Coin Tricks

by Willow Scarlett

“Oh! You didn’t have to.” His cheeks pinked.

I WIL DIE FOR THIS MAN

Sid smiled a sweet little smile all warm and soft like clothes right out of the dryer.

“The books. That’s why they’re all here. I don’t want to hurt their feelings.” He chewed on his lower lip as he glanced toward the book room. “Just... So you

MAN IF HE DKINT PUT A RING ON IT I WILL

A gift from the hands is a gift from the soul.” “Yeah.” Sid was giving me something from his soul and that was even more tingly-awesome than a gift of his time.

Sid looked good in profile, even sad. His nose was small and straight and the light through the window made his skin achingly pale against his freckles.

Putting a lot of thouggt there:)))))

movies? I, Robot. Bicentennial Man…” I shook my head again. Sid was looking so scandalized that I felt I had to defend myself.

I LOVE THIS

But as soon as the tape started playing, Sid snapped it on pause. “Let me just tell you one thing: If you don’t enjoy this, don’t tell me. You’ll break my heart.”

Such a mood sid

But Sid made me feel something good. I loved hanging out at his house. That last time, we’d listened to Asimov’s old school Brooklyn accent for hours. When the first side of the first tape had finished, it had been me who flipped it over.

-!!:))

He’d been flushed with happiness and I’d never seen anything more cheerful.

!:))

I was sure Sid was gay. I didn’t want to stereotype, but I worked at a gay bar and thought I had a good sense for it. Being gay didn’t mean Sid would be interested in me or that I had to be interested in him.

YEAH U DO

To watch Sid forever. I’d always thought he was cute, but now he was... stunning.

THIS BITCH IS SO GAY ... If sid culd hear this hed be blushing so hard

“I just didn’t know your name. Wiremu.”

All this anf youre just nows learning his name ??

Sid just grinned. Out in the sunlight and away from his trashy house, that smile was even more gorgeous.

My mans got it bad

I would have pissed off all the moms in the world if it made Sid smile like that.

Dude is so in love

I’d watched porn,

WOAH DRASTIC TOPIC CHANGE

“Yeah. We’re friends.”

SURDE FRIENDDDDDSSSSSS

Sid letting me hold him. Impossible dreams.

So fruity

“No, it’s cool. Too big is cool. I just meant... I’m big, and you’re so tiny.” I got to thinking about him in my arms, me holding him instead of just my hoodie holding him. How he’d feel like a bird or a bunny rabbit, all bones and life compressed so small.

I love wire

I’d noticed underwear in the pile of clothes he’d discarded on my floor, which meant he didn’t have underwear beneath my pajamas. I desperately steered my mind away from the throbbing thought of his junk rubbing around in my old flannels.

KEEP YOUR MIND OUTTA THE GUTTER

“Gerald’s a lot like our dad,” I told him. “Mom kicked him out when I was at high school.” When I’d walked in wearing a rainbow print shirt, and Dad had hit me round the face with his belt, bad enough that I had to take a week off school while the bruises went down so no one would freak. Mom told him she’d call the cops, or he could leave the city and never contact us again. Dad leaving meant losing the support of his family, but Mom made that call in a heartbeat. For me.

I love his mom

“Oh, you get breakfasts right. I love your breakfasts. But you just don’t understand dinners! Not like Jadine does.” I snorted. Sid had been coming over a few times a week, usually staying the night. He’d started relaxing and opening up, which meant I got to see the cool person he really was and I could stop feeling sorry for him. I didn’t like pity and I knew Sid wouldn’t like me feeling it.

I love these two

Sid twirled the case slowly in his hands. Then he looked at me straight-on, all bright eyes and openness. “Thank you, Wire. This is amazing. Thank you so much.”

Hesbadorable :))

When I knew Sid was watching, I had to try to not show off. I didn’t try that hard, though. I got caught up in the game and kinda pretending I was in front of a screaming crowd. I ran faster and tackled harder because I had Sid for an audience. Whenever I glanced over at him, he’d be smiling. Not always looking at me, but definitely smiling. That felt good. The big knot of impossible dreams inside demanded that I make Sid smile, but most of me was just happy to see him happy.

Hes so whipped for ths man

Guess that’s how you measure a friend: not how long they’ve been in your life, but how much better they make it.

Well goddamn

I nodded. It didn’t seem like the time to point out that Sid was the breathing stereotype of a gay twink. Maybe his gaydar was faulty, but mine wasn’t.

Def nt the time wire

I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted to hear him say that he wanted it too, that he thought about me like I thought about him. I wanted him to tell me that it had hurt like dying to lose me because I was his future and losing me was losing his future.

Im gonna giggle about ths for the rest of the dy

I wanted Sid to say that he felt like I felt. I sat in the playground and looked into those sweet, honest eyes and silently begged him to kiss me.

What the hell had I done to get someone to look at me like that? My breathing hitched and I had to turn away. No way was that look for me. Sid was happy for some other reason, and I just happened to be close enough to see it.

Look at hm hes traumatized!:(

“What about Batman? You’d make a sexy Batman. Bet you can yell better than Christian Bale can, dude sounds like buffalo dropped in a cement mixer.”

Woah woah whered this come from

Looking at Sid made me happy. And that’s what beauty means, right? Beauty was when it felt good to look at something. Sid was beautiful. From his dusty red hair to his long fingers to the creamy skin showing through holes in his sweat pants. That devastatingly warm smile. I could see mushed up crab meat in his mouth, all pink and white. And that, right there, was the moment I knew I was in love. Love’s the only word you can use for looking at someone with a face full of surimi and still thinking they’re beautiful.

MY BOYS IN LOVE

“You gave me over a hundred dollars when we first met.” His words poured out, not restless and excited but wooden like he’d practiced the speech. “That’s the first piece of change I got back and I carried it around in my pocket for weeks. It’s a symbol of generosity from a stranger, right? I’ve been carrying it to use any time you wanted to see a coin trick. And now I want you to have it back.”

OMG MY BOY IS SO WHOLESOME

“It’s not like that,” I said again. Was it? “So it’s not like that. Okay. Whatever. But look me in the face and tell me you don’t wish you could sweep Sid up and take him away from paying rent on a two-person house with a single income. I love Sid, too. Not like you do, sure. But I want them in my life. This place could be a home.”

HELL YEAH YOU DO

I didn’t have the balls to tell him. Not tonight. Not when everything felt so good.

WELL THWN GROW SOME WIRE IM GETTING NERVOUS

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “Are you hitting on me?” Sid’s grip was trembling but he didn’t look away. “Would it be okay if I was?” “Yeah.” My voice was dry-throat croaky. “That would be great.” “Then... yes. I’m hitting on you.”

BESTIES ITS HAPPENING

“When the...” I had to stop and lick my lips. “When the boy I have a crush on kisses me, you mean?” “Oh. Crush?” His smile was so sweet that it ached to see it. “It’s cute to hear you using words like that.” “Cute?”

I love their dynamic so much

And as I kissed him, my nerves and fear melted away like his happiness and willingness were rays of brilliant sunlight beating on my skin. I was so full of Sid’s sunny beauty that it pumped through my veins and pounded in my heart, drumming out the blissful magic word. Possible. Possible. Possible.

WHATS THE 44% GONNA BE ABOUT

“Stop visiting my house. Get out of my life. If you can’t stop stealing, I don’t want to see you again.” “What are you talking about?” His face was blank. “It’s fucked up. You’re taking risks for no reason. You’ll hurt yourself, and Gina. I can’t help you when you’re in prison and your sister’s in foster care.” Of course I would, but I needed Sid to believe the bluff. “What the hell? Wire. What are you talking about?” Sid was tiny in fear. Even his voice was small as he said, “You said we were friends. You kissed me!” I swallowed. “I care about you and Gina, and that’s why I can’t stand around and watch you getting hurt. There’s just no need for it. You know it’s wrong and that you should stop. If you won’t listen to me and you won’t look after yourself, I don’t want to be responsible for you anymore.”

I SHOULDNT HAVE ASKED

learning that love comes in more colors than the black of none and the red of obsession.

Well damn

“But I still want to kiss you.”

FUCKIN SWOON!

“What I mean is that I’m… sorta gender fluid. You know what that means? So, like, most days I feel like a man—a gay man, and that’s fine—but some days that doesn’t make any sense for me and I get annoyed at people calling me a man. Not even like I’m a woman, just something else. Do you understand that?”

I FUCKING LOVE SID

“Sid, I’m always going to want to kiss you.”

Well he is nothing but truthful

“Because I want you to live with me. I want you to live with me because I want to wake up with you and come home to you. I want to help with Gina just because I like you and her and not for any other reason. Because I like you, not because I feel sorry for you.”

THIS MAN IS SO LOVABLE

“We’re moving in together,” I said. “You and me. Me and my boyfriend.”

HEOLL YEAH YOVARE

Good. If I was Cam I’d give him the job straight off the bat for that smile.

You are biased my good sir

I’d never had a guy want to get me off, not outta anything but politeness. I was the guy who fucked and got forgotten. Just a big body to stock a fantasy.

MY BOY IS GIVING ALL HES GOT :((>:(

Shirtless Sid with all his freckles but no bruises. And he was mine, his warm bare skin mine to touch. “I love you Sid.”

HELL YEAH HE IS

I was struck again with how beautiful my boyfriend was. No matter how much I looked at him I just couldn’t get over the fact that he wanted me, that we had this house together, that he could be my impossible.

HES SO IN LOVE

wish I could absorb you. I wish I could merge with you. I wish I could be one with you, the same person, the same skin.

I hope nobody quesstion this mans love

“God, you’re so pretty.”

WHIPPED

“You make me happy.”

WELL ID SUJRE HOPE SO