15. Quinn

CHAPTER 15

"Can I post this picture?" Quinn asked as he drafted Weston's "sick day" social media post. It was a cute one, a selfie he'd taken of the two of them in bed. Weston had his head on Quinn's chest and his hood was covering most of his face, but there was a sweet little peek of his eyelashes, nose, and lips.

"That one's cute. Send it to me," Weston mumbled.

"I took it with your phone, babe," Quinn said. A few minutes previously, Weston had unlocked his phone and opened Twitter, asking Quinn to make the "no stream today" post. Neither of them had gotten good sleep the night before, and Weston was groggy and not feeling better.

He attached the photo to a new tweet. Babe's out sick today. Gluten. You know. He's being well taken care of, don't worry. -Q

He posted it, then cross-posted the message to Instagram. Almost immediately, he started getting responses. He read through the comments on the Instagram post and the things people tweeted in response, but he left his DMs alone. "You've got a bunch of well-wishers," Quinn told the sleeping boy on his chest. He got a mumble in return.

Quinn was getting restless. He slipped out of bed, putting Weston's bat in his arms as consolation, and went to explore the groceries he'd ordered for delivery early that morning when he hadn't been able to sleep.

He was pretty sure he could figure out how to make soup. And if something went wrong, he could call his mom.

It wasn't the most fun weekend he'd ever had with Weston, but it was important. Thinking about Weston doing all of this alone broke Quinn's heart.

Maybe that feeling was why Hunter would come over just to do his dishes or heat up chicken nuggets for him. Because he wanted to lighten the load.

By Monday night, Weston was beginning to feel better, and seeing his face go from melancholic to animated was worth the days of weathering this storm. However, Quinn didn't want to leave.

"Thanksgiving is next week," Quinn said, drying them both off after a shower. It wasn't a sexy shower, but getting to press his skin against Weston's even innocently made him feel amazing. Their connection always zapped through him.

"Oh yeah," Weston said, sticking his tongue out. Quinn handed him clean boxers, and he pulled them on but didn't make progress putting more clothes on. They were on their way to bed. The next day, Tuesday, Quinn would stay to stream with him and then go home.

"What are your plans?"

Weston sighed.

"What?"

"I usually have Thanksgiving with Sienna, but she's going to be in Wisconsin. And I'm not going to my parents' house to be yelled at both for not eating what my mom and sister made and also for bringing food I can eat. So I'll probably stream."

"Come down to the Cities. Stay for a while. My little brother is playing a game in town the Monday before. You should come. Do you like hockey? Then stay for a while. My folks are going to go to Madison to see my sister for Thanksgiving so they can see all their kids while they're up here, so it'll be me and Jon and Hunter. I would really love for you to be there too. We can do the whole thing gluten-free."

"You don't have to do that for me," Weston said.

"I know. But I want to. I texted Hunter about it, too. He's game for it. It'll be fun. Please come."

Finally, Weston smiled. "Really?"

"Really."

"Okay." He looked tentatively happy, and Quinn was hoping he could turn that smile up a few watts by the actual day.

"We'll need your help consulting on the menu."

"I'm happy to cook with you two. Unless it's a you-two thing?"

"Not at all. It's casual. Lee's family used to really go all out for Thanksgiving, so it's a bit of a relief to have a small thing this year honestly."

"Is it hard? Going into the first holiday season without him?"

Quinn thought it would be. Their house had always been immaculately decorated. The holidays were the time of year when Quinn had felt most like a grown-up. Now, he wasn't sure he owned a single decoration for any holiday. "No, it feels good."

"Good."

"And you'll come to the hockey game? I promise it's more fun than you think it'll be."

"Okay."

"And we can figure out a stream setup for us in my second bedroom. It's going to be great."