Chapter 204 - 202: Caught.

Chapter 204: Chapter 202: Caught.

​"Thanks," he tells her, and has to down the whole thing immediately when he burns his mouth by trying to eat one of the breads too soon after it had come off the fire.

It smells delicious, and the taste he got before it seared the tip off his tongue sets his mouth watering, but he makes himself wait for them to cool.

​And while he does, the kitchen gets another visitor.

​Loac doesn’t even register him at first.

​He comes by the same entrance Khobi had, stooping under the low arch like he’s done it a hundred times before, and from the way the servants continue to scuttle about like they normally do, paying him little to no mind, this too, is a regular occurrence.

​Khobi, however, stares; jaw slack as he watches Loac move through the room with practiced ease, helping himself to pieces of food and steaming cuts of meat left out on the counters.

He then saunters towards the cupboards and spends quite some time rifling through each and every one of them, only to scowl like a petulant child and move onto the next one when he emerges empty handed.

A couple he even climbs up a shelf or two, pushing aside pots and containers and looking more and more annoyed with each empty one he finds.

​Khobi’s seen his fair share of strange things in his life, but this has got to be one of the weirdest.

​Brow creasing at the absurdity of watching a grown-ass man comb through a larder, Khobi blankly reaches for his pile of bread and starts chewing.

He’s finished four, and is halfway through the fifth by the time Loac finally notices him.

​"Huh?" he stops his pillaging, mirroring Khobi’s baffled expression; stuffed cheeks and all.

"Khobi? What the fuck are you doing down here?" Khobi nonchalantly stuffs the rest of the bun in his mouth and swallows loudly.

​"I could ask you the same thing."

​The motion catches Loac’s attention, and no sooner is Khobi reaching for another that he finds it deftly plucked from his hand.

​" –Hey, where’d you get these?" Loac demands, and to Khobi’s chagrin, immediately takes a bite before he can grab it back.

He hums approvingly, and adds, mouth full, "I keep lookin’ for more of em but they keep hidin’ em." He crams the rest of it in his mouth in two bites and finds his hand smacked away as he starts reaching for another.

​"Hey, get off , I made them," Khobi growls hotly, hackles up; so immediately irritated that it takes him a moment to process exactly what he’s just heard, " –Wait what did you just say ."

​No way .

​"What?" Loac balks, baffled, "You’re saying you made them?"

​It’s been this guy the whole time ??

​Khobi’s eyebrow twitches.

​"Yeah, I did!" he snaps, jabbing a finger into his chest, "And you’ve been the fucker stealing them!"

​"It’s my castle," Loac shrugs, reaching over to help himself to another one.

Khobi’s not quite quick enough to stop him, and can only glare as he tears into it and then licks his fingers clean. "S’not stealing if it’s my own stuff. Besides, you shouldn’t leave em lyin’ round if you don’t want anyone to take em."

He’s barely finished chewing before he’s going in for a third.

Over Khobi’s dead body.

​"What kind of logic is that – don’t touch that !"

​Somehow, Loac still comes away with another one. He’s too fast.

​"What’s the harm?" he scoffs, smoothly sidestepping Khobi’s attempt at snatching his food back, "You’re not gonna eat all of em."

​"...Was too!"

​Still chewing, but slower, Loac stares at him, at the enormous pile of bread sitting in front of him, and then back up at him.

​"You’re not serious."

​"I’m hungry ," Khobi counters, and catches him by the wrist when he makes to keep helping himself.

He’s worked hard on these and all the batches past that have been pilfered; he won’t stand for this guy just waltzing in and taking them.

Not again. And certainly not right in front of him. "And these are mine. Get your own."

​It’s hard to say how exactly it happens, but no more than two seconds later, Khobi finds his face pressed into the cold wood of the bench, arm wrested tight behind his back, and Loac casually and noisily chomping away at Khobi’s second breakfast like he doesn’t have him effortlessly pinned.

Khobi grinds out a complaint and struggles, but the grip on him clenches, and twists his arm a little tighter until it’s just shy of painful.

​" Too slow, Khobi ," comes the taunt in a low snicker, ghosting the shell of his ear.

​It is too goddamned early for this.

​Ignoring the wrench of his arm, Khobi throws his weight backwards and manages to dislodge the body behind him.

Loac doesn’t resist, and even holds his hands up in surrender as Khobi whirls on him.

The smirk gives him away though, and the way he licks a smudge of sauce away from the corner of his lips is deliberate and unrepentant.

​He’s also holding another bread, the asshole. Khobi’s plate is starting to look a lot emptier than he’d like.

​"I’m gonna flatten you today," he declares stonily, and at his words, something in Loac’s expression changes.

The smirk doesn’t fade; if anything it curls wider, but pinpricks of light –the ones that light up that rich, magnetic blue –glimmer in the depths of his eyes, and the cocky taunt he sends right back, low and thick, speaks directly to the heat lying latent in Khobi’s blood.

​"You can try ."

Khobi’s pulse stutters, and he finds himself wondering if the servants have lit an extra hearth in here for it to be suddenly so warm.

​From just beyond their little bubble, someone clears their throat, and Khobi turns to find Binny standing at the end of the bench, also helping himself to Khobi’s breakfast.

​"...I’m sorry to interrupt –and believe me , I am," he remarks, ruining the apology by grinning from ear to ear, " –But don’t you two have somewhere to be?"

​As one, they glance out the window. The sun’s starting to get awfully high.

​" Oh, shit, " Khobi states, for the both of them.

Binny chuckles and gives them a meaningful look.

​"I’d get going if I were you."