The Time Taken to Understand (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Sixteen~ Alec

The entire ride home, one of Mark's hand was on the wheel and the other was warming Alec's, and Alec, once again, thought about how happy he was that Adam wasn't in the car with them. He looked down at Mark's hand in his own, brushing his fingers over the calluses on the other's  larger hands. "I-" Mark said softly, tangling his fingers back with Alec's and rubbing his thumb in circles against the back of his hand, "I'm going to take you on a date this weekend".

Alec blinked. They had been together for a little over a month now, but had yet to go on a date. It was something that he had wanted to do, but he knew Mark wanted to have sex, and Alec was holding out on that, so he would feel unfair if he forced the other to take him places and then not give him what he wanted so he never asked. "This weekend? Back at home?"

Mark looked a bit nervous as his eyes flicked over the long expanse of the highway ahead of them. "Uhh," Alec squeezed his fingers in reassurement, "yeah, if that's okay. I was kind of waiting until we got home for the first one". Alec raised his eyebrows, wrapping another hand around Mark's and raising it to his mouth, pressing his lips against his knuckles. "I wanted to go to the diner".

Alec thought back to the place that Mark was talking about. The first thing that came to mind was delicious burgers and large order of fries. He then remembered the atmosphere. The red leather booths and the tan tables with rings stained on them where precipitation ran down glasses. It was messy and not at all fancy and it was familiar and homey. "The diner? As in our diner?" Technically it was Adam's place too, but bringing up Adam right now didn't seem like a great idea.

"Yeah," Mark said, shrugging. He glanced at Alec, his eyes unsure and Alec continued to kiss his hands. "If that's okay. I remember you saying to me once that it was your favorite place in the world". Alec recalled saying this on multiple occasions but never realized that he had been listening. "Alec?" The other was still flattered and remained quiet. "Xander?"   

Alec smiled suddenly, surprised with him. "You haven't called me that it years," He said, and Mark shrugged.

"Get's you to pay attention," Mark said.

Xander was the nickname that people called him the least. His mother had sometimes referred to him as Xander when he was growing up, and Mark had learned this and taken to doing it every once awhile since it made the other extremely happy.

"So," Mark said, sounding more at ease, "are you okay with the diner? We can go somewhere else of course". Alec shook his head quickly.

"It's perfect Mark," He said softly, grinning  and pressing the other's warm hand against his cheek.

"You're perfect," Mark said, sounding so sincere that Alec had to glance out of the window for a moment until his misty eyes cleared.

The inside of the car was quiet except for the radio softly buzzing in the background. Mark's fingers were still against Alec's face and god did Alec want to kiss him. "When are we getting into town?" Alec asked, glancing at the clock on the dashboard. It was just past five.

"Soon," Mark said, glancing at one of the exits as they drove past it. "One of the next few exits". Alec's foot tapped impatiently. "Why?" Mark questioned, "Is there something you need?"

"Yes," Alec said simply, and Mark's eyebrows raised.

They were silent until Mark merged to get off of the highway. Alec cleared his throat, still gripping Mark's hand. "Wanna pull over at a gas station or something?" Mark glanced at him and blinked.

Where they had grown up was a small enough town that they'd be able to make out in the parking lot of a gas station and not get caught. Mark seemed to realize what he was asking because he laughed. "For a virgin you have a crazy sex drive". Alec groaned and dropped back against the seat.