Jock Next Bed (BL)-Chapter 250: Party time (5)

Chapter 250: Party time (5)
For a heartbeat, there was only silence.
Complete, reverent silence.
Then the room erupted in applause.
Did you know rich people clapped differently? Sky didn’t know that until today. Because he could pick out the ’uncouth’ applause from his friends versus the ones from the elite. It was almost funny.
Regardless, a genuine smile broke across his face as he took in the response.
Chris watched that smile like it was the sun breaking through clouds after a storm. Like it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
Sky stood gracefully, turning to face the crowd properly, and bowed, humbly at first, a slight incline of his head and shoulders. But the applause only grew louder, more insistent, and someone called out "Bravo!" A voice that sounded very much like Wilson’s. So Sky bowed again, deeper this time, his hand pressed to his chest in genuine gratitude.
When he straightened, his cheeks were flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and pleasure, and his eyes were bright. He looked radiant.
Honestly, he didn’t think he did anything spectacular. Something kept telling him this whole reaction was because of Chris. Because they knew the kind of relationship he had with Chris. And they had obviously heard better musical pieces. But he didn’t let that distract him now.
He turned to look at Chris, and the smile faltered slightly. "Are you okay?" he asked, concern flickering across his features. "You look..."
Chris blinked, realizing he’d been staring with what was probably the most lovestruck, utterly besotted expression ever captured on a human face. His eyes felt hot, his throat tight. He stood up quickly, nearly knocking the bench backward in his haste.
"Did you... see him?" Chris asked, his voice slightly hoarse with emotion.
Sky looked confused, glancing around. "See who?"
Chris pointed dramatically toward the large windows that overlooked the gardens, where moonlight spilled across the empty terrace. "Over there."
Sky followed his gesture, squinting at the... completely empty space. "I don’t see anyone. Who?"
"Mozart’s ghost," Chris said with complete solemnity, though his lips were twitching with the effort not to smile. "Standing right there, in his ridiculous powdered wig, looking at you with pure, unadulterated jealousy because you just played better than he ever could in his entire life."
Sky stared at him for a solid three seconds, his expression caught between confusion and disbelief.
Then he burst into laughter. Real, unrestrained laughter that made his eyes crinkle and his whole face light up, the sound bubbling out of him like he couldn’t contain it.
"You’re such an idiot," Sky managed between laughs, reaching out to shove Chris’s shoulder lightly. "Such a complete idiot."
"I’m serious!" Chris protested, grinning now. "He was weeping into his lace handkerchief. Absolutely devastated by your talent."
"Oh my god, stop—" Sky was laughing so hard he could barely get the words out.
When Sky’s laughter died down, they were still both grinning like absolute fools when Rain and Mei materialized before them, Rain practically vibrating with excitement.
"THAT WAS AMAZING!" Rain squealed, holding up her phone like it was a trophy. "Oh my god, Sky! I got the whole thing on video! Every single note! I knew you could play, but that was like... that was professional level! Concert pianist level! What the hell happened tonight? Did you get possessed by Beethoven or something?"
"It was beautiful," Mei agreed, and there was something almost awed in her usually composed expression. "Seriously, Sky. You could do this professionally if you wanted. Like, actually professionally. Sell-out concerts and albums and everything."
Sky’s face flushed deeper with the praise, but he was still smiling, still riding the high of the performance and the applause. "Thanks. I was absolutely terrified I was going to screw up in front of all these people. My hands were shaking."
"Are you kidding? You killed it! Murdered it! Annihilated it!" Rain was already rewatching the video on her phone, her face glowing with pride. "I’m posting this. Right now. Everyone needs to see this."
"Rain, please don’t—" Sky started, reaching for her phone, but she danced backward out of reach.
"Too late! Already uploading!" Rain was typing furiously, thumbs flying across the screen as she disappeared, pulling Mei along with her as though needing emotional support for the chaos she was about to unleash.
"Let her," Chris murmured and slowly took Sky’s hand in his, lacing their fingers, "You were incredible. Everyone should know it."
Sky looked up at him, and the air between them changed. Charged. Electric. Despite the crowd still gathered around them, Chris’s blue eyes darkened with something that wasn’t just pride, the way his thumb traced small, deliberate circles against the back of Sky’s hand.
Sky could see his own desire reflected back at him, that overwhelming want barely contained beneath Chris’s polite smile for the guests still watching.
"Thank you," Sky said quietly, just for Chris, his voice nearly lost under the ambient noise of the party. But he let his gaze drop to Chris’s mouth for just a fraction of a second. "For sitting with me."
Chris’s grip on his hand tightened almost painfully. Sky watched his pupils dilate, watched him swallow hard.
Chris wanted to kiss him so badly it was written in every tense line of his body. Sky could feel it in the way Chris leaned in slightly, unconsciously, drawn by gravity or magnetism or whatever the hell this pull between them was. Could see it in how Chris’s eyes kept dropping to his lips, lingering there with naked hunger before dragging back up.
The urge was overwhelming. All-consuming. You could practically taste the tension, the restraint it was taking for Chris not to close that final distance right here, right now, in front of everyone.
But Chris remembered. Sky saw the moment the memory of his earlier retreat flickered across Chris’s face. The awareness of where they were, who was watching.
So instead, Chris just squeezed Sky’s his hand once more and smiled.
It should have been enough.
Except it wasn’t.
Sky’s body was humming, hyperaware of every point of contact between them. The heat of Chris’s palm. How close Chris’s lips were.
Sky leaned in, unable to stop himself, and placed what should have been a chaste kiss on Chris’s cheek. But his lips lingered a moment too long, and he felt Chris’s sharp intake of breath against his face.
"I... completely adore you," Sky whispered, letting his breath ghost over Chris’s skin, warm and intimate and deliberate.
Chris went completely still. Then red crept up his neck, flooded his face.
"I need to use the restroom upstairs," Chris whispered urgently, his voice rough and strained. "Right now."
Sky pulled back just enough to look at him properly, searching those blown pupils, that flushed face. He could see exactly what Chris needed, could feel the answering heat coiling low in his own stomach.
"Do you... want me to also ’need’ to use the restroom?" Sky asked quietly, but there was something darker in his voice now. Knowing.
Chris’s eyes went impossibly darker. He nodded frantically, not trusting his voice.
Sky bit his lower lip and watched Chris track the movement like a starving man watching food. "I’ll need to use it in five minutes after you then."
Chris made a sound that might have been agreement or desperation. Then he was gone, disappearing into the crowd with barely controlled urgency, and Sky was left standing there trying to remember how to breathe properly, trying to ignore the heat pooling in his body, trying to count down five impossible minutes while his skin still burned from Chris’s touch.