Heart, Body & Soul (MxM)

Chapter Nineteen

Two nights of just assignments and occasional attempts at analysing someone's personal email keeps Riyaan up. Which means, he was again late for submitting his assignment. The next day, all he wants is to nap.

Napping is an activity that Riyaan has discovered to be productive for his distance studies. He finds himself napping every weekend — and waking up with fresh moods quite often. Sometimes though, he feels rather odd right after waking up.

Ivan finds this habit weird. Sleeping in the middle of the day means losing valuable time. And Ivan tells him that he has never napped in his whole life — he couldn't even if he tried.

But Riyaan finds it productive and rather looks forward to it because sometimes he ends up having beautiful dreams. Like today, he has dreamt of a serene flower garden in the evening, bicycling with Ivan. Ivan is telling him something, and it's making him laugh. He cannot seem to remember what they are talking about as he tries to focus on the chapter from his academic book.

Sometimes he has rather odd ones — like a week ago, before the trip he saw Ivan as his husband, and his being crippled in a chair, and Ivan kissing some other person, and later feeling sorry. The pain made him cry just as he woke up — only to realise that fortunately, Ivan and him weren't even dating. Which was, again, quite disappointing. After staying up so late, he can hardly focus on anything today.

The sound of the door opening makes him sit up straight and aware.

'Hi,' Riyaan says, surprised to find Ivan back from work in the middle of the day.

'There's not much work at the office, I can do it from home. What are you up to?' Ivan asks him as he removes his socks and throws them on the basket. He seems to have taken the rejection to 'let's fuck' — well, as a serious rejection. Last night, when Riyaan wanted to have a happy time, Ivan insisted that the movie was too good.

'Trying to study,' Riyaan says with a satisfied grin. He loves having Ivan around anytime and all the time. While Ivan might not reciprocate his enthusiasm, he knows Ivan more than tolerates him. Even though Ivan calls him an "annoying brat" sometimes. The last time he said it was when Riyaan was sitting facing the TV, but mostly focused on Ivan focusing on his work by the side. Ivan working and so engrossed in work is a meditation for Riyaan, and he feels content and at home. But Ivan can always tell if he's staring or focusing on him more than the TV.

'You wouldn't believe what I dreamt of just now while napping.'

'Dreaming while napping? That happens?' Ivan asks, undoing his tie.

'Yeah, it's just sleeping in the day,' Riyaan comes closer to him.

'Just when I thought this couldn't get any weirder,' Ivan teases. 'Anyway, what happened in the dream?'

'We were on a bicycle,' Riyaan says, lying down on the bed on his back, looking at Ivan getting his clothes off.

'I was there? Then what happened?'

'That's it. What else do you expect from an afternoon nap?'

'We are never going on a bicycling adventure though, don't let dreams take the wheel.'

Ivan takes out his laptop from his bag, slides on the bed, and starts typing. Every time he sees Ivan typing, he thinks it's to his ex-lover. Riyaan moves to make space sitting up straight, parallel to Ivan and leans on the headboard.

'You are scared of cycling?'

'You're getting ideas, I see. Maybe it's time we ended our arrangement,' Ivan says, eyes glued to the screen.