Far Too Young To Die

Chapter Three

The date had the best outcome either boy could've hoped for.

They went to a small coffee shop near the gallery. Victor knew the city like the back of his hand, and he knew all the places that wouldn't be busy no matter what time it was. Alex simply followed him, assuming that he knew where he was going. He was careful to look at his surroundings, making sure that they weren't going anywhere that could seem shady.

"What d'you want? I'll get it and you can sit down." Victor said kindly, more than happy to pay for their coffee. He had more money than he ever knew what to do with, so he decided to put it to good use.  He felt like being nice today.

"Huh? Oh, uh..." Alex murmured, looking at the menu before replying.
"A vanilla latte. I'll pay you back." He promised, not letting Victor protest as he walked off to find them a table. Near the back of the shop, there were tables with old, soft leather chairs around them. He decided to get one of them, and sat down at one in the corner. He felt cosy in the tighter space as he sat down, sinking down into the chair happily. He laughed a little at that, he felt particularly small, but he liked it.

Victor came over with both cups of coffee, setting the tray in between them and handing the latte to Alex. The smaller boy murmured a quiet thank you, holding the cup with both hands and blowing on it before sipping softly. God, he was endearing.

Their differences were clearly evident even in their drink choices. For example, Victor took plain black coffee. He liked it strong, so that it was bitter. The more bitter it was, the better it was in Victor's book. Many people said that this is where he got his attitude from when they were mad at him. He couldn't even argue with that.

Alex on the other hand preferred his sweet things, his sweet tooth was huge. The more sugar something contained, the better it was. If Victor was bitter because of his drink choice, Alex was the sweetest guy you'd ever meet. No doubt about it.

Victor watched the older boy for a minute or so, not being obvious though. He held his own cup up to his lips and took a few sips, before sighing contentedly. The sleeves on the hoodie that Alex was wearing were slightly too long so they covered his hands a little, and when he held his cup with both of his hands covered by his sleeves, Victor felt like he needed to punch a wall or something to be manly again. He was fucking adorable.

"So, what d'you do?" Victor asked after a minute or so of zoning out. He knew he had to say something or do something, he didn't want Alex to know what he was doing.

The older boy already knew though, he had already picked up on it. He wouldn't say anything though, for the sake of not embarrassing Victor.

"For a job? I work in a bookstore in midtown. It's sort of like a hipster place, I guess. What about you?" Alex asked softly, setting his cup down and dabbing at the corners of his mouth with a napkin.

Oh god.

What was Victor supposed to say? 'I'm a gang leader and I organise assassinations and heists. Nothing special.'? No, that wouldn't work. He had to lie. He had no choice.

"I'm the CEO of a banking company." He said, not missing a beat. Why did he say that? He knew absolutely nothing about accountancy or money. Hell, Victor didn't even know his times tables.

Alex was incredibly impressed, though - he believed every word. He was naïve in that respect.
"Seriously? That's so cool! You must earn a lot from that, right?" He was sold, he wanted to know more, even though asking how much someone earned was a little nosey. Especially someone you had just met. Then again, Alex didn't really have a filter.

Victor had no idea what to say, but his brain seemed to go on autopilot as he continued.
"Uh, yeah. I live comfortably." At least that part was true. He felt horrible for lying to Alex like this, but he had no other choice. It was strange, he didn't usually care about lying. He did it on the daily and felt nothing, so why did he care so much about it this time?

"You're so lucky! You must be pretty busy though, right?" Alex carried on, wanting to find out as much as he could. He didn't have an interesting life himself, so he wanted to hear about Victor's. It was almost like he  wanted to live vicariously through Victor's day to day life.

Victor simply shrugged in response.
"I guess so. Tell me about yourself, then." Victor leaned back in his seat, looking over at the smaller boy. He wanted to hear more about his life - he wanted to know what it was like to have a regular life. To not have to look out for potential dangers every day. To not have to constantly be on your guard.

Alex paused, thinking before answering the question.
"Well, my last name is Page. I'm twenty two. I moved here from a small town, I've never really lived in a big city before. I like reading...uh....oh! My favourite band is Muse, but I really like eighties music. I'm strange like that, I guess." He chuckled, looking down shyly. He was more or less just naming random things about himself.

Victor smiled fondly, watching the way his facial expression changed when he was thinking of what to say next. Even that was cute to him, he'd definitely have to put a hole in a wall after this. It was taking all of his self control to not start cooing at how endearing he was.
"I love muse too, but I can't say I've ever been partial to any eighties. Then again, I've never really heard any." He shrugged, and the expression on Alex's face when he said that was one of shock, maybe even offence. Victor was about to ask if he said anything wrong, but Alex hurried to move his seat next Victor.

"Listen to this with me." Alex said, producing his phone from his pocket along with a pair of headphones. What had Victor started?

The younger didn't want to upset Alex by saying no, so he took the earphone and put it in his ear, waiting for the song to start. The volume was up quite high, so when the song started, he jumped a little out of fright.

"Sorry." The older boy apologised, smiling sheepishly. Victor shook his head as a way of saying it was fine, listening to the music playing.

"Is this..." Victor could've sworn he knew this song, it sounded so familiar...

"Down Under? Yeah. It's by Men At Work." Alex said, chuckling softly.

And that's how they carried on - listening to eighties music on Alex's phone as they drank their coffee.

If only they had known that life wouldn't stay this simple.