Days Go By | lavashipping

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What a surprise – scratch that, a shock – it was to hear his doorbell ring. The sound spread through the deadly silent flat and Cole wondered if his phone's buzzing just drove him crazy enough to make it all up.

But it rang again and it wasn't just in his mind, right? Who could be waiting for him and what could they want?

Sure, the simplest way to find out was to just go and at least look through the peephole but the bed has become a safe space and he didn't want to leave the warmth of his covers.

A third ring came and he knew he should just go and see for himself who was so desperate to see him.

Whatever, it probably wasn't even anything important anyway. He could just pretend he wasn't at home if they didn't leave before he gets to the door.

So, using all his might, he untangled himself from the blanket and walked all the way to the door, which was an incredibly difficult task. But when he looked through the peephole, there wasn't much to be seen. It appeared as if a bunch of hair was blocking his view. Maybe it wasn't the safest option to just open the door anyway but thinking ahead wasn't on his mind at the moment.

And then he was face to face with Kai and his breath hitched.

"Wow, you look like shit," they said out of the blue and Cole was at a loss for words because he had no idea what to think, what to do, how to react or how to take his words. Then Kai's eyes widened.

"No!" he exclaimed. "No, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't mean that, I'm sorry!"

Cole opened his mouth but no words came out. He just stood there, holding the door and his breath because who knows what's coming for him and he really didn't want to let any emotion spill over.

"Can I go in?"

"Uh– Yeah, sure." Where was he supposed to look? Or allowed to?

Only then, when Kai walked past him into the flat and Cole turned to face him after closing the door he noticed that Kai didn't come empty-handed. He was hugging what seemed to be a stack of magazines and newspapers to his chest and had a small bag hanging from his hand.

"You left your magical bowtie at my place by the way."

"Oh. Sorry."

"You should be! It didn't turn into a pumpkin, you liar, lying isn't a nice thing to do, you know that?"

Cole felt terrible. "Well, it doesn't seem like a bowtie to me right now, so I guess it's still magical," he said, pointing to Kai's arms, making Kai look down at the items he was carrying.

"Oh no, the bowtie's in the bag, but come with me, I've got lots to show you." And despite being in Cole's flat, he followed Kai into the living room and watched them put everything on the coffee table. Then they picked one of the various newspapers and turned to him with it, quickly flipping through it.

"Look, they dedicated two pages to the show, one for it and one completely for you! You caught a lot of attention, you know? And there–" He threw the newspaper back and picked up a magazine. "They made a timeline for you! Even with a top ten of your designs. I mean, I would've chosen better but the point stands. And here's a review of all the designs that were presented – yours got one of the best ratings!"

As Kai spoke, Cole gathered some courage to come closer and even to look at what Kai brought himself. One magazine caught his eye, some teen idol kind of thing, and he reached for it, but Kai was faster and stole it before his fingers could even brush over the cover.

"Oh no, not that one, I don't even know what's that doing there! Don't mind it." He chuckled nervously, throwing it on the couch behind him, way out of Cole's reach. All he did was raise his eyebrows, Cole couldn't dare to argue or push further.