Chapter Text
"Excuse me... What. The actual. Fuck?" was the first full sentence that came out of your mouth. Your mind was racing with so many questions and his rambling didn’t help at all.
"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Miguel asked, looking at you puzzled. Then his expression changed to a sassy one. "Oh I see… I thought you were fast to catch simple things like this”.
"Woah woah woah, I haven’t agreed to anything and stop smiling like that" you raised your right hand in an attempt to regain control over the conversation. Miguel furrowed his eyebrows. "Let's rewind, okay? Okay, so I have to go to a party as your partner next Saturday?" Miguel nodded with his hand on his chin looking thoughtful. "What kind of party? What do I have to do? Don’t you have someone else to ask?".
"Ugh, pero que densa eres…” Miguel grunted, hiding his face in his hands and shaking his head. “Don’t make me explain it again, it’s as simple as it sounds".
"Hey, de densa una mierda. You didn’t explain a single thing, you just assumed I was going with you” you could hear the confusion in your voice.
“You have agreed”.
“I didn’t”.
“Yes, you did”.
“I did not”.
“Yes, you did” he pressed on, looking at you with a killer gaze.
You sighed, closing your eyes for a second. “Okay, assuming I have agreed, Miguel there's a lot of different definitions to that ‘plus one’ thing and, really, how am I supposed to act around people that could go on a full rant about the differences between a black hole and string theory, uh?" you had his full attention, forgetting completely about the documentary playing on the tv and the dinner on the table.
The reality of said favour bore down on you. Your eyes were wide open like those of an owl, observing his illegible ones confronting your own. His silence told you a lot of things he wouldn’t or didn’t want to reveal, you could sense he wasn't telling you something. And that something was really big. The way he said it in the first place and how he was avoiding your questions was suspicious.
"Miguel…? Please tell me, what am I supposed to talk about with all those people? I'm just a history student, I'm not gonna ramble about how the four generals of Alexander the Great divided his empire once he died or about how Hannibal crossed the Alps to Rome with elephants".
"Why not? Sounds like a nice talk" he shrugged nonchalantly.
You shook your head in disbelief. “You are missing the point completely” you moved your sushi box to the table.
“You are missing the point” Miguel whispered.
“What was that?”.
“Nothing, just that you don’t have to talk to any of them, I’ll be there. I’ll do all the necessary talk” he signalled to himself like the answer was there since the start. “You can just enjoy the party”.
You watched as he spread himself on the sofa, taking the majority of the space waiting for the info to sink in. But it didn’t sit right with you, there were holes in his plan. You gave him the deadliest death glare you could muster up, between being tired of his antics and being done with everything. His arrogant demeanour was the last thing you would put up with.
“I can’t believe you. You only want me to smile and nod?” your voice was void of emotion, too calm and soft for his taste. “That's it?”
He became visibly nervous and anxious. You saw under your scrutinising eyes that Miguel looked uncomfortable and his face dropped, he was no longer smiling and was avoiding eye contact. You saw in slow motion as the wires in his head began to speed up.
“I-I didn’t mean it like that you know, right?” you didn’t answer, making him even more nervous. “I-I mean, I’ll do the heavy talk… You don’t have to say anything about black holes or whatever, leave that to me” you were still silent. Miguel rubbed the back of his neck and avoided your narrowed eyes. “Look, I didn’t mean it in that way… there will be nice people there, they are nice and know how to engage in a normal conversation about… normal things?”
He suddenly shut up. Seeing him panic made your offended act even more worth it, you were enjoying seeing him nervous and fidgety. A little form of torturing him you really enjoyed doing. The once collected Miguel unsure of what to say next. He opened his mouth to say something else but you cut him before he could feel more embarrassed.
“I’m in” you saw shook all over his face. “I’ll go with you”.
In less than a second, you admired how his face lit up like you were giving him an early gift for his birthday. A white smile appeared on his face showing his pointy fangs. How had he done that and don’t look crazy you didn’t know. You bet it on his genetics: handsome face and slightly pointy fangs that added to his looks. Only if he smiled more… you wondered, smiling yourself.
“But you have some explaining to do” confusion returned to his tanned features. “You dropped me a bomb that this event is next Saturday at 7 pm. and nothing else. You’ve got to give some more info, you know?” you said while reaching for the sushi again. Miguel watched as you picked up the chopsticks and brought a piece of sashimi to your mouth. "I'm not gonna give you any more, remember".
Suddenly he snatched the next piece you were going for with his own chopsticks and brought it to his lips. "But you never said I couldn't take them myself" he swayed the piece of sushi taunting you.
"You… you are an asshole through and through, you know that?" you pushed his legs with your feet to distance your food from his long arms.
"An asshole that is taking you to a fancy meeting, cariño" he added, puffing out his chest.
"Oh well at least you recognise you are an asshole, cariño" you retorted, mocking him. "A fancy meeting with a bunch of scientific nerds".
"You are a nerd yourself".
"A classy nerd at that".
"A nerd that drags her friends to every historical museum she sees in town" he barked, closing the distance between the two of you.
"Last time I checked you do the same with the scientific ones" you faced him.
A wolfish smile appeared on his face. "Touché".
And just like that, he stole another piece of sushi, his red eyes not leaving yours. You clicked your tongue wondering if this boy in a grown-up body could learn to respect your food. "I'll let this one pass, you are lucky I'm such a nice roomie".
"Lucky me I got a roomie this benevolent" he stole another one.
"At this rate just grab another box, this one is mine" you slapped his hand away while he tried to grab another piece.
"But this is funnier, I prefer your box" he held your hand up and ate another piece. "It's a challenge".
"Challenge my ass, go get your own box Miermiguel there’s four of them" you held away your box, protecting it from another attack from his chopsticks.
“But I want yours” he insisted. “Hey, keep that foot away from my face!” he exclaimed, pushing away your left foot.
“That’s what you get for trying to steal my food, thief” you laughed, resisting his pulls to bring your food closer.
“Geez, you’re like a dragon guarding his gold” Miguel took in your goofy appearance, smiling at him and joking around. “The only thing left is for you to growl”.
“You wish” you responded with a little push to his shoulder. "And by the record, how do you even do that and look sane?" you joked remembering all those fantasy/romance books with countless of faeries growling.
"Trust me, I know how to do that and look good" he commented with a cocky tone pushing away his hair. Momentarily letting your imprisoned leg go.
You scanned him from head to toe, his smug smile greeting you at the same time. You puffed and shook your head not believing a word, or so you thought, turning your attention to the tv.
"Want me to show you, cielo?" he moved closer. You saw the shadow of his broad shoulders and felt his hand move behind you leaning on just a few centimetres from you.
“In your dreams, cielo” you mocked him again, ignoring him trying to hide your nervousness from having him so close with sassiness.
Miguel chuckled, he chuckled you thought, taking your eyes from the tv. That chuckle made you gulp and still in your tracks. The sound was so good, music to your ears, you wondered if he would do it again and soon. You only hoped.
“I'll take your word for it” he said with a low tone, barely a whisper but loud enough for you to listen.
“Are you forgetting I heard your shenanigans?” you whispered, feeling your cheeks heat up. This was going south and really fast as you felt Miguel move your hair aside to get a better look at you.
“I didn’t and you didn’t either” he whispered back, taking a sushi roll with his fingers and bringing it close to your mouth.
You felt the air leave your lungs, staring into his red eyes filled with confidence and playfulness. He was oh so close to you that you had to blink twice. He opened his mouth a little like a mother would do to their child to get them to eat. It was embarrassing but the way he did it…
That made you remember that one time your group of friends were playing truth or dare at a party at one of your friend’s house. Of course, Miguel was there and it was his turn, he chose to dare and one of your girlfriends dared him to kiss your neck. She asked if you were okay with it to which you said yes and the next thing you saw was Miguel getting up and walking up to you. Your friend palmed your thigh signalling for you to get up and meet him. You gulped the rest of your drink and got up. The two drinks you had in your system helped suppress your shyness and face Miguel with a somewhat confident stance, your group of friends looking and some cheering both of you.
Right now you only had water and sushi, the two of you in your shared apartment around six months later. Were you counting the months? Not really but it didn’t hurt to keep an eye on that. It was the same feeling, that moment when the plane takes off and your belly turns, all you could do was open your mouth to let him put the sushi roll in. Slowly, maintaining eye contact with a surely red face and you could see he wasn’t far behind. You noted how his ears turned red by the second and his Adam's apple bobbed now and then. His eyes moved from yours to your lips. A movement you caught on a few times.
He wasn’t like this the moment he put his hand on the other side of your neck to bring you closer to him that night in front of everyone. He sure was confident like right now but his eyes had a different sparkle. He almost seemed hesitant, not sure of his actions. A complete opposite from his past self, cocky and playful, ready to win the dare.
You chewed with his hand lingering close to your chin, his thumb hovering over your closed lips. Your heart pounded in your chest, your thoughts out of this apartment, nowhere to be seen. The room felt full of tension and not of its usual cosiness. His thumb caressed your lower lip, slowly, a feather-like touch. Too slow for it to be friendly teasing and Miguel's eyes went to your lips for the third time.
You felt movement before you saw it, your eyes too caught up in Miguel’s full lips to notice he had moved closer. His right knee gracing yours and his hand tracing a line from your chin to your neck. You felt every nerve in your body reacting to his tender touch, almost as if he was restraining himself. This was torture but damn it felt good.
In a moment of boldness, you reached to touch his jaw not expecting his reaction. He flinched or maybe it was a shudder, whichever it was he let you trace the sharp edge of his jaw with your fingers. Your eyes following your fingers entranced in how it felt to touch his face. You saw how he gulped and in a swift motion, he leaned in so his hot breath was on your neck. Too many butterflies in your stomach leaving you breathless waiting for his next movement.
You thought he would tease or make fun of you, instead, you felt him put his hand on the back of your neck tilting your head to give him more access to your neck. Nothing was making sense right now, where was your rational thinking? Scratch that, you were feeling the moment, feeling how Miguel’s touch ignited something inside you and you were enjoying every second. Even more when his lips brushed your skin and everything stopped. You held your breath, widening your eyes as now his lips were flush against your neck. So soft… you thought instantly.
Although it was like that night so many months ago, the sentiment was completely different. You felt his soft lips against your hot skin, his hand holding your head, the sensation of butterflies in your stomach very much welcome. You blinked a few times and let the air leave your lungs. The only sound in the room was the useless documentary still playing but long forgotten, just like the sushi.
Miguel detached his lips from your neck but stood where he was. His breath came out in little gasps, was he… holding his breath? you thought, moving your hand to his knee in an attempt at comforting him. You didn’t know why but it felt reassuring even to you. Then he kissed your neck again, this time a little peck. That second kiss surprised you more than the first and his heavy breath hit the same spot he kissed.
“Why did you do that?”