Page 32 of Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters
“Never gonna live that down, am I?”
“No.”
Kyle contented himself with getting the DVD set up. He did feel like a bad guest, though, as Vikash strode back and forth from the kitchen with opened beers, a tray of cheese and olives, hummus and pita chips, and a blue bowl of something that smelled incredible, which he plunked down in front of Kyle.
“Dinner.” Vikash took the remote from him and sank gracefully onto the other end of the sofa. “Eat that first.”
“Okay, Mom,” Kyle grumbled, but he picked up the bowl and nearly drooled over it as he breathed in the steam. Vegetarian chili. The first bite had him moaning like a grizzly hunkered over a salmon at the cumin-chili-jalapeno goodness. “Damn.”
“Good?”
“Hot, but yes.Where have you been all my lifegood.”
Vikash snorted and popped a dark olive into his mouth. “Shh. Starting. Love the beginning.”
“Sorry,” Kyle whispered as Cate Blanchett’s liquid velvet voice started the introductory voiceover. He snuggled back into the couch cushions, wolfing down his chili, and felthappy. He’d seen the movie a hundred times, but watching it with Kash felt new, and the space between them on the sofa no longer felt strained and artificial. No way he could explain it, but this was comfortable.
Didn’t hurt that every time Vikash reached for something from the miniature feast on the coffee table, he edged closer to Kyle’s side of the sofa. By the time the unscheduled fireworks went off at Bilbo’s birthday party, Vikash had encroached far enough for their knees to touch. When the hobbits were about to be attacked on Weathertop, Vikash settled an arm on the couch behind Kyle.
“Oldest player cliché in the book, Soren,” Kyle murmured and snagged several slices of cheese as the Nazgûl on screen closed in.
“Don’t want you to be scared.” Vikash nestled closer so their thighs pressed against each other. “There’s a players’ book?”
“Shh. Nazgûl.”
Kyle would never admit it, but this part of the movie did freak him out a little. The warmth beside him and Vikash’s arm stealing more firmly around his shoulders both served to stave off the shivers he usually got during this scene. Once, on a dark night filled with thunder and whipping rain, he’d even fast-forwarded through it. Not that he would ever admit that out loud, or the fact that he’d checked the locks several times before going to bed.
By the time Arwen began her desperate race to Rivendell, Vikash was definitely nuzzling at Kyle’s throat while Kyle pretended to ignore him.
“You know it wasn’t Arwen in the book, right?” Kyle asked to see if Vikash was still aware of the movie in even a peripheral way.
“Mmm.” Vikash nibbled on his earlobe. “Glorfindel. I like that they gave her a bigger part. Made her a person.”
“Oh, yeah. Not gonna argue there.” Kyle devoured one more bite of pita and hummus before he turned to drape his legs over Vikash’s. “Damn it. Amanda’s right.”
Vikash lifted his head and blinked. “Oh?”
“We’re so, so geeky.”
With a soft chuckle, Vikash leaned over to suck a leftover bit of hummus from Kyle’s thumb and he couldn’t have stopped the moan even if he’d stuffed a sock in his mouth. “Kash…”
“Stop?”
“Not…necessarily. But the movie?”
“Leave it,” Vikash murmured against Kyle’s jaw.
“Oh, yeah. Okay. ’Cause we can probably both recite it anyway and it’s kinda cool background noise with the music and all. I love this soundtrack—”
Vikash cut him off by sucking on Kyle’s bottom lip, turning the rest of his sentence into a garbled moan. Careful of the dishes on the coffee table, he turned to stretch out on his back and Vikash obliged by adjusting in controlled graceful movements until he hovered over Kyle, knees on either side of his hips.
“Kash?” One hand combing through the thick ebony of Vikash’s hair, Kyle locked eyes with him. “You have something in mind?”
“It’s not obvious?” Vikash’s arms tensed around Kyle and his words sounded strangled.
“Well, yeah. But we never talked about any of this. What you like. What you don’t like.”
Vikash rested his head on Kyle’s shoulder with a long release of breath. “All right. You start.”
