𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲

forty-eight: Storm Drain.

      

     FOR SOME reason, Kai couldn't sleep. Not even the fact he had a long day, he just laid there under the covers, staring at the wall with a blank face. He didn't feel tired, well he was, but he couldn't sleep, all he did was worry and overthink. Over something dumb too.

If JJ still liked Kie, he wouldn't have started a relationship with Kai. But wouldn't that also be a reason why he did? Because Kie wouldn't settle for him? It worried Kai endlessly, made him overthink and want to cry.

It was a reason why he wanted to go home so much. He didn't wanna be here, where JJ can see him look upset, where JJ could be worried and ask him what was wrong. Because if he asks enough times, Kai will give in and ask him. Thankfully, that morning when he woke up, JJ didn't bring it up at all.

He ended up getting some food for him and Kai. Which was just two bowls of cereal and spoons, he hands one to Kai, sitting down beside him on the bed. Kai yawns out a thank you, shaking his head softly as his eyes water.

"Did you get enough sleep? You look tired..." JJ put his hands up to Kai's face, rubbing his cheek gently as he stared at his boyfriend. "Yeah, yeah, I did..." Kai says and JJ just stared at him, kind of with a worried look on his face. "You sure?" He raised his hand again and brushed his fingers through Kai's hair gently.

"Well... just on and off. But it's nothing." Kai smiled at JJ who nods. "Maybe you're just so excited we might get to see our best friend again." The blond now smiles widely, talking about John B and Kai actually smiles this time, like wider with teeth too as he nods.

"Yeah... it's that."

That was a lie. Kai felt like shit thinking about that when they met up with Kie and Pope later, remembering when they promised to never keep things from each other. They were kids, like at age twelve, JJ made him promise and to make sure Kai would keep that promise forever, he even linked pinkies with him.

But lately things have changed about that. Kai realizing he liked boys when they were prepubescent and during puberty, he didn't tell JJ, only John B. Kai hooking up with a Kook, he didn't tell JJ, or anyone. And now he's keeping it from JJ that he feels worried, anxious that JJ still has some feelings for Kiara.

Now, they arrive to where the gun could've washed out from the night before. "This is the north drain. It should've gotten washed into the gully." JJ said as they approached the drain. "So, if it got flushed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out to, like--" JJ gestured to the trash surrounding the drain

"Somewhere in this trash."

"Correct."

Kie sighed as she looked at the garbage. "Oh, my God. People who use plastic should be shot." Kie says and Kai glanced at her. "Okay, personally, I love plastic. Use it everyday. Love the stuff." JJ says, glancing over at her as Kai crossed his arms, still standing beside Kiara.

"Okay, well hopefully, you recycle it and don't let it flush into the ocean." Kie shot back at him and Kai chuckled. "JJ recycling? Nah..." He says and JJ looks at him as Pope holds something up, "I thought you'd say something like that, so... trash bags." He says and Kai glanced between Kie and Pope now, raising his brows.

"Did you just proactively protect the environment?" Kie smiles at him and Kai smiled softly at the two. "Maybe." Pope now says smugly back at her and Kai looks away, rolling his eyes. "You want us to leave you two alone, or what's going on?" JJ asked the two.

Pope only throws the garbage bags at him, causing him to fumble with catching them. "Just pick up the trash." He tells the blond as Kai looks at Kie who's smiling pretty proudly. He smiles wider, nudging her softly.

After they finished filling up the bags with the garbage, JJ ties up the last one. "Well, that was fun." He says and Kai rolls his eyes, grabbing his arm. "If it's not in the trash, then it's gotta be somewhere in the storm drain." Pope said as he gestured towards the drain.

"It's in... it's in the drain." JJ nods as Kai hugs his arm closer to him, holding onto his hand with their fingers interlocked. "Damn it." Pope sighed. "Of course it is." Kie said as she nodded her head and JJ turns to his backpack, letting go of his hand. "Good thing I brought the crow." He says as he took out the crowbar.

"So, are we gonna do like, rock, paper, scissors?" Kie asked, glancing over at Kai. "No." JJ answered her as Kai shrugs. "Or alphabetically." She says and JJ shakes his head again. "Nah. On three, Pope." He says as he brings the cowbar to the drain.

"One, two, three."

"Or, like, the oldest goes?"

"In the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there. It gets into your blood, and then it has to come out your pecker. So, uh... that would be a hard pass for me." JJ says as Kai rolls his eyes. "That's gonna be a no for me." Pope says and Kai sighed.

"I don't know what they're talking about... So, I'll do it." He says and JJ grabs his arm. "Kai, the pecker thing is true." He whispered and Kai pushed his hand off. "JJ, you're being ridiculous, I'll do it. We can't just let Kie do it... Someone has to be the man, right?" He looked to Kie who smiled, chuckling at him.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, go for it..." She says and he looks at JJ. "I know you made up the pecker thing because you're scared." He whispers before going down to get on his knees in front of the sewer drain. "It's not made-up!"

"Hey, be careful, okay?" JJ leaned down next to him and Kai looks up to him. "Um... okay?" He says before he begins crawling into the sewer drain.  "Okay... babe, just, uh, holler if you need anything, okay?" JJ now says as he got halfway inside. "We'll, uh, we'll holler back." He says and Kai rolls his eyes at his boyfriend.

"Very helpful. Thank you."

  

  

AUTHORS NOTE
to me, kie and jj have more of a sibling kind of friendship and i just feel weird seeing or thinking of them "romantically" but that's just imo, yk, others have other opinions.

+ kai going into the sewer drain instead of kai was because i thought about how owen's character in it (2017) got killed by pennywise in the sewers lol n e wayz

++ it's about to be 5 am but i'm still updating because i haven't updated in 5 days