The Daylighter Apprentice

Chapter 20 - Lichen!

When I wake the next morning, Chris is downstairs in the kitchen, swearing in all seven colours of the rainbow. I furrow my brow as Chris is the most gentle person I've come across and hearing such language is a shock. I walk into the kitchen and see him hunched over a machine of some sort, the box tossed aside and the instructions balancing on the toaster. Chris is grumbling to himself and I lean against the counter, stifling a yawn.
"A waffle maker? Since when did we need a waffle maker?" I ask and I swear Chris jumps about 5 foot in the air.
"Jesus fucking Christ Dom, you scared me." He shakes his head and laughs, turning back to the machine on the side. I push up off the counter and head to the kettle, filling it with water and setting it to boil.
"You want a cuppa?" I ask and Chris hums.
"Coffee would be great, thanks." I get out two mugs and fill them both with coffee.
"You never answered my question. When did we decide we needed a waffle maker?"
"We didn't. Tom did. It arrived last night and he left a note on the box asking me to figure it out. Can't seem to make heads nor tails of it." Chris laughs as I pour the water over the coffee and sugar granules. I stir the liquid in both mugs and hand Chris his. He thanks me and takes a sip, not seeming to mind the scalding heat.

"So, you and our vampire friend doing OK?" Chris asks, voice low so not to be heard by anyone but me. I smile, despite the fact he is not looking.
"We're good. No bites or lost blood. I'd say that was a good thing." Both me and Chris laugh and with one final grunt of frustration, he pushes the waffle maker to one side and leans against the cabinet.
"Well, I saw him on Sunday. Very briefly but he asked how you were. Seems like he's concerned for you. That's why I asked if you two were OK. Thought maybe you'd fought or something."
"You make it sound like we're a married couple!" I laugh, not looking directly at Chris.
"Well, from the short conversations I've had with him, if I didn't know better I'd say he likes you!" Chris raises an eyebrow before taking a sip of his coffee. I try to act surprised and giggle nervously.
"What makes you think that?" I ask, feigning innocence.
"His concern, first of all. I know Matthew and he's never usually this concerned for anyone but his own wellbeing. Also the goofy smile he wears when talking about you." Chris smirks and I feel myself blushing.
"I'm sure he was probably smiling for other reasons." I say and Chris holds up his hands.
"I'm not saying I have a problem with it; You can like who you want. But I think Tom and maybe Morgan would have a problem. Not with you being gay but the whole... Trapdoor Spider thing. They don't know him but I do."
"You're probably reading the signs wrong." I laugh, shaking my head and Chris just quirks an eyebrow, finishing his coffee.
"Well, if you say so." He says, putting the cup in the sink and stretching, yawning as his fingers touch the ceiling. It's just then that Morgan comes into the kitchen, slippers slapping on the kitchen floor.

"Morning Chris, Dom." He nods at both of us, re-boiling the kettle and preparing a cup of tea for himself.
"You at work today?" Morgan asks and Chris sighs.
"Unfortunately. The supermarket has given me the time off until the situation has resolved but I gotta go and meet with the other Hunters today. But first, I'm going to drop by and see Kelly. She's sprained her ankle and needs me to take some milk and other essentials." Chris explains and Morgan whistles.
"Bullshit. More like you fancy her and will do anything to be her knight in shining armour." Morgan cackles as he pours hot water over the teabag. Chris punches his arm playfully and this only prompts Morgan to laugh louder. He disposes of the teabag before cradling the mug in his hands.
"Shut up, Morgan!" Chris has gone slightly red and quickly retreats from the kitchen, telling us that he needs to get ready for work. I follow soon after, going upstairs and pulling on a grey striped t-shirt and black jeans before grabbing my trainers and heading to the lab, regardless of the fact I am almost 5 hours early.

Having been given a key to the trapdoor yesterday, I let myself in and head down into the lab, smiling at the sound of Matt whistling as he moves about the lab, glass chinking and shoes squeaking slightly on the tiled floor. I grab my lab coat and pull it on, silently creeping up behind Matt and wrapping my arms around his waist. He jumps slightly but rests his head against my cheek.
"You perhaps need to tone down the smile when you're talking about me." I murmur into his ear and he cocks his head to give me a weird look.
"What do you mean?" He asks, putting down the beaker he'd been holding and lacing his fingers in mine.
"Well, you bumped into Chris the other day and he seems to think you have a bit of a thing for me as you can't stop smiling when you talk to me." I reply and Matt giggles.
"The very thought of you fills me with joy, how can I not be elated when I talk about you? But it hasn't affected your friendship and safety has it?"
"No! Chris even suggested that he wouldn't have an issue with it even if it was true. He was just worried about Tom and Morgan. He knows you so he knows you're good guy." I spin Matt around to face me and press a kiss to his lips. His eyes flutter shut and he deepens the kiss, hands squeezing mine as I walk him back to lean against the lab bench.
"You're here early. What brings you here almost 5 hours too early?" He hums, pressing his body against mine, gripping the lapels of my lab coat.
"Well, I couldn't wait to kiss you and put my lips and hands all over you." I reply, trailing kisses along his jawline. He giggles before moving out from beneath me and pulling me towards his bedroom, stopping every few steps to kiss me. He pushes me down onto his bed and crawls up my body, a warm grin plastered to his face. He ducks down as he reaches my collar bone and latches his lips onto the skin, nipping and sucking until a slight bruise appears on my skin. I moan and squirm beneath him as he pulls my lab coat and t-shirt off. He discards them on the floor and I look up at him looking down at me. His eyes are full of desire and as much as I want him to take me right here, right now, I also want to have him myself. I flip our positions, taking him by surprise. He quirks an eye brow but all I do in response is kiss him, fingers playing with the hem of his t-shirt.

I drag the soft fabric up his torso, revealing his pale skin inch by inch. He watches me, eyes never leaving me as I let the bunched up fabric rest just below his nipples. I place my hands on his stomach, massaging the skin softly. I lean down and press a kiss to his navel, swirling my tongue around the soft skin. My thumbs run circles on his hip bones as I kiss and nip his skin. He mewls beneath me, squirming slightly and hands lacing in my hair. I chuckle and take his hands, using them to pull him down the bed so that our lips can meet. His t-shirt has come up completely now, restraining his movement slightly so with his aid, I pull it off and brush it off the bed.
"I want to worship every inch of your body. You are beautiful, Matt. I want to kiss every single millimetre of your body." I murmur, eyes fluttering shut as my lips are seized in a lazy but yet incredibly erotic kiss. The bulge in Matt's trousers presses hard against my leg and I grope it gently, causing him to gasp and bite down on my lip. But I have no intention to do anything even mildly sexual. No. This is just about appreciating his glorious body.
Feeling him writhe beneath me with even just the lightest touch makes the tightness in my own trousers unbearable but no, this isn't going any further than this - not just now anyway. My hands move to cradle his face, kissing him softly this time. He moans slightly in indignation but all I can do is chuckle and move to lie beside him, wrapping my arms around him in a loving embrace.

We stay like that for a while, breaking the silence only with kisses and the sound of shuffling the sheets. Eventually, Matt sighs.
"Guess we should start preparing this lichen for pollution tests." He says, his voice laced with a tone not too dissimilar from a child crying "but mummy, I don't want to!" He kisses me one more time before swinging his legs out of bed and putting his clothes back on. I follow him back into the lab, grabbing a lab coat and standing beside him at a bench covered in various bits of equipment.
"So, I collected some lichen samples from around town last night and we need to analyse it to see what sort of levels of pollution this town has. You read that book the other day - you should be able to work it out fairly quickly."

It doesn't take us long to work our way through the samples, noting down our findings for every little piece. Matt's cursive script is a stark contrast to my messy scrawl but nevertheless, we get a set of comprehensive notes that Matt says he'll work on later. I'm grateful that the work is done - I want nothing more than to curl up with Matt and eat together later on. But that doesn't seem to be on the cards. Matt pulls me in for a hug and kisses me once.
"I can't be with you this evening. I have some business to attend to with the town council." He sounds sad.
"Can't you skip? Or take me with you?" I protest but he just smiles weakly.
"No, it's vampire business about the current situation with Ashton. It's the one time apprentices aren't welcome."
"Oh."
He kisses me again, deeper this time and his hands move to comb through my hair.
"I promise I'll make it up to you. Tomorrow, we'll have a night in together with a good film and I'll cook. Just let your housemates know you'll be working overnight again. Sound good?"
"Sounds perfect." I smile, kissing him once more before bidding him farewell and heading back up to the land of the light and the living.