Growth: Part 3 by Jamiesstories2

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A/N: Enjoy.

This is the continuation of Growth. Please read the previous parts before reading this.

Growth: Part 3

It was Monday morning and Alex was getting ready to go to school. He glanced at his hair in the bathroom mirror before putting it in a bun, as he was expected to do when teaching, and noticed that he was in need of a trim, having received his last haircut three months earlier. Although they were not yet prominent, Alex could see split ends beginning to permeate the bottom of his hair and made a mental note to ask Dan for a haircut. Alex couldn’t help but smile, seeing as his last trim had gone remarkably well. He headed out the door, becoming increasingly excited to see Dan.

By the time lunch rolled around, Alex was on the edge of his seat. As usual, Dan came to the door of Alex’s classroom, with a smile that Alex instinctively reciprocated.

"How was your weekend?" Dan coyley asked, taking a seat on the other side of Alex’s desk, and acting as if they didn’t see each other Saturday night (and Sunday morning).

"Oh, pretty good," Alex responded, just as cheekily, "spent a nice evening with my partner."

Dan chuckled in response.

"Speaking of my partner," Alex began, ready to make his proposal, "I need to ask him for a trim, my hair is getting a bit long."

Even now, as he was flirting with his amazing boyfriend, Alex felt a twinge of nervousness at the idea of a trim. Dan made sure to answer first with a smile, knowing how nervous Alex got at the idea of scissors coming near his hair. He then moved closer to the long-haired man across from him,

"I’m sure your partner would be happy to take care of that for you; and he would be quite happy that you took the initiative to ask." Dan reached across the desk to where Alex was seated and removed the hair tie from his bun, allowing beautiful brown locks to cascade down his shoulders. Dan ran his hands through the mass of hair and Alex felt the characteristic excitement below his navel; all he wanted to do was lean in and kiss the man, but he knew better than to be so open.

"You seem quite excited about the idea of a trim," Alex started, and then tore his eyes away from his lover's face, "but my partner would do good to remember that there are a lot of windows in this building."

Although Alex had covered his door with a large number of posters, it would still be fairly easy for someone to see inside. Dan hummed disappointedly and fondled one last lock of hair before letting it fall between his fingers and backing away.

"Practical as always."

"And you remain as rebellious as ever," Alex responded with a smile, "How does Saturday sound?"

"Great. You’ve let it grow quite long, seems like it’s high time to clean it up a bit."

Although Dan said this in the same coy tone as all his other flirtatious lines, something about his speech made Alex shiver. Sometimes there was this hint of dominant Dan that seemed so… frightening. Dan seemed not to notice Alex’s momentary fear, though, and smirked as if nothing had happened.

"Keep talking like that and pretty soon you’ll end up like Brendon," Alex joked, not knowing what else to say.

Dan cocked one eyebrow in mock playfulness,

"Is that a challenge, Mr. Lee?"

Alex responded by raising both his eyebrows.

"It most certainly is not, Daniel!"

"Ah you’re probably right," Dan responded, slowly lowering the sexual tension of the classroom, "it’d be like having sex with a wooden board."

Alex couldn’t help but laugh at that, then wrinkle his face in disgust.

"Oh, God. I don’t want to imagine that!" Both men laughed at the idea.

The rest of the lunch period continued in jest, and, as it ended, Alex made sure to put his hair back up (he had learned his lesson from that first day of meetings). As Dan left, however, Alex couldn't help the knot of uneasiness forming in his stomach. He wrote it off as pre-haircut jitters, but something about the predatory way Dan had discussed his hair brought him back to his father.

‘Dan is probably just having fun,’ Alex told himself. Yet a gut feeling still remained, that Dan’s dominant side was a little more dominant than it first appeared.

XXXXX

Saturday was here and Alex was doing his best to calm his nerves. He had called his sister just the night before and told her his worries. She’d responded rather bluntly.

"Alex, I’m usually all for trusting your gut, but when it comes to you and haircuts, your gut is sh**."

"Gee, thanks."

"Fine, don’t take my advice, then, I’m only the girl who lived with you for sixteen years," she responded in playful annoyance.

"I know, you’re probably right…" Alex trailed off, "something just felt…off."

"Look, if you’re really nervous about it," Catherine conceded, "say something! You should tell him you feel extra nervous or maybe don’t want to do it."

"Yeah, maybe…" Alex trailed off again.

Something about telling Dan he was extra nervous made him uncomfortable. Dan had seemed really excited, and it was Alex’s job to make him happy too, right?

So as Saturday moved by him, Alex just allowed his nerves to silently build up, and decided to say nothing to Dan. Jeff once again noticed Alex’s nerves, although he wrote it off as simply being excitement to see Dan, commenting on it with the appropriately brash,

"Jeez Alex, it’s been three months and you’re still this excited to get f***ed?"

Which earned the harsh response of, "Shut up, Jeff."

Before Alex left, he stood in the bathroom and put his hair up in a bun. He made eye contact with his reflection and tried to take a deep breath, why was this making him so unbelievably nervous? Realizing, however, that it was a fruitless question to pursue, Alex simply sighed one more time and left.

XXXXX

When he arrived at Dan’s, Alex was greeted with a very similar sight to last time, which did manage to calm his nerves, if only slightly. Dan opened the door with a characteristically smooth "Hey," and led Alex into the apartment.

He squeezed Alex’s shoulder.

"Still nervous, even after last time?"

Alex took a deep breath.

"My feelings on haircuts are…conflicting."

"You just take a deep breath and allow me to work, okay?"

Dan asked the question with the same kind tone as he had used with Alex before, but the words set Alex on edge once again.

‘I’m just being overly sensitive,’ he admonished himself, before continuing to be led by Dan’s gentle yet dominant grip.

"Okay," he responded, trying not to give away his nervousness.

Dan sensed the tension in his lover’s shoulders, but was less concerned about it this time; the nervousness would dissipate, he knew, as the haircut got underway.

As they reached the border of the kitchen, Dan removed his hand on Alex’s shoulder and stepped up to the chair, indicating for Alex to sit. Alex paused for a moment on the edge of the room, trapped in eye contact with Dan.

"Come on," Dan encouraged, "I don’t bite."

"Now we both know that’s a lie," Alex joked as he stepped into the kitchen, attempting both to lighten the mood and distract himself.

Dan rolled his eyes at him.

"Get your cute ass over here."

Alex walked over and sat down in the chair at Dan’s command, feeling another jolt of anxiety as he sat, as if he was nonverbally consenting to whatever was about to happen. This time, without asking, Alex took his shirt off. He was trying to take deep breaths, but it was not working especially well, and he began to feel a familiar tightness in his pants. Although Dan was fine with Alex’s fetish, it still wasn’t something Alex was particularly proud of.

"So," Dan said, "I have a bit of an idea."

That f***ing feeling got more intense, Alex felt himself start to turn pink.

"Mhm?" He responded, knowing any actual words he tried to say would only turn into a garbled mess.

Instead of a vocal response, Alex heard the clanking metal sound of a belt buckle coming undone. One of Dan’s hands came down to hold both of Alex’s wrists together behind the back of the chair.

"Like my idea?" Dan whispered into Alex’s ear, the feeling of hot breath on his cheek sending shivers down Alex’s spine.

Did he like Dan’s idea? Yes, but no, but also maybe… How did it feel as if all things could be true at once? He was making Dan happy. He was making Dan…

"Mhm…"

It was even more strained this time.

At his whispered consent, Alex felt the hard leather of the belt wrap around his wrists, holding them together as Dan took his hand away. The restraint tightened as Dan fed the tongue of the belt through the buckle and pulled it to the correct size. The dull edges of the stitched leather dug slightly into the sides of Alex’s wrists. Another clack of metal signaled Alex was officially cuffed, and as Dan stepped back, Alex pulled lightly, testing the strength of his new bonds. His wrists weren’t moving, that was for sure.

Dan noticed Alex’s bulge.

"I’ll make sure you enjoy this," he teased, making Alex’s pink glow burn into a firetruck red.

Dan took Alex’s hair out of its bun and ran his fingers through it. This time, there was no discussion of what was going to happen. Alex allowed himself to assume that this was because Dan knew exactly how Alex liked his hair, although something in Alex screamed to get out now. Alex shushed this voice, trying his best to trust Dan.

Dan, meanwhile, seemed to be enjoying brushing out Alex’s hair; his locks were as soft as ever, and Dan had to admit he was in love with running his hands through Alex’s magnificent mane.

Dan walked over to the kitchen counter where his array of barbering tools were laid out like last time, retrieving the shears. Alex’s shoulders took the opportunity to involuntarily tense as he anticipated the next step in the process.

As Dan returned, he saw the stiffness in his partner's neck and shoulders. He took the opportunity to comfort Alex, laying his free hand on Alex’s shoulder.

"Relax, dear. Just let me get to work." There was that word again, work.

Alex took a deep breath, trying not to let his doubt show through, yet he was sure it sounded strained.

Dan sectioned Alex’s hair and sprayed the underneath with some water.

Just like last time, Dan decided he would toss some of what he had cut into Alex's lap, just to tease. It had, after all, made for a much more enjoyable experience last time. Dan took up his comb and ran it through Alex’s hair until he reached the line at which he wanted to cut, then he took the lock between his fingers and cut right at the shoulder. It was, Dan knew, much shorter than he had cut Alex’s hair last time, nearly six inches shorter, but Alex had enjoyed it so much last time, who knew what a shorter cut would elicit? He threw the cut chunk onto Alex’s lap and continued to work along this line, throwing most into Alex’s lap outside of a few choice snips that were particularly thick, which were instead thrown onto the floor below, there was no need to scare Alex too much, after all.

Alex had noticed how long the hair Dan had cut seemed, but he knew his mind was just playing tricks on him. He knew Dan would never cut that much without asking. He knew… right?

His body was in the process of betraying him, however, as he felt himself becoming so hard it was almost painful. His arms involuntarily strained against the leather strap of the belt as he felt an urge stronger than ever before to touch himself. He burned bright red at his need, practically panting, yet wanting desperately for Dan to ignore how much he was enjoying things.

Finally, when Dan had cut the entire bottom section of Alex’s hair, he came in front of Alex and took two strands in the front of Alex’s head in his fingers to compare lengths. After Dan decided that they were satisfactorily even, he let his hands drop, quickly running one across the very obvious enjoyment in Alex’s pants. It was so fast Alex questioned if it was even intentional, but it did not matter, for any granting of Alex’s desperate plea for touch was enough to make a guttural moan escape from his throat, and his hips twitch with excitement.

With the sudden movement, a few of Alex’s cut locks fell to the floor and Alex noticed just how long they really looked.

"D-Dan…" he said, with a question in his throat, "this seems like, uh, a lot of hair…"

"Alex," Dan chided, "It’s fine, I promise. Why don’t you listen to the part of you that seems to enjoy this little experience?" He suggested with a sly smile, brushing his other hand just as quickly along Alex’s erection as he returned to his work behind the seated man. Alex could do nothing but turn more red. Dan knew what he was doing with those little touches, of that Alex was now sure.

As Dan let down the rest of Alex’s hair and began to snip along the guideline he had created, becoming less shy about throwing Alex’s severed locks, even the particularly long ones, within his field of view. Alex felt his anxiety bubbling up, about to burst out of him, but he was trying, as much as possible, to do what Dan had said and enjoy the experience.

Dan, at this point, had become entirely oblivious to his lover’s worries, getting lost in his own fantasy of toying with his flustered partner.

As Dan took his final snips, Alex was imploding with the force of his conflicting emotions. Any talk had stopped long ago, and now, finally, the only sounds that could be heard was the slow and concentrated breathing of one man, and the belabored gasping of the other. Dan brushed off Alex’s shoulders, sending a final, foreboding shower of clipped ends to the floor. Finally, Alex felt the belt being undone. Dan caressed the few small bruises the edges of the leather had made on Alex’s wrists as he had struggled against the restraint, and Alex flinched at their tenderness.

"Why don’t you go check it out?" Dan suggested, slowly coming back to himself and noticing just how tense Alex was, "Then come on back and I can clean up your neck."

Alex nodded and got up, so anxious that he was practically nonverbal. Alex felt what he thought were the ends of his hair brushing his shoulders, ‘but it couldn’t be,’ he thought, ‘because that would mean that Dan had cut way too much,’ and he trusted Dan, right?

As he got to the bathroom mirror, however, his worst suspicions were confirmed. His chestnut mane, which had been nearly six inches down his back less than an hour ago, sat squarely at his shoulders. Alex clutched at his hair, attempting hastily to put it back in a bun, but it was just too short, he couldn’t manage it.

It looked good, f*** did it look good, perfect layers, great body; but Alex felt exposed. He was used to his hair resting on his shoulders, he was used to being able to hide it by putting it up, he was betrayed.

He walked slowly back to the kitchen and stood in the doorway.

Before he said anything, Dan could tell something was wrong, but before Dan could start, Alex cut him off.

"What the hell, Dan?"

"What do you mean, Alex?" Dan replied in a gentle tone.

Alex was speechless for a moment.

"You betrayed my trust! You pulled me in and got me comfortable and then just did whatever you wanted with no concern for me!"

"Alex, come on. It looks good, and besides, don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it."

"I didn’t ask for it!"

Alex felt hot anger welling up in his tear ducts and, embarrassed to cry over hair, especially in front of Dan, wheeled around and grabbed his coat.

"I need to be by myself right now."

"Alex!" Dan yelled after him, but he was already on his way out the door.

XXXXX

When Alex returned to his apartment, he took some deep breaths, trying to hide the fact that he had cried. If he was lucky, he could slip by his roommates unnoticed and hide in his bedroom until he’d calmed down. Of course, if there was one thing that was predictable in Alex’s life, it was that he was never lucky. As he walked into the apartment, both Jeff and Aaron were sitting on the couch, which was positioned almost directly opposite to the entrance, giving both roommates a perfect view of Alex as he walked in.

"Woah! Alex!" Jeff exclaimed, "I thought you were spending time with Dan, not getting a haircut!"

"Looks great though," Aaron chimed in.

"Oh, thanks," Alex said, feeling like he wanted to cry again, "I- uh, went over to Dan’s, but then I remembered I had this appointment…"

Even though Alex had rehearsed this lie about a million times before he walked in, it still sounded incredibly fake. There was an awkward silence for a moment as Jeff (and maybe even Aaron, although Alex couldn’t be sure) identified something else was going on.

"I’m a little tired, so, uh, I’m going to, uh, lay down," Alex excused himself, in an incredibly graceless manner, and walked down the hall into his room.

XXXXX

Alex spent the rest of the night mulling over the situation that had unfolded, trying to make sense of the whole thing. Although he knew that he could call Catherine, he decided against it, embarrassed both that he was crying over something like this, and that he had not heeded her advice and been open with Dan about how nervous he was.

His mind kept returning to why, oh why, Dan would do such a thing, but all the reasons he could come up with resulted in an ultimate conclusion that reflected very badly on Alex: he was uncommunicative, he was overly nervous, he was easily taken advantage of, the list goes on.

No matter how much Alex was willing to speculate about Dan’s motivations, however, he was perfectly unwilling to actually talk to Dan, whose calls and texts went entirely ignored.

XXXXX

On Sunday morning, Alex was finally forced to leave his bedroom and eat something. While he sipped halfheartedly on a cup of coffee and waited for his toast to be done, Aaron walked into the kitchen behind him.

"Alex, I gotta say, I barely recognized you for a second," Alex turned around, trying to bury his storm of negative emotions (it was now perfectly clear that Aaron had noticed nothing yesterday).

"Uh, yeah, good morning," Alex replied, stiffly.

"It looks really good, though," Aaron continued, reaching around Alex to grab the coffee pot and causing him to jump in surprise.

"Thanks," Alex responded, desperately wanting to put his hair in a bun and hide its length from the world.

As Aaron left the kitchen, Alex felt a new wave of anger at Dan wash over him, how dare he make him feel so uncomfortable in every conversation? Alex took his toast back to his room to hide once again.

XXXXX

Monday morning, however, presented him with a new issue: since Alex’s hair was no longer long enough to put up in a bun, he was forced to put his hair in a half-up, half-down style, tying the top half in a bun out of his face and leaving the bottom half out. Alex knew this would invite plenty of comments about the length, style, beauty, et cetera of his hair, but he was less concerned about that than he was about the amount of snide comments it would invite from a certain Latin teacher.

After fussing with his hair for too long, desperately trying to figure out some sort of style that would allow him to put it all up, Alex surrendered to the half-up, half-down, praying that Brendon was somehow incapacitated.

Yet, whichever god he’d prayed to seemed to be squarely on Brendon’s side, because he was chipper as ever.

"Alex!" He exclaimed as Alex walked into the staff meeting, seeming to be genuinely surprised, "you actually cut your hair."

Alex turned about the same color as a tomato as all the eyes in the room fell on him.

"Um, yeah," Alex said, struggling to come up with a response, "I…did."

Brendon seized on the opportunity.

"Barber couldn’t finish the job?"

He asked, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

"He did, actually," Alex responded, feeling the fiery mix of anger and sadness from the weekend bubble up in him once again.

Brendon approached Alex, taking a closer look at his new style.

"Must’ve taken off a lot," he mused, "five or six inches at least," he paused and made
direct eye contact with Alex, "didn’t have the guts to go all the way though?"

Alex felt sheer panic tear through him, and, at the same time, the familiar pull of arousal. Ben saved the day, however, pulling himself quickly away from another conversation when he noticed what was going on.

He turned to Brendon.

"You, shush," he said lightly, as a joke, "Alex," Ben continued, "it looks great."

Alex wanted to cry.

"Thanks," he responded quietly, before putting his bag down and slipping out of the room.

He found refuge in a bathroom stall and took a few deep breaths. He would not cry. He would not cry. He would not cry. Mostly, he refused to give Brendon the satisfaction. When he felt like he’d finally composed himself again, Alex returned to the classroom just as the meeting was starting. At least he’d avoided any more small talk.

The first half of the day went by with as little incident as possible for Alex’s present situation. He was thoroughly deluged with compliments, each making him slightly more annoyed at Dan. More than one seventh grader took Alex’s hair being out as an excuse to ask: "Can I touch it Mr. Lee?" To which the answer was a resounding, "No, you may not."

But when lunch came around, Alex knew he was in for trouble.

As predicted, trouble showed up about five minutes after the bell. As Alex heard a knock on his door, he looked up to see Dan standing there and felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach.

Dan opened the door without waiting for an invitation and started.

"Can we talk?"

"No, I’m still mad at you." Alex knew he was holding a grudge, but he still felt like he had no idea what to do. He focused intently on a pencil mark on his desk.

"Please?"

"No. Please leave."

"C’mon, Alex, stop being ridiculous."

"Please leave."

"Alex, look, I’m sorry. Just please, can we talk?"

"Dan," Alex looked up from his incredibly interesting pencil mark to give Dan a fiery look, "Leave."

Dan opened his mouth, about to retort, but he paused, closed it, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

At least he’d said sorry? But before Alex had even five minutes to process what had happened, he heard another knock on his door. He had half a mind to yell at Dan to leave him the hell alone, but when he looked up, it was Ben. Alex motioned to tell him to come in.

"Hi Alex," Ben said, in his typical kind manner.

"Ben, did I forget to follow up on something from the meeting this morning?" Alex asked.

"No," Ben responded, "I was just popping by to see how you were doing."

"I’m fine," Alex responded tentatively, "Why?"

"Well," Ben began, "to be perfectly blunt, you seemed off at the staff meeting. And I noticed Dan’s not in your room right now, which is foreboding in its own right, since you two are basically attached at the hip. So, is everything okay?"

Alex shut down, he did not need to do this right now, especially not with Dan’s friend.

"Yes. Everything’s okay," Alex lied.

Ben gave him a disbelieving look.

"You don’t have to talk about it with me, but if you want to tell the truth, you know where my room is."

He turned towards the door to leave.

"Ben, wait," Alex quickly said; Ben turned back around.

"For the record," Alex continued, "no, everything’s not okay. But Dan just came in here and I don’t want to talk about it with him, and I especially don’t want to talk about it with his damn liaison."

Ben smiled with newfound understanding.

"For the record," Ben mocked playfully, "Dan and I are mostly friends of circumstance, and I actually have no idea what’s going on right now, although if you’d like to tell me, you know where to find me."

With that, he left the classroom.

Alex spent the rest of the day using half his brain to teach and half his brain to mull over what Ben had said. "Friends of circumstance…" Maybe Ben wasn’t such a bad person to talk to after all.

After he concluded his classes for the day, Alex packed up to leave before changing his mind. He walked to the high school side of the building and peeked in to see if Ben was still working. He was.

‘Now or never,’ Alex thought. He decided it was now.

"Hey Ben," he said, opening the door of the classroom, "are you able to chat?"

Ben looked up.

"What’s up?" He said with a kind smile, and closed his laptop.

Alex surveyed the room, a particularly cozy one, with a few colorful rugs on the floor and desks arranged in a U-shape, the sides of the room lined with alternating couches and bookshelves.

"So, Dan and I got into a fight over the weekend…" Alex started. Ben got up from his chair and sat on a desk, patting it, a way of asking Alex to sit next to him. Alex took Ben up on his offer.

"What happened?" Ben asked.

"Well, you- you know that Dan cuts my hair," Ben nodded, Alex continued, "well last weekend he did this," Alex gestured at his hair, "without asking…"

Ben’s eyebrows knitted in an expression of sympathy and concern.

"I’m sorry."

"Thanks."

"Do you need anything else, or do you just need someone to be with you for a bit?" Ben asked.

"Ben-" Alex started, unsure of how to put his feelings fully into words, "I don’t know what to do. Dan betrayed my trust, he made me feel, well, horrible, but I don’t know if this is a relationship ending thing. I don’t even know if this is a thing. I’m just- so confused."

Ben stopped and contemplated for a moment.

"Alex, how much do you know about Dan’s family?"

Alex almost immediately responded with a confident answer, but upon reflection, he realized he knew very little. For the amount of time he’d spent telling Dan all the intimate issues of his brother, sister, father, and mother, he knew almost nothing of Dan’s family.

"Not much."

"Well," Ben continued, "it’s not great."

Alex did know that.

Ben kept going.

"He's out to them, but it didn’t go well. He doesn’t talk to any of them anymore, even his brother."

Alex shuddered, that he did not know, thank God he had Catherine.

"I don’t know what your situation is like-" Ben started, but Alex cut him off,

"Not great, but not that bad," he explained.

"Well then, you can only imagine," Ben said, pausing for a moment, "He’s isolated, from everyone, he’s always had to be his number one supporter because no one else has been there to do that for him. He’s had to be stronger than anyone should ever have to be." Alex nodded, it was a strength he did not yet think he could muster.

"And it comes through, I think, in Dan’s character," Ben explained, "he’s a very sarcastic person, playful, yes, but never really… sincere, and incredibly, incredibly headstrong. He thought he knew what was best, he thought this (Ben gestured at Alex’s hair) for God knows what reason," Alex blushed, but did not interject, "was best. And you, Alex, challenged him on that, and that’s uncomfortable for him. He needs to be confident in himself; he needs to be confident in his decisions, and the implications of an incorrect decision are hard to reconcile."

Ben gave Alex time to process.

"Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," Alex replied, finally, "I think it does."

"Now," Ben said, "I’m not saying this to excuse what Dan did. He broke your trust and that’s wrong, hard stop. All I’m trying to do is tell you why he did it. It’s your choice whether or not you forgive him."

Alex thought about it for a moment.

"But how do I decide whether or not I forgive him?"

"Well, this is not a part of Dan you’re going to change with a snap of your fingers. If this is something you can understand, live with, you forgive him, if it’s not something you can coexist with, then you don’t forgive him. But you can’t be in a healthy relationship with someone you can’t fully accept."

Alex took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I have a lot to think about, but thank you, Ben."

"Of course, Alex. I’m always willing to help," Ben said, "you can come talk whenever you’d like."

Ben reached over and pulled Alex’s opposite shoulder into a side hug, and Alex allowed himself to fall into Ben’s friendly embrace. Although he missed his sister often, it was nice not taking relationship advice from a teenager for once.

Finally, Alex got up and grabbed his bag where he’d left it on a desk on the other side of the room.

"Oh, and Alex?" Ben said, causing Alex to turn around and look at him.

"Yeah?"

"I know it’s probably not what you want to hear right now, but your hair really does look nice."

"Thanks Ben," Alex replied, and for the first time that day, didn’t feel so horrible about the compliment.

XXXXX

The next day, after the school day was over, Alex walked over to Dan’s classroom. Unlike yesterday, Dan had not even tried to convince Alex to talk to him, so when Alex came to his door, he looked up in surprise.

"Alex," he started as the man entered his classroom, "it’s good to see you."

"Dan," Alex responded, unsure of how to start, "I know I’ve been avoiding you, I’ve just had a lot to think about."

Dan nodded in understanding.

"I know I was pushy, I’m sorry. I think I was just…anxious."

"I understand," Alex said, pausing for a moment, "I was really angry over last Saturday, but more than that I was hurt. I felt like you betrayed my trust, and, for the record, I still think Saturday was a betrayal of my trust, but I understand why you did it. I know you thought I would enjoy it, and I know you thought it was best for me, but instead of just thinking those things I need you to actually ask me and make sure it’s okay."

Dan nodded.

"Alex, I’m really sorry. I really, really am. I guess I just didn’t think about how much it meant to you. I’ll ask next time, of course I will."

"Okay," Alex accepted, "then how would you feel about me coming over tonight?"

"Amazing."

XXXXX

That night, the two men took it slow. They ate dinner together and as they sat watching TV on the couch, Dan pulled out his laptop to do some work.

"I hope you don’t mind?" He asked, and Alex did not.

"What are you doing?" Alex replied.

"Grad school applications."

‘Oh,’ Alex thought, ‘I didn’t know he was serious about grad school.’

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