The sun in Italy already felt like the middle of summer, and the streets were brimming with lively people going to work, tourists having gelatos on the side of the streets, children playing in the nearby park and the honking traffic that got stuck somewhere in the middle of the center.

Tai had leaned on the window, sitting at the back of the car, and smelled the familiar scent of her hometown and all the sweet smells the wind carried.

"Do you want me to turn off the AC?"

Her driver Mateo, who she had known all her life, slicked his black hair back and flashed her his charming white smile in the rearview mirror.

She smiled back. "No, it's too hot. I'll close the window in a while I promise."

"If I had known, I would have told your father I'll take the Cabriolet."

Tai laughed. "I'm sure you would have enjoyed that. I should have thought of that sooner. Sorry, Mateo."

"Were you homesick?" He asked.

"Very." She sighed. "I didn't know how much I missed it until I arrived at the airport."

"It's a beautiful city. With good food. Good music. And good women."

"Ah, and the men are dogs." Tai scoffed.

"You're breaking my heart." He laughed. "We flirt because It's good etiquette. Ask your father."

"sure, sure." Tai laughed.

As the traffic moved along, and they were out of the busy part of town, they arrived at the huge estate with two floors, more than ten rooms, a large entrance and a beautifully kept back flower garden. It was Tai's favorite place in the world.

Home.

Mateo carried her baggage to the door.

"Did the other things arrive?" Tai asked him as she got out of the car.

"This morning. Your sister took the liberty of taking them to your room herself."

Tai narrowed her eyes. "I should have written confidential on the boxes."

Mateo chuckled. "Like that would have stopped the little miss."

"I can already kiss goodbye my new things." Tai opened the door for Mateo.

"I'm homeeee!" She yelled out and then placed the bag down, kicking her shoes off.

She heard footsteps down the stairs and then her mother showed up, tossing herself towards her daughter in a hug. Their similar long curly hair got intertwined on their earrings. Laughing, they carefully parted.

Her mom caressed her cheek. "Did you travel safely, did they give you food on the plane.. ah I'll cook something for you."

Tai grinned." Oh, I am so hungry, craving your food, but also in need of coffee."

"I'm on it. Espresso? Or did you get used to drinking other things there?"

"Whatever you want mom. It's fine."

"Mateo, are you staying for lunch?" Her mom asked.

"Thank you for the offer. But my wife has other plans." Mateo answered.

"Alright then. Greet her for me, will you."

"Of course." He smiled. "Would you be needing me today again?"

"No, thank you so much."

"I'll be on my way then. It's good to have you home Tai." He winked at Tai on the way out.

"Tai!" Her little sister Celestina screamed and then jumped into Tai's arms. They hugged and laughed until they stumbled backward. She was a centimeter shorter than Tai, with long and wavy hair with glints of bright highlights, bright eyes and a smile that made her seem more and more like their cheeky father.

"I missed you." She pinched Tai's cheek.

"Ouch. Me too."

"Ah, the guest of honor is here." Lastly, Tai's father showed up, making a melodramatic entrance. He unbuttoned his tailored grey suit and opened his arms. "It's been ages."

"You saw me a few days ago when we had our graduation party." Tai hugged her dad.

"Did you eat? Are you hungry?" He kissed the top of her head.

"I am. Did you all have lunch yet?"

"No, we were waiting for you." He took her hand and wrapped it around his elbow. "We set the table outside. Now come on, let's hear you tell us all about this year at school."

"What about our souvenirs?" Celestina asked

"Come on." Their mom wrapped her arms around her making her walk. "She'll give them to you later."

The lunch was a whole feast of food. Tai picked up her fork and began her meal. "Mm, I missed your cooking."

"Eat up, there's food as much as you like." Her mom handed the wine to their father for opening.

"Is Nikita not going to come back home?" Celestina sulked.

Celestina and Nikita had been good friends. He would always invite her to go whenever he and Tai went and included her in all their games even as kids so Celestina loved that part of him and eventually became close enough to share secrets. He was like a brother so not seeing him for the whole summer broke her heart.

"Yes, he decided to stay there for the time being. I think he might do some traveling later on too, so maybe he'll stop by."

"But I'm going to Valencia with my friends." She whined. "What if I miss him?"

"Maybe he'll see you in Valencia. You can always call him you know."

"I don't want to bother him."

Tai raised a brow. "You called me every day up until a few days ago. You didn't consider bothering me?"

"Nope." She smiled cheekily making everyone at the table laugh.

***

Nikita woke up in an empty bed, with tousled sheets and the birds chirping outside his open window. Pushing himself off the bed, he ruffled his bed hair and lazily got on his feet. It was his second night there, and he was still having difficulty getting used to Lev's place. The boxes with his things were still unpacked and he made a mental note to do it today.

He ambled in a daze to the living room and saw the two empty beer glasses on the table. He picked them up carrying them to the dishwasher, passing more of their boxes on his way. They were drinking yesterday to celebrate their moving in together, laughing because they had only been dating for a few weeks, and then the tipsier they got, the more clothes got out of the way and..

He leaned over the counter covering his face. From the moment he arrived at the apartment, he's done nothing but one thing, over and over again. Nothing else was done in the apartment. Neither he nor Lev had unpacked, the fridge was empty and they had lived off coffee and food delivery.

He found Lev on the balcony smoking and playing a game on his phone.

"You're up." Lev turned off the game and placed the phone over the small coffee table.

Nikita sat on the other chair, grimacing at the strong sunlight.

"Did you sleep okay?" Lev asked.

Nikita nodded. In general. Yeah, sure. The bed was huge and comfortable. The apartment even though felt cozy, still had everything they needed, was new and renovated and was in a good neighborhood with access to everything. Living-wise, everything was perfect.

"Then what's with that face." Lev leaned over and poked Nikita's cheek playfully. "Does something hurt from yesterday?" He teased.

Nikita shook his head. "It's not that."

"Then?"

"If I don't get this apartment organized today, I'll die."

Lev laughed wholeheartedly and then put off his cigarette. He got up and squatted in front of Nikita. "Then let's do some work. We'll unbox everything and then we'll do some food shopping."

"Really?" Nikita reached his hand out and pushed a loose strand from Lev's bun, behind his ear.

Lev responded by playfully catching Nikita's chin. "Yes. I promise. I want you to feel at home here."

Nikita smiled back, the nervousness slowly leaving his belly. "That makes me feel better."

"Don't go feeling anxious on your own. You have the freedom to do whatever the fuck you want here." He took Nikita's hand, pulling him up and dragging him inside. "Come on. Chose where you want to start."

Nikita pointed at the box in front of him.

"Alright." Lev took out his car keys and opened the box. He started taking the things out and glanced at Nikita. "What box is next?"

"That one." Nikita pointed at another one and smiled. "And that one."

Lev moved onto the other boxes while Nikita took the things to their designated places.

"This is weird." Nikita chuckled.

"What?" Lev asked while unboxing one of his stuff.

"Me. Being in this situation." Nikita said. "I never thought I'd get into a relationship at the end of the school year and move in with someone so fast."

"Is that a bad weird or a good weird?" Lev asked.

Nikita walked behind him and wrapped his arms around Lev's waist. "It's good weird. I'm happy. Last time I kept being shut out, lied to and manipulated. It made me quit trying to have anything good. Or bad. I just avoided developing feelings for someone."

"I didn't try hard enough before either. But after hanging out with Aleksei who had it bad for Tai and Zakhar who was not even trying to hide his affection for Arya, I started feeling jealous. Oh if they can have these feelings for someone, then why is it so difficult for me to find someone I like? I didn't understand what it was that they fell for. " Lev turned around, glancing at Nikita.

"So what changed your mind?" Nikita pulled Lev to sit down on the couch and then he sat on his lap.

"I don't know I just..." Lev was looking for the right words. "You were kind from the very beginning, and you have a way of approaching people and matching their energies and just talking to you was so comfortable. More than with the others at the house."

"Really?" Nikita grinned.

"Yes. And I had a feeling you liked being around me so I just started spending more time with you and it didn't occur to me that it was more than friendship feelings until that little incident on the couch."

"I thought I fucked it up then." Nikita admitted.

"You did.." Lev ran his hand underneath Nikita's shirt, touching his bare back. "From that point onward I had only you on my mind and the things I wanted to do to you.If.I.Had.You."

"You did deliver." Nikita smiled, but Lev was staring at his lips.

"You haven't seen anything yet."

Lev spread his legs and Nikita dropped on the couch, between Lev's legs. Lev pressed his lips onto Nikita's neck and unbuckled his jeans pulling them down.

"Take them off completely." Lev ordered in his ear.

"What about the ..rest of the things." Nikita complained but he was already hard as he took them off.

"Shh.." Lev pulled his pierced earlobe with his teeth making Nikita wince and lean on Lev's chest.

Lev lifted his hand and covered Nikita's eyes, while continuing to kiss his neck. With the other hand, he traced Nikita's inner thigh.

"Spread 'em." He ordered.

As Nikita spread his legs, Lev wrapped his legs on top, locking him in that position. He then took him in a tight grip, playfully moving his hand up and down.

In the complete darkness and position Nikita was in, all he could do was surrender himself to the feeling and blank out.

He couldn't tell how much time has passed as he was focusing on the moment, Lev would make him cum. The game was well played as he was teased and edged and then in an attempt to cum again, instead of stopping Lev continued, bringing him to the brink of complete mind-numbing pleasure.

He was suddenly aware of Lev's erection pressing onto him. He was far from finished. Before he knew it, he was dragged deep into another round.

An hour later, Nikita woke up as something cold had trickled down his neck. He opened one eye and saw Lev laying next to him, holding the iced coffee over him on purpose and then with a smirk he leaned over kissing the wet part on his neck.

"I dozed off?" He slowly lifted himself up. "I actually dozed off?"

"You had a whole nap." Lev answered and handed him the coffee.

Once back to his senses, Nikita realized that the boxes were no longer there and most of the things were cleaned up.

"How long was I out?" He asked confused.

"Not that long, but enough for me to focus on working." Lev lit a cigarette. "Drink that coffee and have a shower, then we'll go get food. You didn't even get to have breakfast."

Upon saying that Nikita realized how hungry he actually was. "Well if you stop fucking me, maybe I can try to get things done."

Lev chuckled. "Never."

Shaking his head, Nikita tried to hold back laughter and headed toward the bathroom. It was best to do it quickly before Lev decided to join him.

***

Aleksei knocked on the door, and then let himself into his grandfather's study. His grandfather coughed and extended his hand to make Aleksei come closer.

"Are you ready grandpa?" Aleksei helped his grandfather off the chair and handed him the cane.

"I'm going with the speed of light boy." His grandfather moved his feet slowly towards the door.

It had been a week since Aleksei had gone to his grandfather's place. The estate was huge but warm and Aleksei had spent his childhood summers there, so it never really felt like a prison even though his older brother might have had that intention when he asked him to go there.

They made their way to the balcony where they usually had lunch together. The help had already set the table in the shade and prepared their food.

"Aren't you bored here, with me? Doesn't a young man like you have better things to do?" His grandfather took a napkin and placed it over his knees.

Aleksei shook his head and took his napkin, doing the same. "No. I love spending time with you."

His grandfather scoffed. "Aren't you the talented liar."

"I'm hurt that you think that grandpa." Aleksei gave him a cheeky smile. "I thought you knew me better than that."

"I know you'd rather spend time with me when it's not against your will." His grandfather took a spoon and then slurped from his soup. "Is Kasimir still holding a grudge?"

"He's got every right." Aleksei said promptly.

"No, he doesn't. He is not acting like a grown man. I'll talk to him."

Aleksei brought his spoon down. "Grandpa please."

His grandfather continued eating the soup in peace. "At least call your friends over. I hate seeing you mop around my home."

"They said they will come next week." Aleksei smiled. Zakhar had already made plans to visit him together with Lev and Nikita. Particularly because it was his birthday next week.

"Good good. Have them stay here like always. Also this year I'm throwing you a birthday party."

Aleksei paused in shock. "That means my family is going to come. Grandpa, you know that Kasimir avoids spending time around me. He's not going to show up and people will talk and..."

Grandfather wiped his mouth with another napkin. "I know. But he also knows what happens if he disrespects me and doesn't come. It's time someone stops this feud."

Aleksei knew his grandfather wasn't going to drop this issue no matter what he said, as much as he knew this was going to turn into a tense party in which they will just ignore each other.

"I hope you know what you're doing grandpa." Aleksei sighed.

"I do...Now forget about your brother. Do you have any girl you can bring over? At your age, I was already planning on marrying your grandmother."

Aleksei clenched the spoon into his fist, but raised his head and smiled. "Not anymore grandpa." The words themselves carved a wound into his chest but he just bared it. That's right. Not all he could do was push it all down until he forgets.

a/n

things are heating up soon 💖