Sashi woke up the next morning, expecting to find the bed empty except for three stressed-out calico cats. He stretched and one arm stroked over the side of the bed where Charlie had spent the night. He was gone. Sashi sighed, then paused, reached a little farther and discovered that the sheets were still warm. He may be gone, but he hadn't been gone long. Slowly, the dancer sat up in bed and tilted his head, listening. There was a sizzling sound in the kitchen and Sashi inhaled, recognizing the scent of eggs and buttered toast and... "Masala?" He scrambled out of bed, snatched a clean pair of boxer shorts and a binder and tumbled over Mandy on the way to the kitchen.
Charlie was standing over the stove, chewing a piece of toast while he expertly flipped eggs in the pan. At Sashi's entrance, he looked up with his mouth full of bread, then swallowed and grinned, "Hope you don't mind. I helped myself."
"Are you putting masala in those eggs?" Sashi demanded and Charlie froze, his eyes worried.
"Yes?"
Sashi grabbed him by the front of his shirt and kissed him hard. "Where the buttered fuck have you been all my life?"
Charlie laughed and wrapped one arm around Sashi's waist, "Apparently not in the right place." He feathered a few light kisses over the dancer's face, then turned back to the eggs. "I made coffee, but couldn't find the paper cups."
"That's because I don't have any," Sashi sighed. "I'm going to miss those mugs." Mandy threw herself against the back of Sashi's leg and the knee buckled. He recovered without even looking down, used to the kitten's enthusiasm for knees. "Have the girls been bothering you?"
"They did until I gave them some food," Charlie replied. "I found the cat food. I hope I didn't give them too much."
Sashi pulled a piece of bread out of the bag and stuck it in the toaster oven. "How about in the night?"
"Dahini slept on my face."
He covered his grin and tried to look sympathetic. "I'm sorry about that."
Charlie smiled and shrugged. "I could get used to it, actually. The purring was nice white noise." He flipped the eggs out of the pan and onto a plate before handing it over. "There you go, sir. Eggs masala a la Lockard."
"Lockard?" Charlie jerked a thumb towards his chest with a cocky grin. Sashi smiled. "You're really adorable, you know that?"
Charlie nodded. "I do."
"Insufferable."
"But really damn cute."
Sashi laughed and scooped some of the eggs onto a fork and into his mouth. He had to stop with his eyes closed, letting the flavors of the eggs and spices sink into his tongue and sinuses. "My god. I didn't know you could get more perfect. You save strippers from aggressive girlfriends, rescue missing cats, clean house, fuck like an angel, AND you cook. With masala."
Charlie pressed his lips to Sashi's forehead between his eyes. "I'm glad you approve." He watched as the dancer finished up the eggs and a thoughtful look creased the corners of Charlie's eyes. "You look different."
Sashi swallowed and indicated his chest. "Binder. I'm usually more comfortable wearing one at home. Less body dysphoria that way."
Charlie looked perplexed. "Okay, I think I caught about half of those words."
Sashi smiled, "Which ones need explaining?"
"Dysphoria?"
"Body dysphoria means I don't associate with my body properly. My mental image and perception of myself doesn't match what other people see or what I see in the mirror." Sashi looked down. "I'm a man. So having B-cups is a little bit weird. Binding is the process of flattening my chest so I look more like how I see myself, more masculine. The binder is a single garment that does that so I don't have to fight with a sports bra and duct tape."
Charlie's eyebrows shot up. "You did that?"
Sashi frowned. "I have, but it's not good. It hurts and it's really easy to bind too tightly that way. If I bind too tightly, it's hard to breathe and move and I know some people who have actually broken ribs from binding. Even this binder is tight and I can't wear it for a long time if it's really hot out or I'm being super active." Sashi finished the eggs and put the plate in the sink, then retrieved his cooled toast from the toaster oven.
"Can I... does it bother you to be touched?" Charlie asked a little tentatively.
Sashi smiled. "We did plenty of touching last night."
"That's different."
"Yes, you can touch me," Sashi almost whispered and they smiled at each other, both remembering the previous night.
With curious but gentle hands, Charlie explored the edges of the binder, then down Sashi's chest to his belly. "The color's wrong."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious."
Charlie gave Sashi a sardonic glare. "I'm trying here."
"I know," Sashi stood on tip-toes to kiss his lips. "I'm sorry. It's just... yeah, the 'nude' color binders usually assume a Caucasian skin tone and the black ones are too dark. I just have to dress like it's a layer that's going to be visible."
Charlie slipped his hands around Sashi's waist and lowered his face to press his forehead against the dancer's. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For needing so much explained."
Sashi smiled. "I'm just glad you want to know. I half expected you to be gone when I woke up. Not up and making breakfast after having fed my cats."
Charlie was just leaning in to kiss him again when something vibrated sharply from his hip height. Sashi smirked. "You brought a vibrator. I'm impressed."
Charlie gave him a glare. "Stupid phone. That's probably Jenny, my sister." He sighed and kissed Sashi's forehead again. "I should take it. She's probably been calling on and off for the last 12 hours."
"No worries," Sashi whispered and kissed him back.
