask you about this stuff.”

“Anytime.” Koby meant it.

Vince stood. “I should go find my cousin. She’s probably bought half the market up by now.” He laughed and gave an eye roll. “I’ll see you Thursday, though? Bye, buddy!”

“Bye.” Koby was unable to stop the grin from spreading on his face.

Koby’s delight as he watched Vince amble away, dropping his cup into the recycling bin, was that his new friend wanted to educate himself.

Nothing more.

Because he was straight.

Right?