WILLIAM (bxb)

6

Jamie is watching William as the other boy dumps flour into the cheese sauce he's attempting to make. "I don't think that's how you do it," he observes unhelpfully and William slams the flour bag onto the counter.

"Do you want to do it, then?" he snaps back, and Jamie shrugs.

"I'm sure you're doing a fine job, I just don't think that's how you thicken it." Jamie doesn't want William to be as stressed out as he obviously is. His shoulders are tense and every time someone walks by his apartment door he looks up as if he's going to be attacked.

William pushes his hair out of his face impatiently and sends a glare across the kitchen to where Jamie is sitting, peeling potatoes at the dining room table. "I just want it to taste good, alright?" he sighs.

"I'm sure Carson is accustomed to your cooking by now," Jamie teases and William rolls his eyes.

"He's usually the one cooking."

"Is he good at it?"

"He makes some mean scrambled eggs."

Jamie can't help it. He snorts, and the glare he receives from William is withering. "I'm sure your cheese sauce will be fine, then, babe," he says through his laugh.

"Mm," William leans over the counter and grins at Jamie. "I like that."

"Like what, babe?" he raises an eyebrow, playing it out.

"When you call me that."

"Babe?"

William hums in response, and Jamie loves the way his hair frizzes from the steam on the stove, and the way the kitchen light catches the side of his nose. He wants to kiss William, to hell with the cheese sauce and the dinner and meeting William's roommate. He wants to push William's hair behind his ear and kiss from his temple all the way down to his throat – a sure way to get the other boy to let out the whine he does that makes Jamie crazy.

"What are you thinking about?" William asks, suddenly, and Jamie realizes he hasn't been peeling as many potatoes as he thought.

"You." He figures honesty is a good policy.

"Do you want to officially be my boyfriend?"

Jamie swears his heart stops dead in his chest. He puts the peeling knife and the potato he's holding down on the table, and looks up at William, his back ramrod straight. "What?"

William, with a spoon halfway to his mouth, says again, "Do you want to officially be my boyfriend? Do you want to be dating? Like, actually? As in I can introduce you as – "

"Yes! – I – I mean, yes I get what you're saying." A deep blush sets itself into Jamie's cheeks, and he looks down as William tries his cheese sauce.

"And?"

"And I say yes."

William's grin is brighter than any light, than anything Jamie's ever seen. "Thank god," he says, and then he puckers his nose in the cutest way possible. "I think we'll have to order in, though."

"Chinese?"

"Definitely Chinese, babe," and William winks and Jamie feels about ready to explode.