“This all looks amazing!” Mason gasped, looking over the menu with wide eyes and a fascinated gaze. Mark was shocked at how Mason seemed to act like a curious child when interacting with anything new. He was even more surprised by the fact that it seemed very adorable to him.

But, that was how Mason always was; naturally adorable and innocent. He knew that it was what attracted so many men to him and he felt bad that it was grabbing his attention too. He then shook his head harshly, the act going unnoticed by his companion, and scanned the menu himself.

The restaurant that they had entered had turned out to be an Indian restaurant. Mark was indifferent about the choice, having eaten it a dozen times.

But Mason was fascinated since he rarely interacted with the culture and wasn’t familiar with the food. He was in ‘new things heaven’ when they entered. The waiters and waitresses were dressed in black with some traditional fabrics draped on top.

They were taken to a large circular table and two narrow chairs that were placed near a further back wall. The entire restaurant was dimly lit, which was a stark contrast to the bright day outside of its walls. The red, purple, and orange lighting along with the beautiful decor had Mason’s looking at everything but Mark. Mason should actually be grateful, it was a better distraction from the fact that he accidentally invited Mark on something he could interpret as a date.

Oh yes! A date!

It had dawned on Mason as they had walked up to the establishment that this may be what they considered their first date if a true relationship was ever clarified in the future. Yes, such thoughts as ‘future relationship’ and ‘first date’ weren’t healthy.

Could you really blame him? He was a hormonal teenager—just like all the others—in close proximity to his crush. Thoughts would obviously fly away from him, alright.

But, that was why he was putting himself fully into his first experience at an Indian restaurant. He may as well enjoy and get his mind away from bad thoughts about Mark that really wouldn’t help his plans of getting over him.

The two of them settled on their dishes, and Mark decided that a single order of Samosas, Naan, and Panipuri would be suitable appetizers for the both of them. And all Mason could hear was “SHARED FOOD!”

The menus were taken, and suddenly Mason didn’t have as much to distract himself from Mark’s piercing green eyes. Seriously, those things were staring straight at him, trained on his face even when he moved his own gaze to the table or wall. And when Mason came back to look at the boy again, those green eyes still seemed to be focused on him.

Fantastic.

Mark blinked a couple of times before smiling, seemingly oblivious —as always— to Mason’s discomfort. He folded his fingers together, hand coming to rest on the table and entire body leaning closer to Mason.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

“What are you thinking about Indian restaurants so far?” Mark asks kindly, and Mason mentally sighs in relief.

Oh good, conversation. Yeah, I can do that.

“It seems amazing!” Mason compliments, smiling widely as he did so. “If any of their food tastes amazing as this place looks then I am going to be happy today.”

Mark grinned happily as he let Mason go on and on about the place, happy that he got the boy on another rant. It was rarer to hear them when Mason was around his sister because she was a talker too.

Ever since they were children, Mason tended to relent to Jasmine, letting her take the lead and stepping back. It was only when he got the boy alone that Mark was able to hear him talk for as long as he wanted without interruption.

Not only that, but seeing Mason light up so much simply because of some decorations and outfits was like nothing else. Now, Mark wanted to bring him back here again. He could only hope that the food lived up to the hype that Mason was creating.

Mason threw a Panipuri into his mouth, chewing for only a second before moaning loudly. Yeah, the food did. Mason continued to scarf down the food, chewing and smacking with little care for Mark’s presence. Mark loved it, watching Mason enjoy himself without a care in the world.

Mark was eating at a slower pace, taking his time with the Naan since it was one of his favourite Indian dishes, for some reason. He went to dip another piece of the Naan in one of the many selections of sauces and raised it up to eat it.

But, his plans were interrupted when there was a bang on the other side of the table. Mason accidentally dropped the bowl of Panipuri back on to the table, but the last few inside of it were fine and Mason appeared to be unharmed.

Mark, however, now had a mess of sauce on his right cheek. The noise had surprised him so much that he had jumped, causing the sauce on his Naan to be completely transferred onto his face.

Mason froze for a moment, staring at Mark’s stunned face. Then he laughed.

Mason’s head was thrown back, cackles and giggles leaving his lips at odd times while he continued to stare at Mark’s taken-aback expression. Mark finally let a smile crack, unable to resist Mason’s laughter, and shook his head.

Mason began to calm down, and soon he was simply smiling and giggling. His eyes went to the large mess of sauce and he felt a small tinge of guilt.

He should probably clean that up.

“Here, let me help you,” Mason offered with a soft smile, moving before Mark could actually accept it. He grabbed a napkin from the center of the table, getting out of his seat to walk over to Mark. He used his left hand to hold Mark’s jaw in place and his right hand to start wiping away the sauce.

Mason was diligently completing his task, folding the napkin and using a new side every time he found himself smearing sauce instead of wiping it off. Mark, on the other hand, was simply staring at Mason.

His narrowed eyes, warm and focused on the task at hand. Soft bottom lip pulled beneath his teeth as he continued to nibble and lick at it as he worked. His short hair moved only when he shook his head after making an efficiency mistake, and the strands barely moved at all.

Mark’s gaze was drawn to Mason’s eyes again, only to find that they were now on his. Their gazes met, glued together for only a second in an odd silent exchange before Mason broke it with a light smirk.

“All done,” he whispered, wanting to restore the carefree mood but somehow sensing that Mark’s focus was more pointed than he realized.

Mason walked away quickly and Mark was left blinking at the empty space where he had previously been.

Odd. Mark thought while he turned back to his rejected Naan. He was not used to interacting with Mason in that way. That was his friend of several years, why would it have happened before? Mark decided to assume that was probably a one-time thing. Strange things happen every day, right?

Mark had no idea that there would be many more where that came from, for this was only the beginning.