Love, in Progress

You need to shave

"Tinsley! Are you insane!?", Holly Horsely's sharp voice rang throughout the empty office, "You'll be walking right into the lions den! If you dine with Goldsworth you'll end up as lunch!" she hissed through her teeth.
"You might as well be waltzing in and climbing into the oven." she finished, taking a breath. Well, she was never one to mince words.

Banjo McClintock, the town's chief of Police sighed and leaned over, "I'm with Horsely on this one, he's too dangerous for one man to take on alone." he agreed.

Tinsley will admit he was very surprised when Ricky Goldsworth turned up on his doorstep with a bouquet of flowers ("To brighten up your apartment Tinman!"), and inviting him to dinner. The smaller man was very vague about the reason why, which made Tinsley more curious than nervous.

(Flashback to 7 hours earlier)

"C'mon Tinman it's not that hard to say yes is it? We've been out to dinner before-but this time it'll be at my house instead! Look it'll be fun!" Ricky emphasised with a wide grin.

"Sure it'll be fun", Tinsley said sarcastically, "To be stuck on an estate with no exits and a man that has a certain reputation-"
"Tinman."
"Its gonna be just dandy isn't it-"
"Tinsley!" Ricky snapped "You need to shut up and stop worrying! Sure don't come if you don't want to, but if you don't come I'll never speak to you again."
"That's a bit childish, Mr Goldsworth."
"I suggest that in the best interest of both of us you just come along." Ricky revealed with a firm nod.

"Can I have some time to think about it?" Tinsley sighed.
"Sure. I'll be around at 8 o'clock to either pick you up, or to say goodbye." Ricky replied dramatically.

Ricky turned to leave but seemed to remember something. He walked up to the Detective and cupped his face, leaned in a little closer and whispered,"You need to shave Tinman, I won't accept badly groomed visitors." Ricky removed his hand with a sly smirk and gave the detective a quick kiss on the cheek before turning and leaving.

Tinsley stood there in his apartment unmoving in shock for several minutes. Had Ricky Goldsworth seriously just kissed him?! And had he just enjoyed it?! The Detective sighed and moved to continue making his lunch, as he had been before Ricky had arrived. But sure enough, Tinsley couldn't get Ricky off of his mind- he could still smell Ricky's expensive cologne.

*Flashback to present time, 8 o'clock*

Detective Tinsley was not usually the nervous type- despite that he was flapping around his apartment in a state of panic. To be honest, Tinsley wasn't sure why he was so nervous- it was just a dinner! Ricky was due any minute now and Tinsley was very jittery.

The doorbell rung sharply. "Speak of the devil." Tinsley muttered under his breath. Tinsley strode up to the door and swung it open.
"So..." Ricky started, rubbing the back of his neck.
"So.. uh yeah." Tinsley repeated.
"Are you coming with me then?" Ricky asked impatiently.
"Uh.. yeah... I am."
"Oh cool", Ricky paused, "My car's round the side if you want to..." he gestured for Tinsley to go ahead.

Tinsley clambered into the passenger side of Ricky's Rolls Royce, barely cramming his legs in. He did a little observation of the inside of the car and found there was very little clutter inside: a paper coffee cup from the local cafe, a pair of sunglasses, and a comb. Tinsley also noticed that the car smelt of Ricky- he realised that was a bit of a creepy thing to think, but he liked it. He smelt of orange, spice and sandalwood.

Ricky snickered "You struggling to fit your long-ass legs in, Detective?" he started the car and pulled out of Tinsley's road.

"I'll be just fine thanks, Goldsworth."
"Now now, Detective, I've lead my family to believe we're pretty close, so just call me Ricky, and please, loosen up a bit- my mother can smell fear".
"Sorry, what?" Tinsley asked coolly, his heart rate accelerating.
"Oh did I forget to mention- we won't be dining alone Detective!"
Tinsley's expression crumpled.
"My family is very interested in meeting you! Sure I wasn't on board with it at all at first, but now I think it'd be fun."

A pause passed. "You tricked me." Tinsley said quietly.
"Oh I wouldn't say tricked, just... misdirected- don't look so upset Tinman."
"I'm not upset."
"Yes you are! You're lookin' at me as if I've just kicked a puppy! Dios mío don't make this harder than it has to be." Ricky said driving down the darkened lane, drawing closer to the estate.

The silence in the car began to tear into Tinsley's nerves- he had nothing to say to Ricky, especially knowing that Ricky had broken his trust. Suddenly the house came into view atop a hill.
"Hey, so you should probably know that my family can be a little bit... excitable." Ricky explained.
"Oh, great to know thanks." Tinsley replied sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.
"Oh so he does speak!"
"Shut up."

They drove through the open gate and pulled up onto the long drive. The car slowed to a steady stop- Tinsley went to open his door, only to find that Ricky had beaten him to it. Ricky was holding out an expectant hand, and tentatively, Tinsley took the hand and let himself be helped out of the car.