Heart, Body & Soul (MxM)

Chapter Thirty-Three

Riyaan stuffs his face in the flowers. It's a faint but nice smell.

'I have something else with me,' Ivan pats the pockets in his sweatshirt.

Riyaan reads his face, there's seriousness; so it cannot be another chocolate.

Ivan fishes his pockets and brings out something. It dangles in the air. A familiar copper locket. A small laugh comes out of Riyaan without his permission, despite his mood in the morning.

He fights against multiple emotions, but settles with laughing. It is funny for him in so many ways, starting with the timing. All the time Ivan teased him about imagining the locket, and his giving up on it. He remembers he even had something in his mind he thought would say when he finally finds it, but he never expected for Ivan to find it, and definitely not when they are not .. not like this - no longer talking and flirting. He almost forgot about it until now.

Ivan has attached some kind of thread to the locket it seems.

'Where did you find it,' he asks, trying to guess the answer even before Ivan says it. It's funny that no answer appears.

'Under the edge of the carpet.'

That's right. He remembers now how it was in that place. Riyaan rolls his eyes at himself, how he would have just found out if he thought about the things he had been doing. But he can always defend himself for not having done that. For some reason, he was excited about Ivan coming home and having sex with him that day.

He reaches to get the locket into his own hand. But Ivan moves it beyond his reach. 'You remember what you said to me about me finding it?'

Yes, he does. That his affections were and are beyond fickle. His love for Ivan is deep, and true, and that whatever they had is real, as real as the existence of the locket when it appears.

'No.' He reaches for the locket again. This time, Ivan lets him hold it in his palm for a moment before snatching it away.

'I'll hide it from you then.'

'Why?' Riyaan asks, confused, very confused.

'You seem to regret what you said to me when you lost it and searched desperately, so you might throw it in a lake someday and tell the world that we never found this.'

Riyaan reaches for the locket again. 'And why should you have it, you might do the same?'

But Ivan pockets it despite his argument.

* * *

Riyaan is still feeling a little sorry that Ivan comes to visit him in the morning, and all he does is low-key slap Ivan. For trying to kiss him! What a loser! He could have kissed him back more fiercely, and they could have ended up having sex and everything. He could have demanded Ivan choose him. He should have told Ivan he would wear that sweater and listen to whatever Ivan wants, says, because...because... Could they truly be more than what they are today? To each other?

Beside him, Ivan shifts in the bed. He has probably dozed off, but he would be on his laptop if he were at home now. His face is pressed to the pillow, and body in an awkward position. He really has a beautiful face. But Riyaan can tell he is not comfortable in the small bed in his room.

He softly glides a hand over his unshaved beard over the cheek, and secretly smiles - Riyaan might be a loser but Ivan still wants to kiss him.

When Ivan opens his eyes, Riyaan finds his hand touching his cheeks. He stops, slowly recovering the hand.

'Find anything interesting on my face?' Ivan does a slow blink.

'It's an interesting face.'

'Mm-hmm, is that why you have smacked me on the face?'