finally home.

Aleksandr smiled wide as he started walking away, Baron easily trotting along side him after he's given a soft, "rjádom," and he turned his head back to look at Niall once more. "Don't worry, I wouldn't deign to make you anything but my very best," he said, giving the man a wink himself before turning back and exiting out of the dog park, his heart racing. The only thought in his mind was that he hoped that wasn't the last time he got to talk to the beautiful man.

---

"Sbrigati! Sbrigati! Finita, il più presto possibile," he barked out, striding into the kitchen after having showered to wash the kitchen grime for the lunch service off. He looked around his domain, which was currently occupied with his various kitchen hands all working at their various stations to prepare for the dinner service, and smiled. He walked up to his sous chef, Natalia, speaking to her for a moment before leading her over to the menu spread out on his own cleaned down prep table. He listened to the sound of a crash, turning to shout out a curse and a quick order for it to be cleaned up, the nerves fluttering low in his belly almost getting the better of him.

Niall felt some nerves as he continued checking his phone. It had taken him forever to actually convince Liam that he was, in fact, just going out to have a pint with a friend after finishing up in the studio. He didn't necessarily enjoy lying to the other three members of his band, but it just wasn't time to tell anyone about Aleksandr. He had been texting the man on and off since they last met a few days ago, always glad to have someone to text especially when stress and anxiety ate at him at night. The man seemed to stay up far too late for his job, but he was use to being surrounded by night owls. The driver had pulled up to the restaurant, giving him a fond smile before he opened Niall's door for him. He wasn't use to this treatment still, use to being from a small place in Ireland even after five years, but he accepted it as he walked into the entrance. The hostess gave him a bright smile as she asked him what he was here for. "Uh, Aleksandr said to meet him here? I don't know, exactly," he managed to stutter out, nerves bubbling inside him. She seemed to understand, asking him to follow her, which he obediently did since this was so far out of his element. He adjusted the collar of his button-up, having no real clue what to wear exactly. His nerves settled slightly when he saw the man busily working inside the kitchen.

Aleksandr had just finished going over that nights various offerings on the menu and was turning around to grab his button-down from where it was draped over a hanger near the kitchen door when Niall was shown back. He couldn't hide the immediate smile that stretched across his face, and he forgot that he was in a simple undershirt when he walked up to him. Alek leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to a cheek in greetings, before straightening, not allowing himself to linger. "I see you've made it here in one piece, and without the chaperone. There were no stray bottles or underthings flying your way, I trust?" He asked, knowing that he had yet to tone down the smile, though for the life of him, he didn't seem to be able to force it away.

[ on mobile, deal bruh. ]

Niall took in the man in front of him, not minding the fact that he was only dressed in a simple undershirt. He didn't doubt that he would accept the man if he were wearing just his pants, which made him turn slightly red in the face at the thought. The gentle kiss on his cheek made him laugh slightly nervously, but he still went to grab the man's slightly larger hand in his own as a form of greeting. "Yes, I do come without a chaperone and without any knickers, especially none on my head," he said, laughing loudly at the mental image. He felt slightly flustered afterwards, looking nervously around the room once his laughing had subsided. "I almost had a chaperone, my mate, Liam. He thought he was invited to the party, which he was sorely mistaken," he said as he walked with the man around the kitchen alongside Alek.

Aleksandr chuckled softly at that, before placing his hand against Niall's lower back, using it to guide him to his private work station. "Yes, knickers or any other kind of under garments should not adorn your head, it would do absolutely nothing for your hair," he said, his hand running in small circles over the other's back for a moment. "And I am glad it is just you, I'm not inclined to share my personal space with just anyone," Alek continued, turning his small into a playful grin. When they arrived at his small nook area, set slightly away from the busy bustle of the kitchen, he moved Niall over to where his back was against a work surface before easily lifting him up onto it. "Now, for tonight, you will be my official taste tester. I'm more than positive you were born for this job, yes?" He asked, grinning down at Niall for a moment before going to riffle through his various supply storages. "Do you have an objections to lamb, or any allergies I should know of?"

Niall looked behind him at the hustle and bustle of the cooks behind them before he focused his attention solely on Alek. "Yeah, I feel as if it wouldn't have been as fun if we made this date for three instead of two. Especially when good, high quality food is involved," he said with a large grin on his face. He was pretty sure that it was close to impossible to not smile at the man in front of him. Niall was slightly surprised when the man lifted him up, automatically sitting down where he was placed. As the words left Alek's mouth, his grin grew wider and wider until he was sure his face was about to split in half. "No, no allergies at all. I am ready to be any sort of test subject," he said, swinging his legs as he watched the other man prepare. "But, tell me about yourself. I know you have a dog and speak crazy languages, also know your full name. But I doubt that will be enough for me to tell my mum about," he said jokingly.

Aleksandr smiled to himself as he methodically prepared his station a little ways from Niall, setting everything up before beginning to start preparing the multitude of ingredients. "Oh, so we are already at the stage of telling the 'rents about the other?" He asked, deftly chopping and preparing herbs and vegetables, dropping each into their designated bowl as he finished with them. "You must forgive mine, then. They can be a little abrasive, as well as my three brothers," he said, though paused in his movements for a moment to glance at Niall, "you will get along well with my sister." He turned back to his board, his knife making quick work of the ingredients. "Let's see, I have three other animals at home, every single one a demon, but you may know them as the species of cat. I speak five languages fluently, but can understand and sometimes respond to six other's, we moved around quite a lot after leaving Russia. I am allergic to strawberries and penicillin, and I sleep in the nude. Your turn."

Niall hummed as he listened to Alek. "I think any stage is the right stage, though, I might tell my brother Greg before anyone else. Don't tell my mum, she'd probably kill me for not saying something sooner," he said with a small laugh. He was mesmerised for a few seconds as he watched the man's hands work fast and fluently with his knife. "I grew up in Ireland and found myself in a successful boy band by the time I was sixteen, I am not twenty one. I like giraffes and the colour green, but hate it too since there are probably way too many jokes about me being a leprechaun because of it. Me pot of gold is somewhere, I am sure," he said, making his accent much thicker as he bent his arms at the elbows and swayed them before rolling his eyes. "But I also hate pigeons and tight spaces, which people should have really warned me about that before I signed up to be in a boy band. Total rubbish it is to be smothered by fans who are tryna grab at you." He crossed one leg over his other, leaning close as he watched carefully everything the man did.

Aleksandr turned with a laugh, leaning his hip against the metal worktop as he wiped his hands off and slung the towel over his shoulder. "I will admit that I told Natalia," he began, point through to the busier kitchen in the general area where she was, "less than an hour after I'd first met you. My sister that night, since my personal life had come up," he said, flashing Niall a grin. He moved to place the pot filled with peeled and chopped potatoes on the cooker top, lighting the burner and turning it on high before sliding the tray with peas and carrots coated in olive oil and salt into the oven to roast. "But, can you really blame them? I'd be in the crowd with them," he said, turning back to Niall before walking closer to the other, making sure he was a respectable distance from him and not crowding around him, no matter if he wanted to. "Though, truly I am sorry that the rest of the world don't understand the concept of personal space, especially when they believe them self entitled to that person and their property."

Niall laughed as he shook his head. "Nah, it wouldn't be worth it to join them. Harry and Liam tend to be on either side of me to make sure that I have at least a little bit of personal space, if not them then my chaperones typically do a great job," he said. He felt slightly flustered when the man had talked about telling people about him so soon, making his heart jitter in his chest since he doubted anyone else would do that for him. "I guess we will just have to give them a manual sooner or later to teach them what personal space is and how to correctly practise it," he said with a grin. He enjoyed watching the other cook, scanning the food he was putting into the pot, automatically satisfied with what he was making. "Tell me more about your family," he said, looking around the kitchen once more to see the people moving quickly around as dinner service went on. For a moment he felt bad, knowing that he was the one that was keeping Alek away from actually making the food for people who were coming into the restaurant.

Aleksandr laughed as he took another step forward, looking Niall over for a moment before shaking his head and giving him a lazy smile. "You're right, a simple promise of food and I've got you all to myself. No need to join the crowds and attempt to get past them all. I doubt my eardrums could take the abuse," he said, reaching out to cup the side of Niall's face and brushing his thumb softly against his jawline. He stood there for a long moment before pulling himself back from Niall, his smile widening as he turned back to his work area, getting the peas and carrots on a baking tray after tossing them in olive oil and salt. He slid the tray into the cooker before walking over to the walk-in and removing a rack of lamb. He wiped down his knife before deftly cutting the flesh from around the ends of the bone, trimming the rest of some of the fat. "Well, both my father and mother were born and subsequently grew up in Russia. So were me and my four siblings, though we began moving when I was nearly ten. I have an older brother and sister, as well as younger twin brothers. We've got quite a lot of family that lives in the city, and we've family dinners at least every fortnight. My mother likes to feed people and my father likes golf. They're simple folk," Alek said, chuckling softly.

Niall was surprised when the man held onto the side of his face, cheeks growing red as he continued to stare at Alek's eyes. He wanted to talk about how beautiful his eyes were or maybe how his tattoos that disappeared beyond his shirt made him very curious as to what his clothing hid. As he decided to hold back all those things, Aleksandr was already pulling away from him, Niall almost moving his hand to keep him closer to him once again. He watched the man cut the lamb, vaguely wondering how someone could honestly touch raw meat like that, before he heard the man speak. He was glad that he had a name to the slight accent that the man talked with, though he did speak far too many languages to exactly understand. "I like simple folk," he said, "but I really enjoy food and golf. I actually was a caddie for Rory Mcllory at the Masters a while ago. But don't look it up, too many embarrassing pictures, I have already had it talked about in too many interviews and even on live television." He laughed again, breathless and turning red faced as he tried to cover his mouth to stifle the loud sound.

Aleksandr washed his hands, drying them on the towel slung over his shoulder as he turned back to Niall with a raised eyebrow. "You caddied for Rory McIlory? Please, do not mention this to my father. For a reason none of us can figure, he despises that man," he said, laughing himself as he shook his head. "We've stopped trying to understand and just turn the channel when it's his turn up," he continued, walking over to the mortar and pestle to begin combining the rub together. "My mother is the reason I became a chef, she'll enjoy feeding you," he said, grinning over at Niall as he spread the rub over the lamb and went back to wash off his hands once more. Alek went over to the walk-in once more, simply reaching in to grab the bottle of wine he'd placed in there earlier and walking back over to Niall. He worked the cork off, grabbing two wine glasses and beginning to fill them. "What about your family? Any brothers or sisters, or possibly crazy uncles to mention?"

Niall laughed as he shook his head. "Hey! He was a great guy, I spent the entire day with him, there was no problems. I'll certainly not tell your father, though. Assuming that we get to the meeting parents stage," he said, wanting to reach and pull Aleksandr closer to him once more. He didn't know why, but he wanted to bring the man in and allow himself to be comforted by his presence. "I have a mum, don't see her much, though, since I went to live with my dad when they divorced. I do, however, have a brother. He's happily married and has a little son named Theo," he said, already grabbing for his phone and scrolling through his pictures - which was an embarrassing amount of selfies he sent to people while bored at the studio - until he came across the photo of Theo he had when they last visited. "See?" He said, showing the man the photo, "he's an adorable little kid. I taught him how to high five." He was practically beaming as he talked about his little nephew, happy to discuss his family with anyone who would listen. The band worked well because they all were very family oriented, so they made a second home with each other.

Aleksandr smiled as he walked closer to Niall to passing him a glass of wine, sliding even close to look at his phone. "He is quite adorable," he said with a nod of agreeance before pulling his own phone out. He scrolled through the various photos that he had, most of them being his relatives and animals, finally stopping on a group photo of three of his nieces and his two nephews. He turned his phone more towards Niall, pointing to the younger one's sitting on the ground playing with toys. "They are both Theo's age, and absolutely refuse to do any kind of high five or knuckle bump from anyone but my father," he said with a shake of his head, scrolling over a few more photos as he came to his three week old nephew. "This is the newest member of my older brother, Abram's, family," he said, smiling at his phone for a moment before blacking the screen once more. He raised his glass slightly, grinning over at Niall, "to getting to the meeting the parents stage," he said, chuckling softly.

Niall's eyes practically sparkled as he stared at the pictures that Aleksandr showed him. He was always interested in hearing about people's families. "You have quite a large family, you bring mine to shame," he joked as he grinned wider as he took a sip of his wine. He wasn't very into wine, always being given beer when he was finally old enough to drink. This wine was fantastic, fruity and delicious on his tongue. "To getting to meeting the parents stage," he said, tilting his own glass up against the man's own glass. He allowed them to fall into a comfortable silence, trying to decide what to talk about. "Did you look me up online after we met?" He asked, before he realised that he didn't share his last name with the man in front of him. "Also, what exactly is your last name?" He asked, tilting his head to the side, knowing that he probably should have asked this earlier. He could picture Liam shaking his head in disapproval at learning it so late, which was odd, but he assumed that Liam had become something of a conscious to all the lads in the band.

Aleksandr glanced over at the clock, seeing that the time to remove the potatoes from the water was quick approaching, so turned to walk back to the stove. He set his glass on the worktop beside him before quickly moving to strain the potatoes, moving the pot back to the oven and added the necessary ingredients. "Well, I did type you into google, seeing as you mentioned being famous, but I didn't do more than a cursory glance at the pictures and some of the various news articles. I'd rather learn about you from the source than read about other's interpretations of who you are," he said, quickly mashing the potatoes into a nearly smooth consistency. He moved his hand over the grill built-in to his cooktop, feeling within a second that the temperature was high enough to properly cook the lamb. "And my last name is Markovic," he said, gently laying each chop against the grill, hearing the rather satisfying hiss of the meat already beginning to sear. "And it is not a competition, who has the bigger family. You having a smaller one means that I'm more likely to stick out like a sore thumb," he said, raising an eyebrow as he looked over at Niall, though he could feel the sides of his mouth being tugged upwards.

A small grin overcame Niall's face as he looked down at his lap, slightly taken by Alek's smile. He always knew that the man had a nice smile, but it was so fantastic to see it on his face. "Markovic," he muttered under his breath, looking shyly up at the other. "I am sure that I will stick out like a sore thumb as well, I can't do a convincing Russian accent. I can do a pretty good American one, though," he said, placing his wine next to Alek's as he vaguely thought about bringing his legs up to his chest. He knew that he probably shouldn't, seeing as it was the man's working space even though the man put him up there. "Is it almost done?" He asked, leaning forward slightly to see the cook top, as if that would magically make it ready even though he saw the man put everything onto the it. He was excited to eat the man's food, the smell enough to make his stomach growl.

Aleksandr smiled as he turned each piece of lamb just as the char was beginning to travel up the sides of each piece, and moved to stir the potatoes once more. "You've no need for a Russian accent. We have so many people from so many places in our family that you'd fit in quite well, I assure you," he said, moving to grab a shallow frying pan and setting it on the stove to warm up. He grabbed a tasting spoon, scooping out a bit of the potatoes before blowing on it for a moment as he walked towards Niall. "Taste," he said, plopping the spoon in his mouth after he'd opened it. He smiled at Niall for a moment before ducking his head down to finally press his lips against the other's, pulling back almost as soon as it had started. "Sorry," he said, giving Niall a sheepish grin as he turned from him, moving to the grill once more to remove the pieces of meat onto another baking tray and sliding them into a warming box to rest. He quickly started on the sauce, tossing the oil and shallots together in the frying pan. "Nearly finished," he said, his attention on the pan as he sauteed the shallots before deglazing the pan with wine.

"Maybe one day you'll accept an Irishman into your family. Even if your dad dislikes Rory," Niall joked, excited once he saw what he could only assume was the finishing touches of the meal. His eyes gleamed as he saw the man walk closer to him with a spoon in hand. He smiled wide, chewing the potato that tasted amazing before he swallowed it - a very bittersweet moment - and was about to rave about the spectacular taste. It was interrupted as lips were pressed against his own, making him want to grab the man's jaw and bring him in closer. The kiss only lasted a few moments, much to Niall's disappointment, but he was glad it happened anyways. There was a small worry that maybe Alek decided that it wasn't worth kissing Niall, it passed shortly after it began though. "Don't apologise, Aleksandr Markovic, I am not against kissing an attractive man. It may be the beard, though," he joked as he continued to see the man work. He got off the counter, only to investigate the man cooking up closer, impressed with how fluid he was in his movements.