“Sorry, I should’ve thought about the vases.” Dylan grimaced. “I was trying to be nice and ended up making more work.”
“No,” Rus protested. “It was sweet.”
“I’m loving it,” Kaiden chimed in. “No one’s ever brought me flowers before.”
“Me either.”
“No one’s ever really gotten me anything just for the heck of it like this.” Kaiden sniffed the roses, lost in his thoughts, and Rus could see him slipping into the self-doubt he tried to keep tucked away.
“I’m glad you like them,” Dylan said with a soft smile, a leading smile meant to steal Kaiden from his mind. “I hope to get you many, many more silly little gifts to show you how special you are. Both of you.”
Rus’ heart fluttered at that comment, and he studied the tension in Kaiden ease as the smallest of smiles crept onto his face.
With that, the trio headed out for their unconventional first date. Rus found himself more and more eager, and the night had only just begun.
The date night had started off a bit tense in just the right kind of way. Dylan wanted to enjoy something explosive,while Kaiden wanted to watch some dreadful romcom, but Rus managed to sway Dylan’s vote by convincing him that horror was basically frightening action.
That was, in fact, not the case. Dylan spent the majority of the film with his head buried in Rus’ shoulder, complaining about the gore. Meanwhile, Kaiden sat on Rus’ other side and turned out to really sink his teeth into the blood fest.
“Oh, you stupid, dumb bitch.” Kaiden tsked. “He’s really going to check out the noise. This dumb motherfucker deserves…”
He spent the bulk of the film critiquing the characters and tricking Dylan into turning his head back to the scariest parts.
“No, no, no,” Kaiden said. “The music’s a clear indicator that the suspense is over. You can trust—”
“FUCK.” Dylan slapped a hand over his face right as a machete sliced through a guy’s chest.
After the movie ended, Rus stepped outside for a smoke, which he didn’t have to rush through since Dylan wanted to walk off a bit of his anxiety. The boys looped the theater parking lot twice before Dylan’s appetite returned. Though that might’ve had more to do with Kaiden mentioning the potential horrors hiding between the poorly lit vehicles. Dylan kept close to the streetlights and hit the automatic locks on his car the second they all stepped inside.
They drove to a nearby restaurant that Rus and Dylan had previously discussed. Kaiden made it clear that he was fine dining anywhere, but Rus knew Kaiden tracked his nutrition more closely than he or Dylan, so they picked a chain place that had all their nutritional facts on an easy-to-find website.
It also helped that this was a bit cheaper than other restaurants, and Rus didn’t know the etiquette for tonight’s date.He wanted to be ready to pick up the check if need be. The few times he’d hung out with a guy on a sort of date night, the check always leaned his way. Rus didn’t know if that had to do with his bi status being equated with masculinity or his gruff attitude being deemed check worthy.
Rus nervously flipped through the menu. “I have to be real; I haven’t been on an actual date since high school.”
Maybe that wasn’t entirely true. Rus had casually hung out with people over dinner or coffee or private study sessions. Sometimes, the get-together turned into something fun but never anything serious. Rus hadn’t done anything serious since Lana.
Dylan muttered a bit to himself, counting off on his fingers.
“Yes,” Rus said with a light laugh. “It has been a long time. Four years give or take a few months.”
“Oh.” Dylan’s eyes widened. “I wasn’t… I was actually… Well, yeah, I guess that is a long time. Why the big gap?”
“My high school sweetheart was a pretty heavy romance,” Rus said, averting his gaze from Dylan and Kaiden. “Serious in a big surrender kind of way.”
“What happened?” Kaiden asked, soft yet inquisitive.
Rus put his hands in his lap, rubbing his thumb over the Valentine’s Day date tattoo on his wrist. “It just got complicated.”
“Fair enough.”
“Well,” Dylan cut in with enough cheer to drown out the somber silence, “I was actually trying to do my own countdown on last dates. Mine landed somewhere in high school, too, which has been a wee bit longer since you.”
Rus smirked. “True, old man.”
Dylan gasped, slapping a hand over his chest. “You wound me.”
“Old people are pretty delicate,” Kaiden added.
