John hums as he walks down the hall to his apartment, keys in hand. As he makes his way inside, he calls for his fiancé, but receives no answer.
"Alex? Cariño? Where are you?" he asks as he wanders through the shared apartment. In the end, he finds Alex exactly when he expected him to be: nearly asleep at his desk, staring at the bright screen of his laptop with tired eyes. Alex's back is to John, allowing the screen to be perfectly visible when he approaches the chair.
"Alex, mi amor, take a break. You've been at your desk since I left." John says, leaning over to wrap his arms around his fiancé's shoulders and rest his chin on top of the other's head.
"Wrong," Alex protests. "I got up to use the bathroom and get coffee."
John rolls his eyes. "Alexander, please. Take a break."
"But I'm in the zone!"
"The blank word document says otherwise."
"Don't call me out like this!" Alex complains, twisting in his seat so he can hug John. "This is what writing is like. You drink caffeine and stare at blank word documents for hours, thinking about words but never typing them."
"I've seen you type like your life depended on it."
"When I'm inspired!"
"Then you're obviously not inspired. Which means you need to take a break." Alex slouches in his seat, groaning in frustration and exasperation.
"Fine. I'll get up for one hour. Then I need to get back to work. I really want to get this book finished before June."
John smiles and leans down to peck Alex on the forehead. "I know. Now go change your clothes and brush your teeth, I'll wait for you in the living room."
Twenty minutes later, the two of them were exited their apartment building, hand in hand.
"So, where should we go?" John asked.
Alexander didn't answer. Only gently tugged John's hand until he began to follow him.
"Bennett Park?"
Alex shook his head.
"Madison Square Garden?"
Another head shake.
"Statue of Liberty? Empire State Building? The Caribbean restaurant uptown?"
Alex is still quietly tugging John along, shaking his head at every guess, until he finally says, "Mom's place."
John looks at Alex in confusion. Alex's mother doesn't have a place in New York. She's buried in the small town Alex grew up in, miles and miles away. It isn't until John passes a few familiar faces that he realizes Alex is dragging him in the direction of his mom's apartment in Harlem, just a few blocks from their own.
The confusion leaves John and he picks up the pace, matching Alex step for step as they walk down the street. His heart swells a little. He's happy to be visiting his mother, but he's also overjoyed to see Alex finally becoming comfortable with this family they've made.
"Yeah," he murmurs, leaning over to kiss Alex on the cheek, "Let's go to mom's place."
The way Alex smiles and squeezes John's hand just a little tighter is enough to make him fall in love all over again.