"I'm just going to be gone for the afternoon. It's not a big deal," Leroy said as he made a turn. He was speaking to his sister on his phone that was propped up on a phone holder by the steering wheel.

     It was a Sunday, and Leroy was on his way to pick Zachary up to do some grocery shopping. At first, he'd just been leaving the house as usual, and then his sister had started a racket when she noticed that Zachary was taking their mum's car. She wanted to know if he was off for a date and trying to impress a girl or something, but the man had simply shrugged her off, telling her he was going to get groceries before asking her what she wanted.

     She didn't believe him, of course, and decided to call him on the phone to continue her inquisition about his whereabouts.

     "Don't kill somebody," his sister said from the other end, and Leroy sighed, rolling his eyes as he made a turn.

     "I'm not the best driver, but I'm not the worst. You've bumped into more things than me."

     "That's because you quit after your first accident."

     "I wouldn't call that an accident if we don't call your curb abuse accidents," Leroy shot back, changing the gear as he came up to the house Zachary lived in. He could feel his heart begin to slow down, as nerves twisted together in the pit of his stomach.

     He hadn't seen Zachary in a while, and even though they talked every day, it was just different interacting with him in person. He was less dry, more animated, and his humor was the type that involved facial expressions that Leroy couldn't make out through text, and he missed that, even though it'd only been a week.

     Calm down. He told himself, as he came to a halt on the driveway. "I'll talk to you later," he told his sister, who had been silent on the other line before hanging up. He then scrolled through his contact list, then pressed the call button for Zachary, and waited.

     The phone rang for a while, denting the car's otherwise pin-drop silence. When Zach picked up the call, he muttered a raspy, "hello?"

     "Hi. I—it's Leroy. I'm outside," the younger man said, staring at the phone as his heart beat a little faster. The last time Leroy had been to this house—had seen Zachary in person—was when he had slept over after they'd watched a movie. It was the worst sleep he'd had, and it wasn't because Zach's bed was uncomfortable or that Zach had made things weird. It was just him being paranoid and fighting with his own thoughts, as the older man had slept like a baby next to him. Leroy had spent most of that night just observing Zach, staring at his features, and noticing how his slightly parted lips let out the cutest snore he'd ever heard.

     He'd also been fighting the urge to hug him, kiss him—fuck, he'd been battling a whole boner even though that's not something he'd fully admitted to himself yet.

     "Oh, okay, give me a few minutes. I'll be getting out soon," the older man said, hanging up. Leroy blinked at his screen, turning away from it to look out of his window. He stared at the house's porch, expecting Zachary to step out at any minute.

     It took a while, but eventually, the front door creaked open, and Zachary came out in his wheelchair. He closed the door behind him before reaching down to run his fingers through the fur of one of his many cats before looking up. He spotted Leroy waiting in the car and then smiled at him before giving the man a wave.

     Leroy blinked, looking away for a bit before turning and waving back to Zachary. The man looked a bit different—maybe because he wasn't in his signature pajamas or loose clothes. His hair was also different. The once curly trove of hair that bounced everywhere, or that was restrained by hair bands, was now laying down in tight neat twists.

     Leroy thought they suited him. You could actually see his face now. Zachary had a good-looking jawline and cheekbones to die for. Things that were usually hidden by his hair.

     Leroy watched the older man stroll down the wheelchair ramp before making his way, very slowly, through the lawn. He reached the other side of the car before knocking on the door. Leroy reached over to open it, and there was Zachary, staring at him from his wheelchair.

     "Hi," Zachary said, smiling at Leroy before looking around. "Okay, seems like there'll be enough space."

     Leroy raised a brow. "For what?"

     Zach bit on his bottom lip, sighing as he looked at the back of the car. "I'm going to need your help. Like, I can sit in the passenger seat, but we need to fold up the wheelchair and put it in the back seat. I mean I would prefer the trunk if it's big enough or if you don't need groceries there..." the older man trailed, as he twirled one of the strands of newly twisted hair.

     "The trunk is big enough," Leroy said. "There's a spare tire in there, but I can move it."

     Zach sighed. "If it's a lot of work, you don't have to."

     Leroy shrugged. "It'll only take a few minutes." With that, the younger man put off the car engine and got out of the car. He walked over to the back, pulling the truck door open before pulling out the spare tire. Zachary watched the younger man pull it to the side before opening the back door and hurling it in.

     "You can get in the car. I'm sure I can figure out how to fold a chair," Leroy said, shutting the back door before looking over at Zach. Zach looked from Leroy to the door of the passenger seat before getting up and getting into the car. Leroy walked over to him and looked about the chair before figuring out how to fold it.

     "Be careful..." Zach trailed, watching the man lift it.

     Leroy nodded. "I'm not going to drop it, don't worry," he said before walking out of sight. Zach listened to the rustling at the back and then the slam of the trunk door. The younger man was soon in the car with him, shutting his door and starting the engine.

     "It was a good fit, I think it should be good," Leroy said, turning on the air conditioning before adjusting the driver's mirror.

      Zach nodded, turning over to look at the man. He noticed that he'd seen Leroy in both formal work attire and super casual wear, but never something in between like he was in now. His dress shirt had a few buttons open, and his jeans looked more like slacks than jeans.

     "You look good," Zachary blurted before he could think about the potential consequences of his words. Leroy seemed to freeze up and then relax before turning over to look at Zach with wide eyes.

      "Thank you..." Leroy trailed, looking away. "You look good, too. I like the hair," he mumbled, and Zach reached out to hold on to a twist.

     The car was silent for a while as Leroy drove onto the main road. They didn't say anything to each other until the silence started eating at Leroy.

     "My sister thinks I'm on a date," Leroy said, laughing a bit—it came out awkward—under. "I think maybe it's the way I'm dressed. Also, I guess it's because I'm taking the car."

     "Oh," Zachary said, resting his back on the passenger seat. "Do you borrow the car when you go on dates?"

     "No," Leroy said, laughing a bit. "I haven't driven since a small accident. I got my license after university, and I haven't dated since then. We used to just walk to places close to the university or meet when I went on dates." Leroy continued. "Though I didn't go on very much. I stopped when school got ridiculously hard and a situationship I thought was going somewhere blew up in my face."

     "A situationship?" Zachary seemed confused. "What's that?"

     "Err..." Leroy trailed. He was a bit taken aback that Zachary didn't know what the word meant. He was a writer—but he supposed a rather sheltered one. "Basically, a forever talking stage..." Leroy paused as he wondered if that concept would be lost on Zach as well. "When you go on lots of dates, but never make it official or say you're dating each other."

     "Oh, I see," Zachary said, looking out onto the road. "That sounds... painful."

     The concern in Zach's voice made him tear up a bit. "Yeah," the younger man said, blinking as his grip tightened on the handle as he came to a stop at a red light. "It was."

     They had pretty much had a situationship for months on end, and Leroy was eventually ghosted in favor of someone else. It wasn't like he hadn't tried to convey that he wanted to date seriously. She'd simply brushed things off as coming up 'too soon' or said they didn't know each other well enough, and then she'd left him immediately when the person she was more interested in decided to ask her out.

     Leroy had pretty much given up on dating after that, and the loom of his finales and his dad dying never really gave him space to be that upset about it.

     "Leroy, are you okay?"

     "Hmm?" the younger man responded before noticing that the red had turned green. "Sorry," he mumbled, starting out of the car and continuing the drive. "My head's not in the right place."

     That was an embarrassing thing to admit out loud, but Zachary didn't push. He just nodded as if he understood, and Leroy thought that maybe he did. Not regarding his circumstances, but just the emotions—the feeling of feeling like shit.

     Unimportant.

     Undermined.

     He felt like Zachary could relate to that.

     "You know, we don't have to go shopping if you don't feel like it. I'm sorry for bringing that up," the older man said, and Leroy looked at him from the corner of his eyes, noticing that he was fiddling with his fingers. "I just don't really understand what's off limits—"

     "It's okay, it just caught me off guard," Leroy admitted. "I didn't know. I still felt some kind of way about it too, it's good to know... you know, feel my feelings..."

     "True..." Zachary trailed. "I'm still sorry, though."

     Leroy nodded, as he kept driving, deciding that maybe now wasn't the best time to unpack all his trauma, even though he felt a sense of comfort with Zach.

     He wanted to talk to Zach about it.

     He wanted to talk to Zach about everything.