Love Language

Everett's eyes blink open Saturday morning and his head immediately turns to look at whoever is breathing on him. He finds Beau still asleep pressed against his back with his head shoved into Everett's neck. Relaxing once he sees that it's Beau in his bed and not an intruder, he sinks further into the arms wrapped around him.

Waking up with Beau is almost the polar opposite of what it was like when he shared a bed with Charlotte. She was a morning person who always got up first, even on the weekends. On the rare occasion that she slept in, they still wouldn't cuddle because she had never been big into that or, honestly, any other form of physical affection outside of holding hands. As soon as he and Beau had gotten into bed last night, the taller man had latched onto him and pulled him close before passing out after a long day of talking out their feelings. Everett thought that they'd drift apart during their slumber, but it seems Beau had readjusted his grip on him so that they'd be more comfortable while still remaining flush against one another.

He suddenly hears an exhale from Beau out of sync from his previous rhythmic sleep pattern breathing. "Hey," Beau mumbles in a deep voice thick with sleep that Everett may or may not find extremely attractive.

"Mornin'," Everett greets in response while turning over in Beau's arms to stare up at him.

Beau's eyes still look tired, but he has the beginnings of a smile on his face while gazing down at the man in his arms. "How did'ya sleep, snook?"

Snorting at the nickname, Everett responds, "Pretty good. I'm not used to being the little spoon, but I liked it. Did you sleep alright?"

"I slept like a baby. You made a great teddy bear last night," Beau accentuates this statement by squeezing Everett's waist.

Everett laughs as he puts his arms around Beau's neck. He presses a kiss to the corner of Beau's mouth before responding, "I'm happy to be of service." Beau closes his eyes with a small smile on his face and drags Everett in closer so his face is pressed against Beau's bare chest.

They lay in silence for a couple minutes while trying to will themselves to get out of their warm, comfy cocoon. Everett would've forced himself to get up sooner, but Beau had started gently rubbing his hand up and down his back underneath his old sleep shirt. He hasn't felt this relaxed in ages.

"You hungry?" Beau eventually whispers, not wanting to disturb the quiet moment between the two of them. Everett wants to say no, but his stomach growls loudly as if on a cue to dispute the claim that he hadn't yet made. "Well, that answers that," Beau laughs while sitting up. Everett's head is still on Beau's chest, so he begrudgingly rises with him.

"Let's lay here for a few more minutes," Everett whines while lightly tugging at Beau's left arm, trying to get him to go back to his horizontal state. This sort of works since Beau stops trying to fully get up and instead leans back against the headboard of the bed, but doesn't lay down completely like Everett wants him to.

He laughs and runs a hand through Everett's hair. "We shouldn't stay here too long. I want to get food in you before you get hangry."

"I don't get hangry!" Everett argues, jokingly glaring up at Beau. Both of his arms have Beau's left arm trapped in his hold. Meanwhile, Beau's right hand reaches across to brush soothingly through Everett's hair.

"You for sure do. Remember the other week when you were basically giving me the silent treatment that one afternoon? You didn't talk to me until I got a pizza delivered to the house. As soon as you tossed back a slice of pep' everything was suddenly chill again," Beau smirks as he recalls this memory.

Refusing to look at the smug man, Everett instead holds onto Beau's left arm tighter and presses his face into his bicep. "Shut up," he says, but it comes out muffled. He can hear Beau chuckle at his juvenile response which makes him feel embarrassingly giddy.

Beau lets them lay there for a little while longer before he brushes Everett's blonde curls off his forehead, causing him to look up. "We need to get food," he says softly. Everett lets out a groan, but finally releases Beau's arm from his clutches. Beau shakes it out jokingly and pretends to do arm and shoulder stretches. "I thought you were gonna rip it off my body."

"I considered it, but you'll need both arms to drive us to Café Mocha," Everett plays along with the bit as he rolls out of bed. He makes his way to the attached bathroom so he can brush his teeth and get dressed in the clothes that he snagged from his closet as well as the top drawer of his dresser. It's not supposed to be freezing out today, but there's still a slight chill in the air so he puts on jeans and a sweatshirt with a white t-shirt underneath.

"Oh, I see—now that we're dating, that means I gotta be your chauffeur?" Beau calls out to him from the bedroom. Spitting out his mouthful of toothpaste, Everett turns to where he can see Beau in the bedroom jumping into a pair of black sweatpants and gives him a toothy smile. "Yep! You asked me out so you can do all the driving and heavy lifting for our date."

Beau walks into the bathroom shirtless with nothing but his sweatpants on. He has a broad smile on his face indicating that he's not the least bit annoyed by these stipulations as he gets into Everett's space. "High maintenance much?" He teases while leaning down until Everett stops him by holding up a toothbrush.

"Nope. None of that until you brush your teeth," Everett says and places the toothbrush in his hands. Beau rolls his eyes at this and lightly hip checks him out of the way so he can stand in front of the sink. He has a mouthful of toothpaste now, but continues to speak anyway. "You literally kissed me earlier. Why are you laying out the rules now?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Everett puts on a fake serious face before answering. "I hadn't brushed my teeth earlier, but I didn't kiss you on the mouth. I kissed, like, next to your mouth on your mustache. It's different." Beau plays along giving him a fake, overly-exaggerated annoyed look in the mirror where he stares at him for a second before spitting out his toothpaste into the sink. He wipes his mouth and grabs Everett so he can tip him over and place a dramatic kiss on his lips.

"Better?" He asks, still towering over Everett.

"Much better," Everett beams at him before pulling him down for another.

-

The drivers side and passenger side windows are cracked and Juice WRLD is blasting from the speakers as Beau drives a little too fast over the speed limit into town. Everett can't help but think about how Charlotte would have a heart attack if she was in his position. Despite this intrusive thought, he feels extremely content in the moment leaning back in his seat with Beau's hand on his thigh.

"I was joking earlier, by the way," Everett says to Beau who looks over at him with a raised eyebrow before turning his gaze back to the road. "Yeah? What were you cracking jokes about?" He asks punctuating the question with a squeeze to his thigh. Everett rolls his head to the side so he can look over at Beau.

"When I said that if you ask me on a date that means you have to do all the work. Like, I just want to let you know that I obviously don't mind driving or paying for dates," he explains. Beau doesn't even take a moment to think about what was just said to him before he responds. "This isn't work, though. I like driving you around and I know that I'm not exactly the breadwinner in this relationship, but I still want to buy you shit."

While it may not have been the most eloquently phrased sentiment, it was definitely an authentic one. The butterflies in Everett's stomach persist and he feels his cheeks heat at Beau's sincere words. Clearing his throat, he tries to lighten the conversation which is beginning to feel too serious. "Well, good. I'm ready to be spoiled," he says in a teasing tone.

Normally, when one of them starts a bit, the other will follow without question. If Beau pretends to be annoyed with Everett, then Everett will add on to the bit by being comedically over-dramatic about whatever situation is occurring. This also works the other way around when Everett starts his own bit where, for example, he is being playfully angry with Beau who pretends to be mad in return before they end up laughing at how far they take the fake scenario.

Now, however, Beau responds to his joking bit with even more sincerity. "You deserve to be spoiled," he states in a way that is so painfully matter of fact. The sentence was said as if he just told Everett the weather forecast for the day or that the sky is blue and water is wet. Before he knows it, Everett feels his eyes begin to water.

"Yo—what's happening? Are you alright?" Everett doesn't know what his face looks like right now, but apparently it's concerning enough for Beau to pull over on the side of the road and put the car in park. Beau undoes his seatbelt, puts his left hand on Everett's right shoulder and places his right hand on Everett's cheek. His thumb wipes away a single tear that escaped Everett's left eye.

Feeling embarrassed by his overreaction, Everett wipes at both of his eyes and looks down at his lap as his cheeks continue to burn red. "Oh my God—I'm sorry about this. I swear I'm fine," he tries to reassure the worried driver. This obviously doesn't help remedy Beau's concerns. He's still holding on to the smaller man as he uses his sweatshirt sleeve to gently dab at the fresh tears falling from Everett's eyes. "Don't do that, your shirt's gonna get all gross and wet," Everett mumbles.

He feels Beau continue to wipe away the tears that gathered under his eyes as well as the trail one left which made it down to his jawline. "I used to let my little brother use my sleeves as a tissue when he'd cry," Beau tells him.

Everett finally makes eye contact with him. "Finn? You really did that for him?" Everett asks curiously.

"Don't act so surprised," Beau chuckles softly. "I mean, you know the gist of my family situation. Our dad was an ass a lot of the time, it upset all of us. I cried a lot, but I mostly tried to hide it from my mom and Finn. They didn't need to see me like that. Finn wasn't great with bottling up his emotions, so I usually had to help him calm down after dad's episodes."

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that." Everett takes Beau's left hand that previously rested on his shoulder and interlocks their fingers. Beau gives him a sad smile and squeezes his fingers. "It's no big deal, I got used to it growing up. Now—can you let me know what just set you off? Because if it's something I said, then I promise I won't bring it up ever again." His thumb is rubbing circles on Everett's hand.

Being reminded of what made them stop in the first place, Everett finds himself self-conscious once more. He looks down at his lap and says, "It's dumb. I don't know.... Like, I loved Charlotte and I think she loved me. It's funny, though, because you and her show that you care about me in very different ways. She was really great at being there for me when I was sick or going through a tough time. When stuff like that happened, she'd make me food or put on my favorite movie and sit with me even though I know for a fact that she doesn't like my movie choices. She also always made sure that she had coffee ready for me in the mornings and would send me texts asking about how my day was going when I'd have to be in person for work."

Everett feels bad because he can see that Beau looks a little uncomfortable and annoyed hearing about his ex. To his credit, he does seem to be trying to tamper down his clear dislike for Charlotte and listen to Everett talk through his emotions.

"And then there's you," Everett says which seems to help Beau look less tense knowing that they're moving on from complimenting Charlotte. "I wasn't really sure what to expect from you when you first said that you wanted to be in a relationship with me. In high school you went through girlfriends like it was your job. I always heard stories about you hurting girls' feelings when you'd leave them to get with someone prettier or more interesting. I personally saw more than one girl crying over you and call you a 'heartless dick'." Beau tries to keep a neutral face, but Everett can see the guilt and worry in his eyes as he squeezes Everett's hand a bit tighter. Everett squeezes back in an effort to reassure him that he's not judging him or trying to call him out.

"You've been a completely different person, though, since you moved in with me. You're so much more mature now and it shows. You want to work, you want to help cook and clean and you want to hang out with me—or at least I think you do," Everett laughs, trying again to lighten the mood. "Now that we're.... Whatever we are. You are so good. Like, I knew that you were a smooth talker considering all of the girls you were able to get in high school, but you seriously just know what to say all the time. Even before you asked me out, you were able to figure out exactly what I needed to hear. I just think that I'm not used to really nice things being said to me in a relationship." Beau looks offended on is behalf hearing this, so Everett tries to clarify what he means. "Charlotte wasn't mean to me, but she also wasn't really into lovey-dovey stuff. And with everything happening with the divorce.... I think you saying nice things to me is making me even more emotional than I already am. Sorry for rambling. This is really embarrassing, I just wanted to try to explain what the fuck just happened to me."

Beau has a small smile on his face as he uses his hand that's still on Everett's cheek to direct him to look him in the eyes again. "Quit saying sorry. I have mad respect for you with everything you're going through right now. Like—a divorce is already heavy enough, but now you're going out with a guy who was a piece of shit in high school and also has been living with you for over a month now. That's enough to make anyone go fucking insane, dude—snook."

Pecking him on the lips, Everett pulls back with a smile before saying, "Pavlov's dog. You're doing a great job at correcting yourself." Beau lightly taps his cheek before rescinding his hand while trying to suppress a smile. "It's a great system we got worked out here. How about we get back on the road now so we can finally get some breakfast?"

"It's noon," Everett informs him with a cheeky smile still present on his face. Beau puts the car back into drive and grabs Everett's hand to hold over the center console. "Breakfast, lunch—fuck if I care at this point. I need food in me before our next deep conversation. This shit is draining the energy out of me."

Everett laughs and Beau wears a satisfied grin on his face as they finish the short drive to Café Mocha.

-

They place their coffee and food orders in at the counter. Beau gets a breakfast sandwich on an English muffin and Everett gets crêpes with mixed berries on top. Once they get their drinks, they find a table by the front window and sit while they wait for their food.

"Y'know," Beau says after taking a sip of his black coffee, "I haven't been on a date in ages. I'm so rusty with this shit, I don't know if I'm even doing it right." Everett smiles at the admission and sips his cold brew before responding. "Hm—I think you're doing alright. If anything, I'm not doing this right considering I already cried and talked about my ex before we even got here."

Beau throws his head back and laughs, making Everett feel a sense of pride for causing such a reaction. When he looks back at Everett, his eyes crinkle with laughter and he has a smile wider than his usual smirk on his face. "I guess that's true. I can return the favor if you want by talking about childhood trauma and my least favorite ex."

"To be fair, you did kind of talk about childhood trauma already," Everett points out with a smile of his own. "Shit—you got me there." Beau snaps his fingers and leans back in his seat pretending to be defeated. He then looks at Everett for a moment before saying, "It feels like we're hanging out like usual, right? This is literally what we would do before."

Picking at the paper label on his cup, Everett shrugs at him and responds, "Yeah. We basically were already going on dates before. Now we can go on the same dates, but this time we know we can make out later." Everett feels victorious when this makes Beau laugh just as hard as he did at his last joke.

"You have a point there. Maybe making out with the homies was the key to a happy relationship all along." Beau grins through the ridiculous statement. Everett from high school would never in a thousand years believe that he'd be having this conversation with Beau Coleman. It almost feels like a fever dream when Everett stops to really think about it. Rather than voicing these thoughts, he instead says, "Glad we could come to that realization together."

"Everett!" A shrill voice calls out, making Everett jump in surprise.

He looks to his left and sees Haley Ivany, a young woman who teaches at Sinting Elementary. She's a sweet girl, but Everett often finds it difficult to exit a conversation with her. The bubbly woman strides up to their table in her sundress with a bright smile on her face. He quickly glances at Beau who has crossed his arms and is staring at Haley with a slightly furrowed brow, laughter long forgotten.

Haley reaches their table and clasps her hands together excitedly as she looks down at Everett. "I haven't seen you around in a while! How are you doing? Where've you been?" She seems to have just noticed Beau sitting there staring at her with a blank expression on his face. Before Everett can respond to any of her comments or questions, she turns her full attention to Beau. "Hi there, I'm Haley! I've never seen you around. What's your name? How do you know Everett here?"

Again, the woman is incredibly friendly and kind, but she just has trouble letting people get a word in. "Haley—this is my friend, Beau. We were neighbors growing up and he's been staying with me for a little bit." Everett finds space to give an explanation to the curious teacher.

"So great to meet you, Beau!" Haley exclaims and Beau gives her a small wave in acknowledgement. "Where's the wife at, Ev? Is it cramped in the house with all three of you? You and Charlotte should host another party at your place. The barbecue you had last summer was-"

"Charlotte and I are getting a divorce." Everett wants this conversation to be over as soon as possible.

In hindsight, maybe he should've went about interrupting Haley and breaking the news to her in a nicer way. Beau has uncrossed his arms and is leaning into the table more looking as if he wants to reach out to comfort Everett, but thinks better of doing so in front of Haley. Haley, on the other hand, brings a hand up to cover the gasp that escapes her mouth. Her eyes are wide with shock and she looks speechless for once in her life.

"Oh my," she whispers before nervously fiddling with her fingers. "I'm so sorry to hear that. How are you doing?" Everett feels guilty about how badly he wants the concerned woman to leave him alone.

Letting out a sigh, Everett simply says, "Hanging in there. Just trying to catch up with some old friends in the meantime." He gestures to Beau who looks ready to leave as soon as Everett gives him any indication to do so. "Of course! So sorry for interrupting, boys. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Haley turns around and nearly collides with the employee holding their food. She awkwardly shuffles around them, grabs her drink that's been sitting on the counter and exits the café.

"That was.... something," Beau states, still staring at Everett. Cutting into a crêpe, Everett puts a forkful in his mouth before answering. "Yeah, that sure was." He knows he's not giving much information to Beau, but he's not sure what else to say about that interaction. "You alright with her knowing that you're getting a divorce?" Beau asks cautiously.

Everett nudges Beau's plate towards him, wordlessly signaling for him to start eating his food. "I was gonna have to start letting people know at some point. I can't keep making excuses as to why Char isn't here in Sinting." Beau nods at this and takes a bite of his breakfast sandwich. "So, what's your comfort movie?" Everett is confused by the change in topic. He thought for sure that Beau wouldn't let him get away with avoiding talking about his feelings on telling people about his divorce.

Letting out a light laugh, Everett responds, "Uh, Grown Ups. That movie with Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and those other guys. I, um, always watch that when I'm feeling down."

"Good choice." Beau smiles at him and knocks his foot against Everett's under the table.

-

When they get home, Beau instructs him to change into sweatpants and then come back downstairs to the family room. When Everett is in his comfy clothes, he goes downstairs where he finds Beau on the couch with a bowl of popcorn as he scrolls on Netflix to find Grown Ups.

"Perfect timing. Come here." Beau lifts up the blanket draped over his lap and motions with his head for Everett to come sit next to him. When Everett settles on the couch, Beau covers him with the blanket, puts his arm over his shoulders and drags him in close so Everett is half lying on top of him. Everett smiles into Beau's chest and whispers, "thank you," as the opening scene starts to play. "No need to thank me. You deserve this," Beau whispers back. Everett doesn't cry this time, but instead hugs Beau tighter and cuddles further into him.