Antonio was waiting outside the Kronos building in suit and tie at seven. He'd considered changing to casual clothes, but time was running short, and Agnes had once told him he looked nice in a suit - which he'd latched onto happily for months, even knowing perfectly well she wouldn't date one of the cast - so hey, might as well see what Nathan thought of it. Nathan usually seemed to like him in a tux, anyway.
It hadn't just been the booze, clearly, and that was part of why Antonio was so jittery. He and Nathan had been friends for years, and whether or not Nathan went for a lot of young twinks, he definitely liked them good-looking. Not starting to show wrinkles, with a nose that had been broken twice before he was twenty - his powers hadn't manifested till he was fourteen, and he'd started getting in fights well before that - and a hairline that, much as Antonio tried to deny it, was slowly making its way up his scalp. The ass-grabs, and that wake-up call this morning, were as much a running joke as anything. Probably. Even if he was starting to wish they weren't.
He was pretty sure Nathan was too perceptive to miss that fumble about asking him to dinner, but he might pretend he had just to avoid awkwardness.
The car pulled up to the curb - red, of course, and not one Antonio recognized, so probably new - and Nathan rolled down the window as Antonio approached. "Don't you look sharp," he said, eyeing Antonio up and down.
"Didn't have a lot of time to change." Antonio pulled the door open and climbed in. "This one's new?" It didn't quite have the smell, but Antonio couldn't exactly afford cars in Nathan's range. Maybe they just emerged smelling like money.
"Newish," Nathan said, leaving it at that, which was a little odd. Normally he loved talking about his babies. "I got us reservations at K Grill, that new churrascaria on Gold. I'm not going to hold you to paying for it."
"I'm not broke, man. Just insecure."
"I think you worry too much. Trust me, I get to see the Hero Academy graduate roster every year."
"Yeah?"
"The most promising candidate was a stretchy guy. Don't get me wrong! I can see the combat applications, though costuming would be a nightmare, but that was the best of the bunch. After that was a woman who could grow her hair on command."
"I dunno," Antonio said. "Stretchy guy versus tough guy... novelty value might be enough to tip things in his favor."
Nathan sighed at him. "I'm trying to keep you from moping. The least you could do is play along."
"I'm not moping! I'm in a good mood today. I'm lookin' at this objectively."
"Hmmph."
"Seriously, the thing at the school was great. A bunch of kindergarten kids climbed all over me. They're adorable at that age. I bet they're a pain in the ass if you have to deal with 'em for long, but if you're just the human jungle gym for half an hour they're adorable."
"I bet you would be fun to climb," Nathan said, and Antonio felt his face heating up. Then Nathan laughed. "I didn't even mean it that way for once! Though, come to think of it..."
Antonio tugged at his tie. "It's usually a safe bet with you." And now he was envisioning Nathan trying to climb him. More fun without the armor on, at least for him.
Nathan looked entirely too pleased with himself as he nodded. "I have to wonder, though - aren't those drills a bit sharp?"
"Not too much. It's like with a... I'm going to say something about power tools and I know how you're going to take that..."
"I need to be less predictable," Nathan said. "At this rate we can skip entire conversations."
Antonio pulled at his tie again. "Sorry, I know you said I looked good, but it feels like wearing a noose."
Nathan grinned. "I miss your chest hair, so whatever makes you happiest."
Antonio loosened his tie, at first, planning to leave it at that. Then he wasn't sure how that looked, so he took it off entirely. He undid a couple of buttons on his shirt. Nathan interrupted his own story about planning an office party to say, "Now this is even better."
"What?"
"I get a date in a nice suit, then a striptease in my car. What's coming off next?"
"Shut up," Antonio protested, embarrassed, turning to look out the window. "Date" was good, but now he was all self-conscious.
"Aw," Nathan said. "So you're staying dressed? Don't get my hopes up like that."
"You need to buy me dinner first," Antonio said.
"You're not that kind of girl?" Nathan said. "Isn't that my line?"
"I dunno, I thought I was buying dinner."
"But sweetie, I am that kind of girl," Nathan said, and before Antonio had to come up with some kind of rejoinder to that, they pulled up, mercifully, into the valet parking lot.
If Nathan was so determined to be a lady, then fine; Antonio stepped forward to hold the door into the restaurant open for him. The smile he got for that was pretty dazzling, and Nathan took his arm as they followed the host toward their table. That, he could live with. And Nathan really did have an amazing smile, when he felt like it, makeup or no.
The server went through the canned explanation about the way the restaurant worked, then departed. "Short version: you never turn the card over to red," Antonio said.
"Because we both have an insatiable appetite for... meat," Nathan replied, running a suggestive fingertip around the edge of his water glass. Antonio buried his face in his hands. "Oh, come on, you had to know that was coming," Nathan protested, laughing.
"Yeah, I guess I just wasn't expecting that one..."
"At least I didn't say it in front of the waiter."
"True." Antonio looked up. "You can hit the salad bar if you want. I'm not eating a thing that wasn't part of an animal tonight."
"I guess I'll have to flag down the waiter, then. Tell him you changed your mind about the beer."
"Hey, none of that. Beer is honorary meat." Nathan cuffed him lightly on the shoulder and left the table.
The first time Nathan had dragged him to a churrascaria, he sealed the deal by describing it as "meat on sticks." Antonio had nearly balked when he saw how fancy that place was, and then they started circulating the beef. This one was new, so no telling how good the food would be, but he had high hopes.
When the steaks finally started coming their way, Antonio occupied himself with taking some of everything, until the servers stopped dropping by. He glanced at the card, which Nathan had turned over. "Hey," he said.
"Sweetie, come on. I got us a nice private table and you don't even want to talk?" Nathan pouted. "I feel like the spark's gone out of our marriage."
"...well, you've got the perfect set of powers to fix that, right?" Nathan grinned at him. "Fine, we can leave it over for now."
"Good, because I have so much more dirt about the Hero Academy picks. Admit it, lists of stupid powers are fun!"
"Sure," Antonio agreed, but he was only halfway paying attention. Looking at Nathan across the table, Antonio tried seeing him like he hadn't known him for years. He might not have pretty features, but if you took him from the neck up, he did make a striking woman... and without makeup, a pretty damn handsome man. It was a little confusing, because Antonio had always kind of liked women he could lift and men he could arm-wrestle. Okay, maybe not lift, not always really tiny short ladies, but really feminine women. Then again, he'd also always liked women who were smarter than him, and Nathan fit that bill. For that matter, they could probably arm wrestle, if Nathan thought his manicure could take it.
"Wait, wait. Sweat?" He couldn't have heard that right.
"Yeah," Nathan said. "I have no idea why you'd take that to Hero Academy. Tuition's not that cheap."
"Tuition's an arm and a leg," Antonio said. "But then again, I thought Origami's power sounded pretty useless when I first heard about him, and look how he's doing."
"It's those suits." Nathan actually sounded serious. "Back when it was all spandex, a power like yours would make you damn near unstoppable. But everyone's so armored-up now that being bulletproof is nothing special."
"What you're saying is I'm behind the times?" Nathan frowned at him. "I'm not taking it personal. I think you're right."
"They level the playing field," Nathan said. "But that means it favors someone with offensive powers to complement the suit's defense, or an offensive suit like Origami's. That's really what you need. Your suit's redundant."
"So why don't you have a big suit of armor?" Antonio looked longingly at the card - his plate was getting empty - but he did want to hear the answer.
"And cover all of this up?" Nathan leaned back in his chair, gesturing at his body - yeah, he was actually wearing a mesh shirt underneath that pink coat he loved so much. And making it look really good. "Come on, it'd be a crime and you know it."
Antonio thought about the Fire Emblem suit. Which had to be, like, vacuum-sealed or something for the way it showed off Nathan's build. Then he tried not to think about it anymore. "Yeah, well, I guess no one can make you change costumes, right?" Antonio turned the card over. This was why he'd had exactly one girlfriend since he moved here. It was one thing to pick someone up in a bar, but actually dating somebody? Trying to talk to somebody you actually really liked and also wanted to have sex with when you couldn't just say either of those things right upfront? It was impossible. And it'd never been a problem before. This was Nathan.
He got through the meal somehow, though, and succeeded in claiming the check - Nathan could be pretty sneaky about that - and they made their way out front to claim the car. Nathan slid his arms around Antonio's shoulders as they waited, and Antonio swallowed hard. The parking attendants were right there... but Nathan was right there. Antonio closed his eyes.
The kiss was soft, sweet, and surprisingly chaste, and when Antonio opened his eyes again, Nathan was watching him, looking a little... kind of amused and sad at the same time. "Relax," Nathan murmured. Easier said than done, Antonio thought, but he could think of one thing to do, so he kissed Nathan again. The other man swiftly took control, and Antonio found himself opening up to Nathan's probing tongue. His hands were clutching at Nathan's coat, and he made himself relax, flatten his palms against Nathan's back... and keep from yelping when Nathan's hands found his ass again. This time, the hands lingered, kneading, tugging their hips together, nothing like the usual joking gropes in bars and at the gym. He heard himself make a faint groan into Nathan's mouth, and he flushed as Nathan broke the kiss.
"Your keys, um, if you're ready," an unfamiliar voice said behind him, and Nathan reached past him to accept them from the attendant. Antonio followed him to the car, face burning, determinedly not making eye contact with anyone, which meant he was pretty much watching Nathan's ass.
"You'll never see them again," Nathan pointed out gently, once they were both inside the car.
"Be nice if that helped," Antonio mumbled. Not that it had done a damn thing about his hard-on, which was equally embarrassing.
"Aw, sweetie," Nathan said, his voice still surprisingly gentle. "Next time I'll save that for when we're in private, okay?"
"Okay," Antonio said automatically, then "Next time?"
"If there is one." Nathan started the car. "So, your place or mine?"
Antonio thought about his place, which would be in the state he'd left it when he got the call yesterday; groceries half put away, scraps of fabric all over the kitchen table, bills and junk mail and a big collection of empty bottles going back months all over the coffee table. "Yours."
Nathan spent most of the ride resisting the urge to talk Antonio through his self-consciousness. He knew from past experience it never worked, but it was still hard to keep himself from pointing out that the waiters or bartenders or parking attendants saw hundreds of people a day, and weren't going to bother remembering them in particular. To be fair, Nathan himself kind of undermined that argument - he rarely failed to look memorable. But he'd never been cursed with any fear of what anyone else thought, and he would have liked to be able to pass some of that fearlessness along.
But Antonio hadn't shoved him away, or bolted, or asked to be dropped off at his own place... or wherever his car was supposed to be at the moment. Good enough for Nathan. At his own apartment, he led the way to the elevators. "It really is just as shiny when I'm sober," Antonio said.
"I hope you weren't too hungover this morning."
"Nah, I was fine," Antonio said, leaning back against the wall. Nathan leaned against him, his hand exploring the front of the other man's shirt.
"You know, there aren't too many floor-to-floor visitors..." he began, toying with one of Antonio's buttons.
"Yeah?" That sounded promising.
"And it's a long elevator ride..." Button slipped through buttonhole. Pity Antonio was wearing an undershirt.
"True," Antonio said. "Kind of boring, from what I remember."
"Exactly," Nathan purred, pulling Antonio's head down for another kiss. No hesitation this time; Antonio's arms went around him, under his coat, and he opened up before Nathan's exploring tongue. He unbuttoned Antonio's shirt as they kissed, feeling the hands running up his back, back down, and then reaching his hips. Nathan grinned against Antonio's neck as he felt the other man's hands reach his ass, cupping and squeezing. He pressed his hips hard against Antonio's, feeling his obvious arousal, and the door chimed discreetly. Antonio let go of him in a hurry, less familiar with the elevator than Nathan was, and Nathan led the way out and to his door.
Keycode, thumbprint, and Antonio's lips on the back of his neck as the lock clicked open. "Let me show you the bedroom," Nathan said, laughter trying to bubble up through his voice; he'd figured he'd have to work a bit harder than this to seduce Antonio.
"Laughing at me?" Antonio asked against his ear.
"No, no. Just at the situation." Nathan turned to face Antonio, pulled him through the door, and peeled the suit jacket off of him. Half the fun of suits was the unwrapping. He untucked Antonio's dress shirt, undid his belt; Antonio was clearly stymied about how to do anything beyond undoing the one button on Nathan's coat. Nathan took pity on him and pulled back to shrug out of it. "Believe me, you don't want to miss the bedroom."
"If you say so," Antonio agreed, trailing after him. Nathan let his hips swing a bit - give Antonio something to watch on the long journey through the living room - and flung the bedroom door open. Of course, the cleaning service had made the bed, so no visible silk sheets, but he'd get to those, once he'd gotten tired of the view.
"Damn," Antonio said, drifting over to the window. Nathan followed, pleased to get to show it off; he'd always kind of wanted to show it to Antonio, but his friend always took invitations to his bedroom the wrong way. For some reason.
"And now you see why penthouses cost so much." Nathan was equally proud of the rest of the room - the clean, contemporary design, the pink and orange palette he and his designer had spent weeks hashing out, the neutral rug and walls to balance the bold accents he loved so much - but doubted Antonio would care. Except maybe about how easy it was to get in and out of the bed (very.)
"No kidding." The windowsill was deep enough to sit on, if not quite a bow window; Antonio leaned a knee on it. "So how do you ever get laid, if everybody gets distracted by this first?"
"Oh, I have my ways," Nathan said, pulling Antonio's shirt off. The big man helped him remove it, absently, and rubbed the back of his neck. Nathan slid his arms around Antonio from behind, reaching for his zipper. Antonio caught his hands, though, holding both wrists. "You're changing your mind now?"
Antonio looked over his shoulder, so Nathan could catch the corner of his grin. "Shouldn't it be ladies first?"
"Sweetie, you really know how to sweep a girl off her feet," Nathan said with an exaggerated flutter, to hide the real one he was feeling. This from Antonio, who'd sealed his fate as a groping target with a casual "Come on, man, you're not actually a girl," about three weeks after they met.
"I must have just learned," Antonio muttered, which Nathan ignored, running the tip of his tongue around the rim of Antonio's ear. Antonio's breath hitched, and Nathan tugged at his undershirt, which was enough to get him to turn his back to the window and turn his attention to Nathan. Big hands ran up his torso, and Nathan's own breath caught as Antonio thumbed his nipple through the cloth. "This thing does look damn good on you," he said, gruffly. "Always has, I guess."
Nathan had been wearing shirts like this for how long now? How long had Antonio been noticing? "If you're going to say it'd look better on the floor..."
"Nah," Antonio said, then lowered his head. His lips brushed Nathan's neck, making him shiver, as he asked, "So what's your bed like? Besides expensive?"
"Pink, too," Nathan said. "I can't believe you forgot that." He began backing that way, pulling Antonio along, not wanting to interrupt any of the very interesting things he was doing to his neck and upper chest. When the backs of his knees hit the edge of the mattress, he pulled Antonio down on top of him. "Normally I take the lead," he said, and then Antonio's mouth found his nipple through the shirt, Antonio's knee pressed his legs apart, and he stopped thinking in words for a bit.
"How the hell do you get these pants off?" Antonio finally asked, pulling him back to reality for a minute. "I mean, they don't feel like paint, but-"
"You're such a romantic," Nathan said, and took the opportunity to peel off Antonio's undershirt and his own before he turned his attention to the problem at hand. His boots and pants joined the heap on the floor, and he got Antonio's pants undone if not off before Antonio caught his hands.
"Am I going to have to tie you up?"
"Mmmmaybe..."
Antonio's face reddened. "I was joking," he said.
"Aww." He pouted for a moment, but he wasn't about to derail things now. "Okay, I'll be good." Not that it was all that difficult to stop interfering, when Antonio's hands were sweeping over his thighs and Antonio's tongue was flicking like liquid fire at his nipple. Nathan tried to catch his breath as Antonio sat up for a moment. But then Antonio's hand circled Nathan's shaft, Antonio's mouth closed over the head, and he heard himself actually moan. The whole world narrowed down to the heat of Antonio's mouth, the big hand working Nathan's shaft, the other, cool with lubricant, reaching back, probing, and then sliding in. He sighed something unintelligible, only to feel Antonio's mouth leave him for a moment.
"You all right?"
"God yes," he gasped. "Don't stop." Nathan heard him chuckle, then he resumed, taking Nathan deeper, working the finger in and out of him, and Nathan gave himself up to the rhythm Antonio had set. He heard himself groaning with each breath, he felt himself nearing the edge, and then diving over, his audible gasp all the warning Antonio would have had.
He just laid there happily, panting, as Antonio wiped his mouth, found some tissue, and joined him on the bed, the mattress creaking under his weight. "I guess that worked, huh?"
"You could say that," Nathan agreed. Antonio kissed him again, with enough heat to remind him of his original plan, and Nathan sat up, his hands roaming Antonio's chest, easing him back down onto the mattress. "My turn," he said, sliding a bare leg between Antonio's still-clothed knees.
"No arguments here," Antonio said. Nathan just sat over him for a moment, taking him in. It wasn't just his ass, his whole body might as well have been chiseled out of stone; the powerful arms, the chest and abs only partly veiled by his wedge of chest hair, leading down into a treasure trail neatly centered on his half-undone fly.
"I can't believe I didn't try this sooner," Nathan said, unzipping him the rest of the way.
Antonio obediently lifted his hips while Nathan pulled his slacks off. "You weren't trying every time you grabbed my ass?"
"Honey, when I'm trying, you know. As I think I proved today." Nathan rubbed him through the boxer briefs, enjoying the intake of breath that won him, then crawling up him to kiss him again. He ran his nails lightly down Antonio's arms, back up, noticing the small shiver that created before he turned his attention to Antonio's ear, his neck, down his throat. His nipples got nothing more than a hitch in the breath - not as sensitive as Nathan's, then. Unfortunately.
Nathan began tugging down the waistband of his underwear, and Antonio lifted his hips again to help. There should be some kind of fanfare or something, Nathan thought. He'd been a good girl, all this time, and never snuck a peek in the locker room. Antonio was a big guy in all respects, his cock bending a bit downward, like it weighed too much to lift beyond a certain point. And while Nathan gave it an exploratory lick from base to head, he stopped at that for now. "Hey," Antonio complained.
"Am I going to have to tie you up?"
"Hmmph."
Nathan's first boyfriend had been a rugby player, and he considered himself kind of a connoisseur of men's legs. And every other part, but he had a soft spot for legs. Antonio's were some of his favorites, solid, well-defined, and apparently enough of a sensitive area to suit Nathan's purposes. The light tracks of fingernails on his thighs made him shiver, the smooth backs of the nails dragged over his inner thighs got a small noise of approval, lips and teeth made his breath catch, and he was panting eagerly by the time Nathan moved on to the main event. His tongue just underneath the head netted him a grunt of satisfaction, his mouth engulfing it a satisfied groan, and the steady rhythm and pressure of hands and mouth he set up after that produced heavy, escalating breathing, rising to a groaned, surprised-sounding "Fuck, oh God," as he spurted into Nathan's mouth.
Nathan let him lie there, recovering, as he went to clean himself up; Antonio hadn't even discovered the palatial bathroom yet. When he returned, Antonio was propped up on his elbows. "What the hell were we waiting for?" Antonio asked.
"For you to stop screaming every time I goosed you?" Nathan said, coming to stand over him. "Or at least stop screaming in terror."
"Yeah, well, you sneak up on me. How am I supposed to know who's grabbing me?"
"Basic pattern recognition," Nathan suggested, and Antonio snorted derisively. Nathan gave his now-quiescent penis an affectionate pat and went around to the other side of the bed to turn the covers down. Antonio sat up.
"You weren't kidding about the pink."
"Real silk, too."
Antonio flopped back on the covers. "Kind of makes my head hurt to think how much money you have," he said.
Sometimes it blew Nathan's mind a bit, too. "Just get under the covers," he said. "Trust me, you'll like it."
With much grumbling and creaking - you'd think he was wracked with arthritis the way he carried on sometimes - Antonio joined him between the sheets. "Huh," he said, cautiously. "I guess this is pretty nice."
"I think so," Nathan said, stretching out, his arms folded behind his head.
"I kinda meant... the whole thing. You know, being here. With you."
Nathan stopped himself just before he could say I don't get many complaints. Antonio was laying on his side, looking at him, his expression so serious it made Nathan's heart pound. "It is, isn't it?" he said. "I'll have to convince you to celebrate more often."
"If I have something to celebrate," Antonio said. "Be nice if I did, though."
"What, you don't think I'm reason enough to celebrate?" Nathan rolled over on to his side, too, facing Antonio.
Antonio just smiled at him, a little sleepily. "Maybe you are."
Nathan had just grinned and said "You know I am," and closed his eyes to go to sleep, leaving Antonio to lie there mooning over him like a crushed-out teenager. He'd known Nathan for years, so why was he only now getting all goofy over the way his eyes crinkled up when he smiled, how smooth his skin was, how sweet he'd been in the car after Antonio got all embarrassed? And some other thoughts like damn he can do some interesting things with those fingernails, but the goofy crush stuff was what was dominating, and that freaked him out pretty good.
Yeah, Nathan didn't mind sleeping with him, and even kind of acted like more than once might be okay, but that didn't mean he was okay with the crushed-out teenager thing. And he was kind of scarily perceptive, especially when it came to feelings and stuff like that - he'd called Blue Rose's crush on Kotetsu a good six months before anyone else noticed - so Antonio was worried he'd figure this out, too.
Or maybe he should just say it. Rip off the band-aid. Ignore the terror from that thought, like he ignored the voice saying I'm going up really high in the air and then I'll fall and die and my powers won't help when he got the word to use the launcher. Nathan was a good guy. He wouldn't be a jerk about it. But knowing Nathan wouldn't torment him over it didn't help him shake the feeling that the world would end if he told Nathan and Nathan didn't feel the same.
Or what if he did? That was kind of terrifying in its own way, too. What if they tried and it didn't work out? Friends with benefits was one thing, but when you got all those squishy feelings involved, it got messy in a hurry. Granted, they wouldn't have to lie to each other, and that'd have to help, but people broke up for a lot of reasons beyond You're not being honest with me or I could accept being stood up repeatedly if you'd just explain or If you're actually a doctor on call, where did you go to med school? If he and Nathan broke up, that'd be like... he couldn't even think of a good metaphor. It'd be like the world ending. Like being fired from the ground onto the roof of a skyscraper without any armor or NEXT powers.
The only good way for this to work out would be if Nathan felt the same as he did and they... oh God, what about after that? Like they should live happily ever after?
The only good way for this to work out was to get the hell out before Nathan noticed how goofy he was acting, and then pretend nothing had ever happened between them until he got over it. Right?
The next morning, Nathan pretty much confirmed that with a light "Got it out of your system?"
"Huh?" Antonio responded. He'd been vaguely aware of Nathan being up and moving around, water running somewhere, but he'd drowsed through it. He sat up, taking in the sight of a makeup-free Nathan in a towel, which was easily the second-best wakeup call he'd gotten in the last twenty-four hours or so.
"Maybe not," Nathan practically purred, letting the towel slip as he advanced on the bed, and while the next half-hour or so was pretty fucking amazing, that out of your system nagged at him. Like it was going to go away? Granted, he kind of hoped it would, but it was a little disheartening that Nathan obviously did too. And maybe a little unlike Nathan, who seemed to consider himself the best thing that ever happened to most men - with good reason, Antonio was starting to think - but maybe wanting Antonio not to follow him around like a lost puppy trumped ego.
Eventually, Antonio investigated the bathroom - which was bigger than the first studio apartment he'd rented in LA, he thought, and also bigger than his kitchen in Stern Bild - and emerged to find Nathan absent from the bedroom. Noises led him to the kitchen, where Nathan was doing something at the counter. "Breakfast?" he asked brightly, like a housewife from some old black-and-white sitcom. He might as well be wearing pearls as he vacuumed.
"Uh, sure," Antonio agreed. "What are you making?"
"Scrambled eggs, pancakes... don't make that face, you can have them with jam or something. Or plain. And there's bacon."
I love you, he thought, the kind of thing he'd have said as a joke yesterday at that news, but sure as hell couldn't say right now. He was a little afraid to sit down, to make it like he was waiting for his wife to serve him breakfast or something, but he wasn't sure what else to do. Try to raise the whole hey, I think I really like you, we should keep doing this only without the cracks about getting it out of my system issue? Offer to help in the kitchen somehow? Try to imagine doing this every day, for years, waking up with Nathan? Stand there, leaning against the table, arms folded, until Nathan told him to stop glowering and sit down?
By default, that last one won out, but rather than sitting, he went over and wrapped his arms around Nathan from behind. Without the heels, he was a bit shorter than Antonio, short enough for Antonio to rest his face against Nathan's hair. Oh God, he thought, I am so fucked, but what he said was, "I wasn't glowering."
"Mm, well, if you say so," Nathan replied. "If I'd known you liked to watch me cook I would have worn my frilly little apron."
"You have a... what am I saying, of course you do." Nathan laughed, and Antonio considered that image. "And nothing else?"
"You'll just have to find out," Nathan said. "Anything on your mind, honey?"
"Nah," he lied, nuzzling Nathan's shoulder. Just more of the kind of thoughts that were going to be the death of him one way or another, like the fact that Nathan smelled really good. Kind of spicy and flowery. Did he wear perfume or cologne? Probably better not to ask, he sometimes got offended by questions like that.
Nathan just responded with another hmming noise, then a moment later with "Might be easier to eat if you let go of me."
"I like a challenge," Antonio said, but he let go, headed back over to the table. Nathan followed, bearing two plates of food. The table already had jars of stuff - jam and jelly and what-all, maple syrup, salt and pepper.
Nathan waited until he had a mouthful of eggs to say "I think we need to talk about our relationship," then laughed when Antonio kind of choked. "I love doing that," he said.
"'Cause you're evil," Antonio complained. "What the hell?"
"Well, really," Nathan said. "Are we doing this again?"
Oh shit. "Um. Do you want to?" Nathan just gave him one of those enigmatic smiles he liked to use when he was toying with a wine glass. "I mean, I... wouldn't mind..."
"Good," Nathan said, giving him that eye-crinkling smile again, and Antonio thanked God he apparently looked like he was glowering even when he was thinking embarrassingly-romantic thoughts about the co-worker making breakfast for him. "I've been wondering - when was the last time you went home?"
"Geez, don't even ask. I just hope I put away the frozen stuff before we got called out day before yesterday. Good thing I had a change of clothes at the training center." And that they could do laundry there. They had their schedules for that day to talk about, Nathan's as terrifying as ever - he was already poking at his corporate PDA, answering emails between bites of pancake - and Antonio's fairly full, by his own standards, as well.
"Ought to be nice to sleep in your own bed for a change," Nathan said, and Antonio nodded, hoping that wasn't some kind of subtle brush-off. "I need to get going, sweetie, early meeting today - you can stay as late as you want, the door will lock behind you."
Antonio nodded, continuing to eat as Nathan flitted from room to room, emerging at one point in the underpinnings of a suit to test out his lipstick by kissing Antonio, another time in search of a pair of earrings. Talk about our relationship, Antonio thought, watching Nathan shrug on a suit jacket of a subdued pink. That was unexpected, but so was most of this. He'd thought he'd be the one trying to find a reason to leave, bumble out the door and hope Nathan wasn't feeling sorry for him on the other side of it, not watching Nathan rush off, a million other things on his mind.
Was that better? Instead of being Nathan's poor besotted friend, he was safely filed under F, for fuckbuddies. No need to worry about him any further.