Funny How Love Is (Maylor AU)

Chapter 31

Brian's eyes flickered over to Roger, who was waiting patiently for the professor to unlock his front door by distracting himself with a survey of his surroundings—the street, the house in front of him, the man he'd kissed earlier that day and wanted to kiss again. After all, no one they needed to worry about was around. They'd successfully evaded Tim's wrath, which admittedly turned Roger on a bit, and Chrissie wasn't of their concern.

The headmistress had left school early that day to deal with "family matters," as explained to the few professors she confided in to tell the others. Word spread through the faculty quickly, but not quick enough for Brian to catch her before she left. When he went to check in on her, her door was already closed and locked and her lights had been turned off, and when he tried to call her, he received the busy signal—every time.

A nervous lump formed in Brian's throat as he finally slid the key into the slot and pushed the door into the dark house, stepping inside without inviting the music instructor in. It wasn't necessary, though, because the blonde waltzed right in after him—as if the house was his too—and closed the door with a slam that startled the professor.

"Sorry," Roger apologized, seeing the curly-haired man's admonishing facial expression. He flashed him an unrequited smile before slipping out of his coat and tossing it at the coat rack, wandering into the shadow-cast home as the garment missed the hook it was supposed to hit and dropped to the floor. "It's a nice place you've got here," he commented, "You live here all by yourself?"

"Yes, I do," the professor replied tersely as he grudgingly snatched Roger's jacket up from the ground and hung it on the rack alongside his.

"Must be lonely," the blonde muttered as he disappeared into the living room, drawn over to the mantle that showcased a small collection of picture frames. He picked one of them up for further examination, seeing a young boy sitting in between two people much older than him who were looking down at him with loving eyes. He assumed the people in the picture were Brian and his parents, forever captured in the seemingly happy moment. His grip on the frame tightened ever so slightly as he thought about himself and how he hadn't seen his parents in years, and how—even when he was younger—his parents had never looked at him the way Brian's parents were looking at their boy.

Suddenly, the room became flooded with light. Roger's head snapped back over his shoulder to see Brian standing beside one of the end tables, the lamp sitting upon it casting an ominous shadow on the professor.

"It can be," he confessed flatly, his hazel eyes traveling over to the blonde's blue ones as he added, "But it's not so bad. Sometimes, after a long day, I quite enjoy coming home to the peace and quiet. Don't you?"

A chuckle escaped from the music instructor's mouth as he set the photo frame back in place and turned towards the professor, slipping his hands into his pockets and telling him, "Peace and quiet doesn't really exist where I live."

Brian nodded at Roger's response, tilting his head down and messing with the curled edge of the magazine lying out on the table as he contemplated what to say next. They hadn't even spent five minutes together, and yet there was already an awkward tension between them.

Luckily, for the taller of the two, the shorter cleared his throat and blurted out, "Say, you got anything to drink here?"

The professor snapped out of the momentary daze he'd fallen into and stammered, "Oh. Of course, l-let me get you something. What would you like?"

Roger grinned. "Anything you have is fine, Bri."

He weakly returned the gesture before scurrying out of the room, the blonde slowly following after him but stopping at the doorway separating the kitchen from the foyer. He folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the threshold, watching as the professor pillaged his refrigerator in search of something to give his houseguest. Roger's eyes found themselves fixating on the older man's ass that was popped out, filling the back of his trousers quite nicely and creating a pleasant discomfort in the younger man's abdomen.