Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Auggie didn’t know when going out to supper with Thor post-posing for his life painting class had become a thing, but after having no classes for reading week, he had to admit, he’d missed their weekly dinner.
That was when he realized that yeah, it had been a thing every single week since the start.
They talked about everything from light to deep.
Thor was surprisingly easy to talk to, and easy on the eyes, too.
Auggie was man enough to admit to himself that he had a crush on the man.
He was also self-aware enough to know that he was a skinny, just making ends meet mature—they called you that as soon as you hit twenty-five for fuck’s sake—student who hadn’t even graduated from university yet and Thor was way, way out of his league.
Like, if his league was earth, then Thor’s was the outer reaches of outer space.
He sighed and tried to lose himself in Thor’s painting, but he was finding keeping his pose hard tonight.
He thought it was probably because he was anxious about whether or not Thor was going to invite him to dinner.
What if the guy decided that he’d enjoyed not having to share a meal with Auggie last week?
Yeah, this was what his brain had been doing the entire evening, and it was making him wiggly.
He heard Thor clearing his throat slightly, and he sighed again, stilling the fingers that had been moving without him even realizing it. This was not the first time Thor had had to do that, either.
Come on, Auggie, focus. You’re going to get yourself fired.
He managed not to earn anymore throat clearing for the rest of the session, but he’d never been so relieved at hearing Thor call time and dismiss the class than he was this evening.
He shrugged into the robe and headed to the alcove to change.
He made short work of that and grabbed the robe to give back to Thor.
It probably didn’t need washing every week, but he liked that Thor did. He liked the way it smelled.
Just before he stepped out of the alcove, he heard people talking, so he peeked and sure enough, two students were talking to Thor.
Damn, Thor wasn’t likely to suggest supper together in front of the students.
He debated a moment or two as to whether he should stay back in the alcove until they’d left, but that felt like silly high school games, so he headed out, pushing down his disappointment.
He left the robe on the edge of the desk and skirted around the two students.
“Auggie, can you wait a moment, please? I need to talk to you.”
“Oh. Okay, sure.” Damn it, Thor was obviously upset about his inability to keep still. He was going to get a lecture. He just hoped that was the extent of it, though. Technically, this would be his second warning because he’d been late the first day. How many chances would Thor give him?
It seemed to take forever before the two ladies talking to Thor finally left. When they did, Thor grabbed the robe and the rest of his stuff, putting it all in his satchel before he pulled out his wallet and counted out Auggie’s sitting fee.
Thor handed it over. “Were you just going to leave? I was hoping we could have our usual post-class dinner.”
“Oh. I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to,” Auggie admitted.
“Of course, I do—they’re the highlight of my week.”
Auggie found that hard to believe, but he wasn’t going to say anything and make Thor change his mind.
“Why did you think I stopped you?”
“To scold me for my restlessness.” Auggie didn’t know what it was about Thor, but he couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut around the man.
“It wasn’t that bad. Unusual, though. Anything on your mind distracting you from your usual modeling Zen?”
“Oh, just life.” Auggie left it at that, managing not to spill about his crush to his crush.
“Well, it wasn’t so bad that it hindered anyone from their work. And you did stop anytime I cleared my throat, so no harm, no foul.”
The elevator delivered them to the ground floor and they went out. Auggie shivered, wishing he’d brought a heavier sweater, or maybe even a jacket. As soon as evening hit, lately, he could really tell they were into fall and winter was coming.
Thor unzipped his own sweater, took it off, and put it around Auggie’s shoulders.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t mind.”
“But now you’re going to get cold.” Still, Auggie had grabbed the sides of the sweater and drawn them across his body as he snuggled in, enjoying how the sweater smelled like Thor, hadn’t he?
“Well, if we go to the pub around the corner tonight, I won’t have time to get cold. And if they’ve got the fire lit, I’ll be toasty again in no time.”
Auggie didn’t quite believe the not having time to get cold thing—he’d gotten cold the minute they’d walked outside—but he was enjoying being warm and cozy inside Thor’s sweater and so he was going to take it at face value.
“I admit, the idea of that fireplace having an actual fire going sounds amazing.” It hadn’t been any time they’d been there yet, but the weather had definitely taken a turn over the reading break.
“Then let’s hope it’s not just for show.”
Thor held the door to the Stag and Crown open for him and Auggie slipped in, hit by a wall of warmth and the smell of a wood fire burning. His gaze immediately went to the big hearth, and he was pleased to see a fire blazing away, flames dancing and sparks leaping up toward the chimney.
“Score,” Thor said. “Looks like there’s a table just to the side of it—close enough to be warm without the heat becoming too much, I bet.”
Auggie nodded and headed over to the table.
He took Thor’s sweater off with some reluctance, not because he was still cold, but because it was Thor’s.
He handed it over and Thor put it on the back of his chair.
Auggie took his own meager sweater off and set it on the back of his own chair and they sat.
“What are you going to try tonight?” He liked knowing that Thor was going to choose something he hadn’t had before.
Not that they had come here every time they had supper together, but they’d come often enough that he knew that about Thor.
Once the fish and chips had passed muster, Thor was game for anything and was making his way through the menu.
“I’m going to have the butter chicken with extra naan because that’s the best part of butter chicken.”
“It’s not actually a part of the butter chicken, though,” Auggie pointed out.
Thor shrugged, clearly unperturbed. “But I always have it when I have butter chicken, so in my mind, it is. What are you going to have?”
“The roast.” Unlike Thor, Auggie tended to stick with what he liked. He’d had the burger and fries the second time they’d come here and it hadn’t been nearly as good as the roast, so he’d had the roast every time since.
Thor chuckled. “Surprise, surprise.”
Auggie shrugged. “I know it’s good. I know I like it. I know it’s worth the money.” Besides, it felt like a nice hearty meal night so he probably would have chosen it even if he had another favorite on the menu.
“If you tried some of the other stuff, you might find you like more than just the roast,” Thor noted.
“Maybe, but the burger was just average. I’m happy with the roast.”
“Whatever you want—it’s your supper.”
It was, and if it made him boring because he always got the same thing, well, then it made him boring.
Besides, Mrs. K. had been sick the last couple of weeks, so he hadn’t had any meals to take home from her.
It wasn’t like he couldn’t cook for himself, he totally could, but he was lazy and tended to just grab some ramen or make something else easy so he hadn’t had a good filling supper in a while.
“Besides, the Yorkshire Puddings are so good. I’ve had them before but they’ve never been this good.”
“They really do seem to have the British pub food thing down,” Thor admitted.
Auggie ordered a Guinness to go with his roast; he figured that by the time he’d walked home he would have walked the alcohol off, but it might make him not mind the cold so much. Thor ordered something else on tap.
“So what did you do with reading week?” Thor asked after they’d placed their orders.
Auggie shrugged. “I picked up some extra shifts at the store. Mrs. K. was under the weather so I filled in for the busy hours. And I got my main paper finished for class and read ahead from the book list.”
“You read during reading week?” Thor gasped and pressed his hand to his chest in fake shock.
Auggie had to laugh. “I know most kids goof off, but I don’t like to get behind.” It stressed him out if he didn’t stay super on top of everything. “How about you?”
“I painted.”
“Yeah? Like the whole time?”
Thor nodded. “Pretty much. I was inspired and just went for it.”
“And you didn’t even have to go to Spain for the inspiration.”
“Not at all. I have found plenty of inspiration much closer to home.”
Okay, the way Thor was looking at him made Auggie think that he was the inspiration, but that was probably just wishful thinking. He was, after all, still that skinny live model guy he’d been at the start of the semester.
“Yeah? Something good, I hope.” Art didn’t have to be positive. The world was getting pretty shitty in fact, and that could be inspiration too.
“Something very good.” Thor gave him a warm smile. “It’s you, Auggie.”
“Me?” He blinked a few times, surprised, but also pleased, warm inside in a way that had nothing to do with the fire blazing away in the fireplace.
“Yes, you. I like you. A lot.”
“Oh. I didn’t know. You never said…” Auggie had been loving the dinners, and was definitely in lust with Thor, maybe falling for him, too, but he’d never imagined it could be more than one-sided.
“Well, at the moment, I’m your boss, sort of, and I won’t ask for more than the dinners we share after class until classes are over next month. I don’t want you to feel that continued modeling is in any way contingent on a potential relationship with me.”
“But you’ve seen me naked!”
Thor actually blushed a little. “I know, but I promise you that I have been very careful to not lust after you or ogle you while you’re modeling.”
That had him snorting. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Oh?” Thor gave him a confused look.
“I mean, you’ve seen me naked, you know I’m not a stud. I’m this skinny guy with average looks.”
Shaking his head, Thor took Auggie’s hand. “You are slender, but there’s nothing wrong with that. And you have a lovely face with the most fascinating blue eyes. I’ve tried to be circumspect, but I like what I see, Auggie.” Thor nodded at him. “Dressed as well as not.”
Now it was his turn to blush, and Auggie knew his cheeks had gone red. “Are you sure you don’t need glasses?”
“Don’t argue with the man who’s telling you you’re sexy,” Thor suggested.
“Sexy! Me?” Auggie found that sincerely hard to believe.
“Yes, you.”
Their food came then, along with their drinks, and Auggie put his head down and concentrated on having his dinner, but the discussion played out over and over in his head.
Thor thought he was sexy. He’d seemed pretty sincere about it, too, and Auggie couldn’t see any advantage to Thor lying about it.
Although he might have been gilding the lily—exaggerating to make Auggie feel good about himself.
Though why anyone would want to do that, he didn’t know.
“Is it really so hard to believe?” Thor asked softly, as if he’d known exactly where Auggie’s thoughts had been while he ate his roast dinner.
“No one’s ever thought so before,” Auggie admitted.
“Their loss.” Like that was that.
“Thank you,” Auggie said softly. If nothing else, Thor had made him feel good. Seen. Even if it wasn’t real, it was nice.
“I was hoping you’d be willing to come and see my paintings. Once classes are over. And please don’t feel like you have to say yes. In fact, don’t answer until our last class together is over—I should have waited to ask like I’d planned.”
Auggie really wanted to say yes. He didn’t want to have to wait.
But what if Thor was having second thoughts and he was going to let the last class lapse without making the offer again.
Or what if he wasn’t regretting it now but would by the time that last class happened.
So Auggie nodded. He wouldn’t answer until Thor asked again. If Thor asked again.