Triple The Heat

~The Next Morning~

The next morning, Kane walked down the stairs while rubbing his eyes to wake himself up from his sleep.

When he entered the kitchen, the six boys who were already there turned to look at him. They all greeted him with cheerful "hellos" and "good mornings."

Kane smiled, but his smile was a little confused. He rubbed the back of his head as he got closer to them, feeling a bit puzzled by their high spirits. "Good morning," he greeted them. "You all are so happy this morning."

Oliver turned to him and smiled. "Well, I'm normally in a good mood in the morning," he said.

"Well, yeah, but you get a pass," Kane said with a small chuckle. "But everybody else, why are you guys so happy this bright and early?" He looked around at the other boys, wondering what had them all in such a good mood.

The six boys look at their other pair and had sly smiles on their faces. All are unaware of why the others are so happy minus their other pair.

"It's just a good day Kane," Justin said in a cheerful tone. He turns back to Darren who's currently making the boys breakfast and has Justin as his assistant.

Kane sits at the island and takes a look around the kitchen and sees everyone is busy doing something. Darren and Justin are making breakfast, Sebastian and Ryan are washing and drying the dishes and Oliver and Regie are setting the table.

"What can I do?" Kane asked, folding his hands together as he waited for his task.

Sebastian turned to look at him with a friendly smile. "Oh, you can just sit and wait for the food, Kane," he said, then turned back to the sink to continue washing the dishes.

"Yeah, we got you, Kane. This is on us," Darren added as he flipped a pancake upside down in the skillet.

Kane perked up at their words. He smiled and looked around at the pairs again. Something had to have happened last night for everyone to be so cheerful today. He glanced over at Oliver and Regie, who were setting the table.

Oliver set down a plate, a fork, and a knife beside it with careful precision. Regie came over and handed Oliver two cups. "Thanks," Oliver said as he took the cups and placed them on the table.

"No problem," Regie replied, putting his hands in his pockets and standing there for a moment. "So," he started, "last night-"

Oliver laughed and looked up at Regie with a teasing smile. "Think you can start doing that now and then?" he asked, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

Regie became flustered and turned away, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. Oliver burst into laughter at his boyfriend's reaction. He put his arm over Regie's shoulders and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "It's okay, Reg," he said warmly. "You can say you had fun."

Regie rolled his eyes and gently pushed Oliver off of him. He walked back to the kitchen to grab more stuff, while Oliver laughed again.

Kane watched Regie make his way to the kitchen and then his eyes landed on Darren and Justin.

"Justin, can you hand me that spatula over there?" Darren asked, pointing to the spatula on the counter.

Justin turned his head, spotted the spatula, and grabbed it. "Here," he said, handing it to Darren.

"Thanks," Darren replied with a smile. He used the spatula to flip the pancake and then pressed it down a bit to make sure it cooked evenly.

Justin fidgeted with his fingers and then placed them at his sides. "Hey Darren."

Darren glanced at Justin, then back at the pan. "Yeah?"

"About last night," Justin started, feeling a little sheepish. "I know we said we'd keep things casual," he paused, swallowing the lump in his throat. "But I was thinking," he paused again and took a deep breath. "I...don't want to be casual..."

Darren stopped and looked at him, a smirk forming on his face before he looked back at the pan. "Really? This Liang dick got you rethinking our agreement?"

Justin rolled his eyes and shoved Darren playfully. Darren stumbled a bit and laughed. "Shut up, dude. I'm serious. I don't want to be casual, Darren. I want to be more...I want us to be..."

Darren looked at Justin, his face morphing into concern. "Be what?"

"Boyfriends..." Justin finally said, exhaling the breath he didn't know he was holding.

Darren perked up and smiled. "Really? Are you serious?" Justin nodded, and Darren looked back at the stove. "Y'know," he scoffed, "I don't know if you know this, but I've had a long-time crush on you."

Justin placed a finger on his chin and looked around, pretending to think. "Hmm, really? Geez, I never would've thought."

"Okay, bro," Darren said unenthusiastically. Justin laughed, and Darren rolled his eyes with a smile. "You don't have to be so sarcastic about it," he said, crossing his arms.

Justin laughed again and placed his hands on Darren's shoulders. "Yeah, but I want to," he smiled.

Darren smiled again, rolled his eyes, and turned back to the stove, feeling happy and a little shy.

Kane moved his eyes from Darren and Justin to Sebastian and Ryan.

Sebastian finished washing a plate and handed it to Ryan, who was sitting on the counter. Ryan examined the plate closely before drying it off. "Did you clean this properly?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sebastian placed his hands down on the counter and looked at him with a smile. "Ryan, how many times are you going to ask that?" he said, sounding amused.

"Every time cause I don't think you know how to wash dishes," Ryan replied, drying off the plate and placing it to the side.

Sebastian rolled his eyes playfully and went back to washing the dishes, shaking his head with a grin

Ryan looked at the sink and then at his hands. "Hey, Seb."

Sebastian nodded his head. "Yeah?" he replied, keeping his eyes on the bowl he was washing.

Ryan looked up at Sebastian. "So after last night...what does this make us now?"

Sebastian looked at him, then trailed his eyes back to the sink. He placed the bowl down and turned to face Ryan. "Well I obviously like you Ryan. I do want to be with you but I don't know if you want to continue these hook-up sessions-"

"I don't," Ryan said bluntly cutting off Sebastian.

Sebastian looks up at him. "You- don't what?"

"I don't want to keep hooking up," Ryan explained. "I kinda sorta liked you in a way too but I never tried making a move cause I didn't know how you felt," he rubbed the back of his head feeling awkward just for saying that.

Sebastian smiled let out a soft laugh and shook his head. He leaned over and gave Ryan a peck on the cheek. "You're so cute."

"Alright, dude," Ryan said, feeling flustered. Sebastian laughed as he picked up the bowl to rinse it.

Kane smiled, a warm feeling flowing through his body as he watched his friends. He pulled out his phone, opened Twitter, and quickly typed a tweet.

He put his phone down and looked at the now three couples in front of him. Each pair was busy with their tasks.