affection

sixteen

monday morning

elliot stirs, finally sitting up from the couch. his head aches slightly from his lack of sleep, he was up simply thinking until early hours of the morning. he gets up and hears some sound in the kitchen, kai isn't on the other couch anymore so he assume it's just him.

he wanders into the kitchen sleepily, kai is crouched on the floor picking up glass while his mom helps and tidies. jake's sitting on the island eating a bowl of dry cereal, he grins at his brother who stands in the doorway yawning.

"morning, li." jake says cheerfully, drawing everyone's attention to him. he's confused about the glass on the floor for just a moment as he stares it it trying to recall.

jake hops off the counter, discarding his bowl to the side. "i did that."

elliot frowns, "why?"

"i don't know, i just knocked it off in the middle of him cursing at me." jake smiles sadly, then grins, "he stopped."

he sighs at his brother, no real damage was done at least. just a broken plate and a broken home.

"he stormed out all angry-like, drove off somewhere. he hasn't been back since."

elliot treads lightly on his way to his mother, smiling at her as she turns around to hug him. he remembers his mother had said she knew the whole time, he feels more guilt by this.

very quietly, he whispers. "you...knew?"

his mother pouts at him, "yeah, it's okay. i know you're worried about it, i didn't want you kids to suffer by me and your dad having a huge argument or getting a divorce over it."

a short silence follows as elliot takes in her words.

"i didn't want to break the family." she looks around to jake and kai, who was busy putting glass in the garbage. "thank you. all of you. i think i need to get some rest."

elliot nods but notices her weak smile. he's very worried about her, especially as she's back to work tomorrow and without a doubt, got no sleep last night either.

as she's on her way out, she whispers to him.

"hey, does this mean i can finally go on a date with my coworker who's been giving me eyes for weeks?"

he laughs at her, nodding in agreement. jake pulls the hood of his jacket over his head and sighs. "i'm going to the arcade with some friends, see you guys later."

elliot can't help his eyebrows drawing together at this, after everything that happened last night, he's just going to leave to hang out with friends?

"i'm not letting him ruin my day." jake states simply, then waits by the front door for them to pull up outside.

when he's gone, kai turns to elliot. "hey, you okay?"

he nods, smiling at kai.

"okay good, we should do something today, what do you think?"

"i don't mind, whatever, i guess."

kai begins walking out the room, "how about the beach?" after a long silence, he continues, "jake's right, you know. it's summer break, we shouldn't let him ruin it."

elliot grins, "yeah, yeah. you're right. let's go eat at the cafe?"

now it's kai's turn to grin. "i'm hungry, let's go."

they both get ready for the day, kai has to borrow some of jake's clothes as he brought none with him and jake is the tallest between him and elliot.
he finds a simple sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, he finds socks in elliot's drawer.

they leave and begin walking to the cafe, luckily it isn't too far. a fifteen minute walk, maybe. as they're walking along, kai pulls himself from his thoughts as his boyfriend speaks up.

"blue?"

kai hums in question.

"do you believe in soulmates?"

he smiles, peeking over at him. "what's your favourite colour?"

elliot frowns, wondering why he's changing the subject. "red?"

"what would you say's the opposite of red?"

he frowns even deeper. "i don't know...blue?"

kai grins.

for a moment, he's even more confused until, "oh, that's you!"

they laugh together, hands brush together for a moment but kai grabs his. elliot squeezes his in return, adoration, he thinks.

...
wc: 703
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