His Muse

How to be a good almost-boyfriend

Copyright © 2018. All Rights Reserved

Nic held open the door to the restaurant for Kieran, and glanced back to see Leo and his Ma waving from their booth around the bamboo screen. He waved back before letting the door close. "Sorry about crashing your dinner," Kieran apologized, and to Nic's surprise, his cheeks were pink. He honestly didn't peg Kieran as being embarrassed over this—he seemed pretty to-hell-with-it the entire time.

"It's fine," Nic sighed. "My Ma can be a bit overbearing sometimes. Sorry she singled you out like that."

"Does she think we're in a relationship?" he asked, and Nic shrugged.

"Sav betrayed me and told her I had an almost-boyfriend, so that's what she thinks this is," he explained, gesturing to the both of them as they stood out in the cold, fading sunlight. "So where are we going?"

"It's honestly just down the street from here. Which is lucky because we only have... five minutes to get there," Kieran said, checking the time on his phone before starting the walk. Nic hurriedly followed suit, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

They walked in silence for a while in the cold. Kieran eventually pulled a hand out of his pocket to scratch at his hair before saying, "Look—I really should apologize for storming in like that—"

"I told you, it's fine."

"No, it isn't—I- I honestly thought you were with-with someone else. And I got a little carried away so... sorry. That wasn't okay, especially after I accused you of being jealous because I'm going into modeling and stuff. And we're barely dating and I have no right to act that way, so... I'm sorry."

Nic was almost surprised enough to just stop walking then and there and ask for clarification. Kieran, jealous? Of Nic? Wow, what a concept, Nic laughed to himself, only to falter when he realized that wasn't even a problem. Of course that wasn't a problem, especially when there were bigger issues at hand.

"Since we're all apologizing or whatever, I think I should say sorry," he confessed, rubbing a hand over his cheek nervously. "I know the whole 'sleep over' tactic was a test and stuff, but honestly I would have stayed the night if I came more prepared. And I don't think it's fair to say that I passed just because I happened to not have my backpack and shit. So if you wanna take back the third date idea, I... wouldn't be offended because I shouldn't have thought like that."

There was silence between them for the remainder of the walk, and Nic agonized over every second of it. Kieran came to a halt in front of the building doors, looking stoic as fuck because that's just how he looked almost all the time—aside from when he stormed into the restaurant, or smiled at Nic when Nic decided that no, he couldn't stay the night.

"Okay," he said. He didn't add on.

Nic quirked an eyebrow, saying, "Um... okay, what?"

"Just okay," he repeated. "So what? Obviously now you know my standards so you won't think like that again, right? Unless I explicitly say so?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, consent is a thing, you know," Nic scoffed, and Kieran offered a small smile in return. "So... it's okay then?"

"Yeah."

Nic couldn't believe how lucky he was.

Kieran pushed his back against the door and spun inside, leaving Nic to follow. He swung his athletic bag over his head and around his shoulder as they climbed the stairs. Nic wasn't quite sure what building they were in, but he figured he could trust Kieran enough to not get them lost. They counted the floor numbers until they approached the fourth one, and wandered down the hall. Nic looked through the door windows along the way, and found art studios in each one of them. Their lights were off, and desks standing stationary, silhouetted against the windows.