“Um, hi,” Sebastian said, realizing he’d been just staring at Vlad in silence.
Vlad finally tore his gaze from his face to sweep it over his body. His lips twitched. “Nice outfit.”
Sebastian flushed, remembering that he was wearing only an oversized black t-shirt and an apron with the words “The prettiest cook” on it.
“It was Julia’s last year’s Christmas present,” he said defensively, taking the apron off. He regretted it immediately. Now he felt almost naked, self-conscious that his t-shirt did nothing to cover his bare legs. “I’ll go put on some jeans,” he said, pointing awkwardly toward his bedroom.
Vlad glanced at his legs and looked away quickly. “Yeah, do that.”
Relieved, Sebastian fled into his bedroom. After putting on a pair of jeans, he took a few breaths to calm himself, glanced at the mirror, groaned at the bird’s nest on his head and quickly tied his hair into a bun. A few dark locks escaped it, falling onto his neck, but Sebastian let them be, figuring he couldn’t hide in his bedroom any longer or Vlad might get the wrong impression: that he wanted to look good for him. Which he didn’t. Obviously. They were casual fuck-buddies.
When Sebastian returned to the living room, he found Vlad looking around, taking in the interior with a keen eye.
“It’s not much compared to Luke’s place,” Sebastian said, shifting from one foot to the other. “I’m no billionaire. As someone said, being professionally good-looking isn’t a very lucrative job for men.”
“You’re not doing too badly,” Vlad said, glancing around.
Sebastian shrugged. “I can’t complain. I’m paid better than most male models. But I have friends who are struggling and forced to take odd jobs.” He picked up his phone from the table and looked at it just to have something to do. Fuck, he didn’t remember his casual relationships ever being so awkward. For some reason, this felt different. He had never felt so off balance. It didn’t help that up until this point most of his sexual encounters with Vlad had started with a fight. He didn’t know how to behave in a situation like this. Should they go straight to the bedroom? Should he kiss Vlad? Or would it be too weird?
“Is there...” Sebastian said before schooling his face into neutrality and setting his phone down. “Would you like a cup of tea?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Sebastian led Vlad into the kitchen, feeling Vlad’s heavy gaze on him and trying not to fidget too much. Maybe he should have just kissed him. He wanted to kiss him.
“Have a seat,” Sebastian said, putting a kettle on.
Vlad picked up Hermione and took a seat at the table. “She’s fatter,” he said, stroking her belly with his strong, big fingers.
Sebastian tried and failed not to get jealous of his cat. He kind of wanted to take his cat’s place on Vlad’s lap, put his hands under that soft pullover, and lick along Vlad’s square jaw before slipping his tongue into Vlad’s mouth.
“Don’t call her fat,” he said belatedly. “She’s just a little overweight.”
Vlad eyed Hermione speculatively. “Her nipples are enlarged, Sebastian.”
“So? Why are you looking at her nipples anyway?”
Vlad palpated Hermione’s belly and chuckled. “I take it back. She’s not fat. She’s pregnant.”
Sebastian’s eyes widened. “What? No! She can’t be pregnant! She’s still a kitten!” Okay, maybe not a kitten, but she was still really young. Sebastian frowned. “She’s not like that. She doesn’t like boy cats.”
Vlad looked like he wanted to laugh. “I hate to break it to you, but she clearly liked at least one boy cat. She’s very much pregnant. She’s going to have kittens in a few weeks, at most.”
Sebastian sat down heavily. “A few weeks?” he said faintly. “Why didn’t I know that? How do you know that?”
Vlad was smiling—a wide, open, amused smile that made Sebastian a little breathless, distracting him from the crisis at hand.
“I grew up on a farm,” Vlad said. “We had plenty of cats and no vets. You learn to recognize these things.”
“But…” Sebastian looked at Hermione. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Vlad nodded. “You should have…” He paused, clearly searching for a word in English.
“Spayed her?” Sebastian said, scrunching his nose up. “I know I probably should have, but I felt sorry for her and she was just a kitten.” He felt himself blush. “Stop looking at me that way. I feel like an idiot as it is. I thought she was just getting fat.”
Vlad gave a laugh. “Really? I thought she was just a little overweight.”
Sebastian glared at him but soon joined Vlad, laughing at himself.
He stopped laughing when he noticed Vlad’s stare. “What?”
Vlad said, “I like you.”
Sebastian’s breath caught in his throat. “You like me?”
“Yeah,” Vlad said, smirking. “You’re a little ridiculous, a little pretentious, but you’re all right.”
Oh.
Sebastian gave Vlad a small smile, feeling ridiculously flustered and annoyed with himself for that.