cartographer-linguist-plumber
Milo closed his eyes for a moment, willing the flush he felt burning across his face to calm. It’s a lot safer when I’m not being distracted, He thought, but didn’t bother to comment. It seemed to be a game Michael had discovered–how easily it was to make Milo flustered. And for a beginner, he was already shaping up to be an expert at it.
For all the deep breathing and willing away the flush, he found it creeping right back as Michael complimented him yet again. Whether he was serious or just playing the game, Milo couldn’t tell. Of course, You’d have to practically hit him over the head with a two-by-four for him to realize anything when it came to human interaction.
“I uh, well… my folks and my grandfather all worked on finding lost civilizations.” He began, slowly, carefully planning his words so as not to seem well, crazy. “And my grandfather passed before he could ever finish his work. I had, uh, planned to pick up where he’d left off. But, y’know, funding’s too short to throw away on rumors of rumors of things.” His shoulders drew upwards in a shrug, resolutely looking at the bag of chips in his hand, and ignoring the flash of skin he could see from his peripheral. No, sir. Not going to pay that any mind.
There was no game, or at least, not the kind that Milo thought he was playing. Too bad there wasn’t a two-by-four laying around for Michael to use on Milo at that moment. He was flirting, honest-to-God, straight up hitting on Milo. That ‘accidental’ flash of skin was anything but. Damn. Maybe the kid was actually straight. Shrugging, Michael resumed sipping at his juice.
“Lost civilizations? Sounds like a fun time.” Honestly, Michael wasn’t sure whether or not that was fun, he was just guessing. Maybe it was better to let the kid ramble since he really didn’t know what to talk about anymore.
Why wouldn’t he pay it any mind? It practically had Michael pouting when he saw Milo ignore that bit of flesh. He had a devious thought in his head. The economics professor picked up the juice box with just a bit too much force, sending the purple liquid all over the front of his light grey sweater. “Dammit!” he exclaimed as he jumped up, dropping the practically empty juice box. Sighing, Michael pulled the edge of the sweater up and over his head, dabbing at his dampened skin with a dry part of the sweater before carrying it to the sink to rinse it with cold water. “Now I remember why I stopped drinking grape juice,” he said with a grin over his shoulder at Milo.