Rabbit took a sip, eyes narrowing at the chocolate flavor.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Baikal said. “I noticed what you like to drink. Your obsession with chocolate and mint knows no bounds.”
“Clearly,” he stated sarcastically.
“Thinking about that time you blew me?” Baikal was no doubt grinning.
“You’re the one who brought it up first!”
“Careful, you’re tempting me to give up on my plan and make you blow me again after all.”
It was a good thing he couldn’t see because Rabbit would have definitely dropped his gaze to the Brumal Prince’s pants if he could. Already he was wondering if the other guy was turned on…
“Next time you try to tell me you’re not interested, I hope you remember this moment, Rabbit,” Baikal said then. “You’re getting hard for me.”
“Shut up.”
“There’s a sandwich too.” The sound of parchment paper crinkling filled the space between them. “Do you want me to feed this to you as well?”
“I can manage.” Rabbit needed him to leave before he gave in to the sudden lust. It was embarrassing enough that his body was betraying him like this already. “You can leave it on the table.”
“You’ll eat it?”
He opened his mouth to tell Void he wasn’t a child but thought better of it. “Yes.”
“Rabbit.”
“I will.”
“Good. Because, little bunny,” his mouth returned to his ear, voice lowering suggestively, “I have plans for you later, ones that are going to require you to have a lot of energy.”
“No.”
“Wasn’t asking.” He moved away.
“Void?”
“I’ll see you at home.” The door to the practice room opened and clicked shut again, but the lights didn’t immediately come back on.
Just as Rabbit was beginning to sweat, he noticed the room lightening, the thick tendrils of shadow slowly dissipating little by little. After a moment he could make out the location of the floating light orb at the center of the ceiling, and the window at his back started to brighten as well.
He pressed at the spot on his chest over his heart and willed himself to calm down. When he opened his eyes again, the room had returned to normal, the only trace that Baikal had disrupted his personal space at all being the wrapped sandwich set on the small table beside Rabbit.
And if Rabbit smiled at it?
It was only because he was hungry.
Chapter 22:
He stayed at school longer than he would typically, which was saying a lot considering on more than one occasion he felt like he’d blink and suddenly it’d be well past nightfall. The sky was dark when he stepped out of the music building, his instrument case in his right hand, bag strap slung over his left shoulder. For a moment, Rabbit stood there staring up at the stars, taking in the cool breeze.
The night wasn’t so scary when he was on campus, since the place was lit up all over. He’d never had to worry about his fear taking hold, so long as he didn’t stray too far from the cement paths or any of the buildings.
A single raindrop plopped onto his nose and he scrunched it, brushing it off with the back of his hand. Others soon followed until he was being rained on and struggling to shift his bag to his front to grab the umbrella he’d stashed somewhere in the middle pocket.
“How is it that you grew up here and yet you still stepped outside unprepared?” Baikal called out a second before he appeared from beneath a massive humdrum tree. He was carrying a large black umbrella and he took his time as he made his way over to Rabbit, smirking when Rabbit glared at him from beneath wet bangs.
“Could you walk any slower?” he asked, just as Baikal reached him and positioned the umbrella over them both.
