It was nearly midnight when Grayson finally got home. As soon as he stepped inside, he noticed a note taped to the staircase handle, from Alex. After reading it, he strolled into the kitchen and opened the microwave, where a ceramic plate occupied with rice and beans, a small swirl of spaghetti with two meatballs perched on top, and a leafy side of salad, settled in the warmth of the enclosed machine. As he dug into the hefty meal, he read over Alex's note again before pulling out his cell phone to make a call.

Morning arrived with clouded over skies and faint streaks of sunlight making through every now and then.

Lev awoke to a slumbering Alex cuddling up to him with his head nuzzling his shoulder and his arm draped over his abdomen. Lev looked around the bed for his phone, finding it entangled in the ends of the blue comforter, just above where Alex's feet rested underneath it.

7:15, the time read on his phone screen.

It was then that he noticed, in the numb brightness of the bedroom, that the light had been turned off. He was sure it had still been on when he and Alex had dozed off last night chatting about action movies they had watched in the past. The door was also fully closed, even though he clearly remembered that it'd been left ajar yesterday too. He wondered for a second if Alex had woken up during the night and did all that himself, but he and Alex had still been laying shoulder-to-shoulder until they had fallen asleep, so he likely would have felt it if Alex had gotten up from bed.

'Could it have been...?" Lev thought for an unbelievable second, then internally scolded himself for even considering that aliens were involved.

Since Alex was still asleep, he decided to use the opportunity to prepare breakfast. He slipped out of the bed and Alex's grasp, he had begun to notice how much of a heavier sleeper the Prior boy was, then softly trekked out of the room and closed the door before heading downstairs.

Arriving in the kitchen, Lev recalled seeing several boxes of pancake mix in one of the cupboards, and instantly he knew what to make. He also discovered several pint-sized bags of chocolate chips loitering behind the boxes; a lightbulb flickered on in his head. Alex always seemed to be eating for two, so Lev was going to make sure to prepare double the batch. A yawn escaped him; his body yearned for coffee. He remembered again that the Prior's had a coffee machine on the opposite counter. He looked all over the kitchen then, for coffee mix, but instead he found a tall container of hot chocolate mix.

He shrugged, going over to fill the coffee pot with water and some cocoa mix. Thirty minutes later, the pancakes were stacked on two wide dishes, and the cocoa was steaming ready, so all Lev needed to do was set the rest of the table. He froze while setting up one last place setting when he heard someone stomping down the stairs, and suddenly remembered that Alex's father lived in the house too.

"Mmm...what's smells so good?" Grayson murmured to himself as he wandered into the kitchen. "Lex? Oh, it's you, Lev. Boy, am I gonna get heck if I ever get your names mixed up. Did you do all this?" He marveled at the pancake stacks and arranged settings populating the table. "You didn't have to make breakfast."

"Oh, uh, yeah..." Lev quickly grabbed a third plate to set down from the cabinet. "It's no trouble, really." He rushed to get a bottle of maple syrup from the refrigerator as Grayson took a seat.

"And they're chocolate chip too!" Grayson said as he caught a whiff. Not even a second went by as manned his fork, lodging it into the stack and securing two flapjacks that he carried over to his plate. His eyes lit up and his nostrils flared as he saw Lev fetching the pot of hot cocoa. "Hot chocolate too! You must have read one of our minds. Amazing. Alex hadn't told me you could cook. Did you also cook up that banquet last night?"

"Uh, yeah actually, but with a lot of help from Prio-Alex. It was all his idea, really. I just followed along where I could."

"That sounds like my boy alright," Grayson chuckled.

"...could I just ask when exactly you got home last night?" Lev asked as he leaned his arm against the counter. "You don't owe me an answer or anything, I was just curious about something."

Grayson tilted his head from one side to the other as if testing the weight of it. "Mmm, got here around eleven p.m. if I remember correctly. Hung around the kitchen for a while to eat that meal you two made. Was heading up to sleep, and I noticed the bedroom light in Lex's room was still on." Lev froze again, his heart shocked so bad it felt like it had actually stopped for a few seconds. "I went and opened the door, and saw you two..." Lev stopped leaning and moved his hand to grip the countertop edge, preparing for the worst. "And...that was the closest I've ever seen Lex be with someone."

Lev audibly released an anxious breath, his arm wobbling a bit as he lifted his hand from the counter. "And you turned off the lights and closed the door," Lev finished.

Grayson nodded but quickly frowned, noticing how disquieted Lev looked. "Something wrong, Lev?"

"No...it's just, you're taking this really well. Way better than most parents would. You don't even seem a little upset. What if we'd... done something before?"

Grayson smiled, a light cocoa stash staining his upper lip. "Well I can't just assume that you two were 'up to something'. I'd ask questions first — both of you. There's two sides to every story, you know. Best to hear them both before making a rash decision. As long as my son is happy, and isn't doing anything that involves him getting completely undressed, I'm happy. And besides, from what I saw last night, it looked like you two were just sleeping."

Lev wasn't sure what to feel with that response. He had never heard something like that from anybody before, granted, no one had ever said something like that to him before because they had no idea about what he presumed Grayson had probably figured out.

Grayson's phone suddenly pinged. "Ohhp, better get going. Thank you, young man, for breakfast. But one more thing. A favor to ask."

"Uh, yeah, sure. What is it?"

"Since you two used up ninety-percent of the food here, it'll be you two that'll have to restock." This wasn't really sounding like a favour, Lev was realizing. "Monday morning. The grocery store on the other side of town. You two pick the time to go. What do you say?"

A smile twitched across Lev's face. "Really? Uh, yeah, why not."

Grayson beamed. "Good, it's settled. No hold this, and give it to Alex when he gets up." He handed Lev a small brown envelope. Lev felt around it; thin sheets of rectangular paper bundled together. Money. "And also, tell Lex I read his note, and are working on it as we speak!" He grabbed his things for work on his way to the front door, and flew out of the house within a seconds.

After the door shut, Lev heard someone else stomping down the staircase. Alex rushed into the kitchen, hair disheveled and a hand in his eye rubbing away the cloudiness. He yawned as he noticed Lev. "Oh, you were here...I thought you were abducted again."

Lev shot him a slack-jawed glare. "Come here."

"No thanks. My forehead actually gets really sensitive early in the morning." He slouched over and sat in a chair across from Lev instead. "Aw man, you made breakfast too! You keep beating me to it. At least it has the chocolate touch, and a side cocoa. Thanks, Nova."

Lev narrowed his eyes. "What did you call me?"

"Nova. It's like a star that's suddenly really bright, then it slowly goes back to its original state over some time. It made me think of you. One minute you're like a model gentleman, then you're reverting back to ;roughneck Lev' after a while. Plus, it sounds like your last name, Novas. That's your new nickname. You call me Prior, I call you Nova. Like it?"

Lev scoffed, but he wasn't successful in disguising how enamored he was. "Whatever," he murmured. Alex chuckled. "And your dad said that he read your note. He's working on 'it' as we speak."

Alex lit up like the moon. "Seriously? Awesome..."

Lev waited expectantly. "Mind telling me what it is that your dad is working on?"

"I absolutely mind," Alex replied calmly. Lev's stare at him turned dubious. "Sorry, but I don't want to jinx it. If it works out, you'll be the second to know. And if it doesn't work out, you'll probably still be the second to know." Alex winked at him.

Lev continued to stare at him, eyes wide and intemperate, though he opted for a peaceful resolution. "We're going on a date."

Alex choked a bit on his food, causing a smirk to spark from Lev. "What...what?"

"A date — you and me. But not today. Tomorrow. At the Daily Mart. I'll drop by your house first and we'll go together. Ten a.m. The date isn't negotiable."

This time Alex scoffed. "You're buying me dinner."

Lev thought about it a moment. "How about I make us something back at my place afterwards instead?"

Alex shed a meek grin. "Deeaal. Just one thing, is it okay to go on date in public?"

Lev took a moment to inhale and exhale. "...I'm willing to try, if you are. Besides, no one has to even know it's a date."

Alex nodded. "Right, just two people who won't ever kiss anyone else except each other, going shopping. Sounds good to me."

Lev let a full grin, bashful and all, overtake his lips. "And here, hold onto this till then," Lev sat in the chair opposite of Alex and slid the envelope of money towards him.

"What's this?" Alex asked.

"Funds for our dating activities, that is, grocery shopping. Courtesy of your dad."

Alex huffed a sigh. "You two just met, and he's already roping you into his shenanigans. I fear that by next Tuesday, he might ask you to clean our garage or something too."

Lev chuckled. "Hey to be fair, we did basically clean out the fridge. And your dad isn't that bad."

"You do remember that he's the same 'magical weirdo' who taught me his ancient values of politeness and manners, right?"

Lev's gaze went blank for a second, before he broke down into a mirthful fit of laughter. All of the odd memories of his and Alex's first encounter were suddenly flooding his mind, one by one.

Alex went to work on plate of flapjacks while he admired the rare sight that was Lev's laugh. Tomorrow he'd be going on his first date ever, but for today, he had another fundamental milestone to attend — his first official group outing.