Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7

up his lips and it stayed there until he forced it to leave when Chase was done and Ty was at risk of exposing himself completely.
    "Breakfast. Or…dinner. Or whatever you wanna call it, but food," Chase muttered and made his way to the kitchen while glancing at Ty. "Anything you won't eat?"
    "I suppose you don't have anything slightly less fat absorbed than bacon chips?" Ty asked and held his eyes on the table for a while before he looked at the one now standing in the kitchen with his fridge door open and obviously going through the contents. Chase grinned and pushed the door shut while he turned to look at Ty. "Actually, I do. I even have those weird round things that come in juice containers sometimes."
    Ty smirked. "Fruit?"
    "Yeah, that's it. I even have that . Must be your lucky day." Chase started fixing up breakfast or whatever, leaving Ty with nothing but the view. And again there was that smile on his lips while he watched the man move in his kitchen. Lucky day, indeed.
    Ty turned back towards the table, his hand already moving towards the papers when he stilled and glanced at Chase. "Do you mind?" he asked and gestured towards the papers. Chase shook his head and took a bowl off a shelf. "No…knock yourself out. They are mostly just sketches."
    Ty indulged himself with work in progress and found it quite intriguing to see images turn from single lines into fully formed pictures. Tribal patterns mostly, but there were others too. Drawings that were probably not even meant to be tattoo designs. Landscapes and portraits and just papers full of colors and Ty found those the most interesting. But then his eyes caught a glimpse of a pencil drawing, only a small stripe since the paper was buried underneath all the others. His hand moved layers of papers aside, sweeping slowly so that he wouldn't end up dropping everything on the floor. And then he stared at the picture for a while before he was able to even touch it.
    It was clearly just a quick draft, but it could just as well be done. It was of a man, one on his knees and back towards the spectator. Bare back, all of him naked. Head slightly turned towards his right but face still hidden while facing the floor. But it wasn't really the position that made Ty's hand reach towards the paper. It wasn't the nakedness that made him pick up the paper and follow his fingers along the outlines. It was the delicate design on the man's back that made Ty's eyes run over the drawing. Again he saw every branch, though they were done with few strokes only, the shape was still the same. Just as noble and elevated and honest in some way, just like it had been on the notice-board in Chase's shop. No details really but it was the same tree and this time it was already printed on someone's skin. And that someone had lines of his own, faint and narrow, circling his arms that were loosely held against his sides. Ty knew those lines, knew those patterns because they were the ones he had on his arms. Each and every one of them.
    "When did you make this?" he asked and turned to look at Chase and he brought up the drawing to show which one he was talking about. Chase quickly looked at Ty but his eyes stayed on the drawing for a little longer before he continued what he'd been doing. "A few months ago."
    A few months.
    Ty stayed still, looking at Chase instead of the paper in his hand. Few months. The sketches had started appearing in the shop only few weeks ago. Not months. This, however…
    Ty looked at the paper again, his fingers following the lines again. Not just a man, any man. Ty could see his own shoulders and arms and back. And he saw that the man wasn't looking down. He was bowing. And Ty didn't need to wonder who he was bowing to.
    "Did you make the tree for me?" he asked and placed the paper back on the table. His eyes still lingered on it and he didn't look away while he waited for Chase to answer. And he wasn't even surprised that the man didn't stay in the kitchen but walked up to him instead. And he heard the 'yes' but he knew it before hearing it and he still looked at the picture instead of Chase.
    "I have a confession to make," Chase said and Ty's eyes closed the second he felt a hand brush against his spine. From his waist up to his neck before going back down. "And that would be?"
    "I lied." Ty's mind went through all possible scenarios of what that lie could be before Chase spoke again. "I guess I am a patient man."
    Ty turned to look at Chase, eyes open now and