Fifteen minutes and Rory had to leave. He slipped through the crack of Maddy's bedroom door and found her sitting at the desk. She was Mr. Somers' niece. Rory had lived with her parents for a while, until he had gone to college a year ago. A room had fallen vacant in Maddy's apartment, which Rory gladly had taken. Maddy's parents were incredibly sweet and they had been of great help, but often Rory had felt like a burden. Just like their two sons, they had witnessed many of his tantrums while he was trying to deal with the rejection of his parents. He still hadn't spoken to his family, he hadn't seen them in eighteen months. He had called them at their birthdays, but they all kept turning him down and it still caused him a lot of pain.

Yet, he tried not to linger in his sadness. His family situation was horrible, but apart from that, he was doing well. Maddy was his best friend and whatever was bothering him, Maddy and her parents were always there to listen to him. In the past months, he learned a lot about the different opinions among Christians; luckily, many of them believed that two boys or two girls were allowed to have a relationship too. It had given him peace, and so, he'd started dating a while back.

"You got any second date tips, Madds? That's where it always goes wrong." He flopped down on her bed.

He wasn't nervous, but he would neither have minded having a lazy night on the couch with Madds. Up to now, he had a few dates with guys he met through Tinder, but none of them had been really interesting. Somehow he only fell in love with purebred straight guys. This was the first time he was dating a boy he knew for a couple of months. Adam and he were both members of a Christian fraternity and they had both struggled with their sexuality. When Adam had reluctantly asked him out, Rory had responded enthusiastically. Doing something fun with someone was something he never refrained from. Adam however had been way too shy for Rory's taste, and therefore, it had been a bit of an awkward evening. Since Rory had already known about his shyness, he had taken him to a bowling center so they were at least doing something, but unfortunately, Adam hadn't been very competitive — and he had neither been very good at it. Nevertheless, it had led to a second date and Rory felt no regret. The boy probably just needed to loosen up a bit. He knew Adam had never kissed and all this was new to him, so he stayed positive and looked with curiosity at his friend.

"Well — that depends on it. What are you going to do?"

"I have no idea, it's up to him today. But knowing him a little... I guess he wants to cook me a meal and watch a movie?" Rory pulled a face. "I hope he's less romantic than I think he is... I can see him light candles and shit like that."

Maddy started to laugh. "Well... if things get too mushy you just tell him you've already seen the movie and say goodbye." She twisted a pen in her hand.

Rory chuckled. "He's never going to ask someone out again if I turn him down like that. He never dated someone before. I'm going to his place, hopefully, it'll make him feel more comfortable."

"You think there's a chance that you will fall in love with him?"

"I don't know. He's handsome, I just hope he'll loosen up a bit. He's always so serious, you know? But every human must be capable to have fun, right? Maybe he has just too many boring friends." He thought of the boys he hung out with — they weren't exactly party animals.

She started to laugh. "He might be one of the boring friends himself," she said. "But who knows — maybe he's more interesting than you think. That's why you're dating, right?"

"I'll find out soon enough!" Rory gave her an excited smile. "I better go now."

Maddy wished him luck and he raised his hand, waving her goodbye.

Adam lived only a few blocks away from him, but Rory decided to take his bicycle; maybe they could go to a bar afterward. Adam used to avoid public places, but Rory liked to have people around. Pressing the right doorbell, he waited until he heard Adam's voice.

"Hey! Rory here!" he said cheerfully.

There was a click, and Rory pushed open the door. Adam was living on the second floor, so he headed to the stairs and ascended them.

Adam was already waiting for him in the doorway.

"Hey!" He gave Adam a one-armed hug like he greeted most of his friends and peeked inside curiously. He liked to visit people at home to see how they were living. His first glance told him the boy wasn't a packrat like him, for everything looked tidy. Rory himself always left his stuff lying around, often Maddy collected his things when it was really getting out of control. It wasn't unwillingness — he was just very forgetful and a master in postponing things.

"Uh — come in." Adam stepped back, making an inviting gesture. His fingers were slightly trembling when he raked them through his dark brown hair. He was a very handsome boy, with his sparkling dark green eyes and tan skin. Yet, Rory had a thing for guys who were a little rough around the edges — although he had to admit that he liked the sight of Adam's blushing cheeks as well.

"Nice home," Rory said, entering the room and looking around. Inside, it looked more modern than from the outside. The kitchen was small and the seating area wasn't that big either, but there weren't living a lot of people here.

"You have one roommate, right?" he asked, looking at a picture from a Greek temple in front of which Adam, his little brothers, and his parents were posing. The sight of it caused a pang in his chest, but he pushed the pain away and turned back to his date.

"Yes, Zan. Most days he is with his girlfriend, so the house is all ours."

"Well, sounds like you have some big plans," he teased.

"I — I didn't mean to say that... that we..."

Rory grinned. "I know. I'm just teasing you." He slapped his shoulder, leaving his hand there. "You did something nice today? Apart from preparing a six-course dinner?"

"I wrote the outline for an essay. About the Renaissance."

"Oh, cool." He smiled. "About what exactly?"

He wasn't much of a reader, but he liked to delve into the past. He however chose movies and documentaries over books, or he went to some open-air museum.

"It's about how the architecture was influenced by the trends in architecture."

"Nice!"

"How was your first week? You have a lot of homework?"

Rory shrugged his shoulders. "I always save that for Sunday night," he smirked. Back in the day, it had been a deadly sin to do homework on a Sunday, but it hadn't taken long before he had abandoned that habit. Maddie's parents had shown him that many restrictions that were imposed by his family hadn't been Biblical at all, and breaking away from all those rules had been a true liberation.

He returned his attention to Adam, who looked shyly at the floor.

"Well — I'm hungry!" Rory said. "We have to prepare a lot?"

Adam shook his head. "No, some things only need to be warmed."

. . .

Adam had shown off his cooking skills; Rory had a feeling they were in a real restaurant. The atmosphere however was awkward; Adam was clearly nervous. Rory filled the silence talking about his holiday and asking Adam a lot of questions, hoping the boy would feel a bit more comfortable.

"You gotta tell me when I talk too much," he laughed. "That's what everyone does."

Adam gave him a small smile. "I don't mind. You — you have a beautiful voice."

Rory pushed his fork in his meat. "A beautiful voice? Well — I haven't heard that before." He winked at him. "I was afraid you lacked any flirting skills."

Blushing, Adam dropped his eyes.

Rory bit his tongue. He really didn't like to watch his mouth the whole time, being unable to say whatever thought crossed his mind. He didn't want Adam to feel uncomfortable, but it was hard to loose him up a bit.

"Well — dinner tasted delicious. You were too skilled to go to culinary school?"

"I considered it," Adam admitted. "But my parents wanted me to go to university, keeping cooking as a hobby."

"That's bullshit," Rory huffed. "You should do whatever you like."

"I like this too," Adam said quickly as if he wanted to defend his parents. "Umm. You want dessert?"

Rory patted his stomach. "Sure. I have little room left."

Adam went to the kitchen and returned with a bowl of self-made chocolate mousse.

"Looks good! I think I'm going to invite myself each week," he winked. "I really am a sucker for chocolate." He realized how ambiguous his words sounded, but a quick glance at the boy told him he didn't pick up on it. Which was probably for the best, otherwise Adam wouldn't dare to look at him the next hour.

"Well, you're always welcome," Adam smiled. "I'm enjoying your company."

Rory tried to imagine how he was having dinner with Zan every night. If he was just as talkative, it must feel like dinner never came to an end. In his apartment, they were always having fun, and silences were so scarce that everyone enjoyed them.

"Me too," he said nevertheless. A romantic dinner wasn't really his thing; he preferred to eat pizza and watch some cool movie as he would do with his friends, but Adam didn't.

"You want to watch a movie?" Adam suggested after clearing the table and flopping down on the couch.

"Oh — yeah, sure." He glanced at the clock. "Maybe we can go into town after that?"

"Umm, okay," Adam answered quietly. "If you like that more..."

"I like that more than going home," he winked. "And my dance moves are the best."

"Then we should watch Dirty Dancing first, for I can't dance at all."

Rory lifted the corner of his mouth. Well well — was that a joke?

"Their dances aren't very dirty." He wiggled his eyebrows; he even managed to make the boy laugh. It made Adam much more likable.

"You really want to watch Dirty Dancing?"

Rory laughed. "No. That romantic shit makes me fall asleep. You know that Fast and the Furious spin-off that came out a while back? We could steam it..."

"Isn't that illegal?" Adam asked, hesitantly.

"Nah. You got a laptop? And an HDMI cable?"

"I really know nothing about cables. I think there are a few in the cupboard next to the tv."

Rory got up, knelt in front of the cupboard, and rummaged through the drawer until he found the right cables. Adam put his laptop on the coffee table and turned it towards Rory, who opened Flixtor and looked up the movie.

"I haven't seen the other movies," Adam said. "Does that matter?"

"Nah. If you like this one we can watch the others later."

He connected the laptop to the tv and sat down on the couch again. From the corner of his eye, he looked at Adam, who looked a little crestfallen.

"You had another movie in mind? You can just tell me to cool it, huh."

"No, it's fine," he said quickly. "If you fell asleep while watching other movies..."

A smirk spread across his face. "Sorry," he said, although he wasn't completely sincere. "Unless you want to me fall asleep against you."

Once more, Adam's cheeks flushed.

Rory sat up straighter so he could wrap an arm around Adam. Teasingly, he kissed his cheek. "You're cute when you're blushing."

Those words only reddened his face. His eyes shot to Rory's lips, then he shyly turned his face away. For now, there wouldn't be any kissing. Hopefully, Adam would change his mind after a few beers.

Rory took his arm away and started the movie, whereafter he sank back on the couch, creating a little more distance between Adam and himself. He wasn't very fond of being all touchy while watching a movie, often he was too immersed in the story. His date however seemed to feel encouraged, for halfway the movie he suddenly laid his hand on Rory's thigh. Just briefly, before Rory could enjoy it, the hand was gone. Something told him it was the only thing the boy had thought about the past hour, and that he hadn't paid much attention to the movie. Maybe the hope that something would happen between them had been the only reason he wanted to watch a movie.

Rory wondered why on earth the boy was so skittish. He leaned into Adam and whispered: "I didn't mind."

Adam looked briefly at him, returning his hand. Rory laid his own hand on top of it, squeezing it while turning his attention back to the movie. Only when the movie was over, he turned towards his date again.

"You look disappointed," he noticed. "You didn't like it?"

"I did," he said quickly. "I umm — it's nothing."

Rory chuckled softly. "You wished we had kissed?"

"No." His face became flaming red. "I don't know, maybe," he admitted quietly.

"It is going to be your first kiss. If I kiss you, I want to give you all attention." He leaned closer to the boy, looking him in the eye. "Like now." He cupped his jaw with his hand, his thumb caressing the smooth skin. Thereafter, he pressed his lips softly against Adam's, giving him a few kisses before slipping his tongue inside. His breathing told him how nervous Adam was, but Rory took the lead and tried to give Adam the best first kiss experience he had to offer.