Love Next Door

Chapter Seven- Engaged

Playlist- https://goo.gl/zMxdxA

Thus, they were officially dating.

Each morning from then on Jay was greeted with a passionate kiss from Ash as he left for work, always greeted in a blue dressing gown. He listened cheerily to his co-worker's petty problems -even offering his opinion once in awhile- and returned from work to be greeted by Ash's lips again. Most nights were spent at either one of their apartments; it was usually down to whose door Ash was standing outside each evening. Jay even started to introduce Ash to some of his favourite movies, while they ate a nice dinner together. Jay had never eaten so well before, Ash was such a great cook.

He started to discover more about what it meant to be dating a warlock. He surprised himself with how well he had seemed to take it. Perhaps his obsession with fantasy books and movies as a child made the transition to reality much smoother.

One night as Jay stood in front of Ash, who was making cocktails behind his kitchen counter, he finally decided to ask something he had been pondering, and worrying about, since they had met.

"This could be a strange question but...How old are you?"

Ash looked up but didn't stop mixing the pink and red drink in front of him. Jay couldn't help staring at the small sparkles of light which were catching in the colourful liquid.

"That's...hard to say." He replied. Jay's face contorted into one of disbelief, and cynicism. "Well, we don't celebrate birthdays like you do." He continued. Ash mistook Jay's shocked expression for that of disappointment, for he then cried: "Don't worry I still celebrate human birthdays!"

"But surely you must have an idea of how long you've...existed!"

Jay was beginning to worry he had started dating a one thousand year old guy.

"Hmm, well I would say about fifty years or so."

Surely he's kidding, He thought.

"Y-You don't look fifty!" He spluttered. Ash's smirk appeared as he tried to contain laughter.

"Yes because my biological age is something like...twenty five." He explained. That somewhat calmed Jay. "I vaguely recall that when I was about twenty something I halted my biological aging, and I decided that when I had lived for about fifty years, half a century, I would 'turn it back on' and age normally. That was last year I think."

"That's...crazy." Jay breathed. Ash handed him the cocktail and he sipped it slowly and thoughtfully. Ash moved around the counter and moved a piece of hair from Jay's face.

"Are you freaked out yet?" He asked, fingering the crease of Jay's shirt at his hip. His heart was thumping strongly. The cocktail was amazing. It was also quite strong.

"Never." He breathed, this time not regretting his word choice.

Ash chuckled. "That's a bold statement. I've still got more to show, you know?" He sipped at his own cocktail while still staring at Jay. "I'll give you a year's grace to change your mind and run screaming. After that, you can't complain...or run away from me screaming." He leaned forward and kissed Jay on the tip of his nose.

The next morning walking to work he couldn't stop thinking about how his boyfriend was technically almost thirty years older than him. Is he immortal? Am I going to die before him? He quickly tried to shove those thoughts out of his mind. It wasn't worth thinking about it. He had to enjoy the moment and forget about what came next, just like Ash does.

As he walked he got a call from Tahlia. He had to divert down an alley way to escape the loud and harsh sounds of the morning traffic. David had a last minute super important gig to go to that night and she had to go too. She asked if Jay could go over to their place and look after Kasey until they got back later at night. How could he refuse? Besides, he needed to spend more time with his daughter. Ash would be disappointed, they had planned to watch his favourite movie, some romantic comedy which apparently involved a lot of sex and sex related puns. He was inwardly glad that he would be missing this, he wasn't sure he was ready to sit through something like with Ash.