“Why wouldn’t I?” He bent forward and grabbed the wine. “I want to know everything about you. That’s why I’m here.”
“He was boring,” Andy answered. “He didn’t ask for anything and he didn’t challenge me.”
“Do you want a challenge?” Leonidas arched a brow.
“I want you.” Andy pushed out a small laugh. “Which is ridiculous.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know you,” he answered.
“Learn me. That’s why I’m here. Why you’re here. Why we’re doing this, yeah?” Leonidas set the wine on the floor beside his foot so it was easier to reach.
“I know I must have done this before. I must have had these conversations with someone else, but I feel so out of my element with you. It’s like you walk into the room and the air gets sucked out of my lungs.” Andy had his hands on his knees and he gripped himself so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“I think that’s the most honest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Leonidas whispered. He lifted a hand and pressed the side of his finger against Andy’s chin, pulling his attention upward.
“I don’t know how to be any different than I am.”
“I wouldn’t want you to be.” Leonidas cupped Andy’s face in his hand. “I can pick you apart. I have time.”
“Just a moment?” Andy asked, making a derisive sound in the back of his throat.
“That’s how I live my life,agapi mou. Here and there. That’s how I choose to grow.”
“Do you ever want to stop?” Andy asked. “Do you ever want to settle?”
“Not yet,” he answered honestly. “But I go places and I learn them, and then when I ache for things, I go where they are.”
“When do you go back to Greece?” Andy asked, swallowing thickly.
“When I miss my mama’s coffee,” he answered with a blush.
Andy made a low growl and reached up, covering Leonidas’s hand with his own, pressing Leonidas’s palm against his face. Andy looked lost, Leonidas thought, his eyes like a stormy sky threatening to burst and drown them both.
“Why did you come here?”
“Because I missed you.”
“Fuck.” Andy stood up, brushing past Leonidas and out of the living room. Leonidas followed, not like there were many places to go. He rounded the corner in time to see Andy push open the back door. He found Andy on the porch, sitting on the edge and staring up at the sky. It was nearing dusk and everything was cast in a vibrant orange and pink glow as the sun dipped behind the mountains.
“Can I sit with you?” Leonidas asked from the doorway.
“Your cabin.”
“Oh, come on. Enough of this.” Leonidas sat down beside Andy, tired of the awkwardness and tired of the tension. He took Andy’s face in his hands and pressed their noses together, forcing Andy to look him in the eye. “I’ll spell it out if you need it. I’m here because you’re here. Maybe not forever, but for now.”
“You slay me, little lion.”
“Yes,” he agreed, because he was that for Andy. “I still have a list for you; let me tell you.”
“Alright.”
“Don’t humiliate me or embarrass me. Don’t hurt me beyond repair.”
“That last one,” Andy rasped, taking a deep breath, his exhale hot against Leonidas’s mouth.
Leonidas took Andy’s hand and pressed it to his chest.
