A/N: Update time! Not much to say. School's finally more manageable. I got inspired after a kind comment i received tonight. Also, my first Adam/Lawrence fanfic way back in the day was called The Reason after the song by Hoobastank, and my Psychology teacher played that song when we were working on reviewing for our test and I got hit with Chainshipping feels because in my mind that song is their song. (So don't be surprised if it shows up sometime in this fic).

They get gayer. Also, I never thought I'd find myself researching shitty dirty jokes on the internet.

Lawrence walked into the cafe with dark circles under his eyes, a crooked tie and a deep sigh leaving his lips.

"Double shot of espresso," he spoke flatly, and Adam simply stood and stared at him.

"Well fuck," Adam breathed, "You look like The Walking Dead."

"Need I say thanks for the observation, Captain Obvious?" Lawrence nearly growled. "Just give me my coffee."

"Yikes," Adam turned away tenderly, going to make the order. "Someone had a hellish night."

"You don't even want to know," Lawrence sat down in his stool slowly, as if his entire body was aching with the effort of sitting.

"How much sleep did you get?" Adam asked over his shoulder while tending to the expresso-in-progress.

"Not enough," Lawrence mumbled, then scoffed a little. "I can't even remember. I recall laying down some time close to two-thirty. But I don't remember ever actually sleeping. It was like, my eyes were closed, but when I opened them again after about what felt like two minutes, it was five and my alarm was gonna go off in three minutes."

"Those nights are shit," Adam admitted. "Must've been a hard day at work."

"It was the usual, I guess," Lawrence said softly, but when Adam looked at him again, Lawrence had his eyes on the counter, and he seemed… gloomy. No, more than gloomy. Very, deeply troubled.

Adam felt a stir of concern. He slid the coffee to Lawrence, who thanked him softly and tipped the cup against his lips, taking in the caffeine in hopes of waking up.

"Hey…" Adam said softly, feeling his heart thump when Lawrence lifted his tired eyes to Adam's. The usual bright, charming sky blue was dull and watery. "I… uh…" Adam's throat felt tight, and he swallowed, suddenly feeling very embarrassed. His ears burned with searing heat. His cheeks soon followed, and he clenched his fists. "I-I'm here for you, if you need… anything…" Adam was ready to strangle himself to shut himself up. "Like… i-…. if you need me to listen or… something…"

Holy hell, was Adam an idiot. He felt his whole face flaming with red hot embarrassment, so he stood up and cleared his throat, turning his face away. Lawrence was staring at him with wide eyes and an almost hopeful shine in them.

"Adam…"

The sound of his name made Adam turn slightly. He raised a hand to cover his mouth and coughed awkwardly, hoping to hide his flushed face a little with his fingers.

"Thank you," Lawrence smiled gently- a weak smile, yet a genuine one. "That means so much to me." Hell, weak smile my ass, Adam thought, his saliva suddenly thick and hard to swallow. His entire fucking face lit up like the sun and I think I've been blinded with its beauty. Fuck me sideways, these are the gayest thoughts I've had all week. Year. Life. Whatever-

"Holy shit, shut up," Adam cut off his internal rant with a small whine, turning away and feeling a searing hot sensation flush through his neck and face again. "You're so goddamn sappy."

"I didn't think you were the kind of person who cared about 'rich assholes' like me, Adam," Lawrence teased, his usual smirk on his lips once again. "You seemed like you wanted to chop my head off when I came back here after our first encounter."

"I did want to chop your idiotic head off and I still do," Adam snipped defensively, stalking over to the cash register and taking someone else's order, leaving Lawrence to chuckle to himself and sip on his coffee.

When Lawrence set his cup down, he watched Adam as he took a customer's order. Watched the way Adam's eyes flicked up at their face and down at the cash register, how his fingers tapped at the keys and buttons, how he rubbed his lips together and the casual way he went about making coffee, like he was making it for a friend he invited inside his home.

What Adam said had deeply touched Lawrence. He never realized it, but no one had ever told him what Adam just told him.

'I'm here for you if you need anything. If you need someone to listen, I'm here.'

Between the stammers and fidgets, Lawrence knew exactly what Adam meant by his words and hit made his heart soar. His parents surely would be there if he needed them, but Lawrence never had the deep connection to his parents that some kids did. He feared them in a way. He respected them too much to ask them for help over petty issues like stress or social drama- not that he ever had any social drama, because he did not have enough friends in the first place.

His wife never said anything like that to him. They were attracted to each other, he knew she was a hard worker and a good mother, she made him laugh. That was all a marriage needed, right?

But lately, hence Lawrence's rough night and morning, they have been fighting. Neither of them flat out said it, but Lawrence knew he and Alison had fallen out of love. There was no sparks in their relationship, no desire to sleep together, and Alison may not know it but Lawrence had slept with other women in the past few months to release stress.

Their bickering last night was so awkward that Lawrence didn't even hold her when they went to bed that night. Not that they had cuddled for weeks, anyways.

Lawrence noticed Adam twitching about, as if debating to come over or not. Lawrence had a big stupid smile on his face because he felt like he just made his first true friend and maybe that's why he was so happy. Maybe that's why he felt a fluttering feeling in his heart and warmth blossoming on his skin. He has never felt true friendship, really, so… this must be it.

As for the fleeting glances at Adam's backside, or the way his heart seemed to stutter when their eyes stayed connected for a second too long…

… Friendship didn't seem like the right word, but he flinched when Adam spoke.

"Your coffee's gonna get cold," Adam muttered. Despite the soft and quiet tone Adam used, Lawrence had still jumped a bit, having been deep in thought. Adam gave him a funny look, and Lawrence ignored it, sipping at his coffee idly. It was still warm.

"I feel better now," Lawrence announced after setting the empty cup down, gathering his things and standing up. "Thanks, Adam."

"Wha-" Adam sputtered, "What did I do?"

Lawrence smiled over his shoulder, but was at a loss for words. He simply left the shop, leaving Adam fluttery and confused.

"Weird old man…" Adam grumbled to himself. blushing stupidly and failing to notice Amanda smirking next to him.

"You like his crusty ass, though," she giggled, and Adam whipped around.

"Amanda, his ass is not crusty," Adam snipped, and she raised an eyebrow. Adam quickly flared up again. "Not that I've ever seen it, fuck!"

"You wish," Amanda teased, smacking his shoulder and striding away, leaving Adam to rub the spot where it stung and glare daggers at her back.

Now he was thinking about Lawrence's ass and it was all Amanda's fault.

—

The next day, Lawrence had the stupidest smile plastered on his face. Adam blinked at him slowly.

"Stop doing that," Adam pointed at his smile. "It's weird."

"I wanna tell you something," Lawrence's smile only widened. Adam fixed him with a look, then turned, remembering he was holding a damp rag to wipe the counter with. He began cleaning it with circular motions.

"Spit it out, old man," Adam gave in. Lawrence may have giggled a little in excitement, making Adam twitch a little. What grown man giggles?

"What do you say when you're gonna drunk dial someone?"

Adam paused his movements and stared at Lawrence, who was holding his Snickers mocha to his lips to hide his stupidly perfect smile.

"What the fuck?" Adam turned to face him. "Are you telling me a joke?"

"Just go along with it," Lawrence urged, and Adam rolled his eyes.

"Fine. What the fuck do you say when you're gonna drunk dial someone."

"Al-cohol you!" Lawrence seemed far too excited to drop the joke.

Adam stared at him blankly. "You're so fucking stupid."

"Oh my god, please, that was funny," Lawrence protested between bouts of laughter.

"That was a shitty joke," Adam shook his head, snickering slightly. "I have better ones."

"Oh yeah?" Lawrence challenged. Adam shot him a look.

"What, you don't believe me?" Adam's eyes narrowed, and Lawrence lifted his chin.

"No," he stated confidently. "Show me what you've got."

Adam stuck his tongue in his cheek and smiled at him, shaking his head. "Alright, fine, fine. What's the difference between pink and purple?"

Lawrence stared at him blankly, awaiting the answer.

"The grip."

Lawrence was silent for a long time. Adam was smirking at him.

"Wait," Lawrence's mind seemed to figure it out. "Did- did you just-"

"Make a dick joke?" Adam finished, and Lawrence seemed slightly flustered.

"You bet your ass I did," Adam's smirk only got more wicked, and Lawrence laughed awkwardly at first, then more towards a nervous laugh.

"What's the difference between a roast beef sandwich and a blow job?" Adam dropped another one as he continued to wipe the counters, and Lawrence sputtered a bit.

"Ah, uh…" he seemed to actually think about it. "There isn't one?"

"You don't know?" Adam looked up at him with a surprisingly sultry look. "So… you wanna do lunch tomorrow?"

"Yes," Lawrence responded quickly, making Adam's eyes widen. Lawrence nearly spilled his drink.

"I-I mean, to lunch," he confirmed, but Adam was quickly turning red. "The roast beef part! The actual food!"

"Uh… oh," Adam's heart was slamming his chest. "I… okay? You don't have work?"

"I have a thing called a lunch break," he smiled. "You know where I work. Wait by the front door, I'll be there at 11:30."

"Wait, did I actually just ask you on a lunch date," Adam laughed at his own situation. "I was just telling a shitty joke and it actually became a thing."

"I knew the joke, but I decided to take advantage of the situation and use it as an excuse to get food with you," Lawrence explained, gathering his briefcase and finishing his drink. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Adam."

Adam just watched him leave silently, his heart doing confused flips. They were going on a date tomorrow. An actual date, the first time they've gone out since that night at the bar.

For some reason, Adam was extremely excited for it.

—

This was the second time Lawrence would see him out of his uniform and in his own clothes, which consisted of t-shirts and flannels with baggy jeans. Nothing special, but Adam felt much more conformable and less… obligated to do things. He looked lazy so he felt better about his lazy attitude.

Lawrence came out of the sliding glass doors not long after Adam had been waiting there, and their eyes met immediately. Not because Adam had been looking at the door excitedly every time someone walked out, or anything like that…

"Oh, you're here," Lawrence regarded with a smooth voice, and Adam narrowed his eyes.

"Like I would stand you up," he huffed. "Where are we going to eat?"

"I was thinking the sandwich place just down the block," Lawrence nodded towards the street corner. "They have some good roast beef. Not the kind from your joke."

Adam huffed a bit at that. "Alright, sounds good." They began to walk and chat. Lawrence talked about work, Adam talked about his other job being a photographer. He hasn't had many photo ops lately as he would of liked, not much after the interview with Lawrence, but he has had small tasks here and there. He was hoping for another big story to photograph soon. It was a job he truly enjoyed doing.

Adam kept his hands tucked under his arms as he walked, shoulders rounded forward and body swaying. Lawrence walked smoothly, in a perfectly straight line. They looked like a completely mismatched pair, with Adam wearing jeans with holes in them and ancient tennis shoes while Lawrence's expensive polished black dress shoes clicked against the sidewalk and his pale blue dress shirt had not a single wrinkle in it. His hair was perfectly combed and Adam's was ruffled with the wind. He was cleanly shaven, Adam was a little prickly and needed a shave sometime soon.

They really were polar opposites, but Lawrence was gazing at him with warm glittering blue eyes and Adam was squirming under that warmth, but he was blushing and secretly enjoying the affection Lawrence seemed to have for him.

Once at the sandwich shop, Lawrence had a stupid smile on his face.

"Okay, you've been on this joke thing for a few days and I know that shitty smile, so spit it out," Adam got straight to the point, fixing Lawrence with an unamused stare.

"If you had a donkey, and I had a chicken, and your donkey ate my chicken… what will you have?" Lawrence fixed Adam with an inquisitive look as Adam took a huge bite of his sandwich.

"Whut," Adam's response was muffled with his sandwich. He was too distracted with the taste to really figure out what was coming.

"Three feet of my cock up your ass."

Adam began choking and immediately doubled over his plate, slamming his hand to his chest as he forced himself to swallow his sandwich and hack out the air he inhaled far too quickly. The entire restaurant was staring at them, and Adam's face was flaming red.

"Fuck," Adam snapped, looking furious one moment, but then he smiled the biggest smile and laughed, hanging his head and trying to control the tears that gathered in his eyes from choking and now from laughter. Adam just went through an insane process of amazement, extreme embarrassment, maybe some really explicit mental images, and uncontrollable laughter caused by the stupidity of the joke, the fact it came from Lawrence's sophisticated doctor mouth, and from nerves all at once.

Lawrence was laughing like an idiot too, but he was really captivated by how Adam's small shoulders shook with laughter, how he had dimples, Adam had dimples and they were the cutest fucking things, how he closed his eyes when he laughed, and how his eyelashes were actually quite thick and really pretty- he could never really see them when Adam avoided eye contact quite often.

Once the laughter died down, Adam shook his head and wiped at his dried tears. "Fuck, Lawrence. Did you go google lame ass dirty jokes last night or some shit?"

"Did not," Lawrence defended, and Adam rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, right," he was still smiling and his cheeks hurt from being unable to stop.

He hadn't laughed that hard in a long, long time, and it felt really nice, and Lawrence's face was quite nice, too. Adam only realized he had been staring when Lawrence tilted his head questioningly at him, and Adam cleared his throat, blushing a bit and focusing on his food again.

They would have to make this a habit.

—

"I need your help," Lawrence skipped morning greetings when he walked into the shop one morning. Adam was already making him an Au Lait, since Lawrence always got Au Laits on Tuesdays.

"What, do you need someone to fuck off? Cause I can tell people to fuck off," Adam informed Lawrence as he poured the coffee into its cup.

"No," Lawrence sat down at the counter. "My daughter's birthday is coming up in a few days and we're planning a party, but I'm sort of at a loss for ideas."

"Well," Adam set the coffee down on a small saucer plate, then brought it to Lawrence and set it down on the counter before him, "She's going to be…?"

"Nine."

"Okay," Adam nodded, "Well, what the fuck do nine year olds like?"

"I… I don't know, like…" Lawrence scrunched his eyebrows. "She likes music a lot more lately. She likes books… reading… she still loves horses."

"So get her a book on horses," Adam shrugged. "Problem solved."

"We need to plan a party," Lawrence shook his head. "We already got presents."

"Why don't you just ask her what she wants to do?" Adam rolled his eyes. "Seriously, it's not that hard."

"I guess…" Lawrence sighed, still fiddling with his fingers. "I was. Uh… wondering."

He was quiet until Adam met his gaze. Once their eyes met, Lawrence sucked a breath in. "I was wondering if you could take pictures at the party."

There was a brief period of silence before Lawrence added, "I'll pay you $200 if you stay for an hour."

"Holy fuck, slow down," Adam tensed up, his heart instantly racing at the prospect of so much money for only an hour of sitting around at a kids party. "That's… uh…"

"You don't have to," Lawrence spoke quickly, "I can make it $300."

"Larry, fucking stop for a second," Adam held up his hands. "I don't need to be paid that much. Shit."

Lawrence got a bit flustered at being called Larry, but he shut his mouth in anticipation. Adam sighed. His puppy eyes were too hard to reject.

"I'll do it," Adam mumbled, and Lawrence's face lit up like a christmas tree. Adam felt his heart thud his chest. Lawrence seriously needed to stop doing that all the time. It would kill Adam one day.

"Thank you so much, Adam," Lawrence seemed eternally grateful and Adam flushed at the emotion heavy in his voice.

"Whatever… so when is it?" Adam asked.

"Saturday," Lawrence seemed charged with excitement now. "From one to six. But you can leave early if you need to."

"No, I'll stay," Adam decided, and felt himself melt a little when Lawrence smiled again. Why did this man have to be so goddamn charming?

"Really?"

"That's what I said, dumbass," Adam grumbled. "Now get to work, it's almost time for you to leave."

Lawrence didn't protest and got his things, finished his drink and practically skipped to the door.

"Have a good day at work," Adam called out mechanically, "See you at lunch." He then continued cleaning the dishes. Amanda was standing there, her jaw hanging open.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Adam asked without even glancing at her.

"You guys are like a goddamn married couple," She breathed. "'Have a good day at work!' What the hell was that, Adam!?"

"Did—" Adam stopped, dropping the soapy dish into the water-filled sink. "Did I… really say that?"

"Yes!" Amanda gaped at him. "I'm surprised you didn't add 'honey' at the end!"

"Oh for fuck's sake," Adam felt his entire body flush with embarrassed heat, and he tried his best to ignore Amanda's consistent teasing all morning and stay strong until lunch time with Lawrence.

Saturday was only a few days away, and Adam was already filled with excitement to meet the daughter Lawrence was so proud of, so fond of. She must be an angel from the way Lawrence regarded her.

With a hint of nervousness, he realized he would be meeting his wife, too.

Well, that would be… awkward.

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind for the rest of the week.