Kaladin's keys jingle as he digs them from his jogger shorts pocket-tossing them up in the air and catching them deftly before they could fall to the ground. The rain outside pelts down like hail upon the roof of the apartment complex and nearly blinding lightning flashes outside a window, catching the dark-eyed man's gaze.
Kaladin slows his pace and turns to the pane, placing his free hand and forehead against the refreshingly cool glass with a heavy exhale of of breath.
Being a personal trainer was absolutetly draining. Emotionally and physically. It wasn't that he didn't like the man, Kaladin admired Moash's stamina and persistence in getting back into shape. He remembered the day Moash had emailed him clearly.
The day itself had been going quite horribly, his boyfriend-Adolin-had gotten stuck in heavy traffic on the way back to Kaladin's former apartment and said apartment's power had cut off hours ago. Kaladin had been sitting on his couch, wrapped in every blanket in the apartment, on his laptop's last hour of battery. Watching Rick and Morty on YouTube had seemed like the best option he had. The message came in when a new episode had just started, the tell-tale ding just audible over the intro music.
Moash had sent the email to Kaladin-remembering him from when they went to high school together-in hopes of getting his life back on track. Moash was an orphan who's only companion had been his brother. He'd typed that the last time he'd seen his brother had been over a year ago and with no one that cared enough to interfere, he'd quit his job and turned to eating his feelings. The man had let his once-perfect physique slip away until he was roughly four-hundred pounds.
Fourtunately, Moash and his brother had savings stored up, but when that had started running out, he relized he needed help.
They had made truly signifigant progress in the past six months and Kaladin had never been prouder of someone he worked with. But the slimmer Moash's waist became, the wider his ambitions became, pushing himself for hours upon hours until Kaladin forced him to go home and get some rest.
For the past few weeks every day Moash had asked for Kaladin's presence and it really was starting to take its toll on him. Adolin had suggested to tell Moash that taking a day of relaxation would do wonders, Kaladin knew that Moash wouldn't accept that. Especially not now. Not when he was finally getting somewhere. . . .
Yes. Kaladin had passed Adolin's suggestion on, despite knowing that the man would refuse. The dark-haired man had been pushed to his limit and took the route that personal trainers viewed as lazy, and instructed Moash to go for a run every day for the next month and take the extra time to look for a job.
The pay for Moash's sessions were not nearly enough for the hours of dedication that Kaladin had been putting in and he had decided to stop feeling sorry for the man who wasn't even overweight anymore. Putting his mind's power to other things, like organizing the schedule of all the people he worked with, and settling on a fee per hour, and spending time with his neglected boyfriend. Yes. This was for the best. For the both of them.
Enough thinking about work. Kaladin pulls his flushed forehead away from the refreshingly chilled glass and resumes his pace down the hall. His gym shoes scuff against the hard wood as he turns a corner and stopps in front of his door.
Kaladin yawns, fitting his key into the keyhole and giving it a sharp turn, the door glides open. Blowing a strand of rain-soaked hair that had fallen from his messy tail aside he shut and locked the door. Kicking his shoes aside, and dropping his keys on the counter, a glance at the stove's digital clock confirmed that he had made the right call in restricting Moash's training hours-it was far too late for this bullshit.
The thunder crashed noisily over the monotonous pounding of rain and lighting lit up the shade-drawn windows.
Kaladin opened the bedroom door and another yawn overtook him as he pulled off his shirt and let it fall to the floor, eyes scanning the bedcovers that were in a pile against the wall furthest away from the windows.
His brown eyes jumped from the closed bathroom door to the mound of blankets to the tightly drawn shades hiding the raging storm outside. . . . Shit.
Kaladin flew to the door, trying the knob and finding it, unsurprisingly, locked. No hesitation, Kaladin threw his weight against the door and in one hearty shove, the wood splintered and broke.
Back flush against the wall, arms secured around knees tighly drawn up to chest, eyes wide and streaming with tears, and breath heaving, was Adolin Kholin-his boyfriend of two years. That had anxiety-and was deathly afraid of storms. . . .
"Fuck, I'm so sorry I should've got here sooner. . ." he falls to his knees and pulls Adolin into his lap, wiping away the wetness with the pads of his thumbs. Adolin dry-heaved and latched onto Kaladin's neck, head burried between his shoulder and neck.
"Shh, it's ok, angel, you're ok, it's gonna be alright. . . . I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere," Kaladin's nimble fingers card through Adolin's thick blond hair, other hand supporting his back and holding him tight.
"I'm s-such a g-goddamned wimp!" He gasps ferociously agaisnt Kaladin's skin.
"No you're not," Adolin is still crying and heaving as he pulls his face out of his lover's neck and looks at him.
"I am. L-Look at me, I'm afraid of a storm like a c-child or an animal!" Thunder crashes loudly and Adolin's heavy breathing gets louder. It's hard to determine exactly what Adolin is saying because of the crying and heaving but Kaladin has experienced him like this enough to understand.
"Everyone's got something, Adolin. This is just your thing-you've gotten through this so many times before; I know you can get through this! You're so strong, A, so strong. . . ." Kaladin is crying now and Adolin's hands grasp at his shoulders and he blinks his streaming eyes,
"I don't w-w-want this to be my t-thing," He shakes his head, drawing in air.
"I worded it wrong, I'm so shit with words-you know that." Kaladin bows his head and shakes it slightly. His hands tighten around Adolin's back.
The presence of Adolin's hands moves from Kaladin's neck to the sides of his face, moving it up so he could look directly into his eyes, "You're exhausted, Kal," Adolin says thickly-trying to breathe through his nose, "Leave me be and go to bed, I'll be fine." A tremendous crash of thunder punctuates the blond's statement and he visibly flinches, chest pounding against Kaladin's own, hands shaking against his face.
Kaladin chuckles and pulls Adolin closer, "You're ridiculous, like I'd ever leave you."
The blue-eyed man wraps his arms around the other's back, whispering his thanks into his neck.
"Of course," Comes Kaladin's reply.
The next sentence is in an ever lower tone, "You're too good to me."
Kaladin kisses Adolin's hair, "No one could ever be too good to you. You deserve the world. I love you."
Adolin's crying resumes, or maybe it just gets louder, "I love you so much," he manages to choke out as another flash accompanied by thunder sounds through the complex.
The storm's right on top of us now, Kaladin counts the seconds between lightning and thunder quietly in his head-not even two miles away now. It's moving fairly now and should pass through the area within the next fifteen minutes.
He sits on the cold tile floor, holding the boy he loves, stroking his hair and kissing his face.
Kaladin is correct, the storm passes overhead quickly and only the rain remains after twenty minutes.
Adolin slides off Kaladin's lap and moves to lean against him, gripping his hand. "Thank you," He says again, sniffing.
The answer comes easy, "Of course." They sit in silence for a pace, just breathing and listening to the rain.
"I'm going to shower. You want to join?" Kaladin stand up and offers a hand down to Adolin. The blond man accepts it, standing and pulling the other into a kiss.
"Yeah, ok."
"Did I tell you that your hair looked really hot like that?" Adolin says post shower, wrapped in a half-asleep Kaladin's arms.
Kaladin blinks a few times, "Drenched?"
Adolin grins up at him, "No, in a tail."
Kaladin grunts, nosing Adolin's hair lovingly.
"I'm sorry, you're tired, I'll let you sleep."
"I am tired, but I appriciate the compliment," Kaladin moves his lips from Adolin's hair to his lips, kissing him sloppily.
"Mmm," Adolin hums happily against his boyfriend's lips.
They break apart gently and Adolin slides back against Kaladin, chest to chest.
"Did you get Moash to stop exerting the pair of you?" Adolin's voice is laced with sleep, and he's on the verge of passing out, but he has to know.
"Yep. I'm all yours for the next month." Kaldadin yawns and closes his eyes.
"Goody," Adolin presses his lips to Kaladin's neck.