Tonight had to be perfect; dinner was ready, the movie was rented, and upstairs he had just applied a newly scented air freshener: woodland pines, just as his boyfriend loved. It was their two year anniversary, and since Shawn had the day off from work he had wanted to pull a special surprise date night for him and his loving boyfriend Noah.
Shawn checked his phone again, scrolling through the last text messages.
On your way home hun?
Yeah, work kept me late, be there soon!
Drive safe~
The blonde heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway: it was the unmistakable sound of Noah's car. His boyfriend worked as a nurse's assistant at the local hospital, so it was rare that he was home this early. Shawn riled up in giddy excitement as he waited patiently for his wonderful boyfriend to open the door. A clunk of the key in the lock and the front door swung open wide.
"Surpri-uhh hello?"
Instead of his chubby love, a muscular and well toned guy stood in the door frame, wearing a dark blue T-shirt, and bicycle shorts.
"Shawn! Long time no see nerd!"
The stranger came over and gave the blonde a crushing hug that nearly squeezed the air out of chest. From right behind, Noah appeared before giving the stunned Shawn a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi babe, you remember Ethan right? We ran into each other at the store earlier and he invited the two of us out for drinks!"
Shawn blinked for a second, trying to place the stranger's face: when he suddenly recognized that it was indeed Ethan. He had been an old classmate of theirs back in high school, but the last time Shawn had seen him he was scrawny, lanky and much shorter. It had been obvious that Ethan had a growth spurt, because now he was nearly six feet tall, his once skinny torso replaced with a six pack and muscular arms, as well as now sporting a much bigger package that showed through his tight bicycle shorts.
"Wow...you've uh, grown a lot Ethan," Shawn replied, a bit thrown for a loop. He stared down at the bulge for a second before shaking it off.
Ethan sniggered, "Oh wow, you two are dating now? That's new to me--I mean to be fair I think you did come out of the closet around that time didn't you Shawn?"
The blonde turned red at the memory as Noah sniffed the air, "Oh wow, did you cook Shawn?"
Shawn looked longingly at the kitchen, where the slow cooked pot roast he had spent the afternoon preparing was waiting in the crock pot.
"Yeah...but it's fine, we can go out for drinks..." he muttered.
Noah looked guilty, "I'm sorry Shawn, I didn't mean to..."
Shawn was of course disappointed by this unexpected wrench in his surprise date plan, at the same time it really was nice to catch up with an old friend: he figured that a quick round at the bar would be fine, then he and Noah could have their date afterwards. Shawn quickly put on a smile for his boyfriend and pepped up his voice.
"It's okay, it's really okay! It'll be nice to catch up with Ethan and everything."
Noah looked relieved as Ethan grinned widely, "Of course, this'll be a night to remember!"
-----
Noah drove the group to the local bar in his car. The ride was fairly normal--talking about what they've been up to since graduating, their jobs and the TV shows and movies they've seen. Shawn sat in the passenger seat, vaguely listening to the smalltalk, occasionally pitching in, but mostly leaning on his arm and staring out the window. Despite this, he noticed in the driver's mirror that Ethan was occasionally glancing up at him from the back seat, with an intentful stare. It sent a shiver of something down to his spine, but he swallowed it down. It was probably nothing.
They pulled into the parking lot of the Grand Tandy, a small Irish pub themed bar which Noah and Shawn had frequented in their college days. The three made their way inside, the smell of greasy food, cigarettes, and the body odor of the patrons hit Shawn's nose. The three sat down at a nearby booth as Ethan got up to order a round of drinks from the trio.
Noah put his arm around his boyfriend, "Are you sure you're okay Shawn? I mean, I wouldn't have invited him out if I knew you had something special planned..."
The blonde leaned over and gave his boyfriend a kiss, "It's fine Noah, it's nice to catch up with old friends. Heck, it's amazing how much bulk Ethan's gotten since we last saw him."
Noah giggled, "Yeah I know, he's so muscular now! I remember people used to say he was a pencil back then!"
Shawn couldn't stop himself from relishing the old memory, "Yeah, I mean you know I wanted to be a bodybuilder, but man Ethan is fit enough to be one now if he wanted to!"
Ethan returned with four mugs full of beer, managing to balance them all precisely as he slammed them down at the booth.
"Uh, why did you get four mugs?" Shawn queried, raising a brow.
Ethan flashed a winning smile, "Wanted to play a little game--first one to finish theirs first gets to have the extra one!"
"I'd be down for that!" Noah chucked as he grabbed his mug and started drinking.
Ethan too chugged his mug, letting the foam run down his face. Shawn took a sip from his drink as well, but given how hard his boyfriend and Ethan were going, he knew one of them was going to have to be the designated driver. And he had been with Noah long enough to know that he was a bit--well, a lot of a lightweight.
"So nerds," Ethan said, slamming his now half-finished mug into the table, "What have you been up to since we got the hell out of high school?"
"I'm working as a nurse..." Noah said, a bit of a slur in his words as he sat his glass down, "Well, I follow the nurses around and do their paperwork and stuff..."
The muscular man laughed, "Atta boy, making it up in the world!" He turned his gaze, "And you Shawn?"
The blonde took another sip of his beer, "Working as a private contractor: helping pull down gutters, fix up old infrastructure, that sort of thing."
