What's Written in Red

"Do you want anything to drink?" Austin asked politely as he led Alan into his apartment.

"Er.. No, thank you." Alan answered unsurely, seemingly caught off guard by the question.

Austin found it cute how nervous the guy was acting, but he just hoped that it wouldn't make things too awkward.

He watched as Alan scanned his eyes across the apartment, nodding slightly in approval. He suddenly stopped when his gaze seemed to be locked on something in the room, and Austin turned around to see the box he'd gotten the other day resting on his kitchen counter.

"Do you like it?" He asked in a friendly tone. "Someone put it on my doorstep yesterday, I can't believe someone would give that up.." He trailed off.

"Its beautiful." Alan whispered, not keeping his eyes off the box.

Suddenly he snapped out if it, turning around to look back at Austin with a small smile on his face.

"So you..wanted to help me?" He asked, crinkling his eyebrows a bit. Austin fiddled with his hands nervously, for once in his life not sure what to say.

"Well..yeah. I noticed you weren't writing notes and you didn't have a backpack or anything and I didn't want to let you fail.." Austin stopped himself right there, blushing when he realized he was rambling.

"So did you leave your school supplies back at your dorm or house or whatever?" Austin asked. Alan mumbled something the older didn't catch.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you?" He laughed.

"I don't..have any." He mumbled awkwardly, looking down at his hands.

"What!?" Austin was shocked. Who goes to college without any supplies at all?

"I said I don't have any-"

"No, no I heard you.. I'm just shocked." Austin interrupted. "Can you not pay for them or something?" Austin asked gently, trying his hardest not to offend the guy.

"No, I have plenty of money." Alan answered simply. He couldn't have been serious. Was this dude just trying to fuck with him? The innocent look on Alan's face told him otherwise, though.

"Alan you do realize you're supposed to buy all your school supplies for college, right?" He asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Oh.. it wasn't like that before." Austin was trying not to laugh at how adorably clueless Alan was. He really was. But he couldn't deny how weird this kid was.

"In what, the 1800's?" Austin cracked a joke, letting out a little laugh. Alan looked at him with wide eyes before realizing he was joking. This guy was really weird...

"Something like that." He giggled. This couldn't have been more awkward.. Austin needed to do something.

"So..Do you wanna go buy some?" Austin asked on a whim, hoping to escape the awkwardness by getting out of the house. The younger looked up in surprise.

"Right now?" To be honest he looked a bit relieved, Austin didn't blame him.

"Why not?" He laughed, already grabbing his keys off the counter.

"Oh.. okay." Alan said unsurely as he followed Austin out of his apartment and down to the parking garage. When they finally got to his car, Austin unlocked it, motioning for Alan to get in the passenger seat.

In no time they were cruising down the highway to get to Office Depot in the next town over. The ride was a bit too silent for Austin's liking, but luckily it was only about a ten minute drive before they had reached their destination.

Getting out of the car Austin politely waited for Alan before leading him inside.
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"Office Depot? I thought we were getting school supplies?" Alan said as he read the sign for the store, confused.

Hearing the boys words Austin couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud. He tried to restrain himself, he really did, but in the end he couldn't stop the uncontrollable laughter from escaping his body.

Alan stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face, eyebrows scrunched up like he was trying to figure out what was so funny. The smaller boy looked around the store before looking back at Austin. He felt bad for laughing at the guy's expense but he couldn't help it.

"What?" Alan asked innocently once Austin had finally stopped laughing.

"Nothing, nothing. Let's go find your stuff." Austin avoided the question, grabbing Alan by the hand before pulling him into one of the aisles. He swore he saw Alan blush.

They took their time as they paraded through the aisles, Austin occasionally grabbing something and throwing it in the cart they'd gotten from the front.

Once he was satisfied with everything he'd picked out, Austin looked over at Alan, (who still looked completely lost) and smiled.

"I think we have everything." He stated, causing Alan to looked relieved.

"Thank you..for helping me." Alan blurted out, making Austin smile.

"No problem." He laughed, patting Alan on the back. He really needed to figure out if Alan was gay or not...

Austin followed slowly behind the smaller boy, waiting next to him in the checkout line. He watched silently as Alan paid for all the stuff, quickly grabbing the bags for him and bringing them to his car.

Alan trailed behind him and asked to help but Austin shooed him away, telling him to get in the passenger seat while he set all the bags down in the trunk.

Soon enough they were headed back to Austin's apartment, and this time when they got back Austin was determined to find out more about Alan. Especially on the subject of his sexual preferences...