Up In Smoke

“Well,” Bradley sighed, dropping his suit case on the couch before turning to face the mess on the wall. “At least you’ve got a nice color in mind and not some horrendous one.” 

Even if Brad wanted to object on the color, or even repainting the place in general, he doubted after the day he had at work he’d have the energy to. He took off his coat and loosened his tie, his eyes narrowing and scanning the room with dark red in mind. “We’ll have to get new curtains, though, before we invite anyone over, because that grey won’t go well with dark red - it’d look like a dungeon in here.”

"It was honestly a few seconds away from being a dark pink, but I thought you’d protest against that.” He joked with an all too unconvincing smile, setting down the tools to wipe away the paint that smeared his hands like red charcoal. It was a nice look, and he even raised them to show Bradley. “You should be helping instead of thinking of interior design.”

Vince stepped forward when the other continued, reaching for the already loosened tie to take it off completely. It was a weird feeling, being the one to receive someone, but he wasn’t about to complain. “What if I want dungeon. huh? Chains and whips, maybe some leather suits. Turn this into American Horror Story.” There was another smile as he set the tie onto the recliner. “Sexy, right?”

Sam could hear his voice still talking, despite it being slightly  muffled due to being in another, smaller room. He rolled his eyes and huffed a quiet laugh at the one-liner.

He gave a small gasp as the man suddenly appeared behind him, hands warm on his back and wrist. Sam knew they were both at an almost same height, but he couldn’t help to feel awfully smaller against his larger bulk. Holding back a shiver at the whisper, Sam turns as the box was lowered down, the storage room suddenly feeling too tight with both inside.

“Royal?” Sam raised a brow. Who names their kid Royal? “And are you exactly royal, may I ask?” he kneels down and start taking out books according to the list.

Roy pretended not to hear the gasp, pretended not to act like deep down in the pit of his stomach there as a churning, pretended not to let the growing smile on his face seem too obvious- And it was all by a sound, one that wasn’t even from pleasure. The question was expected, someone always had something to say along those lies, he was even teased for it in school, so he simply sat down on the floor, legs crossed and lips in a slight pout.

“If I said yes, would you be impressed?” The pout cracked and Roy smiled, looking straight at Sam while he worked. “My parents weren’t the smartest. I was their treasure, their prince. Why do you think I go by Roy instead? Royal’s too damn pretentious for my liking.” But then again, he used it to moniker himself The King out of it and well, at least there was one use for it. “But you can call me prince if you’d like, that’s fine.”

+ withinfire

Singing along to the music in the car he smiled at the other, “Oh come on. Sing along with me. I know you have a beautiful voice,” He chuckled softly as he watched the road. 

undefined

He shakes the man’s hand- dear god, what a grip he had- and pulls his hand back almost bashfully as the other moved back into the shelves cheekily. “Really now?” Sam gives a small, exasperated look but then smiles again. “I’d rather go for for real guys. Guys who are genuinely interested in me and not just in for the sex and my looks,” he talks absently, grabbing a list of books he needed to bring out for the shelves.

“And I can say that it’s quite hard to find guys like that,” he moves to the door on the far back of the shop that labelled storage. Sam’s mind went back to his past romps with various men and women both- people he’s met in bars and clubs who was as charming as the man in his shop right now, momentarily frowning at how they left him laughing into his face when he had spoken up about their relationship.

While his thoughts were busy, Sam reaches on a tall shelf to pull out a heavy box of books, huffing to himself.

“If you’re talking about me not being serious,” He spoke from the classical literature row, knowing fully well that Samuel was probably talking to himself and Roy didn’t know if that was a little creepy or kind of cute. Most likely the latter by this point. All if took was one look at the soft curls and Roy forgot what he was thinking. It was that bad. “Then I can hear, you know.” 

His eyes never stayed off Samuel for too long, only scanning the books then looking through the cracks in the shelves right away. “If it means anything now, I actually didn’t realize how great looking you were until you started bagging my books. You had me from the get go.” Which was an obvious and some what ego-filled remark, but it was true. And Roy didn’t know if Samuel would catch up on that. Hopefully, a date would clear that up. “I don’t date too much so I guess that means I might like the interesting ones instead.”

He was next to the book keep in an instant, hand resting on the other’s lower back, the other hand grabbing Samuel’s wrist. they were close, a little too close for Roy to be exaggerating not only being into looks, but he didn’t want the man to hurt himself and the way things were going there, Sam would end up with more than just an attracted customer. “Let me do that.” His breath hit Sam’s ear, leaning forward and higher to reach up and pull down the box, even grunting a little at the amount of weight it had. “Royal, by the way.” He spoke after setting the box down. “But call me Roy.”

“Mm, douche bags. Nice ring to it,” Sam chuckles in amusement, hand brushing his curls back. The other was quite persistent, not backing down at that point (most guys would’ve).

“Fine then. If you really wanted my name, it’s Samuel. And.. if you’re really sure on trying to hit it off with me, come again after five. That’s when I close shop,” he smiles sweetly.

”Seems like you’re used to it. Should I back away now? Seems like you don’t go for the best guys? Would does that say about me, huh?” It was like watching something on TV; the curls brushing, the lip movements, the breathing- it was wrong to be this attracted to someone.