Days Go By | lavashipping

.*.*.*-

Walking through the aisles with his already half-filled basket, Cole hummed some melody as his eyes scanned over the various things. His shopping list was almost all checked out, all he needed now was some yoghurt and he was good to go, ready to leave the crazy world of a grocery shop.

But the moment he turned a corner, about to enter another aisle, he panicked and took a step back. Kai was not somebody he expected to meet right then and there. He didn't get to think about what he should do next because it seemed Kai had decided that for him.

"Oh, hey Cole!" he called when he noticed him. Cole waved back at him before approaching.

"Hey– Hi."

"Didn't expect to meet you here."

"Same." Cole fixed his grip on the basket, keeping his gaze glued to it, and Kai sighed.

"Look... Can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure. Can I just pay for this first?"

"What? No!" Kai exclaimed. "I thought we were gonna steal all this shit! The hell?" Cole chuckled, only daring to look into their face with quick glances. He hummed. "Do you need to get anything else or is that all?"

"No, that's all," Cole replied as Kai looked at his basket.

"That's a lot of instant noodles."

"Well, I'm not gonna eat them all at once– Do I see butterscotch? How many did you–"

Kai moved his own basket out of his sight. "That's for Lloyd. Lloyd loves sweets."

"Uh-huh." Kai cleared his throat. "What about you? Do you need anything else?"

"Uh... I think I'm just missing some flour."

After getting said flour, the two moved on to check out, mostly in silence. Cole kept glancing at Kai, noticing a small crease between their eyebrows and sometimes catching him chewing on his lip. In turn, Kai kept glancing back at Cole whenever they noticed his gaze. That's how it went during the rest of their stay at the shop because once outside, Kai sighed again and stopped walking. Cole turned to him the moment he noticed.

"What?" he asked, watching Kai adjust his grip on the ear of the bag filled with food.

"I miss you, you know?"

Cole raised his eyebrows. "But... I'm right here?"

"But are you really?" Cole had no idea how to respond. Kai sighed again, struggling with his words and thoughts. "You're just still kind of distant and I don't... I don't understand, everything was going so well, everything was so... I loved every moment we spent together, why'd this rough patch had to happen? Things were great..."

"Kai, I'm– I'm sorry."

"I just wish that whenever we talked now you wouldn't have that pitiful face or, you know, weren't afraid to look at me. You don't have to feel bad all the time, I'm not gonna hold this over your head, I just want to get over it."

Cole walked closer and put his bag on the ground. "When I was little..." He wasn't going to let Kai's confused face stop him. "I really didn't like thunderstorms because they were so loud and... Well, anyway, my mum always used to say that without the shade there won't be sunshine. So, even if there is any shade, any darkness or storm, I like to think– " He swallowed, feeling Kai's eyes on him. "I like to think that no matter what, you'll always be my sunshine at the end of the day."

"Really? That's– That's so sweet, Cole." He wasn't sure whether those twinkles were threatening tears or purely another thing that made Kai even more perfect than he already was.

"It's just that... I wish I was the bigger man I should've been. You're always treating me so nicely and I can't even go apologise on my own when I screw up."

"Can we just put this behind us? I'm not all that wonderful anyway, if it wasn't for Skylor–"

"It still was unfair from me. You deserve way better than that." Finally, he found the courage to keep eye contact. Looking into Kai's eyes made him forget they weren't the only people in the world, that they were outside on a street with people and cars passing by.

"I don't want to lose you," he uttered.

"I don't want to lose you either," Kai replied, his voice so soft and tender it felt like a caress. "If you want to make this up for me so badly then... Just be there, okay? Be you, that's all I want, just... you."

Cole nodded, looking down. "Okay." He wasn't even shocked when he found himself in Kai's arms, he simply hugged him back, enjoying the closeness, eyes closed. Kai rubbed his back before letting go, then Cole's world and breath stopped when Kai kissed his cheek – the other one than the last time.

Kai picked their bag – which they probably put down to hug Cole, but he never noticed it – back up and smiled at Cole.

"Tomorrow, 7 o'clock. Be there," they said before leaving him in the middle of the street to fight back the huge grin that so desperately wanted to make its way onto his face.