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Jimmy has just stepped out of the shower when there’s a knock at his hotel door.
“Hia, it’s me! Open up!”
Shaking his head, Jimmy tucks his towel around his waist and goes to let Sea in. His nong is staring at his phone when Jimmy opens the door, but he barges in without waiting for a greeting, already talking.
“Listen to this, Hia.” Sea grins, reading from his phone. “‘When it comes to compatibility, Aries and Leo are a superstar match-up, full of passion and fire. There’s nothing these two can’t accomplish together.’”
Jimmy arches a brow as Sea dances around him, gesticulating wildly and completely ignoring Jimmy’s attempts to reach his suitcase and the clothes within.
“What on earth are you talking about?” he asks, wondering if it really matters. He enjoys Sea’s enthusiasm as much as he enjoys Sea’s apparent need to share said enthusiasm specifically with Jimmy. This is only their second day of shooting in the countryside, but it’s probably the fifth or sixth time that Sea has knocked on his door and demanded attention for no real reason other than the desire to soak up Jimmy’s company.
It’s flattering. Really. If Jimmy is privately wondering about other motivations Sea might have… Well, he’s the responsible one, isn’t he? He’s not going to cross any lines without some pretty clear signals.
“Not on earth,” Sea protests, his grin sharpening into familiar mischief while the lilt of his voice betrays him. “The stars, Hia! This is astrology.” He waves his phone. “I’ve been doing some research, trying to get into character.”
“Inthu reads tarot cards, doesn’t he?” Jimmy asks absently. He crosses his arms over his bare chest, still dewy from the shower, and waits for Sea to actually notice him.
“I’m just saying,” Sea says, still scrolling through something on his phone. “Our star signs are very compatible. All of these articles say so. Two fire signs, both bold and intense, always seeking the spotlight…”
He keeps going, reading from some website, eyes flicking up to Jimmy’s face now and then to gauge his reaction even though he never waits for Jimmy to react with more than a vague head tilt of interest.
“…and loyalty and mutual admiration are important to Aries and Leo. Doesn’t that sound like us, Hia? I bet we’d be super compatible if we were actually dating.”
Jimmy freezes.
Sea chooses that moment to finally close his phone. He opens his mouth to say something else, but Jimmy sees as if in slow-motion the way his gaze finally takes in Jimmy’s wet hair and the towel slung around his hips. His cheeks immediately go red.
“Oh shit, sorry, Hia. Didn’t realize you were— should I go?”
Jimmy thaws in time to catch Sea’s arm as he tries to brush past him.
“Nah, it’s fine. Sit. I’ll…”
Jimmy looks around, at a loss, while Sea stares at him, still blushing. After a moment, Jimmy realizes his fingers are still curled around Sea’s forearm, but he can’t seem to make himself let go.
“What did you say about mutual admiration?” Jimmy murmurs. He sort of means his elevator eyes to be a joke, but watching Sea’s face flame hotter after he’s taken in his nong’s shorts-and-tank-top combo makes him want to do anything but laugh.
Shit.
Sea bites his lip. Which is unfortunate because Jimmy just spent an entire shower thinking about Sea’s mouth — and the flimsy protection of a towel does not seem like nearly enough right now.
Sure enough, Sea’s eyes drop to Jimmy’s waist. And then rise again, far too quickly.
“Hia,” Sea says, sounding just as flustered as he looks, “I really didn’t mean to, ah, interrupt. I was just excited about—”
“How compatible we are?” Jimmy interrupts.
What the hell is he doing? This is absolutely not the way he ever would’ve chosen for any of these feelings to come out, if they ever come out at all. He needs to back up, laugh it off, tell Sea to forget it and slap him on the shoulder before sending him back to his own room with a promise to see him on set tomorrow. They’re co-workers, for fuck’s sake. Not to mention how much older he is than Sea. And how Sea doesn’t… There’s no way that Sea…
Sea licks his lips this time.
Jimmy almost has a heart attack.
“Do you know what else I read about relationships between fire signs, Hia?” Sea says, voice low and a little shaky. “We’re very intense people. So everything between us is very… passionate.”
Jimmy squeezes Sea’s wrist between his fingers and feels the way his nong’s pulse jumps in time with his own.
“Passionate,” Jimmy echoes. “Huh.”
“Hia…” Sea’s expression twists between consternation and something else that Jimmy is afraid to put a name to even though he’s pretty sure he feels the same thing in the pit of his stomach.
“Tell me more about what you read, Sea,” Jimmy says softly. He takes a step toward the bed.
Sea steps back as if they’re dancing, the movements coordinated without looking.
“You’re a Leo, Hia,” he says as Jimmy gently steers him. “You’re very generous. And I’m an Aries. We can be a little selfish. But the article I read said that Leos, um, tend to like that. That they’re more—” He gives a breathless gasp as the backs of knees hit the bed and he sits quite abruptly. “—Dominant?” he finishes as if asking Jimmy if it’s true.
Jimmy’s skin tingles with electricity. He leans closer to Sea over the bed, aware that the cling of his towel is more precarious by the second.
“What else?” he asks, nearly breathless with the way Sea is gazing up at him with wide, dark eyes.
“Well…” Sea shifts a little and Jimmy steps between his knees without thinking. “We’re both leaders, right?” Sea says softly. “It said that we probably like bossing each other around. You know… as foreplay.”
Jimmy can’t muffle the moan that climbs up the back of his throat.
“Sea, “ he breathes. “You’re gonna kill me.”
“Really, Hia?” Sea murmurs back. And his hands find the slight dip of Jimmy’s waist before ghosting lower. “I thought I was the one suffering here.”
“Since when?” Jimmy asks, looking down at Sea’s fingers digging into the knot of his towel.
Sea shrugs. “Since always, I guess. I don’t remember.”
The towel slips silently to the floor. For a heated moment, they stare at each other. Jimmy almost can’t stand the dark depths of Sea’s gaze beneath the soft fringe of his hair. He’s beautiful in the same way the light of the sun is beautiful, and Jimmy has spent years now wondering what he did in a past life to earn the constant right to stand beside him, as co-workers or friends or maybe something more.
“You should kiss me now, Hia,” Sea says.
Jimmy doesn’t need to be told twice.