Birds of Feather

Chapter 15: Dinner

"The tea good?" You question, finishing up your prep as you work to make dinner for you and Marco.

The drive into work had gone smoothly. Marco had arrived a little early, and in your nervous state you'd been ready for a good thirty minutes before he even arrived. You'd used the extra minutes to grab coffees on the way into the office, four for you, and six for him. Mondays at Phoenix Rising Animal Hospital tended to be an all hands on deck kind of day, and Marco wanted to make sure no one was left out.

The quick kiss he'd landed on your cheek had flustered you enough, that even by the time you'd gotten to your cubicle Bon-chan had asked if you were running a fever. Thankfully no one else had been in by that point, so you didn't have to deal with Buggy or Ivankov.

You'd both opted to skip meeting for lunch - your schedules weren't aligning well, and also you needed to stop at the grocer's before heading home. You wanted to cook dinner for Marco to show your gratitude for the rides to and from work, but to do that you'd need some actual food in your house. Ever since your car had broken down you'd been mostly ordering in.

"It is," Marco answers. He's sitting at the breakfast bar watching you cook, after making sure you'd be comfortable with him doing so. He's still in his scrubs, but honestly he looks good whatever he wears, so you're not complaining. "You make good coffee too." He muses.

"The good coffee was a necessity, the good tea's a passion." You reply, continuing your work. "Admittedly, my cooking follows after the coffee more than the tea, so I hope it'll be palatable. If it's bad we can just order in." You offer.

"What're we having? You bought so much I wasn't sure what was for tonight."

"Poached white fish and dirty rice." You reply, grinning.

"Dirty rice?"

Your grin splits into a wide smile. "I knew you were going to focus on that. Wild grain rice with finely diced vegetables. It looks dirty." You shrug. "I'm sure it has some reasonable name, but that's what I call it."

"Anything planned for dessert?" He prompts. You can feel your skin warming up. It's the way he said it, more than anything else. The effect of trying to sound nonchalant in a tone that carries a little too much weight to be truly innocuous.

You swallow, pressing your lips together and doing your best to focus on cooking. "Sadly, I didn't get the chance to buy anything for dessert." There's a moment's silence between the two of you before you reach a safe break in your cooking and turn to face him. "Besides, something like that, I think I'd rather surprise you."

"Oh?"

Smiling you nod, walking out of the kitchen and around to his side of the breakfast bar. He turns toward you, letting you step between his legs. Large warm hands slip around your waist, holding onto you without pulling you close just yet.

"I just think the presentation is as important as the actual dessert, and if you know beforehand it takes something away from it." You reply, not really clarifying much of anything.

"And if I want something sweet right now, yoi?" He pulls a little, bringing you closer.

"I'm hardly made of sugar." You muse, letting yourself be pulled in. The height of the breakfast bar stool puts him pretty level with you, just a little lower. The effect of him looking up at you with those hooded and relaxed eyes of his is making your blood rush.

How he manages to look so calm despite it all would be frustrating if it wasn't so hot.

"You taste plenty sweet to me, pretty bird." He assures you, hands pulling you in closer, pressing your chest against his as he nuzzles into your neck lightly. You put your hands on his shoulders to steady yourself a little, gasping as greedy lips kiss against your neck.