Second Hand [manxboy]

Chapter 15

Dedicated to 0DauntlessTribute0 for all of her wonderful covers, and here's to her for trying to get through all of her difficult British exam stuff that I don't really understand but alas... And here's to hoping she has a great time on her trip to New York!!!!

Nico bounded towards the car, crawling in and giving Miroslav a kiss. It was the only moment they really had without the watchful eyes of someone else that might report back to Yakov. It meant they couldn't do much more than kiss, which was fine overall.

Miroslav was just curious why Nico hadn't been pressing for more—non-sexual, anyways. Didn't teenagers want to go on dates, or be given gifts or something? Nico hadn't asked for anything like that. He seemed content to just keep it simple and mostly undefined.

"You look like you're pre-occupied," Nico commented after a minute. "What's up?"

Miroslav didn't know how to phrase it. He wasn't sure how he felt about it either. "Have you ever dated anyone before, Nico?" That was a good way to start.

"No," Nico admitted, slumping back into his seat. "It's always just been really... sexual. I mean technically there was the guy you found me staying with, but really he just sold me out and guilted me with the title of boyfriend." Nico shrugged stiffly, looking down at his lap. "Why?"

Miroslav was stuck between saying something and just dropping it. Some part of him wanted to give Nico that right of passage that he had obviously missed, but then how did he take someone as young as Nico out for a date?

"Nothing," Miroslav grumbled, starting the car and pulling away from the curb. He glanced over a minute later though to see Nico staring at him. "What?" Miroslav tensed up defensively.

"Nothing," Nico responded with the same tone, making Miroslav scowl. He was sure Nico was playing with him for it now.

"Do you want something?" Miroslav asked.

"Nope." Nico shrugged easily and slumped against the car seat.

"Then what?" Miroslav insisted again. He didn't exactly like being jerked around and he could already feel himself caving in. Maybe that's what Nico was trying to do.

"Nothing," Nico repeated again. "Are we going home, or what?"

Nico didn't seem angry or anything, so Miroslav wasn't sure what was going on. Maybe Nico just knew that Miroslav was keeping his thoughts to himself, so Nico was doing the same thing out of spite. Or maybe Miroslav was even just reading more into it than he needed to be.

Miroslav sighed and put the car into drive. It took Nico a while to realize they weren't exactly going home, though. He perked up as they missed the usual turn, and he watched it pass outside the car. "You missed it," he pointed out the obvious.

"You're being kidnapped," Miroslav muttered dryly, shooting Nico a glance.

Nico gave him a dumbfounded look before cracking a smile. "So where are we going to then?"

Miroslav shrugged. He hadn't exactly thought that part through, just some place that wasn't tied to Yakov. Like his apartment. Nico had never been there anyways, and Miroslav did have a place outside of all the time he spent at Yakov's house and office.

Miroslav parked in the underground garage of his apartment building and took Nico to the elevator. "What's this?" Nico asked as they stepped onto the elevator.

"My apartment building." Miroslav wasn't thrilled when they stopped at the ground floor and some middle aged woman got on. Miroslav glared at her and Nico chuckled to himself. Miroslav shot him a look. "What?" Miroslav automatically switched to Russian in front of the woman.