When the two pulled up at the driveway, they looked through the menu, and after their time was up when the person in front of them was done ordering, Leroy got a McFlurry, which was essentially ice cream with chunks of chocolate cookies in it, while Zachary settled on an iced coffee flavored with just honey. They ordered plain donuts together, and when Leroy drove out of the drive-through, he parked the car in the nearby parking space before they started to eat.

"Hmm..." Zachary trailed, making Leroy pause to look at him. The older man was staring down at the donut he'd taken a bite into with a weird frown on his face. "This is good," he eventually said, nodding his head before taking another bite. "It tastes like fried dough."

"I mean, it's a plain donut, there isn't much else it could be," Leroy commented, chuckling a little before taking a scope of the McFlurry.

"That looks like it could give you a heart attack," Zachary said, watching as Leroy took another spoonful of chocolate-dotted ice cream.

Leroy shrugged. "It might, but I think I'm fine with that."

Zachary chuckled, shaking his head. 

The car fell into an awkward silence as the both of them ate and stared out into the distance. The traffic was a bit much, considering it was rush hour, so Leroy wasn't in a hurry to start heading back. He enjoyed Zachary's company, even if they weren't saying much and were just sitting next to each other.

"Thank you for taking me out today."

Leroy turned his head to look at Zachary who was turning a half-eaten donut between his fingers.

"I haven't been out much, so it was nice to move around," the man continued, licking his lips. "Usually, it's just me on the lawn or looking out the window. Sometimes I have to take an Uber to the doctor, but that's about it for the most part. I can count the number of times I cross the picket fence a year in my hands."

Leroy stayed silent, not really knowing what to say to that. Zachary seemed to be oversharing, but he couldn't just tell him to stop—he also really didn't want to. There was something raw about his voice and expressions when he was honest and spoke freely. It contrasted heavily with the tired demeanor he put up that just made him seem void of life and meek.

"You know, if there are things you want to do, I can take you..." Leroy said, breaking the silence. "Remember I said we could go to the movies together, I meant that, you know."

Zach bit his bottom lip, nibbling it a bit before letting out a sigh. "You say that but trying to get a wheelchair into a cinema isn't as easy as rolling me into a grocery store." Zachary chuckled a bit, looking down at his fingers as he sighed. "I can't even remember the last time I was in a cinema. I think my parents were still together then."

Leroy's ears perked up. "Your parents are divorced?"

Zachary nodded. "Yeah." He rested his back on the car seat, looking out into the distance as he curled his lips. "In part due to me. They couldn't stop arguing about whose fault was what, or how to split up childcare duties—"

"I'm sorry," Leroy said, cutting in. "That must have been hard."

Zachary shook his head. "Not really. Things were a lot easier when they weren't together. I didn't get the tail end of their fights anymore. No one took out shit on me when they started living separately."

Leroy could feel the air leave his lungs and his blood run cold when he processed what Zachary said. "You got hit?"

Zachary blinked, frowning as if he was just thinking about it. "No, no one hit me," he said, leaning forward and grabbing his coffee from the cup holder. "That's not what I meant at all."

"Then what did you mean?" Leroy asked, watching Zachary take a few sips of his drink.

"Sometimes my dad would squeeze my arm so hard whenever he was taking care of me. Sometimes he would shake me and call me names..." Zachary trailed. "But he was frustrated. I was always sick, always annoying, always needing help..."

"Zach—"

"Any parent would lose their mind trying to take care of me. I get it. I don't blame them at all."

"I—" Leroy started but paused. "I don't know what to say."

Zachary shrugged. "That's okay, at least you're not trying to tell me it's not true." The older man smiled a little, but it disappeared a second later. "I know I was difficult to take care of, I don't want anyone gaslighting me and telling me that's not true."

"It might be true, but you didn't ask to be born. They had you, and were responsible for you," Leroy said, and Zachary seemed to think about it for a bit before chuckling.

"You know, I don't like thinking of myself as a consequence my parents just had to deal with..." Zach trailed and Leroy froze up a bit, not knowing what else to say. The two sat in the car in silence, as Zachary drummed his fingers against his McCafé cup.

"I'm sorry for bringing all that up," Zachary mumbled. "I don't really have the opportunity to talk like this, and I just feel—safe? I think I feel safe around you," Zachary concluded, and Leroy could feel his heart beating against his chest. He wasn't sure why that made him so happy. A smile crept up his lips as he nodded his head.

"I'm glad you feel that way," he mumbled, turning over to look at Zachary. The older man's hazel eyes were holding his attention, and Leroy noticed the twists in the man's hair were starting to drizzle.

"You know, if you want a more permanent hairstyle my sister's a hairstylist..." Leroy trailed, cocking his head a bit to look at the long curls that had been left untouched close to his hairline and sideburns. "Do you do your own hair?" The younger man asked, and Zach nodded.

"Mostly, sometimes my sister does it..." Zachary trailed. "I guess it's obvious that I don't have a wonderful grip. My hands hurt when I do them myself," he said, touching a twist with his fingers before dropping his hand and looking over at Leroy. "Your sister's okay with curly hair?"

"I'll ask," Leroy said, and Zach nodded, taking another sip of his coffee.

"You know what I wish," Zach started, and Leroy shook his head. "I really wish I had a normal school life. If I had, maybe I'd have dated."

"Really, that's what you're concerned about?"

"I mean, I don't think you'd get it, but it's going to be awkward for anyone who might potentially date me in the future because I'm so inexperienced..." Zachary trailed. "That's if I ever bother to put myself out there that is."

"Not having experience isn't a red flag," Leroy said. "I mean, I think some people prefer it—"

"Yeah, if you're immature and nineteen, not thirty," Zachary said. "How do I explain not knowing how to kiss at thirty? I'm too old for that, don't you think?"

Leroy looked over at Zach who had now finished his donut and was glancing out the window. Leroy stared at the man for a bit, taking in his facial features. Zach was handsome. He wasn't going to be rejected simply because he hadn't sucked enough dicks or something equally stupid.

"If you're that depressed over not kissing, you can kiss me," Leroy said, laughing. He stopped when he noticed Zachary was not laughing and was instead frozen in place with a bewildered look on his face. His skin was too tan to see a full-on blush, but the area about his freckled nose betrayed him.

"Zach?"

"I know you're joking, but, err..." Zachary mumbled, letting his eyes move from the glove box in front of him to Leroy. "I mean if you're okay with it..."

Leroy was lost for a total of maybe two minutes, and then he realized what was going on—

"Oh," he said as his eyes grew wide. "I—"

"I said if you're okay with it, don't force yourself," Zachary said in a rush reaching out to touch Leroy's shoulder. The younger man looked down at his hand and then at Zachary's face until his focus landed on the man's lips and something turned in his lower stomach.

Fuck, of course, he wanted to kiss Zachary.

"O-okay," Leroy muttered, leaning forward, and before Zachary could do anything their lips had met. It was clumsy at first, blustered by the suddenness and shock of it all, but soon the two had found a comfortable position, with Leroy's hand caressing the back of Zachary's neck and Zachary's hand still resting on Leroy's shoulder as the other fumbled with the curls on his neck.

At first, the kiss had been with closed lips, but a squirm and sigh from Zach had prompted Leroy to deepen the kiss, letting their tongues touch as the warmth in his chest bloomed. Zachary tasted like his honey-flavored coffee and plain donuts. His lips were soft, and his squirming and sighing were the most adorable thing Leroy had ever encountered.

Leroy was no stranger to kissing, but the context of the kisses he'd shared all had a little red asterisk hanging above them. For example, he'd made out with a woman at a club once, but then the kiss had just tasted like alcohol, had been unnecessarily aggressive, and he'd been so out of it that everything had felt numb. With Zach every patch of skin felt sensitive, fuck his lower regions were so tight in his pants that he felt he might actually cum if Zach did as much as brush up against him.

Zachary's small sighs had ramped up, and suddenly there was a moan. For a moment Leroy had thought that was him, but the quickness Zachary used to peel him off clued to him that it was Zach that had made the noise. The older man folded his legs and rearranged his twists with his fingers as he kept his eyes firmly on the window glass as Leroy got out of his daze. 

"T-Thanks..." Zachary mumbled after a while of both of them sitting in silence.

Leroy didn't say anything, he just nodded, licking his lips as his brain went haywire. A small part of him had thought maybe kissing Zachary would have made him get over the small hyper-fixation he'd had about him, but the kiss hadn't done anything to quench his curiosity. Fuck, if anything it had made it worse.