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[BlueFairy]: SCANDALOUS!
[BlueFairy]: And illegal! I’m speechless!
[BlueFairy]: 😉
[Pianist]: He’s scared shitless now, cuz he thinks you’re going to send an assassin to kill him :’D
[BlueFairy]: Haha!
[BlueFairy]: Or not haha… does he have a reason to be scared?
[Pianist]: Not in particular. He’s nice, he paid for dinner, he’s a good kisser and said he wants to court me, so I assume he’s some sort of vampire too. I mean, that sounds kind of cool?
[BlueFairy]: Courting you, how… old-fashioned?
[Pianist]: Right? Well, it’s cute in a sense. A guy who’s so much into consent and stuff.
[BlueFairy]: AS HE SHOULD BE.
[Pianist]: Mhm.
[Pianist]: How is it on your end? All good?
[BlueFairy]: I got myself a big bowl of ice-cream and decided to watch Legally Blond, I think I’m good 😊
[Pianist]: Your tummy will hurt.
[BlueFairy]: Oh no, what am I going to doooo!
[Pianist]: -.-
[BlueFairy]: Stop worrying and enjoy your evening. Or courting. Or… what are you two even doing, when you’re chatting with me?
[Pianist]: Well, he’s trying to get rid of some insta stuff shenanigans, I guess he runs a fan account or something, idk. I went for a shower, then decided I wanted a bath instead, so I’m lying in the bubble bath and texting you 😉
[Pianist]: Wondering how patient he’s going to be, and if he’s going to come here eventually or sit it out.
[BlueFairy]: Since when did you turn into such succubus? You never liked sex stuff.
[Pianist]: D: Who’s talking about sex! Who even taught you that word! I’m gasping!
[BlueFairy]: Are you not talking about sex?
[Pianist]: Idk? I mean. I just kinda wanna know what’s gonna happen. What’s he gonna do. It’s intriguing, he’s the first person I don’t mind touching me. Like at all.
[BlueFairy]: That so :o
[Pianist]: Even kissing was pretty nice. And I never enjoyed kissing before.
[BlueFairy]: I know. That’s why I’m surprised.
[Pianist]: Might be THE one. My Mr. Big.
[BlueFairy]: Hm. Wonder if he is big. I mean. Mr. Big.
[Pianist]: SOPHIA! Lady does not entertain such thoughts.
[BlueFairy]: Then don’t put them in my head!
[Pianist]: Don’t blame me, tssss.
Carlo almost dropped the phone into the bathtub when the knock came, and only barely managed to save it from drowning. With a sigh of relief, he plopped it into the pile of his clothes and allowed Romeo to enter the bathroom, who did that with surprising ease - no stammering, no coy looks, just a confident entrance. If the roles were reversed, he’d never be able to act so nonchalant, more likely it would set up an immediate combustion.
“Oh good, I was afraid you’d drowned,” the blond man leaned against the door frame, without even a polite attempt not to ogle – although not much could be seen, since the bubbles covered most of the water surface Carlo was hidden under.
“That would be cruel,” Carlo smiled sweetly at him. “You’d get jailed for murder.”
“I’m glad you think of me even in your possible death,” Romeo rolled his eyes, but somewhat fondly. He was still dressed in his cosplay, only the shoes were missing, and seeing him like this, in the doorway, posing like a Zara model, Carlo couldn’t help but think his parents created something far too pretty for his own good.
“Of course, would hate to see you behind bars,” Carlo propped himself against the edge of the bath, leering. “Your ass would never survive the night.”
“How sweet of you.”
“Mhm.”
They entered a bit of a stalemate, one would say. Carlo couldn’t deny a certain anticipation for what could come, because somehow, despite his previous not exactly enjoyable experiences in life, he felt major excitement coursing through him every time Romeo touched him. The kissing made his toes curl, and every wandering caress of Romeo’s hands over his body, let it be the waist, the sides of his neck, or his face, introduced a new swarm of butterflies into his stomach, making him lightheaded and breathless.
Yet despite their undeniable interest in the other, no immediate sheets-tousling and no frantic make-out happened once they reached their destination. And maybe that made Carlo even more charmed by this man than before. Romeo made no attempt to hide his obvious attraction; he told him so boldly on many occasions with barely any filter on, and yet he approached the situation with infinite patience of somebody trying not to spook his prey.
Which, in one way or the other, Carlo probably had been. But not in a bad sense?
They kissed almost obscenely before, too. But even though they reached the hotel pressed together like they couldn’t wait for the doors to close, Carlo felt the nervous fear bubbling inside of him the closer to Romeo’s room they had been – and even though he was pretty sure he hid that well, he had a feeling Romeo still could tell and accommodated him. Offered him a shower first with no pressure, no hands in inappropriate places, no sudden advances, instead he gave him his shirt to change into and told him cheekily not to drown.
And Carlo, a bit dazed from it all, loved it.
“You gonna stand there for the rest of the night?” he decided to push it a little, his mind finally calm again, ready for another dose of excitement.
“You want me to?” Romeo inquired. Carlo shook his head. “Alright.” He took several barefoot steps closer, but not close enough for Carlo to reach him.
Tease.
“Closer,” Carlo said with a pout, and Romeo’s lips curled in a smile. Taunting, playful. He took one more step forward. “Closer.”
One more step. Carlo pushed himself up and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him next to the bath. Romeo must have expected it, since he didn’t even waver, and with grace kneeled in front of the tub like he meant to do that all along.
“What a forceful fellow you are,” he still said with humour, and Carlo splashed him with water, hitting him in the chest and his chin. The deep V-cut of the red shirt he still wore obscured the water trail like an ad for dubious erotic sites, and Carlo had to force himself not to follow the droplets with his eyes.
Who would have thought this could be so sexy?
“That’s what you get for being a tease,” he masked his wandering gaze with an eyeroll.
“And what else do I get?”
Well, what else would that be? Carlo felt his heartbeat quicken when leaning forward, planting a small kiss at the corner of Romeo’s smiling mouth. Then to the other corner. Soft, careful, and attentive, enjoying the low, rumbly hum every time their lips connected.
Wait, was it a good hum or a bad hum?
Maybe it was too slow for him? He must have been used to much more experienced partners, right? Could it bore him – if not now, then eventually? Because even though Carlo was curious and probably also ready to conquer some of his baseless fears if he could, it never meant Romeo would enjoy the same pace or support the learning experience.
“Hey,” the blond man spoke, alerting Carlo from his spiralling thoughts, his voice soft. “You’ll get all pruney if you stay in the water all night.”
“No way.”
“Like a raisin,” Romeo added, his hand taking Carlo’s in, thumb caressing his already wrinkly fingertips. “See?”
“What, is that not sexy to you?” Carlo joked back, and his breath hitched when Romeo kissed his fingers one by one.
“Everything about you is all I’ve ever wanted,” he mumbled into Carlo’s hand, kissing his palm, then the pulse point on his wrist, a small, short pecks traveling up his bare skin to his elbow where he finally let go, just to return to Carlo’s face, kissing his forehead, his nose and then his lips. “Like a dream come true.”
“That’s so corny,” Carlo giggled almost hysterically between short kisses, feeling the curve of Romeo’s smile on his lips.
“My one and only,” Romeo continued, “my beautiful prince,” a kiss, “my soulmate” a kiss, “my-,”
“Aaaaa, stoooooop!” Carlo scrambled to press his hands against Romeo’s mouth, and despite it being so terribly clichéd, he couldn’t stop the redness creeping into his face. Romeo’s eyes were laughing, very much aware of what effect it had on him, completely dissolving any kind of unwanted thoughts Carlo could have.
“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” he gently removed Carlo’s hands from his mouth, squeezing them reassuringly before letting go. “Water is lukewarm already, that can’t be nice.”
Well, it wasn’t exactly Eden anymore, he had to admit. He watched as Romeo stood up and grabbed a towel from the shelf, white and big like in almost every hotel, and unfolded it for Carlo to step into.
Which would be him fully naked.
Alright. It escalated quickly, but why not? He wasn’t a blushing maiden, after all. And he sure as hell didn’t have anything Romeo hadn’t seen before on himself or any other guy.
Hopefully.
He stood up abruptly, and Romeo engulfed him with the towel before there could be even a sliver of chance the blond man seeing anything, wrapping him like a burrito. And just like that, he grabbed Carlo under the knees and around his back and carried him princess style out of the bathroom, while Carlo would deny any possibility of him letting out an unmanly shriek at the manhandling.
He got unceremoniously dropped onto one of the two beds in the room with a soft oof, and Romeo left for the bathroom again just to bring the shirt Carlo was supposed to change into.
“Fuck, I’ve wanted to say you should buy me a dinner first, but I guess you did that already,” Carlo wriggled in the towel cocoon, trying to free his arms, while Romeo put the shirt next to him and smirked:
“I’ve covered all the bases, pretty boy.”
“I’m impressed.”
“As you should be. Anyway, I’ll be right back,” Romeo disappeared in the bathroom again, but before he closed the door, his head peeked out: “If I don’t return in 10, call a fire brigade.”
“What? No trust in my life-saving skills?” Carlo gasped dramatically.
“And miss a sexy, shirtless firefighter?”
“How dare -,” he took a breath, but then imagined the firefighter calendars and had to admit, no, it wasn’t a bad request, actually. “No, never mind, you have a point.”
Romeo shot finger guns at him, like a damn child, but it made Carlo snort, so maybe they both just had an immature sense of humour.
Once he heard the water in the bathroom running, Carlo reached for another borrowed shirt, though this time much homier and with less fear of ruining it accidentally. It had “I’m not responsible for what my face does when you talk” slogan, which made him cackle, and was a size bigger than his usual – but then again, everything kind of was when it came to Romeo.
The only thing that was missing was briefs. Which he left in the bathroom.
At least the shirt is long enough…
He just had to get them later, he mused and looked around the room instead. It had been smaller and less, as one would say, posh than they had with Sophia. Half-opened wardrobe in the corner showed some neatly hanged clothes peeking out, and a suitcase stood next to it. Just one, as was also the unmade bed Romeo dropped him on, which meant his friend really had left.
Carlo frowned to himself, trying to recall the face of the woman in the bathroom. In his distress, he might not have been exactly accurate, but he’d swear this Lea looked like the Lea from Sophia’s family photos. But wouldn’t that be the most cliché thing ever, two sisters reuniting at the same convention, cosplaying the same game?
He wanted to ask Sophia, but he knew Lea had always been rather sensitive topic for her, so he kept it to himself, for now. But if anything, Romeo should know, right? They were friends after all.
In his contemplation, he completely missed when the bathroom door opened, until he felt a dip in the mattress in front of him, startling himself at the sudden proximity of the blond man next to him.
“Thinking about the immortality of a cockroach?” If Romeo noticed his reaction, he didn’t comment on it. “We just must accept their superiority. They’ll one day rule the Earth.”
His heart was beating so fast. If it were a bell, they’d be deaf already.
“Cockroach overlords?” he played into it to force himself to calm down again, but it was difficult under Romeo’s intense gaze, not to mention from so close. The blond, damp hair framed a serious-looking face, the droplets of water were trailing over his bare chest and only stopping at the towel that hung dangerously low on his hips, and it equalled a recipe for disaster.
Carlo could feel himself swallowing hard, and Romeo’s eyes followed the movement of his throat before returning to his face. He could see how it mostly focused on his lips and licking them in response was probably too bold a taunt.
He didn’t even mean to do that; it just naturally happened, like when you want to help yourself from going mad from chapped lips. Just in this case, it was his thoughts.
“You okay?” Romeo asked in a low, deep voice that went straight to Carlo’s heart.
“Mhm,” he managed to force out, although he probably lied. The nervousness grew so strong he felt like shattering into pieces, just to escape it.
“Carlo.” His name sounded so sweet from this man’s lips. Like a spell that meant to bewitch him, capture him, make him lie down and take what was coming to him.
A tender touch on his cheek sent a shiver down his spine. Nothing was happening, but it could be, and his brain was already in the middle of an overload, both expecting and fearing the intense stimulation to come.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, taking in the lingering caress that travelled across his cheek to his mouth, pressing on his lower lip until they parted.
“I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to do,” he heard from up close – much closer than before, somehow, but he kept his eyes shut. “You don’t need to be scared.”
“I’m not scared,” he dug out of his gut, a bit of a lie, maybe, because the fear of the unknown still held him strongly in its clutches. “Just n-nervous.”
“Okay,” Romeo’s voice sounded calm and collected.
Was he already thinking Carlo was too much hassle? Why wouldn’t he, right? What was Carlo even thinking? He might have looks, but he was still him, a broken and unsocial kind of guy, like night to Romeo’s day, why would he think that could work?
Why-
A touch of lips on his own screeched the broken record to a halt, like a car crash. For several seconds, after his brain initiated a reboot, he very slowly loaded the sensation, and once it took far too long, he opened his eyes again, immediately peering into the blue that hypnotized him.
“There you are,” Romeo smiled, sitting so close to him that they could share a bar stool, probably, and his hands took Carlo’s face in between them, like something precious and fragile. “You keep disappearing into that head of yours. You know you can talk to me about anything that bothers you, right?”
Carlo didn’t know, but he could feel like he could. Not that his overthinking brain would allow him, but his heart felt safe and content, and maybe… it could be enough for now.
“You sure you… um. Want this?” He couldn’t help but gesture to himself like a robot, his movements chopped and mechanical. “I’m not… you know. Experienced. And I’m pretty sure it won’t be anything to write home about-,”
“Carlo,” Romeo interrupted him urgently. “There’s nothing that would matter. No fears, no experiences, nothing. You are you, and I’m me. This is just us. Nobody else from the past, nothing you need to know or think you should do. Alright?”
Was that alright? He was saying that now, but…
“And I mean it,” Romeo insisted, rubbing soothing circles into Carlo’s skin. So pleasant. “Love, I fell for you the moment I met you.”
“Bull,” Carlo laughed quietly. “You just liked me for my looks.”
“Mmm, yeah,” the blond man agreed with a chuckle. “Isn’t that a part of it? How you bewitched me.”
Carlo avoided the gaze in shame, recalling their first unpleasant conversations he did his hardest to keep that way. It felt like forever ago.
“But you were funny. And cute. And your apology made me laugh,” Romeo’s hands slid down to Carlo’s wrists, caressing them like a frightened animal. “And that’s when I knew.”
Carlo looked back up, capturing his gaze again.
“You knew what?”
“That I’m not letting you go ever again,” came a reply that made him almost cry.
Romeo gently wiped the tear away.
Alright. It made him cry.
“What can I do to make you feel better?” Romeo whispered, his whole presence the biggest gift Carlo could get. There were no sacrifices needed. No hardships, no sleepless nights, no desperate attempts to be better, to be likeable, to wear a mask that could finally be the right one so somebody would love him.
“Kiss me,” Carlo said. Because that was all he needed to be sure. All he wanted to be sure. To just drown his insecurities in endless love, even if it was a lie. If it was just for tonight.
Please love me, for me. The messy me, the bratty me, the insecure and antisocial me.
Just me.