Chapter 17

Marc raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the menu. "What the hell is jackfruit?"

Brendan snickered and ducked behind his menu. "Why don't you order it and find out?"

"Give me some context of it first at least," Marc grumbled. He wasn't opposed to trying new things, but he'd at least like to know what it was before ordering it.

"Think of it like shredded pork," Brendan said. "Though I'm getting the truffle mac n cheese with the kale on the side."

Marc sighed and gave in for ordering jackfruit tacos. The restaurant itself had a vibe that he wasn't used to-the bartender had dreadlocks, as did their waitress, and their clothes looked like they'd been recycled and sewn together. There were some people casually dressed to eat, while others had also dressed up for the place.

"What do you want to do after this?" Marc asked, already trying to think ahead on what came after dinner.

"I was going to leave that up to you," Brendan admitted. "Since I got to pick dinner."

Marc fell silent after that, though he scrambled to try and think of something. Usually it was Ariel that got to pick what they did, so all he could come up with were things like the Children's Museum and a couple other places that were not meant for two full grown men.

Their food was brought out, and Marc was again suspicious of what he had actually ordered. He glanced at his dish and then at Brendan's. "I should have gotten what you got." At least Marc could guess he was going to like Mac n Cheese.

"Try a bite. If you don't like it, we can switch," Brendan compromised.

Marc picked up the soft shell taco and turned it around. It really did look like shredded pork, as well with a few other toppings like corn and shredded greens. He gave in and went for a bite, reeling slightly when it actually tasted like shredded pork as well. "You said this was a fruit," he accused.

"It is a fruit. That just happens to taste like pork," Brendan giggled.

"Way too confusing," Marc declared. He took another bite though after figuring it wasn't that bad... he just couldn't wrap his head around it. He still tried a bite of Brendan's Mac n Cheese, as well as the kale on the side-which also somehow tasted rather savory, despite being vegetarian.

"How about this," Brendan began, waving his fork around. "We'll go down and park and walk around. We'll find a concert or something and just get some tickets. We can either hate or enjoy something like that together. Or who knows, maybe one of us'll hate it and the other will love it."

Marc chuckled. "Sounds like a plan, actually. I've never been to a concert other than some choir and so on and so forth. I can buy the tickets?"

"You're already paying for dinner," Brendan protested.

"And tell me, Mr. Teacher, how much is it in the budget for you to spend however much on concert tickets?" Marc challenged him knowingly.

Brendan fell grudgingly silent and agreed. They finished eating and Marc footed the bill, while Brendan was at least able to cover the tip. Brendan guided the way to a street where there were a number of concert venues, and they found a place to park.

They bypassed a few places that Brendan said sounded too boring based on the posted names. He finally found a place that he considered worthy, though Marc was sure Brendan might have already been familiar with the place even if he didn't know the band playing.

Marc paid for the tickets, though immediately felt like he was overdressed. Brendan just laughed knowingly over the music and helped Marc pop the first few buttons of his shirt, enough to make him look more casual. Marc tweaked and pulled at his ears over the loud guitars and drums pulsing through the speakers.

Brendan seemed fairly happy to be there though as he dragged Marc through the crowd and up a bit closer to the stage. Marc was more focused on the fact that Brendan was holding his hand again and seemed to not be letting go.

At the end of the concert, Marc could felt like he could still hear the music in his ears. Half the time Brendan tried to say anything to him, Marc had to ask him to say it again.

"Did you have fun?" Brendan asked, obviously having to raise his voice.

"Oh, yeah," Marc answered. Even his own voice sounded muffled in his ears.

"I hate to say it," Brendan hesitated. "But I'm hungry again. Want to get fast food?"

"Burgers?" Marc asked in confusion, because Brendan didn't eat that.

"Well maybe for you, but I meant fries and a shake," Brendan laughed. "I could go for something salty and sweet."

They had to walk a couple of blocks to find a fast food place, and then Brendan paid for their food this time around. He seemed overly happy about his fries and a chocolate shake, while Marc got a cheap burger and fries. It still took a while for Marc's ears to get back to semi normal, but even then he still had ringing in them.

By then it was starting to get late and Marc knew that he had to get home and relieve Terri. They started the walk back to Marc's car after they finished eating. "Ariel's got her birthday coming up," Marc began. "Do you want to come?"

"Sure. Who else are you inviting?" Brendan asked.

"Well, Eric, and his parents..." Marc trailed off.

"You know that at her age you basically have to invite her whole class, right?" Brendan laughed. "Or they'll get offended and not invite her to anything."

"A bunch of kids running around?" Marc liked the idea of it really just being Ariel and Eric, with Alice and Scott there. He could handle that. And now that he thought about it, they had received invitations from kids in her class... none of which they had actually gone to, though.

"It's a birthday party, it has to be a little crazy," Brendan said like it was obvious. "I can even try my hand at cake decorating or something."

"I was going to just order one," Marc admitted. "With Stitch iced on it or something."

"Okay, okay. Maybe you have me beat there, I don't think I could ice a Stitch." Brendan put his hands up in surrender. "And maybe we can sneak some eggplant in to the other kids since she likes it so much."

"I think we would have a hard time getting anyone else to eat that," Marc chuckled.

They got back to his car, and he was disappointed to have to drop Brendan off. The date hadn't really been anything out of the normal, but like Alice had said, they'd just had a good time together with a little more meaning behind it.

Marc pulled up outside of Brendan's house and mentally stalled. He wasn't sure he was confident in how this part should go. Brendan took care of that part for him, leaning across the seat and planting a kiss on Marc's lips. Brendan pulled away with a wink and a grin before darting out of the car.

Marc chuckled to himself and settled back into his seat for a moment before heading home.

***

Marc jammed the keyboard key in a few times, even though it didn't really change anything. He swore under his breath and closed the program for a moment to give himself a second to recover. His secretary popped in then, looking wary. "Long distance phone call for you," she said.

"From where?" Marc snorted.

"From Ireland," she hesitated. "It's your ex-wife."

Oh.

Marc cleared his throat and shooed her out of the room. He hadn't heard from her in months, but then Ariel's birthday was coming up. Marc answered the phone as casually as he could. "Whitney," he muttered.

"Hi, Marc." She sounded just as excited to be talking to him as well. "How are things?"

He wasn't even sure how to explain any of it to her. He felt like he wanted to tell her everything all of the sudden-about his dad, about everything he'd been working on with Dr. Sterling, and about meeting Brendan. But he didn't think opening the flood gates would go well.

"It's been rough, but it's getting better," he answered. If she wanted to ask more, she could.

"That's good. So, Ariel's birthday is coming up... I was thinking of coming back for that. Do you think that's okay?"

"She's your kid too, of course it's okay," Marc replied the obvious. In fact he wished Whitney was around for more of it. "But, I should warn you... I'll be bringing someone to the party." He hoped that was obvious enough for her.

"Oh, you're dating someone?" He couldn't tell if she was pleasantly surprised or offended that he'd finally moved on. "What's her name?" she asked.

Marc almost wanted to just laugh at her, but he didn't. "His name is Brendan."

There was a long pause on the other side of the line, before a quiet "oh." Whitney quickly cleared her throat. "How long has that-I mean you-"

"We just started dating recently," Marc admitted, fiddling with a pen on his desk. "But... I've been going to counseling too. And since meeting Brendan, I-I worked out that I'm gay. Pretty much always have been, but... was refusing to admit it." He hesitated and clicked the pen a few times. "So it's a lot to do with me for why things didn't work out, and I'm sorry."

"I don't blame you for any of that, gay or not," she protested quickly. "Some people just don't work the same as others when it comes to relationships. We both just... interacted too differently I guess. But so uh, Brendan?"

"He's Ariel's art teacher," Marc explained, unable to help a small smile. "A little bit weird. He's got some tattoos, and he's a vegetarian. He's actually trying to get me to cook a bit more. Ariel's getting really into eggplant, but mostly because she likes purple now."

"Good, good. I'll be glad to meet him," Whitney said.

Marc wasn't sure how Brendan would feel about that though. He was sure Brendan silently thought that Whitney was the devil's incarnation or something from everything Marc had said. And it had been like that for a while, but now since moving on, he was able to look at it with less emotion as to what happened. He felt guilty for that, but then it wasn't all Whitney's fault at this point either.

"Would you not be bringing someone?" Marc asked. Granted that would apparently mean bringing someone over from Ireland, and that might be expensive.

"Oh, no. I haven't dated in a while. I've decided to put that off for now, for the better I think. I need to get right with myself before I can be right for someone else," she answered vaguely. "And I'd like to catch up more I think... but I'm also calling from Ireland."

"Right, yeah, I should let you go. Do you know when you'll be back in the states? I can come get you from the airport." Marc readied his pen for something useful.

They exchanged brief details about the party and when she would be getting in. Marc told her about Ariel's obsession with Lilo and Stitch as well, so that any gifts related to that would be perfect.

He got off the phone and rubbed his eyes with a groan. That conversation had all gone a lot better than he would have ever imagined. He always thought things would be tense between them, but just as he'd been working on things finally, it sounded like she had been too.

Marc just knew he would have to ease Brendan into it. He didn't see Brendan being a very forgiving person, especially in the situation.