Days before

8 Days Before: Midnight Phone Call

Monday

"Kai?" It was frightening how just one word spoken by one specific person could so easily bring up Kai's mood. Especially since that same voice had ignored him for a good day and a half. "Kai?" Again Peter's voice called for him from the other end of the phone. Again Kai's heart jumped with excitement and he felt the scrape of anxious wings against his stomach.

"I'm sorry about today," He replied. A moment of silence followed afterwards and even though Kai knew it was only for a couple of seconds; to him, it felt like a lifetime.

"I don't deserve you," The tenderness in his voice sends shivers down Kai's spine. He wished that Peter could speak to him like that forever. With his voice so quiet that it seemed as if he was sharing a secret with Kai. A secret that was meant for his ears alone. Even though the words that had come through the phone had sounded so broken; Kai wished he could hear it again.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I yelled at you-"

"I deserved that," Kai interrupted him. He really did believe that Peter's anger was justified; especially after he'd had that talk with his mom. It was a funeral and it was a sensitive topic so he should've been more respectful, regardless of whether or not they knew the person.

"Even so I walked out on you and then I didn't even call you until...Wait. What even is the time?"

"It's one minute past twelve. Only seven more hours till school starts," Kai replied in a heartbeat. He had continuously kept track of the time, desperately waiting for Peter to call him. Any other person would say that it was pathetic, but Kai was too in love to realise how pitiful he was being.

"God Kai, I left you waiting for so long. What kind of a boyfriend am I?"

"Pete, it's okay," Kai tried to reassure his boyfriend but the other boy wasn't having any of it.

A shaky sigh sounded from the other end of the phone.

"It's not okay Kai. I shouldn't have done that. I'm really sorry. Oh god, I'm so sorry. I'm such a piece of-"

"Stop it!" Kai wished that Peter was there beside him so that he could reach out and pull him into a hug. He wanted to feel the warmth of the other in his arms, wanted to hold the fabric of Peter's shirt in his hands and run his fingers through the soft raven strands of his hair.

He wanted Peter.

"Look I know what you did was wrong but I was also wrong and about a lot of things too. We're both idiots in this situation so you don't need to beat yourself up about it."

"Kai-"

"Just listen to me. Pete, you are so fucking beautiful and I love you so goddamn much that I'd be willing to wait a lifetime for a phone call from you. I would wait an eternity just to have you back in my arms even though it would kill me to wait that long. So stop beating yourself up because no matter what you do or how long you make me wait or how many fights we have; I will never stop loving you."

Kai huffed, he didn't think he had ever spoken so many words in one go but even so he wouldn't take them back. He wanted his boyfriend to know how amazing he thought he was.

"I wish you were with me."

"Me too, Pete but I don't think there's anything we can do about that."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Dad would lock me up in the attic if I ever tried to escape."

"You could become the next Cinderella."

Kai smiled to himself as he heard Peter scoff on the other end of the phone. For some odd reason, he didn't mind the thought of his boyfriend as Cinderella. Even though the two didn't have much in common; Kai liked the idea of being Peter's Prince Charming.

"And what? You would be my Prince Charming?" A thick layer of disbelief coated the edges of Peter's voice; starling Kai from his wandering thoughts about his boyfriend in a blue ("make it pink") ball gown.

"Why not? I mean I've practically ticked all the boxes."

Another scoff could be heard and with it, Kai's heart fluttered with doubt. He knew he wasn't the best boyfriend and he certainly wasn't prince material either but he always thought that with Peter he at least resembled that.

"No, not a prince."

"Then if not a prince; what would I be?"

A soft hum echoed through the phone and Kai could only guess that Peter was thinking.

"I'm pretty sure you would be a dragon."

Kai wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Um, Pete...you know what I'm actually not even going to try and understand."

"You know it's really not that bad of a comparison. You've got red hair kind of like fire and-"

Without any notice, Peter's voice quickly died down on the other end of the line while another voice joined in. Kai strained his ears as best he could but he only managed to catch some murmured bits of the conversation; not like that helped him in any way. Even then he couldn't decipher what was happening on the other side of the phone. This carried on for a couple more minutes and with each one Kai's heart sank even further into a never-ending sea of panic and worry. That was until Peter's voice broke through his murky thoughts; draining the sea in which he had been slowly drowning in.

"Kai?" Peter called out.

"Still here," Kai replied softly.

"I'm sorry but I have to go now."

"Why?" Kai's breath hitched as he felt his heart skip a beat. It was a pathetic reaction really; he knew that but he couldn't help it. Not when they'd just smoothed things over.

"My dad doesn't appreciate our midnight calls."

Kai's smile wavered at the bitterness of his boyfriend's voice. Lately, it seemed as if Peter had taken a darker turn. He was a lot more morose and withdrawn than he used to be. It was almost as if he had reverted back to his original self; the one before he had met Kai.

Back then Peter hadn't been particularly cold or distant. He would still talk to people, he still had lots of friends and he joined different clubs so it wasn't as if he was a social pariah. However, no one was close to him. You could sit down and have a conversation with Peter, you could find out his favourite colour was blue and lots of other meaningless facts but nothing more. It was as if there was an invisible wall stopping every single person he met from getting any further than an acquaintance. So, it was for that reason that whenever Peter walked into a room - and even though he had had a conversation with nearly everyone - he was the loneliest person in there.

Now, it seemed like he was going back to that time.

"Do you really have to go?" Kai asked with a hint of desperation coating his voice.

"I'm sorry Kai, Dad's just been really uptight lately. Plus it's not like this is the last time we're going to talk. We can talk to each other at school. Alright?"

"Do you know why?" Kai asked instead but Peter never answered him.

"Bye Pete." Kai tried again.

"Bye Kai."

"I love you." But by the time Kai had said the words; Peter had already hung up.
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Thank you to ThreeScoreAndTen for cleaning up all my mistakes. >.<