11—prepared
Approximately two months after Kai consented to allow Gaillard to squat at his place, Kai woke up to find them together in a place nowhere near the vicinity of his apartment. Considering the plush carpet and the wooden single bed in the middle of the room, they were most likely in a motel room. The strangest thing was that they weren't even using the bed and were instead just lying at the doorway.
Gaillard had fallen asleep on Kai's chest and had drooled an indecent amount on his shirt. Kai searched his pockets to assure himself that he had his wallet with him. It was there, along with a key that was most likely for the room and the business card of Card Capital. Aside from that, he did not notice any clues that would give him a clue on how they got there last night.
It would honestly be less bizarre if they were in a love hotel rather than this room with décor straight out of a travel brochure. Kai had no idea if there even existed any non-seedy place that would allow a minor and a man easily mistaken for a minor to rent a room for the entire night, and so decided to ask someone who was more informed about such matters.
Carefully slipping out from under Gaillard, Kai stole out of the room to use the phone at the front desk. He retrieved the business card and dialed the number of Card Capital.
As expected, Tokura answered the phone.
"Morning. Is Miwa there yet?" Kai asked.
"It's his free day." Tokura replied. "What's wrong? You sound very far away."
"I'm still in Japan," Kai said. He studied his surroundings once more and caught sight of a painting with dancing stick figures loaded with golden jewelry about ten times their weight. "I think."
"Tell me exactly what happened," Tokura said, "and whether we need to drive down and get you."
"I can get back by myself. It's just…Gaillard's with me."
"You're not going to leave him behind, are you?"
"I won't. I'm sure we did…things last night. I didn't even know that I wanted to be in the same room as him, just to do ordinary things."
Their conversation paused there. Kai resisted his urge to hang up and forced himself to remain patient to hear Tokura's response. His admissions slid out easily here way beyond his comfort zone—in his discomfort zone, even—and if he had learnt anything about traversing the cosmic world, it was to make the best out of where he was.
"Do you regret doing ordinary things with him?"
"No."
"Do you want to go home with him?"
"Yes."
"There's a good chance that you like him, then. It's good to like people, Kai."
Kai knew. He assured Tokura once again that he could return on his own and ended the call. Upon returning to the room, he made sure to take care not to bang into Gaillard when opening the door. Then he heard sounds of retching from the toilet and deduced that there was where Gaillard had resorted to.
He leaned against the toilet door as Gaillard slowly raised his face, giving Kai a full view of his flushed cheeks and hideous eye bags.
"Kai Toshiki. Don't drink. It's bad for you." Gaillard warned haltingly before proceeding with his vomiting spree.
Kai was not being mean when he smirked to himself. He was absolutely prepared to like Gaillard now.
A/N: I really like writing about Gaillard as being less than the goody two-shoes he tries so hard to be and Kai as being calmly adventurous about their growing relationship. Until the next writing day, when I can perhaps come up with an idea to write about Canon Compliant hateboners.