Page 150 of Pistols and Plush Toys

“Oh, you play violin?” Meredith asked. She was eyeing Nikolai and Gerard with deep suspicion, like even though she didn’t understand Russian, she knew they were being inappropriate.

“He’s really good!” Elliot said. “He does busking at the park.”

“Oh, the one downtown?” Meredith asked.

“Yeah. Near the Park Street fountain,” Xander said, beaming. It reminded Nikolai of the way Elliot lit up when someone talked to him about food. “I was telling Elliot that he and Nikolai should come by sometime after one of their date nights. I’ll play something romantic! And then they could slow dance in the park like a movie. It’d be totally cute. There’s a lot of couples who take romantic strolls in the evening there.”

What?Nikolai had heard none of this. He turned to look at Elliot. Elliot, who had ducked his head and was pinking.

“Sounds good, okay,” Nikolai said before he could think it through.

He felt both Gerard and Meredith’s eyes on him as soon as he said it. But he was only looking at Elliot.

“Really?” Elliot’s eyes were wide as he finally lifted his head. The blush made him look so pretty.

“If you will like,” Nikolai said.Anything you like—

“Ugh, you’re so cute.” Xander sighed. “I’m so happy for you two. Jealous, but happy.”

“Oh, um, t-thanks,” Elliot said. Nikolai could see how embarrassed he was, but he was going along with their story anyway.

Well. Technically the plan was still in play. Nikolai had eyes on him, it made sense to keep up the story until Mattia was back in the states.

But Mattiawascoming back. And if this was going to be his very last opportunity, Nikolai was going to let himself enjoy it for the evening.

Which was why, even though he knew he’d hear about it from his best friends later, Nikolai let himself do the thing he’d been wanting to since they sat down and slid his arm over the back of the booth. Not technically touching Elliot, but there. Because, at least for tonight, they were together. They were acute couple.

The waiter returned with their drinks, three glasses of water and two bottles of sparkling. When he’d left to give them a few more minutes as Xander and Meredith perused the menu, Nikolai noticed Gerard sipping at his bubbling water with cautious interest.

“Since when you are drinking bubble water?” Nikolai asked him.

Gerard looked up from where he’d been inspecting the bubbles, and the expression on his face was the same one he’dmade when Nikolai had walked in on him jamming out to the Mamma Mia soundtrack after ranting about the horrible pop sound of it just weeks before. Like he was guilty and trying to pretend he wasn’t. “Since now. I’m trying something new. Meredith says it’s good, so I figured I’d try.”

“And is it?” Meredith asked from behind her menu.

“I mean, it’s not bad,” Gerard said, tilting his glass from side to side. “I like the carbonation. I think next time I’ll get a soda though.”

“You could try a mocktail,” Elliot offered, flipping through his menu. “Almost all the ones here are soda based. So you’d get the carbonation but also an interesting flavor. Like they have the Birch.”

Gerard picked up his menu to look at it again. “Sarsaparilla?” He asked.

“It’s like a root beer flavor,” Elliot explained.

“We have one of those at Blue Snake,” Xander put in. “I think sarsaparilla is pretty trendy right now.”

“Oh really?” Elliot asked, perking up. “I didn’t even see that on your menu.”

“It’s new,” Xander said. “We just added it. It’s called the Root of It.”

Elliot had pulled out his phone and Nikolai could see him scrolling through Blue Snake’s menu. “Wow, you have a couple new ones,” Elliot said. “How’s The Peachy?”

“That one issogood,” Xander said with feeling. “The peach and apple shrub really balance each other out.”

“What in the world is an apple shrub?” Gerard asked.

“It’s an apple fermentation in vinegar,” Elliot said without missing a beat, not even looking up from the menu on his phone.

“Vinegar?” Gerard made a face.

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