The next morning, Alex laid awake in his bed and stared at the digital blue numbers of his alarm clock on the bedside table: 8:04 a.m. Today was the day. Another sleepover with Lev. He had barely gotten any sleep overnight because his brain had been wracking itself trying to whip up possible activities he and Lev could do together. Together. With Lev. All day and night. The idea of it was another factor in Alex's mostly sleepless night.

He realized what a lucky draw it had been to have scheduled the sleepover on a day where the rest of the group were also busy with their own tasks: Carsyn had a full day shift at Halcyon; Evan had errands to run while her dad was at work, and Ziro too had to go downtown to fulfil errands for his mom while she was occupied with her job at the museum in the city.

This second sleepover was a secret Alex knew he shouldn't be keeping. It wasn't supposed to be happening. Ziro had told him his mission was complete after the first sleepover, and there was no reason to be around Lev anymore. Lev was no longer a friend to the group, so to go behind their backs and spend time with him anyway had to be an unforgivable act, Alex thought as much. But even so, how could he turn away one of the few genuine friends he had made?

A raucous knocking on the door pulled Alex from his thoughts. Grayson stood in the doorway, buttoning up his grey plaid shirt.

"Why'd you do that? I was sleeping," Alex protested.

Grayson chuckled. "From where I'm standing, you look wide awake to me. That's the second time in your life that you're awake so early. These sleepovers must be that important. You know, I still don't know what went on at the last one you went to."

"And you never will. What happens at sleepovers, stays at sleepovers."

"Wow, you're on your way to peak teenage-hood," Grayson smirked. "That's good. You're finally doing your job."

Alex rolled his eyes as he sat up and examined his father. "Where are you going?"

"Shop's opening tomorrow. Harry and I just gotta take care of a few finishing touches, so we should be occupied with that till late tonight."

"That's a lot of finishing touches."

"Hey, that's good news for you. More time to spend together with your mysterious sleepover buddy."

That word again. Together. With Lev. In a couple of hours, such an idea was going to be a reality once again, and he was both a nervous wreck and a joyous spring.

"...sleepover? Huh, back in my day we just called it 'staying over'..." Grayson muttered idly to himself. Alex observed him as he did: a fuzzy smile stretching from cheek to cheek; a sonorous chuckle reverberating from his gut; the way he gazed at the ground as he slowly worked on his last button, like he was smitten with whoever he might have been imagining. It had been months since Alex had seen his father so...happy.

"How's it going with you and Ms. Acera?" Alex asked. She was the likely explanation. Prior's Hardware Priorities had always been a pride and joy for Grayson, but for as long as Alex had been alive, he had never seen his father in the same state of happiness that he was in now. It was different. It was tender. It was a sign of moving on.

"Oh!" Grayson said, caught a bit off guard by the question, but delighted to answer it nonetheless. "Yeah, it's been great. She's so...gentle, and kind, and colourful, and warm."

The complete opposite of Ziro, Alex thought. It crossed his mind for a split second, the thought of he and Ziro becoming step-siblings. He quickly shook the thought away and ran a hand through his frizzy fro. "As long as you're happy," he managed to tell his father.

Grayson smiled back at him, his hands lingering over the last button on his shirt, still unbuttoned. It was as if Grayson himself had also realized just how happy he was, too.

From downstairs, a polite ring at the doorbell went off. At the same time, so did a ringtone coming from the back pocket of Grayson's pants.

"Uh, oh, can you get that, Lex? The door, I mean." Grayson didn't wait for a response and turned to leave the room as he pulled out his phone and answered the call.

Alex groaned but dragged himself out of bed anyway, forgetting that he was still dressed in his long-sleeved, dark blue pajama top and matching flannel trousers. Grayson had stepped back into his own bedroom and was busy chatting away with someone, then the doorbell rang again as Alex plodded downstairs, making him groan even louder and mentally reprimanding whoever was on the other side of the door.

He practically yanked open the door, and the sight of the person behind it, reversed his mood entirely.

"Hey," Lev greeted. He wore a pine-coloured button-down shirt over a white tank top, and black sweatpants. The duffel bag that hung around him was also black with blue accents all over it, and in one of his hands he held onto a white plastic bag with a round container inside.

The sun had been out and about in the clear sky for a while now, so beads of sweat had begun to dribble down Lev's forehead and chest. And there was a tear on Lev's tank top, tiny and barely there, but Alex noticed it, and he stared at it for half a second before his gaze wandered upward slightly and he ended up ogling Lev's moistened chest.

He quickly looked up after a few seconds and managed a wobbly, "hey." He wondered, mortified, if Lev had noticed, but Lev just remained his sturdy, lofty self as he focused on Alex's eyes. "You're early," Alex said to him. Neither he nor Lev had remembered to set a specific time to meet, so Alex had assumed Lev would've showed up around ten just as he had last week at the first sleepover.

Lev shrugged. "My mom hounded me since last night to come early, so here I am. Nice pj's, by the way." Alex blenched and crossed his arms over his upper body, as if he could shroud his entire outfit. Amused, Lev grinned at the display and said, "you gonna invite me in already? I'm melting out here."

"R-right, sure" Alex stuttered, and moved to let Lev through.

Grayson came marching downstairs and instantly caught sight of Lev's presence before he even reached the last step. He glanced at Alex in hopes of an introduction, but Lev was a step ahead.

"Hi, you must be Mr. Prior. I'm Lev, Lev Novas." He stuck out a hand for Grayson to shake, which Grayson immediately returned. "Good to meet you. Sorry if I look a bit..." he gestured loosely to his clammy skin, "...off-putting. The heat's unbearable out there."

"That's alright, young man," Grayson replied. "I get it, we've only been living in Canada for a week, and we still can't take that scorching summer heat either. Anyway, it's nice to finally meet the boy that my son wakes up so early for."

From behind Lev, Alex made a face at his father and silently mouthed 'go' at him. Grayson noticed then pulled out his phone to pretend to check the time.

"Oh! Look at that. Alex?" Alex materialized next to Lev, innocence and neutrality plastered on his face. "I'd better head off to work now. I'll be home late tonight. You two have fun." After a pat on Alex's back, he grabbed a satchel that was left on a nearby table and was out the door in seconds.

Alex whirled on Lev as soon as the door was shut. "Where did that come from? Were you abducted by aliens or...?"

"Shut it, Prior. My mom was on my case about 'being polite' or whatever if I met your dad."

"Minding your manners, huh?" Alex chuckled. "Sounds like Ms. Novas had the right idea about that."

Lev rolled his eyes. "Wanna slice?" He raised the plastic bag. "It's more hot pie."

Alex's eyes lit up like stars. "You brought me food! When did you even make this?"

"I woke up kinda early and had some time on my hands. No big deal. Besides, my mom was bugging me to not come over empty handed anyway."

"Wow, your mom really wanted you to make an impression. Getting here so early, pulling out all the polite stops, and you've been awake since whenever just to make sure you brought a housewarming gift."

Lev looked...flustered, Alex thought, but he turned away so fast that Alex couldn't be sure.

"Yeah, well, she knows how long it's been since I've communicated and hung out with someone my age," Lev said, almost stammering out the words. Alex wondered for a moment if that was all in his head. "So where's the kitchen?"