The Inevitable Return Of You

Chapter 3: Unspoken Words

They continued to reminisce into the early hours of the morning until the coffee pot was empty, mugs left abandoned and the record crackling softly as it spun. They'd fallen into a comforting silence as they sat on the window's ledge, their feet hanging out the side of the building as Kay rested their head on Miles' chest. Their fingers were entwined, one of Miles' arms holding tight to Kay to stop them from falling. It was as if no time had passed and they were back on the roof of Kay's parent's house looking down at the town, just them and their small world concerns. The biggest things Miles worried about then was if he'd fed his fish that morning and whether or not it was the right time to admit his feelings to his best friend.

He looked down at Kay and felt his cheeks begin to burn. "Hey," he said quietly.

They looked up at him and smiled. "Hey," they said, snuggling into him more.

"Fun fact," Miles said. He could feel his breath shaking and his heart reaching a speeding pace. "I had a big thing for you back in highschool."

Kay didn't say anything.

"I just feel like with this walk down memory lane, it was only right for you to know."

"It's a shame you used the past tense."

"What?"

Kay tucked their hair behind their ears and sat apart from Miles slightly. "You said that you had a thing for me. It's a shame. I kinda still have a thing for you."

Miles felt his stomach drop. "Y- you uh... You do?" He brought his hands together and stared at them, his thumbs circling over and over each other as he tried to think of a much better answer than 'cool'.

"Yep."

"Cool." Miles winced at the word as soon as it left his lips.

"Well this has been nice, catching up and all," Kay said, climbing down from the window. "But I should probably be heading back to my childhood bedroom now aha."

Miles stared down into the street below where the world was silent and everything felt possible. He felt his heart racing in his chest as if it would burst free at any moment. His palms were clammy and his tongue swollen but somehow he managed to stutter out, "Wait."

He climbed off of the window and took the three strides to where Kay had stopped at his request. There, he wrapped an arm around the small of their back, clasped his other hand around theirs and pulled them in as close as possible. He could feel their heart beating, their breath fast. Kay stared into his eyes, suddenly aware of the rich vanilla and lavender scents that radiated from his skin, but neither of them said a thing. The tension grew over the course of the seconds that felt like hours.

Miles counted to three in his head and kissed them. It was clumsy to begin with, but very quickly a pattern emerged and they each sunk into the kiss. Kay felt themselves let go of their body, knowing Miles would support them. He pulled them in closer, his body desperate and hungry all of a sudden. As he weaved his fingers through Kay's hair and tugged gently, pulling them to a better angle with which to kiss them, Kay let out a soft moan and a shiver shot down his spine.

Snapping out of his trance, Miles pulled away from the kiss and Kay pressed their forehead into Miles' shoulder. "Dude, where was that eight years ago?"

Miles shrugged. "It didn't feel right back then. We weren't ourselves quite yet. If that makes any sort of sense. I'm sorry, Kay." He let go of them and started to pace back and forth, turning off the record player and grabbing the empty mugs from the floor. It was starting to dawn on him that he'd kissed his high school crush. What was even worse was that they'd kissed him back.