Thanks MyLadyDay and Vergina-spva for beta'ing

Chapter 14

"So where are we going?" Izo asked as he stepped into the passenger side of the car. Since Thatch had arranged the date – even though it wasn't that anymore now that his date had cancelled and he took Izo instead – Izo let him drive. It was one of the first times since his coma that Thatch was behind the wheel.

"Well, I didn't know any restaurants in this city, and since I was still mad at you, I asked Marco if he knew something. He recommended this Moroccan place he took Ace for their first date." Thatch turned on the engine and typed in the address into the navigation system.

Izo's lips pulled into a thin line when he was reminded of their fight, but his face brightened when he heard about Marco's and Ace's first date. "Oh? Well, we all knew that that date went well. Were you hoping for that as well?" he asked teasingly.

"If I did, I wouldn't have wanted to cancel, now would I?" Thatch said with a snort. "Like I said, Marco recommended it. I think he said he took Curiel there once as well."

Izo smiled and placed his hand on top of Thatch's, which was resting on the gearstick. Thatch smiled back, not paying attention to the road for a minute. Izo caught something from the corner of his eye and looked through the windscreen. "Thatch, red light."

"Hm?" Thatch asked.

"Red light!"

Thatch braked just in time. Sheepishly, he turned to Izo, who rolled his eyes.

"Why do I even get in the car with you? I'll drive on the way back." Izo rolled his eyes.

"I'm not that bad," Thatch protested. "You're always yelling obscenities at fellow road users."

"I do not," Izo sputtered, insulted.

"Oh, really? What about that old lady last week?"

"That was… She drove like a maniac!"

Thatch laughed and slapped Izo on the shoulder. "I'm just teasing ya. Oh, I think we're here." He parked the car without further incidents.

Together, they walked to the restaurant. Thatch seemed excited and wrapped his arm around Izo's shoulders. "This is fun. We should do this more often."

Izo rolled his eyes. "We're not even inside yet." Sometimes, Thatch was just a big child, but Izo couldn't suppress his smile. Thatch was right, he was enjoying himself already as well.

A waiter led them to the table Thatch had reserved and handed them two menus. After he had taken their drink orders, he left them again.

Thatch was fussing about, playing with his cutlery and tapping on the table. It was obvious to Izo something was bothering him. When Thatch picked up the salt to inspect it, he had enough. "What's on your mind?" he asked without bothering to look up from his menu.

Thatch put back the salt and sat back in his chair. "Nothing."

Izo rolled his eyes. "Really? You think you can lie to me? Please, Thatch, have some respect for yourself."

"Alright, alright." Thatch sighed and started fumbling with his napkin. Only a stern look by Izo made him stop. "I suppose I should have discussed this with you before."

Intrigued, Izo placed his menu on the table and leaned with his chin on his hands as he looked at Thatch.

Thatch took a deep breath. "I've been thinking. About our situation," he hastily continued when Izo opened his mouth to make a remark. "Remember when we went to pick up my things at my place?"

"Which time?" Izo said with a snort. They had to go back a few times because Thatch had forgotten things.

"The first time. We met Acilia in the lift, and she said she knew someone if I ever wanted to sublet my apartment."

"You want to take her up on her offer?" Izo asked, his eyebrows raised.

"To be honest, I wanted to do that right away. I mean, I already knew I loved living with you, which I do." Thatch placed his hands on Izo's, who stared down at them flabbergasted. "I know you do too, and it seems to make sense, you know?"

Izo still stared down at their joined hands in the middle of the table. "I can't say I expected that," he said slowly. "I mean, yes, I know we've had fun, but I figured you'd want to go back to your old life as soon as possible. And seeing that you're fully recovered, I'd have guessed that would be soon."

"On the contrary." Thatch grinned. "I feel like I need a clean break, and this is the perfect moment to do that. It's only now that I realised how much I've missed you these past fifteen years. Sure, we saw each other often, but never longer than two days. We even lived in different cities!"

Izo's lips curled into a smile. "I've missed you too. But what about your job?" he continued more seriously.

"There are restaurants here. I'll be fine. Besides, what I save on rent, I can save for my own restaurant." Thatch's face lit up when he talked about his dream, and Izo had trouble not to smile.

"You do realise that if you come live with me permanently, you'll have to contribute to the mortgage, right?" he asked teasingly.

"I know, I know. But does that mean you're up for it?" Thatch's eyes sparkled and he looked like an excited puppy. He would no doubt be wagging his tail if he had one. "I mean, I'd just be subletting my apartment, at least at first, but honestly, I wouldn't know why it wouldn't work out." He squeezed Izo's hands.

"I can hardly say no when you're using your puppy eyes, now can I?" Izo said with a snort, but he couldn't suppress his grin.

Thatch grinned back. "Great! I'll call Acilia tomorrow." He pulled back his hands and looked at the menu. "Oh, they have garlic bread!"

Izo rolled his eyes at Thatch's ability to be excited about something much more trivial after their heart-to-heart talk, but he couldn't help smiling affectionately. "You know, if this was a date, you should really ask the person who you're out with if they wanted some too, since you'll be smelling like garlic for the rest of the evening," he said teasingly.

"Please, like you don't want some," Thatch replied, but suddenly, his face lit up. "Wait, that's a great idea?"

"What is?" Izo ask, wary about what he may have said unwittingly.

"We should pretend like this is a date! I mean, everyone can see you're way out of my league, but it would be fun, right?" Thatch bounced up and down on his chair. "I'm a bit rusty and you can give me pointers."

"That's the most ridiculous idea you've ever uttered," Izo said with a snort, but his heart was hammering inside his chest. Thatch's excitement seemed genuine. He had no idea what his suggestion was doing to Izo. Izo had been so happy when Thatch wanted to move in with him at least semi-permanently, but this was getting a bit much. Dinner with his brother he could handle, but pretending it was a date? Still, Thatch's intentions seemed pure.

"Hey, I've had some pretty ridiculous ideas over the years," Thatch protested, like that would show him in a better light. "Please? You're so smart!"

"Stop sucking up, it's beneath you." Izo rolled his eyes when Thatch kept looking at him pleading. "Fine, but only if dinner is on you."

"But you're so much richer than I am!" Thatch whined.

"Maybe, but you asked me out." Triumphantly, Izo picked up his menu again while Thatch sputtered, but couldn't think of a good reply.

"Fine, but please have mercy on my wallet," Thatch eventually sighed.

For a moment, Izo contemplated ordering the most expensive thing on the menu – though, even the most expensive thing wasn't that expensive, after all, Marco had picked the restaurant and while he wasn't a miser, he was a reasonable man who liked reasonable prices. Izo rejected the thought, however, and ordered something he felt like when the waiter came to take their orders.

"So," he said after the waiter had left, leaning with his chin on his hands, "what do you do for a living?"

For a moment, Thatch looked at him confused, until he seemed to realise what he was doing. He leaned back in his chair casually, leaning with his elbow on the back. "I'm a cook." When Izo made a displeased face, he said, "Chef?"

Izo nodded. "First date, remember? You're trying to impress me."

"And that's no easy feat," Thatch joked.

"True, but you don't know that. You can make yourself look good, just don't oversell it."

"Alright, alright. So, what do you do?" Thatch asked.

Izo took a sip of his water. "I'm an artist."

Thatch leaned in like he was intrigued. "Oh really? What kind?"

"Mostly painting and charcoal drawings."

"Something I might have seen?" Thatch asked.

Izo snorted. He had painted and drawn Thatch numerous times, and Thatch had never left before he had seen the result. But they were pretending now, and Izo stayed in character. "I had an exhibition a few months ago."

"Oh, I think I went there!" Thatch flashed him a grin. "Lots of naked people, am I right?"

"If I can quote my brother, 'It's art'," Izo said with a smirk.

"Oh, you have a brother?" Thatch couldn't hide his amusement.

"Fourteen of them," Izo replied.

"Me too! Talk about coincidences. So how do you get along?"

"Pretty good. There's just one that's a bit… you know." Izo's smirk grew when he saw Thatch's eyes narrowing.

"I bet he's not as bad as one of my brothers. Do you know how long he takes in the bathroom?" Thatch flung back.

"Not as long as you!" Izo said accusingly.

They glared at each other for a moment, before Thatch started laughing. "Alright, we're drifting. Tell me more about your art."

They talked some more about themselves, though, as expected, Izo learned nothing new about Thatch, aside from the fact that he was surprisingly smooth on dates. Izo had never seen him in action, with the exception of some flirting. Thatch didn't really need any of Izo's help, but he insisted they continued the charade.

The food came, first the garlic bread Thatch had ordered for the two of them and then the main course, and they still pretended to be dating. They seemed to have even the waiter fooled, because Izo caught him giving Thatch the thumbs up. Izo rolled his eyes at that, though it was somewhat flattering.

After Thatch had paid the bill, they walked back to the car. Izo held out his hand. "Give me the keys."

"No way. I paid, so I'm driving back." Thatch held the keys out of Izo's reach.

"Since when is that a rule? Gimme!"

"I'll race you for it." Thatch's eyes sparkled. "To that lamppost." He pointed.

Izo snorted. "In these shoes? Are you crazy?" He gestured to his feet.

"Are you scared I'll beat ya?" Thatch taunted.

Izo rolled his eyes. "How old are you?" Then his eyes glistened with mischief. "Okay, go!"

"Oi, that's unfair!" Thatch was dressed better for a race, though his dress shoes barely had any profile, so he almost slipped.

Izo reached the lamppost first. Panting, he held out his hand triumphant. Grumbling, Thatch threw the keys at him and together, they walked back to the car. "You know, you did very well tonight," Izo said as he turned on the engine.

Thatch leaned back in his seat, a smile on his face. "The date's not over yet."

Izo raised an eyebrow, but smiled anyway. Soon, he parked the car in his driveway and stepped out of the car. Thatch hastened himself to his side, wrapping his arm around him and placing a hand on his hip.

Izo looked down at his hand. "Cheeky," he commented.

"Oh yeah? Watch this." Thatch leaned in and pressed his lips against Izo's cheek. "Thank you for tonight," he said uncharacteristically earnestly.

Wide-eyes, Izo pressed a hand against the cheek that Thatch had kissed. "Thanks for dinner," he stammered, completely caught off guard. He had to remind himself that it was just pretending, but if Thatch still was, he was a damn good actor.

"I'm serious," Thatch said. "Without you, I wouldn't have figured out some things." He smiled. "So, thanks."

Izo coughed and managed to recover himself. "Please, you can be very smooth when you put your mind to it."

"You think so?" Thatch asked happily.

"I do. Quite unexpected, if I may say so."

Thatch elbowed him in the ribs. "Geez, thanks. There I thought you were actually complimenting me."

"I was." Izo took out his house keys. "So we're done with this game now?"

"I guess so," Thatch said, shrugging. "I mean, usually when I go home with a date…" He trailed off and coughed embarrassedly.

Izo shook his head and focused his attention on opening the door, but his cheeks were burning. At least Thatch wasn't smooth anymore. He wasn't sure if he could handle more of that. Tonight had been nice and at some points, Izo had forgotten they were only pretending. Now, everything would be back to normal. Normal he could handle.