Eric held his breath as he quickly dashed to the living room, avoiding the chance of seeing Kayden on the stairs. 

He was being utterly ridiculous by getting all starry eyed and excited by a simple lunch with Kayden. He wasn't some lovesick teen that drooled over an attractive guy. Besides, even if he WAS attracted to men, why would Kayden even give him the time of day?

Sure, Kayden was out and seemed fully confident in himself, but that didn't mean he'd find a broken, seventeen year old attractive let alone datable. 

Eric almost snorted at the direction of his thoughts. What did it matter if Kayden would or wouldn't date him? It wasn't like Eric would be able to handle any kind of physical touch... 

That thought sobered him up to the point that when Kayden entered the living room, he saw Eric glaring at the carpet. 

"I sure hope the carpet didn't wrong you TOO much," Kayden joked as he leaned against the door frame. 

Eric jumped a little and turned his glare on Kayden. "I'm vastly offended. You need to get rid of it."

Kayden let out a loud laugh as he shrugged into a fitted jacket. "Are you hungry?" 

Eric nodded as he thought back to the banana he had earlier. At the time it had been enough, but he found his stomach demanding actual food. 

"What are you in the mood for?" Kayden asked once Eric had stood and started his way towards the door. 

Eric shrugged. "Anything is fine. I'm not a picky eater."

"Duly noted." 

Eric's eyes narrowed at the sudden playfulness in Kayden's voice. However, he ignored it and focused on trying not to limp too much. He doubted that Kayden would care much but it bothered Eric knowing he couldn't walk right because of... 

He let out an annoyed sigh. He couldn't even THINK properly about what happened to him. 

Kayden cast him a concerned look but didn't press for answers. 

By the time they were situated in Kayden's car and on the highway, Eric's mood had lightened a little bit and his weird feelings toward Kayden had all but faded into the background. 

"What did you work on?" Eric asked as he glanced down at his attire versus Kayden's. He was so underdressed. 

Kayden cast him an easy smile. "It was boring. It's getting closer to our annual reports from each branch in my company, Wanted, and I was mainly giving the okay on a lot of different proposals for next year as well as signing off on some recent adoptions that went through."

Eric's eyes widened as he stared at Kayden. "That...is a lot." 

Kayden let out a booming laugh as he glanced at Eric. "I suppose it is. But it's fine. I enjoy my work too much for it to be a bother."

Eric rolled his eyes and the two fell into a comfortable silence. 

About twenty minutes later, Kayden pulled into the parking lot of a very fancy looking Italian restaurant. 

Apprehension spread throughout Eric's entire body. He glared at Kayden and crossed his arms. "I'm underdressed. Let's go somewhere else."

Kayden quirked an eyebrow as he looked Eric up and down. "You look fine to me."

Eric leaned over and whispered dramatically, if not a little pleadingly, "This is a FANCY restaurant."

Kayden stated at him a moment longer than normal before rolling his eyes and turning the car off. "May you suffer the consequence of fancy."

Eric narrowed his eyes and sighed defeatedly as he watched Kayden get out of the car. He quickly followed suit and did his best to ignore the uncomfortableness he felt at being severely underdressed. 

He felt even more out of place when a complete STRANGER greeted Kayden like an old friend and the two had a short conversation. Eric watched the exchange with wide eyes. 

He'd never be that confident speaking to someone he didn't know. 

Thankfully, Kayden didn't ask him to join in and they moved on to the actual restaurant. However, just like outside, the entire staff and customers seemed to know Kayden and everyone stopped what they were doing just to say hello and have a bit of small talk. 

When Eric tried escaping, Kayden gave him a pleading look before wrapping his arm tightly around Eric's shoulders. 

Eric glared at Kayden and the people around him. He was thoroughly uncomfortable and annoyed at all the attention he didn't want. More than a few times he was dragged into the conversation and forced to speak to people. 

It was awful. 

He was thankful when Kayden asked for a private booth ten minutes later. 

Eric plopped down in the booth and deflated like a balloon. 

Kayden's eyes crinkled in amusement. 

"Is it ALWAYS like that when you go somewhere?" Eric demanded as Kayden took off his jacket and sat down. 

"Not always but a lot of people know me and they mean no harm." Kayden replied with a warm smile. 

Eric simply shook his head and accepted the menu Kayden offered. A frown quickly found his face and he glared at Kayden. 

Amusement flickered in Kayden's eyes again. "What seems to be the problem?"

"It's all in Italian." At Kayden's raised eyebrow, he continued. "I can't read Italian, asshole."

A smirk greeted his outburst. "I can order for you." 

Eric rolled his eyes but eventually gave in once the waitress appeared, just as chatty as everyone else. 

When she finally left, leaving behind a delicious basket of bread with oil and butter, Eric eyed Kayden up and down. "Is it going to be like that when we leave?" 

Kayden smiled at Eric, but he was worried on the inside, doing his best to appear relaxed. He normally didn't receive so much attention but with a few big events happening later in the year, more people were determined to speak with him. 

"Maybe," Kayden said. "I have a few upcoming events that people are excited for. If it makes you uncomfortable, we can leave out the back."

This time Eric raised his eyebrows and stared at Kayden with full on exasperation. "You're like a mini celebrity here!" 

Kayden chuckeled just as their food was brought to them. He saw Eric's face light up in curiosity as he took in his pasta dish and felt that his mission for the day was somewhat complete.

He couldn't take away Eric's pain, but he could offer some kind of distraction for the time being. He knew it was bad to ignore issues like this, but he couldn't stand to make Eric suffer anymore than he already was. At some point he would talk to Eric about what happened. 

Today was not that day. 

He smiled at Eric after he had taken a bite of pasta. "How is it?" 

Eric's face lit up in happiness. "It's amazing!" 

Warmth spread throughout Kayden's body and he couldn't help but return Eric's smile. "I'm glad."

Eric ignored the weird warmth that Kayden's smile caused and instead came to the conclusion that going ANYWHERE with Kayden would be an experience.