While the Sun Shines

31.

"Uhm, oops?" 

Blake shrugged and shot Nick a sheepish smile. They stood in the kitchen together, in front of a pan filled with burnt bacon. 

Mid-making out, Nick had suddenly smelled something burning. Blake swore when Nick mentioned it, jumped up, and ran to the kitchen. Turns out, he'd distracted Blake enough to make him forget he'd left the fire on... and the other way around too, to be fair. Neither of them had had their mind on cooking and breakfast. 

Nick grabbed the spatula and poked at the pieces of bacon that didn't look entirely black. "Some of this can be saved," he said. "If we add some scrambled eggs, it's still a breakfast." 

Nick promptly grabbed some eggs and milk from the fridge and an extra pan from the cupboard. Unlike all the other times he'd cooked, Blake stayed in the kitchen and watched Nick heat up some butter and whisk eggs with a little bit of milk in a bowl. 

Nick was probably supposed to say something now. After making out like that, in a way that left his lips tingling and his heart racing and probably changed everything, the etiquette couldn't be 'ignore the guy and prepare breakfast like nothing just happened.' Yet, it's exactly what Nick did. Having Blake's eyes resting on him still made him feel flustered and nervous. After pouring the egg mixture into the pan, the spatula slipped out of Nick's hand. It fell right into the uncooked eggs, splattering yellowish liquid onto the kitchen counter.

While Nick grabbed the spatula again with a beet-red face, Blake chuckled. "Don't mind me watching you," he said. "I just wanted to see how you cook today. Maybe I can pick up some useful tricks. I didn't know you're supposed to put milk in scrambled eggs."

Nick coughed and cleared his throat. "Yeah, it makes it fluffier," he muttered. He glanced at Blake and his stomach flipped. Blake looked at him in a way he never had before. He always smiled, but this was a different kind of smile. One that invited him to pick Blake up, carry him to the couch, and continue making out. 

"If you want to learn how to cook, I can show you a few more recipes," Nick spontaneously offered, mesmerised by Blake's smile. "We can start with Italian. Oh, you liked cacciatore, right? I can get the ingredients for it after class today. And maybe we can watch a movie after." 

Blake's eyes sparkled and his smile widened. "Nick, you're adorable," he said. "And you're inviting me to dinner tonight? Wow, such a change from a few weeks ago."

If it were at all possible, Nick felt even more blood rush to his cheeks. He turned to the scrambled eggs, which were already solidifying. "I mean, uh, things are different now," he said. 

He'd certainly think so, at least. Never in his life had Nick expected to travel to the Netherlands to escape home and not only run into Blake, but also end up finding out he wanted to kiss him of all people. And that it felt so amazingly good. Like they were meant to do that all along. 

Blake stayed quiet, however. After a few seconds of charged silence Nick glanced at Blake. Though he was still smiling, the sparkle in his eye had dimmed. Nick couldn't read his expression well. 

"It's only different if we make it different," Blake said slowly. 

It sounded like he chose his words very carefully, and a brick landed on top of the butterflies that were flitting in Nick's stomach. Nick felt his face burn for other reasons than shyness now. 

Nick understood it was only a kiss. Blake didn't need to be scared Nick was ringing wedding bells in his head or planning their life as a couple. 

...Okay, fair enough, during their kiss, Nick was kind of imagining they'd eat together more often and watch Fantasy movies after dinner. And that they'd go to the Ace of Spades and win a couple of tournaments. But that didn't mean it had to happen like that.  

Nick blinked and focused on the scrambled eggs before he'd burn those too."Sure, that's true," he muttered to the pan. "We can also eat together next week as planned. That's fine." 

Blake took a step closer. "Hey, no, I don't mean I don't want to meet up tonight. I do. And I don't mean nothing changed," he said. "I only mean we don't have to make this a big deal. We can—"

"Just see where it goes," Nick finished, sensing what Blake wanted to say, since he had already said two times before that 's what he wanted. "Sure. Yes, we can do that. Good idea." 

Nick poked at the scrambled eggs, which felt about as scrambled as his brain now. Alex had said the same: don't make this into too big a big deal, and then it was over the moment he went home. Granted, Nick understood why a guy wouldn't be interested in someone who lived a hundred miles away and who he had only spent one night with, not even having sex. 

It wasn't a bad idea to take it easy, though. Nick hadn't given it much thought at all. How a relationship with Blake would go, that is. Up until last night he had no idea kissing Blake was even an option, and right up until the moment it actually happened, he still hadn't believed it ever would. At least this was a better score than he'd had with Emma. With Emma he'd waited years for the opportunity to spend a few months together. He could hardly remember his first kiss with her because it'd happened when they were both shitfaced drunk. Emma had suddenly turned to him and started kissing him. He'd never questioned what had changed her mind; he'd just accepted it. 

With Blake, Nick also had no clue what changed his mind. Finding him with Alex, he guessed. And Blake said 'high school fantasy', which implied he'd at least thought about it before in high school. Or maybe Blake just wanted to kiss a jock or someone from his high school in general, and not Nick in particular. 

...He was overthinking again. He had to stop. It didn't matter. Even if this was a one-time experience, that kiss had been great. It didn't matter that Blake stirred his nerve-endings and made him confused and dizzy with how nice it was to kiss him. 

Nick's stomach sunk. Fuck, it so mattered. It already mattered. But he had to play it cool.

Nick looked up at Blake and made himself smile. "It's almost done. Could you go set the table?" 

"It's already set," Blake replied.

Nick nodded. "Okay. Then you can take a seat. I'll be right there with the pans and we'll just have to eat around the charred bacon." 

Blake didn't move.  He held Nick's gaze with a smile, and titled his head to the side. "Don't get me wrong either, Nick," he said. "I want more of what we just did." Blake put his hand on Nick's upper arm, letting it slide down all the way to his wrist. "I want to meet tonight." 

Nick shivered. "Okay."

"Okay," Blake repeated with a chuckle. Then, he finally turned and went into the living room.

Nick breathed in and out deeply. His heart pounded and despite Blake only touching him lightly, he needed a moment to recover. Nick gave himself thirty seconds. Then, he grabbed the pans and brought the scrambled eggs and what was left of the bacon to the table. 

For a moment, the sense of normalcy returned. He and Blake had a laugh about having to eat around the black bits of bacon, and discussed how the 'smokey' aspect of it wasn't the worst they'd ever eaten. The small rewind of the clock was nice, and lasted until Nick had to leave for his second class of the day (he'd already missed his first). 

After they cleaned up the breakfast table, Blake followed Nick to the hall. He waited at the front door while Nick got his backpack from his bedroom. He just stood there next to the coatrack with a smile on his face, and Nick had no clue what to make of it. 

Did he want Nick to kiss him again before leaving? Nick would like that, but probably not—not after saying he wanted to take it easy. Nick hesitated for a moment, but then decided to simply nod at Blake, walk past him, and open the front door.  

He turned to Blake before stepping outside. "Well, see you lat—" Nick started saying, but Blake grabbed Nick and kissed him, cutting him off. While Nick was still stunned, Blake broke their sudden kiss and moved his lips down. He planted a few soft kisses on Nick's jaw and neck, and Nick had to bite his lip to stifle a moan. Just when he wanted to tell Blake he had to stop or else he couldn't walk out the door anymore with the massive boner he'd be sporting, Blake stopped. 

He gave Nick the widest grin and winked. "Good luck focusing today, Nick," he said sing-song. Then he pressed his hand to Nick's chest and pushed him outside, before shutting the door in Nick's face.