Star of the Show

Star of the Show
Then, the door swung open, revealing Nikolias' bare wet chest as he fumbled with a billfold. His skin was an angry red, raised like blisters in places, and his hair hung in long, dripping curls. 
"Helper, mop, please?" Nikolias turned back to him. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and his lips curved into a smile. "Derek!" 
He closed the billfold, beaming and pulling Derek inside. "What are you doing here? How'd you—" He shook his head. "Havoc?"
Derek nodded and swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the scent floating just above him. It was small, but lingering, foreign, and just a little irritating. 
Maybe it was whatever he'd been bathing in. 
"I thought you weren't in physical danger." Derek swept his gaze of him, forcing himself not to linger on the way water rolled over the planes of his body and suctioned his shorts to his thighs. "You look... like you got burned."
His lips twitched. "Long story." He hissed. "Hold on. Come in! Make yourself comfortable." Nikolias dashed off as a little hovering cube floated back and forth across the floor after him, evaporating the water.
Derek toed off his shoes and dropped his bag. Two suitcases sat at the entrance to the spacious living room, decorated in warm golds and reds. That sent was coming from one of the suitcases. Was someone else here? He took a deeper breath and swallowed past the tension in his throat. 
Whoever he was, he was about their age, maybe a little older. The scents were recent. Maybe he was just another friend like Sage... or like Rye.
Derek turned away, following the scent beyond that room to a large dining table where a stack of papers sat along with Nikolias' laptop. A trail of water leading to the table from the large sliding glass door glinted in the light. 
Nikolias came from another direction with the medallion around his neck and a comb in hand, pulling through his hair. A towel was wrapped around his waist, and he grinned, using the comb to wrap his hair up and pin it in place.
"You came all the way here? What about Kore? Everything okay?"
Derek nodded. "She's fine. Dad said she was plenty energetic." He cleared his throat. "I just thought you could use the company."
Nikolias smiled, crossing the space between them and wrapping his arms around him. He sighed, resting his head on Derek's shoulder as Derek tried not to breathe in scent cling to Nikolias' skin through whatever colored his bath. 
"I wish I'd known you were coming. We could have gone out. How long are you here for?"
"I... thought I'd stay the weekend, but I can go tomorrow if you want?"
"Nonsense," Nikolias squeezed him closer. "We'll have fun this weekend. I'm technically on rest and live orders so it's perfect... I'm... really glad you came."
Derek bit his lip and nodded, wrapped his arms around Nikolias. The warmth of his body soothed him, the silk over steel feel of his back set a different heat in his body, but it dies under the consistent invasion of his senses. 
He didn't like it. He hated it, actually. 
Nikolias pulled back. "Sorry. I tried to dry off, but I guess there's no helping wet hair."
"I didn't think you bathed in swim shorts."
Nikolias snorted. "I was in the hot tub out back, medicinal soaks."
"For the not physical danger burns?"
He wrinkled his nose. "At the time I sent that message, I was not anticipating physical danger."
Derek squinted, but he couldn't stay upset as the doorbell rang. 
"That's got to be food. Have you eaten? I'm pretty sure Uncle Theo' ordered a small banquet."
"I could eat." Probably. So long as that scent started to fade. 
A murmuring conversation at the door, an open and close of it next, then Nikolias was hauling several big bags in with him, lifting them proudly. 
"Let us feast!" He set the bags on the table and started stacking papers to set out of the way with his laptop. "I'll grab plates. Want something specific to drink? Juice? Soda?"
Derek went with juice and focused on unpacking the food while Nikolias went to get plates and drinks.
 He had to remind himself that there was a logical explanation for why another guy's scent was all over him, lingering and clinging like Nikolias had been marked. 
He growled at the thought. If anyone should be marking his boyfriend, it should be him. Derek's face heated at the thought. Did he want to mark Nikolias, or did he just not like the idea of anyone else marking him? 
His phone rang, and Nikolias frowned at the screen. "Crap. Gotta take this. Start without me, yeah? Plenty of good stuff from a churrascaria down the way."
Derek had no idea what that was, but didn't comment as Nikolias wandered down the wall with his phone to his ear, his voice warm, but the words indistinguishable from the phone's privacy spells. 
Derek made himself a plate of meat and grilled vegetables, tried a few sauces, and realized it wasn't too much different from the Brazilian they'd had at the barracks. The thought of his other job made him grimace. He hadn't been called in for a while, was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Worse than the prospect of whoever left his scent all over Nikolias?
"Sorry about that, mid-case stuff." He dropped into a seat, eyes lighting up at the plate Derek had started for him. "Thank you. You're the best. Was the drive up here okay?"
Derek bobbed his head. "Havoc gave me a crash course on ley lines and... chiefs, I guess?" He shrugged and forked a piece of meat. "How about you? Do you want to talk about why you look like you ran through a fire?"
Nikolias flushed, and he winced. "I didn't run through a fire... A fire ran over me." Derek narrowed his eyes, and Nikolias chuckled. "You really do get more attractive when you're scolding me." He rest his cheek on his hand, eyes bright despite the weight in them. His shoulders slumped, he looked exhausted, though he was trying to hide it. 
"Doesn't that medallion make you more tired? It's a suppressor, right?"
"A limiter. Same concept, less restrictive. It just makes it so that I have to be intentional about using my powers... specifically the related powers of the medallion." He shook his head. "Which I'm learned is all converging." He paused, pushing at a pile of rice on his plate. "I..." He shook himself and shoveled a few forkfuls into his mouth, like he were forcing himself to eat, though he didn't want to. "I'll be alright. A little weird for a while, while I settle things in my head, but alright." 
"You could talk about it if you want," Derek dropped his gaze to his plate. "I... I didn't come here to just be a decoration."
Nikolias popped a piece of pork into his mouth before grabbing a curly banana chip and crunching down on it. 
"You’re the star of the show."