by Xialeth

Jürgen hesitated for a long moment, glancing back at Henry uncertainly. She was looking in his direction, but without quite meeting his eyes. His chest felt tight with an emotion he couldn't (didn't want to?) name, his mouth suddenly parched.

“I…” he trailed off, torn between two equally enticing options – Henry here, close enough that their shoulders almost brushed as they prepared dinner, side by side, the way it should be, and his closest friend over by the doorway, gazing at him expectantly.

The picture of those delectably kissable lips, closing around the piece of onion just as his friend’s tongue swept out—

Jürgen cut that train of thought short, focusing his attention back on Henry instead. “I think I’ll –” he had to clear his throat, voice inappropriately rough. “I’ll grab a glass of water first.”

Thorsten made a sound that might have been disappointment, but Jürgen wasn’t sure, and before he could say anything, he could hear the door fall shut behind Thorsten.

The kitchen was quiet after that abrupt departure, Henry still not quite looking at him, while the others seemed entirely absorbed in their various activities – a little too absorbed, a detached part of Jürgen’s brain noted, as he went over to the sink on autopilot. But it didn’t really matter, and so he shoved the observation to the back of his mind. He opened the cabinet to grab a glass –darn it, wrong door – closed the fume hood again and instead settled for the glass Thorsten had left by the sink.

The cool wetness was heavenly on his dry lips, and it almost worked in chasing away those unfitting thoughts, before he remembered the way Thorsten had looked at him as he swallowed that piece of onion. He sat the glass back down, almost hard enough to shatter it.

“So,” Henry said, and with a bit of imagination, her voice didn’t even shake. “Are you going to help me finish dinner?”

The '... or are you going to follow Thorsten?' was left unvoiced except in the direction of her gaze, and Jürgen found himself swallowing, still not sure what the best course of action was.

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