Photo illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images

Couples with an age gap may be all the rage on screen, but the couple that really has people giggling and kicking is Meryl Streep (75) and Martin Short (74). The septuagenarian actors, who play love interests in Hulu’s Only murders in the building, sparked dating rumors earlier this year when they looked cozy at the 2024 Golden Globes. This came just a few months after the revelation that Streep had quietly split from her husband of 40 years, Don Gummer, six years earlier, meaning the doyenne of American cinema was single. (Short’s wife, Nancy Dolman, died in 2010.)

Well, an exciting update has arrived for M&M shippers: On Wednesday, Streep and Short were photographed walking into famed Giorgio Baldi hotspot in Santa Monica. (In case this rings a bell, it’s the same Italian restaurant where Bennifer celebrated their first wedding anniversary.) An extremely friendly Short led Streep into the building with his hand on the small of her back. They then drove away in Streep’s white sedan; Briefly played passenger princess.

Representatives for the two have previously insisted they are just friends. Short denied the rumors about Bill Maher Club random podcast in January: “We are not a couple. We’re just really good friends.” But since then, the two have been seen together at Broadway shows and even holding hands at the season four premiere of Only murders in the building. They are constantly depicted destroying each other. Is it so wrong to imagine them enjoying gourmet spaghetti, Lady and the Tramp-style?