Chapter 6
News clearly travelled fast because Mack was suddenly getting unwanted advice from Hunter (wear tight jeans, offer to split the bill), and Bobbi (dress nicely, splash out on good wine), he even got an email from Jemma before she boarded her flight. She apologised for her coldness and expressed her delight that Mack was finally clearheaded enough to see what was right in front of his face.
Skye had stopped by, apparently to check on her van, and grilled him on when and where the date was taking place. It seemed everyone was annoyingly happy for them and wanted to be involved, and Mack was fed up of it.
‘Skye,’ Mack said, ‘I have taken guys out before you know, I am sure I can pull together a date.’
‘I am sure you are a real smooth operator,’ she said winking at him, ‘I bet you have some mooooves.’
The worst of this was that the object of his desire was just on the other side of the garage while this was going on. Lucky for Mack, when Fitz was working, he was in the zone and didn’t catch much of what went on around him, oblivious to the sudden attention. Mack was sure Fitz would work the whole day without a break if Mack or his own grumbling stomach didn’t interrupt occasionally.
Skye moved in a little closer. ‘I’m just excited for you guys, Fitz is a great guy and you seem like an honest good guy. We’re all rooting for you, that’s all.’
‘I appreciate that, but really, all this fuss is just making me nervous,’ Mack said.
‘With those muscles? You’re a shoo in,’ Skye smiled, ‘plus, he’s crazy about you.’
Mack looked over and caught Fitz watching them out of the corner of his eye. The signs were good, and he hoped Skye was right. He was aware that Fitz brought out a protective instinct in everyone around him – Jemma, Skye, Hunter, Bobbi. Mack pitied the guy that didn’t treat Fitz right, they would have a lot of angry folk to deal with, several of which were weapons trained. Mack wasn’t worried, he had no intentions of ever hurting Fitz.
He settled on taking Fitz out for dinner at an Italian restaurant he knew, being a traditional kind of guy. He wanted somewhere they could talk and enjoy being together. The restaurant was fairly typical with low lighting, red and white tablecloths and well used candles on each table. A little cheesy maybe but definitely a good and romantic place to sit with someone you wanted to get to know better. It helped that they were already friends and they had chemistry between them, there wasn’t the awkwardness that seemed to go with a first date. In the cosy half-dark of the restaurant, Mack leaned over to take Fitz’s hand. ‘I’m really glad we’re doing this.’
‘Yeah, me too,’ said Fitz. ‘I should have pegged you for the romantic type,' he said gesturing round at their surroundings.
Mack laughed, ‘you’re not?’
‘I don’t know,’ Fitz said, ‘I’ve never been with someone long enough to find out.’
Mack raised his eyebrows, ‘oh.’
‘I mean, I was studying, and I was younger than the other students, at the A-, at university. Jemma and I, w-we were the youngest there, we graduated early and I went straight into working in a lab, then I was, um, working remotely and t-travelling a lot.’
‘So,’ Mack said, ‘not many boyfriends?’
‘Um,’ said Fitz, ‘nothing that lasted. Work always came first. How about you? Tell me about your family, where you grew up.’
Mack was happy to tell him everything about himself. He liked talking about his parents, sadly no longer with him, the annoying little brother who drove him crazy, their shared love of motorbikes and cars. They chatted throughout dinner, the conversation was never stilted but Mack noticed Fitz rarely spoke about himself unless prompted.
‘I feel like I’ve been talking all night. What about you Turbo? Tell me about yourself.’
‘Not much to tell really,’ said Fitz.
‘I thought we could get to know each other, talk about something other than work or Xbox. Where are you from in Scotland?’
‘Glasgow.’
‘When did you leave Scotland?’ asked Mack.
‘I was a teenager. I came over to study and then stayed to work.’
‘What did you study?’ Mack said, feeling like a police officer conducting an interview.
‘Engineering, physics.’
‘Any family?’ Mack asked. ‘Just my Mum. It’s, it’s hard to get back, I haven’t seen her in a while,’ Fitz said, his fingers twirling the bottom of his wine glass. ‘Is it just your brother?’
‘Yeah, I guess we aren’t as close as we could be with the age gap but he’s a good kid.’
That was the full extent of personal information he’d gleaned, and there was no easy way to find out more without turning the date into a full-on interrogation. Fitz probably took time to open up he thought. Mack was the opposite, he’d always been an open book with his friends and partners. There was no rush, he hoped they would be seeing a lot of each other.
Mack insisted on paying the bill, telling Fitz they could argue about it next time they went out and ignoring the blinking light of his phone. A message from Bobbi starting, ‘How is it? Don’t let him pay…’ was showing on the screen. Anyone wanting gossip and updates on the date would have to wait.
Mack walked Fitz home like a gentleman, taking his hand for the last block, Fitz occasionally leaning in and resting his head against his shoulder. It was a nice feeling. They stopped in the glow of the streetlights outside Fitz’s apartment building and faced each other. Mack leaned in, his went arms around Fitz’s waist and he pulled him into a gentle kiss. He would have been happy to leave things there, it had been a wonderful night, but when Fitz firmly kissed him back and tugged his arm to pull him into the building he didn’t complain. They made out on his couch like teenagers, it was hot and Mack was almost overwhelmed by how badly he wanted this. They fit together so well, the way they kissed just easy and natural and in perfect sync. Fitz stood up and led Mack to the bedroom.