Debriefing

"Wow," Everett breathes out. Beau's hands are resting on his waist from where he grabbed him to pull him in for the kiss. They both stare at each other with almost comically shocked looks on their faces.

"Yeah," Beau agrees sounding breathless and overwhelmed. As the more experienced gay out of the two of them, Everett attempts to pull himself out of his stupor so he can try to assuage the man holding onto him gently.

Relaxing his expression, Everett calmly asks, "Are you okay?"

He feels Beau grip his waist the slightest bit tighter, hesitate and then eventually remove his hands from him altogether. Not knowing what to do with his hands, Beau then crosses his arms over his chest as he continues to stare at Everett.

"Uh—yeah.... I think so. Are you okay? I didn't mean to jump you there." Everett suppresses a smile at how shy and unsure of himself Beau sounds. The guy is clearly out of his element and it's kind of cute, but Everett doesn't want it to seem like he's making fun of him.

"Can't say you didn't surprise me, but I obviously wasn't pulling away either," he replies honestly.

Beau looks at the ground and then back at Everett. "So I guess I do have, like, gay feelings for you?" He phrases it as a question, probably still confused about what is happening.

"It seems like it," Everett agrees. "I guess I have 'gay feelings' for you too."

Eyes widening again in disbelief, Beau asks, "Wait—what?"

Laughing lightly, Everett puts his hands on his hips where Beau's resided not too long ago. "I'm not sure if you remember from—I don't know—a minute ago, but I was definitely kissing you back. I don't tend to kiss people back unless I have some sort of feelings for them."

"I don't understand what we're doing." Beau looks incredibly lost and confused.

"We don't have to do anything, Beau. You're new to all of this and I'm going through a divorce. I don't expect us to start a relationship now or anything," Everett rationalizes.

This doesn't appear to quell Beau's anxieties like Everett had hoped it would. He now looks even more frustrated with himself and the situation. Not angry or anything, just frustrated.

"What if I do want to be in a relationship? I felt so annoyed when you were talking about bringing home guys and girls.... Like, obviously I'm into you. Right?" Beau tries to talk through his emotions which Everett is honestly very endeared by.

Crossing his arms over his chest to mirror Beau's stance, Everett looks at him with raised eyebrows. "You're saying you want to be in a relationship with me? Are you sure about that? Or do you just feel like you need to say that now that you know you're sort of into me?"

Beau runs a hand through his hair and drags both hands down his face in an exasperated manner. "You ask so many questions. Why can't it be as simple as I like you and you like me so let's date?"

"Because so many things could go wrong. If I learned anything from my failed marriage, it's that communication is important in a relationship. My concern is that you're not fully comfortable with your sexuality yet and that if we jump into this, then you'll get overwhelmed and leave. Then we're both miserable." Everett wants to make himself crystal clear this time around. Even if it lessens his chances of getting into a relationship again, he prefers establishing his thoughts and feelings now rather than letting himself get hurt in the future.

"You're right," Beau concedes sheepishly. "Sorry for pushing. If we're talking about concerns and shit, then one of mine is that you're not that into me and I'm just a rebound."

Everett is kind of in awe at how receptive Beau is being with his desire for communication. He is also surprised that Beau has any insecurities about Everett's feelings toward him.

"I'm pretty sure you were, like, my first crush," Everett admits.

"What?" This admission seems to have majorly intrigued Beau.

Laughing lightly, Everett explains further. "We lived next to each other almost our entire lives. I always thought you were really cool and hot. I'm almost positive you were my first crush. That is, if we're not counting Danny Phantom."

"I was always such a dick to you, though," Beau states, not understanding how Everett could have possibly liked him back then.

Everett shrugs his shoulders at this. "Yeah, like I said, I was scared of you when I was younger, but I couldn't help it. You were hot and popular which was enough for me to develop a little crush."

"Damn." Beau is taking in this new information while also trying to figure out how to proceed with the situation. "And you're still into me now, for some reason?"

Softening his voice, Everett reassures him once more. "Of course I'm into you—stop talking yourself down like that. Even when I first saw you again at the bar when you were being a drunk mess I thought you were attractive. Living with you also made me realize how much you've changed for the better since high school. You help out around the house all the time, go to work everyday and make me laugh with your dumb jokes. Why wouldn't I be into you?"

Redness subtly creeps up on the tips of Beau's ears and his cheeks at this. His eyes are still wide with surprise, but they also look more intense as he seems to laser-focus in on Everett somehow even more than he already was. "I don't think I have any other concerns about us being in a relationship," he says.

"I—um—I have another concern," Everett desperately wants to abandon his communication policy, but he needs them to talk about one more thing before he makes any rash decisions. "You said before that you're scared of commitment. Beau, I don't think I can start something if we're not trying for long-term."

Nodding at this, Beau has a look of consideration on his face as he answers. "I'm not gonna lie and say that you're wrong or that I've gotten over that fear. I don't exactly have a history of long-term relationships—I'm definitely more into one night stands or friends with benefits situations, but that's not what I want with you. Not with how important you've become in my life. I don't think you realize how much you've helped me get my shit together after saving my ass at the bar that night. I haven't been able to stay in a place as nice as yours since I lived with my parents, I never had a job that I was excited about and actually enjoyed going to and I never had a friend who has been as good as you have been to me. I'm literally always thinking about you. Every day I'm thinking about what you're doing when we're not together or a dumb joke that you made the day before. Now that I'm saying this out loud, I realize that all of that was really fucking gay and I probably should've known about my feelings sooner. Point is—I don't want us to be a short-term thing. If we do this then I'm all in, man."

Everett's lips are parted slightly as he listens in shock to Beau baring his soul to him. He feels an overwhelming sense of joy and affection wash over him as he smiles softly at the man in front of him.

"Well," he finally responds, "if we're actually doing this, then you can't call me 'man' or 'dude'. It's way too bro-y considering we're not like that anymore."

Beau's eyes light up and a smile slips onto his face as he takes a step closer to him. "Yeah? That'll be a tough habit to break. I'm gonna need a pet name to fill in for those."

Caressing Everett's elbow as he gets closer, he rubs his arm gently and continues his teasing. "How about 'buttercup' or 'sweet cheeks'?"

Making a face at the name ideas, Everett laughs before shooting them down. "Absolutely not. Just call me by my actual name."

"That's no fun," Beau argues with a smirk on his face. "What about 'snookums'? That's what I used to chase your wife out of the house the other day."

Everett rolls his eyes at this, but is still smiling at the ridiculousness of the suggestion. "That's even worse than 'buttercup' and 'sweet cheeks'."

"I don't know, I think it suits you. It's probably for the best that you get used to it, snook," Beau stops rubbing his arm and instead places his hands on Everett's waist. Drawing him in closer, Beau looks down at him with a fond smile on his face. Everett struggles to argue with him when they're in this position and Beau is looking at him like that.

Tilting his head up and placing his arms around Beau's neck, Everett gets on his tiptoes and says, "I guess it's better than 'man'." Everett closes the distance between them, dragging Beau into another kiss. This one is much slower and more confident than their first. Beau smiles into it, causing Everett to smile as well. They lean their foreheads against one another when the smiling impacts their ability to continue moving their lips together, which makes them laugh softly at the situation.

"Go on a date with me?" Beau murmurs before pecking him on the mouth once more.

"Mm—fine. I guess you can take me out," Everett jokes lightly.

Beau peppers kisses on his face, causing Everett to laugh at the welcomed affection being shown to him. "Good. How about we go to Café Mocha tomorrow morning? The croissants there are so fucking good, du—snook," he catches himself at the end of his statement.

This earns him a peck on the mouth from the smiley man in his arms. "What was that for?" He asks smiling back just as broadly.

"I'm gonna try to Pavlov's dog you into stop calling me 'dude' and 'man'," Everett explains which makes Beau chuckle in response.

"I think that's a great idea, ma—snookums." Beau has a mischievous smirk on his face as he 'corrects' himself once more.

Rewarding him with another kiss for the supposed correction, Everett laughs again before telling him, "You don't need to pretend to catch yourself using those names for me to kiss you. We're dating now so you can just ask whenever."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Beau teases. "But feel free to lay one on me if you want to, or whatever." Everett's face is starting to ache with how much he's been smiling. He shakes his head and places another gentle kiss on his lips.

"You're going to be insufferable," he mumbles into Beau's mouth.

Pulling away, Beau swipes his thumb along Everett's bottom lip and says, "Yeah and you agreed to this. You're stuck with me now, snook."