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He was cute, it was only his luck.
Of course he was.
Fuck, dude, he was cute as hell. Also constantly moody, but like, in a cute way. It was so adorable to see his eyes squint and forehead crease when he was irritated, especially if it was about something funny and small.
Huxley tipped too much protein powder into his blender and stared at it, mildly inconvenienced by the slight mess it made.
“Well-” He mumbled to no one, “Guess that’s what I get for not paying attention.”
He set the bag down, spilling more across the countertop when he did. It landed on the screen of his phone, which lay switched on next to the toaster.
“Ughhh.” He shook it clean and paused again to look at the picture he had been thinking of.
A grin teased his mouth and Huxley put the phone down again. Was it even appropriate? He didn’t know the ‘code’ for liking someone. All he knew was how tired Xavier was of hearing about it.
“For fuck’s sake, Huxley.” He would say, “Ask the damn man out already. At least then I can listen to you talk about fucking him rather than pining after him.”
Huxley blushed awkwardly, “Not fucking him-”
The contra-elemental shot him a bored stare over the edge of his book, “C’mon, man.”
“It feels weird, dude! I shouldn’t think about him like that!”
“Uh huh.” Xavier sat up, brushing sand from his shoulders, “And yet?”
He looked away, “Uh…”
“You literally never shut up about it, Hux, take the initiative!”
“No!” Hux shook his head, earnestly, “He’s definitely not into me. I don’t wanna ruin our friendship.”
Xavier snorted, “You’re so dull sometimes. God forbid we have a bit of excitement in this placid life.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Not fucking him. Not that far.
Since then, Huxley had tried to show his affections in various ways. Despite being met every time with a soft word of thanks or a brief smile, he was sure it hadn’t been working. How the hell do people do this?
He had tried asking Xavier about it, but to no avail. Xavier didn’t date around much and had just laughed in a nice way. And he would totally ask Gavin or Freelancer, but didn’t know how to do it without giving everything away.
He settled for closer to home.
“Hey, Mom?”
She had picked up the phone on the second ring, thank god.
“Well, have you tried being more direct?” She asked.
He shrugged even though she couldn’t see him, “Nope, I haven’t. Should I do that?”
“Most people aren’t mind readers, darling.”
“I guess you’re right.” But he felt unsure.
Her laugh was gentle. A lot of people seemed to find this funny. “Unless, he is?”
“Nah, he’s a fire elemental.” A cute one. A hot one? That was too cliché.
He was, though.
“You really like him, huh.” His mom asked.
“...Yeah.” He almost hated admitting it, “Xavier complains about me talking about it because apparently I do it all the time.”
“That’s completely normal, love.”
“Damien isn’t, though.” He was anything but. Even his name was cute. Damien. Huxley had rolled the word around his mouth, liking the feel of it. He had looked up what it meant, too.
To tame or subdue.
That bit had been funny, regarding his personality.
His mom laughed again, “Try talking. Honestly, it might work.”
“Alright. Okay. I will. Thanks, I love you!”
She reciprocated and he hung up, left staring at his phone screen.
It lingered on his mind for a while. Even if he spoke to Damien, what would he say? And what would he say? He didn’t do relationships, or anything like that. Huxley doubted if he even swung that way at all.
It would be fine if that was the case, of course.
He just didn’t know.
Hux had tried indirectly telling him, stronger compliments, staying up longer to talk, responding quicker. Damien, in all his precious honesty, hadn’t given much in response by ways of romance. When he did, it got his hopes far too high.
Fuck, he was starting to consider whether this whole thing was warping his view of reality. The logical part of his brain knew Damien didn’t feel the same way, but when they were talking, Huxley was almost sure of it.
Xavier had bullied the shit out of him at first, and then settled to comforting but not enabling. Reminding Huxley that everything he was feeling was totally normal, and almost expected, but in no way being like ”nah he totally likes you back!”
Maybe he wished he did.
Huxley pulled up Damien’s contact on his phone, staring at it.
Dames :)
A sigh escaped his mouth. Who made this so difficult?
Damien didn’t know, so it would probably be a huge shock. Then, he would gently let Huxley down and over time they would drift apart. That’s how it would probably go.
Huxley turned off his phone and looked back at the blender. He was still hungry so finished making his drink.
Cute. Hot. Whatever. Any word and Damien was it.
He smiled at the name, pouring out the liquid into a bottle. There was some left over so he grabbed a second cup and filled it with as much he could get out of the blender.
His phone vibrated: Still meeting for the run? - D
Silly, anxious, sweet, fucking Damien.
He texted back, Yeah! I’ll be there in 5! :)
Setting the full gym cup in his bag, Huxley grabbed the second one, scooped everything up and hurried out to the parking lot.
Damien was already there, sitting in his car with the driver’s door open, struggling with his trainers.
“Hey, man!” Huxley said, “Sorry I’m late.”
“You’re not late.” Damien was wearing sunglasses but Hux could still see his eyes a bit, “You’re on time, it’s okay.”
“I made you an extra protein shake.” The statement sounded more like a question. Huxley held out the full drink, “It has banana in it, I hope that’s alright.”
His eyebrows raised and Damien looked at him with a curious gaze. After a beat, he quickly replied, “Oh. Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.” He took the cup and put it on the ground next to the shoes he was changing out of.
Huxley shrugged, “It’s cool, I had some left over, so I thought you would like some. You said you always forget to take protein before exercise, so…”
He trailed off, awkward under Damien’s eyes.
“Thanks, Hux.” The fire elemental repeated, softly.
“Yeah, no worries.” He looked away, smiling.
Cute.
“You can put your stuff in my car, by the way.” Having finally managed to put on both trainers, Damien stood up, picking up the shake as he did so.
“Gotcha, thanks.”
Damien opened the trunk for him and he put the bag of running gear into it, taking out his drink.
For some reason, he felt the need to explain, “I’ve already had some of mine, that’s why it’s not full.”
Damien clearly hadn’t been wondering about it, “Right. Anyway-”
He zoned out watching him. The height difference was almost crazy. Well, Huxley was tall, but Damien was only barely average height. Hux had wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Multiple times. The thoughts normally came out of nowhere and, while nothing sexual, he tended to linger on them for longer than he cared to tell Xavier.
It happened now, while Damien was talking. Which was embarrassing.
Just…reach out. Tilt his chin up and lean down and kiss him.
His stomach fizzed at the idea. Butterflies, dammit.
He wondered how much he would have to lean down. The rough seven inches of height between them might be hindering. It wouldn't take much effort, though, Huxley would literally collapse to his knees if it meant he could kiss Damien more easily.
It would be soft, probably. Looking at his mouth, as Hux did way too often, his lips looked gentle. Kissable, dare he say it. Huxley chuckled at the word.
“What?” Damien frowned, “Did I say something?”
“No!” He shook his head, “Sorry, no, you didn’t, dude, don’t worry.”
He stared at him, giving him the once over. Huxley tried his best not to shatter on the spot.
“Nevermind.” Damien muttered, closing the trunk and locking his car.
Hux hoped he hadn’t upset him.
“Are you-”
“I’m not mad at you. If I was, you’d know about it.”
“O-okay.” To distract himself, he took a sip of his drink. After a few moments, Damien did the same thing.
“It’s good.”
“Yeah, it is.”
Damien licked his lips clean, and there was Huxley with his mind reeling of ideas again. At what point does this become inappropriate? He pondered what Damien’s reaction would be, in the ideal world of his fantasising brain. Probably jolt, maybe make a surprised noise if he was lucky, and kiss him back.
With all the warmth Damien harboured from his core, there was no way his mouth wouldn’t be warm too. He had blatantly imagined it once. Lips parting softly, his tongue stealing a taste of Damien’s while he did the same in return and it was hot and wet and nice and just like that he was over the line, dragging himself back from it.
“Okay, now I know you aren’t paying attention.”
“I am!” Huxley lied, looking as honest as he could.
“Hux-” Damien rolled his eyes.
“Dames-” Huxley mimicked his tone.
He pulled up short at the nickname, as he did every time. Hux always noticed that. Damien took a deep breath and brushed it off.
“Fine. Shall we run?”
Crisis averted and wanting to keep it that way, Huxley grinned at him, “Sure!”
The humiliating depths of his yearning could wait for an hour.