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"I should grab one for the small stuff. The bigger things we'll just be placing orders for," I said, and Star hummed in agreement. He'd changed into some 'outside' clothes for today, but even still, he looked extremely cozy in his big, red hoodie. His dark jeans was loose and looked soft to the touch, though I wouldn't dare try to actually touch them. At least not out here in public.
Shaking my head, I led the way to the home and decor area so we could start in on our shopping, and I had to bite back a smile every time Star started gravitating toward the mattress and pillows section. Had he been a cat in another life? Or maybe a sloth?
Somehow, we managed to finish our shopping within an hour and a half, and despite the tears my credit card shed—I hadn't allowed Star to pay since the house was mine, and the furniture would stay even if they decided to move someday—I had a fun time with Star. He was really insightful about what Ryk would and wouldn't like, and we managed to find a balance between what Ryk would like and what suited the rest of the furniture in the house.
"Shall we find the others now?" I asked when I'd crossed off the last item on my list, and Star hummed.
"Yeah. We should probably rescue Nico," he said with a smirk, and I chuckled.
"I think Nico's pretty adept at handling Ryk," I said, and Star tilted his head thoughtfully.
"I suppose so. Still, if I know Ryk, he's flitting about while Nico does all the actual work, so the least we can do is help Nico with the shopping. That is, if we can find them in this maze," Star said, his voice turning into a grumble at the end.
"Oh, wait," I said, noticing a white thread clinging to Star's dark hair. When had he gotten there? Probably when he'd been rolling around on the mattresses to 'try them out' when we had no intention of buying a mattress.
"Did we forget something?" Star asked, and I shook my head before reaching out and picking the thread out. My hand brushed his cheek as I pulled away, and his cheeks turned pink, making me smile. I hadn't known Star could react like that. He was always so...effortless and easygoing; it was cute that he'd gotten flustered by that simple touch.
"There was a thread in your hair," I explained as I showed it to him, and his brows shot up.
"Oh!" he said, and was I imagining it, or was there a note of disappointment in his voice?
"Hey, Star?" I asked as I let go of the thread and placed my hand on top of Star's on the shopping cart's handle.
"Yeah?" he replied somewhat hesitantly, making me smile.
"May I kiss you?" I asked, and his eyes went wide. Was it really that much of a surprise? We were dating after all. I'd been trying to take things slow because I got the feeling none of them had much experience in the relationship department—and neither did I, if I was being honest—and I didn't want to rush them or scare them off.
"Um, sure," Star said, and then got a look on his face that told me he couldn't believe he'd given such a lackluster reply. I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling at the face he made, but since I'd been given permission, I didn't hesitate in leaning forward and pressing my lips to his. I kept the kiss soft and light, but the way Star's free hand came up to grip the back of my head told me he wouldn't mind if I deepened it. Still, I couldn't forget that we were in public, and while I'd personally never encountered any homophobic assholes and didn't care if I did, I'd prefer not to subject Star to anything like that.
Giving him one last, lingering peck, I pulled back to look into his dark eyes. "We'll continue that once we're home," I said, and Star dragged in a shaky breath before nodding. He was only a couple of inches shorter than me, but he'd gone on his tiptoes so he could kiss me on equal footing. The act made me smile, and I couldn't help leaning forward and pressing my lips to his temple in a chaste kiss.
"What the..." he mumbled, a blush stealing across his face, and I discovered a fun, utterly sweet secret about him: Star was a sucker for forehead kisses. I wasn't going to misuse this newfound knowledge. I wasn't.
Ryk
"Hey, Nico? Can I kiss you?" I asked, and Nico's head shot up, his eyes wide.
"Where the hell did that come from?" he asked, looking stunned. I would've worried he didn't want to kiss if his cheeks weren't a fiery red bright enough to match my hair.
I showed him the packet of chocolates I'd found. It was called Kisses, and it'd made me think of my kiss with Dakota, and then I'd started wondering what it would feel like to kiss Nico. I hadn't gotten around to kissing him yet, and I couldn't figure out why. We'd had many opportunities over the last week, but our interactions usually went the same way: Star teased me about something, I retaliated, and then Nico had to step in before we brought down the whole house. I couldn't help it that Star knew exactly what button to push and didn't ever hesitate in doing it.
"Of course," Nico said as he eyed the chocolates, and then his eyes widened. "I mean, that is, the chocolates. Not...not that."
"So you don't want me to kiss you?" I asked, trying hard not to pout. I wasn't going to push Nico if he really didn't want me to kiss him. I respected his feelings and his pace, and if he needed more time, I was going to back the hell up.
"No! That's not..." He shook his head, and I realized he was just shy.
"We both know you can stop me if you want to, so just do it if I do something you don't like, okay?" I asked as I stepped closer to him, our shopping cart all but ignored.
Nico swallowed hard, then nodded, and I smiled before stepping right up to him and pressing my lips to his. His lips were softer than Dakota's, and there was no stubble rubbing against my skin. Kissing Nico was a completely different experience, but no less enjoyable.
I gasped into his mouth when his fingers slid into my hair and tugged me down to make up for our height difference. Nico was the tiniest one of us—and also the strongest—and I wondered what it would look like when he kissed Dakota. My dick twitched at the thought, and I slowly pulled away from him, remembering what he'd told me a while ago about what humans considered a crime. I was pretty sure having an erection in a public place was on the list.
"Whoa, Nico. You've been holding out," I murmured, making his cheeks turn red once more. "You're sexy as fuck."
"Get out of the way, you fags," a rough voice spoke behind me, and I turned around to face the two assholes blocking the way. There was clearly enough space beside our cart for them to walk through, but one look at them—and their darkish souls—and I knew they hadn't interrupted us simply because they wanted to squeeze by.
Raising a brow at the guy who'd spoken—he was a few inches taller than me, but probably shorter than Star—I pasted on my biggest, happiest smile. "Hey, there! You look small enough to fit through there. Why don't you give it a try?"
