affection

three

saturday

purple lights fade into softer pinks across wooden floorboards, hints of blues wash into those pinks. quiet indie music plays from speakers, switching occasionally to pop and hip-hop and excited chatters which grow louder when each songs ends, leaving the building in a moment of short silence only to be filled again when a play button is hit.

"how are you holding up?"

kai taps his feet, eyes trained on the scuffs and tears of his bowling shoes. "i'm good, sorry for being all sappy yesterday, that was weird. could we keep this between us?"

cooper smiles, "i appreciate you telling me, i wasn't going to mention it anyway, considering how rarely you open up."

"what'chu guys talking about?" a curious elliot chimes in.

"wouldn't you like to know?" cooper muses, grabbing his bag and finding the tub of brownies he had packed before arriving here.

it wasn't unlike the group to get somewhat high, only on marijuana the blonde had acquired. he opens the tub, offering one to each of his friends. elliot and bee pass, deciding to buy some snacks while they wait for the pins to be set up in their aisle.

the two boys are left alone, and begin devouring a few brownies between them, luckily they're in the corner of the bowling alley-and nobody here gets paid enough to care anyway.

minutes pass, and soon enough the pair arrive back with candy and popcorn, cheeks tinted and sparks of giddiness in their eyes. elliot takes the last bite of one of kai's brownies with a sheepishly teasing grin. he rolls his eyes with a smile, and nods towards their aisle.

elliot turns his head to look at the screen hanging above them and notices he's up first. the three sit on the worn leather sofas, watching him take his turn. a certain song begins playing aloud and elliot picks up a ball delicately and rolls it across the floor.

he knocks over all but four pins, and with his second ball almost lands a spare. one pin stands to disappoint.

"aw, man." elliot huffs, walking back to the group and sitting himself down.

kai smiles at him, "maybe next time?"

bee goes next, managing to score a spare with a proud smile. they return to the sofa, picking a lollipop from the bunch of candies on the small table.

kai barely hits any of the pins, doing the worst so far. he'd like to have done better, but there's a lot on his mind.

elliot frowns as he returns. "i guess we both suck."

kai nods, attempting a not-so dull laugh. it barely works, elliot smiles nonetheless.

finally, cooper goes up. his turn is over in a mere seconds, a cocky grin on his face as he scores the first strike. he turns, patting himself on he back and sitting down with the others.

bee laughs at his antics, "i think you've had one too many brownies."

"not enough to damage my skill." he retorts, chuckling back.

eventually, the game finishes, and the group look at the scoreboard for a while. cooper celebrates his first place, elliot is glad he managed to pull through as he takes a photo of his second place. bee groans, giggling as they shove elliot for beating them, somehow.

kai pays no mind to him falling into last place, but elliot seems to notice.

the group head to the arcade, next to bowling alley. bee goes to a machine to exchange some notes for coins, elliot goes to the restroom. kai and cooper are left alone once again, except this time the marijuana has definitely kicked in.

kai settles down on the floor, green and purple swirls and zigzags follow his feet. he hates the feel of it, but tries to ignore it, instead looking down at his clothes. baggy, beige trousers paired with a white t-shirt which displayed the name of a band he hasn't heard of. the rings on his fingers hides faint bruises, and a black and gold bracelet elliot had made him for their 6-month anniversary. black, kai's favourite color, and gold. elliot gold.

he smiles at the bracelet.

cooper walks over and joins him on the floor, shuddering as his palms touch the fuzzy material beneath him. kai laughs. the blond wipes the feeling of the carpet off on his black jeans, ripped from skateboarding.

"it's fucking gross, ew." he shivers.

"right?" kai laughs, avoiding all contact with the floor seems the best option. the two settle into a silence for a few minutes, before the other finally speaks up.

"i don't mean to pry, but is any of this affecting your relationship at all?"

kai listens to the sombre music play over the speakers. "any of this? what's that supposed to mean?"

"yeah, you know...the stuff you got going on?" he cringes, he hadn't meant to offend the boy.

he scoffs, adjusting the beanie on his head. "a little...but things have been going great this past year, i don't wanna mess it up by dumping my issues on him."

cooper peers at him, "it's a two-way street though. i mean, you'd wanna know if he was going through similar stuff, right?"

kai contemplates. "not if i already had a lotta shit on my plate."

cooper frowns, wanting to say something else but stops himself as kai abruptly stands up. he moves over to a machine, shoving in some random change he had in his pocket and soon elliot joins him, cheering quietly when he wins a small prize.

kai smiles, handing it to him. he watches elliot's gentle fingers pick it up to admire it, before stuffing away in his own pocket.

they discuss their game of bowling the entire journey home, cooper's playlist full of rap and hip-hop playing quietly as they arrive at elliot's. the pair get out the car, watching it speed away and out of sight.

elliot expects kai to begin walking home, but he stops.

"wait, li?" he walks back, admiring his features in the yellowish hue of his porchlight.

he can see the way his freckled cheeks are tinted a light crimson, he can see the shadow of his long eyelashes as they flutter when he blinks. he can see his exposed collarbone, and a sliver of sunburnt shoulders. he's pretty, he could never deny that.

he turns to his boyfriend, completely oblivious that he was being watched in adoration. "hm?"

"are you busy tonight?"

elliot shakes his head, kicking loose gravel across his driveway. "only studying."

"good. can i stay the night?"

...
wc: 1120
please vote!
they're kinda cute

i'm so sorry this took so long, i've been so busy with work and so unmotivated to write but i did it! i think i'll stick to these shorter-ish chapters? i need to work on my descriptions, i'll edit this properly later i promise!