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“What the fuck was that?” Martyn cursed out loud to himself moments after something (or someone) banged against the door of his apartment. He was met with no words, which was expected seeing he lived alone. The thump against his door rang out again, causing Martyn to narrow his eyes at the door.
Something unspeaking making noise outside the door sounded like the start of a bad horror movie. Still, Martyn grabbed his pocket knife, flicked it open, and crept toward the noise.
Martyn hesitated once he reached the door, weighing his options for a moment. He had his hand on the doorknob when another few knocks were hit against his door. Martyn quickly unlocked the door and pulled it open. What he saw in front of him was not a spooky monster but his friend? crush? mutual flirting buddy? whatever you would call his relationship with Scott. He wasn’t sure where they stood at any given time but he had not expected for him to show up here, alone, and at almost two in the morning.
Despite what his parents had always said growing up, two in the morning was a perfectly normal time to be awake. He wasn’t surprised other people would also be up at this hour. What he was surprised (and honestly annoyed) about, however, was that someone was at his door to bother him at almost two in the morning. The early morning hours were meant to be free periods where he could just exist as he pleased without expectations.
“Hi, pirate.” Scott grinned at him, face flushed red and his balance somewhat wonky. Martyn knew as soon as his eyes landed on him that he had been drinking recently. Based on his attire and his general knowledge of Scott’s habits, he had been at another party.
“Hello, Scott.” Martyn sighed, closing the pocket knife and shoving it into his pocket. He really didn’t want to deal with a drunk Scott again. He paid no mind to Scott calling him “pirate” because it had been a thing since they first met each other. Martyn didn’t mind it and he doubted Scott would dismiss the nickname from his vocabulary anytime soon. They met at a “Halloween but in the summer” event a couple of years ago and they had kept in contact since. Martyn had dressed like a pirate and Scott had called him “pirate” as a result. It never went away fully and (evidently) continued even after they became friends and Scott learned his real name. “Is there someone I can call for you?”
Scott gave him a pout, looking a bit like a lost puppy. Martyn tried not to feel some sort of sympathy for him but the other man always knew how to mess with him, even if it was unintentional. It was so fucking infuriating. “Do you not want me here? Are you not happy to see me?”
“Not when you look drunk enough that you probably won’t remember this conversation tomorrow.” Martyn might have said more but he had lost his train of thought when Scott started to laugh. He quickly stepped forward to put his hand over Scott’s mouth. It was quiet hours, after all, and he couldn’t afford to anger his landlord. This was especially true because his landlord had been giving him such an amazing deal on the apartment that it felt like theft.
Martyn’s hand didn’t stay there long because Scott had licked it. He had to bite back a yelp of shock when the spit went against his hand, pulling away sharply as his nose scrunched in disgust. “What the hell?”
“If you want to shut me up there are better ways to do that.” Scott blew him a kiss but it was far from attractive. He looked more like a toddler who just learned to give people “kisses” for the first time. Scott’s words were a lot more flirty and may or may not have made his stomach butterflies flutter but Martyn didn’t want to focus on that part for his own sake. “I can use my tongue in better ways.”
Martyn sucked in a breath, refusing to acknowledge Scott’s comments. He wiped his still-wet hand against Scott’s shoulder (he wasn’t going to wipe Scott’s spit against his own clothes!) before sliding his hand down to his upper arm. Martyn gripped Scott’s arm tightly before dragging him into the apartment.
Once they were both inside, Martyn closed the door and turned to Scott. “Why are you here? Your apartment is two blocks away. It isn’t that hard to get there if you were able to get here.”
“Pearl’s girlfriend is over so she kicked me out.” Scott found a spot to sit on Martyn’s coffee table, knees pointed inward and dyed blue hair falling in front of his eyes. “She told me to find a date for the night and I tried! I tried and I went to a party and I had fun but then no one was feelin’ it and I wasn’t feelin’ it and then the cops came ‘cause noise. Party was still goin’ but the cop guy said no more. Buzzkill.”
“Are you sure you don’t have someone else you can stay with?” Martyn struggled to hold back a scoff though he did let himself roll his eyes. He did not want to babysit right now. Drunk Scott was more fun to be with when he was drunk as well. When they are both drunk, they can blame whatever happened on the alcohol and laugh about it the next day. As the one currently sober, he was stuck being the responsible one and that was a role he didn’t usually want nor like to play. “Jimmy? Cleo? Impulse? Gem?”
“Gem’s with Pearl, dumbass.” Scott laughed, arms held around his stomach as if his stomach hurt from laughing so hard. It was not that funny and Scott had not laughed that much to feel compelled to wrap his arms around his stomach. It was possible that he had and Martyn had just tuned some of it out because he was still bitter about having to see people at the moment. At least he hadn’t been asleep and then had to wake up to deal with the one who had arrived at his door.
Martyn didn’t respond, settling on glaring at him to show how unamused he was. Scott responded to his glaring with more than just eye contact. He could feel the other’s eyes all over his body. “Stop judging me with your staring. I can feel it from here.”
“Oh, pirate~!” He giggled in response, which sparked emotions within Martyn he wasn’t sure how to handle at the moment. Scott’s gaze swept over him several times as if he were soaking in what he looked like for the first time before meeting Martyn’s eyes. “I’m not staring to judge you. I’m staring because you’re hot as hell.”
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Martyn knew he was as red as Scott was now and there wasn’t a drop of alcohol in him. He wished he had been drinking before now because drunk him could handle the on-again, off-again flirting they engaged in better than sober him could.
The relationship he had with Scott had been way easier before Martyn started to feel genuine attraction. He had been fine when it was simply aesthetic attraction and some play-flirting but then he was an idiot and got emotionally attached to Scott, of all people. Of course, he had to choose someone known to flirt casually with everyone from strangers to friends to homophobes. What else could he expect from himself? Martyn had no consistent way of telling (except for when he fake-flirted with bigots to piss them off) what was genuine and what was a joke.
“Why don’t you flirt back anymore?” Scott whined when Martyn didn’t respond. “Playing hard-to-get doesn't make you want me. Heavy flirting doesn't make you want me. Nothing I do works! Did I do something wrong, pirate? Did I fuck us up?”
That was not something Martyn had expected to come out of Scott’s mouth tonight. It had taken him a moment to process what was said but Martyn quickly understood what Scott was implying. Knowing what Scott wanted did not mean he wanted to engage in this topic. Martyn did not want to have this conversation when one of them was not able to walk in a straight line. If Scott truly meant his words, he could come to him another day and Martyn would confront his feelings then. He refused to leave himself vulnerable until then, assuming it would ever happen. “Scott, you’re drunk. How about-”
“Martyn!” Scott cut him off with what felt like a bark as he got up to his feet. The whining was gone and it was replaced with pain and longing. He paced closer to Martyn until they were too close for comfort. “Stop changing the subject. Answer me, dammit! I am tired of games. I want you. I want to touch you and call you mine and take you on cute dates and-”
His breathing hitched, his heart lurching in his chest. Scott’s face was still flushed and his breath smelled strong of vodka and cranberry juice, which reminded Martyn that he wasn’t in his right mind. Martyn backed up a bit more, shaking his head. “You can’t come to my apartment and demand things of me like this. Especially when you’re not thinking like yourself.”
“I may be a bit tipsy,” Martyn snorted at that understatement but Scott continued, “but my words are true! I mean it, pirate. I just want to-”
Scott didn’t necessarily cut himself off but he did suppress a yawn and mutter unintelligible words. Martyn supposed that could count as finishing what he was saying but he hadn’t understood a word of it.
He stepped closer to Martyn after the mumbling, almost getting Martyn to back up against the wall. Martyn held out his arms to keep Scott from getting any closer. This man was going to be the death of him, wasn’t he? He could feel his heart beat fast in his chest and he hoped Scott couldn’t hear it as clearly as he could. “Scott, no. Come back to me when you’re sober and tell me this again if you actually mean it. I am not budging.”
A frown grew on Scott’s lips as he studied him carefully. It looked as if Scott was trying to figure out if the boundary Martyn had set before him was real. Martyn didn’t waver nor did he let it go so Scott sighed and backed off. Scott’s eyes kept falling to Martyn’s lips but he didn’t make any moves.
Martyn slowly released a breath through his nose to help him steady his voice so he could speak again. Exhaustion was weighing on him as it grew later into the morning. “How about you sleep here? It is late and we should probably rest. You can have the bed.”
“Will you sleep with me?” There was no suggestive tone to his voice so Martyn guessed he was genuinely asking if they were to share the bed tonight. Still, he wasn’t going to risk it or put them in a position where anything could happen. He knew Scott and he knew drunk Scott. He wasn’t willing to give in to the will of a drunk person nor was he willing to compromise either of them in ways that they could wake up regretting.
“We should sleep separately,” Martyn shook his head to accompany his answer, “at least for today, okay?”
Scott huffed with annoyance clear in his facial expression but he accepted Martyn’s terms. He yawned widely, not bothering to suppress it this time. “I will remember. I will tell you again when we wake.”
Martyn gave him a tight smile as he led Scott to his bed. He had no interest in spurring on another conversation between them. Scott needed to sleep and Martyn needed to unwind so he could sleep himself. His feelings were mixed on the topic at hand but, based on the way Martyn’s eyes also found their way to Scott’s lips, he knew what he was personally hoping for.