you've been on my mind → brayson
There were very few moments where Brayden actually put in any effort into his appearance — usually opting to throw on whatever t-shirt he could find, and lazily ruffling through his steadily growing locks. His mom had insisted that he finally go get his hair cut earlier on in the day forever, and he was currently styling his closely cropped hair with painstakingly careful measures. Brayden’s parents had already left to go see whatever local play that they had been invited out to by a group of friends, leaving their son with a kiss on the cheek and a reminder to thank Alex’s parents for letting him stay over for the night. It was, admittedly, getting a bit tiresome to continually lie to his parents about where he was going, and even more so, having his best friend cover for him without ever knowing why — but he knew that all precautions were necessary for the time being. He needed Mason in his life; more than most could ever imagine, and telling anybody at this point could be ridiculously dangerous for the both of them. Which was exactly why they were never able to go out, just the two of them — until tonight. Brayden couldn’t help but smile a little at his reflection as he thought about the date. Up until then, dates had been restricted to Mason’s apartment, and while Brayden absolutely adored the pizza and kisses shared on the teacher’s couch, he was excited to finally go out and be able to hold his boyfriend’s hand in public.
After he was finally done messing with his freshly cut hair, he slipped a simple white t-shirt over his head, along with his hoodie/jean jacket. He knew Mason would probably be here at any moment, especially if they wanted to be able to make their reservations in time. The drive to the restaurant was a lot further than what they were used to, but that’s exactly why they had planned it. He was down the stairs in a matter of minutes once the doorbell went off. “Coming!” He shouted, hopping around as he pulled his jeans over his hips — shoes being slipped over his socks soon after. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and his breath was ragged as he finally got the door open, but his smile was just as wide as it was before. “Hi.” He stopped for a moment, just smiling at the older boy as he took in the sight of him.
A real date. It was something the two of them had dreamed and spoke of for forever now, and tonight it was happening. Mason couldn't believe it. Before now, money had been too tight to even dream of leaving the city just for dinner, let alone anything more. But with Young's new income, the pair could travel into another state if they really wanted to. However, that wasn't at all necessary. Two towns over was a fairly expensive, quality restaurant that Mason had been looking into for a little over a week now. Given that he and Brayden had reached an entirely new level of intimacy, the relationship as a whole had to as well -- right? Enter: public dates.
Getting ready was the real challenge. As someone who generally arrived late, Mason made sure to begin the process about an hour earlier than he would've without thinking about it as thoroughly. This was his best idea of the day, frankly. The shower started with him slipping and scraping his elbow, thus getting soap in an open wound and that alone threw him way off track. He went slower after that in precaution of any other injuries and things went better. He shaved without cutting himself up too badly, always a good thing, and successfully got dressed and out the door without tripping over his own two feet. He realized that he was still managing somehow to barely be on time and with this he rushed to the boy's house, pulling up and jogging to the door. He wasn't too worried about working up a sweat because one, the yard was not a big one, and two, the weather was cool enough that it'd be harder than a yard-long sprint. He was dressed in a pair of white jeans and a black sweater: very plain, but it was nice enough to wear in public. It didn't take more than a few seconds for Brayden to come bounding down the stairs and he gave the younger boy his biggest of smiles. "Are you ready?"
