In a busy narrow street, just a short walk away from a suburban train station, there stood a wooden door painted sunflower yellow. It stood wedged between a newly opened cafe and an old secondhand bookstore.

On one side of the door stood a young man in his early twenties with jet black hair. He stood on the busy footpath while carrying a white styrofoam box.

On the other side of the door was a staircase.

The man in the coffee brown uniform awkwardly handled his package. Managing to utilise his elbow, he succeeded in pressing a little red button.

-Bzzzzzz-

The intercom buzzed. There was a clicking noise before a voice was heard.

“Who is it?” A man’s voice.

“It’s Jorgi from Fresh Food Feasts, I’m here to delivery your groceries for the week,” the black-haired man explained.

He looked at the invoice slip that was placed on top of the styrofoam box. Very quickly, he scanned the list of contents with his sky blue eyes.

“Looks like you’re making stir fry this week,” he said.

“Ah! Thanks, Jorji! I’ll come right down.”

After a short moment, the sound of hasty footsteps could be heard from the other side of the door. There was a ‘clack’, succeeded by the yellow door swinging open to reveal the owner of the voice on the intercom.

An older male, no more than 27 years of age smiled at the delivery man.

“Hi Jorji! Thanks again for the delivery.”

His short brown hair was wet and smelled of cheap shampoo. Droplets of water fell onto his off-white shirt, which was currently being worn backwards.

“Hey, Austin. Fresh out of the shower?”

The younger male looked his customer up and down, noticing the brunette wasn’t wearing any shoes.

“Haha,” the older male let out a nervous laugh, “yeah, you buzzed me right after I got out.”

He took the invoice slip from the box as he normally would.

“Is there a pen,” he asked.

Jorji looked at the top of the box before looking down to his left breast pocket.

“I had one before,” he responded with puzzlement.

His blue eyes then widen as if he had made a sudden realisation.

“Shit! I must have left it at my last drop off,” the delivery man showed his customer an apologetic expression.

“Don’t worry,” the older male reassured, “I have a pen upstairs. Want to come up?”

“Sure, that’d be sweet!”

Holding the door wide open, Austin took a step to the side and allowed the shorter male entry into the building. He guided Jorji up the flight of stairs as the latter continued to carry the box full of produce.

“Sorry for the trouble, do you have any deliveries after me,” the resident inquired.

“No, you’re my last stop.”

“Really? In that case, do you want to stay for a drink?”

“Sure! Who would turn down a free drink?” There was no hesitation to Jorji’s response.

The two ascended the stairs until they reached the top floor, stopping outside a door with a peephole and the number ‘3A’ underneath.

Austin took out a set of keys hanging off a key chain that featured the local football club’s emblem. The blue and white colours of the key chain matched the colours of the owner’s clothes.

He inserted the keys into the lock before turning and pushing the door open. He revealed the recently refurbished interior of the apartment.

“Whooo,” the younger male whistled, “nice place.”

“Thanks, the couch is new.”

Upon entering the apartment, the shorter male gently lowered the delivery box onto the carpeted floor.

“What would you like to drink?” Austin asked as he walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Sorry, it looks like I only have tea and soda at the moment.”

“Soda’s fine, thanks.”

The delivery man had never been inside his customer’s home before. Although Jorji had been bringing boxes of groceries to Austin’s building for four months already, the black-haired male had never been past the threshold. Naturally, he was curious to see what kind of place the older male lived in.

“You have a lot of books,” he commented.

Jorji walked over to a four-shelved bookcase that featured an array of fantasy novels by authors such as Tolkien, Adams, Riordan, and Lewis, just to name a few.

The host grabbed a couple of glasses from the cupboard and filled them with ice and cola.

“I like to read,” he began explaining, “my parents would take me to the library on weekends when I was a child. I wasn’t very good at talking to other kids my age so I would read instead.”

The brunette carried the drinks carefully into the living room and placed them on the coffee table in front of the new couch.

“Did you feel lonely,” Jorji probed as he crouched down to inspect the books on the bottom shelf.

“A little,” Austin admitted, “but eventually I met people that had read the same books as me. I found it easier to talk with them and become friends because we had common interests. We would just talk about the characters in a book or what we thought would happen in the next instalment.”

“I guess that’s the way most people become friends, ey?”

“Yeah,” Austin agreed awkwardly, “but don’t you find it hard to connect with people when you have nothing in common with one another?”

Pulling one of the books off the shelf, Jorji turned to his host and made his way over to the couch.

“I haven’t read any of the books you have,” he admitted as he sat down, “but I wouldn’t mind reading this one, since it would give us something in common to talk about.”

The younger male gave the brunette a reassuring smile, his stunning blue eyes showing genuine interest, not in the book but in the man sitting beside him.

“Is it alright if I borrow this?” Jorji asked.

“Y-yeah,” the older male agreed, but he had his uncertainties. “You don’t have to read the book just because of what I said.”

“I know.”

Piercing blue eyes gazed into Austin’s green ones.

“But I want to get to know you more,” Jorji explained.

The older male felt a bit flustered, he leaned forward to grab one of the glasses and drink some cola.

“W-what would you like to know,” he asked in between sips.

“Well, for starters,” the younger male said as he pointed to his host’s off-white shirt. “Why is your shirt on backwards?”

Jade green eyes widened with embarrassment before gazing down. A wave of realisation and mortification washed over Austin’s face.

“I didn’t even notice,” he exclaimed.

As Jorji chuckled in amusement and picked up the remaining glass of cola, Austin hastily placed his own drink down and stood up.

“I was in a hurry getting dressed,” he explained as he began taking his shirt off, “so I wasn’t paying attention when I came down to open the door for you.”

Jorji’s eyes lingered over the older male’s body.

‘Damn,’ he thought to himself.

Austin removed his shirt to reveal a well-toned body. The older male obviously looked after himself, but he didn’t have any highly distinguished muscles to suggest he frequented a gym or anything. Instead, Jorji’s eyes were drawn to the other man’s ivory skin and the small birthmark on the right side of his waist.

‘Looks like Tasmania,’ he thought.

“I don’t normally wear my clothes backwards,” the brunette claimed as he turned his shirt around and began slipping the top back on.

“W-wait!”

Eager to keep enjoying the view, Jorji tried to delay Austin’s redressing of himself. However in doing so he ended up shaking the glass of cola he had been holding and spilled the sticky liquid over his own clothes.

“Shit!”

“Are you okay?”

Abandoning his original task, Austin pressed his off-white shirt into the spill on Jorji’s pants.

“You don’t need to do that,” the younger male protested, but in truth he was enjoying the contact. “You’re shirt’s going to get stained.”

“It’s okay, this is my place so I can just throw it in the wash, but you have work.”

“Austin, I already finished all my deliveries,” he reassured. “I can just drive home.”

“But if you leave with your pants soaked…” the words trailed off for a moment.

Looking at his guest with uncertain authority, Austin withdrew his no longer white shirt and made a demand.

“Take your clothes off.”

Jorji looked up with intrigued bemusement.

“Excuse me?”

“Take your clothes off, if you leave while wearing them your car will get dirty.”

“Am I supposed to leave in the nude?”

“I’ll lend you my clothes. Hurry up.”

The delivery man didn’t argue back. He stood up and began unbuckling his belt.

Standing in front of each other, it became more noticeable that Austin was only a little bit taller than his guest. However, Jorji definitely had a more muscular body.

In addition to removing his pants, the younger male also pulled off his uniform top and his briefs. He dropped them to the carpet and confidently stood naked with his arms on his hips in the middle of his customer’s living room.

“Um...” Austin couldn’t avert his eyes. “Why did you take everything else off?”

“The cola soaked through to my underwear,” the black-haired male explained with a smirk on his face, “and there’s a splash on the end of my shirt too.”

“Right. Gotcha.” The older male was struggling to form full sentences, there was a huge distraction in front of him.

Wanting to tease the brunette, Jorji extended his arms out by his sides and asked in a playful manner, “so, what do you think?”

Blood rushed right up to Austin’s cheeks and turned them red.

“I’ll get you a change of clothes,” he said to avoid answering.

“Cheers,” Jorji thanked his host, although he would have preferred to hear an answer to his question.

While Austin left the room in search of clothing, Jorji remained standing naked in the living room. Luckily, it wasn’t a cold night. His bright blue eyes glanced around the living room a second time, taking in more of the interior then he initially did.

‘He doesn’t have a television,’ the naked man observed.

‘Oh! The book I picked out is from a trilogy,’ the naked man realised.

‘I should finish my drink so I don’t spill anymore,’ the naked man decided.

‘I’ve got four deliveries tomorrow after midday. Yes! I can take it easy and sleep in,’ the naked man continued to think of himself as he stood, naked.

“I found some clothes you can wear,” a voice from around the corner of the wall announced.

A no longer topless but still red-faced Austin emerged from the other side.

“What are you doing?”

Jorji stood with perfect posture, his left hand rested on his hip and his right hand raised a near- empty glass to his lips. With the evening sunlight casting an orange hue from behind, it highlighted the edges of his defined silhouette. The man looked like he was a model posing for a photoshoot.

“Finishing my drink,” he answered.

“W-why are you posing like that?” The older male shuffled closer.

“Posing?” Jorji glanced down at himself.

He wasn’t sure what the other male was seeing, but he saw this as an opportunity.

“Do I look good,” he asked while flexing his biceps and he pretended to take another sip of his drink.

“Please put these on,” the embarrassed brunette insisted while thrusting his spare clothes towards his guest.

Before he could withdraw his hands, Jorji took hold of Austin’s wrist.

“J-Jorji,” the taller male muttered nervously.

The younger male had a firm grasp, but it wasn’t too tight. His piercing blue eyes stared directly into the jade green eyes of his host.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” He spoke in a soft manner.

The older male didn’t say anything, his mind was running a thousand miles a minute. He had known Jorji for months now. On their first encounter, when Austin opened the bright yellow door to receive his first delivery, he had set his eyes upon an Adonis.

The brunette had not been in a relationship for well over a year, and was not looking for anything sexual either. But when he met Jorji for the first time, something just clicked inside of him.

“Austin,” the younger male leaned closer. “Where’s that pen you said you had?”

“Huh?”

“You said you had a pen, you know, to sign the invoice slip.”

“That’s… uh…” the older male took a slow step back and retracted his no longer restrained wrist. “I’ll go get it now.”

There was an obvious hint of confusion in his voice, accompanied with a pinch of disappointment.

Once again, Austin left the living room.

Jorji remained naked, with a bold smirk on his face.

It didn’t take nearly as long this time for Austin to return with a blue ballpoint pen in his hand. He was surprised to see his guest full clothed now, wearing the black polo shirt and khaki pants he had handed him beforehand. Austin had expected Jorji to have continued his exhibitionist ways.

“Do the clothes fit,” he asked.

“The shirt is a bit loose but the pants fit just fine.”

The delivery man held up the unsigned piece of paper; his original reason for coming into the brunette’s home.

“That’s good.” The pinch of disappointment in his voice was becoming more evident.

He signed his name in the box next to ‘signature’.

“Alright then, I got what I came for.” The younger male folded the slip of paper and grabbed his sticky, damp clothes from the floor.

“Thanks for the clean clothes, is it alright if I return them next week when I make the next delivery?” The male gave his customer a pat on the shoulder as he took several steps towards the front door.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” the brunette replied.

“Why do you sound so sad,” the younger male asked when he finally reached the door.

“Huh? Sad? What do you mean?”

“You sound like someone who couldn’t find the book he wanted to borrow at a library.”

“Do I?”

“Did you need anything else from me?”

There was a momentary pause, the older male was honestly and earnestly considering his next words.

“Let me rephrase,” Jorji interjected, “do you want anything else from me?”

The brunette looked down at the younger male with a nervous expression. He bit his lower lip to regain composure.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re just toying with me right now,” he questioned his guest.

Jorji smirked.

He lifted his right hand to the side of Austin’s face. The other man twitched but didn’t move from his standing position. Jorji brushed his index finger behind Austin’s ear and began gently rubbing the older man’s earlobe.

It was ticklish, but Austin tried not to move. He stood his ground.

“If I was toying with you,” Jorji’s voice sounded deeper than before, “would that be so bad?”

Deep green eyes glanced from side to side, peering into Jorji’s left eye and then his right. He was beginning to drown in them. A hot wave washed over his entire body. His lips parted ever so slightly as he inhaled.

Unconsciously leaning in, the taller male quickly kissed his guest.

Their lips stayed in contact for only a short moment.

They parted, only an inch. Austin could still feel the heat of Jorji’s breath against his lips.

“I…” He wasn’t given a chance to continue.

Before he could say another word, the shorter male stole another quick kiss. This one more forceful, more passionate, more stimulating.

Then he also withdrew himself.

“I’ll see you next week, Austin.”

Opening the door and exiting without another word, the delivery man left after completing his job. Leaving his customer in a daze.

When Jorji reached his car that was parked in front of the building, he threw his dirty uniform onto the passenger’s seat and opened the glove compartment.

There, he saw a stack of pens.