Call Me Yours [BL]

Chapter 17

alright my loves. this chapter came out to be 7 thousand words so i split it into two chapters (17-18). there's not that much smut somehow but enjoy <3

QOTD: favorite season to dress for?

Valen stalls.

His heels click around the kitchen, slow and measured as he takes in the small space. It's neither dirty nor clean, that general balance that boys Ardyn's age typically cared for their things. Valen's fingers skim the countertop as he walks about, eyes thoughtfully caught on the chore chart hung from their fridge.

It's dated from last April, the differing handwritings equally messy as it hangs from a magnet struggling to hold it's weight.

Valen's eyes filter over each individual day. Take out the trash, wash the dishes, mop the kitchen. The first week begins relatively normal, but the following ones don't follow the same pattern.

April 9th: Stop raging at 4 am :) —Ardyn

April 10th: Learn how to put your own dishes away :) —Prince

April 15th: I'll lose it if you miss trash day 1 more time <3 —Ardyn

April 18th: Stop blowing guys in our living room :) —Your loving roommate with thin walls

April 18th: Sorry >.>

April 21st: Trash? AGAIN —Ardyn

April 30th: I'm sorry. Can we talk?

The last date isn't signed, the vague penmanship a mystery as Valen's eyes scan it once, and then twice. He compares the different handwriting until his head tilts, thoughtful. He moves on.

Valen knows he's stalling. He recognizes the feeling when the nerves in his chest grow too strong to ignore. He has no explanation for them, for the unease he feels of not knowing what lies behind Ardyn's door. He's grown up with Clementine and their mother as the only hybrids in his life. Their heats were a topic nobody spoke of. Their father instilled at a very young age not to ask where his mother went when she disappeared until the next day.

Clementine would cry, he remembers. When their mother wouldn't tuck him in with her usual kiss goodnight. Valen wouldn't cry, but he also didn't understand the wordless goodnights.

He understood more in high school, and even more when he was in college and Clementine, at 17, started having heats. He'd grow clingy the day before, badgering Valen to come home so they could watch movies. And Valen would. He'd always come home and Clementine would cuddle into him, still young and new to his heats.