When Silas returned to his office there was no sight of Cecil, but the water on the desk had been cleaned.

Disappointed, he sat down in his chair. It seemed like the rabbit got away.

Just as he was thinking about the next steps he should take, his phone made a sound.

“Saturday 17 o’clock at this address. Don’t be late if you want your stuff back.”

If it hadn’t been for the name of the sender, Silas would have thought he was being blackmailed.

Leaning the top of the phone against his chin, Silas smirked. The fish jumped into his net on its own. So, he wouldn’t blame himself if he never let it free again, right?

Letting his gaze wander out of the window, he got lost in thought. Hopefully, Saturday comes fast.

Then he turned back around to the desk and got serious. Chasing a high-maintenance man needed achievements; he couldn’t slack off at work. So, Silas threw himself back into the mountains of work he had to do.

—-

Lying in bed, Cecil frowned. Why was it so stuffy?

Unconsciously, Cecil tried to find an explanation with his hazy mind. Did the king-sized bed suddenly shrink? Or was he sleeping in a cheap hotel? Or did he buy another huge plushie?

Wanting to gain more room, Cecil tried to push the thing that was taking up space. But what greeted him wasn’t a stuffed toy but a soft and warm body.

Immediately, Cecil opened his eyes wide in shock, the sleepiness disappearing in a flash.

And what he saw shocked Cecil even more.

Next to him lay Silas, but not like normal—no, he was naked! With his mouth falling open, Cecil tried to keep his eyes from wandering from Silas’s face to his exposed upper body, but it was extremely hard.

Why was he not wearing anything? Looking down on himself, he saw that he too was naked!

Suddenly, a warm hand touched his arm.

“Why are you awake?” A sleepy voice sounded next to him.

Cecil didn’t dare to look at Silas. Especially not after he noticed that the other sat up in bed and he heard the sound of soft fabric falling down.

“Cecil?”

Dissatisfaction could be heard from Silas’s voice.

Cecil pretended to be dead. Was this some kind of dream? If yes, then please let him wake up now!

But all his thoughts disappeared when a warm body hugged him from behind.

“Don’t tell me you are dissatisfied with last night?”

Silas’s warm breath was hitting Cecil’s sensitive neck and made every hair on his back stand.

Cecil swallowed dryly.

Not getting any reaction, Silas lifted his hand and ran it down Cecil’s naked chest.

Stunned, Cecil grabbed the naughty hand and turned Silas over while locking the other’s hands above his head.

Seeing Silas’s black hair fall softly on the pillow, his defenseless look, and the countless hickeys on his body, Cecil lost it.

He bent down to take a taste of the soft-looking lips and ran his hands along the smooth muscles, feeling the warm skin underneath his hands.

It was like an electric current was traveling through Cecil’s body, making him more sensitive than normal.

Looking up, his and Silas’s eyes met. Seeing the provocation in them, Cecil couldn’t hold back. He reached down toward the area that was still hidden by the blanket and wanted to touch it, but as soon as his hands made contact with the object of his lust, he got kicked down from the bed.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Huh?”

Lifting his eyes, he saw Silas looking down at him with disappointment.

“Going to bed before the first date? Aren’t you a bit too fast?”

Shocked, Cecil wanted to apologize. “No, Silas, that wasn’t my intention, I—” But he couldn’t finish his words.

A shrill sound was ringing in his ears.

“What the Hawk!”

Annoyed, Cecil opened his eyes.

Seeing the alarm clock ringing and the light shining through the window, Cecil grimaced.

Letting himself fall back into bed, he reached out his hand to feel the other side of the bed. Cold.

Putting his hands in front of his face, Cecil sighed disappointed.

It was only a dream…

But soon he got rid of his low mood. Today, he and Silas would have their first date! Excited, he got out of bed and froze.

Feeling a sticky sensation in his underwear, Cecil’s face began burning.

How the Hawk was he supposed to face Silas today?!

—-

What would be the best first date? Of course, a date that fit the preferences of the one one wanted to chase!

Usually, Cecil would have invited Silas to a restaurant, as he had always done with Louis, but since he still remembered Silas’s words that he preferred home-cooked meals, Cecil decided he would cook for them himself.

He was confident in his cooking skills, even if he had never stood in the kitchen himself before.

But how hard could it be to follow a simple recipe?

As it turned out, very hard.

Cutting the vegetables while the meat was already in the pan and not forgetting to cook the rice was too much at once for Cecil. So the meat burnt, the vegetables were brick-sized, and the rice had turned into pudding when the bell to the front door rang.

For the first time in his life, Cecil just wanted to hide in shame and die on the spot. But when the bell rang for a third time, he had to get up with tears in his eyes.

In shame, he opened the front door a crack to see Silas standing there.

For a moment, Cecil forgot about the first date that had already failed before it even started and just stared at Silas.

It was the first time he saw Silas in casual clothes.

When he realized his staring, he decided that taking one last look didn’t matter anyway and so he continued taking in every last detail.

“While I appreciate that you like my appearance, I think there are other things we should be doing right now.”

In Cecil’s foggy brain, he couldn’t understand what Silas was saying. Doing something else than just looking?

He didn’t know if he was already prepared for that!

Cecil hesitated. But if Silas wanted, they could head to the convenience store downstairs to—

Silas smiled gently at Cecil, who looked at him dumbly, as he pointed at the black smoke that was escaping through the crack of the door.

“Such as making sure whatever is burning in the kitchen doesn’t burn down the house.”

In shock, Cecil turned around only to see an orange flame starting to appear on his pan.

“My steak!” Cecil cried out.

Without hesitating for even one second, Silas took off his coat and threw it onto the pan while taking it down from the stove.

After he turned off the stove and made sure the fire was put out, he took a look at Cecil, who was sitting on the floor in despair.

Shaking his head in amusement, Silas opened the windows in the apartment to let the smoke escape the room and fresh air enter.

“You must think I’m totally pathetic.” A muttering could be heard behind him.

Turning around, he saw Cecil still sitting on the floor with his head on his knees.

Actually, it was quite the opposite.

Silas didn’t think Cecil’s efforts to make him a meal were pathetic, even if they turned into a disaster. He was very touched. It was the first time somebody not only gave their all to make something themselves, especially a young master who probably never had seen the kitchen from inside, but also the first time someone remembered his preferences.

Just the thought of Cecil standing in the kitchen wanting to cook for him made him feel warm and fuzzy all over. If he could, Silas wanted to hug the other and never let go.

And for the first time, he didn’t mind acting on impulse.

Cecil suddenly felt something surrounding him, and then he was held in a warm embrace. Instantly, all the dark thoughts and worries disappeared, and only comfort remained.

When was the last time he was hugged? Probably when his father was still alive, when he still had a happy family…

Only when Silas’s fingers touched his cheeks to wipe away the tears did he realize that he had started crying.

Cecil laughed embarrassingly. How many times had it been that he had cried in front of Silas? Probably too many to count.

Silas must think he is a crybaby.

Getting up from the ground, Silas stretched out his hand towards Cecil.

“Come on, I’m hungry, let’s try again.”

Stunned, it took Cecil a while to react. This man had seen him cry so many times and seen so many uncool moments of him and he still didn’t leave?

Looking at the outstretched hand, Cecil hesitated. Maybe it was okay. Maybe he would understand—

Instead of waiting for Cecil to make a decision, Silas took his hand and led him into the kitchen.

Cecil looked at their joint hands and thought back to the banquet where Silas had also just taken his hand and led him away. Maybe it’s okay to not always take the lead and sometimes just follow, because it seemed like he didn’t need to worry about the other party disappearing if they held hands.

Once they arrived in the kitchen, another wave of embarrassment hit him.

The whole kitchen was smelling burnt, and the food in the pots was unrecognizable. But he felt even worse when he saw Silas’s coat, which had been used to put out the fire.

The originally grey coat had black spots from the fire. It was completely ruined.

Feeling the other’s just-lifted mood plummeting again, Silas was confused. But when he followed the other’s line of sight, he

immediately understood.

“Don’t worry, it was an old coat. I wanted to buy a new one anyways.”

“You just brought forward the date.” He joked to lighten the mood.

“You wanted to buy a new one anyway?” Cecil muttered beneath his breath, when a grandiose idea hit him.

Observing the other’s lit-up eyes and smirk on his face, Silas was sure that Cecil had come up with another plan.

With raised lips, he started cleaning up the mess and once Cecil came back to earth, he also helped.

When the kitchen and pots were clean, they were a mess.

Their faces had drops of sweat on them, and their clothes were wet from the water.

Well, at least Silas’s clothes were wet.

Noticing Cecil’s gaze, Silas looked down at himself.

“It seems like I always get wet because of you.” Silas joked with an ambiguous smile on his face.

When he saw Cecil’s innocent face, he always had the evil urge to make a beautiful blush cover his face and make the other’s heart beat because of him. So he would forget that Bull sooner.

And the desired effect appeared immediately.

Cecil’s face turned from self-blame to red to burning in a matter of seconds until he could not stand Silas’s gaze and dashed into the bathroom.

Leaning against the counter, Silas felt satisfied. But at the same time, he wished they could progress faster so that Cecil could only have him in his eyes and be his.

When Cecil returned to the kitchen, he saw Silas rummaging through the cabinets.

“What are you looking for?”

Silas turned towards Cecil with an opened pack of rice in his hand.

“Searching for some ingredients to make us dinner.”

Guilty, Cecil averted Silas’s sight.

Cecil had invited Silas to one of his apartments, but since he usually lived with his family since his mother wanted them to live together, it usually stood empty. But since he couldn’t invite Silas home, he had called someone to clean and prepare the ingredients he listed. So it was only natural that Silas could not find anything since he wasted the ingredients with his earlier cooking attempt.

Racking his brain for a solution, Cecil suddenly thought about the eggs and the tomatoes in the fridge. Originally, he didn’t want to use them because they looked ugly, but now it seemed like they came in handy.

Once he found them, he proudly presented them to Silas.

With a solemn look, Silas inspected the ingredients.

“That’s it?”

Guilty, Cecil nodded.

Silas sighed.

“I guess then I can only make tomato egg stir fry.”

Although he wanted to impress Cecil with his cooking, the ingredients didn’t allow anything fancy.

It seemed like the strategy ‘love through the stomach’ had to wait for a bit longer.