7
Elijah
In my dreams, I still had vision.
Since I lost my sight later in life, I was able to conjure up an image of Felix’s face in my dream. I imagined his handsome features and beautiful smile. I imagined us walking down the street together, hand in hand, alpha and omega--and between us we pushed a stroller with our baby in it.
When consciousness returned to me, it left me dazed and disoriented.
My eyes were sightless again, only managing to discern vague lights and shadows. I couldn’t see Felix beside me, but I knew he was still there, sleeping. I heard his soft breaths, felt his warmth radiating like a furnace, and smelled his sweet scent.
I smiled.
There was no use dwelling on my negative feelings. There was a precious young man in bed with me for the first time in--fuck, I didn’t even remember how long--and I wasn’t going to waste time moping about what could have been instead of enjoyingnow.
I eased out of bed so as not to disturb Felix and picked my way down to the kitchen. River’s tags jingled as he followed me and I gave him a quick pat on the head.
“You gotta pee, boy?” I asked. “Sorry about that.”
He pranced to the back door, which I opened. River darted out like a shot. He must have been holding it all night, since I was too busy getting laid to take him out for one last potty break before bedtime like I usually did.
In the kitchen, I slapped the electric kettle on and began preparing breakfast. Coffee was first, and served as a time landmark for everything else. I knew from experience that once coffee was done, so was everything else. I ground up the beans with a sharp whirring noise, then poured the grinds into the french press, and finally added the boiling water. The heady, dark scent of freshly ground coffee beans invigorated my senses.
A couple over-easy eggs and pancake mix thrown in a double-sided grill were easy enough to make. They both sizzled away with two distinct sounds, and judging by the amount of time that passed since throwing them on, I knew they weren’t quite done yet.
River trotted back inside and took a seat on the tile, no doubt waiting for me to drop a scrap of food on the floor.
“Sorry, bud,” I told him. “Not today. We have a guest.”
River laid down, unshakeable from his position. When he was working, he ignored everything and became totally serious, but at home where I didn’t need him to be on duty, he was a different animal - goofy as a regular dog. Even if he understood my words, nothing would move that dog from the spot until he was certain he wouldn’t get a lick of food.
River’s tags jangled sharply as he lifted his head. At the same time, footsteps creaked, descending the stairs.
“Elijah?” Felix called in his soft voice.
“Down here.”
When he reached the kitchen, I turned in his direction and grinned. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah.” He chuckled. “I was totally knocked out. Oh, hi, River.”
River’s tailswish-swishedhappily as he greeted Felix.
“Don’t tell me you’re giving the dog a kiss and not me,” I joked.
“Oh!”
Felix strode over to me and pressed his lips against mine, tender and gentle. I even felt his eyelashes flutter against my cheek. When he pulled away, my chest felt light with joy. Whatever this was between us, whatever seed of a relationship had sprouted and bloomed so quickly, I was loving every moment of it. For now, I put my doubts on hold and allowed myself to simply enjoy the ride.
A sharp sizzling noise followed by the scent of burning made me whip towards the grill.
“Ah, crap,” I muttered, throwing the lid open. The scent of charred pancake confirmed it. “Burned them.”
As I reached for the spatula to remove them, Felix’s hands got in the way.
“Oh no,” Felix said. “Here, let me--“
Startled by his intervention, I dropped the spatula. The pancakes continued to sizzle and burn, and now I smelled the eggs rapidly overcooking as well. Felix’s kiss had distracted me and threw my sense of time off.
