“Hey, Tawson.” Victor opened the door and leaned againstthe door frame, facing the kitchen area. Tawson was pulling something out of the oven. Looked like baked potatoes. He was really going all out tonight.
“Everything is almost done,” he said without turning around.
“It smells and looks amazing,” Victor said. “I just realized, though, that I don’t have any clean clothes. Or my toothbrush. Or a brush in general.”
“I have an extra toothbrush under the counter in the pack still.” Tawson finally turned his head and all of his movements stopped. Victor smiled, feeling proud to elicit that reaction. “Fuck, you look amazing, Vic.”
Victor loved the reaction but hated that he had no way of hiding how his whole body flushed at the way the nickname rolled off Tawson’s tongue so easily. He’d called him that almost exclusively since that first time and he still hadn’t gotten used to it. Victor was still working up the courage to see himself that way. He moved to stand at the foot of the bed.
“As much as I would be okay with staying in the towel, do you at least have a shirt I could borrow while we eat?”
“Oh yeah.” Tawson wiped his hands on the black track pants he was wearing. He had on a plain, white shirt. His skin was getting more tanned by the day in the late summer heat. “Let me grab it for you.”
Tawson started forward, toward the one dresser in the house. Victor took the chance and held his hand out, pretending he was a lot braver than he felt inside. Tawson stopped immediately and Victor brushed their lips together. He knew they still had food cooking on the stove so they couldn’t ignore it, but he wanted to steal just a couple of moments.
“Mmm.” Victor let the sound travel slowly up his throat. Hetook his time opening his eyes again. “Tastes like someone’s been picking at the food while cooking.”
Tawson’s answering smile was dazzling. “It’s a habit of mine. You’ll have to deal with it.”
“If you keep cooking like this, I’ll deal with a lot of things.” Tawson’s hand snaked around Victor’s body and rested on his ass. For a split second he thought about dropping the towel and letting dinner burn, but his stomach protested that thought immediately.
Tawson stepped away with a smirk and moved to the tall dresser in the corner. He’d taken the single dwelling house, not the one that Zaya had rented. It was very similar but had a different wall color- a tan instead of the robin blue- and the bed was a distressed wood style. This house had a five-drawer dresser and a smaller couch. The cabinets were still white and the layout of the furniture was all the same.
He slipped on the faded gray shirt and sat at the table while Tawson plated their food. He’d even gone as far as cutting open the potato and adding butter to it for him. “This honestly looks amazing, Tawson. Thank you.”
“It’s no problem,” Tawson said. “It’s nice to cook for someone other than myself.”
“I feel that,” Victor said. “My roommate was in one morning, but that was it. Said he had to take some staged photos to keep up the appearance. I starred in two of them. Other than that, I’ve cooked for myself and Joe one night but the rest of the time it’s been me.”
“How is that going? Living alone?”
“It isn’t bad,” Victor said. He cut a piece of fish and his eyes fluttered as soon as the flavors hit his tongue. “Oh god, this is great. I don’t eat fish a lot, but that’s good.”
“You get so distracted,” Tawson said. “But thank you. I’m glad you like it. Now, back to the topic at hand.”
“It’s okay,” Victor said. “I have my study group over on Tuesday evenings but the other nights I’ll just chill. It’s easy to concentrate at least. The walls are thicker than they seem. I don’t usually hear anyone when I close my bedroom door. I might just have quiet neighbors.”
“You’re just striking freshman gold, aren’t you?” Victor knew it was said as a joke, but he nodded either way.
“I mean, I struck the main gold with you.”
They were quiet for a moment. Victor felt his cheeks heat and he pushed the broccoli around on his plate before taking a bit. His thoughts raced while they ate in silence. He knew he shouldn’t have said it. That gave way too much weight to whatever they were doing. This was just fun, right? Victor wasn’t entirely sure what he felt, but he liked whatever it was they were doing. He felt safe.
Tawson reached across the table and took his hand after several long minutes. He finally looked up with a tight lipped smile. Tawson tugged his hand, tipping his head back slightly to indicate for Victor to stand up and move over to where he was sitting. Tawson shifted himself on the chair, spreading his legs so Victor could easily sit on one thigh. Tawson’s left hand wrapped around Victor’s back and his other went to his thigh. The towel fell open slightly, revealing the milky skin of his upper thigh that didn’t get much sun.
“We should really talk about what we’re doing,” Tawson said. “But I honestly don’t know what this is. I just know that I really like having you here. In my house. On my lap.”
Victor smiled and wrapped his arms around Tawson’s neck. “I like being here, in your house. In your lap.” Victor kissedhim, gentle and quick. “I also like being in your bed.”
“Smooth,” Tawson said with a short laugh. Victor smiled triumphantly. “Let me clear the plates. You go get comfy on the bed okay?”
“I’m going to brush my teeth first,” Victor said. While the food was delicious, the last thing he wanted was lingering fish breath tonight.
“Good call,” Tawson said with another smile. They made quick work of everything and within five minutes, both of them were pulling back the covers and getting in the bed. Victor dropped the towel, naked from the waist down, but still had Tawson’s shirt on. Tawson was the opposite; he had his pants on, but no shirt. He clearly took a shower before making dinner and Victor snuggled close to him, smelling that same soap he’d used on himself. It was quickly going from delicious to addicting. Tawson’s arms wrapped around him, holding Victor tight against his chest.
Victor was realizing fast that physical touch was becoming his thing with Tawson. Any thoughts of worry and the small knot in his stomach disappeared the longer they stayed connected like that.
“Tawson?” Victor’s voice was soft. He didn’t want to ruin the moment.
