𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜. - 𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚢 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚐

fuck the protocol.

Jorma's place looks a bit messier than that time I was here looking for advice. Andy already got the keys from the place, so looks like he's feeling at home. He throws his wallet and keys at his little bottle containing other keys and loose change. He heads to this little spot where a green carpet is and leaves his shoes there.

"It's like the old times, you know?" he says, getting rid of his shoes. "When we first came to New York, Jorma, Akiva and I shared a place. Before getting to SNL." he walks towards the big white couch. There's a weird smell, like an essence, that I can't describe. He sits on the cushion and waits for me to do the same. He puts the food on the centerpiece and the smell of the tacos drives me crazy.

I sit, already taking the package out of the bags, hoping to see a big, fat and juicy taco waiting to be eaten. I'm starving as hell.

"How was set today?" he asks.

"It was nice, we shot a lot of scenes today for the episodes so I guess, we will be over soon." I say, unwrapping my taco as fast as I can. I take a bite of it, closing my eyes to enjoy even more.

He giggles. "Great. I was wondering if you wanted to watch tomorrow's episode of SNL backstage."

I almost cough my food out of my mouth. He expects to be seen with me.

"I would love to. I guess you want us to be a thing a now." I say, like I don't care about it.

"Of course I want. I always wanted, but I didn't know that." he opens a smile, with his mouth full of taco.

I chew before starting. "Aimee, my make-up artist, said that she saw some pictures of us at that bar on the internet."

He stops chewing and looks at me. He looks concerned, embarrassed and shook at the same time. I don't know what to say either, because I don't really know what is going on in his head. I feel hesitation coming from him, like if he's overthinking before saying anything, so I try to break this four-second silence.

"I guess I'm fine with that. I mean, there's nothing we can do about it."

"I guess you're right." he puts his taco over the plastic package and turns to me. "I don't care what they say about us or what they think. As long as we're together..." before he finishes his sentence, I peck his lips. A long peck on his lips and everything seems to be fine, to get fixed. I open my eyes to see an angel staring back at me.

We end eating our food. We talk about everything that's been going on. We weirdly laugh about all this mess we put ourselves into and everything seems in the right place. Jorma is not home so we feel free to talk bullshit like we used to do when we were young. It's quite hard to see us together as a couple now, even though we didn't put any label on it yet.

I feel satisfied. I don't even know how I wasn't attacking him before eating. I lay back on the couch, but my feet are still on the ground - it's not fair to lay down with shoes on other people's couch. Andy is throwing the mess we did on the centerpiece in the trashcan and I keep staring at the ceiling, with nothing on my mind.

"What are you thinking?" he asks, looking at me upside down.

"Nothing." I close my eyes and an easy smile appears on my face.

"Great, I wanna ask you something."

"Uh-hum."

I hear a couple of steps towards me and he goes on his knees at the same time I open my eyes. I instantly look at him, a bit scared.

"I don't know if you heard about it, but NBC is doing an artistry gala this month, like a huge thing for everybody of the television scenario and I can take a date with me. There will be dinner and music, and... I want you to be my date."

I sit straight. "This will be like our first official date." I say, quite excited.

"Yes, it's official. Would you go on a date with me?" he asks, doing the whole scene.

"Of course." I hug him, leaning my nose on his neck.

"I'll make sure I follow the protocol."

"Fuck the protocol Andrew." I protest, kissing him tenderly. His hands hold my shoulders and my tongue explores his mouth, licking his lips every once in a while. His hands caress my body, making me shiver. His cold skin rubs mine and his fingers curl my hair until he pulls it back, lifting my head and spicing things up. A smile escapes from my lips and for now, everything is perfect.