Protect Me

Alan got up like he did every morning. Except something felt... different and he couldn't pinpoint what it was. He got dressed, ate breakfast, and walked to school with Kellin, but still something was different than any other days.

He talked with Kellin until Vic came up to them with Austin. "Princess, you ready for tonight?" And oh, that's why today felt different. It's my first date. "Yeah, I guess," he replied, giving Austin a small smile. Austin smirked before grabbing him by the waist and pulling him closer. He leans in and whispers in Alan's ear, "I liked the kiss yesterday." Alan begins blushing and tries to move away, but Austin's grip just tighten.

"Don't be embarrassed, princess, we'll eventually do things worse than that." Alan freezes and as Austin looks at him, he sees just how red Alan was. "P-Please s-stop."

"Alright, alright, I'll stop. By the way, wear anything comfortable, but not baggy."

"Where are you taking me?"

"'Tis a surprise."

Alan pouts and Austin almost caved in at just how cute Alan looked, he had his bottom lip out, his eyes bigger than usual, and his rosy pink cheeks. Luckily he was saved by the bell. "Look at that, time for class, come on. I'll walk you."

The rest of the way went by normally. Austin always met up with Alan, walked him to his next class, and they had lunch together. Since they were in high school, they got out at 2:15 pm and that gave Alan four hours to get ready.

Kellin was currently laying on his bed, flipping through a magazine while Alan looked through his clothes calmly and gently. He was in no rush and Austin had said to look for something comfortable. He could always wear jeans and a band shirt. It was weird, he'll admit, that someone so quiet loved music so loud like Nirvana, or Metallica, or Kiss. Slipknot. He'd go with that.

He lays it on the bed so that at the 5:30, he can simply change into it. "Kellin?"

"Yes," a soft voice replies.

"When's your date with Vic?"

"Tomorrow."

"Do you know where he's taking you?"

"He won't tell me." They both laugh quietly. "Let's go see what my parents are up to."

"Alright." They walk downstairs and see Alan's parents running about, trying to make sure everything looked good for when Austin showed up. His mother was the first to notice him. "Ah, there he is. I just can't believe my babies are both going on dates."

"My date's actually tomorrow," Kellin tells her, smiling. She smiles back. "I'm so happy for you both. I can't wait to meet the fellow that has the honor of taking you on your first date. It's about time someone realized the diamond you are."

"Thank you, mom."

"Yep. I also need to meet him to make sure he'll treat my son alright," Alan's dad says. Alan chuckle, bumping into his father's side. "Stop," he whines.

"Alright, but would you guys mind helping us clean?"

"Not at all. But can we play music?" Kellin responds.

"Sure, you know where the radio's at." Kellin walks over and places a cd he had in his bag. A voice Alan immediately recognized as Kellin's comes out of the speakers. I always knew he had a beautiful voice. It was a soft song with very beautiful lyrics. "Kellin," Alan begins. "What's the name of the song?"

"Scene Two - Roger Rabbit." And Alan raises an eye-brow in questioning.

"Hey, don't question my choices. It fits," Kellin defends. That's when Alan's parents come in. "Wait, Kellin, you wrote this?" He nods bashfully.

"And you're the one singing?" He nods again, and Alan's mom rushes to his side and pinches his cheek. "My other baby is so talented, right, Anthony?"

"He is, Amy," Alan's dad replies.

Alan smiles but begins cleaning until 5:00 when he takes a shower. He changes into the outfit he had picked out and ruffles his hair with the towel until it's somewhat dry. Then Kellin walks in. "Are you almost ready, he should be here any minute." Alan nods.

"I'm nervous."

Kellin smiles sadly. "I know. But be excited - this is your first date. And with a good-looking guy. Come on. Any guy should consider themselves lucky for just knowing you." Alan smiles and hugs him close.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Then the doorbell rings. They walk downstairs hand in hand to see Alan's parents smiling and talking with Austin who was at ease when he realized Alan's parents were not going to judge him based on his appearance. Why is he not surprised this is Alan's family?

His whole drive here, he was worried they wouldn't like him for his tattoos or his piercing. But no, they just welcome him in, smiling. They asked him about himself and not once did they give him a judgeful glance. Now he knew why Alan was so nice: Because his whole family is.

He sees Alan and Kellin descending the stairs together. He tries to keep his jealousy at bay and smiles at them. As soon as Alan sees him, he blushes but gives Austin a small smile. They walk to the front door and Alan kisses his mother on the cheek. "Bye, mom."

"Bye, sweetie. Have fun. By, Austin."

"Bye, Mrs. Ashby. I'll try to have him by 11:00."

"Oh, it's fine. Take as long as you need." Austin nods, smiling. He walks them to his car and opens the door for Alan who gets in smiling. Then he walks to his door. He begins driving. "You're parents are really nice."

"Thank you. I think they really liked you."

"I liked them. On my way to your house, I thought about how they might've judged my tattoos." And Alan lets out a soft chuckle. It was the most beautiful thing Austin had ever heard. Soft, but loud enough for it to count as a chuckle. "No, my parents wouldn't judge anyone on that. Especially someone I'm dating. They would just judge on how well you treat me."

Austin nods. "Then your parents have good traits and they passed them onto you." Before Alan can respond, Austin parking the car and turning off the ignition. He gets out of the car and walks to Alan's side and opens the door for him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Then he takes Alan's hand in his and they walk to the front of the building. And Alan begins smiling wide as he reads the name. He turns to look at Austin. "You brought me to a petting zoo?"

"Yep. You remind me of little baby animals, so why not?"

Alan blushes but hugs Austin close. "Thank you." As they - Austin - pay to enter, Alan can't contain his excitement. Finally they enter and Alan immediately runs to the baby animals. "Oh, my Gosh. You're so cute. Yes you are. Yes you are," he coos to the baby bunny in his arms. Austin can't help but smile at seeing Alan so happy. Then he gets an idea.

He takes out his phone and takes a picture. Alan gently places the bunny down and walks to a baby sheep who immediately nuzzles Alan's hand which makes him smile. Austin takes another picture. This was just a cuteness overload. But then Austin feels something pulling on his jacket. He turns to look and sees it's a baby goat, chewing on his jacket. "Hey!" Some people turn to look at him, including Alan. Alan begins laughing. And Austin realized maybe if this is making Alan, it won't be so bad.

Then Alan walks to him and pushes the baby goat away gently, but the goat rubs into his side and Alan chuckles. He rubs its' head. Austin takes another picture. All of a sudden, Alan gets on his knees and the baby goat gets closer to him. Alan sits criss-crossed. Then more animals start coming towards him, but the one animal that stood out was the kitten.

Alan gasps and gently pulls the kitty into his arms. "Hi, kitty," he coos. The kitten meows and then begins purring in Alan's embrace. Austin takes another picture. He looks through all of them and realized he prefered the one of Alan with the animals surrounding him and the kitten in his arms and he sets it as his home screen wallpaper. He smiles. Then Alan looks up and smiles at him and he takes another picture. That one would be his lock screen wallpaper.

Alan immediately sets the kitten down and gets up, rushing to Austin's side. "Let me see it," he says and Austin shows it to him as his wallpaper. Alan blushes. "Did you take more?" Austin nods and shows them to Alan. By the time he was done, Alan was a crimson red.

"Why?"

"Because you look cute, princess."

"Shhh," Alan says. "Stop talking. I can only take so much."

"Learn to take a compliment, princess."

"You'll give me an ego."

"Well, I would hope so." And then Alan just stared. He just looked at Austin, a small smile presented on his lips. "What," Austin asks. Alan just shakes his head, smiling. His eyes shone with happiness. "Nothing, it's just, you're a lot nicer than I'd thought you'd be. This is going to sound horrible, but I had fit you into the stereotype of people with tattoos.

But you're much nicer than you seem. Obviously, you can hold your own in a fight, but you're also a big teddy bear," and then Alan hugs him. Austin was caught off guard for a second, but as soon as it passes, he's hugging Alan back. To him, Alan fit perfectly in his arm, the perfect frame. Alan pulls back and Austin lets go reluctantly. But Alan didn't move from Austin's arms just pulled back to face Austin to smile at him.

"How about dinner now?"

"That'd be great," Alan replies. They leave hand in hand. They walk to his car and begin their to a small diner down the road. It was small and cozy and it seemed perfect to Alan. They sit at a booth and wait for a waiter. One walks up to them.

"Hello and good evening, tonight I'll be your waiter. My name is Tony. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

Alan smiles at him, "Yes, can I just have water?" Tony nods.

"I'll take a Coke," Austin says. Tony writes it down. "Alright. I'll have those out shortly." Then he walks away and they begin to look through the menu. "Austin?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we share a dish?"

"Of course, if you want."

"Thank you." And Austin just fell harder. Austin kept staring at Alan as Alan looked through the menu until he found something they could share. "Austin, how do you feel about sharing a pasta dish? It's beef-stuffed ravioli covered in cheese."

"That sounds fine." He smiles, "Great."

Tony returns with their drinks. "Alright, do you know what you want to order or do you need more time?"

"We're ready," Austin says. Tony nods and takes out his notepad. "We'll be sharing a dish and we'll be taking the Le Tour de Italy," Alan answers, smiling at him. The very smile that drew Austin in. Once Tony leaves, Austin speaks up. "Are you enjoying yourself so far?"

"Yes. I really enjoyed the petting zoo. Thank you for taking me," Alan mumbles shyly causing Austin to smile. "It was my pleasure. But after this, I take you home, right?"

"Yes."

"Alright, but how would you feel about doing this again sometime?" Alan raises his head in surprise. He looks into Austin's eyes and sees sincerity. Austin smiles warmly. "Yeah," he whispers, "I'd like that."

"Great, but by the way, before I take you home, can we stop by my house?"

"Okay." Before they could the conversation going, Tony returns with their food and a side of breadsticks. "Anything else?"

"No, thank you," Alan responds smiling, and Tony smiles back and then leaves. Austin takes his fork and grabs one of the ravioli and sticks it out to Alan who blushes but eats it anyway, then smiles. Austin then feeds himself.

The dinner went by quietly, but it was comfortable, Alan had never felt more at peace. And then, the food was all gone. Jesus, Alan can eat... that's adorable. Austin pays and they get into his car. Austin beginning the drive to his house.

They reach his normal house and walk inside. "Dad," he calls.

"Yeah," his dad calls back.

"Come here! I need you to meet someone!" And Alan gave him a confused look. Next thing you know, a middle-aged man is running down the stairs at full speed and stops in front of them. "You're Alan?!" He nods.

"Austin never shuts up about you! Although, he never did mention that you were a ginger. I think he has a thing for red-heads because when he was a little kid, he always said he'd marry Ariel. And both of you are red-heads. But anyway. Welcome, welcome. I've been dying to meet the boy that has stolen my son's heart. I'm Robert, this doofus's dad." Austin glares, but his dad ignores it.

"Nice to meet you," Alan tells him, shooting him his smile.

"Oh my, you have a beautiful smile. That was what made fall in love with Austin's mom - her smile. When someone has a beautiful smile, they have a beautiful personality. Tell me about yourself," Austin's dad says, leading him to the living room.

"Thank you, but there's not much to tell."

"I'm sure that's not true. Go on now, what's your favorite animal?"

"A cat! Meow! They're just so cute with their little whiskers, and their little ears. The purring, when they curl into a ball on you stomach! They're so small and fluffly - " and he began to animately about cats. Nothing else, just cats for the next fifteen minutes.

"You're cute, Alan. I like you. And I can see why my son does as well. You are always welcome here."

"Thank you, Mr. Carlile," Alan replies, shyly.

"Just Robert is fine." Alan nods.

"Well, this has been great, but I need to take Alan home now."

They all get up, "Alright, boys. Drive safely."

"I will, dad, don't worry," then they're walking out the door. "I like your dad," Alan says.

Austin smiles, "Yeah, I do too."

"Hey, Aust, where was your mom? Your dad mentioned her, but she wasn't there." And Austin's throat closes up. He feels tears coming, but he holds them back. It's been a year since he's talked about it.

"Oh, uh, she died last year." The air grew quiet until Alan places his hand over Austin's. Austin turns to look at him. "You'll be okay. It gets better, it always gets better. Life will never put you through more than you can handle." Alan picks Austin's hand up and a places a kiss on his knuckles, smiling as he pulled away. Austin knew he was in love.

He stops the car when they reach Alan's house. "Bye, Austin. I had fun." He gets out of the car and Austin follows. He pulls on Alan's hand and turns him around and leans down...

Only to place a kiss on Alan's forehead. He pulls back and smiles. "Good night, Alan. I'll let you know when our next date is."

"Good night, Aust. Drive safely." Austin lets him go and he walks to his front door, but not before turnin and smiling at Austin. Then he enters his home and Austin drives away, with a real, genuine smile for the first time in a year.