"So, you're a poet, huh?" Remi pursed his lips at the white ceiling, his thoughts lingering to the time Ezra mentioned his passion for writing.

"I thought we established that already," Ezra replied, chuckling, he, too, looking up at the ceiling. Remi turned on his stomach and cupped his chin, his elbows biting into the carpet as he drank the side of Ezra's face.

"Yes, but I don't get it. Why poetry?" He asked a line etched between his brow. Ezra gave a half-smile, and awe transformed Remi's face at how attractive the man looked.

"Why not poetry?" Ezra questioned back. The boy pursed his lips, unsatisfied at the lack of answers leaving the man's mouth.

"I don't know. What do you like about it?" Remi's feet flung upward, and he began waving them in the air.

"What's not to like about poetry?" Ezra caught a glance of Remi's sinking face as the boy narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. Amusement tickled his throat.

"You can't answer a question with a question," Remi said, hoping the man would quit playing and actually give him a good reason, but Ezra just laughed and knitted his fingers over his abdomen. "I just did."

A smile painted itself on Remi's face when Ezra made eye-contact with him.

"Poetry is beautiful. You write down a bundle of words and call it art. It's like painting, but with words," Ezra replied to his questions, reminiscing on the many nights he stayed up writing oceans of words.

Remi slowly nodded, his heart fluttering at the look on Ezra's face. He picked up on just how much poetry meant to him, and that Remi found extremely attractive.

"What do you paint?" He asked, lowering his feet. He hoped the man would give him the answer that he was searching for, though he had no idea what that answer was.

"I paint an ocean; a lyrical sea," the man replied, and Remi's face glowed in satisfaction.

"Why not the universe?" He went on to test him, wondering how deep the poet could go.

"Someone greater is painting the universe as we speak," Ezra responded, shutting his eyes. Confusion stained Remi's face.

"Who?"

Ezra chortled at how forgetful the boy was. With a tap of his thumb against his stomach, he uttered, "Easton."

That response seemed to wipe out Remi's energy as his shoulders slumped, and his eyes went round. He hated to admit it, but he forgot about what Ezra had told him just a few hours ago. His eyes scanned the man's face, amazed at how composed he was. On his lips, he wore a faint smile. His eyes were closed, and Remi could only imagine the conflict within them. If he were in the man's position, he would be a mopping mess.

Remi's cheeks flushed red when his eyes lowered to Ezra's full, roseate lips. He gulped, feeling a sudden urge to lean forward and connect their lips, but instead, he whispered out his thoughts."Can I . . . Can I kiss you?"

Ezra's pulse slammed to a stop, and his body stiffened. Opening his eyes, he scanned Remi's face, trying to figure out if he was joking, but judging by the florid in the boy's face, he guessed otherwise.

"You can't," he finally replied after an agonizingly long silence.

As though already expecting his answer, Remi asked, "Why not?"

"You're a minor." Ezra gazed back at the ceiling, and a frown washed the heat off of Remi's face.

"I'm seventeen."

"I thought you said you were sixteen," Ezra reminded the teen. Remi hung his head and nibbled on his bottom lip.

"I-I'm turning seventeen in a few weeks," the boy said, barely audible. Ezra scoffed and resumed tapping his thumb against his stomach.

"You're still a minor."

Stubbornly, Remi sat up and crossed his arms. "Well, fine."

He goes to get up, but Ezra pulled him back down, wrapping an arm around his waist so that he wouldn't move. Ezra's scent swam over the boy, and his face flushed as he attempted to push his away out of the man's hold.

"Let go," he mumbled when he realized he wouldn't be able to escape. The man's scent didn't only fluster him, but it was also stealing away his energy. He could barely speak again, nor could he push at his chest.

"I won't kiss you, but I'll hold you. This will probably be the last time we see each other, anyway," Ezra spoke up, noticing the teen's struggles dying down. His words made Remi stiffen.

"Last time?" he asked, his disappointment visible in his voice.

"You'll forget all about me when you arrive home, and I don't think your brother will let you out of his sight after what you pulled last night," Ezra continued to stab on the boy's chest, hoping he would be sad enough to want to forget him. Though, somewhere deep down, hoped the boy wouldn't.

Remi frowned deeply, his heart aching. "I won't forget you."

A hum rumbled in Ezra's throat, and he shut his eyes. "And why is that?"

Remi lifted his head and met the man's closed eyes. "You saved me, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ezra replied with a chuckle.

Remi kept his eyes on him for a moment, the sudden urge to tap his feet against the floor consuming him. He occasionally glanced from the man's face to the wall behind them. When the feeling became too much for him, he lifted his chin and connected their lips.

The kiss didn't last long. As soon as it began, it ended, and Remi found himself lowering his head bashfully. If his face wasn't red before, it definitely was now.

"You're hard-headed, you know that?" Ezra opened his eyes and looked down at the boy's hair. Remi couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips as those words left the man's mouth. He wasn't the only one to blame for what he did. With the position they were in, Ezra basically granted him his wish.

"No, I just go after what I want," he replied, and Ezra's chest shook in mirth. Relief washed over the boy as Ezra didn't seem to be upset.

"That's cheesy," came from Ezra.Remi lifted his head, and his giggles merged with the man's laughter. Releasing him, Ezra rolled onto his back, and Remi followed, both swimming in the comfortable silence drowning the room.