Making Remy Laugh (BoyxBoy)

Seven- Cecil Clarke

A/N It's happening. They're going out. For coffee. As friends, but still. It's cute

Cecil picked Remy up at the bookstore at three o'clock, only two hours after they had first agreed to get coffee. While Remy had unenthusiastically suggested they go later in the week, Cecil didn't want the boy to have time to really think about what he was doing and change his mind. Luckily, Remy had agreed to his suggestion of them going that afternoon, sighing and telling him when he got off work, and then claiming to be tired so it wasn't actually a bad idea.

When Remy climbed in Cecil's car, he immediately buckled, and then folded his hands patiently in his lap, glancing at the silver haired boy with a blank expression. "You're not wearing glasses anymore".

Cecil didn't speak right away, once again noticing how sore Remy's hands looked, but he didn't want to bring it up when he was already walking on thin ice.

His brain processed Remy's words from a moment before and developed an appropriate response. "That's because I put my contacts in so I didn't further embarrass myself". Remy nodded, and then began to chew his lip. It came off as nervous to Cecil, so he smiled in a way that he hoped was reassuring. "Calm down, hun. We're just getting coffee. This isn't a date".

"I am calm," Remy said immediately, looking out of the window as Cecil began to drive. "And I know this isn't a date. I wouldn't be going if it was a date".

"Ouch," Cecil said, but he was grinning. "Way to put me in my place, kid".

"I'm eighteen".

"Really now," He said, and Remy spared him a glance before looking away quickly. He was nervous, but Cecil pretended not to notice. "Eighteen whole years? And how tall are you?"

There was a pleasant growling noise that left Remy's lips. "Why does my height matter at all?"

"It doesn't matter," Cecil assured quickly. It didn't. He liked Remy's height, but it change that he was interested in him as person. "I'm just curious, is all". Remy remained silent. "You know, I thought the whole point of this was to get to know one another better-"

"Is it?" Remy interrupted. Cecil was quiet for a moment as he payed attention to driving, taking a right turn onto the street with the cafe.

"It is," he finally said. "Or at least I thought it was. We could sit silently and I could appreciate your beautiful face, but I prefer to actually have a conversation. I mean, we are going out as friends, and friends tend to know things about one another". Cecil pulled into the parking lot then, parking in the nearest spot to the shop's front door.

"Is that what friends do?" Remy asked, looking over at him as he withdrew his keys from the ignition. Cecil was surprised by this.

'Yeah. Isn't that what you do with Sydney?" Cecil asked, and Remy shrugged.

"He's my cousin," Remy explained. "When we met, he had already had heard everything about me so we didn't need to do all that stuff".

"He had already heard everything about you? Even the weird quirky things".

"Quirky things," Remy repeated. "What does that mean?"

"You know, like, the little things". Remy still didn't seem to understand. "Alright, so like... I really like chocolate, and I sing in the shower, but when people are talking about me, that never comes up. All they talk about is my asshole parents and how much I like vodka".

"Oh," Remy said slowly, and Cecil nodded. "I don't think I have anything like that. I'm a very empty person".

"Oh, that's not true". Remy's mouth opened to protest, but Cecil just spoke over him. "When we went out for ice cream, Atticus said that you like cold things, and you like sour things". Cecil paused, thinking, "and, during swim lessons, Atticus mentioned that you hate getting your entire body wet, but you like the water-"