My Body, Which Will Be Given Up For You, missing scene
So I had cut 2400 words of the first date between now formerly Father Eddie and Bobby out of the original fic because it took sooooo long and was killing the flow of what was supposed to be basically the epilogue. I forgot I had finished this, so I should post things I finish. You can read it all here on AO3, and here's a snippet:
Dinner's nice. It's pretty good, actually, considering Eddie had kind of picked a place at random. He's still getting used to being allowed to be a member of society, so he's not great at picking restaurants and stuff yet. He'd belonged to the church since he was almost eighteen, really, because he had known where he was headed the second he started school. So he feels a little like he doesn't know how to be a real adult yet. The only comfort is that, based on what he's heard from Shannon and a few other people, neither does anyone else.
Sitting across from Bobby, he wonders if he feels like that sometimes. Eddie knows the guy's got a complex inner life, there's a lot going on, a lot that was held back, but he wonders if he feels like he's faking it, too.
“What?” Bobby asks, twirling some noodles around his chopsticks.
“Nothing,” Eddie says, feeling his face get hot. At Bobby's expectant look, he sighs. “I just wondered if you ever feel like you're not really a grown up.”
Bobby scoffs. “Constantly. I look around trying to find the person in charge and realize that's me on a weekly basis.”
Eddie feels a wave of relief and laughs. “Well, that makes me feel better. I, uh, kind of feel like I’m floundering here.”
“Nah,” Bobby says, settling back in his chair with a smile. “You picked a good restaurant, you look good, and we've been talking non-stop for like an hour and a half.”
Eddie almost asks when the last time was he was on a date and realizes that would be really stupid and insensitive if it was his wife. “So my second date odds—”
“Are great,” Bobby says, his eyes sweeping over Eddie consideringly, making him feel stripped down. “Really great.”
His heart flutters in his chest, and he scoops a soup dumpling onto his spoon to give himself something else to focus on. “Good.”
He very nearly ends up with broth down his chin, which is embarrassing, but Bobby's smile doesn't falter. He just sips some of his tea and goes back to eating noodles.