Can I Take You Home?

“So I think you should have lunch with me,” Austin started casually, flicking a row of dog leads back and forth “I mean, if you want to, since you finish soon and I haven’t eaten and you haven’t eaten and eating is a thing that should happen usually.” By the end of the sentence he sounded pretty flustered, one hand rubbing his hair back awkwardly while he bit his lip and blushed.

Alan had to blink at him for a few seconds before replying. Had he misheard? It seemed to him that Austin was asking him on a date but that couldn’t be right, right? Especially with the way he’d disappeared when Justin arrived a few days ago. People were so confusing Alan just kind of wanted to punch a wall. “What?” He finally settles for as an acceptable response.

Austin’s smile faltered and he switched to staring at his shoes, still chewing on his lip while he debated his response. “I mean, you don’t have to, obviously. I just thought that I would ask since I’m hungry and we’ve never really hung out apart from here which could just be because you can’t escape from me here and you don’t actually like being around me I’m sorry I can go I don’t mean to bug you I’ll just stop talking now.”

In a sudden burst of confidence Alan put down the fish food he’d been holding and walked over to Austin, taking his hand and smiling. “Hey, I like having you around! It’s the highlight of my day, even if I never get any work done when you’re here.” Austin looked up a little and smiled at Alan. “And I’d love to get lunch with you. We can go as soon as Justin or Ellie get here, I can’t even remember who’s supposed to be working. Maybe it’s both of them? Either way, they should be here any minute so yeah.”

Austin finally looked at Alan properly, dropping his hand only so he could pull him into a tight hug. Austin’s height made it a little uncomfortable and he had to bend slightly to get to the right hug height but Alan didn’t mind at all. And then of course, Justin showed up to ruin the moment. “Guys, what have I told you? Get a room, you’ll traumatise the fish! Think about Nemo, you could be ruining his life over there. Fish are friends!” Justin smirked, stepping through the door into the store.

“Fuck you Justin, you’re late. I’m leaving, see you on Tuesday.” Alan said, practically dragging Austin out with him in his effort to get away from Justin as fast as possible. Who knew what other embarrassing shit he could yell if they stuck around any longer?

“I’m really sorry about Justin. I’m not sure why he’s allowed in public.” Alan smiled sheepishly once they’d gotten out of the store. Austin had taken the lead walking down the street, their hands still clasped together from when Alan dragged him out. Alan’s heart was going crazy with nerves and he was just hoping his hand wasn’t sweaty and gross. He was going for lunch. With a cute guy. The cute guy. And said cute guy had asked him first. He wanted to yell and dance and skip, he was so full of happiness.

Austin laughed and smiled down at him. “Hey, it’s fine. We all have friends we want to punch sometimes. In high school I was friends with this guy, Michael, who had Tourette’s and being in public with him was painful sometimes, he’d say the weirdest shit.” He laughed at the memory and Alan smiled back at him, liking that they were finally talking away from all the animal noises and the pet shop smell and that it’d been Austin who had initiated it.

“So where are we going?” Alan asked after a minute of walking in silence, their hands swinging back and forth together, feeling to Alan like they were made to be held by one another. He could definitely get used to this. The word boyfriend wouldn’t get out of his head and he was really hoping it would be in their future.

Austin smirked, skipping forward a couple of steps and turning backwards to face Alan, their hands still clasped, “You’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you? You don’t have any allergies or anything, do you? Are you a vegetarian? Is there anything I need to worry about?” His expression changed to concerned, still walking backwards and Alan had to pull him to a halt as they came up to a crossing and he almost walked backwards into the road.

“Nope, I’m good with whatever. You should really look where you’re going though, wait until after the date before you die.” Alan realised what he said too late and internally cursed himself for being such an idiot and saying it was a date. Austin probably didn’t even like him like that, he was just misreading things like he always did and now he was blushing like an idiot and trying to sink through the pavement with the force of his own mind.

“That’s a good point, I’d kind of like to live to take you on another one if you don’t hate me by the end of the day.” Austin was grinning at him, all his perfect teeth on display. To Alan everything about him seemed kind of perfect, he wasn’t sure how this was even happening.

“I’d like that too,” Alan thought his heart might explode, he was happier than he’d been in months. Austin leaned down to press a soft kiss to Alan’s cheek before turning away and ducking his head, embarrassed. Yeah, he could definitely get used to this.