Jack starts by googling Pitch by the full, ridiculous name on his business card. He has a Wikipedia entry - which delights Jack no end - complete with a less-than-flattering picture. It mentions that Pitch is forty-second in line to the British throne, which makes him a little overexcited and he texts Jamie to tell him that he has a date with a prince. He doesn't mention that Pitch isn't strictly a prince, or even a lord (that's his father's title) but it's still awesome.

It takes a while longer and a couple of beers before Jack gets up the courage to text Pitch. He writes and rewrites the message a dozen times before he finally comes up with:

So when and where?

A masterpiece for the ages, without a doubt.

Luckily Pitch doesn't seem to mind; in fact he's a man of few words himself:

Thursday night. I'll pick you up. Dress smartly.

Jack sends Awesome in response and then stares at his phone.

Okay. Okay, so he has a date. A date with a not-really-prince twice his age. (That Ben forced Jack into and Pitch paid for, but don't think about that, way better not to think about that.)

Obviously the next step is to brag about it.

Jamie's first words are not exactly enlightened.

"He's how old?"

"Thirty-six," Jack says, flopping down on the sofa beside Kal, Jamie's roommate and Jack's other best friend - only other friend, really. He's hoping that Kal's going to be on his side, but the doubtful look in his eyes says differently.

"Jack, he's twice your age."

"Yeah, thanks Kal, I did pass high school math."

Which Kal knows, since they met in junior high. Jack was getting picked on for being so skinny, and Jamie was the first one to stand up for him. Since Jamie is short and skinny himself, it probably wasn't the best decision he's ever made. But then over came Kal, star of the wrestling team at his old school with the muscles to prove it, to defend both of them. It had taken two headlocks and a week of detection but it had ended up with the three of them as best friends and it had been absolutely worth it.

And usually - usually - Kal and Jamie defend him against the world even now. Apart from this time, apparently.

"And he was happy to pay for a date with you? That's kind of creepy."

Jack glares at Kal. "He did it to save me from Marta and Melly."

"I'm one hundred percent certain he knows absolutely nothing about Marta and Melly," Jamie says, pushing him aside so that he can fit on the sofa too. "Face it, Jack: he's just some guy having a midlife crisis who wants a date with a cute twink."

"I am not a twink."

Kal snorts. "You're the dictionary definition, Jack."

"Shut up," Jack says, punching him in the arm. "Anyway, what does it matter? Maybe I want a date with a kind of hot older guy. It's just a date. Stop being jerks."

"You know we love you, Jack," Jamie says. "We're just worried about you."

"I'll be fine," Jack says and grabs the cable remote, starting to flick through the three hundred channels of nothing-on in an attempt to distract them from his love life. "Look, I'll text you if I need rescuing, okay?"

"Not okay," Kal grumbles. "But if you've got your heart set on it-"

"I do."

"-just remember that if you do need rescuing we're here for you. Okay?

"I won't-"

"But if you do-"

"If I do I'll text you, okay? Jesus."

Jack rolls his eyes again, but he can't seem to stop from smiling.

It's not until Thursday night that Jack realises that Pitch might, y' know, need his address in order to pick him up. He's about to hit call when his phone buzzes with a text.

From: Pitch
We're outside.

And when Jack looks out of the window, there's a huge black car outside the apartment building, ten floors below.

"Huh," he says, and glances at his reflection. The text said dress smartly and so he has. One of the good things about being forced to so many charity dinners is that he has far more suits that the average eighteen year old. The average eighteen year old probably doesn't wear Hugo Boss either, but Jack is glad he can afford it because his ass looks incredible. After how great Pitch looked the night they met, Jack feels like he has to step it up. After all, Pitch did pay a ridiculous amount of money for this date.

Grabbing his jacket he pulls it on and steps out of his room.

"I'm going out," he calls, and of course he gets no answer. Even if Pitch did turn out to be some psycho killer, it'd probably take his dad a week to notice that Jack wasn't around. And even then he wouldn't give a shit. He'd probably be glad about it.

Not the best thoughts to be having before a date, so Jack pushes them away and slots a smile firmly in place, practicing on the door man before heading over to the car.

He pauses at the door, not sure if he should just get in, but the window lowers, revealing Pitch. He looks Jack up and down and then nods approvingly.

"Very nice," he says before shifting over so that Jack can get in.

"Obviously," Jack says, running his hands over the leather seat, and then looks up at Pitch. Another black suit - Pitch seems like the kind of guy who probably lives in black suits. "Not bad yourself."

"Obviously," Pitch says, and the driver pulls out into the slow New York traffic.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've been on vacation! Back to the usual Friday updates from now on :)