Page 56 of He is Poison

“First a bit of church,then fresh air and exercise. In the afternoon, a bit of incest and maybe alittle kidnapping.” Seth raised his eyebrows but quickly proceeded to dressing.

“Precisely.” Domenicowatched him with a smile that was hard to hate. “I like the way you think.”

Seth pulled on hisjeans, then a T-shirt, and he was ready to go. “Anyone ever told you you’re abit crazy?”

Domenico shrugged. Thatwas all the answer Seth needed.

Domenico looked up intothe leaves above their heads, his fingers playing with the grass he was lyingon. Autumn would be here soon so it could be the last weekend of relativewarmth and he was to spend it in Seth’s company. Now that they were done withchurch, it was high time to test Seth’s physical abilities and judging from theway he was trying to cough out his lungs after a quick run, those weren’t asgood as he claimed.

“I’m better withclimbing,” Seth uttered from Dom’s side, still trying to catch his breath.

Dom sighed and moved tohis side to look at Seth. “Climbing is much less essential than running whenyou’re being chased.”

“At university, they hadan archery class, and I was considering that, but never got round to it.” Sethgrinned. The guy looked like he had no care in the world. “But I don’t mindgetting a bit hot and sweaty.” He winked at Dom. As adorable as it was, theyneeded to get down to business.

“Good, because I willmake sure that you will. Have you recovered now?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Sethgave him a quick nod and stood up. As lazy as he was in general, Dom had toadmit Seth put effort into the exercises and pushed himself when they jogged.There was a bit of a competitive streak in him.

“Good. Have you everbeen in a fight?” asked Domenico, slowly getting to his feet. They were in apark but here, between the trees, there shouldn’t be many witnesses to theirsession.

“Duh. Two weeks ago. Butas a kid as well, I suppose. Oh and…” Seth raised his eyebrows at Dom.“Yesterday.”

“I meant a real fight,like when you had to defend your girlfriend from homophobic thugs.” Domenicoshook his body to relax all the muscles.

Seth raised hiseyebrows. “You’re such an ass. I’ll be honest: not particularly. Sometimes, itended up with a few shoves when I was out drinking. I suppose people are afraidto attack me.” Seth folded his arms on his chest with a self-satisfied smirk.

“I can see why.”Domenico shook his head. “Anyone taught you fistfighting, or some martialarts?”Please, say fucking ‘yes’...

“Pirates,” Seth saidwithout batting an eyelash.

Domenico frowned.“What?”

“Yeah, it’s tricky onthe sea, because the deck keeps moving.”

“Very funny.” Domenicoput his hands into his pockets. “Okay, I’m gonna close my eyes, and you’llattack me, all right?”

Seth bit his lip, eyinghim with a lot more caution. “Uhm… okay.”

Domenico jumped threetimes to release any tension in his body. He was curious how Seth would do.“But be serious. You’re not gonna kill me, even if you break my nose.”

“But… um… don’t breakmine, okay?” Seth sounded as if he suspected Dom to have superpowers.

“I won’t break anything,but I might give you a bruise by accident. It’s all right.”

He could hear Sethmoving on the grass, the fallen leaves crackling under his feet. The steps werecautious, calculated yet unsure. Seth hadn’t yet decided where to strike. Butwhen the very obvious noise came, Dom knew the attack would be from the otherside. A brush of air confirmed his suspicion, and he swung his body towardSeth, blocking the attack, threw him to the ground, and crouched over Seth withhis fist against the firm chest. His blood was starting to get hot.

Seth grabbed Dom’s wristand pulled it to the side while pushing on his arm. It was a pretty patheticattempt, but still more effective than the wrestling they had at home. Sethwrapped his legs around Dom’s thigh and tried to push him to his back with agrunt. Weight was definitely one of Seth’s assets, but Domenico was still at anadvantage, despite having to fight blindly. He rolled off, crouching with hishead toward Seth. The smell of gasoline mixed with that of withering leaves andtrees as the wind blew in Domenico’s face.

Seth didn’t wait asecond and launched himself at him, still on his knees. Domenico took hisweight and used it to his advantage, throwing Seth to the ground again, so thathe would land like a sack of potatoes.

“Oh fuck!” Seth rasped,and it didn’t sound like he was getting up soon.

Domenico opened his eyeswith a grin. “How was that?”

“Painful.” Seth moanedand turned his head to look at him. “But fun in a way. I wouldn’t mind learninghow to do that.” He sounded self-assured, like a proper Villani.

“You know, we’re tryingsomething more invasive next?” Dom rolled onto his stomach.