The Time Taken to Understand (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Twenty-Seven~ Adam

When Adam knocked on the door, Mark answered, wearing nothing but pajama pants. Hickeys were scattered across his upper body, and he looked both extremely happy and annoyed because he was looking at Adam. "Umm," Adam said, and Mark rolled his eyes, holding the door open further for him to enter, which he did. "Is Penny here?"

"Well she's kind of lived here for the past month and has nowhere else to go, so yeah". Mark closed the door behind Adam, who was looking around the living room.

"Hi Alec," he said to the boy who was sprawled across the couch, fiddling with the remote. He looked as Mark did, so happy that it practically radiated off of him. "You guys want to go out to lunch before we leave?" Alec's eyes fixated on Mark, who rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat.

"Uh, no," he said, grinning and Adam raised his eyebrows.

"Why not?" Adam pried, knowing that he probably shouldn't ask, but he did anyways.

"Alec's too sore to walk," Mark admitted, throwing a wink at the boy on the couch who blushed and started mumbling.

"You fucking idiot". Mark grinned at him, walking over and leaning over the back of the couch to press his mouth against his for a quick moment before pulling away and giving him a smile that only Alec seemed to get from him.

"Need anything from the kitchen?" Mark asked as he straightened and started moving from the room. Alec shook his head and mumbled no, and Adam didn't even bother to respond, knowing Mark wasn't going to get him anything even if he asked.

"How's that going?" Adam asked, moving to sit on the coffee table in front of Alec, whose dark eyes shifted from the television to him.

"Good," Alec said, his eyes searching Adam's face.

"You're down playing it," Adam said confidently, and Alec's lips twitch. "Even though we're both busy with romantic conquests, you can't forget that you've been my best friend for fourteen years".

"This is true," Alec said simply, "but Mark and I were also together for over a month and you didn't realize". Adam shook his hand dismissively.

"You really can't blame me," Adam said, and Alec's eyebrows raised, challenging. "You two have always been like that, right down to you two getting handsy every time you get drunk". Alec laughed.

"I've never really been drunk before. It was the only way I could get him to grope me without telling him that I wanted to make out with him," Alec said, and Adam thought about this for a moment before nodding.

"Respect," He said, glancing at the entrance to the kitchen. Before leaning towards Alec. "I've been meaning to ask you something".

"What?" Alec asked, grabbing the remote, his fingers moving to the mute button but stopping when Adam shook his head.

"This thing with you and Mark-"

"It's not a thing," Alec said defensively, and Adam held up his hand.

"That's what I'm asking. What is it?" Alec looked confused by this. "Yes, I know you're dating, I mean," he was running out of words and that rarely happened, so he started over, "the three of us have been friends for a really long time". Alec nodded. "And I guess I'm just making sure that this thing is real. If anything happens between you two-"

"I love him," Alec said quickly, before ducking his head and glancing towards the kitchen before relaxing.

"Oh," Adam said, leaning back and just looking at his best friend. He had known that they had been something, but he didn't really think that they would fall in love. "Well, um, I guess that's better than I had expected".