Jace watched as Elias placed the chicken bag on the small table near the bed and grabbed a plain t-shirt from his dresser. The room was cosy, with soft lighting from a lamp on the nightstand casting a warm glow over the simple furniture—a bed with rumpled sheets, a desk cluttered with books and a laptop, and posters of medical diagrams on the walls.
Elias's back was turned, his skin still slightly damp from the shower, and Jace felt his pulse quicken. He just couldn't bring himself to look directly at Elias until he was fully dressed... the sight of him shirtless had caught Jace off guard, stirring up feelings he'd tried hard to push down over the past weeks. His heart was pounding as it had back in school when he'd first realised his crush, and he kept his eyes on the floor, tracing the pattern of the centre carpet to distract himself. The threads wove in and out in a simple design, but it was enough to focus on instead of the way Elias's muscles moved as he reached for the shirt.
