Page 61 of Margins

“You’re allowed to talk,” Elijah teases, soft and sweet. “I won’t get spooked by the sound of your voice.”

“Mmmm, no, I know. But you don’t know what my voice might say.”

Elijah shoots him a quick look, his eyebrows high. “Well, now you have to talk.”

“What about the spooking?”

“Probably impossible.”

Alex’s gaze wanders elsewhere, like there’s actually any way out but through, and he’s still somewhere around his side mirror when he talks. “Are you guys still planning to put your grandpa’s house on the market after the new year?”

“Yeah. I’ve got most of it ready. Might have another garage sale weekend, but don’t worry, I’ll wear my ‘Property of Alex Ramos’ hoodie those mornings.” Elijah squeezes Alex’s hand, but everything’s a little too tight in Alex’s chest, and it takes him a second to smile at the joke. Elijah squeezes another time to acknowledge the delay. “No, seriously, what’s up?”

“What if you didn’t?”

“What if I didn’t what?” Elijah asks.

“What if you didn’t put the house on the market? What if you bought your brother and sister out of their share?”

“Come on, we’ve already talked about this. It’s silly to move into a house that big when it’s just Poe and me.”

“But—”

“But I have all those incredible memories there. Yeah, I know,” Elijah sighs. “And not to be spectacularly cheesy or anything, but the memories will stay with me long after the house belongs to someone else.”

“No, that’s not—” Alex shakes his head and finally looks at Elijah again, Elijah’s focus back on the road. “I was going to say, but what if it wasn’t just Poe and you? What if maybe it was me, too?”

Elijah’s gasp is far too loud in the quiet car, no matter how much he tries to swallow it down after it’s long gone, and now Alex is the one who’s spooked, about to scramble to take it all back, a shoulder pressed to the car door and his hand pulling away from Elijah’s until Elijah is grabbing for anything else to hold, the sleeve of Alex’s henley an innocent victim to his grip.

“Don’t you dare freak out on me now. I swear to god, Alex, I will pull over if I have to.”

“To leave me on the side of the road until someone takes pity on me?”

Elijah scoffs. “To kiss you senseless, even though you’re being an idiot right now.”

“Okay, if I don’t freak out, does that mean we’re gonna talk about my offer to live with your dog?”

“You really like my dog that much?”

“I love your dog,” Alex says, his voice low enough that it might be hidden by the hum of the road. He isn’t sure whether he wants it to be, but Elijah lets it go either way.

“What about your house, though?” Elijah asks. “I mean, either one is pretty big for us, but two seems incredibly excessive. And if one of them has to go, shouldn’t it be the house that’s already mostly empty?”

“Okay, yeah, it’s not the most logical move, but it feels right. I’m still living in the shadow of a life I built with someone else, and it’s not—I don’t need to escape it. It’s fine. But if you and I could be together in a place that kept you safe before you really understood why—a place where a little piece of queer history was damn near built into the foundation and painted onto the walls—it seems worth it to do everything a little bit backward. It seems worth it to live in their shadows instead.” Alex takes a deep breath and finds Elijah’s hand again, his own trembling as it gives away his secrets. “And I—I’d obviously want to see how Elena feels about it all, though if you haven’t noticed, she’s kind of a fan of yours. I’m pretty sure she’ll trade the house for the chance to be closer to you.”

“Jesus, Alex, I—what about Cassidy?”

“Also a big fan of yours, which should probably terrify me more than it does. Not inviting her to move in, though.”

Elijah can’t quite elbow him while their hands are still tangled against the console and he’s keeping his eyes on the spots of traffic around them, but the attempt is a decent one, and it’s exactly what they both need before Alex squirms away with a laugh.

“You know, Poe loves you too, but I’m not totally sure how he feels about all your sass.”

“Pretty sure my sass is one of the things he loves the most about me,” Alex bites back. “But yes, I definitely need to talk to Cassidy too, and if I sell it, she’d get half the proceeds.”

“But then with some of your half, and with the money I have in savings, we could—”

“Yeah. We could,” Alex murmurs. “If you want.”

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