Start Mending → Alex & Sean
Though he and Aidan began discussing this whole idea a little while ago, the time to put it in motion finally arrived. Sean thought it was brilliant - both of them did. Truthfully, it felt well constructed and smart. It all started one afternoon when he was spending time with Aidan at the other man's place. They were chatting about their friends, when Alex came into the conversation. He absolutely loved his neighbor. What wasn't to like about Alex? He was friendly, attractive, and spent his days with dogs. There really was nothing to complain about there. On the other hand, Alex wasn't always the cheeriest guy. A few months ago, he and his longtime girlfriend called it quits. Sean understood just as well as the last person that not all relationships ended well. In fact, he was incredibly lucky that things had finished on an amicable note with Aidan when he got the news about his residency in another state. Then again, 'finished' was perhaps too much of an extreme.
Regardless, Alex still started moping every now and then over the end of his past relationship, and that was exactly what sparked this whole plan. He and Aidan agreed that they needed to help Alex find a distraction so that he could begin to move on rather than just clinging to the past. Unfortunately, that proved easier said than done, because as they listed their other friends, they struggled to come up with anyone. While they were in no mind to give up, they at least needed a break, because not having the answers proved frustrating. Yet while they were eating dinner, Aidan suddenly snapped his fingers and looked over, revealing that he had the perfect idea: Lara, one of the other teachers at his school to whom he was rather close. Apparently she always rebuffed relationship inquiries with statements about how she didn't need anyone and loved being single, yet Aidan pointed out how he didn't know to what degree that was true. Because of her insistence, they decided to make the blind date a surprise one. What could possibly go wrong with that plan?
On his way into the house after running a few errands the following Saturday, Sean spotted his neighbor outside, and gave a friendly wave, making his way over. It looked like he no longer needed to make a call or send a text; this was one handy thing about the two of them living so close. When he made it to his friend's lawn, he grinned. "It's a nice day, isn't it?" A bit of a chilly one, but the sun was shining, and that was nothing a few layers couldn't mend. "I was starting to think the clouds would never leave." Weather talk might have seemed elementary, but Sean really was quite happy about the sun's presence at long last. "In any case, I just came over to say hi and see if maybe you'd like to grab lunch or dinner this week." One thing he appreciated about Alex was that he wasn't the type of guy to automatically assume gay men were hitting on him. The meal invitation just seemed like a friendly one, even if, in reality, Sean wasn't going to be there at all. It was implied, but not stated.
