As we continued to eat, I couldn't stop looking up at him. He caught me a couple of times, but he just smiled, blushed slightly, and went back to eating. It was adorable. Nick was so…awkward, and his awkwardness was a turn on, I just wanted to lean across the table and pull him in to a deep, soft kiss but that wasn't the way our relationship was going to work, we were going to have be way more careful. I couldn't take him any of the places I'd taken previous dates, at least not in the same way. I wouldn't be able to slip arm around his waist in public and pull him in to my side. I wasn't going to be able to come up behind him, wrap my arms around him and kiss him on the cheek, not unless we were completely alone. It was going to take a lot of self control for us to make this relationship work, but I was going to be fully committed to him. "Kev, are you alright?" Nick asked. I guess I'd sort of spaced out, but his voice brought me down to earth.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I smiled at him. "I was just thinking."

"What about?"

"Us." I shrugged and took another bite of my lunch. We finished the meal in silence and cleared the dishes. Without having to say it, Nick automatically picked up the dish towel while I turned the sink on, that's how it always was, I washed, he dried. I couldn't remember a time when it hadn't been like that, but I still found myself staring at him as he ran the cloth over the plates.

"What?" he asked, catching my glance.

"Nothing…just staring."

"Get back to work." He grinned.

"I'm older then you, you don't get to tell me what to do." I flicked water at him. The drops caught him in the face and he blinked a few times and then shook his head. It kind of reminded me of a cat that had been splashed with water. I laughed as his eyes narrowed and I could tell that he was planning revenge.

"HIYAH!" Nick snapped the dishtowel on my backside. Damnit…I'd forgotten how good at that he was…it hurt!"

"Ok, that's it!" I ran at him and pushed him against the wall, ticking him. He began to shriek and flail about, so I pressed my left hand over his mouth while continuing to tickle him with my right. He didn't put up much of a fight – I think he almost wanted my hands all over his body. He slid down the wall as I tickled him, and if I wanted to keep the upper hand in the 'fight' I had to follow him as he slowly descended to the floor. I took my hand from Nick's mouth and aggressively tickled him with both hands.

"Stop…you're…hurting…me…" I would have stopped in a second…if I thought for a minute that those words were true. It was hard to believe that Nick was in pain when he was laughing as hard as he was.

"I don't think so," I smirked.

"JOE! HELP!" Nick called, still laughing. A few seconds later Joe entered the room and just watched as I ticked Nick.

"Nick, is he raping you? Cause that's what it looks like…but if you're being raped you're not supposed to call for help, you're supposed to yell FIRE!" Joe folded his arms and raised his eyebrow.

"I'm not raping him! That's disgusting, you really do have a one track mind." I didn't even want to know where he got this stuff…and what the hell was he talking about with the fire thing? Joe could be so confusing sometimes.

"I know." Joe grinned as though proud of this fact.

"HELP ME!" Nick called as I continued to cause him to writhe on the ground with laughter.

"Hmm…" Joe put his right index finger to his chin and taped it contemplatively. "Nope, I don't think so, you're on your own." He turned and walked away, leaving Nick to his own devices.

"You see?" I asked, grinning. "No one's gonna save you Nick-o, big bad Kevin's gonna get you."

"I don't mind." Nick shrugged.

"Was that a challenge?" I asked, looking at him mockingly.

"In a way…it was more of an invitation." He shrugged and I stopped tickling him. I looked around the kitchen to make sure that we were alone before lowering my head and brushing my lips quickly against his. He deepened the kiss for a few seconds and then before I knew it he had flipped me and straddled my waist, pinning my wrists above my head with both hands.