Page 49 of Try Line Hearts
“Liar,” Eli said cheerfully. “You hate things you can’t control.”
“That’s most of life.”
“Exactly. It’s a wonder you cope at all.”
Lucas angled his head toward him. “How do you cope?”
Eli blinked, caught. Then smiled. “I distract myself with jokes. And speed.”
“And sweets,” Lucas said before he could stop himself.
Eli’s eyes lit with offended delight. “Oi. Don’t expose me.”
“I’m not exposing you,” Lucas said, warmth surprising him. “I’m… noticing.”
Eli went still for half a heartbeat, then leaned closer. “Okay, captain. Since you’ve noticed… do you want one?”
Lucas stared. “What?”
Eli glanced toward the aisle seat, then down at his pocket. “Hold out your hand.”
Lucas hesitated, then slid his hand over, palm up.
Eli pulled out a small purple-wrapped square of chocolate and tipped it into Lucas’s palm with the careful precision of someone handing over contraband.
Their fingers brushed.
Lucas’s entire nervous system lit up at the tiny contact.
“You look like you’re being offered classified information,” Eli murmured.
“It’s chocolate,” Lucas said.
“It’s peace,” Eli corrected. “Also dairy. Which is scientifically comforting.”
Lucas unwrapped it quietly and slid it into his mouth. Sweet. Familiar. Grounding.
“Good,” he said.
Eli grinned. “Told you.”
The safety demonstration was played. Engines rose. As the plane tilted upward, Lucas’s fingers tightened on the armrests.
Eli’s hand settled on the narrow strip of plastic between them, close enough that their little fingers brushed. Not grabbing. Not holding. Just… there.
Lucas loosened his grip. Let his smallest finger rest more fully against Eli’s.
They stayed like that the entire flight—two men in suits, elbows tucked, hands doing something private in the open like it wasn’t a risk.
Like it could be normal.
Cardiff was grey and wet and familiar in the way every rugby city became once you’d played there enough times.
Flags hung from lampposts. Rain slicked the streets into black glass. A billboard near the stadium had his face on it—Byrne in action, ball tucked tight, jaw locked.
Eli whistled from the bus seat. “Look at him. Deadly.” He leaned closer and whispered so only Lucas could hear, “And that face… oh my,”
“Shut up,” Lucas muttered, ears burning.
