~16.

[NOAH]

Friday evenings were quickly becoming synonymous with poor decisions.

Noah realized this as Brandon dragged him through the entrance of Velvet Eclipse with far too much enthusiasm for a grown man in an expensive suit.

“You look like you’re constipated,” Brandon commented immediately after handing over his coat.

“I’m reconsidering every friendship I’ve maintained with you in the last decade.”

“Too late now.” Brandon grinned beneath his silver mask. “Relax a little. You’ve looked tense all week.”

Hart snorted beside them. “He always looks tense.”

Noah ignored both of them.

The club greeted them in familiar waves of dim amber light, jazz curling lazily through the air while velvet curtains concealed private lounges deeper inside. The atmosphere felt heavier tonight. Warmer. Bodies moved slower beneath the low lighting.

And despite himself.

His gaze immediately swept the room.

Searching. For a certain someone.

He noticed it.

Which irritated him instantly.

“Looking for someone?” Brandon asked smugly, his eyebrows quirked up teasingly.

“No.”

“Mhmm.”

Noah said nothing.

They were led toward another secluded booth overlooking the lower stage. Unlike the first night, Noah barely registered the dancers this time. His attention kept shifting toward the corridors hidden behind silk curtains.

Waiting.

Anticipating.

God, this was ridiculous.

He loosened the top button of his shirt slightly as he sat down.

“Drink?” Hart asked.

“Whiskey.”

“Shocking.”

Hart snorted and Brandon laughed before pouring for everyone.

Noah accepted the glass quietly, letting the burn settle across his tongue while trying…and failing—to ignore the faint pull of expectation sitting beneath his ribs.

He shouldn’t care whether Nyx appeared tonight.

Yet every passing minute without him made Noah increasingly aware of the absence, the feeling gnawed at him.

And then.

The curtain shifted.

Noah looked up immediately.

A small group of 5 hosts entered the lounge area.

And there he was.

Nyx walked slowly dressed in deep sapphire silk gown with silver accents catching beneath the dim lights, fitted at the waist and slit at the side exposing a sea of pale milky thighs. Each step he took had the garment swaying from side to side, flashing those thighs for the world to see.. His mask was half cut kitsune mask , concealing the upper half of his face, but Noah recognized him instantly amongst the hosts that poured into the room.

He would recognize him anywhere now.

White hair brushed elegantly against pale skin. The satin ribbon around his throat matched the one tied loosely around one wrist and his left thigh.

Beautiful.

Dangerously so.

But something else caught Noah’s attention almost immediately.

Nyx seemed slower today.

The usual effortless confidence remained in place, but tonight it felt thinner somehow. His smile, a sluggish drag. His movements lacked their usual playful sharpness.

And Noah noticed.

Those strange pink-and-blue eyes found their table. Then softened faintly upon landing on Noah.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” Nyx purred smoothly as he approached. “We meet again. Did you miss me?”

“Terribly,” Brandon answered dramatically.

Hart raised his glass. “Speak for yourself.”

Nyx laughed softly.

But Noah caught it again.

It was breathless and had little humor to it.

Nyx stopped beside him.

Close enough for Noah to catch that familiar scent again.

Something sweet beneath smoke, whiskey and cologne.

And almost immediately.

Memory crashed into him.

Those lips.

Heat.

Nyx sprawled across the table while Noah held him close enough to feel every startled breath.

That kiss.

The desire to devour this man.

Christ.

Noah’s jaw tightened slightly.

Nyx tilted his head.

“You’re staring again. Hawk-Man”

There it was.

That voice.

Low silk wrapped around amusement.

Noah exhaled quietly through his nose.

“Hawk-Man?”

“Mhm-hm”

The host made a slow twirl before settling in Noah’s lap,

“The way you stare”

“You seem pleased by it.”

“Shouldn’t I be?” Nyx smiled lazily. “A man like me should feel a tad but confident and pleased if there is a handsome customer that won’t stop looking at him.”

Brandon gagged loudly.

“Oh my God. Just kiss already.”

“Hart,” Noah said flatly, eyes never leaving Nyx, “please remove him from this place.”

“Gladly.”

“I’m wounded,” Brandon complained dramatically.

Nyx laughed again.

More genuine that time.

And Noah felt something unpleasantly warm settle beneath his chest at being the cause of it.

Nyx shifted slightly into him.

He barely had any weight to him.

His gaze lowered instinctively. Measuring how easy it would be to lift him and plant him into that table again.

“Oh?” he murmured softly. “What’s happening in that terrifying head of yours?” Warm slender hands wrapped around Noah’s face.

Noah looked back at him slowly.

Deep green staring into a swirl of pink and blue,

“You seem tired.”

The teasing smile faltered.

Just slightly.

Nyx recovered quickly.

“Is that concern I hear?”

Noah didn’t answer immediately.

That pause alone felt too honest.

“A little,” he admitted finally.

“Hmm”

Nyx stared at him for a second too long.

Noah watched something flicker across his expression beneath the performance. Guilt perhaps.

Or shame.

Then Nyx smiled again.

Smaller this time.

“Careful,” he whispered lightly. “Are you saying I’m slacking? You’re hurting my feelings.”

“You have feelings?”

“Several actually.”

“Tragic.”

Nyx huffed a soft laugh through his nose.

And there it was again.

That warmth in Noah’s chest.

The host moved to pour drinks for him, but Noah caught his wrist gently before he could step away. Just enough to stop him.

Nyx looked down at the contact briefly before meeting Noah’s gaze again.

The club lights reflected strangely in those mismatched eyes.

Noah’s thumb brushed lightly against the inside of his wrist before he realized what he was doing.

“Yes?”

“You should sit down,” Noah said quietly.

“…with you?”

“If that’s difficult for you, I can ask someone else.”

Nyx immediately slid into the space between Noah’s legs,“I’m only sitting back down because if you send me away I won’t get paid.”

Smooth brat.

Brandon nearly choked on his drink across the table.

“Oh, he likes you, oh, he really likes you.”

“Brandon,” Hart sighed tiredly.

“What? Look at them!”

Noah ignored them entirely.

Nyx crossed one leg slowly over the other in front of him, silk shifting against those pale thighs.

Usually Noah would’ve been distracted by that.

Tonight he found himself watching the exhaustion beneath the act instead.

“You should rest,” he chirped.

Nyx leaned back into his chest carefully. The action reminded Noah of cat who finally let its owner pet it.

“You noticed my tiredness.”

“Yes.”

“Most customers don’t.”

“I’m not most customers.”

That slipped out.

Nyx looked up at him again.

Long enough that Noah became aware of the tension building quietly between them.

Which somehow felt far more dangerous.

“Yeah, you’re not most customers”

“You say that too casually.”

“What should I do instead?” Nyx asked softly. “Will you save me from here, Mr Hawk-Man?”

Noah’s jaw tightened.

“...”

“Then don’t make that face.”

“What face?”

“The one where you look like you want to kill someone.”

Brandon snorted into his drink. One of the hosts on his side winked at Nyx before shoving a smoke pipe into Brandon’s mouth,

“Oh he definitely does.” The mischievous man coughed through the smoke.

Noah ignored him.

Nyx’s gaze lingered on him carefully now.

Then suddenly—

He twisted until he was straddling him, fingers slowly trailing towards Noah’s collar.

Noah stilled.

Nyx adjusted the slightly crumpled collar near his throat slowly, fingertips brushing his skin lightly in the process.

“There,” Nyx murmured.

Noah caught his hand before he could pull away.

Again.

He was doing it again.

Nyx looked down briefly at where Noah held him.

Then back up.

“You keep touching me tonight.”

“You’re talking a lot tonight, Hawk-Man.”A slow smile curved across Nyx’s mouth. The gesture was returned with a slight twitch in the corners of Noah’s lips.

Noah frowned slightly. “Can I kiss you?”

“Being such a gentleman now,aren’t you? You didn’t bother to ask the last time.”

The words hit harder than they should have, because Noah remembered exactly who he’d been last time.

Hungry.

Impulsive.

Completely unlike himself.

Nyx leaned slightly closer.

“So tell me…” he whispered softly near Noah’s ear. “Why do you look more interested in taking care of me instead of having me pressed over that table like you did the last time?”

Noah went still for what felt like the thousandth time today.

“Don’t push me, brat”

Something unreadable flickered behind those mismatched eyes.

Then Brandon loudly ruined the moment.

“Alright, enough emotional foreplay before I throw myself off this balcony.”

Hart nudged him, the hosts by his side snorted and giggled, feeding him more wine and smoke.

“To be honest,” Nyx murmured that only Noah could hear him, “I’m so tired”

“…”

“This week has been a lot, I’m just so tired”

Without realizing it, he had leaned further into Noah.

His mouth finding Noah’s.

“I just want to forget this exhaustion”

His fingers slid along Nyx’s jaw gently but firmly, tilting his face upward.

Nyx’s eyes fluttered shut as Noah’s thumb brushed across his lower lip.

Nyx’s breathing changed immediately, “please,” he whispered softly.

A warning.

Or maybe an invitation.

Noah wasn’t entirely sure anymore.

“Tell me to stop.”

“You first.”

That did it.

Noah kissed him.

Slow at first.

Controlled only for the first few seconds before Nyx melted into him with a small moan that nearly snapped the remaining restraint Noah possessed.

Their mouths moved together warmly, deliberately. Nyx’s fingers curled into Noah’s shirt instantly, pulling him closer while Noah’s hand slid to the back of his neck.

Heat bloomed fast between them.

Nyx tasted faintly sweet tonight beneath the whiskey.

The kiss deepened gradually, mouths parting, breaths mixing. Nyx kissed like temptation itself—playful one second, devastatingly soft the next.

Noah felt him shiver when his thumb brushed beneath his jaw again.

“You’re trembling,” Noah murmured against his mouth.

“You’re very distracting,” Nyx breathed back.

Noah kissed him again before he could say anything else.

Harder this time.

Nyx made the softest sound against his lips and Noah immediately felt it low in his chest.

Christ.

The host shifted closer into his space until Noah could feel the heat of him completely now, silk smooth beneath wandering fingers.

Nyx tilted his head slightly, deepening the kiss himself this time.

Hungry.

Desperate.

But also wavering.

The way Nyx eventually slowed slightly for breath.

The way his body relaxed carefully against him like he was more exhausted than he let on.

Noah’s hand settled instinctively against his waist

“No more, you need to rest”