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“Just start without me. I have to do my homework,” Connor said, looking up at Luke, who had just walked in telling him that they were starting the movie soon.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?” asked Connor.
“I mean, no ,” Luke restated, climbing onto Connor’s bed and closing his laptop, moving it away from him. Luke climbed over Connor and stretched out over his body, leaning into his arms. Connor snaked his arms around Luke’s shoulders and pressed a kiss to his temple, threading his fingers through Luke’s hair.
“I guess I can do my homework later,” he murmured, and Luke smiled, pushing himself up slightly to kiss Connor’s cheek. Connor moved his hand down to Luke’s face, and cupping his cheek, kissed his lips.
“Thanks, Con,” Luke replied in between kisses, blushing slightly.
“‘Course,” Connor said, “anything for my angel.”
“Soooo,” Hanna said down in the living room, tucking her foot under her and sitting down on the couch. “What are we watching tonight?”
“Connor said IT one,” Gabby said, from her spot on the floor in front of Hanna, next to Jai.
Hanna crossed her arms. “Who is currently not here,” she said under her breath.
Jai snorted. “He’s probably in the kitchen making out with his boyfriend.”
“Jai!” Hanna exclaimed hitting him with a pillow.
“Am I wrong?” he asked.
Gabby gave a noncommittal jerk of her head. “He’s most likely not wrong.”
“Gabby! Not you too!” Hanna groaned.
“Hanna, you can’t say that there hasn’t been something else since Luke ‘gripped him tight and raised him from perdition,’” Jai said, making finger quotes in the air.
“Jai-” Hanna started but broke off as the door opened and Connor and Luke walked in.
“Speak of the devil,” Jai smirked.
Hanna rolled her eyes and Gabby laughed lightly.
“Whatchya talking about?” Luke asked, walking over to sit in the corner of the couch. Connor followed close behind with a bowl of popcorn.
“Nothing,” Gabby said quickly.
“Okay,” Luke said skeptically as Jai stretched out his arms, reaching for the popcorn bowl. Connor handed it to him, then sat down in between Luke and Hanna.
“‘S it queued up?” he asked and no one spoke. “Seriously?” Sighing, he got up and turned on the tv in his living room.
“Sorry that we don’t know how to work the tv,” Jai replied and Connor just rolled his eyes, pulling the disc of the first IT movie out of the tv stand. “And where the disc was,” Jai added as Connor turned on the tv and put the disk into the player.
“It’s not like you’ve been over to my house a million times, Jai.”
Luke put his arm up on the side of the couch and said, “he hasn’t. He’d be talking with Seth while we’re hanging out.”
“Okay, the funky dude isn’t that bad,” Jai protested.
“No, he’s that bad,” Hanna said. Jai shrugged and shoveled popcorn into his mouth while Connor took his spot again, Luke’s arm shifting closer to him as he clicked play and the opening scene started up, with the volume high enough to drown out almost any other noise.
“I’m thinking it might’ve been a bad idea to watch IT after the Shadowman,” Gabby said, 30 minutes into the movie. She’d migrated to the couch now, and she and Hanna were both under a blanket, and Jai had piled pillows on the floor and was lounging across them.
From the opposite side of the couch, Connor, who had his head resting on Luke’s shoulder, spoke. “Yeah, probably. Bad planning on my part.”
“Or maybe it was just a ploy to get me to hold you,” Luke whispered into Connor’s ear, careful not to let the others hear.
Connor smiled, blushing slightly, and looked up at Luke. “You look really cute when you do that, too,” Luke added.
“Shut up,” he muttered, but moved closer into Luke’s side anyway, and The Midnight Society (minus Seth) sat in silence for a few more minutes before someone spoke.
“We’re out of popcorn,” Jai said, lifting the empty bowl above his head. Connor flicked his eyes over to where Jai was.
“We’ll make it,” Hanna announced, grabbing the bowl from Jai and standing up. “C’mon.” She motioned with her hand. Gabby blinked and looked around in confusion, but stood up and followed Hanna. “And you can keep watching the movie,” Hanna added as she held the door to the hallway open for Gabby.
Gabby yawned as she walked over to the counter where the Stevens’ air popper and popcorn kernels were already out from the last batch. It was when Gabby had measured out the kernels and started the machine that Hanna finally spoke.
“Gabby?” she asked hesitantly.
“Hm?”
“I have something to tell you,” Hanna said, wringing her hands nervously. Gabby turned around to look at her and jumped up onto the countertop.
“I’m listening,” she replied when Hanna didn’t speak.
“What? Oh, yeah.” Hanna rubbed her eyes. “Gabby? I like you. Like, romantically like you. Like, like , you,” she confessed, starting to pace. “And I get that you might not be okay with that, which is fine, I guess, and I won’t mention this again if that’s the case and we can pretend this never happened, cause I still want to be your friend, even if I’m not your girlfriend.”
“Hanna.”
“Yes?” Hanna asked apprehensively, stopping in front of Gabby.
Gabby smiled. “I like you too. Like, like, you.”
Hanna immediately felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest. “You do?” Her voice came out breathless and strained.
“I do,” Gabby assured, reaching an arm out to Hanna. Hanna stepped forward shakily, then again, and again, until she was right in front of Gabby. She could smell Gabby’s flowery scent that accompanied her everywhere; the cherry chapstick on her lips.
“Can I kiss you?” Gabby whispered, which Hanna still heard over her frantic pulse and the air popper in the background. She nodded and Gabby leaned in slowly.
When their lips met, Hanna felt the whole world disappear. It was only her and Gabby. She felt Gabby pull her closer and she unconsciously leaned in and deepened the kiss, her arms moving around Gabby’s waist.
Meanwhile, Gabby moved her hands up Hanna’s arms to her face to touch Hanna’s cheeks gently, her ankles hooked together behind Hanna’s legs.
They finally broke apart after the first couple of popcorn kernels popped. Gabby leaned down and touched her forehead to Hanna’s, both of them smiling breathlessly.
“So you really like me?” Hanna asked.
“Yes, I really like you,” Gabby responded, tucking a strand of Hanna’s hair behind her ear. Hanna smiled and kissed Gabby again.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” Gabby repeated, pulling Hanna in for a hug, only letting go when they heard the popcorn stop popping. Hanna pulled away, placing a chaste kiss on Gabby’s lips, then walked to turn off the air popper.
“Jai will want salt and butter,” Gabby told Hanna.
“Well,” Hanna stated, grabbing the salt, “sucks for him, cause he’s just having salt.”
Gabby grinned as Hanna shook the salt over the popcorn, then shook the bowl lightly. “Ready?” Hanna asked, holding her hand out for Gabby to take.
“What are we gonna tell the rest of the Midnight Society?” Gabby asked quietly.
Hanna lowered her hand. “We can decide tomorrow. They don’t need to know yet if you’re not ready. That okay?”
Gabby nodded.
“And besides,” Hanna continued, “they’re all fine with my moms, anyway.”
Gabby nodded and Hanna held out her hand again. This time, Gabby took it, smiling, and hopped off the counter.
“Thank you,” Jai drew out when Hanna handed him the bowl, and Hanna nodded in return, settling down on the couch with Gabby. Hanna opened her arms and Gabby leaned into her chest.
“You know, I think if the Losers were actually smart, they wouldn’t run to try and stop IT,” Jai said, holding his arm up vertically. “I mean like, Pennywise was gonna take them anyway most likely. It’s kinda useless.”
“Jai, you do realize what we did when Connor was missing, right?” Hanna asked incredulously.
“Well yeah. But that’s cause we had a friend missing.”
There was an awkward silence. “Jai, Georgie was missing. He’s Bill’s brother ,” Luke deadpanned.
Jai blinked. “Yeah okay, I see your point.”
The rest of the movie passed relatively smoothly, Gabby falling asleep first, two-thirds of the way through the movie, her head resting on Hanna’s shoulder. Hanna fell asleep 10 minutes after that, and then Jai during the last scene in the field.
“That was fun,” Luke whispered at 1:30 am when the movie ended and the credits started.
“Yeah,” Connor whispered back, neither of them bothering to get up and turn the tv off just yet.
“Watching this movie makes me realize how glad I am to have you back,” Luke told Connor, running his hands through Connor’s hair and then kissing his hairline.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Connor replied, and they fell into an easy silence. When the credits finally stopped, Connor reluctantly pulled away from Luke.
“Where are you going?” Luke whined, flopping on the couch, reaching for Connor.
“I have to put away the disk and turn off the tv,” Connor answered, bending down and taking the remote from Jai’s hand, then clicking the tv off. “But we can go to my room after.”
“Oh, okay,” Luke said, standing up and waiting in the doorway. When they left the room, they didn’t have to turn off the lights. All the members of the Midnight Society now had strings of lights hung up around their houses, and Connor’s living room was no different—there was a string of white Christmas lights around the room, and the actual lights had been off for a while.
It was nearing 4 am when the sky had started lightening in the summer morning that Luke and Connor were both laying in Connor’s bed finally trying to sleep. Their legs were intertwined and they were both laying on their sides, facing each other. “I’m really glad you’re my boyfriend, angel,” Connor whispered.
“I’m super glad you’re my boyfriend, too, Con,” Luke whispered back, brushing a stray strand of hair out of Connor’s face, then kissing him again. With that, they both drifted off into a peaceful sleep in each others’ arms.