Kia saw it—the switch.
One second Ryan was flustered and bare, the next his face smoothed into something cooler, controlled. Shoulders squared. Jaw set. Like he'd slammed a door shut inside himself.
Anyone else might've believed it.
Kia didn't.
The desire was still there, tucked just beneath the surface, flickering in the tension of his mouth, the way his eyes lingered a fraction too long before looking away. Ryan was trying to be composed. Trying to be safe.
Kia's chest tightened.
"Don't cut the call," he said gently, before Ryan could even reach for the button.
Ryan paused. "Why?" he asked, voice already a little strained.
Kia didn't answer right away.
Instead, he shifted on the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt—slow, unhurried, like he wasn't performing, like this was the most natural thing in the world. Not stripping. Just… loosening. Heat. Comfort.
Ryan's breath hitched audibly. "Kia," he said, trying for stern and failing badly, "what are you doing?"
Kia glanced up at the screen, eyes wide, almost innocent. Almost.
"I miss you," he said simply. "And it's hot. I was thinking of taking a quick shower ."
He shrugged, like it meant nothing.
Ryan stared.
His heart was absolutely sprinting now—he could feel it in his ears, in his palms, in the way his body reacted even as his mind screamed this man is trying to kill me. He knew exactly what Kia was doing. The plausible deniability. The gentleness. The way nothing was being forced, but everything was being offered.
"You're… you're unbelievable," Ryan muttered, swallowing hard.
Kia smiled, soft and fond. "Still here," he noted. "it seems you still believe even when I am unbelievable Ryan." and by this time he is done undressing and the only thing left is his boxers and he could see someone looking down at his small brother down there as if to bear a hole in it.
Ryan is trying is best not to ask if he could remove the boxers too, because how can someone be stupid and not remove their boxers before going to the bathroom,God please,let he boxer just fall off by itself right now.
He was still thinking when he saw kia takes the phone and was heading somewhere with it, and he thinks he has a idea where he is going too now and fuck it, he is willing