The Real Question Is What Isn't Wrong With Your Life

A book had never come quite as easily to him before. Maybe it was because of the expanse of new material Toris had to pull from here, or because of wanting to write a mystery type novel that Eduard would be interested in reading even though he never planned on showing it to him. Either way Toris was now typing his handwritten and once-self-edited work into the computer.

On the other hand... would Natalia like it? He knew that Natalia did like to read, but he had been unable to learn from Ivan what she preferred to read. And who knew, some people did not like fantastical elements thrown into seemingly realistic stories. But it had been a while since he had added any fantasy into his work and immortality was such an interesting plot twist to put near the ending of the book. Interesting and not completely out of the blue.

Maybe he would ask Heidi. He had seen her with Natalia recently, she might know.

He heard someone in the house, which must mean that Feliks had forgotten something and had returned for it. Toris had not been expecting to be able to see him at all today, not with it being the rehearsal and all. He could not wait for this to be over. Just because he was really tired of being asked what his opinion was when Feliks half of the time did not even pay attention to what Toris had suggested. So he did not stop typing, simply continued to work expecting Feliks to run out at any moment.

"...Toris-baby?"

Toris looked up from the screen and turned his head to the right toward the door. "Hey Feliks. Everything all right?"

Feliks did not respond immediately, which was strange. Strange and the reason why Toris did not look right back at the screen and go back to work while he spoke with Feliks. Something was up, whether it was a real problem or not. Feliks seemed to think it was. Not that that meant anything.

"Yeah! Like, of course! Just... busy. And stuff." Feliks laughed. It seemed really forced. Toris rose an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" Feliks stopped pretending to laugh, staring at him as if he were speaking some sort of strange language. And Toris knew he was not speaking Lithuanian.

"Just some totally weird words have been floating about the place. You know."

"Okay." Well, Toris supposed that even someone who was used to living in Hearth could be weirded out by some of the stuff that happened here. It certainly made him feel better when he found himself completely confused about what happened on a continual basis. He went back to his work.

"So..." Feliks was saying, folding his arms across his chest. "You wanna do something special for dinner tonight?"

Toris could have groaned. It was not that it was a bad idea, but he knew that with everything else going on that meant that it would be left up to him to come up with something if Feliks wanted some special dinner. "We could, if you're not too full up from the rehearsal dinner."

"I'll be, like, too busy to eat," Feliks said, leaning forward on the other side of the desk. Toris looked back up at him.

"I'll have something for you when you come home then." It was about the moment that Toris had expected Feliks to say something like "You are so sweet, Toris!", but Feliks was quiet. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"I... am just curious," Feliks swept his hair back out of his face, moving around the table to stand beside Toris, so Toris quickly closed up his document and flipped his notebook shut. "I heard from Ivan that... well, actually it was really Natalia, but it makes.... like, I'm confused."

"So am I," Toris agreed, staring up at his friend.

"They say you like me," Feliks said quickly. "But I knew that. Right? You totally like me...?"

There seemed to be something more to this, but Toris was not certain what it was. "Of course I like you Feliks. I never made a secret of it."

A strangled noise escaped Feliks' throat. Before Toris could ask 'what', Feliks had grabbed his head, pulled him forward and kissed him. Hold that thought, he was kissing him. Right now. Still doing it. In the process of. That.

Suddenly Feliks pulled away and hit him lightly on the shoulder. "You should have told me, like, forever ago!" he scolded him. Toris was still trying to re-hinge his tongue.

"Whu...?"

"Can't wait for dinner!" Feliks grinned, kissing him on the cheek (a sort of kiss that Toris was more used to getting from the other man) and then running out of the room. "See you later, Toris!"

Toris swallowed. "Feliks! Feliks? What was that–" he stopped, realizing that Feliks was long gone by that point. What was that about? Was Feliks asking him if he liked him? That would explain the reaction. Except it did not, not by a long shot.

His head hit the desk.

What is wrong with my life?


Notes:

I like that Feliks tries flirting first, then tries to ask whether it is true, then after failing just assumes that is it. Feliks is simply and utterly fabulous like that.