Nolan & Gilmore, New Year's Eve
Dec. 31st, 2017 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainShaun and Nolan meet at midnight, New Year's Eve. A few glorious surprises are in store.
Nolan had hesitated for a long while between attending something in New York, in the Hamptons, or here at Xavier's. But in the end, Shinobi had won him over, and he'd decided to stay put for New Year's Eve. That didn't mean that he was going to dress any less wondrously than he would have at the fancier shindigs, though, and so he'd worn a floral dinner jacket with a black button-down, black slacks, and a yellow tie. He felt no more at ease at a high school party tonight than he had at Shinobi's birthday do, but he was covering it up much better. He still did not dance, but he chatted with his friends and acquaintances, and although there were no glasses tonight, but only red cups, he still fixed himself the most delightful mocktails. It was a small favor that Lil had skipped out early, since he could not help but try and find the bully in her body language, regardless of what she was wearing.
It was only a little while to midnight, and he figured that he would slip out soon afterwards. But, for now, he headed for the drink table to fix himself another virgin paloma.
Gilmore had landed near the drinks a few seconds previous, pouring himself another ginger ale and considering what might be festive enough to mix with it. While no stranger to a few drinks, alcohol was never required for Gilmore to have a good time. He lifted a bottle of juice, tilted his head to consider it... and utterly lost focus as he saw the most gorgeous designer jacket fitted perfectly to a very cute, very familiar blond approaching him.
"Well hello, Mister Ross," he purred, and when he did, he purred like a lion. "When you come out, you come out in style, don't you?" Gilmore had dressed more casual in very tight jeans, a fitted purple t-shirt, and a loose scarf. However, he sported a number of leather bracelets and bangles (custom made, of course), and his hair looked fucking incredible tonight -- if he did say so himself.
Nolan smiled over at Shaun as he stopped by his side, setting his empty cup down on the table. "Not all of us can shine in a simple t-shirt," he answered pointedly, tone his usual mix of gentleness and snark - snark very much directed at himself, turning itself around to come out as a compliment for Shaun. It was ridiculous that he should look so good in so simple an outfit, but that hair alone held more appeal than the best jacket Nolan owed. But, more seriously, if still somewhat offhandedly, a casual distance from his own words that rarely left Nolan, "I don't have as many occasions to dress up, now that I'm here. I wasn't going to turn this one down."
"If I may say so, you, sir, are killing it," Gilmore assured Nolan with another approving once-over of his ensemble. That gaze slid up to Nolan's eyes, and Shaun lingered there for a moment with one of his warm little grins. "When Percy and Vax said 'New Year's Eve party in the gym' I didn't realize it was a gown-and-tails kind of occasion, or I would have really dressed up. I clean up pretty well. I should show you sometime. Is there anywhere in town worthy of a waistcoat and a really great tie?"
Maybe he was asking Nolan out. Maybe he was just asking. That depended completely on Nolan's response.
"I don't think so," Nolan replied with a short chuckle. None that would do Shaun justice, that was for certain. "But there's always the city?" Nolan wasn't altogether sure whether Shaun was serious, but he knew for a fact that he wanted to see him in a waistcoat and a really great tie, so he might as well play along - and hope for the best. "I'm curious about your take on a really great tie."
Gilmore tipped his head thoughtfully. That was a promising response. "Let me take you out sometime, and you'll get to see it first hand," he promised, raising one brow and swirling his drink around in one idle hand.
A brief, pleasantly surprised smile fleeted across Nolan's lips. "You're on," he agreed before he could think any better of it.
Clearly the mess with Lil hadn't taught him anything, but it was too tempting an offer to pass up on. Shaun was all too handsome and charming for it. Never mind that he had been making that model of Osgiliath, and seemed to have an innate business sense. Nolan wasn't sure how he might have turned him down.
For his part, Shaun was suddenly trying to figure out how he had just asked a boy who was older, undoubtedly more cultured, and uncountably more well-off than himself... and actually convinced him somehow to say yes. This was a little overwhelming to consider, but Nolan had smiled at him, and that was worth it. Maybe he could finally get Percy and Vax out of his head, after all. "We'll make it a date, then. Something nicely inauspicious between tonight and Valentine's Day," he promised.
Nolan huffed out an amused chuckle. Yes, before Valentine's Day would be nice, for a variety of reasons - one of which being that he was looking forward to it and did not want to wait that long. Especially with Shaun calling it a date. The only date he had ever been on that had involved a boy, and not a girl, had been a disaster. They'd had nothing to talk about and the drag of the conversation had killed the chemistry between them.
Conversation would not be a problem with Shaun, at least.
"You'll have to let me know where we're going - so I'll dress appropriately," Nolan added, a faint smile on his lips. He meant it and was mocking himself at the same time. His fashion sense was rarely deemed appropriate. Case in point, tonight. But it always worked for him, and that was what mattered.
Yes, that was something Shaun was going to have to figure out, just as soon as he fully comprehended that he was going on a date with Nolan Ross. Or, maybe he just wouldn't try to comprehend it. Maybe it was best just to enjoy the rush of success and the way Nolan looked at him -- somewhere between amused and bewildered, as if Shaun were some sort of strange and exotic creature that Nolan had just discovered. He liked that. He liked i quite a bit.
"Would it be pressing my luck to ask you to dance?" Gilmore ventured, though since he didn't move and didn't offer his hand, he didn't appear to expect Nolan to accept.
"I, er, don't dance," Nolan replied, his expression half wince, half apologetic smile. "But I'll fix you a drink, if you'd like?" He had come over to fix himself another one, after all, and had gotten completely, and happily, sidetracked.
Gilmore made an accepting gesture -- he'd had to try, at least -- and then offered Nolan his plastic cup. He had inscribed an intricate, flourishing 'G' on the side in black marker; it was unmistakable to whom that belonged. "Well, what are your feelings on midnight? You might be in for a very colorful surprise if you stick around for the countdown," he suggested.
Nolan glanced at the flourishing initial with a smile, but set the glass down and got to fixing them both virgin palomas. His gaze cut over to Shaun again at his words, surprise immediately covered up, as he grabbed the grapefruit juice. "I think you just ruined that surprise," he pointed out, not quite able to do anything about the smile on his face. It wasn't much bigger than his usual ones, but there was a little something extra there. Should he be feeling guilty? He knew that he was terrible at personal relationships. But of course he wouldn't turn down kissing Shaun - there wasn't a lot he would turn down in that area - and, as far as he knew, Lil had already left the party.
The lime juice and syrup came next, and he glanced at Shaun again, the smile on his lips lighter than it usually was, making him look closer to his actual age. "Not that I mind. I'm feeling very hopeful about midnight, now." Where did that boldness come from? He could not blame alcohol, so he would blame Shaun's charismatic presence instead. Nolan added club soda to the drinks and held his out to Shaun, a happy glint in his eyes. "Virgin Paloma. I'm afraid I don't have any tequila to offer you."
Gilmore took the drink, but was distracted by the way Nolan looked just then: softer, brighter... happy? Maybe. He'd seen Nolan smile and make his own sort of dry jokes, but he'd not seen that glimmer in his eyes before. The effect was transformative. If Shaun had been intrigued by Nolan Ross before, now he wanted to polish away all that reserve and careful precision, and see what Nolan looked like when he shone.
"I'm not much of a drinker," Shaun admitted, accepting the cup but not really looking away from Nolan's face, because he wanted to catch every detail of the way he looked right then. "You're staying?" he asked, more quietly.
The quiet made Nolan pause for a second. He didn't know Shaun well, but he wasn't sure he'd ever heard him be quiet before. And the steady intensity of his dark eyes... Was Nolan reading too much into it? It was entirely possible. "I'm not the sort to fix you a cocktail and run," he answered, slightly hesitantly, holding Shaun's gaze.
"I'm not the sort to accept a drink and let you get away," Gilmore promised him, his smile small but reassuring. Something kept Nolan locked up behind the protections he'd built around himself, and Shaun knew he couldn't force those down, couldn't even coax them down. All he could do was prove himself trustworthy and hope Nolan would open the door. "Come on," he invited, tilting his head in a general direction that wasn't anywhere but away from the refreshments. "Come tell me about all of your wishes for 2018 until midnight arrives."
Nolan took a sip of the drink to make sure he hadn't screwed it up - of course he hadn't - then followed Shaun away from the drinks table, catching up with him easily. "Mine are boring," he answered, shoulder brushing Shaun's as they walked. Boring, expected, and of course, for at least some of them, not the sort of thing he wanted to share here and now. There was nothing like 'my mutation is slowly killing me' to kill the mood. "I'd rather hear about yours."
Gilmore gave Nolan a lifted-brow look. "I don't believe for a second that anything about you is boring," he said, but that was all that he said about it. If Nolan wanted to stay private, Gilmore would respect it. Trustworthy. That was who he was going to be.
"... but if you insist, I have endless wishes. I wish for a kinder world for us and our fellow mutants. I wish that we find a better way to talk to the world than press conferences and YouTube. I wish... " I wish I could stop wanting people I can't have. He sighed a wry huff of a laugh. "I wish to be a little bit less ruled by impulsive desires, I suppose."
That last wish seemed too private of one for Nolan to weigh in, and so he sidestepped it neatly. Good thing there was a much easier, if not any less heavy, topic of conversation in Shaun's previous wish. "How would you go about it, talking to the world?"
Gilmore considered Nolan thoughtfully over a sip of his drink. He hadn't voiced this out loud yet, not even to Vax and Percy; it was still so ill-formed and nebulous, even to him. "Art," he finally said. "Of the popular media variety, since that's something of a specialty of mine. A movie or TV show would be best. Get Eddie Redmayne or Jared Leto to bravely play a heroic mutant on screen. It's worked for a number of marginalized communities in the last few years."
Nolan thought it over, then nodded, a small but clearly approving smile on his lips. "Something more relevant than the comic book adaptations we've been getting. I like it."
Shaun's fingertips drummed lightly against his cup, because an impulsive desire -- there it was again -- made him want to reach out and touch that smile, and he knew he shouldn't. "Seeing as how I can't do much more than conceptualize this idea, an idea it will remain. Unless you have a production company in your jacket pocket, of course."
Nolan shook his head. "Not one of NolCorp's ventures, no. But I can... reach out to people, maybe. Start asking around, at the very least, circulate the idea. I'm launching a mutant grant in the next couple of months. There'll be a gala, and people to talk to." He hesitated, then offered, "If you'd like to attend..." It was his idea, and that sort of gala could be beneficial to Shaun on more than one level.
"A gala?" Shaun sounded startled, and repeated the startling word in the same way Nolan had said it because, honestly, he'd never known how it was pronounced before. Middle-class San Francisco families didn't really attend them. "I've... never been to one of those. I'm sure I'd need some sort of manners tutor," he added, crooking his smile so it wouldn't be uncomfortable.
"I've managed to fake my way through enough of them, I'm sure I could give you some pointers," Nolan offered, giving Shaun a bit of a dry smile again. Lower middle class kid turned billionaire - he'd had no idea either, but that had been when he'd started dressing the way he did now. Making fun of their conventions before they could make fun of him had been a defense mechanism as much as it was something that spoke to the cynic in him. "There's no obligation, of course," he went on, and took a sip of his drink, to give himself something to do as he waited for Shaun to turn him down.
"Obligation? My dear Mr. Ross, this is an opportunity unlike any other. My main concern is that I'll manage to embarrass you and cost you... I don't know, the deal of the century," Gilmore laughed, half-disbelievingly. "I always sort of saw myself working my way up to that kind of world, rubbing those kinds of shoulders, but not leaping in with both feet."
With dark eyes sparkling, he lifted his glass in salute to Nolan. "But it looks like I'm going to be leaping, so I'd better start polishing my shoes."
Nolan looked, again, pleasantly surprised at Shaun's answer. It was, after all, a great opportunity for him, but Nolan had thought that it might have been too daunting for Shaun, for a second. But the way the boy spoke, he hardly sounded very daunted. "I won't be embarrassed, by either you or your shoes," Nolan assured him with a small smile. "Whatever faux pas you might make, I'll likely have done the same before." And Shinobi would likely have done it on purpose, at one point or another.
Gilmore decided he'd have plenty of time later to be nervous about attending a high-society function intended to benefit mutants. Was he attending with Nolan? God, that was a question he could ask at a much later date. Nolan had only just agreed to step out with him, after all. He was about to make another quip when he noticed that the noise from the rest of the party had changed significantly. Things had quieted down, and the clock on the wall was counting down the final two minutes of the year.
"Ah, here we go," he noted, gesturing to the clock. "Get ready for 2018."
Was that what Nolan ought to get ready for? Not that he needed to brace himself for a kiss, really, or not in any negative way. He chased the thoughts away, especially when he realized his gaze had dipped to Shaun's lips - how subtle, Ross - and he gave him one of his usual soft-dry smiles. "I might be able to think of a wish or two after all."
Gilmore really hoped that all meant what he thought it did. He reached to take Nolan's free hand, and gave it a tiny tug, tilting his head to a bit of shadow behind some of the decorations. No one in the room was going to pay attention to them, he was sure, but this didn't feel like the kind of thing he wanted the whole world to see.
"Nolan Ross," he asked in a low voice as the countdown grew louder just beyond their shared privacy, "may I kiss you?"
Nolan could've kissed Shaun for suggesting privacy alone, moderate though it was, and he stepped behind the decorations with him with a small, grateful smile. Shaun's quiet question - which demanded physical proximity if for no other reason than Nolan refused to miss a single word out of Shaun's mouth - only added another layer of desire to the moment. It was the anticipation, it was simply hearing those words from that mouth, from that person, and it was the thoughtfulness of it.
Nolan's small smile was devoid of its usual dryness as he looked into Shaun's eyes. "At this stage, I think I'd feel very disappointed if you didn't." There was none of his usual distance from his own words in his voice, dipped low as it was; instead, he was very obviously all in.
At that answer, Shaun's smile unfurled, glowing and brilliant, and he let that expression do all of his speaking for him. There was nothing more perfect he could say. And then, somehow, he had to wait five more seconds, and refrain from yanking Nolan against him then and there. That was not how this was going to begin. Whatever this was going to be, Shaun wanted to meet Nolan there, hand in hand, clear eyed and together.
Three...
He laced his fingers with Nolan's and stepped closer as the chant counted down, somewhere distant and beyond this little world of shadows they shared.
Two...
Shaun smiled, savoring the very last moment in which he had never kissed Nolan Ross.
One...
A veritable storm of colorful paper confetti erupted seemingly from nowhere as the clock struck midnight, but Shaun only caught the barest glimpse of his creation before his eyes were closed and his lips brushed against Nolan's. Such an enigma, that mysterious mouth that expressed so much with so little. He couldn't possibly pull away after only one taste.
There wasn't much of a height difference between them, but as Nolan stepped even closer, it was still enough to surprise him somewhat. Shaun's very presence seemed so big that it seemed weird to have even those few inches over him. His heart was thudding hard against his ribcage as the countdown drew ever close, and he licked his lips nervously.
The confetti did startle him for the briefest moment, but Shaun's lips found his, and then his eyes closed and he couldn't care less about the confetti. He kissed Shaun back, wishing that the hand not in Shaun's wasn't holding a drink, and felt every bit the teenager he was, right in that moment.
Inspired by something he couldn't define in Nolan's manner, Shaun drew Nolan's hand, clasped in his, behind his back in a kind of offer. If Nolan wanted to hold him, by all the gods, Shaun would give him whatever he wanted. Maybe he liked being the one who took charge, despite everything Shaun had suspected. Nolan had already shattered so many of his assumptions.
He leaned in, tipping his head back just slightly to make the most of the height difference and capture Nolan's mouth more firmly. This was good, and just because 'Auld Lang Syne' was playing somewhere nearby didn't mean it had to end.
There, that was an even better fit of their mouths, and Nolan splayed his fingers on Shaun's back, holding him close with how much he was treasuring the moment. He felt warm, and happy, simple emotions temporarily untarnished by any other consideration, the sort usually provided by his overactive mind. He deepened the kiss tentatively, half expecting Shaun to pull away, because surely, how long could a moment like this last?
His hand released, Shaun elected to slip that arm around Nolan's shoulders for balance and security. If he got much more list in this kiss he just might drop his drink, but just for the moment, he decided not to care. Nolan wanted something a little deeper, and Shaun gently parted his lips with a soft but delighted inhale and a sparkle of excitement that seemed to surge throughout his body.
A little thrill went through Nolan when the kiss deepened, and a spark at the first slide of their tongues together, followed by a warm, steady flush that, he was certain, was coloring his cheeks pink. A few more delicious seconds of this, and Nolan broke the kiss, eyes closed and forehead against Shaun's as he took a moment to recover, licking his lips in an unconscious hope to find Shaun's taste still on them.
When he opened his eyes, he leaned his head back enough to be able to focus on Shaun's face, and told him, just loud enough to be heard over the music and the excited chatter in the rest of the room, "Thank you." The words shone in his eyes, too, and in his small, soft smile, a touch of awkward back in it, for the part of him that expected Shaun to realize his mistake.
Thank... him? Gilmore couldn't imagine a response, which was deeply befuddling to him. He always had words at the ready, but it felt like that all-too-brief taste of Nolan's tongue had stolen them from him. It was a most disconcerting feeling, to have only a handful of half-formed responses drifting through his head, and nothing forming fully into intelligible words. He looked up at Nolan, and the soft shine in his eyes was almost frightening. Shaun knew he was a good kisser, but he didn't think he'd done anything to deserve that.
He also knew he'd been quiet for too long now. He shifted his hand from around the back of Nolan's neck to the chiseled edge of his jaw, brushing his fingertips along Nolan's cheek. "I'm glad you stayed," Shaun finally told him, soft and a little surprised, like he hadn't been expecting to say that.
"So am I," Nolan confirmed, reluctant to step away and end the moment altogether. So he stayed put, for now, only dropping his hand from Shaun's back, hoping to alleviate the urge to kiss him again. "I'm looking forward to - that waistcoat."
Only now did Shaun fully realize that they both were bedecked by tiny bits of colorful paper, pieces stuck in Nolan's hair, from the confetti cannons he'd helped to rig earlier. He'd barely noticed the results of his own handiwork. Did Nolan have any idea what a triumph that was? "Good, we're still on for that, then," he answered breathlessly.
"If you want to be," Nolan confirmed, and picked a confetti out of Shaun's hair, possibly to give himself something to do as his awkwardness took a better foothold inside him.
"Very much," Shaun quickly confirmed, his smile blossoming all over again. He had the sense that this was, maybe, a little much for Nolan all told. "I look forward to having you all to myself again, but maybe we ought to rejoin the party. I don't think I like the idea of people gossiping about where you might have disappeared to."
Nolan looked in the direction of the crowd, on the other side of the decorations, then looked back at Shaun, his lips curved in another small smile. "Or you." Nolan might be the celebrity, but Shaun had the charisma necessary for people to wonder where he might be.
He picked another couple of confetti out of Shaun's hair, this time more because he wanted to keep touching him, then stepped back, bowing his head slightly. "Yes, let's rejoin the party. Thank you for this - interlude," he finished with another smile, dryness tempered with soft, genuine gratitude.
Shaun tilted his head toward Nolan's fingers barely brushing his hair, but he knew this moment was at its end. "Thank you, for... being you," he answered, because he had the distinct feeling he'd gotten to see a bit of Nolan that the world didn't normally see.
With a little wink, Shaun managed to pull himself away, take a step back, and slip back out into public again. He glanced back, though. He didn't really want to leave.
Nolan had hesitated for a long while between attending something in New York, in the Hamptons, or here at Xavier's. But in the end, Shinobi had won him over, and he'd decided to stay put for New Year's Eve. That didn't mean that he was going to dress any less wondrously than he would have at the fancier shindigs, though, and so he'd worn a floral dinner jacket with a black button-down, black slacks, and a yellow tie. He felt no more at ease at a high school party tonight than he had at Shinobi's birthday do, but he was covering it up much better. He still did not dance, but he chatted with his friends and acquaintances, and although there were no glasses tonight, but only red cups, he still fixed himself the most delightful mocktails. It was a small favor that Lil had skipped out early, since he could not help but try and find the bully in her body language, regardless of what she was wearing.
It was only a little while to midnight, and he figured that he would slip out soon afterwards. But, for now, he headed for the drink table to fix himself another virgin paloma.
Gilmore had landed near the drinks a few seconds previous, pouring himself another ginger ale and considering what might be festive enough to mix with it. While no stranger to a few drinks, alcohol was never required for Gilmore to have a good time. He lifted a bottle of juice, tilted his head to consider it... and utterly lost focus as he saw the most gorgeous designer jacket fitted perfectly to a very cute, very familiar blond approaching him.
"Well hello, Mister Ross," he purred, and when he did, he purred like a lion. "When you come out, you come out in style, don't you?" Gilmore had dressed more casual in very tight jeans, a fitted purple t-shirt, and a loose scarf. However, he sported a number of leather bracelets and bangles (custom made, of course), and his hair looked fucking incredible tonight -- if he did say so himself.
Nolan smiled over at Shaun as he stopped by his side, setting his empty cup down on the table. "Not all of us can shine in a simple t-shirt," he answered pointedly, tone his usual mix of gentleness and snark - snark very much directed at himself, turning itself around to come out as a compliment for Shaun. It was ridiculous that he should look so good in so simple an outfit, but that hair alone held more appeal than the best jacket Nolan owed. But, more seriously, if still somewhat offhandedly, a casual distance from his own words that rarely left Nolan, "I don't have as many occasions to dress up, now that I'm here. I wasn't going to turn this one down."
"If I may say so, you, sir, are killing it," Gilmore assured Nolan with another approving once-over of his ensemble. That gaze slid up to Nolan's eyes, and Shaun lingered there for a moment with one of his warm little grins. "When Percy and Vax said 'New Year's Eve party in the gym' I didn't realize it was a gown-and-tails kind of occasion, or I would have really dressed up. I clean up pretty well. I should show you sometime. Is there anywhere in town worthy of a waistcoat and a really great tie?"
Maybe he was asking Nolan out. Maybe he was just asking. That depended completely on Nolan's response.
"I don't think so," Nolan replied with a short chuckle. None that would do Shaun justice, that was for certain. "But there's always the city?" Nolan wasn't altogether sure whether Shaun was serious, but he knew for a fact that he wanted to see him in a waistcoat and a really great tie, so he might as well play along - and hope for the best. "I'm curious about your take on a really great tie."
Gilmore tipped his head thoughtfully. That was a promising response. "Let me take you out sometime, and you'll get to see it first hand," he promised, raising one brow and swirling his drink around in one idle hand.
A brief, pleasantly surprised smile fleeted across Nolan's lips. "You're on," he agreed before he could think any better of it.
Clearly the mess with Lil hadn't taught him anything, but it was too tempting an offer to pass up on. Shaun was all too handsome and charming for it. Never mind that he had been making that model of Osgiliath, and seemed to have an innate business sense. Nolan wasn't sure how he might have turned him down.
For his part, Shaun was suddenly trying to figure out how he had just asked a boy who was older, undoubtedly more cultured, and uncountably more well-off than himself... and actually convinced him somehow to say yes. This was a little overwhelming to consider, but Nolan had smiled at him, and that was worth it. Maybe he could finally get Percy and Vax out of his head, after all. "We'll make it a date, then. Something nicely inauspicious between tonight and Valentine's Day," he promised.
Nolan huffed out an amused chuckle. Yes, before Valentine's Day would be nice, for a variety of reasons - one of which being that he was looking forward to it and did not want to wait that long. Especially with Shaun calling it a date. The only date he had ever been on that had involved a boy, and not a girl, had been a disaster. They'd had nothing to talk about and the drag of the conversation had killed the chemistry between them.
Conversation would not be a problem with Shaun, at least.
"You'll have to let me know where we're going - so I'll dress appropriately," Nolan added, a faint smile on his lips. He meant it and was mocking himself at the same time. His fashion sense was rarely deemed appropriate. Case in point, tonight. But it always worked for him, and that was what mattered.
Yes, that was something Shaun was going to have to figure out, just as soon as he fully comprehended that he was going on a date with Nolan Ross. Or, maybe he just wouldn't try to comprehend it. Maybe it was best just to enjoy the rush of success and the way Nolan looked at him -- somewhere between amused and bewildered, as if Shaun were some sort of strange and exotic creature that Nolan had just discovered. He liked that. He liked i quite a bit.
"Would it be pressing my luck to ask you to dance?" Gilmore ventured, though since he didn't move and didn't offer his hand, he didn't appear to expect Nolan to accept.
"I, er, don't dance," Nolan replied, his expression half wince, half apologetic smile. "But I'll fix you a drink, if you'd like?" He had come over to fix himself another one, after all, and had gotten completely, and happily, sidetracked.
Gilmore made an accepting gesture -- he'd had to try, at least -- and then offered Nolan his plastic cup. He had inscribed an intricate, flourishing 'G' on the side in black marker; it was unmistakable to whom that belonged. "Well, what are your feelings on midnight? You might be in for a very colorful surprise if you stick around for the countdown," he suggested.
Nolan glanced at the flourishing initial with a smile, but set the glass down and got to fixing them both virgin palomas. His gaze cut over to Shaun again at his words, surprise immediately covered up, as he grabbed the grapefruit juice. "I think you just ruined that surprise," he pointed out, not quite able to do anything about the smile on his face. It wasn't much bigger than his usual ones, but there was a little something extra there. Should he be feeling guilty? He knew that he was terrible at personal relationships. But of course he wouldn't turn down kissing Shaun - there wasn't a lot he would turn down in that area - and, as far as he knew, Lil had already left the party.
The lime juice and syrup came next, and he glanced at Shaun again, the smile on his lips lighter than it usually was, making him look closer to his actual age. "Not that I mind. I'm feeling very hopeful about midnight, now." Where did that boldness come from? He could not blame alcohol, so he would blame Shaun's charismatic presence instead. Nolan added club soda to the drinks and held his out to Shaun, a happy glint in his eyes. "Virgin Paloma. I'm afraid I don't have any tequila to offer you."
Gilmore took the drink, but was distracted by the way Nolan looked just then: softer, brighter... happy? Maybe. He'd seen Nolan smile and make his own sort of dry jokes, but he'd not seen that glimmer in his eyes before. The effect was transformative. If Shaun had been intrigued by Nolan Ross before, now he wanted to polish away all that reserve and careful precision, and see what Nolan looked like when he shone.
"I'm not much of a drinker," Shaun admitted, accepting the cup but not really looking away from Nolan's face, because he wanted to catch every detail of the way he looked right then. "You're staying?" he asked, more quietly.
The quiet made Nolan pause for a second. He didn't know Shaun well, but he wasn't sure he'd ever heard him be quiet before. And the steady intensity of his dark eyes... Was Nolan reading too much into it? It was entirely possible. "I'm not the sort to fix you a cocktail and run," he answered, slightly hesitantly, holding Shaun's gaze.
"I'm not the sort to accept a drink and let you get away," Gilmore promised him, his smile small but reassuring. Something kept Nolan locked up behind the protections he'd built around himself, and Shaun knew he couldn't force those down, couldn't even coax them down. All he could do was prove himself trustworthy and hope Nolan would open the door. "Come on," he invited, tilting his head in a general direction that wasn't anywhere but away from the refreshments. "Come tell me about all of your wishes for 2018 until midnight arrives."
Nolan took a sip of the drink to make sure he hadn't screwed it up - of course he hadn't - then followed Shaun away from the drinks table, catching up with him easily. "Mine are boring," he answered, shoulder brushing Shaun's as they walked. Boring, expected, and of course, for at least some of them, not the sort of thing he wanted to share here and now. There was nothing like 'my mutation is slowly killing me' to kill the mood. "I'd rather hear about yours."
Gilmore gave Nolan a lifted-brow look. "I don't believe for a second that anything about you is boring," he said, but that was all that he said about it. If Nolan wanted to stay private, Gilmore would respect it. Trustworthy. That was who he was going to be.
"... but if you insist, I have endless wishes. I wish for a kinder world for us and our fellow mutants. I wish that we find a better way to talk to the world than press conferences and YouTube. I wish... " I wish I could stop wanting people I can't have. He sighed a wry huff of a laugh. "I wish to be a little bit less ruled by impulsive desires, I suppose."
That last wish seemed too private of one for Nolan to weigh in, and so he sidestepped it neatly. Good thing there was a much easier, if not any less heavy, topic of conversation in Shaun's previous wish. "How would you go about it, talking to the world?"
Gilmore considered Nolan thoughtfully over a sip of his drink. He hadn't voiced this out loud yet, not even to Vax and Percy; it was still so ill-formed and nebulous, even to him. "Art," he finally said. "Of the popular media variety, since that's something of a specialty of mine. A movie or TV show would be best. Get Eddie Redmayne or Jared Leto to bravely play a heroic mutant on screen. It's worked for a number of marginalized communities in the last few years."
Nolan thought it over, then nodded, a small but clearly approving smile on his lips. "Something more relevant than the comic book adaptations we've been getting. I like it."
Shaun's fingertips drummed lightly against his cup, because an impulsive desire -- there it was again -- made him want to reach out and touch that smile, and he knew he shouldn't. "Seeing as how I can't do much more than conceptualize this idea, an idea it will remain. Unless you have a production company in your jacket pocket, of course."
Nolan shook his head. "Not one of NolCorp's ventures, no. But I can... reach out to people, maybe. Start asking around, at the very least, circulate the idea. I'm launching a mutant grant in the next couple of months. There'll be a gala, and people to talk to." He hesitated, then offered, "If you'd like to attend..." It was his idea, and that sort of gala could be beneficial to Shaun on more than one level.
"A gala?" Shaun sounded startled, and repeated the startling word in the same way Nolan had said it because, honestly, he'd never known how it was pronounced before. Middle-class San Francisco families didn't really attend them. "I've... never been to one of those. I'm sure I'd need some sort of manners tutor," he added, crooking his smile so it wouldn't be uncomfortable.
"I've managed to fake my way through enough of them, I'm sure I could give you some pointers," Nolan offered, giving Shaun a bit of a dry smile again. Lower middle class kid turned billionaire - he'd had no idea either, but that had been when he'd started dressing the way he did now. Making fun of their conventions before they could make fun of him had been a defense mechanism as much as it was something that spoke to the cynic in him. "There's no obligation, of course," he went on, and took a sip of his drink, to give himself something to do as he waited for Shaun to turn him down.
"Obligation? My dear Mr. Ross, this is an opportunity unlike any other. My main concern is that I'll manage to embarrass you and cost you... I don't know, the deal of the century," Gilmore laughed, half-disbelievingly. "I always sort of saw myself working my way up to that kind of world, rubbing those kinds of shoulders, but not leaping in with both feet."
With dark eyes sparkling, he lifted his glass in salute to Nolan. "But it looks like I'm going to be leaping, so I'd better start polishing my shoes."
Nolan looked, again, pleasantly surprised at Shaun's answer. It was, after all, a great opportunity for him, but Nolan had thought that it might have been too daunting for Shaun, for a second. But the way the boy spoke, he hardly sounded very daunted. "I won't be embarrassed, by either you or your shoes," Nolan assured him with a small smile. "Whatever faux pas you might make, I'll likely have done the same before." And Shinobi would likely have done it on purpose, at one point or another.
Gilmore decided he'd have plenty of time later to be nervous about attending a high-society function intended to benefit mutants. Was he attending with Nolan? God, that was a question he could ask at a much later date. Nolan had only just agreed to step out with him, after all. He was about to make another quip when he noticed that the noise from the rest of the party had changed significantly. Things had quieted down, and the clock on the wall was counting down the final two minutes of the year.
"Ah, here we go," he noted, gesturing to the clock. "Get ready for 2018."
Was that what Nolan ought to get ready for? Not that he needed to brace himself for a kiss, really, or not in any negative way. He chased the thoughts away, especially when he realized his gaze had dipped to Shaun's lips - how subtle, Ross - and he gave him one of his usual soft-dry smiles. "I might be able to think of a wish or two after all."
Gilmore really hoped that all meant what he thought it did. He reached to take Nolan's free hand, and gave it a tiny tug, tilting his head to a bit of shadow behind some of the decorations. No one in the room was going to pay attention to them, he was sure, but this didn't feel like the kind of thing he wanted the whole world to see.
"Nolan Ross," he asked in a low voice as the countdown grew louder just beyond their shared privacy, "may I kiss you?"
Nolan could've kissed Shaun for suggesting privacy alone, moderate though it was, and he stepped behind the decorations with him with a small, grateful smile. Shaun's quiet question - which demanded physical proximity if for no other reason than Nolan refused to miss a single word out of Shaun's mouth - only added another layer of desire to the moment. It was the anticipation, it was simply hearing those words from that mouth, from that person, and it was the thoughtfulness of it.
Nolan's small smile was devoid of its usual dryness as he looked into Shaun's eyes. "At this stage, I think I'd feel very disappointed if you didn't." There was none of his usual distance from his own words in his voice, dipped low as it was; instead, he was very obviously all in.
At that answer, Shaun's smile unfurled, glowing and brilliant, and he let that expression do all of his speaking for him. There was nothing more perfect he could say. And then, somehow, he had to wait five more seconds, and refrain from yanking Nolan against him then and there. That was not how this was going to begin. Whatever this was going to be, Shaun wanted to meet Nolan there, hand in hand, clear eyed and together.
Three...
He laced his fingers with Nolan's and stepped closer as the chant counted down, somewhere distant and beyond this little world of shadows they shared.
Two...
Shaun smiled, savoring the very last moment in which he had never kissed Nolan Ross.
One...
A veritable storm of colorful paper confetti erupted seemingly from nowhere as the clock struck midnight, but Shaun only caught the barest glimpse of his creation before his eyes were closed and his lips brushed against Nolan's. Such an enigma, that mysterious mouth that expressed so much with so little. He couldn't possibly pull away after only one taste.
There wasn't much of a height difference between them, but as Nolan stepped even closer, it was still enough to surprise him somewhat. Shaun's very presence seemed so big that it seemed weird to have even those few inches over him. His heart was thudding hard against his ribcage as the countdown drew ever close, and he licked his lips nervously.
The confetti did startle him for the briefest moment, but Shaun's lips found his, and then his eyes closed and he couldn't care less about the confetti. He kissed Shaun back, wishing that the hand not in Shaun's wasn't holding a drink, and felt every bit the teenager he was, right in that moment.
Inspired by something he couldn't define in Nolan's manner, Shaun drew Nolan's hand, clasped in his, behind his back in a kind of offer. If Nolan wanted to hold him, by all the gods, Shaun would give him whatever he wanted. Maybe he liked being the one who took charge, despite everything Shaun had suspected. Nolan had already shattered so many of his assumptions.
He leaned in, tipping his head back just slightly to make the most of the height difference and capture Nolan's mouth more firmly. This was good, and just because 'Auld Lang Syne' was playing somewhere nearby didn't mean it had to end.
There, that was an even better fit of their mouths, and Nolan splayed his fingers on Shaun's back, holding him close with how much he was treasuring the moment. He felt warm, and happy, simple emotions temporarily untarnished by any other consideration, the sort usually provided by his overactive mind. He deepened the kiss tentatively, half expecting Shaun to pull away, because surely, how long could a moment like this last?
His hand released, Shaun elected to slip that arm around Nolan's shoulders for balance and security. If he got much more list in this kiss he just might drop his drink, but just for the moment, he decided not to care. Nolan wanted something a little deeper, and Shaun gently parted his lips with a soft but delighted inhale and a sparkle of excitement that seemed to surge throughout his body.
A little thrill went through Nolan when the kiss deepened, and a spark at the first slide of their tongues together, followed by a warm, steady flush that, he was certain, was coloring his cheeks pink. A few more delicious seconds of this, and Nolan broke the kiss, eyes closed and forehead against Shaun's as he took a moment to recover, licking his lips in an unconscious hope to find Shaun's taste still on them.
When he opened his eyes, he leaned his head back enough to be able to focus on Shaun's face, and told him, just loud enough to be heard over the music and the excited chatter in the rest of the room, "Thank you." The words shone in his eyes, too, and in his small, soft smile, a touch of awkward back in it, for the part of him that expected Shaun to realize his mistake.
Thank... him? Gilmore couldn't imagine a response, which was deeply befuddling to him. He always had words at the ready, but it felt like that all-too-brief taste of Nolan's tongue had stolen them from him. It was a most disconcerting feeling, to have only a handful of half-formed responses drifting through his head, and nothing forming fully into intelligible words. He looked up at Nolan, and the soft shine in his eyes was almost frightening. Shaun knew he was a good kisser, but he didn't think he'd done anything to deserve that.
He also knew he'd been quiet for too long now. He shifted his hand from around the back of Nolan's neck to the chiseled edge of his jaw, brushing his fingertips along Nolan's cheek. "I'm glad you stayed," Shaun finally told him, soft and a little surprised, like he hadn't been expecting to say that.
"So am I," Nolan confirmed, reluctant to step away and end the moment altogether. So he stayed put, for now, only dropping his hand from Shaun's back, hoping to alleviate the urge to kiss him again. "I'm looking forward to - that waistcoat."
Only now did Shaun fully realize that they both were bedecked by tiny bits of colorful paper, pieces stuck in Nolan's hair, from the confetti cannons he'd helped to rig earlier. He'd barely noticed the results of his own handiwork. Did Nolan have any idea what a triumph that was? "Good, we're still on for that, then," he answered breathlessly.
"If you want to be," Nolan confirmed, and picked a confetti out of Shaun's hair, possibly to give himself something to do as his awkwardness took a better foothold inside him.
"Very much," Shaun quickly confirmed, his smile blossoming all over again. He had the sense that this was, maybe, a little much for Nolan all told. "I look forward to having you all to myself again, but maybe we ought to rejoin the party. I don't think I like the idea of people gossiping about where you might have disappeared to."
Nolan looked in the direction of the crowd, on the other side of the decorations, then looked back at Shaun, his lips curved in another small smile. "Or you." Nolan might be the celebrity, but Shaun had the charisma necessary for people to wonder where he might be.
He picked another couple of confetti out of Shaun's hair, this time more because he wanted to keep touching him, then stepped back, bowing his head slightly. "Yes, let's rejoin the party. Thank you for this - interlude," he finished with another smile, dryness tempered with soft, genuine gratitude.
Shaun tilted his head toward Nolan's fingers barely brushing his hair, but he knew this moment was at its end. "Thank you, for... being you," he answered, because he had the distinct feeling he'd gotten to see a bit of Nolan that the world didn't normally see.
With a little wink, Shaun managed to pull himself away, take a step back, and slip back out into public again. He glanced back, though. He didn't really want to leave.
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