GHOSTING. huening kai

02.

"enjoy and come again!" the cashier said, smiling at huening kai as she handed him a bag. he smiled back and took it from her carefully, pushing open the bakery door as he stepped outside.

he quickly got onto his bicycle, placing the bag in the basket before riding off. the street lights had started to come on, and he kept his pace quick, wanting to reach the park quickly before the egg tarts he bought got cold.

when kai finally wheeled his bicycle into the park, he was out of breath, but the bakery bag was still warm to the touch, making him sigh in relief. he'd made it in time.

y/n was sitting on one of the swings, gazing off into the evening sky impassively. he gently pushed himself back and forth on the swings with one foot touching the ground, his hands in his pockets.

kai tried to follow y/n's gaze, but all he could see were the first stars of the night shyly appearing one by one. y/n often got lost in thought, and kai wished he knew what the boy was thinking about.

then y/n spotted him and stood up from where he'd been sitting on the swings. he waved, a smile spreading across his face. "hi, kai."

"hi, y/n." huening kai smiled back. "oh, right, i got you some egg tarts. the ones from this bakery are my favourite."

he offered the ghost the bag, and a familiar expression of excitement appeared on y/n's face.

"you got me blueberry bread last time and this time it's egg tarts?" y/n looked at kai with a serious face. "has anyone ever told you you're an angel?"

"hardly." kai felt his cheeks warm up, and he hoped it wasn't obvious on his face how flustered he was.

they sat down on their usual bench, y/n's shoulders touching kai's as he munched on an egg tart and made little sounds of enjoyment. "i think i might be in heaven."

it had been a couple of weeks since the two had first met, and every day kai felt a little less... perpetually exhausted. when he was with y/n, the ghost consumed all his thoughts. laughter came easily, and smiles came even easier.

huening had learned that y/n loved manga too, so he'd brought some over from home. while y/n engrossed himself in the latest volume, kai took out his textbooks and started on his homework, chewing at the end of his pen.

hours passed in comfortable silence, and huening kai found himself dozing off. his dreams were full of cherry blossoms and e/c eyes.

when he woke, it was to someone softly placing a hand on his shoulder. "huening kai. wake up. kai, wake up."

he blinked, and realised he was curled up on the bench, knees and arms cramping a little. y/n was sitting on the ground next to him, gently shaking his shoulder. "it's pretty late."

kai blinked and looked around, disoriented. the moon was high in the sky, and when he pulled out his phone to check the time, it displayed 10:00.

"sorry i didn't wake you up," y/n said apologetically. "you were sleeping pretty deeply, and... well, you looked like you needed the rest."

kai moved himself into a sitting position and laughed awkwardly. "i just haven't been sleeping that well lately. it's hard. my mind is... pretty loud."

"sorry," y/n said quietly. "do you want to talk about it?"

"i don't really know how to put it into words." kai laughed to offset the awkwardness, "it's stupid, huh? anyways—"

y/n frowned and placed a hand on top of kai's head, gently patting it. "it's not stupid. if it were easy to talk about, it wouldn't be hurting you like this. don't make fun of yourself."