SUMMER GOES DOWN over the desert, over the dusky purple mountains in the distance. It clings to them like a woolen blanket, even now with the last rays of golden sunlight splashing down over red rocks, hardy shrubs, and wide open space. Sitting outside his back door with his boots resting on the fire pit and a cold beer sweating into his palm, he doesn’t at all mind the heat.
A string of carefully chosen words falls from rugged lips, and it catches his attention. He looks at his companion with those eyes, the color of honey in the dying light, and his cheeks bloom.
‘Yeah?’
It’s a fight to keep the smile off his face. He doesn’t win. He blinks at Bucky, but his gaze doesn’t waver.
‘Thank you. I kinda like that smile you got on right now. New Mexico suits you.’
THE BOTTLE LEAVES his lips with a slushing gulp. he lets his eyes flit up for a brief glance at max that leaves him with a sensation not unlike having his hand get stuck in the cookie jar. it jolts in his chest like a static shock before dissipating out to all of his limbs & settles, tingling in his extremities.
the desert heat is rosy in his cheeks.
that’s what he tells himself when max’s gaze catches his & he finds himself staring back at a surprised BLINK, those same eyes he'd complimented making his stomach fumble & tilt.
❛ it’s hotter than hell out here. ❜ inelegant, shuddering into a laugh.
❛ — but it’s been… nice. ❜ he concedes it in a way that has more meaning than the word allows. both hands twist around the neck of his beer bottle. he’s out of practice for this sort of thing. ❛ getting to know new people, new places. ❜
he hikes a brow, mulling over the next phrase. ❛ maybe i should let you really show me around some time. ❜
