Morning Routines

[Existentially Odd]

Matthew blinked, not daring to move now that he very suddenly had another man in his face, speaking in a way that sent a shiver through him - the first he\'d ever experienced, in fact.  Instinctively, Matthew swallowed and then licked his lips, his gaze shifting from Rico\'s left eye to his right and back again, sombrely gazing at the Greek.

"Oh," he replied awkwardly.  "I... uh... understand.  Wouldn\'t... um... can\'t you er... is that difficult for you?" he eventually stammered, feeling his own voice was very small (and it was disconcerting for his breath to be bouncing back at him, onto his newly-moistened lips).  He didn\'t imagine someone as handsome and worldly as Rico having any trouble finding someone to distract him from his unrequited love, but he was doing his best to be polite.

[Kysis]

Rico had always been a keen observer, and now was no different.  He watched Matthew closely, noticing the sudden jittery reactions, that nervousness.  The way he suddenly licked his lips was interesting, but Rico would not read into it.  Not now at least.  If Matthew gave him a reason to read into it, he would.

Until then Rico could just test the waters, see what Matthew was thinking.  So far Matthew had shown no real interest for male or female.  Which did Matthew actually like?

He kept that close to Matthew, not moving further back.  In fact, he moved just slightly closer. "Very difficult.  I have yet to have any luck."

Or had he just struck something lucky?  Rico was still refusing to read into a damn thing yet.  That would just lead to the usual disappointment and sulking.  Rico was sick of moping about.

[Existentially Odd]

Matthew was finding it very hard to think.  Rico moving even closer to him didn\'t help in the slightest, and it baffled him as to why he was so... well, muddled.  There was something titillating about the subject they were discussing, simply because Matthew knew Rico was taunting him (had to be!) to see how he\'d react to discussing his sex life, something the blonde had never had.  Never even thought about, in fact, until now.

"But you\'re so... good looking and...

handsome
No!  Damnit, I already said that
Well, but those eyes, he has those eyes
That are so close to mine
Just move back
He\'ll know he\'s made you uncomfortable then
He\'s testing you, don\'t move back

uh... friendly.  Surely there are men who would enjoy... uh... that with you," he offered, trying to be consoling but ending up just sounding bumbling and blushing madly again.  Great, just great.

[Kysis]

"Awwww." Rico thought it was sweet Matthew would think he was attractive enough to get some whenever he felt like it, but that was not how it worked.  The best offer than had passed by him in Oberon so far was a sixteen year old boy, which Rico just would not want to do at all.  Nor could he live with himself for doing it.

Just no.

Not after Kysis.

However, Matthew was rather attractive himself, and muscled.  Muscles were a must in Rico\'s mind.  He liked the feel of them.

Friendly though?  Rico tilted his head slightly to the side, inquisitively.  He wanted to ask about that.

"But friendly?  What do you mean by friendly?"  Rico loved how flustered he was making Matthew.  It made him feel worth-while inside, like he still had it in him.  Wasn\'t completely unattractive, unwanted.  Well, Rico had no idea what Matthew was thinking, but could guess at a little bit of it.

[Existentially Odd]

"Um?" Matthew squeaked, unable to respond that he\'d only said \'friendly\' because something had spat it out to replace \'handsome\', which would have been repeating himself.  Rico was friendly... when he wanted to be.  Sure, Matthew and he had lived in the same house before tonight without speaking so much as a civil word to one another, but as soon as Rico had seen him this morning, he\'d...

Going for a bath... Rico had seen him nearly naked and muddy, and then started being rather nice.  A coincidence?  Now Matthew was getting paranoid and had to wonder.  Would Rico find him atrractive?  The thought set his cheeks aflame again.  Goodness, he hoped not, it was hard to know what to do with that information.

"I mean you actually have a nice heart and you\'re generally helpful.  You know... friendly.  Nice?" he finished, hoping that would be enough of an explanation and that Rico would drop it (and move back!  This proximity was agonising but he didn\'t want to be seen to give up due to discomfort and pull away).  He had a feeling that Rico would only tease him more if he showed too many signs of weakness.

[Kysis]

By this time Rico was convinced: Matthew was absolutely adorable when flustered.  Rico had to try to get him that way more often.  It would make life at the townhouse much more interesting, that was for sure.  However, this closeness, Rico had to decide what to do with it.  One thing was for sure, Matthew had not moved back yet.  Another thing, Matthew was blushing more (if that was even possible).

It was time for decisions, and a fast one.

One: Rico could move away, go back to finishing his dinner and call it a night.  That would be interesting because Matthew would have time to stew on their little encounter.  He would be forced to think about it.  That could be good, but it could also be very bad.  Matthew did not seem the confrontational type, so Rico doubted the innocent servant would have the guts to bring it up at another time, even if it had be gnawing at him for days.

Two: Rico could make a move.  If it went badly, they could just go back to their strained way of life, barely even saying hi to each other until Rico either moved away or out or something like that.  If it went well... Rico had no idea.  He did find Matthew attractive (who couldn\'t?), but still...

Leaning in, Rico went with option two, giving a quick brush of his lips against Matthew\'s before pressing in a bit more firmly.  His hand started to reach up, fingers hovering just below Matthew\'s jaw.  It would probably just take seconds for Rico to know what Matthew thought.  The bad thing: each second felt like an eternity.

At least Matthew had nice lips.

[Existentially Odd]

Matthew decided it had to be a joke.  He\'d said Rico was friendly, nice, kind-hearted... next thing he knew, he was being kissed.  Basically, the servant man took it as a thank you, but a cheeky one, since that was Rico\'s style, as far as he could tell.  He was fine with it, even though it was slightly odd (but, again, that was just like Rico, right?).

What he wasn\'t fine with was his own reaction.  He\'d never been kissed on the lips like this before (he\'d had very few kisses at all on the lips, in fact, most were delivered to his cheeks and they were infrequent at best) and he was surprised at the reaction inside himself.  His heart did a flip in his chest and then started racing away from itself at a dizzying speed.  His mouth flooded with saliva and he blinked as if something was about to fly into his eyes.  Adrenalin coursed through him, making him feel more excited than he knew what to do with and there was a shot of awareness that flew down through his belly and to... other places.

It was a crazy reaction, one that didn\'t have any right surfacing at that exact moment.  His face flushed with a heat that felt so intense he could\'ve been leaning down to check the stove\'s fire and he shivered slightly.  rico likely felt he tremble in his lips.  To cover it up, he pressed his face forward slightly, to return the kiss and end it (in his opinion), for it was just a tease, a joke, a show of gratitude for him saying that Rico was a frienly guy - this was exactly how he proved he was and that should be Matthew\'s focus.

Never mind that his insane body had ideas all of its own that he couldn\'t bring himself to explore.  Best to wait for the kiss to be over so he could go back to eating his dinner (his utensils were clenched hard within his grasp for some strange reason).

[Kysis]

Well, that was hardly what he expected.  Rico had expected Matthew to sit there like a startled bunny rabbit caught in the road before a carriage with four stallions.  There was a tremble, which made Rico smile, and Matthew actually returned it.  Knowing what he now knew, Rico decided it was time to pull back, making a slow removal from his kiss.

That was better than he had expected.  Giving a friendly smile, Rico righted his position in his seat, sliding his food back towards him and beginning eating again, as though nothing had happened.  If Matthew had something to say, he could.  Rico watched him through the corner of his eyes, noticing the red still hadn\'t gone from Matthew\'s cheeks.

Filo pie was pretty good cold, Rico putting half his concentration on finishing his own portion.  It was going to be a very interesting life in the townhouse from now on.  Rico was sure of it.