Eisen laughed against Rory’s lips, because leave it to Rory to actually come up with not only one, but five perfect words to describe exactly how much better this situation was than their previous one. And the last three words. Eisen smiled warmly and slid his fingers along Rory’s cheek, just… enjoying how this felt. Rory loved him. “I love you, too,” he whispered, catching Rory’s lips again. He couldn’t believe, now that he’d had it, how long he’d gone without this. “I love you so much. I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner,” he admitted, giving a bit of a sheepish smile. “But I see it now. And nothing’s going to take me away from you. Nothing,” he promised.
So lost was he in the moment that he didn’t hear the various heavy footsteps outside his front door. He leaned in, catching Rory’s lips again and allowing himself to become even more oblivious to everything going on around him; the food, the sound of the opening credits to the movie and the wiggling sound coming from somewhere in the direction of his front door. Nothing else mattered more than what was right in front of him.
And thus, the sound of that wiggling turning into a loud SNAP jarred him straight from his Rory-centric world and smashed him harshly back down to reality. His head whipped in the direction of the front door and his eyes were wide as he saw none other than Nick McDermott standing in the doorway with his broken doorknob falling from his hand, glaring at he and Rory like he wanted nothing more than to pound them into the ground. And he wasn't alone. He had a posse with him. His sister Sarah and Wolf Conroy-Bradstreet stood behind him and Eisen realized exactly how dire the situation was in that instant. He was fucked. “What in the hell are you doing here?” he asked, disentangling himself from Rory and standing up, the look on Nick’s face immediately setting him on the defensive. He hadn't needed to ask, really. He knew. “You broke my fucking doorknob!” he snapped.
McDermott didn’t say anything at first, eyeing the doorknob on the floor and shrugging. “I don’t give a fuck about your doorknob,” he seethed. “You love him, huh? Anything like the way you loved Lexie? Better watch out, Spinelli. Bet you’re just as replaceable as she was,” he practically growled.
“Shut the fuck up, Nick, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Eisen insisted, turning his head to look at Rory. “He doesn’t. He has no idea.” Eisen had loved Lexie, it was true. But the way he loved Rory? It was different. Far purer. Maybe not everyone agreed, but it was true. He’d figured out, shortly after things had happened, that he’d loved the idea of Lexie. Someone who still felt the same about him, no matter what he did. But Rory did that, too. Even more than Lexie did, in many ways.