Days Go By | lavashipping

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Rain was softly knocking on the window wall in Kai's living room, its sound almost lost behind the tunes that were coming from the record player. Rays of sunshine were breaking through the grey clouds. Cole's head was rested in the crook of Kai's neck as he breathed in the smell of his shampoo. Kai was reclined against his chest, between Cole's legs, possibly close to dozing off since they were relaxing like that for a while. Still, Cole played with the fingers on one of their hand and he spoke,

"I was thinking..."

"Hmm?"

"And let me know if I've done the math right but... You know, but, uh... Since we flirt all the time and kiss - we do that now too - and we've been on more than one date I thought... Does this mean we can be boyfriends now? You know, you're mine I'm yours high school kinda stuff?"

Kai hummed, raising his hand (Cole's tagging along in the process) to their eye level. "Don't expect anything from me until there's a ring on this finger."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. And a big one, I'm not cheap."

"Okay..." Kai looked up at Cole, confused by his tone not sounding as joking as their own but Cole untangled himself and got up. Kai tried to catch his hand to bring him back only to fail, left to watch Cole walk towards the door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Getting you a ring," Cole replied, jumping on one foot as he was putting on his shoes.

"Cole, you know I was kidding, right?"

"I'm getting you a ring," he repeated as if Kai didn't say anything, then picked up the keys and walked out of the flat. Kai ran to the door, catching it just as it was about to shut close.

"I was just kidding! I want to be your boyfriend, I don't need a ring!" he yelled into the hall, only to be ignored. "Cole, come back! Y–" They sighed, closed the door. Cole wasn't going to listen to him due to whatever that has possessed him. "Idiot." So he sat back on the couch and waited. They used to joke about similar things so many times, Kai couldn't put his head around the sudden strange behaviour. All he could do was hope Cole wasn't going to buy anything extra expensive because he was currently staring at the black screen of Cole's phone as it uselessly lay on the coffee table.

It could have been under fifteen minutes, as much as it felt like an eternity, when Cole finally came back. Kai ran back to the door basically the moment they heard the keys in the lock. The music was off for once.

Cole was drenched along with the paper bag he held but he was grinning and Kai had a hard time even trying to be frustrated with him when he looked like that. "See? Now you got yourself all wet, dumbass." But Cole's smile didn't falter as he grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him farther into the apartment, letting go once he turned to close the door. He shook his head, spattering water from his hair all around. Kai wiped some off his face.

"Jesus, your golden retrieverism makes sense now, you're literally a dog."

Cole chuckled, unfazed by the complaint. "Let me talk."

"Cole, I wasn't being serious, it's okay, you don't have to get me anything, I really want to be your boyfriend."

"Didn't you hear me? I said let me talk." Kai sighed, rolled his eyes, but remained silent. Until Cole kneeled and their eyes widened.

"Wait, hold up, this is taking so many turns."

"Shut up!" Cole laughed, taking one of Kai's hands with both of his. "You're not letting me finish, I was really trying to be nice!"

"All right! I'm quiet then. Go on."

"Kai..." It was clearly visible on Cole's face that he was trying not to laugh, trying to get his words through. He had to cover his mouth a few times to calm down enough. "Ever since you stole my words one faithful morning in that coffee shop, you managed to steal my heart as well. So maybe I should be giving you handcuffs right now but here's a big ring you ordered instead." And he pulled an onion ring out of the small paper bag and put it on Kai's ring finger. Now they understood, now they joined him in the fight against chuckles trying to get through. Kai raised an eyebrow, not trusting himself to speak.

"Will you be my boyfriend?"

They nodded eagerly, kneeling down to him. "Yeah, of course, how could I say not that?"

"But you do know what this means, right?" His face became serious, it threw Kai off again. "If you look at another man, you'll be sent into the deepest depths of hell. And it doesn't have exactly 5-star reviews, so..."

"Hmm... what about women?"

Cole thought for a moment. "That will require my approval first. We can't send angels to hell."

"Of course."

"But that applies to your customers too, you know? If you even dare to ask them what's their ord-" Kai couldn't stop himself when he cut off Cole's words with a kiss. He simply couldn't resist but he also couldn't stop laughing.

"You're such an idiot."

"Are you sure you wanna start a relationship with an insult?"

"You started it with a threat!"

"That was just letting you know about the conditions. Like when you sign a form, you know? It was honestly very nice of me to do so, I could've put it under a line in a tiny font instead." With a small smile, Cole watched as Kai observed the ring. "Is it big enough for you, Mr Not Cheap?"

Kai sighed, not tearing their gaze away. "Oh, well, it does look a little... broken."

"What? No, I got you the best one they had! What do you mean?" Their lips stretched into the familiar mischievous smirk as they bit into the onion ring, breaking it apart. It hung out of their mouth. Cole gasped in the deepest offence. "How dare you! Are you even aware how much money and embarrassment this cost me?" His only response was a shrug, which worsened Cole's outrage. He bit on the rest of the ring, their lips brushing against each other.

"That was mine!"

"It's called sharing," Cole shot back. "Get used to it, boyfriend." Upon that, Kai flashed him a bright smile and kissed him again while Cole picked him up and carried him back over to the couch.

"Mark the day!" Kai exclaimed, pulling his wonderful pair of lips away from Cole's. "Cole and I are going to make out for the first time and that's the only significant thing that has transpired on this wonderful afternoon!"

Cole bent down but let go of Kai a few centimetres above the cushioned surface instead of placing him gently all the way down. "You just never shut up today, huh?"

"That's not my fault." With their arms around Cole's neck, Kai pulled him along onto the couch. "Maybe the real culprit should take care of it if it's such a problem for him."

It was incredibly good to feel Kai's skin and lips so close under his own. Like a breath of fresh air. Even though they were both about to get a little winded during their private celebration of what could possibly be one of the best things that could've happened to Cole.

Boyfriend. He liked the sound of that. He got what he yearned for, he got more than he hoped for and the world didn't end. Times were good and he got to hold close one of his beloved people in the world. It probably could have gotten some tears out of him if his senses weren't currently under attack by Kai's hands travelling all over his body and if he wasn't so focused on evening their score out.