Arjan barely heard how the echo of his hurried steps bounced from the stone walls as he climbed the stairs towards the attic apartment, forehead deeply furrowed in thought. The door wasn't locked, so he just pushed it open and then stopped to listen.
"Loren? You here?"
An indistinct 'uhmh' was the reply. It seemed to emanate from the big studio-cum-living room, and when Arjan stepped in to investigate, he spotted Loren.
The blond was sprawled on the sofa, wearing a shirt he'd found in one of the second-hand shops and his most worn-out pair of trousers, looking adorably relaxed and disheveled. He was holding a large book, which Arjan recognized to be one of his father's collections of copper prints, and sent his boyfriend a grin by way of greeting.
"You're back early," he said and closed the book. "Was your model busy or what?"
"They got visitors, and I didn't feel like working in the middle of a crowd." Arjan lowered his battered paints case on the table and crossed his arms. "Loren, what's this 'hotel' of yours?"
"Huh?" Loren's eyebrows jumped and he sat up as if stung. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"That's what I'd like to know as well!" Arjan said crossly. "Maybe you could explain a bit?"
"First of all I'd like to hear why you're asking!" Loren retorted, eyes flashing. "Do you think you could elaborate a bit? What makes you ask? What've you heard?"
"I ran into Doschet and that latest lady of his on my way home," Arjan said in a clipped tone, "and the first thing he blurted out when he saw me was 'so, and how's your boyfriend's hotel coming along'. I must've looked pretty puzzled, because then the girl swatted him and said that he's an idiot, that maybe it was supposed to be a surprise or something."
He snorted. "Well, of course I wouldn't let Doschet get away with it just like that. I asked him what he's talking about, and he said, well, this hotel that you're planning, how are things getting on and how much was I going to invest? So what the fuck is going on, Loren? Do you think you'd terribly mind telling me? Because I sure don't like being the last person in Saygorr to hear what's going on with my boyfriend!"
Loren leaned back on the sofa and spread his arms over its stuffed backrest. There was something belligerent in the tilt of his head.
"You don't like it? Well, I never..."
"What?" Arjan gaped at him.
"I'm just a bit surprised," Loren said lightly. "That you might still be interested in such mundane things as myself. Though I guess this means that I'll have to roast your father alive, or something."
"What's Dad got to do with this?" Arjan's eyes narrowed dangerously, but Loren's gaze didn't waver.
"Apparently he's gone and spilled it to all and sundry. Exactly like he was going to, and exactly what I told him not to do, damn him!"
"Spilled what?" Arjan howled. "Goddamn it, you're driving me crazy! What's this all about?"
"Well, you might've been the first person to know," Loren suggested, "if only you'd been as observant as Karos was, and asked what was bugging me earlier this week. I might've told you instead of him, and he wouldn't have had the chance to get carried away, like he obviously has."
Arjan sagged like a balloon that has developed a leak, then took a deep breath and turned to go.
"Okay. So I'd better ask Dad when he's back, right?"
"If that's what you'd rather do," Loren shrugged. "These days trying to say something to you is like talking to the walls, anyway – unless of course it's about your commission."
Arjan rolled his eyes. "Oh for fuck's sake! This is my first ever commission! Is it really so wrong to be enthusiastic about it?"
"No. Not wrong. Just pretty tiresome, because it seems that you can't think about anything else." Loren stood up from the sofa. "Sorry, haven't even started cooking yet, 'cause I thought you wouldn't be back for another few hours."
"Screw cooking!" Arjan grabbed a hold of Loren's forearm as the blond was about to step past him. "Loren –"
"Let go of me."
Loren stared at the offending hand until the fingers around his wrist loosened, then shook his arm free and tossed his head. "Besides, I can't see what you've got to complain about. I need to do something, and it could just as well be cooking, until I figure out what else I could be doing. After all, it's not as if there were my kind of inns around here."
"Loren, please!" Arjan put a tentative arm around Loren waist. When he wasn't immediately shoved away, he ventured to squeeze a little. "Look, I'm sorry for being too preoccupied. I know I haven't been paying enough attention to you, it's just that I'm so damn happy and flattered to have bagged my first commission. Sorry. Honestly, I am sorry. Come on, let's sit down and talk, and please tell me what this hotel thing is all about, okay? Because I really, really want to know."
Loren let Arjan walk him once more to the sofa and sat down, then gave the dark boy a critical glance.
"Now you're thinking that I behave like some goddamn spoiled girl, aren't you?" he said with a smirk. "Well, let me tell you first of all that I don't expect any pampering or smothering or anything. You're preoccupied, I can understand that. The big problem is that I'm quite simply bored out of my head. B-o-r-e-d. Get that?"
"Yes," Arjan nodded, "but – I mean, it's not like you'd have to stay here all the day! You can go to town, or –"
"Sure I can, and I do. But that gets boring as well, because I'm there alone. No one to talk to. I'm not used to just sitting down in a café and chatting people up, as I think you know. I'm much better at being around and listening while somebody else does the chatting." Loren huffed. "Yeah, I'm spoiled, we've been doing everything together practically all the time! But it's not just that."
"Then what?"
Loren frowned. "I have this nasty feeling in the back of my head. It's there all the time, telling me that I should be working. Doing something useful. Earning my own living. That I shouldn't just live off your dad, the way I'm doing now. Get it?"
"Frankly, no," Arjan said. "His quarterly is quite enough to –"
"Please!" Loren raised his hands. "Shit, of course I should've known that you don't see things my way! Look, I've been brought up to think that I'm supposed to work for my upkeep. At the moment I'm not doing much in that respect, which is why I feel like a leech. And I tell you what – I don't like that feeling at all. I need something to do! Otherwise I'll probably turn into some fucking crazed housewife who scours the house from floor to ceiling three times a week simply to do something! Would you like that? I sure as hell wouldn't!"
"Okay, that much I get," Arjan said mildly. "And I guess I can understand if you're frustrated, because you're so used to being a little busy all the time, back home." He swallowed. "Loren, if you – if you miss home, then..."
"I don't." Loren's voice was firm. "In a way yes, of course I do, but not in the way that I'd be thinking of going back. No, that's not the problem."
He picked on the worn fabric of the cushions. "You just got commissioned at a rather inconvenient time, because I sure could've used some distracting, recently. Especially as it's really all your fault, after all it was you who got me hooked on Old Rose."
"Who?"
"What," Loren corrected. "That goddamn villa that you even dragged me to view, inside out."
Arjan's puzzled face slowly brightened up as the pieces began to fall into place.
"Your hotel – Old Rose – the pink villa – waaaaait... am I on anywhere near the right track now?"
"You are. About time, too."
"Please stop being so snarky!" Arjan tone was so sincerely pleading that the corner of Loren's mouth twitched against his will. "Look, I honestly apologize for not really being there a lot recently, but now I think I have some idea of what we're talking about. Would you please tell me next what Dad's got to do with this all? Or Doschet, for that matter?"
Loren looked into pleading, deep brown eyes and relented.
"Karos had noticed that I was upset by something, damn him, and I think I let myself be persuaded a little too easily into spilling the beans." He scratched his neck and grimaced. "Okay, maybe I was feeling neglected and was just happy that at least somebody still paid attention... Anyway, of course I told him that it was all just a crazy dream, but he immediately started figuring out ways to make it happen, impossible or not."
"Loren, Loren," Arjan sighed, "you should've realized by now that telling Dad something's impossible is the surest way to make him go 'oh yeah, really?' and then do his damnedest to make it happen anyway!"
"Surely even he can't imagine that he could grab thousands of crowns from thin air?" Loren huffed, but Arjan merely shook his head.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. Dad may be an artist through and through, but he's grown up in a merchant family. He doesn't really like to admit it, but in actual fact he's got a damned shrewd head for money matters – after all, we've always been able to live quite comfortably, even back when he was paying for my nurse and everything. So, what? He's getting all his friends involved as well?"
"It sure sounds like it," Loren growled, "if you've already heard about it from Doschet!"
Arjan chuckled and pulled an unresisting Loren closer.
"Okay, now I understand what's going on. And I'm afraid Dad's like that... when something catches his interest, he tends to get carried away a bit. Don't be too angry, though. He just might make it happen, you know."
"I don't think he can. Don't you remember the price? Even though it wasn't particularly high, it's still a lot of money. And that's not nearly all the money we'd need, either."
"Mmm..." Arjan combed fingers through Loren's hair. Warmth flooded through him when the blond head tilted to lean on his shoulder, and he smiled. "All the money we'd need... I take it that means you aren't angry with me any more, are you?"
"Not really. Maybe a little. But it's okay." Loren pushed himself up enough to turn and straddle Arjan, eyes glinting mischievously. "Will you now distract me, at long last? I don't want to think about Old Rose for a change."
"But I would," Arjan argued, then hissed when Loren sat hard in his lap and grabbed his ponytail. "Hey, what're –"
"Do I need to tell you?" Loren ground their groins together, eyes nearly crossing at the delicious sensation. "Fuck, you're really too much! First you get so engrossed in that little society bitch and her portrait that I hardly see you during the days, and then you need to ask what I'm doing here! I'm getting worried, you know."
"Now you're exaggerating," Arjan felt obliged to protest, hands finding their way quickly enough to grab Loren's butt through worn fabric. "We've been having sex, too, or have you forgotten?"
"Not nearly enough of it," Loren stated decisively. "Besides, one of these days I decided to go out for a walk anyway, and guess what happened?"
Arjan glanced up from the enticing sight of Loren's clearly bulging trouser front and arched an eyebrow. "Tell me."
"I swear I wasn't going to go anywhere near it," Loren panted, "but eventually I found myself standing in front of Old Rose. And cursing you because you weren't there and I was getting horny just looking into the garden!"
His fingers dug into Arjan's shoulders but the dark boy just laughed and squeezed him.
"Hey, aren't you forgetting something now? Even if Old Rose were ours, you're going to turn it into a hotel! So we couldn't be having sex in the garden whenever we want, because that sure would scandalize our customers!"
Loren squirmed but didn't really resist although his shirt was being peeled off, merely concentrated on enjoying the lips and tongue that were leaving a wet trail down his throat and chest. Suddenly his eyes flew open.
"Arjan, what's the time? What if Reonn comes home, and Karos only went to visit the framing shop, he might –"
"Shut up," Arjan admonished. "I've always wanted to have sex on this sofa."
"But –"
"I've been neglecting you. I need to make it up to you."
"Arjan!"
Arjan grabbed Loren's head firmly between his hands and kissed him silent.
"Shut up," he said firmly. "If we don't have much time, wouldn't it be better not waste another moment of it, huh?"
When Reonn and Karos, with much bantering, entered the apartment some thirty minutes later, they at first saw nobody inside. Karos frowned, but before he had time to say anything, his son peeked from the kitchen door and grinned.
"Hello there," Arjan said brightly. "You've brought dinner, I hope?"
"No he's not. So we'll either go eat outside, or get something here. Any volunteers?"
Reonn nudged Karos with a knowing smirk when Loren appeared as well, hair in wet curls. "Let's go out. Can't you see they've been busy?"
"I can." Karos took the parcel he'd been carrying and pushed it into a corner. "All right, where would you guys like to go? My treat."
"No, mine," Reonn corrected. "You already have other plans for your next quarterly allowance, remember?"
Loren opened his mouth to protest, but Arjan quickly grabbed his shoes from the floor and tossed them to him. "Here, catch. I don't think you'll make a very good impression anywhere if you're barefoot. Let's get going!"
