Ace of Spades

Chapter 5: Desire

Songs I listened to while writing this, I'd recommend listening to them while reading this chapter. 

Continuum - Tanerelle 

When We - Tank

Over and Over - Sky

Exchange - Bryson Tiller

Wicked Games - The Weeknd

Hallucinations - dvsn 

Girls Need Love (v-mix) - Vedo 

Sunflower - Rex Orange County 

Too Deep -  dvsn

Atticus 

Light brushstrokes carefully danced across the canvas as Atticus stared at the white paper in unadulterated concentration. He took a second to release his tight hold on the utensil before looking back up at his subject—his very beautiful subject. Atticus was comfortable enough with himself to admit that Bray's beauty was on the more breathtaking side. When he opened his door to the man, the first thing he had noticed was his pale skin and how good it would look against his window. Looking at the boy stand before the landscape of the outside world—protected by a heavy glass pane—Atticus realized just how much of a genius he truly was.

"You're breathtaking." Atticus voiced his thoughts out to the boy without looking up from this canvas.

He heard some shuffling before a breathless voice spoke out to him, "Thank you," is all it said.

"I've never had a man compliment me so much in such a short period of time."

Atticus chuckled softly at that, almost not believing the boy—but as he looked up and saw the dead serious expression on Bray's face, he was slightly taken a back. "Well that's unfortunate. Someone like yaself deserves all types of intimacy, including verbal."

"All types of intimacy? Even physical?"

"Especially physical."

Bray nodded slowly before letting out a breathy 'oh', seemingly having a hard time processing Atticus' blunt words.

"May I be straight-forward with you?" Atticus asked the flushed man.

"More forward than you've already been?" Bray said with playful yet subtle sarcasm, earning a widened smirk and nod from the former. "Go on then."

"You're quite sexy." he bluntly said, causing Bray to lift both of his eyebrows in slight shock before letting out a short laugh—a beautiful and pleasant sound that grazed against Atticus' ears. Something flashed across Bray's eyes, but quickly fled before Atticus had the chance to identify it.

A comfortable silence enveloped the room as Atticus continued to paint, occasionally looking up at Bray and noticing him slightly beginning to get more comfortable as time went on. "You're not from around, here are you? You don't speak like the snobby people that roam these streets." Bray said after a few minutes of silence.

Atticus looked back up at him once more, "Nah. Not from this state at all actually."

"You got a little southern twang to you, it's quite intriguing. Something a little different from the city boys I've encountered." Bray observed, causing a peal of laughter to slip past Atticus' thick lips. "Where are you from?"

"North Carolina. Moore County, Southern Pines."

"My auntie was from North Carolina," Bray paused as fond memories of his auntie began flooding his mind, "Her eyes used to light up whenever someone mentioned they were also from NC. She used to call others from North Carolina her soul sisters and brothers." Atticus watched a small smile grace Bray's lips as he reminisced about his loved one.