avocado toast & other stories

iv.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god—"

From the living room, Genesis looks up from an intense game of Mario Kart as her fingers move on their own accord, an oversized hoodie completely drowning her torso. "Jeon?"

Kai runs (fucking sprints) to her location and jumps over the back of the couch with glittering eyes and trembling hands. His hair falls over his forehead in messy waves, and before he can frustratingly tame it, he blinks rapidly as Genesis beats him to it with soft fingertips that feel like rose. With quick breaths, panic laces around his wrists as he drops his head to rest on the curve of her shoulder like falling snow.

Perhaps he should work on being normal. Or, like, not being weird? Does that make sense?

It takes thirty seconds for him to finally calm down, and when he finally releases his tight grip on both sweater paws, Kai's lips curve upwards angelically and he grins. "Vaughn," he laughs with delight, eyes transforming into delicate crescent moons. "Vaughn, I won. We won."

She tilts her chin downwards to inspect his expression. "That's great," she says slowly, eyebrows drawing together a bit closer. "But you stopped my game, pretty."

Kai pouts and pulls his knees up to his chest, long limbs bumping into hers as he lies in a bittersweet puddle of excitement. "I'm more important," he almost whines. "C'mon, please?"

He's offered a shiny smile. "Alright, I'll humor you. What'd you win, Jeon?"

"You know that song that you recorded when we had our first date? You know, the one where—"

"No way."

"—where I was really, really stressed and I asked you to do the vocals—"

"Damn you, you told me you wouldn't submit it!"

Kai reaches out both arms, pulls her against him (it's a bit chaotic), and presses a barely-there kiss to the tip of her nose to keep her quiet.

It doesn't work.

Genesis groans and rubs both of her eyes. "No one knows it's me, right? I can't believe you entered it in your school contest and didn't even tell me. You're so unbelievable." A pause. "But congratulations, Kai Jeon. The Grammys aren't ready for you, hot shot."

With a giggle, he tilts her chin upwards again and presses his lips to the right corner of her mouth. "Don't be mad," he whispers, and maneuvers themselves on the couch so that she's lying down on her side while attempting to get first place on Rainbow Road (hint: she gets second instead). Kai wraps an arm around her waist and breathes in her scent: a hint of detergent, maybe, and even a bit of violet honey.

"How should we celebrate?" Genesis murmurs after she's finished cursing out the other automated players. "Avocado toast?"

He sighs. "Out of avocados," Kai admits. "But we can make snickerdoodles instead?"

"How the hell are you out of avocados but have all the ingredients for snickerdoodles?"

It's times like these where the girl he really, really likes glows in a bath of vibrant colors and unexpected daydreams. And when she touches him, Kai feels like floating up to space and sitting on the edge of the moon just to watch her glow from afar. "You know," he tells her, voice soft and gaze cast downward to avoid her magnetizing stare. "You make me really happy. Like, happier than I've ever been, so—so thank you."

And as he inspects the content of his floor (it's pretty clean, if he does say so himself), he doesn't see her mouth part in the slightest manner. He doesn't see her cheeks tint with strawberry rogue. And he certainly doesn't see the gentle smile gracing the curve of her lower lip.