DRABBLE 2: Accidental Confessions
"Beautiful" the word tumbles past his lips before he can catch it. He is immediately aghast. There is nothing he can do to cover up his folly except purse his mouth to prevent any more of such idiocy from flying through. He hopes the other boy doesn't hear, but even as he does so, Tyson's eyes widen in surprise and delight.
Kai mutters a slight curse under his breath as a short burst of laughter escapes Tyson.
"What's beautiful, Kai?" he asks.
"Nothing" he replies, looking away, teeth gnashing. It was stupid. Horrendously stupid. Indeed nothing out of the ordinary happened for him to react the way he did. Tyson simply walked into the room. In his usual attire, wearing his usual smile. But something on his face, on his aura, in his gait, in the moment, knocked all sense and reason out of Kai.
He resents himself now as Tyson quirks an amused brow. "You just like tossing words like that around randomly then?" he jests.
"Let it go, you chimp," Kai grumbles before sweeping past the other boy.
A hand on his forearm stops his advance through the doorway. "You mean 'champ'", corrects Tyson, a dare in his tone.
"No" says Kai. "I meant 'chimp' as in 'chimpanzee'. A monkey."
The midnight blue-haired boy's eyes narrow. "I know what a chimpanzee is." He feels the pulse thrumming under his fingers at a rapid pace. "Do you have a heart condition or something?" he asks. "It's beating really fast."
Kai's reaction is instantaneous. He shakes off the hand on his arm and moves to climb down the short flight of steps leading to a narrow hallway outside.
Tyson's voice halts his progress halfway down the stairs. "It's me, isn't it?" The question is posed intimately. The boy does not look at him directly, but glances in his direction out of the corner of one eye.
Kai's heart begins to gallop in his chest. He almost trips down the steps. He doesn't say anything in response. He cannot.
"Why can't you just admit it?" Tyson spins on his heel in frustration, facing him properly.
His outburst results in the opposite of what he was hoping for when it calls Kai's anger to surface.
The phoenix-blader is furious as he turns around to yell at him. "Admit what?" he roars.
Tyson holds his ground as he stares back. "That you like me," he says, tone folding slightly accusatory.
Kai's upper lip curls in disdain. He almost believes the lie himself as he spits it out. "I don't like you," he pronounces with such venom the other boy appears wounded for a moment.
He recovers quickly though. "I'm going to make you say it one day," he swears with a determined set to his jaw.
Kai scoffs. "Good luck with that," he mocks, before swiveling on his heel and exiting the Granger household with an elaborate swagger he does not appreciate in hindsight.