“What the hell you guys have the most amazing kitchen I-never-want-to-leave...?”  Tao groaned into the stovetop, voice faint and muffled from where his cheek was smooshed into it, arms stretched childishly around it in a loose hug.

In some kind of ironic twist, Kiara was sitting upright at the counter, sipping from the mug of warm milk in her hand as if it were coffee.  In her hand, rather than a newspaper, was an iPad, and she focused keenly on the words scrolling across the screen, mumbling them between her lips.

“Although simple in design, the chef at tabletops cer-cer-certain-ly has a flare bringing new flavor to tried-and-true classics.”

“You read pretty damn well for a kid your age.”  Tao commented over his shoulder as he walked by, setting down a mixing bowl and a glass bottle of vegetable oil on the counter before throwing open the pantry with a long and low whistle of impressed surprise.

“There is an innocent qu…quality to his food, and the main dish, blanquette de veau, was one that brought me back to days spent with my mother in Europe.  What a won-der-ful way to end the evening, with a dish almost as si-sizzling hot as the waiter who served me.”

“HAH!  She’s talking about your dad.”  Tao snorted, setting more down on the countertop before turning back to the fridge.

Kiara kicked her feet out, putting the iPad to the side and setting her head down on her folded arms as she watched Tao begin to pull ingredient after curious ingredient on the counter.

“Mmm, do you think dad is hot?”

Tao paused in where he had been carefully laying out his temporary new work station, looking up between his fringe to meet the gaze of the girl who was blinking her “innocent” big doe eyes up at him.

His automatic reaction was to tell her ‘no, of course not, he’s a guy and I’m a guy’, but then the memories from last night came crawling back to him -

His back was pressed against the door.  A hard body was laying across his own.  Hot breath that made him flush.  Warm lips caressing his cheek.

A full body shudder followed the pink color that spread across the bridge of Tao’s nose.  Kiara’s delighted grin may or may not have twitched just a little wider.  Cheeky little knew what she was doing.

The chef the stove, placing a large sauce pan down upon it.

“He’s alright, I guess.  I’m by far cuter though, don’t you think?”  Tao finally muttered back to her in response, waiting for the pan to heat.

Kiara tilted her head to regard Tao with a comedically long delay that had the older man thinking - Oh, she definitely got that from her dad, didn’t she.

“Yes, I think you are very handsome,” She finally admitted, in her adult-like child’s way, leaning across the island to hand Tao her empty glass when he reached out for it.

“But looks are looks.  Daddy says I can’t marry anyone who doesn’t have a degree in something useful.”

Tao snorted, filling her glass full again before pushing the tab back down and closing the refrigerator with his hip.  He set the glass down in front of her again.

“And what exactly does he consider ‘useful’?”

“Um, like, doctors... lawyers…”

“Oh come on, you’re leaving out like 90% of the population of eligible men like that.  I don’t care what your daddy told you - you don’t need to have book smarts to be a good lover, alright?  You ever heard that one old Sam Cooke song?  You know - ‘don’t know much about geography, don’t know much about trigonometry.  ...but I do know that one and one is two?’”

Well.  This was apparently what his life had been reduced to.  Shuffle dancing in a kitchen with a spatula in hand.  Being judged by a first grader.

“Oh come on - you don’t - you don’t know that song?”

She gave him a look of ‘are you kidding, I’m six years old’.  He was going to chalk it up to the fact that he was probably getting old.

He smacked his lips noisily, saving himself from any further embarrassment by throwing some vegetable oil into the pot, taking out a cutting board to separate and clean the thawed shrimp that he had pulled from the fridge.

Some people say that the way to a man’s heart was through food.  Well he worked with food all the time, and if he was going to tell truth, what moved him the most wasn’t a well crafted dish.  He’d tasted plenty.  Instead, what never failed to impress him, time and time again, was good and thorough care of a chef’s best friend - the knife.

And Kris’ knives, which he found perfectly placed in the knife block, were expertly sharpened and obviously well taken care of.  He practically vibrated in pleasure using them.

With tools that were well taken care of in a kitchen that was well stocked and immaculate, Tao was able to move faster than he could have even in the restaurant.

He chopped the legs from each shrimp quickly, using the knife to deftly devein it, running it quickly under the head of the sink to wash it.

“What’re you making?”

“You’ll see.”

Kiara hummed, leaning forward again to watch Tao work.  The oil was just beginning to pop and sizzle in the pot, and Tao pulled it a bit further away, careful not to let any splash too close.

“...so there is someone who I like in my class though.  Like like.”  Kiara said quietly, breaking the short silence that had preceded it.

“Oh yeah?”  Tao said, a bit distractedly.  A pinch of salt.  Oh! - and some cayenne pepper, come to think of it.  That’d add just the right kick.

“Mm-hmm.  Kelly.”

The breading was plain old cornmeal and flour in a solid mixing bowl.  He gave each piece of shrimp a quick pat down.

“Boy Kelly or girl Kelly?”

“Boy.  But he doesn’t really act like the other boys.  He’s quiet, and I think he’s kinda shy.  Plus, he’s got a stepfather.”

Tao held off before frying the first shrimp, dangling it above the pot by its tail to give Kiara a look.

“Wait, so what’s wrong with having a step dad?”

“Nothing.  It’s just not his real dad.”

Tao frowned, rapidly dumping the rest of the shrimp into the boiling oil, waiting until they were a beautiful golden-brown before he scooped them out, one by one.

“It shouldn’t matter if it’s his real dad or not, as long as the love is there.  A daddy isn’t a daddy because of blood - that’s a ‘biological father’.  No, a daddy is a daddy because he loves and cares for the kid more than anything.  I’m talking about making sacrifices, sticking up for them when no one else will.  I mean, I had a step dad growing up, and let me tell you - he and I were close.  Didn’t matter if we shared the same genes or not.  He may have been a gruff guy at times, but he always had his heart in the right place.  Always wanted to do right by me.  Best ing guy I ever knew.”

There were these absolutely beautiful French bread loaves just lying out on the counter.  Tao made sure to take advantage of them, cutting them in half, slicing them open and buttering them on the inside.  He heated them in a pan, sliding them across the heated surface just to hear them sizzle, leaving behind trails of bubbling butter and a mouth-watering smell.  Paula Deen, eat your heart out.

“Was your step dad okay with your tattoos?”  Kiara asked, pointing at the full sleeves of artwork that decorated his arms.  Tao looked down at them for a moment, before glancing up to wink at the curious six year old.

He turned the stove top off, grabbing a loaf and slathering it with generous portions of mayonnaise and hot sauce, scooping the fried shrimp into each of the three awaiting sandwiches.

“Another story for another time, kid.  Now, it’s time for some po’boys.”

Kiara looked down at it, skeptical of what just looked like a regular, greasy sandwich.  To Tao’s encouraging nods though, she took a small bite - only to stop mid-chew to look down at it with surprise.

“Dis ih shuh gud?!?”

“Mmmm-hm.”   Tao responded, just as enthusiastically, mouth full and bulging from where he had taken a quick succession of bites.

Sitting together on barstools by the counter, for a few minutes more, there were no words said.  There was nothing more complimenting to a chef though than the sound of silence.  It always meant one of two things - either they were hungry, or the food was just that ing good.  Tao would take either of the two options gladly.

The snap of the bread, the occasional groan when the spicy-salty taste really kicked in.

Kiara chewed at it like a baby lion, trying simultaneously to stuff the entire portion into her tiny mouth while pulling at it as if she was gnawing a piece of meat straight off the bone.

“So, if I was a girl your age, I would probably be asking if you have any pictures of this ‘Kelly boy’.”  Tao finally asked, hunger just about sated with maybe a bite or two left.

“Well,” Kiara replied, in between large bites.  “I think I got pictures of the two of us from the last field trip we took.  (We went to the zoo!  Saw some monkeys!)  Daddy put them all on the iPad.”

She used her elbow to shift the iPad between them.

After a moment’s awkward pause, they both shifted their gaze from the locked screen, to their fingers, greasy with oil and dripping with mayo.  Tao grazed slowly on his sandwich, inclined to just wait, but taking one look at Kiara’s pleading, doe-eyed expression, he sighed through a mouthful of food.

“...fine.  You know what - it.  We’re doing this.”  Tao muttered, setting his sandwich down on his plate for a second.

“Here - why don’t you - yeah! Great idea - use your elbows - okay just hold it there while I unlock this with my nose -”  And then the next few words were spoken with a distinctively nasal quality.  “...okay this is surprisingly more uncomfortable and weird than I thought it would be what was I thinking.”

“It’s here here here, you need to tap it here -”

“Tap?  How the hell do I - …”

Tao started to bonk at the screen with his nose, pecking at it haphazardly while trying to open the app.  As much as it actually hurt though, hearing Kiara laughing hysterically was reward enough, Tao supposed.  He began to pair each attempt with exaggerated monster snarls.

Finally, finally, his poor nose was given a reprieve when his actions were finally recognized, hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of photos of KiaraKiaraKiara pulling up on the screen - Kiara in a flower garden in a daisy sundress and a large brimmed straw hat - Kiara in braided pigtails, posing with a suspiciously perfect carved pumpkin, Kris’ work no doubt - and, sure enough, the most recent photos were of Kiara and her classmates at the zoo, smiling happily in front of the exhibits.

Tao whistled, raising his eyebrows at the sheer number of photos that Kris had apparently taken of his daughter.

“Well, well, well.  Father of the year award goes to Mr. Wu.  You know, just saying, when you’re older, Kelly’s probably going to have a pretty hard time dating you if he has to go through your father first.”  He muttered, following Kiara’s excitedly pointing finger as she picked out Kelly in each picture.

“See,”  She began excitedly, not listening to him at all.  “Isn’t he cute?”

Tao tilted his head, regarding the shy boy with the pale mop of bucket hair who stood next to Kiara, hovering his hand just inches above Kiara’s shoulder.  This one had apparently reached the awkward-with-girls stage early.  Super early.

“Uh, yeah, I guess he’s kind of cute…?  In a Haley Joel Osment I-see-dead-people kind of way.”

Whether or not Kiara heard, she didn’t say, remaining silent with hands on her flushed cheeks, staring down fondly at the shy boy in the pictures.

Tao shook his head with a snort, tossing down the last few bites of his sandwich just as Kris entered, looking no worse for wear than he had the other night, minus slightly more unkempt hair.

“Oh, goo’ mo’ning.”  Tao greeted with his mouth full, the corners of his lips and the last traces mayonnaise off of his fingers.  With his free hand, he picked up the remaining sandwich, offering it up toward him.

“...hey, you hungry?”

Kris stood there, a soft smile on his lips that unfurled slowly from side to side.

-

The drive home was peaceful.

They reached his tiny little apartment complex sooner than expected, and he found himself blinking when, before he had even realized it, the passenger side door had been opened for him.

He stepped from the car slowly, giving a grateful nod to the man who had driven him.

“I, uh… thanks again.  For everything.”

“It was my pleasure.”

The voice was deep like sin, reverberating pleasantly through his body.  Tao hummed quietly, unconsciously leaning in as they both walked toward the door.

Digging into his pocket for his keys, the chef could still feel the sommelier’s full attention on him, leaning as he was against the doorframe.

“Listen, about last night…” Tao began, without a clear plan for how to finish.

“What about it?” Kris said without any of his usual bite, his voice soft in the dry, crisp air.

The sommelier was looking expectantly, urging Tao to speak, to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth, but Tao had no words.

“I…”

What exactly was it that he wanted to say?  He suddenly couldn’t remember, staring up at the other’s face, for once not lined with the lines of a frown, looking young and handsome in the morning light.

“...nevermind.”

The door clicked open beneath his fingers, and Tao turned away, almost missing the quiet voice that chased him through the doorway.

“Come over again.”

It was a question worded as a statement.

When he glanced back, a hand was slipping past to cup his cheek, rubbing a thumb against it.

In the other’s eyes - in the barest glance that he caught before the other had turned, striding off toward his car - he had seen something that was hesitant.

Hesitant but hopeful.

Tao felt the same.

-

The rest of the weekend passed like a whirlwind blur for the chef.

He sat in a daze for most of it, and by the time Monday had rolled around, he was walking into work still in the middle of it, dazedly pulling on his uniform, prepping the food for the rest of the day with a slow, dream-like lethargy.

Luna, always a stickler for getting things done as fast as possible, was the first to notice, so used to nagging on the others that she had to catch herself before she started yelling at the head chef himself.

So she stood by his side with a strange expression, slowly leaning sideways to wave a hand in front of his face.  No reaction at all as he uncharacteristically shucked the plum stones at a snail’s pace.

Of course, needing an outlet for the head chef’s bizarre behavior, she vented her frustrations to the one she was closest to, Nana.  Knowing Nana though, within the hour, absolutely everyone knew.

It didn’t take long to figure out the source of the head chef’s distraction either.  When their resident master sommelier walked in for work as usual, there was a very deliberate intention in the way he walked past Tao, making sure to slide his arm against the other.  Tao’s stiffening body.  Kris’ terrifyingly gentle expression.  Neither went unnoticed.

And as if that wasn’t enough of a hint, the 360 degree turn in Kris’ personality was shockingly obvious.

Though the sommelier wouldn’t usually bother to enter the kitchen unless it was to grab a bottle of wine or a cork, it seemed to them all now that Kris took every chance and opportunity he saw to stop in, always sharing a few words with Tao who smiled so brilliantly every time he saw the other step close.

And the touches.  Come on!  You would have to absolutely blind not to see the way Kris would bend over to sample a piece of Tao’s food, laying his hand on the small of the chef’s back.  Or the way he’d use his own, normally pristine cloth to wipe the excess flour from Tao’s face without question, taking lingering moments to trace the other’s features, the bridge of Tao’s nose, his soft cheeks.  The chef would go cross-eyed, and Kris would bite back a soft laugh.

The look on everyone’s faces was priceless.

-

“Okay what the is going on?”

Chanyeol half shouted half whispered as he slapped his wet cloth down on the bar, pretending (very poorly) to be wiping it down as he eyeballed those around him intensely.

Nana and Baekhyun were both leaning back against the bar, Jongin leaning over it as he slowly cleaned and cleared away the day’s glasses.

“You mean the way Kris has been treating our head chef lately?” Nana muttered, sipping on the glass of water Jongin had provided her.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol muttered, looking back over his shoulder at the kitchen doors, where he knew Tao and Kris were, in the middle of another one of their weird, touchy-feely, googoo eye sessions.  “To be honest?  It’s kind of freaking me out.”

“They’re in love.” Nana replied airily, with a soft and romantic sigh.

“Ugh.”  Baekhyun rolled his eyes, leaning with a hand over his mouth to whisper conspiratorially over to Chanyeol.  “What The-Notebook-fanatic means is that we think they’re in the very early stages of a relationship.”

Chanyeol choked on his spit.

“They’re what?!  I - no way - Kris hates Tao.  Hello?  Doesn’t anybody else remember how Kris treated Tao the first week he got here?”

Jongin leaned in close with a lazy smile.

“You mean the way Kris was obsessing over Tao for the first few months?  Of course I remember that.  Do you remember how jealous he got whenever Tao spoke to the owner?”

“Yeah,” Nana laughed. “Or the fact that the only thing he ever seemed to want to talk to anyone else about was how ‘annoying’ Tao was?”

Chanyeol opened his mouth like a gaping fish, staring down at the dark grain of the countertop with eyes that widened further and further with each moment he gave the whole thing more thought.

“No...ing...way!!!”

Baekhyun looked carefully across the room before sliding closer to Chanyeol, holding his hand out toward his friend and rubbing his fingers together.

“So how much are you going to throw into the betting pool?”

“Wait what - what betting pool??”

“On whether or not they’ve already slept with each other.  Most of the girls are betting that they haven’t yet.”

“We’re women, not girls, Baekhyun.”

“Yeah, yeah.  So, you in or not?”

Chanyeol gave Baekhyun’s hand a very considering look before digging into his pocket and tossing in a twenty.

Baekhyun grinned slyly.

-

Kris opened the door.

“Ever had a porterhouse steak before?”

Kris opened the door.

“I know you’ve had crabcakes before.  But did you know I can make a mean lobstercake?”

Kris opened the door.

“Oh gee, look at all of these red snappers that I bought for myself today and I can’t possibly eat all by myself.”

Kris opened the door.

“Porkchop sandwiches.”

Tao kept making up ridiculous excuses to come over every other night, citing Kris’ nice and immaculate kitchen as the best place to practice new culinary dishes for TableTops’ menu, offering each time to make them all dinner in return.

And always, always he would tell Kris -

“I’ll be out by nine o’clock, I promise!  I promise!”

Except that he never was, always busy cleaning up, or tucking Kiara into bed, or just too tipsy from how much of Kris’ wonderful wine collection they had consumed for the night to be able leave.

He would have to stay just an hour more.

Just an hour.

Maybe two.

Or three.

Who was counting, really.

-

“I’ve never catered for a wedding reception before.  Ah well, I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

“You’ll do fine.  Just stick to the menu.”

“Well actually, funny you should mention that.  I was thinking I’d switch up the menu, come up with something new and catered just for the couple.  That’d be pretty in’ rad, I think.  I got some ideas already.  Ever had chocolate beef chili?”

Kris frowned, leaning up against the counter with arms folded across his chest.

“You’re going to change the menu on such short notice?  The owner isn’t going to like that.”

Tao waved a dismissive hand in Kris’ general direction, keeping his eyes on the pot of melting semi-sweet chocolate that he was stirring over the stove.

“The owner trusts me enough to do anything I want, as long as I’m bringing in more customers.”

Kris frowned at the thought, recalling very darkly the fond way the owner would look at Tao.  He ground his teeth, unaware that he was cracking his knuckles until a hand reached out to stop him.

“Don’t be jealous.”

Kris spun around, making spluttering, fish out of water noises.

“I am not jea-”

“Besides,” The chef said, cutting him off as he took a spoonful of the melting chocolate, waving it in a small circle under his nose to check the smell. “Sometimes, a little improvisation makes for the best dishes.  Sometimes, all we need is to be a little bold - a little wild - a little -”

He stuck the spoonful upside down into his mouth, pressing his lips down and pulling it out slowly in order to get every last trace of chocolate off of it.

Stepping up quickly to the sommelier who stood there watching in complete silence, Tao grabbed Kris by his tie, pulling him in close and pressing a sweet kiss into his mouth.

And when Kris opened his mouth to gasp in surprise, Tao slipped in, sharing with him what he had been keeping to himself.

-

A wall of sound and smoke.

He was built tall, lean and strong, eyes that were just as soft sometimes as they were blazing with fire.

It was melting him - burning down the walls he had built up and building him back anew from the inside out.

He smelled like the pack of cigarettes he always carried in his back pocket and tasted just like the black leather of his jacket and the curved smirk of his grinning lips.

He was -

No, he is.

Present tense, sometimes progressive, perpetually forward-thinking and wide-eyed with optimism.

No room in his mind for any of those past regrets.

(And if Kris was a rich and tannic 1961 Bordeaux, he was a 2012 Hugel Riesling, so young and so sweet with his earnest, mouth-watering beauty.  

And if Kris was the quiet antiquity of the old streets of the Rennes, he was all smooth jazz and hip hop beats, the booming brass soul of New Orleans.)

I wish I could trap you.  Pour you into a bottle.

A selected and one of a kind vintage, ripening just for me.

And how beautiful you would be in my arms.

-

“...unexpected.”  Tao finished in a whisper against the other’s lips, breathing in the Kris’ shuddering exhales, tinted already with the sweet scent of chocolate.

Kris’ eyes were still glossy, still chasing the last traces whatever it was he had seen.  When he finally came back, he stared at Tao with furrowed eyebrows, a breathless confusion.

In those few seconds, something had changed.

“You…”  He trailed off, still holding the chef close with a tight grip on the other’s hips.

“That was the first time that I…”

“Shh,” Tao hushed the other man, nuzzling his nose in against the other’s.

“Listen, I’ll be honest with you.  I like you.  A lot.  When you look at me it feels like I can’t breathe.  I don’t know what it is about you, but there's something that makes me keep coming back.  Maybe it's the fact that you've never given up on me.  Maybe it's the fact that behind your snarky cynicism, I think you care.  Or maybe I’ve just enjoyed spending time with you and Kiara these past few weeks.  So I’ve been thinking.  That I’d like to try making this a more... permanent... arrangement.  ...get where I'm going with this?”

Kris in a deep breath, lips opening to speak - but then his phone was vibrating in his chest pocket, trapped between two firmly pressed bodies.

Tao backed out of his embrace slowly.  Kris let him leave, though he still chased the vision of the other’s face with arms that remained open toward him.

“Don’t tell me now.  I don’t want to hear your answer now.  Tomorrow - tomorrow - after everything is over, I’ll stop by your house, okay?  We can talk then.”

Fingers dug into his pocket, pulling out his phone and carefully placing them in his hands, folding his fingers around it.

“But for now - that’s probably Kiara’s teacher, isn’t it?  You should probably go and pick her up.  I have to stay here and do some prep work for tomorrow, but go ahead and tell the little mami that I said hi, alright?”

Kris grunted in barely discernable affirmation, taking time to gather his blown thoughts before finally snapping the phone to his ear.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kris.”

Tao took pride in the way the sommelier stumbled from the kitchen, his words muffled and slurred, gaze never leaving him, not even as the kitchen doors squeaked shut.

The chocolate simmered.

-

The couple they catered for got hitched without a hitch.

No major ones on their part, at least.

It had drizzled a little, still was, but apparently everyone had loved their food (who even doubted that anymore?), and with that, another long day was finally over.

Though Tao left without a word otherwise, within an hour or two of arriving home himself, Kris heard a telltale knock at the door, amidst the crackle of light thunder and rain.

Kris opened the door.

Tao stood there in the shelter of their porch, dripping wet and heaving cool, white clouds of condensed breath.  He slid a hand through his wet hair, pushing it up and away from his face, turning to face Kris with a basket of fresh strawberries tucked away on his arm.

“Hey.”

Kris stared.

Tao away a stray droplet of rain that dripped onto the corner of his mouth.

“I, uh, would usually say something witty, but in the panic of rushing out of the rain, I didn’t really have any time to think of anything to say, so.  Yeah.  Here I am.”

The squeaking of leather as Tao shifted in his place, shivering just slightly as he was in the shirt that clung to him.  He searched Kris’ blank expression for something - anything at all - before glancing back toward his car.

“I, uh, is - is this a bad time?  I guess I didn’t really ask yesterday if you were free.  Uh, I can come over tomorrow instead, I didn’t know you were busy - oh!”

A hand shot out, gripping him by the shirt and pulling him in for a bruising, possessive kiss.

Tao moaned into it, the basket falling to their feet, quickly forgotten.

Kris gripped the back of his neck, kissing him as if he trying to feed off of him, to every last drop of moisture from the other’s skin.

He curled his tongue around Tao’s, tasting the complexity of the other’s flavor, reveling in it.  And when Tao could offer nothing more to him but shuddering, pleading gasps against his lips, Kris broke it off with a pop, taking a light grip of Tao’s hair and pulling him to the side to expose his neck.

The rebel was a rebel no more, any pretense of control falling away as his eyes fluttered closed, shivering when a tongue laved up his neck, teeth nibbling on his skin in a way that had him heaving for breath.

“Wait - “ He pleaded, struggling to keep his train of thought.  “What - what about Kiara?”

Kris paused, pulling away to take in the view before him, the breathless man with a full sleeve of tattoos and a disheveled shirt, kiss swollen lips and dark, quickly bruising marks in a telltale trail along his neck.

He tugged at the other’s chin, pressing a thumb against the other man’s lips and feeling the short, sweet puffs of air like feathers against the sensitive skin of his fingertip.

“She’s sleeping over at a friend’s house for the night.”

“Oh?” Teeth that nibbled at his thumb.

“Can I - can I spend the night, then?”

There was no ring on his finger.  There hadn’t been for months.  And though Kris could no longer remember when he had taken it off, nor how long it had been since he’d seen it, he realized he didn’t really care.  He hadn’t, for a while.

Because for the first time in a long time, there was nothing to haunt him anymore.

Only a vision of the future, standing dripping wet on his porch steps, pleading for Kris to let him in.

“...I would like that.”

So Kris welcomed him in with another kiss.

-

He hadn’t tasted anything this beautiful in a long time.

There was nothing particularly fancy about it.

Just a basket of fresh strawberries, taken in Kris’ bed.

Normally, he would have fussed over the mess, but even he had to admit, there was something so appealing about the way Tao’s flushed skin slid against his silk satin sheets, the way his tongue and teeth nibbled and , spilling strawberry juice all over those curved and plush lips.

What Kris would have done, to keep this image locked away, to know that he would be the only one to see him like this.

He placed a hand on Tao’s inner thigh, and slowly peeled back the leather.

Like this.

-

“I’ve learned not to give it up on the first few dates, Mr. Wu.  I hope you’ll understand.  Keeps the chase fresh for just a little longer.  Although if you come back next time with a nice bottle of wine, maaaaybe I’ll reconsider it.”

There was no humor in Kris’ voice, only a quiet and genuine concern.

“Listen, Tao.  I haven’t done...this...in a while, but please… trust… that I wouldn’t ever want to hurt your feelings.  I know that I can be a bit hard to deal with sometimes, but...”

“Oh wow, look at you, looking out for another person’s feelings first.  Trying to pretend to be all swole and tough most of the time, but you’re actually just a big old softie on the inside, aren’t you?”

“. . . good night.”

“Alright, alright.  Good night.”

The awkward shuffle of bedsheets that always accompanied the first nights spent together with someone else.

Someone sniffled in the dark.

“...you must be cold over there.  Come over here where it’s warm.  ...you’re moving a lot.  Are you still uncomfortable?  Tell me what’s wrong, I’ll fix it.  Do you need another pillow?  Here, why don’t you rest your head on my arm -”

“Oh my God Kris, I am going to tell everyone how much of a huge cuddle bear you are if you don’t shut the up and go to sleep already.”

“...”

It was quiet now, but a hand still pressed insistently against the back of his head until Tao finally acquiesced, sliding closer and allowing the other to tuck his chin over his head.

Arms pulled him tight and close.

And though he heaved an exaggerated sigh, Tao fell asleep quicker than he had in months, with an ear pressed up against a steady warm heartbeat, a smile on his lips, and a hand on his head, gently carding through his hair.

-

Lay made several calls to the Wu residence that weekend, but there was never anyone there to pick up.

No apologetic text message, no frantically returned voicemails.

“Hmm.”  Lay said, tapping his finger on his chin even as a smile grew on his face.

“Hmm.”