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There’s this -Boy? Girl? Both?- person on the subway that Jeremy always rides, click of the wheels beneath his feet and the oddly yellow unflattering lights that this person somehow manages to look good in when he himself can barely pass for a lump of fry grease. Jeremy isn’t mad, he’d just like to know how. This person wears everything, track pants and skinny jeans and dresses and skirts, and they always look God damn amazing. It took Jeremy twenty minutes to button his shirt this morning and even long to fix the collar so it looked presentable. He’s not trying to impress the train person with the cute hair that they dye every couple of weeks, definitely not. It’s just really not fair, that’s all.
But apparently the gods have taken pity on Jeremy and his collar which keeps sliding out of place because when the doors slide open and Cute Hair Person gets on, they walk up to Jeremy.
“Ay, mate, most of the other people in this car don’t look at me and my other mate skipped on getting coffee with me, so do you want it?” This person smiles and it’s like the sun and Jeremy decides that it’s way too early for cliches, so he takes the coffee and Cute Hair person sits down next to him on the less-than-comfortable seats. Jeremy takes a sip and winces visibly.
“I’m sorry, but what trash is this?” Jeremy asks, holding the cup away from him.
“Oops, sorry, must be mine.” They exchange cups. “Like my coffee sweet.”
“Are you kidding me? It drowns out all the coffee flavour.” Jeremy takes a sip of his new coffee. It is much less sweet and much better.
“But that’s good, isn’t it? Coffee flavour isn’t much good.” Cute Hair shakes their head and their dangling earring bounce against their neck. “Wait, can you even drown something out in a liquid?”
“Oh God, you’re one of those ‘I’m only here for the caffeine’ people, aren’t you?” Jeremy accuses, a smile playing lightly on his lips.
“Wait can I say.” Cute Hair shrugs. “I’m English, we much prefer tea, anyway.” They turn their cup in their hands and Jeremy can read the hastily scrawled ‘Gavin’ written around it.
“Is your name Gavin, then?” Jeremy asks. Cute Hair looks at them sideways.
“How’d you know that?” Cute Hair asks back.
“Well, I didn’t really think that your name was-” Jeremy glances down at the cup in his hand. “Chummy Chum Bucket Boi.”
“Fine, you got me.” Gavin chuckles and the name suits them so well. Jeremy likes it. “And my mate’s name isn’t Chummy Chum Bucket Boi either, his name is Michael. We do a thing, whoever gets to the coffee shop first gets to choose the name on the other’s coffee. But Michael skimped! He’s hangin’ out with his girlfriend instead.”
“That’s hardly skimping.” Jeremy shakes his head. “Also, I don’t think you’re using that word right.” Gavin shrugs.
“Eh, comme ci, comme ca.” Gavin says and Jeremy sighs, they must be doing this on purpose. “Suppose we should do formal introductions, yeah? Pleased to meet you, I’m Gavin.”
“Jeremy.” Jeremy shakes Gavin’s hand, their skin is so soft. How? “Pronouns?”
“Oh.” Gavin looks surprised, blinking in the yellow lights. “That’s nice. Of you to ask, I mean! I’m not being sarcastic, promise. Uh, but they change, switch out, I’m genderfluid. It’s he today.” An older woman looks at them both, shaking her head. “Oh, can it, Martha. What I am isn’t any concern of you. Don’t be transphobic, sweetie.” Gavin rolls his eyes and looks back at Jeremy. “What about you, then? What are your pronouns?”
“Just he.” Jeremy smiles, taking another sip of his coffee.
“Just he?” Gavin shakes his head, perplexed. “If you aren’t an epitome of he, then I don’t know what you are. Well, a coffee-loving, nice person, I guess, but. Oh, well.”
“I like your hair.” Jeremy says, suddenly, and one of Gavin’s hands flies up to grip it, almost spilling his coffee in the process.
“Really? Michael told me that I should do purple, but I really wanted to do blue.” Gavin smiles, lighting up his eyes. “Does it look good?”
“Oh, of course. You make literally anything look good.” Jeremy explains and Gavin smiles again.
“Right-o, Jeremy, this next one is my stop.” Gavin says, getting ready to stand.
“Oh, yeah. Have a nice day.” Jeremy tells Gavin, but he wishes that Gavin was staying.
“Can we do this again tomorrow? I’ll bring coffee.” Gavin tempts, but honestly, Jeremy doesn’t need to be tempted, he’s already in.
“I’ll bring breakfast.” Jeremy promises.
And it continues, this cycle of food and drink giving and Jeremy isn’t sure if anything Gavin says should be taken as flirting because the only other person Jeremy has heard them talk to is Martha. There’s not a lot of room for comparison there.
“Babs, Babs, what should I do?” Jeremy asks, he’s in her apartment, draped over the countertops and grousing.
“Just ask them out, man.” Barbara shrugs. “I mean, there’s not that much to it…?”
“Barbara, I can’t do that!” Jeremy protests. “I don’t even know if they’re dating Michael or not. You’re supposed to be good at flirting!”
“Because I’m a girl?” She raises her eyebrows, incredulous.
“No.” Jeremy groans. “Because you literally went to prom with three dates and then you all went and got dinner somewhere and now you’re best friends.”
“In all fairness, you should probably lower that to two because we weren’t technically dates.” Barb shakes her head. “We promised each other in seventh grade, man, we couldn’t go back on that. And it was IHOP, how could you forget that? But I see what you mean. Alright, do you really want my help?”
“I have never needed something more than I need this.” Jeremy says and Barbara rolls her eyes.
“Fine, fine, fine. You bake shit, yeah? Like, make them donuts or something. They’ll probably love anything that you make.”
“Barbara, that is an absolutely genius idea.”
So, when Gavin gets on the subway the next day, Jeremy is sitting in his regular seat with a box on his lap. Gavin grins and sits down next to him, handing over the warm, paper cup.
“What’d you get me today?” Jeremy asks, inspecting the cup carefully.
“Chocolate rose, I think.” Gavin shrugs. “Tried a new cafe today and they had a lot of weird tea flavours, but they all seemed good…? I dunno, this purple haired girl told me that it was good.”
“Was she tall and sounded Canadian?” Jeremy asks, quickly.
“Uh, she kept making puns about moose, if that counts?” Gavin offers and Jeremy grins.
“That was my friend, Barbara!” Jeremy exclaims. “God, I can’t believe you met her. She’s chill as fuck.” Gavin nods in agreement.
“She seemed nice.” Gavin rubs his hands together, as well as they can while holding a cup. “What have you got for me today, J?”
“Boston Creme donuts.” Jeremy opens the box and hands one to Gavin. “I used to eat them all the time when I was growing up in Boston, so I made some.”
“Holy fuck, you made these?” Gavin asks, carefully licking a spot of cream from the edge of the donut. “This is so good. Why didn’t you tell me you could bake?”
“It was never relevant.” Jeremy shrugs.
“Jeremy.” Gavin shakes their head. “We literally have a friendship founded on caffeine and food. You have to make me more stuff. I mean, if you can. Please. This is the best thing I have ever eaten in my entire life, Jesus Christ.”
“Well, thank you.” Jeremy grins. “And thanks for the tea, it’s surprisingly really good. And what are your pronouns today?”
“Of course!” Gavin mirrors Jeremy’s grin. “And it’s she today. Pronouns?”
“Still he.” Jeremy nods.
“You never know.” Gavin takes another bite of her donut and visibly melts. “Oh! And can I have your phone number?”
“Uh, yeah.” Jeremy says, surprised. “Why?”
“I miss you, Jer Bear. We only talk on the subway and I feel like you’d provide fun commentary for your day.” Gavin holds out a pen and her arm and lets Jeremy scrawl it across her skin. “Nice, mate.”
“Yeah, of course.” Jeremy grins and the subway starts to grind to a stop.
“Well, see you tomorrow.” Gavin says and bounces off the train as the doors open, waving behind her. Jeremy wastes no time dialing up Barbara and telling her that holy fuck, you met Gavin and I got her number.
And then later that day, Jeremy gets a text.
what’s better, sun chips or lays chips?
Who is this??
Gavvy :DD
Oh my god, you text with faces. You’re one of those
Of course. Now answer the question.
Sun chips, I guess.
Yesss, thank you for agreeing with me and making Michael pissy.
Wait no, he wants to talk to you.
Sure, it’s your phone.
Hey, fucker.
Hey, Michael.
Hey Michael??? That’s all you have to say for yourself???
Yes???
How can you agree with that British prick?
How can you not?
… fair enough
Thank you.
Lays are still better, though
You’re going to die from all that sodium
???
Holy hell, i just checked a bag. You’re so right Gavin’s so right omg i hate myself
Go eat the sun chips. Give into Gavin.
But she’ll gloat, Jeremy, I can’t deal with this
Give up. She always wins.
Eurghhh, fine. Here, have your girlfriend back.
Bye
What did you say to him??? He’s eating my sun chips????
Wow, you and Michael text very similarly
We’re best friends, what do you expect?
Honestly, I’m not quite sure.
I’m gonna go back to this movie, I’ll talk to you later :)
You stopped a movie to ask me about chips?
Wow, you must really love me.
;)
No god no
Their friendship blossoms from their and Jeremy is delighted, he keeps making food and pastries and Gavin loves and eats them all.
And then Gavin shows up on the subway with purple hair and dye stained fingers and Jeremy marvels over it.
“You changed your hair!” Jeremy exclaims. “Pronouns?”
“She. Pronouns?” Gavin asks back.
“Still he.” Jeremy answers. “It looks so good purple, Michael was right.”
“You remember that?” Gavin smiles. “But yeah, he was. He says that purple brings out my eyes.”
“It does!” Jeremy nods, quickly. “God, it looks so soft.”
“It is.” Gavin assures. “You should dye your hair.”
“Maybe.” So that night, Jeremy dyes his hair bright green with the help of Barbara.
Gavin literally squeals when they get on the subway the next day.
“You dyed your hair!” Gavin jumps up and down, nearly spilling the coffee in his hands.
“I did!” Jeremy answers and Gavin sits down. “Pronouns?”
“He.” Gavin answers. “It looks so good on you! Wow, it’s so nice. Green like our train line, huh?” A woman across the car smiles at them.
“Aw, you two are so cute!” She smiles and the woman beside her, Martha, hurriedly shakes her head.
“Dearie, you don’t understand. Those two queers are dating!” Martha hisses, voice low.
“Excuse me, Martha! Don’t make assumptions.” Gavin shakes his head. “We’re not dating.”
“You want to, though?” Jeremy blurts and Gavin looks at him, confused. “Like, do you want to go get dinner tonight, or something?”
“Aw, Jeremy!” Gavin hugs him. “I’d love to.”
“Disgusting.” Martha sniffs. “Look what these queers are ruining the earth.”
“Can it, Martha.” The woman beside her smiles at the two of them. “They’re cute.”
Jeremy shows up at the restaurant a few minutes later and sits down by himself. Gavin’s not there yet, but that’s fine, he isn’t that great at being on time, anyways. Twenty seven minutes later, Jeremy is still trying to believe it. After an hour passes, he give up and he leaves. Gavin probably didn’t even want to go out with him, he probably just didn’t know how to let him down. So, Jeremy goes home and maybe he cries and maybe he doesn’t, but he might get slightly drunk and end up passing out in his kitchen.
And then he starts waking up at five in the morning, so he can catch the earlier train, so he doesn’t have to see Gavin. He falls asleep on the subway often, but anything is worth it if he doesn’t have to endure the humiliation of seeing Gavin again.
And then Gavin walks onto the early train and sits next to Jeremy, handing him a plain cup of coffee.
“Hey, Jeremy.” Gavin smiles, softly. “How are you?”
“Fine.” Jeremy says, unsure of what to do with the coffee in his hands and whether or not he should move away and go sit somewhere else.
“I’m really sorry I missed our date.” Gavin apologizes. “The subway got super delayed in the tunnels and by the time I got to the restaurant, you were gone. Ironic, right? The thing that brought us together made us stop talking for a week.”
“Why didn’t you text me?” Jeremy asks. “You could have told me that sooner.”
“My friend broke my phone and I haven’t got a chance to get a new one. I’m sorry.” Gavin apologizes again. “Really, I am.”
“It’s okay, just a misunderstanding.” Jeremy says. “Pronouns?”
“She. Pronouns?” Gavin asks in return.
“He.” Jeremy says and the clicking of the wheels fill the gap in their conversation.
“Do you want to try this dating thing again?” Gavin asks. “Maybe we can take the bus together this time.”
“I’m down if you are.” Jeremy smiles, taking a sip of his coffee, and Gavin breaks out into a grin.