Page 72 of Psync
And he had no clue if the guy was even into dudes.
“Eli,” Haruka’s voice intruded on his thoughts, and Eli jumped, nearly killing himself on the slick tile as he struggled to stay upright. “Breakfast is going to be over in the caf soon. Hurry up.”
“I’ll be right out,” Eli squeaked, hurrying to clean up the mess he’d just made of himself.
When he finally emerged, he knew his whole body was bright pink with embarrassment but hoped Haruka would think it was because of the steam rather than guessing Eli had been jacking off furiously in the shower.
He was going to quit his bad habit.
Starting tomorrow.
He rubbed a towel through his hair and started for the door only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Get dressed first.”
“Whoops!” Eli laughed in embarrassment and rubbed his head harder.
He’d almost gone out in a towel and nothing else. Haruka’s room was only a few feet away from the shower room, but still, dashing mostly naked through the hall wasn’t his idea of a good time.
“Thanks.”
Eli grabbed his clothes and ducked behind a curtain to dress. “We don’t have to hit the cafeteria, you know. There are plenty of other places to eat.”
“Hn.” Haruka always got monosyllabic when he wanted something, which meant he probably really wanted to eat in the caf today.
“Fine, I’ll hurry.” Eli shoved his head through the neck hole of his T-shirt and opened the curtain, stuffing his arms through the holes as he came out. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“You forgot your hoodie.”
“I left it in the room. Don’t worry, I can live without it until we finish eating.”
“Hn.” Haruka walked out and Eli followed him, but instead of heading toward the elevator, he went back to the room and grabbed a hoodie—the black one he’d given Eli—and handed it to him.
“Thanks.” Eli put it on as fast as he could and made for the door, only to be stopped by Haruka who pushed him gently against the wall in the narrow entry.
Haruka crowded into Eli’s space and began to zip up his hoodie.
Eli began to translate the steps of making instant ramen into Hindi.
Haruka’s eye twitched, but he still zipped the hoodie all the way to Eli’s neck. When he moved to pull up the hood, Eli touched his hand to stop him.
“I’m good, really.”
It was thoughtful for Haruka to remember, but Eli found he didn’t need it as much as he used to.
Haruka stepped back. “Okay.”
Once at the cafeteria, Eli waited at a table while Haruka got food. He’d given up choosing things for himself because no matter what he got, he always ended up eating food from Haruka’s plate. Also, it was nice not to get jostled and pushed around in the sea of people swarming the place.
“Can I sit here?”
Eli lifted his head from him phone to see Bryan, Haruka’s friend, standing next to him. “Go for it. What’s up?”
Bryan put his tray down and sat next to Eli. “Just looking for Haruka. I haven’t seen him around much lately, and when I saw you, I knew he’d be nearby.”
On cue, Haruka materialized behind Bryan and kicked the leg of his chair. “Move.”
“Like I said.” Bryan winked at Eli and moved to the other side of the table.
