Davide’s house was a welcome sight as David pulled into the driveway. The tension he normally felt in his shoulders when he arrived home was distinctly absent here. Davi was still wearing his hoodie, he was toying with the strings in an almost flirtatious manner, but that wouldn’t make any sense so David chalked it up to the guy just needing something to do with his hands,

“Do we want to do this again sometime?” Davi asked.

David felt a rush of excitement course through him, “Of course man! Hell, we could do this every week if you want. Don’t worry about tickets, I can sneak us in the back if we need to,” He winked.

“I’d really like that,” Davi gave him a small smile he stared at David for a long time his face growing pinker. David thought he was going to say or do something but he wasn’t quite sure what. Whatever debate Davi was having in his head in the end, he just patted David’s thigh and got out of the car,

“Come on, let’s head inside.”

David watched Davi head into the house, he needed a second to gather himself. He popped a few tic tacs into his mouth, he hoped the Maloneys didn’t smell whiskey on Davi’s breath. He didn’t want them to think he was a bad influence on their son. He shook the thought out of his head and followed Davide inside.

Davi sighed in relief, “There you are. I was starting to think you just went home.”

“As if, I’m getting as much time with you as I can manage.” He elbowed Davi jovially as he hung his backpack on a coat hook.

“Hey Davey, good to see you!” Nicolette was lounging on the couch with a book open in her lap. She had MSNBC on TV, and some short-haired lady in a suit David didn’t recognize was the news anchor, “Martin and I were thinking of ordering Chinese for dinner, so you two can take a look at the menu and tell me what you want whenever.”

“Thanks, Nicolette,” David said as he untied his shoes.

“You want to go to my room?”

“Yeah sure,” Where else would they even go?

Davi smiled, “Cool cool,” He took David’s hand and led him there, it wasn’t like he hadn’t already been to Davi’s room dozens of times. Something about Davi’s hand in his felt nice, weird, but nice. Davi pulled him into his bedroom and shut the door behind him David heard the lock click. God, he was really close to him, wasn’t he?

“I figured we could use some privacy,” His voice barely above a husky whisper.

David laughed nervously, what did he mean by that? He put a hand on Davi’s chest, he could feel his heartbeat pounding through the fabric of his sweatshirt.

“You alright?” Davi asked.

“Just uh, a bit warm is all.”

Davi let go of his hand and stepped back, David was both relieved and saddened at the distance, “Right right sorry, didn’t mean to overwhelm you.”

“It’s all good man just uh,” Just what? He’d never felt this nervous around Davide before, or around anyone now that he thought of it, “mind if I open a window a bit or something?”

“No uh, go ahead.” He tugged on the hem of the hoodie David’s hoodie which he was making no moves to remove, “If I get cold I have this.”

“I will be wanting that back at some point you know,” David said as he opened one of Davi’s bedroom windows just a crack. He just needed some fresh air and to maybe not be looking at Davi’s face for a little bit.

“You doing alright? You seem a bit stressed.” Davi asked from his spot on the bed, perched a bit like a bird.

“I’m fine I promise. Besides, it’s just us. What would I even have to be nervous about anyway?” David sat down next to him. Davi smiled at him and linked his pinky with David’s,

“Yeah, it’s just us,” He repeated.

He was still always surprised at Davide’s hands and how soft they were. Why was he thinking about another guy’s hands?

“Want to listen to my music this time?” David asked as he pulled his phone out of his pocket

“Trying to indoctrinate me into your top forty bullshit again I see?” Davi teased.

“Hey, you didn’t hate everything I played you last time you jerk!” David lightly shoved Davi’s shoulder.

“Maybe I was just placating you,” Davi leaned into his space and chuckled. David couldn’t breathe, Davi’s face was so close to his and Davi didn’t even seem phased. He pulled his earbuds out of Davi’s pocket, he was still in his hoodie, and put one in Davi’s ear and the other in his own. He eventually broke eye contact to pick a playlist. He was in fact, forcing Davi to listen to music other human beings had heard of. He figured it would do the guy some good. Davi didn’t make any immediate noises of protest. All seemed well with the world as the first few songs played.

David didn’t remember this song having backup singers that sounded like that, then he realized that Davi was singing along. He pulled his earbud out for a moment. Oh, Davi was leagues better than Katy Perry. David just stared at him and listened to his best friend sing, his voice was amazing. It had this deep melodic quality, he could listen to him for hours. He sang about an infectious and poisonous kiss, his eyes were closed and he leaned ever so slightly into David’s space. David felt his heart pounding as he stared at Davide’s mouth. Davi opened his eyes, noticed David staring at him, and his voice wavered,

“Sorry was I, uh, singing too loud?” He blushed.

David shook his head, “No uh it was…it was nice. You didn’t strike me as a Katy Perry fan though,”

“To be fair, neither do you. But I like some of her stuff but yeah, she’s not my favorite by a long shot.”

“But uh, the song made me wonder something,” David started.

“What? Are you a the pyramids were built by aliens dude?”

“What? No, I- not that part of the song,” He shook his head.

“Then what?”

“So, you moved around a lot, guessing that didn’t give you a lot of time to mess around with girls and that sort of shit?”

“I mean not exactly but I’ve done some stuff,” Davi said, looking at his nails as he spoke, they were a sort of iridescent color this time, making a rainbow in the black as the light hit them.

“How far?” David wondered where Davi even managed to sneak off to mess around on military bases and all that shit. He pictured Davi tugging girls off into some dark alley to make out or shit like that. The vision did something to David but he couldn’t quite articulate what. Maybe jealousy? He had no luck with girls and Davi seemed like he was rolling in it.

“Third base.”

“Oh, holy shit. You’ve done more than me already,” That was, admittedly, not saying much.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Davide shrugged, “Being a homeschooled dirtbag kind of makes me sexy to a certain set.”

Well, David couldn’t exactly argue with that, “Who was your first kiss?”

“A boy on the Florida base named Gunther when we were like, twelve.”

“Wait, you’ve kissed a guy?” David asked, looking at Davide in a new light.

“Does that surprise you?” Davi quirked an eyebrow at him.

Not really no, Davide had eyeliner and ears full of piercings. If anything it would have been more shocking if he wasn’t a bit of a homo. He was still an alright guy though.

“I mean well…No but. I didn’t wanna assume or anything,” He let out an awkward chuckle.

Davi tilted his head at that, “Does it make you uncomfortable? That I like men?” He leaned a bit closer to David. David felt a bit sweaty at the proximity,

“No! I mean to each their own and all just, what’s it like?” David asked, “Is it like, weird?”

Davi snorted and rolled his eyes a bit, “If you’re so curious why not find out for yourself?”

“Okay,” David grabbed Davide’s face and kissed him. It wasn’t like the books or songs told him it would be. It didn’t feel like things were sliding into place or anything like that. But it felt nice. It wasn’t at all how he imagined kissing a guy would be like, not that he had ever imagined kissing another guy. Davide’s lips were surprisingly soft, and part of his cheek was a little scratchy, David guessed he must have missed a spot shaving. David wasn’t quite sure what to do but Davi was more than capable of picking up the slack. He kissed him back with an intensity that almost made him feel like he was going to fall backward on the bed. But he stayed upright, he felt warmth spread across his face and his chest. It eventually occurred to him to stop kissing Davi and he pulled back,

“Well damn. Can’t say I didn’t pretty much tell you to do that,” Davi chuckled, “So, how’d you like it?”

“I don’t know if I like guys but, that was pretty chill,” He rubbed his thumbs on Davide’s cheekbones. It was a bit of an understatement but. He was honestly just psyched to finally have his first kiss. Sure it would’ve been nice if it had been a girl but hey. Davide was a good kisser, so it wasn’t a huge loss.

Davi smiled at him, “If you ever want to…experiment a bit more, you have my number,” He winked.

David blushed and scratched the back of his neck, “I…maybe. I have had a crush on Shirley for a while now.”

“No pressure, just an option,” Davi said casually but there was a flash of something in Davi’s eyes David couldn’t quite identify.

“You won’t…tell anyone about this, right? I can’t have people thinking I’m gay.”

“Of course not,” Davi shook his head, “It’ll be our secret, I promise.”

“Good, good, thanks, man,” He felt a rush of relief, he didn’t want to think about what would happen if people at school or God forbid his father found out he’d kissed a guy.

Davi patted him on the shoulder, “No problem.” He held up an earbud, “Wanna listen to some of my music this time?”

“Sure,” David nodded, taking the offered bud. He didn’t super get Davi’s taste in music all the time. Okay, a lot of the time. But there was something nice and casual about just listening to someone else’s iPod on shuffle. Plus sometimes Davi either sang along or just moved around a little to the music which David always found really endearing, maybe a little too endearing he wondered as he thought back to their earlier activities. He didn’t recognize the song that came on, but that was just about par for the course with listening to Davi’s music. It was fine until wait what’s this guy singing about,

“Oh my god, why do you even have this song?” David asked, feeling his face burning.

“First of all I love this band and secondly, I think you know why,” He motioned between the two of them, “But I can skip it.”

“Please,” He felt his cheeks burning,

Davi laughed at him a bit but skipped the song, which David was very thankful for.

There was a knock on the door. David jerked away from Davi on instinct, only remembering Davi had locked the door after the fact.

“What’s up, Mom?” Davi called.

“I was about to order dinner, you two want to come out and join us?”

“Sure, Grazie!”

“Prego,”

Davi looked over at David, “Let’s head out there. Unless you’re too jumpy to be seen sitting next to me,” He said a bit skeptically.

“Sorry I uh, just an instinct. Besides, you know what happened has to be on the DL,” This attitude shift was unexpected. Davi had been so giddy earlier, now he seemed more distant,

“I know.”

David got up and followed Davi out into the living room. Nicolette had her phone at the ready David and Davi quickly skimmed the menu and told her what they wanted,

“Also, thanks for letting me stay this late.” David added.

“Of course, David, our home is always open to you,” She patted him on the shoulder.

“I appreciate it.”

Davi bumped shoulders with him. He was still not quite as enthusiastic as he’d been earlier but David was just glad it didn’t seem like Davi was irreparably pissed at him.

“You two saw a movie right? How was it?” Martin spoke up, his deep baritone voice commanding attention even without him speaking above a normal speaking volume. He probably didn’t try to intimidate David but he still felt like an ant being melted under an elementary schooler’s machinations as he made eye contact with the man.

“It was a fun horror movie, I liked it,” He smiled at Davi, “Davi here got a bit jumpy at parts though.”

“It was one jumpscare okay.”

“Do you scare easy Davide?” Martin asked his son. The look on his face implied he genuinely didn’t know the answer.

“No, David is just being a jerk.”

“It’s called light teasing,” David stuck his tongue out at Davi. Davi rolled his eyes at him.

“Food should be here in about fifteen minutes, think you guys can hold out till then?” Nicolette asked as she hung up the phone.

“Probably. We did have a stupid amount of snacks at the movie,” Davi pointed out.

“Ah good, exactly what you’re supposed to do when you see a movie.” Nicolette nodded. She took off her jacket and draped it over the back of her chair. There was a tattoo on her bicep, the outline of a figure.

“Oh whoa, I didn’t know you had a tattoo.”

Nicolette looked at Davi, “Will you be mad if I tell your friend the story?”

Davi shook his head, “Might as well kill the time.”

“So as you might know, I’m an art historian with a focus on the Italian Renaissance. Davide is also my only child.” She motioned to him, “When he was born Martin was overseas. There was a complication, Davide was much smaller than a full-term baby should have been, so they kept him in the NICU for several days.” She paused for a moment, Martin rubbed her back slowly, “They weren’t sure he was going to make it. I always loved the name, Davide, it was a strong contender even before I gave birth but. I sought solace in the Bible and as David faced the Goliath I looked at my too-tiny baby and thought…Maybe he can fight this Goliath and keep living. I got this tattoo, the outline of Michelangelo’s Il Davide, as a reminder of how strong my son is.”

“Holy shit.” David blurted out, “I mean uh, that’s lovely.”

“You’re practically an adult. Martin and I don’t care if you swear occasionally,” She said with a bit of a wet laugh, clearly still affected by the story she had just recounted.

“Ti voglio bene, mama,” Davi said softly, he placed his hand on the table.

“Anchio mio figlio,” Nicolette took the offered hand and squeezed it. David wondered what that was like, to know a parent adored you so undeniably.