2075

Alexander yawned and rubbed at his tired eyes. "Wow, you've been here all of five minutes and you're already bored?" Jaden said, rolling his eyes.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," Alex replied with a laugh. "Calm down."

Jaden pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You can have a nap or something if you want," he said.

"Nah," Alexander said. "You called me over here for- I actually don't know why you called me over. But still, you wanted me here, I'm not going to sleep through it."

"I called you over to spend time with you."

"Yeah, so I'm not going to sleep."

"Whatever. It will be your own fault if you pass out later."

Alex rolled his eyes, sitting down on Jaden's blue couch and staring up at the other man. He stretched out so he filled up the entirety of the small couch, laughing at the expression on Jaden's face. "Join me," he said.

"Well, I would if you hadn't taken up the whole damn couch," Jaden replied, pushing at Alex's shoulders until he sat up. Alex ended up with his head on the younger man's lap and fingers being pushed through his hair.

Jade put on a movie, one he didn't recognise, and soon enough Alex found himself drifting off to sleep. The feeling of Jaden's fingers as they ran through his hair was soothing and he found that it was the more comfortable he had been in a while. It was such a simple action, but it relaxed him to no end.

He didn't really know what the two of them were. They'd been on dates, they'd kissed, but he still wasn't sure. He wanted to ask, but as per usual his fear got to him. Years of bad experiences weighed on him and there were nights where the voices in his head told him that it was a stupid idea to even be with him.

And maybe it was, but at least he was happier than he had been in a long time. He wasn't going to test his age. He may have made the device, but that thing had brought him too much pain. He didn't want to see the twenty-two years staring at him, taunting him. He'd seen enough of it. Like he had with everyone else he had dated, he would deal with it when it turned out that Jaden was not his soulmate. For now, he would embrace the happiness the other man was giving him.

He hadn't even realised he had fallen asleep until he woke up, blinking away the sleep from his eyes. He looked up, finding Jaden's face smiling down at him. He grunted, reaching up and pushing his face away. Jaden let out a cheerful laugh, batting away Alex's hand.

"And you said you were fine," he said with a shake of his head.

"Sorry," Alexander mumbled. "How long was I asleep?"

"About two hours," Jaden answered. "I put on a movie to kill some time. I figured I'd let you rest, you looked like you needed it. My leg is going a little numb though."

Alex grunted again, pushing himself up. "Sorry," he repeated.

"It's fine," Jaden replied, waving a hand at him. "It was comfortable for the first hour and a half."

"Sorry I fell asleep," he said. "I think I just got a bit too comfortable."

"Better than the spare bed?"

"Way better than the spare bed."

"Well, it's all good," Jaden said.

"Are you sure?" Alexander asked, rubbing at his sleep filled eyes. "I'm pretty sure this isn't what you had in mind for today."

"I didn't really have much planned today, actually," the other man said, standing up from the couch. "I just need your help with something."

Alex frowned in confusion, eyebrows furrowing. "Is everything alright?" he asked, trying to find any hint of the answer in Jaden's tanned face and dark eyes. He gave nothing away, looking back at him with a smile.

"Yeah, everything's good. It's nothing to worry about," he said. "I just know you're good with tech and I have something that needs fixing. It's kind of on the old side though, so I don't know if you're going to be able to do it."

"What is it?"

"Give me a second, I'll go and grab it." Jaden rushed out of the room, leaving a curious Alexander sitting on the couch, still tired from his nap. He heard clambering coming from the younger man's bedroom and went to get up right as he came back into the room.

He thrust the object in Alex's direction, a hopeful expression on his face. Alex's eyes widened, he hadn't seen anything like it in years. It was one of the original AgeFinder's, made around 2010 if he remembered correctly. He didn't know why anyone would keep such a thing.

"It was my mother's," Jaden explained. "I guess it's kind of like a family heirloom now, but it's not turning on anymore. I know you're good at fixing stuff, so do you think you could give it a go? None of the tech repair stores around here wants to touch it. They said it's too old for them to bother."

He stared at the device, the thing he had created. He didn't want to think about why Jaden would even want to turn the thing on, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try to fix it. It would make the other man happy if he did.

He looked up, smiling at Jaden's dark eyes, which were widened in hope. "I can give it a go," he said. "I'll give a quick look now if you want." At Jaden's nod, he set himself up at the dining table. Jaden grabbed his tool set from the garage, they were a little on the bigger side, but he would be able to make them work. The old AgeFinder's were a bit clunky after all.

He pulled the device apart, feeling more in his comfort zone than he had for a while. Working on the farm was fun, but it wasn't his passion like technology was. He hummed, it wouldn't take long for him to fix the device, maybe a week if he took into account working at the farm. He had all his tools back in his room, so he'd have to take it back there.

"This shouldn't take me too long to- What? Why are you staring at me like that?" Jaden was staring at him with furrowed eyebrows and an open mouth like he was trying to figure something out.

At Alex's words, the younger man jumped up and grabbed his phone, tapping at it rapidly. "I think I finally figured out who you remind me of," he said.

"Oh, I didn't know you were still focusing on that," Alex said, feigning cheerfulness. Dread was pooling in his stomach. He wasn't ready for the conversation that was about to come. He could just come out a say it before Jaden found anything, but he was sure that it would just make things worse.

"Well, I wasn't, but you tinkering away like that sparked something," Jaden replied, not looking at him. He could just get up and run like a coward. He didn't have to face it, he could just leave. "Here we go- Would you look at that, I was right." Jaden dumped the phone on the table in front of him, showing off a photo of his face. His name was next to it, his real name anyway. He'd used his mother's Maiden name when applying at the farm. He'd wanted to stay as hidden as he could.

Jaden took the phone back before Alex could say a word. He stared at the device, a pleased smile on his face. "You guys even have the same first name- Oh," he stopped, the smile dropping from his face as he stared at Alex. "Oh, I'm an actual idiot."

"Jaden," Alexander started, moving to stand.

"Is this you?" Jaden asked, waving the phone around. "It is, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

A second of suffocating silence. "Okay, what the hell?" Jaden snapped, lips turning down into a disappointed frown. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you some big CEO from a freaking tech corporation? You made that damn thing!" He gestured angrily at the pieces of the AgeFinder spread out across the table.

"I went on a sabbatical," Alex started, voice calm despite the dread and fear roiling in his stomach. "I used my mother's maiden name so no one knew who I was."

"And even after you made friends with us, with me?" Jaden said, his arms crossed over his chest. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Alex sighed, forcing the words from his mouth. "I didn't want the pity," he said.

"Pity? Why would any of us pity you?" Jaden asked, voice laced with confusion.

Alex guided the other man back over to his cough, ignoring the concerned look on his face. They sat in silence for a while, Alex trying to get over the temptation to run away. "Look, obviously you know a little bit about who I am, my face, my job, that kind of thing," he eventually started, Jaden nodding along with him. "But, Jaden, I am nearly a hundred and seventeen years old."

And there it was, the shock. It was unheard of for someone to be as old as Alexander was without a soulmate. The pity would come soon when the information sunk in. "Is that why you always look so sad?" Jaden asked, shocking Alex from his thoughts. He'd never been asked the question before, not once in the hundreds of times he'd told people his age.

"What?" he said, eyebrows furrowing.

"You always look really down, kinda lonely," Jaden told him, matching Alex's expression. "I was worried about you but couldn't figure out what was wrong."

"You're not angry?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm pissed," came the reply. "You lied to me. I'm assuming most of what you've told me is true, but I'm still angry that you didn't tell me your age or even your damn name!"

"Everything else I've told you was the truth," Alex said with a sigh. "I haven't told anyone my age in years."

"Because they pity you?"

"I hate it, I hate it so much. They judge you so much for being so old and not having a soulmate. It's not like it's my fault. I've been looking everywhere but gotten nowhere. So many times I've thought 'this could it, this could be them' and then they're ripped away from me."

"Alex-"

"It's not fair!" Alex cried, feeling tears brim in his eyes. "It's not even my fault! I didn't want to see the same look on your face, I care too much about what you think of me. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I wanted to, but by the time I decided it would be a good I idea I was in too deep."

"I understand, I do," Jaden said, cutting off Alexander's rant. "I get the same looks. I ignore them most of the time, but sometimes they do get to me. I'm still annoyed that you didn't tell me, but I understand why."

"I'm sorry."

"How long would you have continued on with the lie if I hadn't figured it out?"

"I don't know."

"Jesus Christ." Jaden ran a hand through his dark hair with a sigh. Leaning back against the couch. Alex wiped at the tears that still threatened to fall, trying to push away his embarrassment. He'd been such an idiot.

"Jaden-"

"I think I should drive you home," the younger man interrupted, standing from the couch.

"Wait, Jaden-"

Jaden sighed, turning to face him. "I need some time to think stuff through okay?" he said. "I may understand, but that doesn't make me any less angry with you. How long do you think it will take you to fix the AgeFinder?"

Stumped by the question, it took Alex a second to answer. "Should have it done by Saturday," he answered.

"We'll meet for lunch at the cafe on Saturday then," the other man said, grabbing his car keys. Alexander stood, confused and upset. "We'll talk about all this then, when I've calmed down a little, okay?"

"Okay," Alex choked out, following Jaden out of his house and towards the car, grabbing the broken AgeFinder on the way.

The ride back to the farm was filled with tense silence. Quiet moments with Jaden had always been comfortable, not tense and full of dread. It was his own fault the silence had changed though. If only he'd just told the truth when they'd met. Everything would be fine now, he wouldn't feel like he was losing another friend.

When they pulled up outside of the farm, Isaac was sitting on the porch. He waved to them as they pulled up, but neither man responded in kind. Jaden undid his seat belt and turned towards him, eyes filled with worry.

"I want you to tell them, okay?" he said.

"But-"

"No buts," Jaden snapped, lips pursing. "They are your friends, they deserve to know. They won't pity you. If anything, I think Isaac will understand a little too, he was getting a bit on the older side too before he started ageing. Please, Alex, just tell them."

He sighed. The tense air in the weighed on him, made him feel like he was being crushed. "Alright, I will," he said, finding that he actually would. He wanted to make Jaden like him again. He didn't like seeing the anger on the beautiful man's face, it didn't suit him.

Jaden sighed. "Thank you," he said. "I'll talk to you on Saturday." He leaned forward, pressing a light kiss to Alex's lips, a promise that they were going to be okay, they just needed some space for a little while.

Alex got out of the car, waving a brief goodbye to Jaden and watching as the car pulled away. He sighed, angry at himself and the world. He would talk to him on Saturday and everything would be okay, they would be okay.

"I didn't know you two were together," Isaac said as he walked up to the porch. "Is that a recent thing? Soulmates?"

"Yes to the first, I don't know to the second," Alex replied.

"Ah, right, I'm happy for you guys," Isaac said, giving him a smile before concern took over his face. "You okay, Alex? You don't look so good."

He sighed, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before he replied. He had to keep his promise. He couldn't hide who he was any longer. "I have something I need to tell you."