Chapter Text
Elia had never truly been sure if he was imagining Martino’s lack of interest in girls, and the lingering glances that he sometimes shot towards good-looking boys, or if he was just seeing what he wanted to see. His crush on Martino had crept up on him – he wasn’t even aware of it until one day Marti caught him staring a little too long and gave him a quizzical smile. His heart had thumped in his chest and it washed over him. Fuck. And he’d once teased Marti about not trying anything when they shared a bed together. Ha. Now he dreamed of such a scenario, when it was late at night and Elia could stop denying the reality of the situation. Elia Santini was bi and a little bit in love with his friend.
So when Martino told them he’d had a thing with a boy, the emotions that swirled through his head in the minutes afterwards were a tangled mess of elation and heartbreak. Because he hadn’t been imagining it, Marti did like boys. He wasn’t an impossibility anymore, forever off limits.
But Marti didn’t like him. He’d said so. And he’d had some ‘thing’ with this other boy. That stupidly handsome boy that Martino had turned into a wordless idiot around. He wondered what that term involved – ‘a thing’. Flirtation? Kissing? More?
His stomach tightened at the thought but he pushed it away as Giovanni asked him once more if he was coming to the cabin. Elia met Martino’s eyes and caught the fear in them, and god no matter how hurt he was he couldn’t bear to let Marti think that him being into boys would change how Elia thought of him.
So he looked at him tenderly and said, “Of course.”