Iago walks down the street, the main shops around him, his eyes are not seeing what's in front of him. His mind is on the kiss from months ago, the kiss that changed him. There isn't a night that goes by when he doesn't think about it.
He's tried dating, going out, there have been a couple of possibilities but he still had this feeling inside of him. One he can't ignore. They aren't Max. He feels it in him now as he semi focuses on the pavement in front of him. The last time he had really talked to Max was when he apologized to him. He looks up at the sky as he remembers it, Max so angry at him, wanting to make amends with him for kissing him and possibly being friends. His eyes going out of focus again as he remembers walking past Max. He had been close enough to touch him. It had taken work to leave, to walk away.
His focus coming back as the memory leaves but seeing something in his field of vision. It almost causes Iago to stop in his tracks. Max. Blue jeans, hoodie, jacket, hair in his face, book bag on his shoulder. He has not seen him in a while. Max's eyes focused on walking, keeping moving. Him and Enric still live together. Even though it had looked questionable if they would. Iago watches as Max walks by, as if in slow motion. The determined look on Max's face, to get where he's going. He watches as Max keeps walking.
His heart beating faster. He had promised himself he would leave Max alone. Leave him to the life he wants. Iago leans against the wall, trying to get his head clear. He promised he wouldn't interfere. Its hard to keep that promise in his mind with the feeling he's had, the pull he's felt ever since that first kiss, on every date he's been on is stronger now than its ever been. Hard to think through. The image of Max walking past him playing over and over.
He's trying to breathe, this pull wasn't for nothing. It isn't there to torment him, upset him, frustrate him. It's there for a reason. It's there because of how he feels about Max, stronger than anything he's ever felt. He wasn't keeping his promise this time. Iago pulls himself off the wall and starts walking in the direction Max was going. The time of day, the street isn't heavy with people. He spots Max ahead. Now that he has, what is his plan? He can't ask to talk to him, Max would just walk away, if they have a confrontation it would make a scene and that was the last thing he wants for himself or for Max.
There is a small alley between two buildings a few feet in front of Max. That would have to work. Iago picks up speed, his legs longer than Max's, he won't have to take as many steps as Max to make up for the distance. He checks around them, there is someone in front of Max but they are farther up. He is inches from Max now. The alley coming up. He takes hold of Max's arm, it snaps Max out of his thoughts. He can feel the warm of Max coming through his clothes, but there is little time for it as Max being startled by it and is starting to fight against whoever it is who has a hold of him. He pushes Max into the alley.
With Max going in first and him slightly behind, it is a close fit. They are a couple of feet in when Iago releases Max's arm. It causes Max' bag to drop. Iago checks out the alley really quick. He catches a glance of Max's face as he does. He is shocked, astonished that it is Iago. There is no one else in the alley. Max is so surprised it doesn't look like he is able to speak. But even looking as he does, it takes Iago's breathe away. "Have you?" Max is attempting to speak. "Have you lost your mind?" At least he is speaking, even if he is mad. "What the hell are you doing? What if someone saw you? What if someone did?" Was there a hint of worry for Iago's safety in his voice? Worried Iago would get caught? "I checked." Confidence in Iago's voice. Confidence he only felt around Max. "Of course you did." Max knew about Iago's past. He doesn't care what people think of it but he cares about what Max thought.
He is annoyed Iago has used his way of getting around to do this. Max leans down, picking up his bag. "Max." Iago protests. Taking hold of Max's arm again. The pull is stronger. It is coming from Max. He feels it too. He looks at Iago's hand, almost glaring at it. "Forget about me, Iago." Max saying His name, making his heart beat faster. "I can't forget about you." It is the first time he's said it out loud. Iago doesn't want to, it is why all the dates failed. Max has been on his mind all the time. How he is, what he does everyday, if he has gone to El Peri's lately, how he is doing in school. If he thought about Iago half as much as Iago thought about him. There is a change on Max's face, it isn't nearly as hard, as angry. It is almost concerned. He heard Iago's words, he believes Iago means them.
Iago realizes he still has a hold on Max's arm but Max isn't pulling it away. Iago releases it slowly, he wanted to savor it, Max under his fingers. It means as much to him as the kiss had. Max has taken a step back. He can see it in his eyes. He'd had a look on his face the last time he'd seen him. Anger. It isn't just anger, a fight. A fight in himself. He feels something too. He feels the pull. Iago had gone over that memory and gone over it. Should he put his hands in pockets so he's not tempted to touch him again? Yeah. He could do that much for him. "What do you want?" It soundes like it takes work to ask the question. Like he wants to know and doesn't. Almost torn. He is still fighting it. "I wanted to see you." It is a relief to say the words. Not just to himself.
In spite of himself, Max has answered a question for Iago. He has thought about Iago too. "I'm with Enric." Is he trying to convince himself or Iago? He sounds like he's said this before. Not out loud. It almost makes Iago smile. It is the first time since seeing Max that Enric has come up. Things must have been rockier with them than he'd heard. But when Iago looks into those brown eyes, nothing else exists. He forgot about Enric, he doesnt care if there is an Enric. While looking at Max's eyes he has been moving closer to him. He sees Max swallow, he had not expected for Iago to move closer. It is like he is being confronted by a bully. Unsure of what the bully is going to do.
His eye brows raise, eyes darting between Iago's, seeing if they will give away what Iago is planning. Max's palms on the wall, bracing himself. Iago wonders if Max had heard himself, if he believs what he is saying. Iago leans in, lightly touching his lips to Max's. Iago remembers their last kiss as he does. Max has been confused but his lips react. He has kissed Max to make a point. He ss into him. He wanted to show him as much. This time there is less confusion, less reluctance as he feels Max kiss him back. His hand reaching for Max's waist, curving around it. He feels Max's lips relax a little. Iago remembers how memorable the first kiss was and not because it was the first. There was surprise in it but there was almost and eagerness to it. Like he had never been kissed before.
He feels Max's hand come away from the wall, touching Iago's arm. At first Iago thinks Max is going to shove him away. But his hands start going up Iago's arm. Max has missed him. What brief time there had been for them had stuck with Max too. His hands now around Max's back, pulling him closer. The first kiss paled in comparison to this. Max's hands on Iago's face, the kiss growing deeper. Iago moans, the pull is stronger, almost humming as the backs of Iago's arms meet the wall. The humming isn't just any feeling, he wants Max. How this kiss feels, Max wants him too.
His hands moving along Max's back. It is a new feeling holding Max in his arms, one he is quickly growing addicted to. Iago breaks the kiss, moving to right side of Max's neck. It feels fluid to him, natural. Like something he is meant to do. Something a lover is meant to do. His hands back on Max's waist. Max's hand on Iago's arm, the other on the back of Iago's neck. This is beyond magic for Iago. After the months of keeping his distance, of respecting what Max wanted, he never thought he'd be this close to him. The reaction he'd had when he kissed him would be amplified. He can hear Max breathing, he feels himself melt into Max as he hears it, kissing his neck deeper. He is aware of how far he can go in an alley in broad daylight but Max isn't making it easy. He pulls back going to Max's lips, his hands on Max's sides.
This is, making out doesn't seem like the appropriate word, kissing comes close. It feels like more. Max feels like more. He has moved back to Max's lips to reign himself in but it is hard to stop. How he ss kissing Max, how Max is kissing him, how his hands are touching Max, how Max is touching him, feels intimate. Like they aren't meant to stop. Max isn't fighting this, although a small part of Iago had suspected he might. This is the last thing Iago thought would happen when he decided to track Max down. They are almost making love with their lips. Its what Iago wants to do. He wants to make love to him. He wants Max to be his. He wants to feel this pull all the time because it would mean he is with Max and Max is with him. Iago forces himself to stop, Max has been on his way somewhere and he ss running him late. Iago stops but he doesn't move.
Max has questions in his eyes. Did they really just kiss like that? He really just kissed Iago? Where had he been headed? "I want to see you again." Iago's voice light. Iago can't deny how he feels about Max now. "We can't, I can't." There is a changed in Max's eyes. His voice. The fight. It ss thicker than before. "I dont just mean this. I like you and I want to see you everyday. And I know you want that too." He felt it in the kiss. "You dont know anything about me." Who is he trying to convince, Iago or himself?
Iago knows Max wants to be a doctor to help people. No one else is a doctor in his family. Its how big Max's heart is. He knows Enric doesn't value that about him. When Max lookes at him, he feels Max doesn't see the criminal everyone else sees. He actually sees someone when he looks at Iago. How dedicated he is to school, to his friends, his family. Iago knows Max feels what he does, he's fighting it out of loyalty to Enric, which Enric does not deserve. Enric doesn't kiss Max how Iago did, that much is clear from the kiss too.
"When your ready, you know where to find me." Iago still works at the kiosk, he hopes after the talk they'd had in the kitchen after the kiss, Max might come in and Iago would get see him. Max came in to see Clara from time to time and he would see him at El Peris once in a while but the busier Max got with school the less he saw him. Iago bringing his hand up, touching Max's neck. Max reacts, his breathing picking up. Iago taking his hand away. Iago steps away, walking out of the alley. Iago takes a slight side glace back at the alley, Max steps out of it the third glance back. He could have stepped out on the first one, it would have been enough time for anyone around not to notice that Iago had left before him. Max had been affected by what Iago had said and Iago having touched him. Iago wants to be in Max's life. And Max to be in his. He isn't stepping back this time. Not with how he feels, not ever again. Max is too important.
