Darin finally managed to drag his heavy corpse like body back to his place. He received many strange stares as he sluggishly turned the handle of his door stepping inside mumbling a feeble greeting into the cold darkness. He didn't expect anyone to be there and he rather preferred to be alone anyways.
"Welcome back" Kai answered though it was unenthusiastic to say in the least
"What are you doing home so early?" he asked bitterly just wishing he would leave
"oh don't get your panties in a knot I'm leaving now I just woke up" he yawned his eyes still thick with sleep his face was flushed and he seemed to be sweating a lot even though it was cool in the room
"What's wrong with you?" Darin asks going and sitting on the edge of his bed kicking his shoes off and pulling his t-shirt over his head letting it crumple and lay on the floor beside him.
"Nothing I'm fine" Kai said avoiding me as he walked to the door. It was obvious he was lying but Darin was to worn out to care the exams had been killer and it had been hard enough for him to keep awake but even harder to keep his mind off of what happened last night. Darin rolled onto his side and as soon as his eyes closed he drifted off to sleep. It felt like hours later when he finally woke again sitting upright in his bed beads of sweat dripping off his chin as he gripped the sheets tightly crying out loudly his heart pounding. He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck looking down at his hands when did the nightmares suddenly come back?
"I'm back" Kai muttered at the door coming inside and setting a bag down at the door. He seemed surprised when he saw me and for a moment I thought I saw concern in his eyes but his shocked expression was soon erased like a message written in the sand at high tide.
"What's this then?" I ask out of curiosity peeking into the bag.
"Books for my biology class, and don't go snooping through other peoples things" he scolded calmly smacking my hand with a spatula.
"Biology? I didn't know you were taking that class" he asked his interest peeked ever so slightly as he waved his stinging hand to and fro casually opening the fridge door.
"Well I plan on working with animals so it's good to learn the 'study of life'" he smirked
"I thought Asians ate cats? You're not exactly animal friendly" Darin teased sarcastically
"Nope, we usually just eat dogs, besides don't you eat beef and pork and chicken and fish? You're not exactly a friend to animals either" he teased back zapping the burn out of his fun. He scoffed and went back to raiding the fridge pulling out a pudding cup and tearing open the foil covering rummaging through a drawer in search of a spoon so that he could eat his chocolate creamy goodness. He shoveled a spoonful of it into his anticipating mouth and skidded across the floor to the trashcan throwing the lid away leaning on the wall shoveling another mouthful in. he glanced lazily at the calendar staring at the circled date. He strained his thoughts trying to recall what was so important on that date but he didn't remember putting it there.
"Hey Kai what's on the eighteenth of this month?"
"nothing important that I can think of why?" he asked bored sitting on his bed flipping open one of his thick text books doing that nights homework
"it's circled on the calendar" Daren added hoping that would jog his memory as he scrapped the last bit of pudding from the cup and tossing the empty container in the waste basket licking the spoon and sticking it in his mouth wiggling it with his tongue as he thought more about the date.
"Oh that's probably my friends doing"
"Why is your friend writing on my calendar" I frown with irritation
"Cause it's my birthday and he's trying to get me all excited about it when it's just a waste of time"
"There are two things wrong with this, one you think birthdays are a waste of time? And two, you have friends?" Darin made sure to enunciate the word friends just to get under his room mates skin
"I know I'm just as surprised as you" he replied dryly not even looking up from his book. Daren gave a glare at the book willing it to spontaneously burst into flames of course his magical abilities were none existent so he just settled to flopping on his bed tossing his head phone in his ears and blasting his Ipod as loud as he could relaxing on his bed tapping his foot along to the beat of the songs.
A few days had gone by and while enjoying a frozen treat, Darin happened to accidentally take a glance at the calendar his eyes settling on the circled date. He thought to himself for a moment before shrugging his shoulder and digging around in the cabinets pulling out different sized pots and pans. He arranged them along the counter and strode over to the fridge pulling out the eggs, a stick of butter and the milk. He set them on the counter and began his work of mixing this ingredient or stopping to grab another from somewhere else. And after about and hour he had just about made a mess of the small open room kitchen.
"What are you up to?" Kai ask raising an eyebrow at the mess peeking in one of the many bowls
"Making a cake, stir that then use the electric beaters on a low setting" he said thrusting a bowl into Kai's hand making him stagger and in his confusion he reluctantly did as he was told. Kai swore under his breath as some of the batter splattered up and hit him in the face.
"So what's this cake for anyways?" he asked furrowing his brow very displeased that he was being forced to help.
"You're birthday I guess, in my house I was told that people don't usually make cakes unless for a special occasion. I learned that this isn't exactly true but I still can't get out of my habit of thinking so I can only get myself to make one when something's going on" Darin grinned to himself obviously pleased with what he had produced. Kai grunted and continued with what he was doing before turning to lean on the counter watching as Darin busied himself from stirring one thing to adding something to another. Darin carried himself in a sort of dance as he hummed while working his feet moving as quickly and gracefully as his hands. Kai found it almost cute how he roamed around with that goofy little grin of his.
"Are you learning to be a culinary chef?" he asked stretching his arms above his head
"I wish but both of my folks want me to follow in my dads footsteps and be an engineer, that's why they're paying for me to go to this school. They think cooking is more of a life skill or a hobby rather then a career choice" Kai hopped from one foot to the other twitching lightly, he was starting to get antsy from his lack of daily nicotine.
"I'm going out for a smoke" he tugged on a thin coat and walked outside sitting against the building lighting up his cigarette and taking a deep drag. The cool air made his throat numb as he drank in the sights, his mind drifting from one topic to the next, never really taking anything seriously for too long. One thought that kept popping up in his head was how, even though they lived together for almost a year in the dorms they knew close to nothing about each other. It had never bothered him before so why should it now? He took another long drag and looked up as a figured blocked the sun from his vision. He pursued his lips and eyed the fellow standing before trying to asses the situation wondering if he would try and cause him trouble.
"Does Darin live around here?" he asked with a gentle smile. He was taller then Kai, he could tell that much, and had chestnut brown hair that hung only a few inches longer then Darin's. He was older then himself and was better built compared to his scrawny skinniness.
"Yeah I'm his room mate he's in there baking last I checked" Kai told him with disinterest tossing the bud of his cigarette away standing up
"Thanks" the man smiled down at him making Kai's stomach turn. He gave a curt nod and huddled in his jacket pulling his cell phone out and texting one of his random friends in hopes of something to do since he didn't feel like re-entering the bakery just yet. The man had only been in a few minutes but before Kai had even had a chance to reply to his friend's latest text he was storming his way out. Kai raised and eyebrow before shrugging it off and finishing what he was typing and heading back inside to the warm building. He had just stepped inside his dorm room and was astonished to find Darin picking himself off the floor a dark purplish bruise forming under his eye already. When Darin's eyes met Kai's own they looked desperate and pleading like a silent cry for help as he straightened up brushing himself off and flashing Kai a quick grin.
"Well that was interesting"
"Care to share?" Kai asked
"nothing important just my big brother coming to check on me making sure I'm being a good little boy and not wasting my time here. We exchanged a few words and he didn't like what I had to say so he did what he always does and decked me" Darin seemed oddly cheerful about his now swelling cheek, almost like a badge of honor
"You're an idiot" Kai shook his head grabbing a bag of frozen vegetable and tossing it to him which he kept firmly pressed to his face."And you have icing on your cheek" Darin snorted. Kai blinked and rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand managing only to smear it and make it worse
"Here I'll get it" Darin smirked leaning down and licking it off his cheek seductively. Kai was frustrated to find that he was strangely aroused by the simple tease.
"Kai you seemed to enjoy that" Darin grinned practically purring with amusement
"You think so? Well that's all in your matter of opinion isn't it?" Kai smirked back his mood getting sourer by the minute, it was no wonder his brother punched this guy he could be such a headache sometimes.
"Now answer me this, what do you want for your birthday? I have some favors so I can get you anything you want as long as it's not too pricey or extravagant" Kai felt his lips curl up in a twisted grin as his mind played over the segment of the sentence I have some favors.
"You still owe me a favor" he laughed dryly "but never mind that what I want for my birthday is pretty simple"
"What is it?" Darin asked eagerly, if he had been a puppy his tail would be wagging ninety miles and hour about now with as excited as he seemed to be.
"Sleep with me" he stated calmly. The air became thick as the oxygen seemed to leave Darin's lungs as he stared his room mate in the face trying to read his thoughts.
"What was that?" he asked fainting lack of hearing
"on my birthday I want you to finish what you started a few nights ago and have sex with me"