Sign Language (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Nine - Shocking

Lars’ POV

I was early. Really early. I told myself it must be because Zoe kept teasing me about having a date with Nick while it was only me showing him around the gay clubs I liked, but if I was perfectly honest, it might have been something else. He had joked about not liking people who were late, and for some reason, now I was afraid to be late. Which was why I ended up at his front door over half an hour early. I hesitated before ringing his doorbell and was actually planning to turn around and go wait at a nearby café until it was nearly seven when the door swung open in front of me and a petite girl smiled up at me. “You come for Nick, right?” she asked, and I then remembered seeing her on the stairs when I had visited him before. I nodded and smiled back when she told me he’d be upstairs, cooking up something that left the entire house smelling delicious. I thanked her and began climbing the stairs.

When I arrived at the top floor a couple of minutes later, I wasn’t sure where to find him. The door to his room was closed, as well as the door to the bathroom, and the doorway that missed an actual door to the kitchen was situated in a way that made it impossible to see if anyone was inside. I contemplated shouting his name, but before I could do so, his face appeared from the kitchen’s doorway, a bright smile showing off his teeth when he saw me.

“Hey! Lars! Didn’t expect you this early.”

“Uh, yeah, I uh, hope you’re not allergic to people who come early.” I tried to make a joke out of it, and luckily he caught the terrible pun and rolled his eyes before he started laughing anyway.

“Depends in which situation.” He winked and gestured for me to come in and join him in the kitchen. “You can put your coat in my bedroom if you’d like, just don’t mind the mess in there.” I shrugged and put it on the back of one of his chairs instead, grabbing a knife to help him cut up some vegetables.

“What’s for dinner?” I asked curiously, unable to identify the smells that filled the kitchen.

“My secret recipe-soup and homemade pizza. I wasn’t sure if there was anything besides mushrooms you didn’t like, so it’s actually quite convenient you’re early, now you can decide for yourself what you want on your half of the pizza.” He replied before looking back to his cutting board. He had gone all out on ingredients, there was chicken and ham, pineapple, corn, tomato, red and yellow peppers, artichoke, onions, garlic, carrots and three different kinds of cheese. We worked along in silence, both needing our hands and our eyes focused on what we were cutting. Judging from the way he was swaying his hips and moving his head around at times, his lips sometimes forming fragments of sentences, there was music playing but it was too quiet for me to feel any of the vibrations from it. When everything was done, he took out premade pizza dough and put it on an oven tray for us to cover it in whatever we wanted. Next, he smothered it with tomato sauce that had been in a casserole on the stove and a first layer of cheese. We both put on what we wanted, playfully bickering about which side of the pizza was who’s. I almost managed to knock the entire tray out of Nick’s hands on his way to the oven, but he managed to put it on the counter before I pulled him down to the floor with me. After our small wrestling match, we both cleared our throats and rearranged our clothes before Nick handed me plates and cutlery to set the table.

His soup was absolutely delicious, even though I really couldn’t tell what was in it, and no matter how much I asked, he wouldn’t give anything away. The pizza was pretty good as well, his tomato sauce perfect, not too spicy and not too bland, apparently he was a pretty good cook in disguise.

Once all crumbs were eaten by either of us, we cleared the table and washed the dishes together. We had hardly talked, but it wasn’t awkward, at all. I loved how Nick never pressured me into actual talking, and was fine with the silence between us whenever we needed our hands. It was never uncomfortable either, it was just silence, nothing more, nothing less. Finally his long fingers reached behind his back to pull the ribbons of his apron, and my breath hitched in my throat when he pulled it over his head, revealing the green button up shirt he was wearing on top of his dark grey chinos. I had noticed his eyes changed colours quite a lot. Depending on the light or the clothes he wore, another one of the colours in his irises became more apparent, and now, it was this dark, deep green that stood out. It was a beautiful contrast against his blond curls and it gave an innocent yet mature look to his features. Who was I even kidding? The guy was utterly beautiful, handsome not a powerful enough word to describe it. But no, I didn’t like him as anything but a good friend. A good friend I didn’t bother to trust with my past, because, honestly, what was the use if he’d be gone soon.