CHAPTER 136: CHAPTER 136: DON’T BE GREEDY

Victor’s grin sharpened as Elias lifted his fork again, a neat cube of cheese skewered on the end. He tracked the motion with lazy precision, crimson eyes following it all the way to Elias’s mouth, then leaned in at the last second and caught it between his own teeth.

Elias froze, fork still suspended midair, staring at him in outright disbelief. "Did you just..."

Victor chewed, slow and deliberate, the corner of his mouth curving with smug delight. "Mhm."

"That was mine." Elias’s voice was flat, incredulous.

Victor leaned back against the couch as if nothing had happened, one arm still draped along the backrest behind Elias. "Correction. It was yours. Past tense."

Elias lowered the fork, blinking at him like he was trying to decide whether to stab him with it. "You’re unbelievable."

Victor tilted his head, lips curving wickedly as he swallowed the bite. "Unbelievable and well-fed. Courtesy of you."

Elias groaned, dragging a hand down his face, though the twitch at the corner of his mouth betrayed him. "You are too good at distracting me."

Victor’s laugh came low, warm, and entirely too pleased with himself. "Good. Then it’s working."

Elias shot him a sidelong look, brow arched. "Working on what, exactly?"

"On keeping you from spiraling back into that head of yours." Victor’s fingers brushed against the blanket at Elias’s knee, a deliberate touch, subtle but grounding. "If I have to steal every piece of cheese on this tray to do it, I will."

Elias huffed, stabbing another cut of meat with exaggerated precision. "You’d weaponize charcuterie."

Victor leaned closer, crimson eyes glinting with wicked amusement. "I’d weaponize anything if it kept you looking at me instead of drowning in ghosts."

Elias stilled for a fraction of a second, the words landing heavier than he wanted to admit. His lips parted, but instead of answering, he shoved the bite into his own mouth before Victor could steal it again.

Victor’s grin deepened at the defiance, as if Elias’s stubbornness was its own reward. He shifted just enough to close the space between them, his arm sliding fully around Elias’s shoulders beneath the blanket. "Better," he murmured, satisfied, as if the simple act of eating and leaning into him was a small victory won.

Before Elias could cut in with another dry remark, Victor moved with a sudden, unhurried certainty. One large hand slid the plate of meats and cheeses off Elias’s lap, setting it neatly on the low table in front of them, his movements steady as though even this mundane task were part of some plan. Then, without asking, he stretched out along the couch and lowered himself until his head rested squarely across Elias’s lap.

The shift left Elias blinking down at him, caught between outrage and disbelief. "You... what..."

Victor tipped his chin slightly, crimson eyes glinting up at him with all the calm amusement in the world. "Mm. Comfortable." He adjusted just enough to tug the blanket back over them both, like it was his right.

Elias’s mouth opened, then shut again, his brain catching on to the sheer audacity of it. "You’re... in my lap."

"Correct." Victor stretched an arm toward the remote perched at the table’s edge, plucked it up with lazy grace, and flicked on the massive TV across from them. The screen flared to life, spilling the room with low, shifting light. "And since I’ve decreed tonight is for blankets and distractions, I’m taking full advantage."

Elias stared at him for a beat longer, incredulity tugging hard at his features. "You’re unbelievable."

Victor’s lips curved into something sharper, a wicked glint threading through his ease. "You’ve mentioned that. Repeatedly. And yet..." his head shifted fractionally, brushing against Elias’s stomach with casual possession "you don’t seem to be pushing me off."

Elias’s hand twitched, hovering uncertainly over his hair, then dropped to the couch instead, determined not to give him the satisfaction. "...I should."

Victor tilted his head just enough for the lamplight to catch his eyes, molten crimson fixed steadily on him. "But you won’t."

The words landed with dangerous ease, leaving Elias huffing under his breath, half a groan, half a laugh. "You are right, I won’t. But at least be comfortable about it." He said by tugging Victor’s midnight blue tie.

Victor’s grin turned completely feral at the gesture, crimson eyes gleaming like a predator who’d just been invited closer to the kill. He let Elias’s fingers tug at the silk, letting himself be pulled without resistance until the line of his jaw brushed against the flat of Elias’s stomach beneath the blanket.

"Mhm. You say you don’t push me off, and then you fix my tie like a dutiful mate," Victor drawled, his voice velvet-dark, threaded with smug delight. "You’re spoiling me, Elias."

Elias narrowed his eyes at him, though the faint color creeping into his cheeks betrayed him more than any words could. "I’m not spoiling you. I’m making sure you don’t wrinkle a tie that probably costs more than my rent."

Victor’s laugh rumbled low against his stomach, the sound vibrating through the layers of fabric like a private joke meant only for them. "Oh, so practical. Always rescuing my investments." His grin sharpened, teeth flashing faintly in the glow of the TV. "You do realize that makes you complicit, don’t you? You fix me up while I ruin you."

Elias scoffed, tugging the tie looser until it slipped free into his hand. He folded it once, twice, with more care than necessary, refusing to meet those gleaming crimson eyes. "You ruin yourself just fine without me. I’ve seen your calendar. It’s a death wish incarnate."

Victor tilted his head, chin brushing lightly against Elias’s shirt as he shifted. "And yet, here I am. Alive. Comfortable. In your lap." His hand slid beneath the blanket, settling warm and heavy over Elias’s knee, fingers pressing there in quiet possession. "That sounds less like a death wish and more like strategy."

Elias finally glanced down, meeting his gaze, the corner of his mouth twitching despite the weight still dragging at his chest. "Strategy?"

Victor’s smile softened, though the danger in it never quite faded. "Mm. Tie comes off. Snacks disappear. Lap secured. That looks like victory to me."

Elias let out a dry huff, shaking his head as though the sheer absurdity of Victor’s logic exhausted him. And yet, his hand stilled on the edge of the blanket, his gaze catching for a moment too long on the curve of Victor’s mouth.

Before Victor could needle him again, Elias leaned down and kissed him.

His lips pressing firm against Victor’s in a way that carried more weight than words could. The faint heat of pheromones pulsed through the bond, thickening the air, threaded with the sharper edge of expensive cologne that clung to Victor’s shirt. For one fleeting moment, the world narrowed to the taste of him, the quiet certainty of being kissed because Elias wanted to, not because panic had dragged him there.

Victor’s smile widened beneath the kiss, deepening into something wolfish and unguarded. His hand on Elias’s knee tightened possessively, and his chest vibrated with a low, pleased sound that almost might have been a purr if he weren’t Victor.

But then Elias pulled back. Just enough to breathe, just enough to leave Victor staring up at him with molten crimson eyes. And instead of another word, another kiss, or another anything, Elias calmly turned his head toward the TV, picked up the remote, and changed the channel with all the casual indifference of someone settling in for late-night reruns.

Victor blinked once. Then twice. Bewilderment cracked across his face, a man who could bend space itself suddenly undone by his omega choosing a sitcom over him. "You..." his voice came low, incredulous, "...you just kissed me and then ignored me?"

Elias reclined back against the couch cushions, expression perfectly straight as he tugged the blanket higher. "Mhm."

Victor propped himself up on one elbow, staring at him as if he’d just watched someone redraw the laws of physics. "After all this? After I set the scene, after the blanket, the food, the lap..."

Elias finally cut his eyes down toward him, mouth twitching in that infuriating, almost-smile. "Victor. You’ve made your victory speech already. Don’t be greedy."