Unseen Scenes—Chapter Fifteen, Book One (Felix) (Patreon)

The fresh and tangy scent of rain on earth smells delicious but not as much as sun. The warmth of summer’s rays on the ground is one Felix always looks forward to at the changing of seasons. 

But summer is a long way off yet. As is any light, if the mood of the room is to be believed. There are so many heavy and suffocating emotions thundering in the living room of the Detective’s apartment that even he can’t manage a smile beneath them.

“Felix?” Rebecca calls.

Felix instantly springs out of his chair. “Yeah?”

She places a hand over the phone she’s talking on. “Will you let my child know that the techs think they will have found something soon, please?”

“Sure! Of course!” Anything to get out of this depression…He smiles at her to cover the unspoken thought before bounding over towards the bedroom door.

The mere idea of the Detective being in there makes the forced smile a genuine one. He knocks on the door and waits.

“Come in.”

He does instantly.

Inside, the atmosphere isn’t any better, an unease punctuating the air and making Felix shudder.

“Jeez, you all right?” The question blurts out of his lips before he can stop it. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

The Detective almost laughs at that before clearing their throat instead. “I’m fine.”

Felix heads over to the window where the Detective is and leans on the wall nearby. It’s not as close as he’d like, but even he gets the need for distance. "You'll be more than fine when you hear what your mother is doing. She's talking to the techs at the lab, who think they might be able to figure out what Murphy wants from those slides found at the hospital."

Surprise lifts their expression. “That does make me more than fine.”

“I’d say,” he replies, letting his gaze drift over them. It was too easy to ignore.

And brings out the desired effect of having the Detective laugh. He could get addicted to that laugh.

“Anything else I need to know?” they ask.

He shrugs, leaning further against the wall and letting the Detective’s body warmth encapsulate them. "Nope. But if you don't mind, I'd rather stay in here with you. It's a bit of a downer in the other room with that lot being all about work."

Their head tilts slightly. Invitingly. "And you thought I'd be more fun?"

A grin instantly catches Felix’s lips at the question. As though they wouldn’t know the answer by now!

"I always think you're more fun,” he replies, doing his best to keep the emotion which makes his heart beat faster out of the words. It doesn’t work but Felix doesn’t mind.

Yet uncertainty once again seems to overtake the Detective, so Felix forces himself out of their gazing and turns his attention to the open window. Of all people he would happily make uncomfortable, they are definitely not one of them.

"I love the smell of rain.” He breathes in the wet scent, licking his lips as the rain drops land on them. “But I don't think it can be as good as the smell of a real home.” The admission was unexpected so Felix fumbles to cover it. “Well, unless it's filled with dirty laundry or something."

The Detective lets out a soft laugh and, once again, Felix struggles to focus on anything else but the addictive sound of it.

"Must be nice to have somewhere you're settled in,” he comments, glancing about the bedroom behind them.

"You might not find it so fun to be stuck in one place forever,” they say.

"Oh, I don't know,” Felix begins, swallowing down the lump in his throat as nerves build. "It depends on the company."

As he turns to look at them, it’s all he can do not to move closer. The temptation is sweeter than any moment in his life, but the thought of making them uncomfortable stops him.

As well as the fear of rejection, which he’s doing well at denying in that moment.

"Are you suggesting that you think my company would be good enough?" they say finally, breaking the air between them which is heavier and filled with more electricity than the storm clouds above.

"I don't think so,” Felix replies, a wobble of emotion in his throat almost ruining the smooth statement. “I know so."

A flicker of pleasant happiness emanates from the Detective and encourages Felix closer.

"You'll get a cold if you let the rain soak you." He moves his hand forward, now intensely aware of the Detective’s body reacting as he’d hoped to the action. The rain is chill as he sweeps his fingers over their arm. He purses his lips to avoid letting out the sigh which wants to escape him.

They watch the motion carefully.

Honesty overwhelms Felix in that intimate moment. "What an unexpected surprise you've been, Detective."

"Well, I do like to keep people on their toes." They say it nonchalantly, but Felix can hear the slight hitch in their voice.

Their reaction has a smile on his face faster than anything else in his life. "You can put me anywhere you want, any time you like."

A chiming sounds from nearby. He ignores it. And then it happens again. The Detective glances away, stealing away Felix’s breath with the motion.