“Good morning, Mohammad!” Elvin set his tray of coffees on the counter and wiggled one cup loose. “Here you go. Large double double.”
“Aw, Mr. Goh. You didn’t have to do that.” Mohammad and his coworkers rotated through the night shift and Elvin had made a point to memorize their schedule. It wouldn’t do to bring the wrong coffee order for the hardworking staff who stayed up all night manning the desk.
“Don’t worry. I’m charging it to the boss.” Elvin winked before heading to the elevators, Mohammad’s laugh ringing behind him.
The elevator doors opened immediately, like it had been waiting there for him. Then it shot up the building so fast Elvin’s ears popped on the way.
The condo was mostly quiet when Elvin stepped inside, save for the sound of water running from the primary suite. Good, Ray was up already. Which would make the morning much less awkward for Elvin.
He toed his shoes off and went into the large open-plan living space. Kitchen on the right and living room on the left. A dining table the size of a boat in between. Everything glistened white, from the tiled floors to the walls that reached for the double-height ceilings to the leather-upholstered furnishings.
If something wasn’t white, it was made of crystal. Like the multilevel coffee table or the glass-topped dining table or the chandelier that hung from the ceiling, guaranteed to inflict serious damage if it fell on anyone. Also crystal clear was the floor-to-ceiling windows that provided a view of Lake Ontario, glistening green blue in the early morning sun.
Elvin set down the tray of coffees on the large marble island in the kitchen—white, of course—and took the dry cleaning to the primary suite that made up one entire wing of the condo. Everything in here was white too, though punctuated with clothes tossed haphazardly over chairs and couches and the floor. How the hell Ray managed to go through so many clothes over the course of one weekend, Elvin would never know.
Elvin pulled open the sliding doors of the dressing room, which was probably bigger than the whole of his basement apartment, and put away the dry cleaning. Arms free, he made a circuit of the bedroom, picking up discarded clothing and dropping them into the laundry basket for Ray’s housekeeper to deal with. With all the clothes cleared off it, the bed sat in pride of place in the room, pristine with hospital corners.
Had Ray not slept in it all weekend? Elvin shook his head as he paused outside the en suite bathroom. The door was ajar and steam billowed from the crack.
“Hey! I’m here!” he called out.
“I’ll be out in a minute!” Ray answered from inside, the sound muffled by the rushing water.
Elvin let himself out of Ray’s bedroom with a smile on his face. It was silly and stupid, but he couldn’t help it. The casualness of their standard weekday morning exchange was often the highlight of Elvin’s day. But then, he often felt that way whenever he worked with Ray. The ease of their relationship was unlike anything Elvin had experienced before—with friends, with family, and with the odd ex-boyfriend.
His smile disappeared as he stopped by the kitchen island to grab a coffee on his way to the other wing of the condo, made up of guest bedrooms. He had to pop his head into two empty rooms before finding what he was looking for. A rumpled bed with a distinctly human-shaped lump still wrapped up in the duvet. What kind of one-night stand would Elvin find this morning? He’d seen it all—men, women, nonbinary folks; light-skinned, dark-skinned, and every shade in between; big folks, petite folks, hair color more varied than the colors of the rainbow. Ray wasn’t particular when it came to who he took to bed. He could find something attractive in just about anyone he came across.
Today, as he set the coffee on the nightstand, Elvin found himself staring down at a tussled head of short blond hair. The guy had a baby face, accentuated by the duvet pulled all the way up to his chin. Cozy.
“Hey.” He leaned over, grabbed the guy by the shoulder, and gave him a firm shake. “Wake up.”
The blond groaned and tried to hide under the duvet, which only reminded Elvin of his siblings when he tried to get them up in time for school.
“Hey, kid.” He tried again. This time he grabbed the edge of the duvet and pulled it off the bed. “Time to get up and go. Don’t you have school or something?”
Exposed to the cool air-conditioned air, the blond curled into the fetal position—completely naked. He presented a long expanse of pale-skinned back and a round ass that could be considered a bubble butt. Elvin examined the sight before him, tilting his head in case it would look more appealing from a different angle. Nope—it didn’t work for him. Not that he’d expected it to. Most nudity didn’t and he would never fully understand how people got so caught up in images of others undressed.
Whatever. He’d come to terms with his own demisexuality a while ago and Monday morning was not the time to be rehashing it. He picked up the coffee, walked around the bed, and shoved the hot cup into the hands of the naked blond. “Take this. Drink.”
He thankfully took the cup and sat up. “Who are you?” he asked as he rubbed his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter.” Elvin pointed to the en suite bathroom. “Wash up and then you can leave.”
“Where’s Ray?”
Elvin sighed with a pinch of sympathy for the guy. He really had no clue, had he? “Sorry, buddy. He’s moved on.”
Elvin left him looking morose in the middle of the bed and went back to the kitchen. He wiggled the last coffee cup free from its tray and took a sip of the steaming brew, more sugar than coffee. Then he set it aside to start on Ray’s standard morning drink—a handmade cappuccino, fresh from the industrial espresso machine imported from Italy. Elvin ran an affectionate hand along its glossy surface before embarking on the ritual of grinding coffee beans and steaming milk. According to Ray, Elvin made the best cappuccino in the city, a title that Elvin did not take lightly.
By the time he’d poured the palm leaf design onto the top of the brimming cappuccino mug, Ray was sauntering into the main room. His feet were bare, his black hair was still wet, his tie was draped around the back of his neck, and he held his suit jacket in one hand.
“Mmm.” He moaned as he took a seat at the kitchen island. Elvin placed the cappuccino in front of him and Ray lifted it to his nose. He took a deep breath with his eyes closed and Elvin grinned at Ray’s obvious appreciation.
This was why he woke up extra early in the mornings and trekked all the way to Ray’s condo, even when it wasn’t a part of his job description. He couldn’t quite remember how it’d all started, but he’d come to cherish this time when it was just him and Ray in the intimacy of the kitchen, getting ready for a day of work. There was no one else there to interrupt them and he had Ray all to himself.
Well, no one except the leftover hookups from the night before. Appearing right on cue, the skinny blond materialized at the end of the kitchen island and looked uncertainly between Elvin and Ray. “Uh, hi.”