Page 113 of Pistols and Plush Toys

Gerard:How was the movie? What did you see?

Nikolai:Movie was fine. Was about men starting dog rescue.

Meredith:Isn’t that a romcom?

Gerard:it is, I just looked it up. A queer romcom, even

Meredith:How interesting!

Nikolai could practically hear those words in Meredith’s voice and see the amused, sarcastic slant of her mouth.

Nikolai: is what was playing.

Gerard:hmmmm…

Now Nikolai could see Gerard and his knowing smile. He grumbled to himself.

Nikolai:No “hmmm…” Was this not plan?

Meredith:We’re just curious! None of us have been on a date in the last… five years?

Gerard:I think it’s more like 7 for Kolya.

Meredith:7 years. So I just wanted to know how things went.

Nikolai:went fine. Is just plan.

He glared at his screen.

Nikolai:is not real.

Gerard:do we believe him?

Meredith:I don’t know.

Nikolai wanted to stop talking about this. He wanted to stop thinking about last night, and how Elliot had lit up at the restaurant once he’d become more comfortable, and how engaged he’d been in the movie, and how soft he’d been when they’d wished each other good night.

Nikolai:We are doing meeting. Are we doing meeting?

Meredith:We have our meeting in five minutes if you look at the invite. I scheduled it.

Meredith:I just wanted to mention, if you need another date idea, the Fall Arts Festival is this next week. Gianna and Ezra are tabling for us, but Elliot might like the crafts. They always have a farmer’s market part too. Food, music.

Gerard:that sounds fun, I wanna go!

Meredith:you’re busy that weekend. You and I are marathoning the new season of Fardian, remember?

Gerard:oh, fuck yeah!! Did you book the massages for after?

Meredith:Of course I did.

Gerard:guess you’re just going to have to tell us how it is, Kolya…….

Nikolai:now is three minutes to meeting. We can start?

He got laughing emojis from the both of them. Nikolai rolled his eyes as he turned on his computer.

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