Page 124 of Pistols and Plush Toys

Elliot didn’t know enough, but he couldn’t ask all of those questions right now. Their rekindled friendship was still too new. But as Xander demolished his burger and fries, Elliot wondered.

“Oh so hey, Nikolai, what does he do?” Xander asked in between bites of French fry.

“He owns his own jewelry business,” Elliot said. That was easy enough to talk about, at last. “Well, co-owns. Gerard is actually the other partner.”

Xander’s eyes flickered to behind Elliot again. “Oh really? That’s cool. Like online? Or is there a store in the city?”

“I think they do online, but they have stores here too. They own Elementals on Juliet Street and Gold N’ Lock on Broadchurch.” Elliot purposely didn’t bring up Lucky Clover, because Xander might’ve seen the news coverage. That might bring too much up that Elliot didn’t feel like he could talk about.

“Oh!” Xander said excitedly. “I’ve been in Elementals. They had some music themed necklaces a few years ago that I went and looked at. Nice stuff.”

Elliot’s own eyes dipped to the necklace Xander was fiddling with.

Xander chuckled as he finished the last fry in his basket. “No, not this. This one’s just silicone. That was back in the Caleb years anyway, so I’m glad I didn’t end up with one and the debt to follow. They were nice though. I remember.”

Elliot pushed his plate with the rest of his fries toward Xander. “Do you want the rest? I’m done with them.”

“Oh hey, thanks,” Xander said and started on the fries. Elliot had to hold his expression not to frown. Was Xander just extra hungry today? Or was he not getting enough food?

“Of course,” Elliot said. “And yeah. Nikolai and Gerard work with a lot of up-and-coming artists. It’s really cool.”

“That’s legit,” Xander said enthusiastically. “Well if he’s nice and helping you out, that’s great. I’m glad. You deserve to have more good people around you.”

“So do you,” Elliot told him.

Their waitress coasted by the table then, dropping a folded up receipt discreetly on the edge. Xander snapped it up before Elliot could.

“Are you busy after this?” Xander asked as he pulled out his wallet.

Elliot scowled at him. “No. But I was going to pay.”

“No way.” Xander shook his head. “I invited you out, I pay.”

“But–” Elliot started.

“Nope!” Xander waved a finger at him. “Just because you know I’m broke, doesn’t mean I don’t get to pay for stuff once in a while. It wouldn’t be fair, okay?”

Elliot understood. There was help and then there was pity.

“Okay,” Elliot said. “But I make the plans next time.”

“Sounds good,” Xander said easily. “But anyway, I was thinking—there's a music store a block down, and they have a record I reserved a while back that I need to grab. Do you want to come? We could also browse a little, hang out some more? They’ve got a ton of stuff. If you want!”

“Okay, yeah that sounds fun,” Elliot said with a smile. He was warmed at the fact that Xander wanted to spend more time with him.

“Do you have to like… inform your bodyguard?” Xander asked, nodding in Gerard’s direction as the waitress swung back by for Xander’s card.

“Um… I think he just follows us.” Although Elliot was guessing. He wasn’t quite sure how this was supposed to go.

Xander’s brows pulled together. “I mean, do you want him to just hang out with us? He doesn’t have to follow from a distance like he’s in a spy movie, does he?”

“I mean I—I guess he can come with us?” Gerard had seemingly had no issue joining him and Meredith. “But–I mean,don’t feel like we have to. He knows I’m here to hang out with you. I don’t want to impose on our time.”

Xander looked thoughtfully between Elliot and over his shoulder. “It’s cool,” he said. “I don’t mind. And this way I can give him the shovel talk!”

“Here you go, thank you,” the waitress said as she dropped back by Xander’s card and the final receipt. “I hope you two have a nice day!”

They both thanked her and then Elliot turned his attention back to Xander.

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