Or the two of them lengthwise.
He cleared his throat, pretending not to have just pictured what it’d be like to have Pavel lying on top of him, fucking him brutally into the couch cushions, and glanced back to find the other man hadn’t followed him.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting your snacks ready,” Pavel replied, heating milk over the stove. “Feel free to get comfortable. The remote is on the coffee table. You can pick whatever you want to watch.”
Zane dropped down on the couch and turned the device on, scrolling through the list of films available. “What types of movies do you like?”
“I’ll watch anything.”
“That’s not descriptive.”
“But it is the truth.”
He rolled his eyes. “Hart, work with me here—Oh! I’ve been meaning to watch this one!”
Pavel’s rich chuckle reached him before the other man appeared at the side of the couch with a tray. He set out the snacks on the coffee table and then left once more, returning with two steaming mugs of cocoa. “Let’s see that one then.”
Zane moved over to give him room, clicking on the medical thriller film he’d had on his list since its release three months ago. Absently, he accepted the mug and then mumbled a thanks when Pavel rested one of the bowls filled with popcorn in his lap.
“What is this about?” Pavel draped an arm around Zane’s shoulders, but Zane was already too invested in what was playing on screen to tell him to back off.
“A doctor linked to a series of murders must prove his innocence before the Detective after him can catch him,” Zane explained.
“Okay, but why are there mermaids?” The intro of the film started with a shot of the ocean during a storm, waves crashing against a rocky beach.
“Merman,” he corrected, taking in the fit upper body of the actor playing the half-fish creature roughly deposited on the sandy shore. “He’s captured by the real killer and forced to become his lover or something like that.”
“How so?”
“Don’t you know anything about mermaids?”
“Mermen.” Pavel winked at him when Zane sent him a look and then brought a piece of popcorn to Zane’s lips.
He took the offering—because who said no to popcorn? “There’s a specific kind found only on the planet Fair that can turn their tails into legs. But it’s a painful process.”
“How is that possible?”
“Says the guy who can shapeshift into whoever he wants,” he chuckled. “You split the tail down the center. The pieces heal into two, and in order to protect the body, the creature’s genetic coding alters, so that when they heal, they reform into legs and feet instead.”
“Why doesn’t the tail simply stitch itself back together? Doesn’t that seem easier?”
“Yes, but it’s an anomaly. Scientists have tried to figure it out, but there’s seemingly no good explanation. The other problem is the species is now considered extinct, so finding one that can be experimented on is next to impossible.”
“What does the killer want with the merman, really?”
“I don’t know, they’re sort of just side characters until the killer gets found out and the main character, the doctor, has enough evidence to prove it. Stop asking questions. We’ll get answers as it goes.”
Zane lost himself in the movie, hardly noticing when the popcorn ran out and the empty bowl was switched for one filled with crunchy freeze dried goj berries, his favorite snack of all time. When his cocoa ran out, Pavel got up and made him another, casually asking about what he’d missed when he returned.
“What the hell, there’s a part two?!” a little under two hours later, the movie came to an end on cliffhanger and Zane scowled.
“Let’s check to see if it’s available,” Pavel suggested, picking up the remote. He scrolled to the main screen and then pointed with the end of the control. “There.”
“Hold on, let me use the bathroom.” Zane got up and disappeared into the bathroom on the other side of the level, taking care of business hastily so he could get back and find out what happened next.
Even though he couldn’t have been gone longer than five minutes, Pavel had already cleared the empty snack bowls and removed the dirty drink glasses by the time he’d returned. In their place, there was water and a thick navy blanket in the other man’s arms.
