My Missing Piece (Theory of Love) (KhaiThird/OffGun)

Chapter 9

    "Come on Third!  I know you want to go, it's going to be so much fun!"   

    "Kao are you crazy?  We're underage you know?  There's no way they're going to let us into a gay bar" Third whacked his arm as he tried to suppress a giggle.  He hoped his best friend couldn't see the curious glimmer in his eyes, though he knew he wasn't so good at hiding his emotions.  It's not like Third didn't want to go.  As a gay teenage boy, he couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement at the mere idea of exploring a gay bar: a place where everyone would be like them, somewhere neither of them would be judged.  Kao was the only person who knew he was gay, he was safe this way.  But because of this, whenever Third looked at his best friend, he felt ashamed and cowardly.  'How could I be so selfish?' 

    "That's not a 'no'~" Kao sang, "Don't you want to at least try?  It will be an adventure!" Kao observed Third closely in anticipation.  He knew better than anyone when Third was close to giving in.

    "...Fine, I can't believe you actually talked me into it" Third giggled as he pulled Kao's arm, "Come on if we're going to a gay bar we have to look...you know..."

    "Sexy?" Kao wiggled his eyebrows and chuckled at his best friend's antics, "What am I going to do with you?  You're too shy to even say the word 'sexy'" Kao teased.

"Am not!" Third blushed and turned to look through Kao's closet.

"Yeah, yeah whatever you say, Shorty."

    Third woke up in a cold sweat, reaching over his bedside table to turn off the earsplitting alarm coming from his phone.  His head was pounding at the same rhythm as his fast-paced heart. These dreams never seemed to extinguish and Third couldn't be mad about it.  He deserved to be constantly reminded.  But why did it seem that the dreams were happening so much more often lately?  Maybe it was punishment for getting closer to Khai despite telling himself not to.  Third was glad they had at least finished their project though.  There was still tension between him and Khai after the way Third treated him that night.  Khai was clearly not so willing to forgive him, not that Third tried.  It was  his goal wasn't it?  To push Khai away...   However, Third couldn't stop thinking about Khai.  His gentle caresses and words when he caught him having a nightmare.  Third felt underserving of Khai's soft touches and embarrassed that he caught him when he was having a moment of weakness.  Third knew he shouldn't have snapped at Khai that morning, Khai only wanted to ask if he was okay, knowing it took Third quite a while to go back to sleep that night after everything.  Maybe if he had responded more kindly instead of telling him to 'fuck off', it could have had a better affect on their relationship, whatever their relationship was.  It's not like it mattered though, because Third was succeeding in driving Khai further away from him.  They were still able to get through the last scenes and really, that's all that mattered to Third in that moment.  The weekend flew by quickly, much too quickly for Third's liking, and now he had to deal with seeing Khai again.  Third knew all to well that being associated with Khai either meant his life would be miserable or tolerable.  Khai was true to his words, he treated people the way they treated him: if he was disrespected he would hold a grudge, and rightfully so.  Third would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't exactly the same.

***

    "Is there a reason you two must always be so difficult?  I mean you might as well be a married couple or something with how often you fight" Bone rolled his eyes.

    "I haven't even said anything" Khai shrugged.

    "Exactly, that's the problem" Two whined, "You guys have no idea how uncomfortable it is to be between your awkward tension."