Chapter 6
Six
According to Elio, that was how physicists of their caliber were supposed to be treated at privately-funded institutes like Starlight.
Ironically, what was most refreshing was the atmosphere in their office!
For the first time in Milo’s academic and professional career, he was treated like an equal and regularly deferred to.
Instead of a student, assistant, intern, fellow, or a loser, Milo was treated more like a supervisor while Elio stormed around the building and made sure they were left alone.
Not that Elio wasn’t carrying his weight with the work. He came in almost every day and stayed for hours at a time. His feedback was often positive and encouraging and Elio made some crucial observations about polynomial time that had given Milo several ideas.
But all of that was easily forgivable because Milo knew that it could be so much worse.
Plus, he was doing real work and he was completely engrossed with the project.
Milo walked around with his head in a theoretical cloud, pondering quadratic and linear time.
He rarely thought about Brad or the Mean Guys and wasn’t a stressed-out wreck when he rode the train home, and he no longer bothered to stake out the Olympia before crossing the street.
Milo hovered around the mailboxes in the lobby, reading his dad’s King Arthur catalog and made small talk with the doormen but eventually gave up and took the elevator to the 6th floor. He listened in the hallway but 6A was silent.
His mother’s place, on the other hand…
“Milo!” Luna flew at him as soon as he let himself in and Milo laughed as he caught her and spun.
“How was practice?” he asked, setting her down and giving her a twirl.
She was still in her leotard and sweatpants but she had traded her slippers for Converse and they made funny squeaking sounds on the marble. “It was fine. Dad and I got ice cream on the way home.”
“Nice!” Milo grabbed her wrists and she grabbed his before he swung her up and around his back. Her knees hugged his waist and he gave her a boost up so they were securely under his armpits.
“I missed you.” Luna squeezed his neck and kissed his hair, making Milo sigh. It was his absolute favorite feeling in the world and she could make just about anything better or bearable.
“I missed you too.” He gave her arm a kiss and headed into the kitchen. “Hey, Mom!” he called when he found her in the pantry. “Where’re the dads?”
There were only two pizza boxes, signaling that Riley was not joining them. There would be four if he was coming.
Claire leaned out and passed him a bottle of his favorite juice. “I thought they could use a date night so I borrowed Luna and we’re having a sleepover.”
She often “borrowed” Luna so Giles and Riley could have 8B to themselves. The arrangement was perfect for Claire because she got to enjoy all the perks of being a girl mom without having to birth another child or all the real responsibilities of parenthood.
“Ooh! Can I stay too?” Milo begged playfully and Luna pressed her hands together, giggling.
“I don’t know…” Claire tapped her chin. “You two Gremlins can be handfuls,” she teased, then reached around Milo and poked Luna in the ribs, making her squirm.
Milo had his own room in 6C but they usually made a giant tent in the living room when Luna stayed the night with bed sheets and a nest made of quilts and pillows. They would eat pizza and snacks and watch movies until they passed out and Claire would run out for donuts in the morning.
“I’ll get the fairy lights!” Luna said, wiggling down Milo’s back and racing from the kitchen.
“Best week ever,” Milo declared as he poured himself a glass of juice.
“Things are going well with Elio, I take it,” Claire said and Milo hummed enthusiastically as he drank.
“Really well. He’s a lot easier to get along with than I expected. It’s like we just…clicked.”
“Huh!” She planted a hand on her hip and her tongue pushed against the inside of her cheek.
“Don’t do that,” Milo said as he pointed at her. “Whatever it is you’re planning, I don’t like it.”
She held up her hands. “I’m not planning anything.” But her tone said differently. “He’s not a bad looking young man, once you get past all the tattoos and piercings,” he said and Milo frowned.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Claire blinked at him for several moments, waiting for him to catch up but Milo was more interested in a weird bit of pulp in his juice and held the glass up to the light. “You’re spending a lot of time together and you have a lot in common.”
“Like what? Other than our work,” Milo said, sincerely curious as to what else they might have in common.
Her eyes narrowed. “Lots of things.”
“Like?” Milo set his cup down and crossed his arms over his chest. His mother was acting weird, which wasn’t weird in itself because she was always weird.
But she was being extra weird at the moment.
“Name four things we have in common that aren’t related to our work or our studies,” he challenged.
Those were the only things he could think of.
“I can do that!” Claire said with a confident huff. “Easily.” Her hip bounced as she tapped her chin. “Lots of things.”
“You’re stalling.”
“Am not.” She said, then gasped. “You’re both brothers! Elio can probably sympathize with just about anything you’re going through with Luna—good or bad.”
“Okay…” Milo couldn’t deny that. He and Elio were definitely close to their siblings and were devoted to their families.
“You still live with your relatives, that has to have its pros and cons,” Claire mused and held up two fingers.
“That’s true. We’re both privileged in that our families have plenty of room and allow us to stay wherever we want. I can’t see how that’s a con, in my case.”
“Awww!” Claire rose on her tiptoes so she could squeeze his cheeks and kiss him. “Best son ever.”
“I know.” He laughed softly. “You still have two more.”
“I didn’t forget.” She flipped open the pizza boxes and handed Milo a stack of plates. “You both have tattoos.”
“Ha!” Milo set them down, shaking his head. “Because you won that dare and said it would be the coolest Mother’s Day gift ever.”
“It was!” She jabbed the spot on his pelvis, just below the waistband of his jeans, where a quarter-sized Pluto was permanently scratched into his skin. Her tattoo was identical but had Milo’s name and birthday, while his said “Justice For Pluto, 1930-2006.”
“Elio wouldn’t think my tattoo is cool. He’d probably think it was childish.”
“Don’t say that and he wouldn’t!” she said with a wag of her finger. “You said the two of you clicked. You wouldn’t have clicked if he was a jerk.”
“No, he probably wouldn’t say it was childish, but he wouldn’t be impressed.”
“Nonsense. Oh, oh, oh!” She was so proud of herself. “You both like Italian food! He’s half-Italian so he has to like Italian food, right?”
“I like a lot of foods. So does Elio.”
“That’s five!” Claire cheered, then leaned towards the living room. “Luna, come and get your pizza!”
“We both like food,” Milo said as he nodded. “You’re the reason I’m so smart.”
“Not according to your father. I’m sure there’s more but I barely know Elio. We were introduced at the family Christmas party but that was it.”
Milo hadn’t been up to being social that night either so he shrugged as he stacked four slices on his plate. “There’s another thing,” he noted under his breath, not wanting to encourage Claire. Neither of them enjoyed crowded, noisy spaces, Elio was just more vocal about it.
“The tent is all set up and I have everything I need for later,” Luna informed them as she returned in her pajamas and accepted a plate.
“That has to be a record. Take these paper towels, too,” Claire said as she handed Luna a roll.
It was tucked under her arm and Luna carried her plate back to the living room with both hands. “Hurry up!”
“Chill out! I just got home!” Milo called back, rolling his eyes at Claire.
“You’re both handsome young men,” she said and he gave her a questioning look as he folded a slice and took a large bite and chewed, waiting for her to elaborate. “You’re even more oblivious than your father,” she eventually muttered.
“I like being oblivious. The less I know, the less trouble I can get in.”
She cleared her throat suggestively. “Is there a chance you could be attracted to each other?” she asked quietly.
Milo groaned as he dropped the slice on his plate. “Mom!” he complained. “We don’t have that kind of relationship and you know how much romantic stuff and bodies weird me out.”
All bodies weirded Milo out, including his own.
He didn’t mind as much when it was someone he knew well, like Luna, his parents, or the Camerons, but Milo felt too nervous and too aware of himself when strange people entered his personal space.
He had an imaginary force field and Milo was constantly gauging the distances between his body and limbs and the nearest person.
The only thing that weirded him out more was sex. Milo wanted nothing to do with sex and didn’t understand why humans hadn’t evolved and lost the urge to procreate. He had never felt the urge himself and firmly believed that other people’s bodies were none of his business.
“Okay! I was just wondering!”
“Don’t,” Milo said and was about to follow Luna when Claire humphed thoughtfully.
“He could be the perfect catch for someone like you, if you think about it.”
Milo slouched and sighed down at his plate, wishing he was already in the tent and eating with Luna.
“Why would I?” His dads had given him “the talk” when he was fourteen and explained that sex and masturbation were healthy and normal activities and that he could ask them anything.
But Milo hadn’t wanted to ask, believing that he had evolved and that it was all moot because he was never going to try it.
“The perfect catch makes him sound like a fancy fish,” he said under his breath, making Claire snort.
“He’s not a catch because of the title. The von Hessens are a great family and Elio is kind of like a rock star.”
“Exactly. Why would he be interested in an anxious nerd like me? I’m pretty sure he picked me because he feels sorry for me,” Milo said, then ducked and ran before she could swat the back of his head.
“You better take that back!” Claire shouted, which was hilarious to Luna.
“Scoot over and find something for us to watch.” The tent was made from four king-sized sheets, clothes pinned together and suspended from the entertainment center and over the back of the sofa so they could watch television and play video games.
Luna’s lights were plugged in and swagged from the pastel floral and striped ceiling.
It was like a fairy dream fort and Milo’s favorite place in the world.
Thanks to Claire, Milo was too distracted to play a video game.
Could he have more in common with Elio and could they be more than coworkers and academic peers?
Friends seemed possible but a romantic or intimate relationship?
Milo couldn’t picture anything beyond platonic friendship, everything else was so foreign and mysterious to him.
Mostly because he had never cared and got nervous whenever someone who wasn’t his parents or Luna entered his orbit.
He wasn’t as nervous around Elio anymore and found that he liked when they were working at the touchscreen together or comparing notes.
Elio’s appearance didn’t really register, except when Milo caught himself studying a peek of a tattoo he hadn’t seen before.
But when he really thought about Elio’s features and his build, Milo did like them.
.. Particularly Elio’s face. He “talked” with his hands and his expressions a lot and he had beautiful brown eyes.
Milo liked that he rarely had to guess what Elio was thinking.
Milo was less curious about the act of being intimate, more intrigued at the idea of being intimate with Elio.
The odds of Elio finding Milo desirable were probably nil.
But the idea of exploring something new with Elio was fascinating to Milo—on a purely scientific level, of course—and didn’t seem as intimidating or strange as it did with other people.
That alone was a huge development for Milo and one that he would need to explore on his own more before involving anyone else, despite his mother’s hopes and schemes.