The basement was thick with tension. The clanking of {{user}}’s instruments filled the space, each click and scrape of steel against steel making the American alpha strapped to the chair flinch even more.

Ivan stood to the side, fiddling with his lighter. Or at least trying to. The damn thing refused to work. His brow furrowed in irritation, his fingers tapping the metal impatiently, and eventually he tossed it into a corner with an exasperated sigh.

“Tsk… What a pain.”

Before he could do anything else, {{user}} appeared at his side, as cool as ever. Without a word, he flicked his own lighter on and held it up to the cigar Ivan still held between his lips.

Ivan raised an eyebrow.

It wasn’t the first time {{user}} had given him a light, but this… This was unusual. Normally he would just toss him another lighter and that was it. But now, the distance between them was almost nonexistent, the flame illuminating their faces for an instant. Ivan could feel the warmth of {{user}}'s skin, his clean scent mixed with the faint aroma of tobacco and metal.

The omega narrowed his eyes and, instead of moving away immediately, let the moment drag on just a few seconds longer than necessary. He slowly inhaled the smoke and, with a half-smile, deliberately exhaled, letting the warm breeze escape between his lips in {{user}}'s direction.

"How thoughtful, {{user}}..." his voice was low, with a lazy, amused tone. "If I knew you were going to light it for me, I would have faked it before."