Ray did as he told Tyson and went to the bathroom before going back downstairs to where the fireplace was. The house was quiet at this end. Tyson's bedroom was a little ways away from the living area, so Ray knew whatever noise was going on over there he wouldn't be able to hear. Tyson's grandpa wasn't anywhere to be seen on Ray's journey down the halls. Ray had even checked the kitchen and looked through the door a little into the backyard for him, so he'd have a little company, but he wasn't anywhere he looked. Ray sighed. He knew Tyson's grandpa was probably hiding out in his dojo now that it was empty and quite.
The living area seemed a little dark and uninviting without the other boy's in the room. It was lit only by the closed off fireplace, because the lights had been turned off, and there were a few pillows on the floor with a small table for having tea. Ray kept the light in the room off and moved over to by the fireplace. He sat down and let the blanket fall off of him as he looked over the scar on his arm that he'd been hiding from his friends ever since his match against Bryan.
The scar was jagged and looked like it had been a deep cut. It hadn't really disappeared that well, and was still easy to see. It was a light purple color and felt smoother than the skin around it. Ray had a few other scars on his body from that match, but they weren't as easily noticed. They were smaller and looked way more faded. Most of them were on his sides and there were a few on his back. He hated looking at them. They reminded him of how horrible that battle was, and how he'd landed in the hospital.
Ray reached up to his head band and fiddled with it a little bit. It was damp, but he knew he couldn't take it off to dry, like Tyson couldn't take off his hat. If he did it might wreck how Kenny had set up the wireless microphone. He wasn't even sure if the microphones were still working after getting wet, but he supposed if they weren't Kenny would have contacted him and Tyson by now.
Suddenly, Ray heard a noise from outside the room and covered himself quickly with the blanket. He looked towards the door and saw the shadow of someone coming towards him. When the shadow was close enough it was lit up by the light of the fire to reveal Kai. He was standing beside Ray with his blanket hanging over his shoulders, and was looking down at him a little disappointedly. There was a slight pause before Kai sat down beside Ray, not saying anything and just looking towards the fire.
In Tyson's room there was a lot of yelling going on, though the two boys who'd left the room only moments earlier couldn't hear it. Tyson and Max were all ready on their second match on the shooting game Tyson had chosen. The first match had been a first to five and Tyson had won in a matter of seconds. Max had complained that Tyson had cheated, because he was still getting use to the controls, so Tyson had agreed to a redo and waited until Max was ready this time. When he was ready, Tyson still beat him in a few seconds and Max ended up complaining about Tyson being too good at the game to be playing against him. Tyson didn't agree with this though, and said that by Max losing to him it was actually giving him practise so he'd get better. Max didn't like this idea, and so their yelling match began.
After a few minutes Tyson dropped his controller and stared at a now yelling and pouting Max. When Max was done Tyson sat there for a few seconds, until Max directed his glare away from him, and then leapt across the bed at him. "I'm sick of your complaining, I didn't complain like this when I kept losing in racing," Tyson told him sternly as he knocked him over and pinned him to the bed. Max didn't answer Tyson. He just squirmed underneath him trying to get his wrists out of Tyson's grip. "Stop moving Max!" Tyson yelled, now struggling to keep a good grip.
"No, get off me!" Max yelled back trying to use his legs to help get Tyson off him.
"Stop it," Tyson said falling on top of Max so he couldn't get his legs up, or his feet between them. Max stared turning a noticeable shade of pink. "What's wrong Maxie?" Tyson asked in a confused tone and slightly teasing tone, raising an eyebrow.
"N-Nothing just got off," Max said looking away from him. Tyson smirked a little.
"I don't feel like it," he told him. Max looked back glaring.
"Tyson if you don't get off of me I'm going to do the only thing I can do to get you off and you probably won't like it," he told him as sternly as he could. Tyson just grinned.
"I won't believe you have the guts to do anything until you do it," he said.
Ray and Kai sat in the soothing noise of the crackling fire for a few minutes before anyone spoke. Ray didn't want to speak first. He was scared if he just started to suddenly try and explain himself without actual guidelines on what needed explaining that everything would come pouring out and things would be even more confusing. So he waited. If Kai wanted to talk to him, or have things answered, than he'd have to make the move to start.
Kai looked over to Ray, and Ray glanced over at him through the corner of his eyes. "Why'd you leave Tyson's room?" he asked finally. Realising that this was going to be made hard on him, and he'd actually have to ask Ray things instead of just expecting him to know what he wanted answered.
"Why'd you leave?" Ray asked him. The question popping into his head before the answer to Kai's question did.
"Because you said you wanted me there, so why should I stay if you're not?" he asked, and then made a motion to show that it was Ray's turn to answer.
"I guess I left because I couldn't handle the mood in the room changing because of me," he told him a hint of sadness in his voice. Kai raised an eyebrow questioningly at him, and Ray sighed. "I let you guys see my scar, and then you got depressed," he told him. "That's a drastic change in mood."
"Well it's not a very happy thing, being reminded of something bad that happened, because of you, to a person you care about," Kai told him in an almost mumbled.
Ray looked up at Kai, staring for a few seconds before Kai raised an eyebrow at him and spoke again. "You're my team mate, and you getting hurt was my fault for leaving the team and going back to my old one because of power," he told him. Ray frowned slightly.
"Oh," he said sounding disappointed. "It's not your fault at all though. You had nothing to do with what they did to that team. You were more of a victim than anything." Kai shook his head, and moved a little closer to Ray.
"I'm still sorry," he told him.
"You don't have to be," Ray replied. Kai put a hand on Ray's blanket and started to slide it down again.
"Well I am," he told him. Ray looked back up and grabbed the blanket so Kai wouldn't pull it down anymore, giving him a questioning look as his heart started to race. "I want to see it," Kai told him. Ray bit his lip and let go to the blanket hesitantly, letting Kai slide it down.
The two of them sat there for a few seconds in silence as Kai's expression turned to a frown and he ran his finger over the scar on Ray's arm. "Do you have any other ones?" he asked suddenly.
"A few more," Ray told him. Kai looked up at him, and Ray turned so his back was facing Kai slightly. Kai's expression didn't change as he looked over the faded scars on Ray's back. Ray even showed him the ones on his sides, having to pull his boxer's down a little for some of them, because Kai insisted on seeing them all. Ray didn't know why Kai wanted to see them when they seemed to make him sad, and even angry with himself. He looked almost like Ray felt every time he had to look at them.
When Ray had shown Kai all of them Kai shook his head. "I'm sorry," he told Ray again.
"It's not your fault," Ray told him, wondering why he kept blaming himself. Kai took a deep breath and the room was silent again for a few seconds. He moved slightly away from Ray, but not by much, and looked him in the eyes as if trying to read their expression or looking for some sign.
"Ray?" he asked. Ray looked at him, giving him questioning look. "What were you going to say about me outside earlier?"
Ray turned a pink that was hard to see in the fire lit room. His heart began to race and butterflies burst into flight at the thought of telling Kia what he actually though about him. He took a deep breath. "I was going to say that you're a really great, good looking guy, and I have no negative thoughts about you," Ray told him a little quickly, making it, once again, hard to understand.
"Excuse me? I can't understand you if you talk that fast," Kai told him. "You don't have to worry about saying bad things about me, if that's what this is about. I know what you guys think of me, and what you say behind my back. I don't care." Ray smiled weakly at Kai.
"It wasn't anything bad," he told him fidgeting with his blanket. "I'm just scared of you having a bad reaction to something good."
"What if I promise I won't have a negative reaction, no matter what you say?" Kai asked him. "Just be completely honest with me." Ray nodded and took a deep.
"I think you're a really great guy," he started mumbling in embarrassment. "I think you're really good looking, and I can't find anything negative to say about you like I could with Tyson and Max. Also, I lied to you at the market place. You heard right, I did say that look you were giving me was sexy." He got quieter with every few words, but he knew he was loud enough for Kai to hear him. He looked up at Kai expecting to see some kind of confused or hateful face.
Max struggled under Tyson's weight and grip some more. He didn't want to do the thing that he was thinking about doing to Tyson to get him off. But Tyson was pushing him closer to it every second. He'd gotten a little closer to his face and was smirking, talking about how weak Max was and how he couldn't possibly do anything to get him off. "Don't hate me for doing this," Max told Tyson, and Tyson gave him a confused look. Although Max was more confident in what he was about to do than he would have been a few days ago, because of the things that had happened in the past few days, he was still scared that he might have taken what Tyson was saying and doing the wrong way and that what he was about to do could wreak their friendship.
"Why would I hate you Maxie?" Tyson asked him. Max attempted a shrug.
"If you get off now we don't have to risk you hating me," he told him in one last attempt. But Tyson didn't move. He just gave Max a challenging look. Max closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his beating heart, and then looked at Tyson for a quick second before closing his eye again and bringing his face up even closer to Tyson's.
Max and Tyson's lips met for only a few seconds before Tyson pulled away in shock. Max rested his head back down on the bed and averted his eyes from Tyson, biting his lip. Tyson had loosened his grip on Max and gotten off him a little, but he wasn't moving completely off, or letting go of him. Max squirmed a little underneath him, trying to get away from him again now that it was even more awkward for him than before, but the squirming made Tyson snap out of his sudden shocked state and tighten his grip on Max's wrists again, lowering himself on him slightly. "Where did that come from?" he asked, it was the only thing he could think of to say to break the silence.
"I thought it would get you off of me, so I just did it," Max told him in a mumble, his face going a little pinker.
"Are you sure that's why you did it?" Tyson asked.
"No," he told him. "And I know you hate me now, and it's going to be all awkward between us. But could you get off before you start hating me?"
Tyson let out a laugh, grinning down at Max. Something Tyson had only ever thought about, but would never act make happen, just happened. "Why would I hate you after that?" he asked. Max looked up at him with a pout.
"Well you obviously didn't want it because you pulled away," he told him.
"I was just shocked that you actually did it, that's all," he told him, and then leaned down so his mouth was by Max's ear. "You look cute when you pout like that," he whispered. Max squirmed trying to get away from Tyson again, and Tyson chuckled. "And when you struggled like that."
"I look cute to you all the time!" Max yelled sounding a little annoyed, and finally deciding to accept defeat and stop struggling.
"That's true," Tyson said moving back so his face was just above Max's again.
"I think you've gone crazy," Max informed him. Tyson just gave a half shrug and moved his lips back to Max's giving him the kiss he'd pulled away from.
Kai's face wasn't full of confusion or hatred at all, and this surprised Ray. Instead Kai was giving him a small smile, and his expression was that of slight relief and maybe even joy. "You think I'm sexy?" was the first thing he asked, smirking. Ray turned a dark pink and looked away from him.
"I think you're a lot of things," he told him in a mumble. He wondered if Kai was just playing with him now, or if he was actually going to try to make this lead somewhere.
"I suppose you want to know what I think of you," Kai said, making it sound slightly like a question.
"Only if it's not something bad," Ray told him. Kai chuckled.
"I think," he started. "That you're amazing, attractive, and cute." Ray turned a shade even darker and gripped the blanket that he hadn't bothered to put back around himself. He didn't know what to say. Kai came closer to him, so that their shoulders were touching.
"I'm sorry for lying to you," Ray told him in a whisper, wishing he'd have just been honest with Kai sooner, and without the bet forcing him to be.
"I'm sorry for not taking my chances on telling you sooner," Kai told him. Ray smiled weakly. Kai smirked, leaning so his face was closer to Ray's now. Ray stared at him for a few moments, and then he and Kai both closed the gap between their lips.