Box of Chocolates (C/Icaurs/Ahote)

It was the same hour Boomslang had closed for the morning, leaving Ahote with that small lull in between before it reopened again for its evening and night services. That same afternoon, he had returned from a job within his organization. Needless to say, it was a job well done, and Boomslang operated at the quality it was known for, but Ahote seemed particularly exhausted today. There were small, yet noticeable, bags underneath his eyes, and he just seemed more tired than usual. Not only that, but the scratchiness of his throat and the occasional sneeze was also telling him that he may have picked up a mild cold while on the job as well. As a result, he wore a thin jacket despite the warm weather and wore a face mask to top it all off.

The brooding man never slept for very long, to begin with—not since he was a baby—but he seemed in particular need of a good nap right about now, and without it, he'd normally be especially irritable. However, the moment Boomslang closed for the afternoon, instead of going to sleep, he was heading somewhere else. It was an apartment complex he didn't live in, but judging by the way he navigated through it, he had been there before.

Eventually, he had arrived at a specific unit in the complex. It was Icarus's apartment—a place that his employee had taken him to once before, and Ahote had brought a gift for him as congratulations on his new move. It was a small box of chocolates and other sweet candies, however, thinking about it again, he realized that he didn't know if it was something his employee would appreciate. He bought it because he liked sweet things himself, and the design was rather cute. But by the time it came to mind, he was already at the door. There was something else that Ahote wanted to talk to Icarus about as well, but he didn't want to wait until later on tonight to bring it up, especially since it was around that time where they'd focus on something other than what was important.

Tap. Tap. Ahote gently knocked on the door with his knuckles, holding the cardboard box by the handle with a apprehensive look on his fatigued face. Now that he thought about it, he was beginning to wonder if he was even home at all?

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It was always refreshing to see it. That face. The sort of "oh well, whatever" air that Icarus carried and the charming face that accompanied it was like a breath of fresh air whenever Ahote saw it, and he didn't realize how refreshed it made him feel until he saw it. It was probably because of their routine 'get-togethers', but Ahote didn't mind it being that way.

Needless to say, the fatigue on his face and the mask that he donned made it obvious that Ahote wasn't his best self at the time, so it wasn't a surprise when Icarus seemed to notice when he invited him inside. The blond stepped aside to let Ahote in, and for a moment, there was a pause between the two. The brunette had to admit that he was mildly amused to see Icarus look around for this "seat" he had offered to him, and judging by the size of his apartment, there wasn't much here.

Ahote hadn't noticed it before, but the apartment wasn't exactly what most people would be comfortable living in. It felt terribly empty, with dingy chairs and walls that looked older than he was, and looking closer to a minimalist's home than anything else. It was easy to look past it when he was so focused on indulging in Icarus most nights, but now that he had a clear view, he couldn't help but take note. Right now, the brunette lived in a large bunker in the basement of Boomslang, which might be a little eccentric to others, but for a workaholic like him, living underneath your workplace seemed wildly efficient. But he couldn't help but wonder if he could afford a house right now and if it was a good idea to look into buying one. He had quite a bit of jewel in savings between Hidden Blades, Boomslang, and other odd jobs from over the years. He actually had built quite a good bank for himself, and he knew that if not a house, perhaps a really nice condo or apartment.

When Icarus gave him that likable wink, Ahote smiled weakly underneath his mask, although it may have been hard to tell as his smiles were always so small, especially when his mouth was covered. He took a seat on that comfortable bed, watching Icarus as he went to his kettle, feeling the weight of his body begin to fall to his stomach. He really wanted to crash right here.

"I'm sorry for coming without telling you. Did I..." Ahote trailed off, looking at the bed he was sitting on and how unkempt Icarus and the sheets were, "...wake you up?"

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"Oh? Is that so?" Ahote smiled when Icarus said that, watching him as he made the coffee with that well-kept french press of his. It was perhaps the only thing in this dinky apartment that looked like it was something he had honestly spent money on, and so were the coffee grounds he used, too. At first, Ahote was a little awkward in approaching Icarus. He had very little experience in 'dropping hints' and flirting with others, so it usually ended up being one awkward attempt or with him being completely blunt about what he wanted. Nowadays, after having done it so many times, Ahote could exercise the latter more often, and he liked to think he was getting better at the 'hint dropping' thing as well. He had never experienced anything like it before, and he was frankly quite distracted with Icarus.

Ahote was handed his coffee as Icarus joined him on the bed, comforted by the heat seeping through the mug and into his hands. However, before he could drink it, Icarus was the first to bring up the small cardboard box Ahote had brought with him. When he did, the stern man had taken it upon himself to place it in the space on the bed in between them, prying it open just enough so Icarus could see the assorted chocolates inside. They were actually notably cute—there were some topped with strawberries or raspberries, and others that didn't even try to hide the fact that they were wholesome with drawings of cat faces or bunny faces marked onto them.

"A housewarming gift... and an apology for the other night," Ahote sort of looked away when he finished his thought, quickly plucking his face mask down beneath his chin so he could hide his mouth between sips of coffee, "though maybe I should've brought you coffee grounds instead."

Ahote had kept talking, but he could feel the memories of their time out on Urban Nights come back to him like a slideshow. He recalled Iris stripping naked despite there being no instance of him stripping at all, instead, he just arrived naked. And then there was Aeluri, who was either really drunk or consumed copious amounts of some sort of drug. Baird was being... himself, and that in itself could have been a bit much. But then there was the fact that Ahote had ended up drunk himself. He never drinks, and when he does, he's so ridiculously lightweight that even after only a few shots of that Aqua, he was acting completely out of character. Or, well, in this case, he was acting too in character. In reality, he was a lot more honest and comfortable with himself and others when he was drunk than how he was when sober. If he had let himself be anything but rigid for a moment, being "huggy" and "cuddly" wasn't completely out of the picture. But, as he thought more and more about what he did specifically, his ears became pinker and pinker. It was hard to tell whether it was out of exasperation or embarrassment, though...

"I know that the other night was probably overwhelming. They really are idiots, and I wasn't myself either... so..." Ahote suddenly closed the box of chocolates and pushed it closer to Icarus, "here."

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Ahote sort of watched Icarus without turning his head as he ate the chocolates. He was a little apprehensive about if Icarus would like his gift, so he was especially attentive of him when he decided to give it a try, and to his relief, he seemed to enjoy it.

"Really? You like them? That's great..." Ahote sighed through his nose, feeling as if he were expelling a small weight from his lungs as he did so. He decided not to mention how much they cost, as he realized that most people probably didn't spend as much money on chocolates as Ahote did. Or on stuffed animals, either. But for a particularly frugal man like him, he made a lot of money and spent very little of it, and the times he did splurge on things it was usually stuff like sweets and cute items. It probably damaged whatever image people had on him before, so he usually kept his fondness of cute things to himself.

In fact, despite how blunt of a guy he was, he kept a lot of things to himself. However, when Icarus suggested... feeding him chocolate, Ahote briefly lost composure yet again. He flinched and his ears went pink... again. At first, he didn't say anything—he was just staring at Icarus with a look of disbelief all over his hard face. An 'are you serious?' sort of look. After a brief pause, Ahote decided to humor him a bit, although he did it in such a way to save face. With a quick gentleness, he'd gingerly grab Icarus's hand and pull it towards his face, carefully plucking the chocolate from his fingers with his mouth. Judging by the way he avoided looking at him during the entire process, he was somewhat embarrassed by the whole feat.

"You're in Sabertooth, aren't you?" Ahote would change the subject in a heartbeat, rubbing off a little chocolate from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and then sucking it, "I saw your marking the other night. You don't strike me as the type who'd be in a guild as ambitious as that... or being a working sorcerer, either." he looked at Icarus attentively, interested in what he had to say as he finished sucking off the chocolate from his thumb.

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"It means that you'd ought to stop living like you're just above the poverty level, because I pay you enough to support yourself more than you do," Ahote quipped back, taking Icarus's silent invitation and letting his arm drape around him as they began to walk in. Although he wasn't expecting him to arrive from behind, scaring Ahote or at least catching him off-guard would be a difficult feat. Years of operating in the criminal underworld and coasting through life with a state against you tend to build some sort of awareness and self-consciousness after some time. That being said, Ahote was still sort of pathetic with how easily embarrassed he was.

"Oh, that? It was probably a fever from stress. It happens a lot, so it's fine—" Ahote stopped mid-sentence when he caught a glimpse at something shiny and ornate. This particular entrance to ICEA was directly connected to the kitchenware section of the superstore, and so they were greeted with a plethora of display cases with various brands of plates, cups, and other things, but the one that caught his eye was a silverware set. He quickly abandoned Icarus's comfortable arm to go over and crouch down next to the display case, staring at it with narrow, twinkling eyes. Wouldn't those look so good for Boomslang? A lot of the design surrounding that place was contemporary, and the silverware would probably be a nice addition, but he already had full sets of stuff like this already. They worked perfectly fine and they were of good quality, so there wasn't really a need to buy another set. "Oh my goood, that'd look so good..." Ahote gushed to himself, lost in the thought of buying it while he was still fawning over it. It took a second to realize that he had gotten so caught up in his own head that Icarus was probably staring at him, and if him coming up behind him hadn't caught him off-guard, this surely had. He suddenly shot up back to his feet, his expression a lot softer and pink than before as he stared down into the display case. Slowly, he pressed his hand against his eyes and let it slide down his gushing face, sighing as if to regain composure.

"Ah—ehm—so..." Ahote peered over to Icarus bashfully, "Where to first? Chairs? Dining tables?"

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"What I miss?" Ahote paused and looked at Icarus. It was a surprisingly difficult question to wonder about considering the other furnishing they always ended using was his bed for their various sexual encounters, and he only just recently caught a good glimpse of the state of his home. After quick and silent deliebration, Ahote once again accepted Icarus's draping arm once he decided what to look for first, leading their meandering through the ICEA pathways. "It's easy to say that I have better taste when you have nothing for me to compare it to..."

Their first stop was a section of ICEA where dining room sets were on display. It wasn't like Icarus had a lot of space, so it probably wasn't likely that he'd want something big enough to seat eight people. Actually, what did he want? The way he dressed and the way he carried himself told Ahote that he was a casual man who lived life to comfortable standards, and no more. If anything, he had a minimalist air around him. But none of that was very helpful in gauging what he liked in furniture.

"We're going to get you a set, but you probably don't want to clutter your space, now do you? So..." Ahote leaned over one table and placed his hand on it. It was a small, black, square wooden table that could seat about two or three people, and had small and beautiful grain patterns. It wasn't particularly expensive either. "Something like this? Or bigger? Ah, well, maybe it's too dark..." he placed a hand over his mouth as he wandered in a sea of thought, staring at the table with a concentrated look in his eyes. Ahote liked darker colors, but not for his furnishings. In fact, his room was actually quite light and refreshing, but he wasn't so sure what Icarus would've preferred.

At some point between all this gauging and reflection, it suddenly came to mind how comfortable he was feeling right now. Ahote wasn't a very touchy person as a result of his unapproachable demeanor and unfriendly, cynical attitude, but he hadn't really thought twice about accepting Icarus's arm like that. Now that he thought about it, this whole situation was a bit too comfortable for people who were just supposed to be colleagues with benefits—the whole 'the employee is sleeping with the boss' dynamic that seemed so romanticized nowadays. To him, this wasn't a date. This was just... well, actually, was it? It wasn't anything especially romantic—it was actually quite the opposite—but it also wasn't something he'd do with everyone.

When did he get so comfortable?

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Ahote had to admit that he wasn't really expecting 'accentuate the mould' to be the words coming out of Icarus's mouth. Although they were in the infancy of their field trip, he was already beginning to assume that Icarus seemed like the type who'd be content with just being alive, and would probably be okay if had a good mattress and a cardboard box to place things on. Ahote wasn't very materialistic himself, so not only was the idea understandable, but he was beginning to accept that he'd be the one leading this venture. And of course, Icarus being the playful flirt he was, followed it up with a coquettish comment.

He was left at a loss for words when Icarus said that, staring at him with eyes that widened fractionally and a strip of pink flushed from one earlobe to the other. He usually had a pretty thick skin when it came to words and the nuances in between, but it seemed that more often than not, he was getting flustered over the simplest of things because of that blonde and that teasing mouth of his. When Icarus wandered off elsewhere, Ahote pulled out his own iLac to get the item number of the table they had agreed on and began to type down the number with that same look on his face and his mind ran rampant with questions.

Up until recently, Ahote hadn't even thought about his carnal desires, let alone romance to any extent, so this friend-with-benefit thing they had going on was bound to bring out sides of him that he didn't know he had. Frankly, it was kind of a stretch to even call him a friend with benefits, seeing as the only time they ever saw each other was at work or in bed—they didn't really have a relationship that was beyond sex and checks. But more importantly... wasn't this a little too easy? It was like every little thing seemed to get a rise out of Ahote, and at this point, he wasn't sure if Icarus was just incredibly charming or if he was just so starved for sex and flirting all this time that the littlest things could set him off. It was getting to a point where if Icarus had enticed him with a little 'physicality' outside of a bedroom, it wasn't farfetched to say that Ahote might've given in to it. Hell, he wasn't thinking much about anything but the practicality of this date until Icarus made that little comment, and now his head wandered off into space as his thumbs mindlessly tapped away at the item numbers, and eventually, he was beginning to wonder if this table could support his weight, how sturdy it was—

"—P-Pardon?" Ahote immediately squeezed his iLac and flinched when Icarus returned to him, cheekily listing the things he apparently decided he wanted to have now. The dark-haired club owner looked at Icarus with his ears a now full-pink, looking as if he could hear his thoughts just now and where they were about to go. Quietly, he scratched just behind his ear as he glimpsed back down at his iLac, retyping the item number for the table as he tried to veil his flustered and almost guilty expression beneath his dark, wavy locks. "A-Ahhh... remind me of your mattress size...?"

Ahote didn't look at him in the eyes when he said that, the small stutter in his words a testament to his fumbling composure. Beneath that dark head of his was a splash of pink that spread from his ears to the bridge and tip of his nose. It would be easy to read his apprehension as some sort of discomfort of suddenly being asked to purchase so many things, but really, it couldn't have been farther from the truth.

Seriously, what the hell is my problem? 'I liked the noise it made', like... am I some kind of pervert? And what, his neighbors could hear us all this time? So all of that noise.... oh, I seriously want to die right now... I want to crawl underneath a rock and die... I need a chastity belt...

The more Ahote thought about it, the less he could focus on copying down the item number so he could order it. As he slowly finished it, he raised a hand to his face to cover it while he continued to look downward. What was he? Some kind of horndog?

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While Ahote was sifting through the clutter of thoughts in his head, Icarus withdrew from his flirty demands back into the modesty he was so familiar with. His change in attitude was abrupt, so even Ahote took notice it once it happened, and looked at him with his flushed face—one part puzzled and another part bashful. His ear glowed an even deeper pink color when he raised his hand to his lips, which wasn't helpful right now at all.

God, 'hard for you' doesn't even begin to describe it. Even now, I'm... Ahote was only making himself blush even harder with this line of thought. It was clear that there was some sort of misunderstanding in his mannerisms, which was... understandable. Not everyone had such little control over their sex drive that they were beginning to look at ICEA products for how well they'd hold up during some special "physicality". And Icarus seemed so sincere too, so the dark-haired man was almost starting to feel guilty for getting aroused by his apologetic gesture.

"Listen, Icarus. I wouldn't have bothered inviting you out here if I couldn't afford it," Ahote's expression softened again as he quietly sighed through his nose. Icarus was a perceptive guy, and that was for sure. He was perfectly capable of picking up on the little nuances in people's behavior, and what he did with those observations was, from Ahote's experience, quite cheeky. Maybe that's why he was so charming? Well, regardless, something about this exchange just now was both refreshing and deeply arousing. Frankly, Ahote had reached a point where he couldn't think about the venture they came out here to see through without thinking about it, and he hated being distracted. He hated things that interfered with his plans. Gently, he reeled his hand back in from Icarus's lips and pulled the blonde's arm back around him in the position that he seemed so fond. With an arm draped around him, Ahote watched him with his tingling ears and flushed nose. At this point, he stopped trying to hide it and was more trying to squash his incredibly inappropriate thoughts at the moment. "I got the number, so let's move on to the bed frames."

Something about his intense arousal right now reminded him of Iris. All of his friends were a bunch of horndogs, but it was Iris in particular that came to mind whenever he tried to think of anything that wasn't being bent over—

Nope. Nope. Nope. Focus. Ahote repeated in his head, his expression hardening again as he tried to ignore his intense drive right now. He had never acted like this before he met Icarus, and it was hard to tell whether or not he was just compensating for years of sexual neglect or if Icarus was simply pushing all of his unique buttons. Regardless of the correct answer, Ahote definitely felt more like he was acting like himself—blunt but not terribly rigid, warm-hearted and honest—and there was something deeply uncomfortable about that. About being comfortable.

Something about that realization stuck with him. Why exactly were they here? They were really just fuck buddies in the most literal of senses, and he wasn't his sugar daddy either. He wasn't expecting gratitude or a favor in exchange for doing this, so really... why did he bring him out? The question was beginning to bug him—but frankly, his desire was a just little more overpowering right now for him to think too hard on it.

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