I Told The Moon About You

24: Low Tide

"I won big time," Marco stated smugly.

"By that he means he came out with ten dollars more than last time," Felix added, hiding a smile by taking a sip from his drink when Marco started protesting.

"Still — I didn't lose money at all!" Marco crossed his arms. "You should be happy."

"You're right. I'm happy you're not a gambling addict."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Shitstain," he muttered.

Elias hummed. "Good for you, Marco."

The man stared at him, eyes narrowing. Elias frowned at that. "What?" he asked.

"You're being nice. 'Good for you, Marco,' but...?"

"There – There's no 'but?'" Elias responded, his phrase coming out as more of a question. "Do you want there to be one?"

"Absolutely not, thank you."

"Okay," Elias mused, then looked to his side to see Roman still lazily flipping through the menu. The breakfast menu wasn't that big, so why was he still looking? "Roman."

"Hm?"

"Are you picky with your breakfast food?"

Roman shook his head. Elias almost asked him why he was being so quiet until he remembered. He'd gotten a little too used to Roman letting loose around him. "You need a recommendation? What's up?"

He lifted his hands slightly, pausing. Then, he slowly signed the words: "Not picky, just don't know what to choose."

"So, a recommendation?"

Roman nodded after a few moments of thinking it over. Elias smiled and moved in a little closer, sliding his finger down to tap below what he usually got. "This is my favorite," he told him. "Sweet and savory." He turned his head to look at Roman, finding that his face was a little closer than intended. He tried not to flinch back. He didn't want to make it awkward. Roman was better at that.

"'Kay." Roman cleared his throat, his gaze anxiously flicking to meet his, then back down at the menu. "I'll do that."

"I'll order for you," Elias offered. Roman looked grateful as Elias pulled away — because of the not-as-close proximity, or the fact that he was ordering for him? Who knew. (Just kidding. It was both).

Elias went back to his original position and looked up, catching Marco's stare. And when he glanced to the side, he found that the others were staring, too. "God," Elias sighed. "What? What do you want?"

Marco shook his head, eyebrows raised as he sipped his drink. "Nothin'."

The others looked away, too, when Elias fixed his glare on them next. Honestly — this was proof they knew of Roman's crush. He already knew — but now he knew for sure. They were definitely trying to find signs of if they were flirting or not. It wasn't just Roman who was making him feel like a teenager again, it seemed.

Elias ordered for Roman as he said he would, and when their orders came, Marco and them stopped sneaking glances. Or rather, they didn't sneak glances as much as before.

It seemed like Marco was minding his own business for once.

Partially.

___

The rest of the trip went by the same: peaceful, relaxing. Elias was honestly dreading going back home and working — his friends were right; he did need a break. And now that he'd had one, he was feeling lazy.

Even more so since Mars wasn't coming home yet. She'd be back by Wednesday, which was two days from now. And he definitely couldn't clean, so he had no idea what he was going to do when he got home. Eat dinner, then sleep?

God, he was boring. He really needed a hobby. He just wasn't quite sure what he was interested in anymore.

He distinctly remembered having a photography phase in high school — basically all things art. It didn't last long. His interests always aligned with Kris' — whatever she was obsessed with, he became intrigued by, all because he looked up to her.

Kris.

Elias glanced at his phone sitting on his bedside table. He almost forgot about his siblings. How could he forget?

You were distracted by Roman. It was true. Unfortunately.

He opened up his messages and decided to send Alex a text. Maybe he could set up a time to meet up with them and Iris? His stomach fluttered with nerves — he hadn't seen them in so, so long. His last memory of those two was them siding with his parents when they rejected him.

He let out a disbelieving laugh. He couldn't believe Alex ended up queer, too. And Iris accepted him by default since they'd been glued at the hip since they were little.

Elias was happy about it, but he wished he could've been there for Alex when they were discovering himself. It was so much more comforting to have someone like you around when you were learning things.

But he seemed okay. And from what Elias heard, so did Iris. And that was all he could ever ask for.

Elias -
Hey, I have time on Monday and Tuesday, unless you want to wait until the weekend

Alex answered within mere minutes. Elias chuckled quietly to himself.

Alex -
tuesday is perfect!! did you have any places in mind? (-:

They texted for a while, mulling over possible places they could go and meet up. They ended up deciding on dinner together, the easy option. Elias was nervous — he almost didn't want to go, but he knew he wanted to at the same time.

Right after he finished his conversation with Alex, he instinctively went to his messages with Roman to tell him about it. It was so natural at this point — to tell Roman things he'd usually just keep to himself, whether big deals or not at all.

And Roman, as always, was excited when he was excited, happy when he was happy. Seriously — Elias was really wondering more and more how he never noticed. He couldn't stop thinking about it and picking up on things he would've never second guessed before.

He had a feeling Roman was one of a kind. And really, Elias would be stupid to let him go.