Your Love Is Sunlight

Eight

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Mentions of anxiety.

—꧁—꧂—

Today was the day. In less than 4 hours he'd meet Andrew's parents. He knew it meant so much to Andrew, and because of that, it meant so much to him.

He had spent the morning in his pajamas, on the phone with Angela, who he'd become very close with the past few weeks since they both lost his kid. They'd relied on each other for support while filling out paperwork to finalize Noah's case, which led to conversations about her family and his family and their partners.

Angela identified as queer and had come out at the ripe age of 21- she was now 27, receiving major backlash from her family, except for her mother, who worked with them at the Center.

She'd become his best, and only, friend, so it was a given that she'd be the one he'd call to freak out to about tonight's dinner to, since Isobel was at work. They spent an hour on the phone deciding between 4 pairs of jeans and about a hundred shirts.

Around 3pm, he got in the shower and started on his hair, brushing the tangles out and slightly curling it when it dried. He put on the outfit that he and Angela had decided on- a plain black tee; flared jeans; a simple, white and pink patterned, button up t-shirt left open; gold jewelry; and high-heeled boots- before doing some very simple makeup. It was only some smoked out eyeliner and barely noticeable glitter shadow, but it made a world of difference.

He texted a picture to Angela before he left to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Water helps anxiety- a direct quote from Tomasz, said way too many times to remember exactly when it'd originated.

He had to leave to pick up Andrew in 20 minutes, so he still had time to double check his overnight bag. Andrew texted him the day before to ask if he would rather stay the night at his house "Just for the purpose of convenience, of course," which meant he had something else on his mind, but he didn't think Elio would be up for it. That "something else" was sex.

Neither of them had brought up the topic since movie night, both worried that the other might not be ready if they were to ask. They both laughed when they realized and talked it through, agreeing that, yes, they were both comfortable with it.

He'd never seen Andrew's home before and to tell the truth, he had no idea what expect. It was hard to nail down exactly what Andrew Hozier Byrne was. He didn't seem like the type of "celebrity" to have a huge house with a personal chef and a maid, but did he have the money for it? Most likely, yes.

A month ago, Elio was single with no intention to get into a relationship anytime in the foreseeable future. Now he was getting ready to meet Andrew's parents and worrying if the heels were too much. They probably were, but Andrew would just tell him that it didn't matter because he wanted his parents to meet the real Elio, and he couldn't avoid them seeing him in heels forever.

He ended up just leaving the apartment early and taking a short drive to a café to grab a quick, to-go cup of Earl Grey, his overnight bag stashed in the backseat.

He preferred Starbucks most of the time, but only for their fruity drinks and teas. He thought their coffee was terrible, which was probably due to his long-term exposure to Isobel's magnificent Cuban espresso. It had ruined all other coffee for him.

But regardless of his snobbish opinions on coffee, he opted for tea instead. The fancy teas from Starbucks would give him a sugar high, which he absolutely didn't want, so he went for the smooth, subtle energy boost of hot tea instead.