A/N It's happening. They're going out. For coffee. As friends, but still. It's cute

Cecil picked Remy up at the bookstore at three o'clock, only two hours after they had first agreed to get coffee. While Remy had unenthusiastically suggested they go later in the week, Cecil didn't want the boy to have time to really think about what he was doing and change his mind. Luckily, Remy had agreed to his suggestion of them going that afternoon, sighing and telling him when he got off work, and then claiming to be tired so it wasn't actually a bad idea.

When Remy climbed in Cecil's car, he immediately buckled, and then folded his hands patiently in his lap, glancing at the silver haired boy with a blank expression. "You're not wearing glasses anymore".

Cecil didn't speak right away, once again noticing how sore Remy's hands looked, but he didn't want to bring it up when he was already walking on thin ice.

His brain processed Remy's words from a moment before and developed an appropriate response. "That's because I put my contacts in so I didn't further embarrass myself". Remy nodded, and then began to chew his lip. It came off as nervous to Cecil, so he smiled in a way that he hoped was reassuring. "Calm down, hun. We're just getting coffee. This isn't a date".

"I am calm," Remy said immediately, looking out of the window as Cecil began to drive. "And I know this isn't a date. I wouldn't be going if it was a date".

"Ouch," Cecil said, but he was grinning. "Way to put me in my place, kid".

"I'm eighteen".

"Really now," He said, and Remy spared him a glance before looking away quickly. He was nervous, but Cecil pretended not to notice. "Eighteen whole years? And how tall are you?"

There was a pleasant growling noise that left Remy's lips. "Why does my height matter at all?"

"It doesn't matter," Cecil assured quickly. It didn't. He liked Remy's height, but it change that he was interested in him as person. "I'm just curious, is all". Remy remained silent. "You know, I thought the whole point of this was to get to know one another better-"

"Is it?" Remy interrupted. Cecil was quiet for a moment as he payed attention to driving, taking a right turn onto the street with the cafe.

"It is," he finally said. "Or at least I thought it was. We could sit silently and I could appreciate your beautiful face, but I prefer to actually have a conversation. I mean, we are going out as friends, and friends tend to know things about one another". Cecil pulled into the parking lot then, parking in the nearest spot to the shop's front door.

"Is that what friends do?" Remy asked, looking over at him as he withdrew his keys from the ignition. Cecil was surprised by this.

'Yeah. Isn't that what you do with Sydney?" Cecil asked, and Remy shrugged.

"He's my cousin," Remy explained. "When we met, he had already had heard everything about me so we didn't need to do all that stuff".

"He had already heard everything about you? Even the weird quirky things".

"Quirky things," Remy repeated. "What does that mean?"

"You know, like, the little things". Remy still didn't seem to understand. "Alright, so like... I really like chocolate, and I sing in the shower, but when people are talking about me, that never comes up. All they talk about is my asshole parents and how much I like vodka".

"Oh," Remy said slowly, and Cecil nodded. "I don't think I have anything like that. I'm a very empty person".

"Oh, that's not true". Remy's mouth opened to protest, but Cecil just spoke over him. "When we went out for ice cream, Atticus said that you like cold things, and you like sour things". Cecil paused, thinking, "and, during swim lessons, Atticus mentioned that you hate getting your entire body wet, but you like the water-"

"Sounds like you should be taking Atticus out to coffee," Remy grumbled before climbing out of the vehicle and slamming the door. Cecil grinned and climbed out as well.

"While your brother is cute, it's in a very different way, trust me me," Cecil assured, and Remy just looked at him for a moment before nodding.

"That's good".

Cecil smiled at him, and then looked down at his keys to lock his car. "Let's go in and order. I did promise you coffee".

Remy ordered a blended black coffee with three shots of espresso. He let Cecil taste it after a few minutes of encouraging, and after drinking his hot chocolate, the bitterness had him grimacing for at least a minute afterwards. Remy even looked amused for a second.

"Alright," Cecil began, wrapping his hands around his hot chocolate, "how do you want to start this?" Remy shrugged. "Okay, how about... I'll tell you something about myself, and then we go from there, yeah?" Remy looked up at him through his lashes and nodded slowly. "I'm going to need you to use your words, babe".

"Fine," Remy snapped, bringing his drink to his lips. "Sorry if I'm not over enthused by having a conversation with you. I don't like having conversations with anybody".

"Interesting". Remy glared. "Alright, something about me". He took a moment to think. "I used to be a very active partier when I was in highschool, but when I started College and majored in pre-law, I realized how serious school was and haven't had a drink in months". Cecil left out Caroline's involvement in his decision to get sober. It didn't seem important for Remy to know at that time.

Remy pressed his lips together. "Pre-law?"

"Yeah". Cecil bit his lip. "I'm not sure it's what I want to do with my life. Both my parents are lawyers, so that's where they want me".

"Why don't you do what you want to do?"

Cecil smiled. "They're paying for me to go to school. I figure if I graduate and don't want to go to law school, I could just tell them that and get a job elsewhere. A lot of places just want to see that you've gone to college and aren't concerned about what you went to college for". Remy nodded, as if this made sense, and sipped at his drink. "Come on, Rem. You have to work with me here". Remy's hazel eyes were full of exacerbation for a moment, and then they dropped.

"I've never been to a party before," Remy said, and Cecil wasn't surprised, but his eyebrows raised at the nonchalant way he spoke. "I don't ever want to go to one either". Remy paused, his eyes still down. "I don't know why you want me to talk. I'm boring, Clarke".

"I don't think you're boring," Cecil insisted, and he meant it. Remy looked up then and tilted his head to the side, his black hair falling in his eyes as he moved his head. Without thinking, Cecil's hand raised to push it gently behind the boy's ear, causing him to start. "Sorry, I just-"

"It's fine," Remy said, shaking his head and causing the hair to fall loose again. Cecil cleared his throat.

"So, why haven't you gone to any parties?"

"Besides not wanting to?" Cecil nodded. "I don't know. I was never really invited, to start out. None of the kids at SpringField liked me. They thought I was always silently judging them, which I admittedly was, but they acted like they all didn't judge one another. Whatever, it wasn't like I was desperate for friends or anything. The opposite actually, I prefer to be left alone. And then there was Sydney, who is overprotective and would probably kill me if I showed up at a party".

"You know, he threatened to break all of my fingers, and yet I'm still here with you. That has to mean something, right?"

"I suppose so," Remy said, and Cecil took a very long moment to run his eyes over his face. He wished to one day figure him out. "You can hurt Sydney all you want and I won't care, but Atticus on the other hand..."

"You really love your brother," Cecil observed, judging by the look on Remy's face.

"Yes I love him. He's everything to me".

"I can tell. My brother and I aren't close. Honestly, I think if we walked past one another on the street we wouldn't even recognize each other".

"You have a brother?" Remy asked, actually sounding interested.

"Oh yeah. Vincent. He's like, fuck if I know, thirty three and has some husband in Portland who I've never met. I haven't talked to him in years," Cecil said, and Remy sipped at his coffee as he watched him with beautiful hazel eyes.

"Do you miss him?" Remy asked, and Cecil took a scalding drink of hot chocolate.

He waited a minute for his mouth to cool before speaking. "Not at all. I couldn't care less about him. It's almost like I don't even have a brother.

"You know, that's interesting to me, actually". Cecil's eyebrows raised and Remy seemed to just realize what he had said, fore he looked sheepish. "It's just that... well, Atticus isn't my real brother, but it sounds like he's more real to me than yours is to you".

"Yeah, I was going to ask about that, but I wasn't sure if it was insensitive or not".

"What? My adoption?" Remy asked, and Cecil nodded.

"Atticus vaguely mentioned it at the ice cream shop when you were in the bathroom".

"It's really not a big deal. The Reed's took me in when I was twelve so I've been living with them for a while now. I've been living with them since before they even knew they were having Atticus". Remy looked fond. "I've literally been with him since birth. I can't ever imagine leaving him".

"I'm guessing you're staying close for college then, am I right?" Cecil questioned, trying to ignore the hope he felt in his stomach.

"I'm still living at home, so yeah". Cecil grinned. "What?"

"Nothing, it just means that we can still go get coffee during the school year". Remy rolled his eyes.

"You have a lot of faith in yourself, Clarke," Remy claimed, his eyes shifting to look out the window they were sitting next to.

"I don't think I'm so off about this though. I think you like me, Remy. I think that all my time trying to seduce you has payed off, and I've charmed you".

"Are you charming? I haven't realized," Remy said, completely monotone and Cecil let out a laugh, alarming the smaller boy. "No, I'm serious. I'm surprise that you think you can charm anyone while your hair is dyed that stupid color".

"You think it's stupid?" Cecil raised a hand to pull at the metallic strands. "What color should I dye it next then?"

"Why not don't dye it at all? What color is it naturally anyway?"

Cecil looked as if he was thinking, but a second after catching Remy watching, Cecil smiled. "Brown. Light brown".

"Why'd you dye it in the first place?"

"Ahh". Cecil chewed his lip for a moment as he considered telling the truth. He had already avoided it in earlier conversation, and it would be easy enough to do it now.

The truth was a bit pathetic, but Cecil decided that lying to Remy, especially about something this unimportant, wouldn't help him get Remy to trust him in the future. "It was my stupid way to cope with my broken heart".

"So Henry was telling the truth?"

"That depends. What did Henry say?"

"Not much". Remy was looking at him carefully, as if waiting for him to speak to gage his emotions. "Just that his best friend stole your girlfriend".

"That is the truth," Cecil said with a nod. "A couple months ago, Caroline broke up with me after a year because she wanted to be with Emerson". It still hurt, so Cecil dropped his eye in hopes to hide it.

"Did you love her?"

"Yeah," Cecil admitted without pause. "I did then, I guess, but it was a different kind of love than I'd been in before".

"She wasn't the first?"

"She was not". Cecil wasn't sure by Remy looked so intrigued at the moment, but he had no problem indulging him. The only relationship he still had issues talking about was his most recent, and Remy already seemed to know the story of what happened between them. "I've only... been with four people in my life, and I've only been in love with two of the four".

"Caroline and who else?"

Cecil smiled at fond memories. "Wilson".

"Tell me about them," Remy demanded. He finished his blended coffee with one last suck at his straw, and pushed it away so it sat in the middle of the table. He folded his chapped hands on the table in front of him then and looked at Cecil expectantly.

"Them? Caroline and Wilson".

"Them, and the two others please". Cecil raised his eyebrows in question. "I'm just curious, I guess. I've never been in a relationship before".

"You haven't?" Remy just shrugged, not seeming too concerned. "You've never been in love?

"Nope". Remy squeezed his hands tightly and Cecil wondered if it hurt with his cracked knuckles. "I've never been really interested in anyone, really". Cecil wanted to ask more about this, but Remy quickly changed the subject. "So tell me about them. Your previous companions".

"Well," Cecil began, not about to push Remy into talking about something he clearly didn't want to discuss. "Only Caroline and Wilson were companions really. The other two were, well... when I say that I've been with them, I mean... well..." Cecil trailed off as his eyes raked over Remy's face, waiting for him to understand what was being implied. When he didn't seem to understand, even after a long minute, Cecil sighed and dropped his eyes. "I've slept with four people".

"Oh," Remy said, nonchalantly. "Alright. Tell me about them then".

"Oh, you still want to hear about-" Remy nodded before he could even finish his thought. "Alright, well. The first was during my freshman year of high school at a party. She was a year older than me and we were both super drunk and my best friend Zane was pressuring me to lose my virginity, so I did". Remy didn't even react, still staring at him blankly. "And then there was Wilson. He had been one of my best friends since we were kids, and it just happened at the beginning of the summer before sophomore year. We dated for a year and a half, fell in love, and then his parents made him move to Europe after the first semester of our junior year and we broke up because it would be easier. He came home for a week during our senior year, just a month or so before Caroline and I started. And then-"

"What'd you do during that week?" Remy interrupted and Cecil raised his eyebrows. "You brought up the week, but didn't really address it. So, what'd you do?"

"I don't think it's very appropriate to discuss," Cecil claimed and Remy looked unconcerned.

"So you picked up where you left off, right?" Remy asked and Cecil shrugged.

"Kind of. Sexually, I guess, but him and I weren't still in love at that point. He had someone back home he was hoping to get to know better, and I was trying to get Caroline to date me, so we, uhhh, relieved some pent up frustrations for a week and then went on our way. It was nice, actually. He's still a friend". They didn't talk much anymore, but Cecil left that out. It wasn't important. No matter how much time had past, Wilson would always be his friend.

"Is he now," Remy said, his voice tight.

Cecil, a bit worried that he had spoken too much, asked: "what does that mean?" suspiciously.

"Well, it's just that most friends don't have sex with one another". Cecil shrugged.

"Most friends hadn't been in love with one another before either. I guess you could say that we have a unique case".

"Right," Remy sounded bored, but he pushed him to continue. "And the third person you've slept with was Caroline, right? So who's the fourth?"

"Caroline's actually the fourth," Cecil corrected, and Remy blinked. "You know Carter Vanroy? He works at the pool with me?"

"The lifeguard?" Remy asked, and Cecil nodded. "He's friends with Henry and comes to get books for his classes a lot. You had sex with him?"

"Oh no," Cecil said quickly. "I had sex with his boyfriend. It was before they were dating, when they were best friends, but totally in love with one another. We were juniors. It was nice, but we really didn't feel anything for one another when we were sober. It didn't last long". Remy leaned on his fist, propping his head up as if it was too heavy. "And then came Caroline".

"How did you two meet?" Remy asked, and Cecil remained silent for a second.

He really didn't want to talk about Caroline.

"Why are we only talking about me?" He demanded to know and Remy sighed, lifting his head and leaning back in his seat.

"I told you, I'm boring I don't want to talk about me".

"Well," Cecil began, also leaning away from the table, "I don't want to talk about myself any longer, so I guess we're just going to sit here silently and stare at one another".

Remy seemed fine with this at first, but after two minutes the frustration began to show on his face. Cecil found he enjoyed the look on Remy's face, enjoyed the way his Hazel eyes darkened and narrowed, enjoyed the small lines that formed on his forehead as his eyebrows furrowed, and enjoyed how Remy's ink black hair got increasingly messy as he pushed his fingers through it. He looked good, Cecil thought, with skin flushed pink with frustration and lips wet with saliva from being sucked into his mouth and assaulted by his tongue.

"Alright, fine," Remy snapped, "What do you want to know?"

The boy must have been expecting Cecil to ask him his life story, because when the simple question, "What is your favorite color?" was asked, his entire body relaxed.

"Maroon".

"Why?

As they talked, Cecil realized something that both scared, and delighted him.

He didn't just like Remy. He really liked him. Liked the way he spoke and liked the words he used. Liked the way his small hands clenched in frustration at times, and liked the soft blush that covered his cheeks when Cecil called him beautiful. Cecil liked how Remy, instead of swooning at the compliments just glared at him and told him to shut up. Cecil really liked Remy Reed. He greatly enjoyed his company and wanted more of it. He wouldn't push Remy into anything though, especially after seeing Sydney so concerned about his best friend.

"I have to be home for dinner," Remy said looking around for a clock, and then turning his head to try to read the time off of the watch on Cecil's wrist.

"We should head out anyways. I promised Zane I'd buy him dinner to catch up since I haven't been going to parties with him recently".

"One second," Remy insisted, and then Cecil watched in surprise as Remy took the slice of lime off the rim of his water glass and ate it without pause.

If Cecil had been expecting some sort of reaction at the taste, he didn't get one. Remy only blinked up at him. "What? Why do you look surprised".

"Did you just eat a lime?"

Remy blinked. "Why would you ask me that? You just watched me do it".

"You are something else". Remy flushed that wonderful pink again, and Cecil grinned. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything, but I've really enjoyed my time with you, and if you'd be willing, I'd like to have your phone number so we could do it again some time".

Remy seemed to be thinking for a moment before sighing and extending his hand. He had it out, palm up, and Cecil quickly scrambled to unlock his cellphone and hand it to the other boy. "I'm not on my phone a lot, so don't be one of those people who gets offended every time I don't respond immediately".

"Does this mean you like me?" Cecil asked as Remy put his number in the phone.