Page 10 of The Lost Art of Woodworking and Taking Risks
And then, grabbing his courage with both hands, he swallowed and said carefully, “You watching to see my reaction and just sitting there while I eat is, um, kind of a lot of pressure.”
Expressions chased themselves across the other man’s face. Surprise, chagrin, and then something that looked like… pride? Fondness?
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think of that. Thank you for telling me. I know you don’t like to be the center of attention, and here I was, making you the center of attention. I’m really curious what you think of it, but I don’t mean to put you on the spot. You can like it or not like it. You don’t even have to eat it. You could watchmeeat it, except I’m kind of full, and it’s kind of a bowl full of sugar, but that’s all right! It doesn’t matter whether we eat it or not.”
Chamis sat there and listened to the man babble, and he realized with as much certainty as he ever felt about anything that Bennan really was invested in this. He’d gone out of his way to pick something he thought Chamis would like, and he was totally nervous about his reaction.
Casting wildly about for an option, Chamis proposed, “How about we both try it at the same time?”
Bennan snatched up the second spoon. “Yes!”
He seemed always willing to meet halfway, and he never appeared impatient about it.
“On three?” Bennan proposed with a smile, turning Chamis’s discomfort into a shared moment.
Chamis nodded, readying his spoon just like Bennan had done.
“One, two, three!”
They both dug their spoon into the dessert, cutting through the soft cake and trying to get a mixture of cake, syrup, and cream onto the spoon. It was messy and ridiculous, but Chamis couldn’t remember being happier—until he actually stuck the spoon in his mouth. He groaned, tasting the rich, gooey sweetness of the sauce that he realized was still warm and had soaked into the cake. He swallowed it down, actually licked the spoon, and then eyed Bennan, who was trying to look like he hadn’t been watching Chamis, but they both knew he had.
“I changed my mind,” Chamis said.
Bennan froze.
“Put the spoon down,” he continued, pulling the bowl closer. “I want it all. You can’t have any, and I don’t care if that means you watch me eat.”
Bennan threw back his head and laughed, and Chamis couldn’t help but grin at him, happier than he could ever remember being. Was there a pinnacle that could be reached? Or would he keep discovering more of them?
Chamis ate the dessert, every last bit of it, coming awfully close to licking the bowl, but he managed to just scrape up the sides a lot withthe spoon. Bennan, probably in an effort to not make him uncomfortable, chattered on about how the novices were doing in training and how he hoped that Perian would be completely healed soon, because as entertaining as it was to have him on the sidelines, he wanted him to be able to practice again.
“Not just because it’s entertaining,” Bennan said with a grin, “though it definitely is. But these are useful skills, and I think he needs them especially. I don’t like how often he’s been injured.”
Chamis would once—as recently as yesterday, in fact—have taken this statement as one indicating Bennan’s interest in the man. But he was trying to take Perian’s words to heart, and it was certainly true that you could care about someone without being romantically or sexually interested in them.
“We can definitely keep an eye out,” Chamis agreed. “Always be looking for trouble.”
“That’s what I was supposed to be doing!” Bennan argued, clearly castigating himself. “I should have stopped it.”
“You were across the quadrangle,” Chamis countered. “You can’t be everywhere at once. And there’s a reason Fomadin isn’t a Warrior anymore. There’s a certain standard of behavior that needs to be adhered to, and we can’t be responsible for the fact that he chose not to adhere to it. It never should have happened becausehe shouldn’t have done it, not because you should have been there to stop it.”
Bennan blew out a breath, managed a faint smile and finally a nod. “Thank you. That’s a lovely thing to say. I’m still going to keep a closer eye on everything once Perian is back.”
They each had sessions where they were overseeing the novices rather than training themselves, and clearly, they needed to keep being attentive.
Chamis just nodded, because what else could he say? Fomadin might be gone, but some of his friends were still grumbling. Hopefully, it would never go beyond that, but it paid to be careful.
He wondered how Summus would react once he was back. He couldn’t imagine it would be good, but if it made everyone else be more careful and less stupid, that would be a positive.
Dessert finished, it seemed like their time was really coming to an end. Bennan insisted on paying for the meal, even though Chamis remembered this time to offer to pay.
The other man looked almost offended. “I invited you for lunch—of course you can’t pay!”
There was no way to insist at that point, and it made nerves and happiness jump in Chamis in equal measure.
He gathered up his parcel of ribbons and beads, and they were soon back in the streets.
“Anything else you need to do?” Bennan asked.
