Marcus showed up at ten in the morning with two coffees from the place on the corner that Eli had never asked him to go to but which Marcus had identified as Eli's preference through observation and was now simply part of the pattern of their friendship.
"You look like you've been awake since before the birds," Marcus said, handing him one.
"I have been awake since before the birds."
"For fun or for reasons."
"Reasons."
Marcus sat down at the kitchen table with the familiarity of someone who had sat at this table more times than he could count. He wrapped both hands around his coffee and looked at Eli the way he looked at him when he was going to say something real.
"I've been thinking," Marcus said.
"That's rarely good news."
"About the thing we don't talk about." He held Eli's gaze. "I'm not pushing. I know I said I'd wait for one day. I'm just. I want you to know that one day can be today if you want it to be."
Eli sat down across from him.
He looked at his coffee.
