Something New

Chapter 19

Beam went on his date with Joss, as planned and it was a perfectly nice evening in a beautiful restaurant with gourmet food. Joss was good company, he even managed to make Beam laugh a couple of times which was a big achievement considering Beam thought that he would never laugh ever again. At the end of the night, Joss dropped Beam off at his place but sensing Beam's thoughts, he didn't even try to lean in for a kiss. Beam was grateful for that because he didn't know how he would have responded.

Their second date was at the movies. Joss let him pick the movie and he bought them popcorn and drinks while Beam bought the tickets. Once they were inside and seated, Beam could sense that Joss was trying his best to casually drape his arm over his shoulders, but he never did fulfil his mission.

Towards the end of the movie, Beam felt Joss' hand touch his, but he didn't move it away and Joss then turned his hand and held Beam's. His hands were a little cold and a tiny part of Beam's brain thought that he liked warm hands better but Beam mercilessly squashed that traitorous thought.

For their third date, Joss wanted to take him bowling, but Beam said, "I'm warning you. I suck at bowling." But that didn't deter him at all, he said, "Oh come on. It'll be fun, I promise." Beam just said, "Fine but don't blame me for ruining your night." Joss gave him a flirty smile and said, "That is an impossibility, because I would be with you and that's enough for me." Beam blushed a little and just walked into his house.

At the bowling alley, Joss was killing it, but he realized that Beam was not kidding when he said he sucked. The last two rounds, Beam had bowled only gutter balls. So, Joss trying to be helpful, said, "It's your form Beam, what matters is the positioning of your arm right when you let go." Beam was really frustrated at this point and snapped, "Well then Mr. Expert. Why don't you teach me instead of just flapping your mouth?"

Joss raised his eyebrows but smiled and said, "Thought you'd never ask." This was their third date and yet, Joss hadn't even had the opportunity to kiss Beam, so he took this chance of being close to the other man, eagerly. He jumped up from his seat, got behind Beam and held his shoulders, and spoke right into his ears, "It's all in the shoulders, they're too tense, you have to loosen them up." While saying that he wiggled them and that got a little laugh from Beam. He continued, "Yeah okay, now that you're nice and loose, concentrate on where you want the ball to hit." Leaving one hand on Beam's shoulder, he trailed his other hand down Beam's arm to his hand that held the ball, almost like a caress and at this point, he was plastered to Beam's back.

When Beam turned his head to tell him that he was way too close, he quickly bent his head and pecked him on his lips. Beam was shocked at the sudden attack and he dropped the ball. Thankfully not on either of their feet. Joss sheepishly said, "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. I promise I'll behave." Beam just shook his head and said, "Okay, but I insist that you go behave from your seat over there." Pointing to where Joss was seated before that. Joss bowed and did as he was told. Soon, the awkwardness dissipated, and they actually had fun bowling.

That's how their dates were, they were nice, plain, and simple. One day Joss showed up at Beam's place unannounced on a Saturday morning, with his backpack. Beam was taken aback so he said, "Oh P'Joss, I have a lot of work to do today." Joss smiled and said, "I know. That's why I brought my work with me." he pointed at his backpack. He continued, "We can just do our work together." He pecked Beam's cheek and got in.

So, they just sat beside one another on the couch and worked on their own thing, not even talking to each other. After a while, Joss smiled and said, "This is nice" while not even looking at Beam. Beam let out a sad smile and said, "yeah... nice." Then his unruly mind wandered to Forth and how he never had a boring day when he was with Forth. How, Forth would never have let him work peacefully, without trying something. How they would have inevitably ended up naked, on the couch, laptops and work cast aside. Beam then shook himself and scolded his mind for thinking unnecessary thoughts.

A month later, they still hadn't progressed past a peck here and there. But Joss was nothing but patient with Beam and he truly appreciated it. So, when Joss got invited to a work event and he wanted Beam to go with him, he couldn't refuse. So, Beam got dressed up in his nice suit, which really complemented his complexion and was tailored to fit him perfectly. When Joss showed up to pick him up, his jaw dropped, and he felt proud to have this beautiful man as his date.

Joss himself looked flawlessly handsome, the suit showing off his broad shoulders and long legs. He somehow seemed taller even. Beam smiled at him and said, "You look dashing P'Joss." Joss still hadn't recovered from his brain short circuiting after seeing Beam. He shook himself out of the stupor and said, "I'm sure I don't hold a candle to how gorgeous you look in that suit." Beam blushed a little, laughed and said "Thanks, but I think we need to get going."

They reached the venue right on time and felt a lot of eyes on them as they ascended the stairs. Right at the door, they were asked to sign in and just then Beam heard a voice that had been a permanent fixture both his dreams and nightmares off late. He turned around and came face to face to the man he had been trying his hardest to forget.

Beam's mouth fell open and his eyes widened when he saw Forth there, in a suit his brain piped up. Forth in casual clothes was hot enough, but Forth in a suit was positively sinful. While Beam was struggling with that, Forth was not faring any better because he saw Beam and not only did his heart skip several beats, his mouth went dry at how gorgeous he looked.

When they were busy eye-fucking each other, someone cleared their throat and that seemed to break the spell. Forth finally said, "Beam" Beam intelligently replied, "Forth". Joss who had missed this performance because he was signing them in, walked up and sensing the tension, put his hand on the small of Beam's back. That seemed to ground Beam a little.

Forth's eyes saw that movement and flashed a little something but he quickly schooled his features and turned to look at a pretty, petite young woman and said, "This is Fai." Then he gestured to Beam and said, "Fai, this is Beam." Fai enthusiastically said, "Hello Beam. Nice to meet you!" Beam smiled back and said, "Nice to meet you too." Joss expected Beam to introduce him, but he seemed too busy just staring at the other couple. So, he cleared his throat and that seemed to snap Beam out of it.

Beam gestured to Joss and said, "Oh I'm sorry. Forth, Fai, this is Joss." Joss then smiled and added, "his date." Forth flinched a little at that but took the hand that was offered, and nobody needed to know that he had squeezed his hand just a little tighter than strictly necessary. Beam not noticing this exchange, said, "Oh, so you guys got back together, that's nice." With a tight smile. Fai turned to look at Forth dreamily and grabbed his arm.

Forth abruptly said, "It was nice meeting you both, but I think we need to get going." And rushed in. Beam was left speechless and Joss had to guide him inside having not a clue about the kind of mental turmoil Beam was experiencing.

A/N - ay ay ayyyy 🥺😅