Harpinder smiled as he looked at Mohan, sitting across the table from him. He truly was a beautiful man, and it caught Harpinder by surprise how he didn’t notice earlier. He felt something strange just sitting near him. Not quite anxiousness, but he couldn’t place exactly how he was feeling.
He was snapped out of his staring as Mohan’s words brought him back to reality. “So what is tonight’s meeting about, anyway?”
“Huh?”, asked Harpinder, cluing back into the table instead of being lost in Mohan’s glory. “Well, we’re handing in mentorship forms for a program that they run for the new people. If this is your first meeting though I don’t think they’ll force you to go through it.”
“That’s almost unfortunate,” said Mohan. “It makes sense though, you’d want to be sure that I’d commit to actually staying.”
“Yeah, who knows. Maybe they’ll pair you up with someone later this week or next week.” Said Harpinder. “I do think they’re kind of strict on some things though.” He said, before having a moment of remembrance, “Oh right! I remember they said at the beginning of the semester that I’d have to wear a turban to the meetings, or at least a patka. I mean, hardly a problem for me, anyway. I can’t believe I forgot that. Sorry for not telling you yesterday!”
Mohan smirked, “I guess I’ll just have to borrow one of yours then. What a shame that you’ll have to show me to your bedroom.” He winked at Harpinder, whose heart skipped a beat.
Despite being nervous, Harpinder tried his best to be smooth after Mohan. “Well, I’d love to see you all dressed up. Maybe we can head there now before analytics. And who knows, maybe at the end of the day after the meeting I can see you all undressed.”
Harpinder immediately regretted his words and felt heat rise to his cheeks, a pink shade vaguely visible over his brown skin. That was the least subtle thing he’d ever said in his life. But Mohan didn’t seem to mind, and he heard a quick, soft reply. “I think I’d like that.” He said, leaning into the table. Harpinder didn’t think twice about what came next as he leaned in as well, closing his eyes and going in for a kiss.
At the meal hall table, it only lasted a second. It was absolutely no time for making out or dramatic public displays of affection, but the brief kiss was absolutely magical to Harpinder as his lips pressed against Mohan’s, their styled mustaches and soft beards making contact with each other. They broke the kiss and Harpinder looked at Mohan and smiled, basking in the image of his smile through his beautiful beard for what felt like eternity but surely was only a couple of seconds.
“Well, shall we get going, then?” asked Mohan as he picked up his plate from the table and brought it to the buspan of dirty dishes, Harpinder following suit. They made flirty small talk throughout their walk back to the hall entrance, and grabbed their bags, throwing them over their shoulders. The two men started their walk back to Harpinder’s dorm, standing very close to each other, until a few steps from the hall where Mohan grabbed Harpinder’s hand. Harpinder quickly interlocked fingers with the beautiful man beside him as they continued on with their day before class.