Since the day Kyle spent a night at Chaska's house he's been studying.

Studying Chaska's highs and lows and learning what made him cold and frigid. Kyle noticed that suggestions of relationship progress seemed to scare him, so Kyle rephrased his words and thoughts when talking about that and made sure not to seem like he was pushing Chaska to the corner. Chaska had favorite topics; children, animals, and sports. Nothing of which Kyle had an interest in, but it was nice to listen to Chaska when he talked. He smiled then, and the man would often ask him about what he did. How work was going. What he was reading.

It reminded Kyle of his relationship with Anastasia in the earlier stages. They had been nothing alike, but they liked each other. The only difference seemed to be that Chaska didn't seem very interested in changing Kyle. Anastasia had called it 'improving each other', and to date that still confused Kyle. He had been the one undergoing all the upgrades, and he never really had anything he wanted Anastasi to 'improve' while they dated. Unbalanced as it was, it seemed to have to do with the fact that Anastasia had her life together, and he didn't.

They went to the gym together a few more times, and there was one more incident of Kyle staying over at Chaska's place when it was too late to leave. Things never went past that, and that frustrated Kyle.

"I'm the first man you're trying to see, right?"

That was true. This was new to Kyle, but he didn't really see what made seeing a man different from seeing a woman, but he acknowledged that he had limited experience in general, and probably didn't just understand what Chaska meant like that. He found himself googling up things from time to time, and yes, maybe he drifted far sometimes, learning information that he wouldn't need for a long time.

He wasn't going to sleep with Chaska anytime soon. That he knew. Chaska was clear with the lines he had drawn. Kissing and light touching was fine, but once things got a little too heated, he would pull away without another word.

"Kyle."

Kyle blinked at the sound of his mother's voice. He looked up from the dishes that were soaked in the sink before turning to face her smiling gaze.

"You were smiling. What were you thinking about?" she asked, making Kyle look away before shrugging. He was helping her out in the kitchen. The past few weeks have been a process of him slowly learning to do what was expected of him. Washing dishes, cleaning up after himself and Otis, trying to get up early enough to be the one to give his son a bath. He was putting in an effort, and although he made mistakes here and there it was overall an improvement.

"Come on, talk to your mother," Kyle's mother said, making Kyle look over to her again as he rinsed a bowl. The woman had her wrinkly hands on her hips now. She looked excited, and it reminded Kyle of those times she thought he was finally seeing a girl.

"I don't know..." Kyle trailed. "What are you thinking?" he asked instead, making his mother sigh as she shook her head.

"I wanted me to tell me yourself," the old woman sighed, smiling a bit. "This has to do with Chaska, right?" she asked, and Kyle's face warmed up at the mention of the man's name. It was late on Friday evening now, and he planned to take Otis to Chaska's place on Saturday as he had promised a long time ago.

"I knew it!" the excitement was clear in her voice. "Going to the gym together, sleeping over..." she trailed looking at Kyle with her icy blue eyes.

"Are you two dating? I hope you are. He's a nice young man." his mother went on as Kyle stood by the sink dumbfounded. His parents had never really been religious—Kyle could count the number of times he had gone to church in his hand. He had never thought of them as open people. Well, his mother's enthusiasm for the situation he was in proved him wrong.

Newfront was a small town with one church that everyone attended, and it was like a little community forum/organization. Some of Kyle's clients had even invited him to join them, but he had never really thought of God or attending church. Or anything supernatural. He's been so focused on one thing and one thing alone—making money. When his father died, he had briefly considered it, but Anastasia had been Catholic, and Catholicism was too complicated for Kyle's one-track mindset.

The disbelief Kyle had at his mother's lack of care made him speak up.

"He's a man," Kyle said in a shaky voice, trying to remind his mother of it in case she had somehow missed the obvious point. Of course, she couldn't have, but Kyle still felt the urge to remind her. He wasn't sure if he expected her to be angry. No, he wasn't expecting that, but he had expected her to be at least confused—a little bewildered.

His mother clicked her tongue and stared at the tiled walls as Kyle drained the sink and dried off the plates. "I know," she started as Kyle felt a light touch on his hand. He looked down at his mother's frail hand that was holding on to his wrist and giving it a light squeeze. "I was somewhat confused at first, but you just seemed happier and happier as time passed, and that's what I want for you," she explained. "Chaska's a good person, so why not?" she added, making Kyle swallow down the words he had at the back of his throat.

He wanted to ask why she was so understanding of it, and if she was sure she was okay with it, but she had made herself clear enough. Constant poking would come off as him trying to get a negative response from her. He didn't want that. He was just in a weird headspace because of her enthusiastic acceptance of the situation.

"We're not dating yet," Kyle mumbled, trying to pick up the conversation. "We're taking things slow," he added, and his mother gave his writ one last squeeze before letting go.

"I should go and wake Otis up, it's important to make sure kids don't oversleep," she said, and Kyle raised a brow as he watched her leave the kitchen. The idea of timed siestas and naps confused him. He shook his head, moving to open the fridge. He could ask Chaska about that later.

Kyle felt bad for taking all his parenting woes to Chaska, but he was the only person he could ask without feeling weird.

Kyle poured himself a glass of juice before heading to sit at the dining table. He had some things to do today. There was a tractor he had to look at in the evening, and he contemplated going to his father's grave, but he would freeze at the thought, get anxious before shaking his head and burying the thought at the back of his head. He's been in Newfront for months now, and he still couldn't get himself to see his father's grave.

"Dad," he muttered, looking out into the living room and almost expecting the pot-bellied blond man to walk out through the hallway. Instead, the sound of Otis and his grandmother leaked into the living room/kitchen through the hallway.

He let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair before covering his face with his hands.

"Daddy, are you okay?" his voice was close, and when Kyle removed his hand from his face, he noticed his son was standing by his chair and giving him a worried look. The boy stood on his tiptoes, trying to look his father in the eye. He gave up, pouting before calling out to his grandmother.

"Nana, is Daddy okay?" he asked when Kyle didn't answer, looking over to his grandmother that had wandered to the kitchen area.

"He's tired. He has to go to work in a few hours," his grandmother replied, making the little boy look from her to Kyle who had not forced a smile on his lips. The little boy rose a brow, not looking convinced, but he walked away heading towards the sofa.

"Then you should sleep!" he said, raising his hands and turning on his heels to look at his father. Conveniently forgetting that his grandmother had mentioned that he still had work in the evening. "We're going to Chaska's house tomorrow!" the child said with enthusiasm, making Kyle blink. The thoughts about his father had briefly made him forget that they had plans with Chaska tomorrow. They were heading to see horses, before going to the man's house to play with his cats.

The anxiety about having to voice his father's grave sooner or later slowly left him when his mind was flooded with thoughts of Chaska instead. The man that liked him enough to deal with his inadequacies. The man that he saw himself with, in the near future. Kyle's mother and his son seemed to be having a back and forth about what to eat. Kyle only hummed, agreeing to whatever he was asked when his mother spoke to him. He was deep in thought, wondering how to orchestrate the next steps he needed to take with Chaska.

He wanted to move things forward, somehow. He thought maybe he could pan a more formal date. There weren't fancy restaurants or date locations here, but he was sure Chaska liked the idea of camping and hiking. Maybe he would ask him to join him on a weekend hike.

As Kyle thought about things his phone rang in his pocket.

It was Chaska.

He was only able to have the man to himself on the phone for a few minutes until Otis came up to him and whined about not being able to talk to the man. Kyle's mother chuckled when the three-year-old successfully mooched the phone out of his father's hand before heading to sit on the sofa to talk to Chaska.

"He's really patient with him," Kyle's mother said as she came up to the table with a tray of food.

"Chaska's a teacher," Kyle muttered, stating the obvious as his mother settled down on the seat adjacent his.

"Yes, but engaging with Otis outside school is a little special isn't it?" Kyle's mother said as she placed a plate in front of Kyle. "I wouldn't do that if I didn't like the kid."

Kyle thought about that for a while. He couldn't think of any other child Chaska treated that way. He knew the special treatment had something to do with their relationship—Chaska and Kyle, but it was only after his mother mentioned it that he realized that maybe he could get through to Chaska through his son. He tried to hide the grin that had formed on his face by putting a spoon full of food in his mouth. The stupid grin didn't leave even when he was working on the tractor, he had to look at. He spoke softly to himself, thinking and drawing up his plans in his head.

He had a plan for tomorrow.

It almost felt too good to be true.