“Benji, what are you doing?”
Benji jumps a foot in the air and turns around to meet Ethan guiltily. “Nothing.”
“So you didn’t just eat a fun-size Snickers bar?” Ethan crosses his arms and stares Benji down.
Benji swallows the last crumb of chocolate that had been in his mouth. “Of course not.”
“You are such a bad liar.” Ethan chuckles and reaches out. Benji’s heart rate increases, and not because he’s lying. It’s because Ethan’s a foot away from him and he can smell his familiar piney scent. Ethan carefully extracts the evidence from Benji’s hand, brushing his arm against Benji’s waist in the process. It takes Benji’s entire willpower not to shiver.
Ethan holds up the Snickers wrapper. “Gotcha.”
“It’s Halloween, Ethan,” Benji complains. “There’s buckets of candy all over the office. You can’t expect me to have that much self-control.”
“This stuff is terrible for you,” Ethan says. “You’re going to sugar crash in about six minutes.”
“I know. But those carob-coconut-almond bar things you gave me are disgusting.”
“But they have a low glycemic index,” Ethan reminds him.
“You have a low glycemic index,” Benji grumps.
“And Snickers—what are you, twelve?”
“Hey, they have nuts!” Benji says. “You’ve just forgotten how good real indulgence can be.” He stares at Ethan defiantly, and Ethan stares back, calmly. Huh. What were they talking about again? Benji finds it difficult to concentrate when Ethan’s pointing the full wattage of his attention on Benji alone. He has the strongest urge to reach out and mess up Ethan’s annoyingly beautiful hair, just to make him a little bit less perfect.
“I can’t let myself indulge,” Ethan says quietly.
Benji knows Ethan carries too much on his admittedly strong shoulders, and he wishes he could help him relax for just a moment. “Come on, Ethan, just one won’t hurt.”
He’s talking about the candy, but Ethan’s gaze narrows and seems to flick to Benji’s mouth. Benji wonders…
“Just one?” Ethan says softly.
Even though it feels like an out-of-body experience, Benji forces himself to experience very much his body as Ethan leans forward and brushes his mouth against Benji’s, once, twice, and then settles firmly against his lips. Benji’s open of their own volition and Ethan’s tongue slips inside, warm and soft. It’s an utterly gorgeous kiss from an utterly gorgeous person.
And then it’s over and Ethan rocks back on his heels, looking serious.
“Um.” That’s all Benji can come up with.
“And that’s the problem with indulgence. I don’t want to stop at just one.” Ethan’s voice is a little sad.
“Who says you have to?” Benji says, and then he’s wrapping his arms around Ethan, pulling him close, kissing him with the force of a decade of pent-up wanting.
“You taste like chocolate,” Ethan whispers, still pressed against him.
“You taste better than chocolate,” Benji whispers back.
Benji can feel Ethan’s smile against his mouth.
