the storm inside | kitty (boyxboy)

22 | Ty Tries Cooking

"No," said Kit, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Why don't you get it? I told you, put the lemon after I put the salmon, not after I add the salt!"

"I'm sorry, I really don't get how to cook. It's hard, okay?" said Ty, lowering his head and reaching to untie his apron.

Kit stopped Ty's hands, then let go with a suddenness Ty didn't understand. "Hey, it's okay, I was crap when I started too. Not that you're crap now"—he shook his hands hurriedly— "I'll help you, alright?"

"I get it, Kit. I can't cook. It's pointless. Don't waste your time on someone you—you don't know. Anymore." With a sense of finality, Ty finished untying the knot, threw off his apron and ran out of the kitchen.

"Wait!"

The moment, he heard Kit's resounding footsteps after him, Ty sped up, and he was thankful he had memorised the map of the Institute for fun. It made it easier for him to throw Kit off his tracks.

But Kit was persistent. That, he hadn't lost. The startling stubbornness he had held in his eyes the first time Ty saw him still resided. Ty could hear Kit calling his name while he crouched in a corner of the ballroom. A dark, obscure corner that Kit would not have seen if he didn't know where it was.

Fabric rustled near his feet. Kit was checking the curtains. Ty held his breath, tucked away into the shadows. Then Kit seemed to get an idea, and Ty waited to see what he was doing.

He heard the windows creak open, and Kit coughed—of course, the windows hadn't been touched in years. There was a sound of movement—Kit must have climbed out and back in—and then whispering—who was he talking to? –and then Kit was in front of him.

"Gotcha." He grinned, and offered his hand to pull Ty to his feet. Ty scowled at him, ignored his hand, and stood up himself, dusting himself.

"Who were you speaking to?"

"Me? Oh, no one, really, just Dru. She knows you," said Kit. "She happened to be outside."

As if on cue, Dru popped her head through the window, and gave Kit a thumbs-up. Ty gave her the finger. Kit had told him that giving someone the middle finger could have a friendly connotation behind it, so Ty gladly gave it to his siblings, who most of the time returned it. Of course, Dru disappeared and Kit shut the windows, laughing.

Oh, Kit's laugh. It was so merry and beautiful and pure. It was so genuinely filled with joy that it made Ty want to laugh along, too, but Kit had already turned to him, his expression full of sadness.

Ty hated how it was him who put the sadness there, but he simply turned away and said, "I don't need your sympathy. I get that I'm not normal. You don't need to remind me of it, Christopher."

"Why can't I remind you of it?" said Kit. "Why can't I remind you of the fact that you're different from everyone else? Why can't I remind you that that's the reason why I fell in love with you?"

"And it's now in the past," Ty said, backing away slowly, and preparing to run. "If you don't remember, then there's no point."

He turned on his heels and dashed off, but suddenly Kit had pounced onto him and they came crashing onto the floor, a tumbling mess of bones.

"I gave up my memories for you," said Kit, his blue eyes shining under the dim light streaming in from outside. "And now, even when I barely remember anything, I'd do it again. I still believe that you did something for me. Jace tells me that when I was new to this Institute, you welcomed me. You made this place my home."

"That was Livvy," muttered Ty, looking away. "I didn't do anything."

"Oh, but you did," Kit said, and his voice was so bright and full of energy that it physically hurt Ty not to look at him. "Everyone tells me of what you did for me. You stopped me from running away, said Julian. You trained me, made me a Shadowhunter, said Magnus. You made me believe in the impossible and extraordinary, said Alec. You made me feel love. No one needed to tell me that. I know it."

"But now you don't remember any of it!" yelled Ty, pushing Kit off him. "What's the point?"

"I have so many wonderful things to remind me of them," said Kit, pushing up the sleeve of his shirt. Ty tried not to stare. He wasn't sure if he succeeded. "You see these all these permanent runes? You gave me them. You made me a Shadowhunter. Without you, I'd be a lost boy, still roaming the streets, searching for my destiny."

Ty pulled his knees to his chest. "But there's no point anymore."

"Yesterday," said Kit, slowly getting Ty to stand up, "You took the first step on this journey with me. The point now is to finish it. Finish what you—no—what we started."

"What do I get out of this?"

"You get me," said Kit. "You get us back."

"You can't be sure—"

"I can," said Kit firmly, slowly addressing all of Ty's doubts. "Because I'm waiting, now. Somewhere, out there, there's a me who's waiting for you to take him back. The Kit that was lost to Asmodeus."

"I can't." Ty closed his eyes. "I don't know if I want to go back to us anymore."

"We won't be doing that," said Kit, his voice so gentle and soft Ty's lashes fluttered and he reopened his eyes. "Asmodeus has given us a chance. To do it all over again, rediscover each other. We're going to rewrite our past.

But before we do any of that"—Kit took Ty's hands in his— "I'm going to teach you how to cook salmon fillet. And I'm not giving up on you anymore."

***

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~𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓭, 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓵𝓮𝓽 𝓪𝓷𝔂𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓽𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓮~