affection

eight

tuesday, later.

kai celebrates his own win, elliot sinks in the leather chair of the game where you pretend to drive a real car. there's nobody else in the arcade apart from a tall, middle aged man who's sat at a gambling machine, the one where you spin and get all three right to win money.

he's not doing very well, but he's been here hours. the pair have a bet to see if he'll win by the time the arcade closes, which is midnight. it's not a very big town, they're not surprised it's pretty much empty.

elliot stares at the screen, 'enter a coin to play.' and groans in defeat, kai always wins the driving games. he'd most likely crash a real car.

"your mom was saying she would introduce me to someone, who?"

kai's grin drops. "oh, uh. my older brother, probably."

elliot frowns. "you have an older brother? you've never mentioned him"

"oh, yeah. his name's liam, he moved states a couple years back and came back to give us invitations to his wedding. he's giving some to his old high-school friends too."

"really? that's so sweet, how come you never told me about him?"

kai sits in the chair beside elliot, "he's not really a part of my life, i barely see him so...it didn't feel important. but my mom's right, you should meet him."

"that sounds nice, i wonder if you're alike."

he shrugs. "maybe you'll have to be my plus one to his wedding. i wasn't going to show up but if you're there to make it bearable then, i'll think about it."

kai stands back up and moves to another game, basketball.

"i haven't been to a wedding in years, i'd love to." elliot follows behind him and they start up the game.

"sure." kai mumbles, and is thankful to move on from the subject. he loses this game, maybe the awful conversation altered his skills.

he sits himself down on a stool of ripped polished leather, red like the lights. his eyes flit to meet the ceiling, a mirror and he gives a half-smile when he sees his own reflection. he looks back in the opposite direction, the floor. swirls and other patterns stretch onto the carpet with a weird feel. purples and blues on black, he always hated the texture of this carpet, though he never spent too much time in arcades.

when they leave, kai's back to skating beside elliot while they walk to the park. his boyfriend sits at the top of a ramp. the same ramp he'd been sitting on for almost a year, watching kai skate around. he did want to take up skating, to spend more time with kai but he could never get the hang of it so he quickly gave up. elliot always thought kai was amazing at skating, he assumed some people just weren't built for it, and he's one of them.

kai positions his board and sends himself down the ramp, he's always love the spike of adrenaline. the slight sweat on his palms, the wind through his hair. his elbows are bruised, as always from a minor miscalculation in speed or skill and he slips. it's common, he doesn't mind the falling, unlike elliot. which is why, he thinks, he could never learn to skate. and if he did, he'd never actually enjoy it, because he's too scared of injuring himself. kai never had this issue, he was a wild child, always getting hurt. elliot was fragile, grew up relatively sheltered.

they're almost complete opposites, elliot excels in school, but kai hates it because he was never that great. elliot made lots of friends, his boyfriend grew up mostly alone. maybe thats why they work quite well.

his back feels cool against the concrete, kai lost his footing zoning out. he would get up to show he's okay, but he'd rather lie here. the stars are out, he stares at the sky. elliot runs over, he asks if he's okay but doesn't get a reply straight away.

then, he does, with a chuckle. "i'm good, come here."

elliot sits beside him, kai kisses him. "you're an idiot."

"obviously." he laughs back, and continues watching the sky. the stars twinkle, kai adores them.

...
wc: 722
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short chapter woooo