It was the second crunching that told him they were smashing the pretzels. But that was fine. They were just pretzels. They'd still be edible even if they weren't whole. What really mattered was that he could tell what he'd said had touched James. It made him smile that much more as he pushed a strand of hair away from his boyfriend's face.

"You're a really special man who still has a lot to give okay? I read a couple of your published works and you've got such a rich mind. It's so full of ideas that I think you could write a lot of amazing things if that's what you wanted to do."

Eli sighed a little. "Did you always want to teach?"