“Fucker. I love you.”

“I know.”

My breath caught as I read the last words in the book—well, manuscript, really, given that it was on a laptop—and I smiled.

It was perfect. Snarky and sweet and so very Adam and Ben. It was like they’d written it themselves.

“I’m done,” I called out, expecting Eli to burst through the door into the bedroom immediately.

He didn’t, and I frowned. Ever since he’d shoved the laptop into my hands last night and told me to read, he’d been a nervous wreck. And since I’d been reading pretty much nonstop, that meant he’d been pacing nonstop. But outside—he’d quarantined me in this room and said he couldn’t look at me till I was done. Apparently he was too nervous to see my facial expressions.

Instead of the door opening, I heard muffled noises coming from—well, it actually sounded like they were coming from the hall outside the apartment. The walls in this building had never been particularly thick. Had Eli actually left for a minute?

He’d told me he was too nervous to do anything else while I read, but—I glanced at the time. 8 p.m. I had been in here for a while. I couldn’t help it, though. The book had sucked me in, and I’d wanted to finish it as quickly as I could. Still, maybe Eli had gotten hungry or something.

“Eli?” I called. “Everything okay? Can I come out now, or—”

Before I could get up from the bed, Eli slipped in through the door and shut it tightly behind him.

“I’m here, I’m here,” he said, sounding a little breathless. “Sorry, I just—someone got lost looking for their friend’s apartment, thought they’d said sixth floor, not fifth.”

“Oh,” I said, a little puzzled.

Weird. In all the time I’d lived here, I’d never met anyone from the fifth floor.

“Anyway.” Eli gave me a nervous smile. “I’m here now. So, uh, what did you think?”

I grinned and pointed at the door behind him. “What’d you close it for? Afraid I’m gonna broadcast my facial expressions to the fifth floor neighbor’s friend or something?”

The apartment had been cramped enough with just me living in it. Since Eli had moved in in February, it had gotten even tighter. We pretty much never closed that door now.

Not that I was complaining, though. Getting to live with Eli, getting to finally be together, and not have to hide it anymore, was perfect. We could have lived in a cardboard box and I would have been happy.

Eli smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know. Just felt like a conversation that needed privacy.”

“From the plants in the living room?”

“Maybe,” Eli said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, stop stalling and tell me what you thought already, I’m gonna die if I have to wait any longer. Though, I guess I might also die if you hate it. So, um, really hoping that... you’re going to say... that you thought it was…” he trailed off, scrutinizing my face. “Nick, you’re killing me here. Why aren’t you talking? Oh God, did you actually hate it? Oh fuck, that’s not—”

“I loved it, you idiot,” I said, breaking out into a smile. “Of course I loved it. You captured their voices so perfectly. But it’s really your voice that comes out, shining through it all. It’s funny, it’s sweet, and it’s the best thing I’ve read in I don’t remember how long.”

“Well, that’s not saying much,” Eli said drily. “Seeing as how all you’ve been reading for the past five years is textbooks on comparative religion and biographies of people who’ve been dead for millenia.”

“Then it’s the best thing I’ve ever read in my life,” I told him. “And everyone else is going to think so, too.”

“Really?” Eli scrunched his shoulders up, then did a little dance, hopping from one foot to the other by the side of the bed. “You really think so?”

“I know so,” I said. “Come on, you knew that too. The excerpts you’ve put online have done so well.”

“Well, yeah, but that’s a self-selecting audience.” He leaned over my shoulder and looked down at the laptop. “You don’t think the first chapter’s a little off-putting? That first line?”

“‘The first thing you need to know is that it wasn’t a suicide attempt?’” I said, clicking up to the beginning of the manuscript. “No. It’s Adam through and through.”

Eli giggled. “I mean, he did literally say that when I interviewed him. But still, I don’t wanna turn people off of the book on page one.”

“You won’t,” I said seriously. “I promise.” I squeezed Eli’s hand, looking up at him. “I’m really proud of you.”

I was. Not only had Eli enrolled in community college this spring, he’d also started a blog that had become a surprisingly successful website. What had started as an idle conversation with Ben and Adam over pasta had turned into something real.

Eightmillionhearts.com featured interviews with LGBTQ couples from all over the city, plus conversations with psychologists and researchers on love and relationships, and—most recently—snippets of Eli’s book. He’d told Adam and Ben that he thought the whole world should get to hear their love story—and now the whole world could.

“Now come here and kiss me,” I said, tugging on his hand, “so I can tell everyone I know that I kissed a best-selling author.”

Eli leaned down and obliged, but when I tried to pull him onto the bed, he danced away.

“Hey,” I objected, putting on my most injured face. “Where are you going? I wanted to show you how proud of you I am, and it involves you being naked.”

“Normally I’d be all for that,” Eli said. “But actually, I uh—well, if you can just hold that thought for one second, I need you in the kitchen for something.”

“For what?”

“Just, come here, and you’ll see,” Eli said, jerking his head towards the door.

He still looked nervous, I realized. Did he not believe me when I said I loved the book? Or was there something else he was nervous about? Well, I could do whatever Eli needed, if it would help him realize how fucking talented he was. I slid off the bed and stood up.

“You know,” I said as I walked towards the door, “there’s no rule that says we have to be fully clothed in the kitchen.” I put my hands on Eli’s slim hips when I reached him, sliding a finger underneath the waistband of his boxer-briefs as he started to open the door. “In fact, it’s such a small kitchen that it might even be preferable not to be wearing clothes, just to gain some extra millimeters of—”

“Surprise!”

The sentence died on my tongue as Eli threw the door wide open to reveal all my friends, my Dad, even Gwen and Marcus, standing in the living room with balloons and streamers and—was that a cake?

I turned to Eli in confusion. “What’s this for?”

“It’s your second birthday, silly!” Eli said, grinning delightedly. “Remember?”

“I do,” I said, laughing in amazement. “I just can’t believe you remembered. I can’t believe you threw me a freaking surprise party for my fake birthday. How did you even get everybody in here?”

“With great difficulty,” Eli said solemnly. “Do you have any idea how stressful it is to try to get fifteen people into an apartment this small without making a sound? When all I really wanted to do was freak out about you reading my book?”

“You’re such a martyr.” I leaned in and kissed him on the nose. “And I honestly don’t deserve you.”

“I know,” Eli grinned. “Now come on and blow out the candles so that we can eat your fake birthday cake.” He leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “And the sooner we eat, the sooner everyone leaves, and we can get back to whatever you were saying before the door opened… Something about me being naked, right?”

He squeezed my ass and then darted away, smiling impishly while I did my best not to get a boner in front of everyone I knew and respected.

It wasn’t even that many people, but it was more than this little apartment had ever hosted in its life, I was pretty sure. Between the candles on the cake and the ones Eli had surreptitiously lit and put on the bookshelves that smelled like chocolate chip cookies, it was a wonder we didn’t set everything on fire.

But it was amazing to have everyone there. I looked around the room later that night as I was talking to Gwen, trying to take it all in. I couldn’t believe everyone had come here, just for me—when my actual birthday hadn’t even been that long ago. I even got a little choked up when I tried to explain it to her.

“Well, we like you,” Gwen said as though she were explaining that water was wet. “So that probably had something to do with it.”

“I keep telling him that,” Eli said, coming up to join us and worming his way under my arm. “But he’s kinda dense. Doesn’t really seem to take it in.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that,” Gwen said. She smiled at me. “Maybe I should go back and talk to your committee again—I know they passed you, but I’m not sure they knew how thick you can be.”

“Oh, he’s very thick,” Eli said. The complete lack of sarcasm on his face somehow made the joke even dirtier.

“And I think that’s my cue to retire from this conversation,” Gwen said with a rueful headshake. “I’m too old for that kind of innuendo. I’ll leave you two to your own devices. Congratulations again, Nick.”

“Too much?” Eli asked, giving me a worried look as Gwen drifted across the room. “Or too soon? I know you only told her about us a little bit ago.”

“No,” I said, turning and wrapping my arms around him. “Just enough.”

Eli frowned at me. “Wait a second, are those tears I see in your eyes? Don’t tell me you’re getting sappy on me. I’m the one who’s supposed to cry all the time.”

“I’m supposed to be working on my emotional vulnerability, remember?” I said with a laugh. “You’re a good teacher, I guess.”

Eli snorted. “I’d hate to think where you’d be without me.”

“Just another sad, emotionally-frozen commuter on the Midtown Direct. Devoid of any joy or meaning in my life.”

“No one to buy donuts for,” Eli said.

“No one to send me pictures of those donuts and call them hole pics.”

“No one to chastise for having his mind in the gutter.”

“No one to pull me down into the gutter with him.”

Eli laughed. “I’m so glad you joined me down here. It’s filthy, but a lot more fun.”

“Fair point.” I gave him my best evil grin. “Speaking of which, how soon do you think we can get rid of everyone? Because you’re still wearing way too much clothing…”

Thanks for reading!

Check out some of my other books no the next page! But before you do… want to know what’s next for Nick and Eli?