Ken found himself being led by Steve on a run downtown. Since the guy's fitness had improved tremendously over the past year, he was able to lead without compromising the workout.
Ken wasn't complaining. It was good to switch his brain off every once in a while and focus on running instead of leading the workout himself.
'I should probably let him do this more often.' He thought inwardly.
As they were running, Ken saw Steve suddenly slow down right in front of him, almost causing him to run straight into the guy. If it wasn't for his friend grabbing him and killing the momentum, things could have been ugly.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ken asked with annoyance.
"Shhh. Look there." Steve said in a hushed voice, pointing through a window of a nearby cafe.
Ken turned and his eyes widened as he saw Brian with a brilliant smile on his face, chatting away to a woman with her back turned to them. At a glance, it was obvious they had stumbled upon his date.
"Care to explain yourself?" Ken said icily. He knew Steve, and there was no way that this could be a coincidence. Initially he had been wondering why they were running up and down every street downtown, but now it made sense.
Steve froze, "I—It was just a coincidence…" He replied, though it did not sound convincing.
"If it was a coincidence then you wouldn't have hidden and just run past this place. Didn't I tell you to leave Brian? He's a good kid and he's our friend." Ken was starting to get annoyed with Steve's meddlesome ways.
Steve let out a sigh, "You're right, I planned this. But it's not what you think, I'm just worried about the guy."
"Worried?" Ken scoffed. From the way the two fought, he found it highly unlikely that this was the real reason. More than likely Steve would be looking for ways to tease the guy, or perhaps even sabotage the date.
Steve shook his head, "I knew you wouldn't believe me Ken." He said, wearing a pained expression, as if the words had truly hurt him.
Ken was taken aback, for he actually seemed genuine for once. 'Is he serious?' Ken mused.
"I'm not close with my siblings since they're much older than me." Steve began, his voice sounding a little vulnerable. "Ken, you're like an older brother to me, even though we're the same age. But Brian is like the little brother I never had…" his voice trailed off.
'EH!? No way…'
"We may fight a lot, but that doesn't mean I don't want the best for him. He's usually rambunctious, but when it came to women, he lacked his usual self confidence. I just wanted to check up on him and maybe support him from the shadows." Steve said.
Suddenly, Ken felt bad, remembering Christmas of his freshman year when they played catch at their old field. This was the first time that Steve had opened up to him, revealing the man behind the mask.
Now it felt like he was seeing another part of him. The loyal and fierce protector who tried to support his close friends by any means he could.
"My bad…" Ken said, realizing that he might have been jumping to conclusions.
"It's fine, I know I don't have a great track record when it comes to such things." Steve admitted, wearing a wry smile. "But I want to do something to help him."
"What would you even do?" Ken asked, "It's not like you can go sit next to him during their date."
Steve was silent for a while before his eyes lit up, "I have an idea. Stay here and keep an eye on him." He said, turning on his heel and jogging back down the street.
"Wait, what?" Ken watched him leave, and was forced to do as he said, letting out a sigh.
He suddenly felt like a stalker as he watched Brian converse with Rose inside. From what he could see, the guy looked nervous, but it wasn't to the point where it was affecting the date.
Around 5 minutes later, Steve returned with a bouquet of red roses, causing Ken's jaw to drop. "Dude, what are you thinking?"
"Don't worry about it man." Steve said, sending him a wink. Without another word, he walked into the cafe before Ken could stop him and approached the counter.
Ken watched on, still unsure of what Steve's plan was.
The guy handed the flowers to the server and pointed to the table where Brian and Rose were seated before heading back out and onto the street. He flashed him a grin, "Now let's see what happens."
The server handed the bouquet to Rose who seemed surprised. She smiled brilliantly and smelled the flowers. Brian on the other hand was shocked, but he managed to play it off.
While she was distracted, he looked around, spotting Steve and Ken outside. Steve waved with a large grin on his face. At first Brian seemed a little annoyed, but he eventually smiled and nodded.
"That was a nice thing to do." Ken said, placing his hand on Steve's shoulder. He had thought the guy might have tried to prank him or something, but everything was going well.
"Yeah, wait till she reads the note." He replied with a chuckle.
'Oh no…' Ken had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Was he about to see Rose slap Brian in the face after reading the note.
Part of him wanted to look away, but the other wanted to wait and see what would happen, so he could decide whether or not to beat the crap out of Steve later.
Rose read the note and it seemed like she was giggling. Without warning she leaned over the table and kissed Brian on the cheek.
His face instantly reddened, but a dumb smile painted his lips a moment later. Steve burst out into jovial laughter and flashed the guy a thumbs up.
"Let's go." He said a moment later, breaking into a jog.