John could hardly believe his eyes. There was a gorgeous set up in front of him. Two trees sat on either side of a fully set table. Fairy lights dangled across the trees, and daisies were scattered around it all.

The best part? It was all set up in front of the aquarium's turtle pond.

John squealed and hugged Alexander tightly. Alex laughed and buried his face into John's shoulder.

"It's the second most beautiful thing I've ever seen," John breathed.

"What's in first place?" Alex wondered aloud.

John pulled back and looked at Alex's face, both of their eyes reflecting the fairy lights. "You," John whispered, completely meaning it.

It was Alex's turn to blush, and he reached up and tangled his fingers in John's fluffy hair. "Igualmente, mi amor," he whispered.

John shuddered at yet another foreign language rolling it's way across Alex's tongue. "You're fluent in Spanish, too?" John asked.

Alex smiled. "Spanish, French, and Latin. Oh, and English, of course..."

John laughed and reluctantly pulled away from the embrace. "C'mon, genius. We have food to eat."

***

The food was amazing.

John looked at Alexander in awe when he saw the gorgeous Italian cuisine laid out in front of him. "You - you made all of this?"

Alex smiled and twirled his fettuccine alfredo around his fork. "My mother taught me how to cook with what we had in our little garden."

"You had a garden? Where did you live?" John queried, not expecting Alex's open expression to immediately become closed.

"Um... nowhere important..." he said quietly, clearing his throat.

"I'm so sorry. I can tell it's something you don't like talking about. Why don't you ask me a few questions instead?" John immediately said, backing up.

Alex shook his head. "No. No, I need to tell you about my past before what we have goes any farther."

John nodded. "Okay," he murmured, and he waited for Alex to get his thoughts together.

Alex finally spoke. "It all started when my mother ran away from her previous marriage and my half-brother, because, from what I've heard, the guy was just a dick. She met my father, who had come from Scotland. His family was Scottish royalty somehow - they had a coat of arms and bragging rights with it.

"Anyways, my mother fell in love, had me and my brother, and never got divorced from the other guy, which made everyone say she was a whore. She didn't care about what people would say about her, but she cared about my brother and I. Since my parents were never truly married under the law, we were illegitimate, and we were treated as so.

"But soon, we were under a great pile of debt, thanks to my father being really, really bad when it came to financials. Instead of trying to fix the problem, he was a coward and left the rest of us behind. It was heartbreaking for my mother, I'll never forget her face. But we managed to get by without him. A couple years later, my mother and I got this really bad type of fever, and she died in the middle of the night. I actually survived.

"James and I moved in with our cousin. Things weren't actually that bad until he committed suicide, and didn't even mention us in his will. At that point, fate pulled my brother and I apart. I started working for our mother's landlord - he had a trading business. I'm not sure where James went, he just started coming to the business less and less, and then one day, he just didn't come.

"I missed him, but I continued to work so I could survive. Then there was this giant hurri- I mean, disaster, and a series of events occurred that got me on a boat to New York City and a scholarship to King's College. Now, here I am."

John's eyes widened at his harsh childhood, and he practically pounced across the table to give Alex a hug.

Alex smiled and hugged him back. "You're too adorable, Laurens."

John pulled away and shyly smiled. "I care too much about everything. Especially you."

****

They finished eating and Alex was stacking the plates. John went down to the pond to talk to the turtles.

"Hi, cutie," John cooed at a baby one that had made it's way up to the surface.

The turtle looked at him quizzically, then ducked back under. John laughed a little. He loved turtles.

"Lafayette told me that you're obsessed with turtles. The date was based off of that," Alex's warm voice came from behind John.

John turned around and smiled. Alex sat down on the grass and nodded for John to join him. He walked over and sat. Alex snapped and the fairy lights turned off, surprising John.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"Look up," Alex replied.

So John did, and he saw the most amazing sky of stars. "Oh... wow...."

"It's gorgeous, right? There's no town around for miles, so the light pollution is minimal," Alex stated, lying down.

John leaned back as well and put a hand under Alex's chin, turning his head so John could see his eyes. The stars reflected in the dark chocolate color, making them sparkle. Alex was looking at John, with a wide-eyed expression and his mouth slightly ajar. For once, the man who always had so much to say was simply speechless, and John wondered why.

"It is gorgeous. It's unreal. Almost too ethereal to look at.... it's completely out of this world," John said, but he was still looking at Alex, not the sky.

"I think you're more gorgeous than the sky..." Alex whispered, raising his hand and running it through John's hair.

John was soon reflecting Alex's wide-eyed look. "I think you're slightly delirious. Was there something in the cheesecake?" John tried to joke around, but his voice came out as a seductive raspy whisper, making him blush.

Still, he couldn't help but think that, like he had said indirectly, Alex was too good to be true.

John picked a small daisy that was between them, and he started to pluck the petals.

This is real, John thought as he plucked the first one.

This isn't real. The second petal.

Real.

Not real.

Real.

Not real.

Alex was analyzing John's face as the petals were plucked. John blushed deeper under the intensity of his gaze.

Then Alex spoke: "Can - w-would it be okay if - I mean - can I kiss you?"

John plucked the last petal. Real....

John beamed and let the empty stem drop out of his hands.

Now Alex was blushing, but his face was desperate, his eyes were pleading, his eyebrows raised slightly with the question.

John didn't answer the question. He just moved forward slightly and closed the distance between their lips. Sweetly, shyly, hesitantly.

Alex's lips were soft, but firm, and he tasted like coffee and moonlight. He wrapped his arms around John's chest and pulled him closer.

John wrapped his arms around Alex's waist in return, getting as close as he could to Alex.

Everything about Alex was so true and real and right.

i have auditions for a special theatre class tomorrow and i'm so nervous so all i've been doing is writing

anyways please enjoy the lams and wish me luck as i try not to die during my audition

they're so cute, aren't they?

xoxo - luna✨