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Alex isn’t sure what he’d been expecting for his date with Willie, but going to a museum and screaming had… had been pretty far from it. But it’d been good. Surprisingly good. And yeah, maybe that’s in part because Alex likes Willie, but then there’s the fact that Willie seemed to just get him.
It’s been a long time since anyone but his boys got Alex. And even they hadn’t understood him straight away—though maybe that’s in part because they’d met as kids. Being with Willie feels like being out in the sunshine and being happy. He knows it probably won’t always be there but it’s good right now.
His phone buzzes.
It’s a message from Willie and Alex smiles. It’s not anything important, just a simple text saying ‘I had a good time!’ and yet it feels good. Not only did Alex enjoy himself, but so did Willie.
‘I did too! We should meet up again some time.’ is what Alex responds with. Then he sends the message, trying not to give himself any time to think. Because if he thinks he’s then going to start overthinking, which never leads to anything good.
Except nothing can really stop Alex from overthinking and by the time he reaches the garage, he’s already begun to overthink. Because what if Willie had just messaged him to be nice and it didn’t really matter at all? What if Alex’s response traps Willie into spending more time with him and Willie really doesn’t want to? What if-
“Alex!”
His thoughts abandon him as Reggie crashes into him like his bandmate hadn’t just seen him a few hours ago. Alex laughs and hugs him back, “Hey Reggie.”
Before he can say anything else, however, he spots Bobby and Luke sitting on the couch. Luke’s clearly trying not to smile while Bobby is looking serious, and Alex’s grin grows. He knows exactly what they’re up to—they do it every time one of them has a date and comes back home.
Normally, though, it’s Alex who’s on the other side of this—on the couch, acting like stern parents while trying not to laugh.
Without thinking, Alex throws himself forward and onto the couch and his boys, delighting in the ‘oomphs’ it creates. “God, why are you so heavy,” Luke wheezes, shoving ineffectively at him.
“Fuck you,” Bobby manages, and Alex wriggles, making sure to knee Bobby in the stomach as he does so.
“Love you guys,” he chirps, starting to shift in preparation to get up. Luke, however, just places a hand on his shoulder, pushing lightly, and Bobby shifts so he’s comfortable and Reggie plonks himself on the end bit of the couch, lifting Alex’s legs to get there.
“So,” Luke drawls out, grinning hopelessly now, “how was the date?”
“We’re assuming it went well considering how happy you are,” Bobby adds and Alex feels his face flush, growing warm.
For a second, he doesn’t know what to say, caught between how happy he is and the anxiety that’s trying to crawl up his spine again. “Yeah,” he says at last, words soft, “it was. We went for coffee first and then went to a museum?”
“Huh,” Luke says, somehow exchanging a glance with Reggie around Bobby. “Willie didn’t really strike me as a museum kind of person.”
“And that’s a weird kind of date,” Bobby adds, having not met Willie and having nothing to go off. “Does he like art or something?”
Alex pauses, brows furrowing as he thinks. “I think he likes art? Maybe? But not whatever was there—he took me there to scream.”
“To scream?” Reggie says, expression twisting in confusion. “What does that even mean?”
“And how did he even manage to convince you to do that? You’re normally the one telling us to keep our voices down!”
Before Alex can respond to Luke’s question, the three boys say in unison, “Pretty boy override.”
Alex groans, flopping an arm over his eyes so he can’t see them. “He’s so pretty and I’m so gay.”
There’s laughter from all of them and Bobby says, “We know Al. We’ve witnessed this a few times.” For a moment longer, there’s silence and then Bobby says, voice gentle and kind, “You like him, yeah?”
Alex gives himself a second to just appreciate how willing Bobby is to be vulnerable with them, even if he tries to hide it by being gruff more often than not. “I do,” he says and the words come out fragile—and Alex feels fragile. Liking someone isn’t simple, not when it comes to them, and Alex loves the boys and what they have and would never change it, but if he wants to actually date Willie, they have to have a conversation about this.
And Willie is pretty and beautiful and kind of perfect and Alex is just… himself. He’s an anxious mess on the best of days and a pacing manic on the others, and he can’t control the magic he has and-
A finger taps him on the nose and Alex loses his thoughts, frowning up at Luke. “No negative thoughts here,” Luke says, tone serious and steady and- and Alex breathes out and tries to let his thoughts go with it. A minute passes in silence and Alex just breathes. “What’s got you so stressed?”
“I haven’t exactly had a conversation with him about us,” Alex says. “And I don’t even know if he wants to go on another date.”
“Did he text you?” Bobby asks.
“What does that have to do with it?”
“So he has!” Reggie crows. “And if he’s already texted you, that means he genuinely meant it rather than waiting ages until responding. Did you respond?”
Alex’s thoughts slow down, his heart beat calming, surrounded by his partners as he is. “Yeah,” he says, “I said we should meet up again sometime.” Then, after a pause, Alex adds, “And I know I’m not going to call him my boyfriend or anything—not for a while. But. I don’t- I want to talk about us because we’re a package deal, y’know? If he doesn’t like that, doesn’t want me to part of that, then I don’t care how pretty or nice he is, it doesn’t matter. You guys come first. Always.”
And, well, no matter how much the others try to appear as rock stars with no emotions—Bobby—they’re still the guys Alex grew up with and they all melt at his words.
“Love you Lex,” Luke says, while Bobby just entwines their hands and Reggie grins, looking like the sun’s come out. “And I think Willie’s going to be okay with it, you know?” There’s no space for discussion here about dates themselves, Alex knows, because they’ve had that discussion before. And more to the point, the boys had already gotten Alex this date while he’d been a stuttering mess in the face of Willie’s beauty. The only discussion that needs to happen is between Willie and Alex, then Willie and all of them to see where he’d fit in.
“He felt chill,” Reggie adds. “Though he still has to meet Bobby and us properly, until then he’s only a maybe.”
Alex laughs, and finally shifts, so that he’s now sitting squished between the others, their shoulder pressed together so tightly that Alex thinks there’ll be an imprint left for months. This couch is the one made for three people rather than four. “It’ll definitely happen,” he promises.
“We can give him the shovel talk then!” Luke says, sounding rather excited.
Bobby rolls his eyes. “You can’t even hurt a fly Lukey, shovel talks might be a bit outside your area of expertise.”
“Like you can talk Mr. I’m-crying-because-I-stepped-on-a-ladybug,” Luke throws back immediately.
“The ladybug didn’t deserve it!”
Alex laughs, unable to do anything else, and soon all of them are laughing, grinning and joking. There’s a hell of a lot unknown in their futures, but right now they have each other and they’ll be able to take on anything that comes their way. Dates, gigs, and everything else.