We Should Have Talked
Rain pelts on the ground outside.
But there are no sounds in the room apart from his laboured breathing.
Kai walks towards him.
Tyson raises his body off the floor, supporting himself on his hands as he manages to sit up. He tries to focus on his breathing as his grandfather taught him. 'When your vision is unclear, take deep breaths. In and out.'
In and out.
In and out.
The edges of his world sharpen. Kai lowers to one knee in front of Tyson. He flinches. Bracing himself.
There's a crystal glass in Kai's hand. Its filled with a pale yellow liquid. His eyes are clear. Face open.
Tyson watches him carefully. Paying attention to each of his movements. Where his hands are. What they are doing.
"There" says Kai, his voice a gentle caress. He holds out the glass to Tyson, moving his hand an inch or two toward him. "It's over."
Tyson's eyes glitter with unshed tears.
"We're even now."
A beat passes.
Kai pushes the drink toward him.
Tyson looks at him suspiciously.
He gives a soft snort. "It's not poisoned." He takes a sip to show him he's telling the truth. "It's mulled wine. Citrus infused. Warm and sweet."
It's only after he says the word 'warm' that Tyson realizes he's nearly dying of thirst.
Kai presses the glass against his lips. Where they meet.
Tyson doesn't budge at first, but when he tilts the drink, and the warm liquid touches his dry lips, Tyson opens up. Drinking slowly. Taking small sips.
It's sweet. And citrusy. Just like he said.
He cups his own hands around the glass, accepting it from Kai, who pulls himself to his feet. "There's a pair of sweats and a shirt in the kitchen bathroom. You can change into those. Leave your wet clothes on the dryer. I'll wash them later."
Tyson stares at him, lowering the glass. It's empty.
"More?" he asks.
Tyson nods jerkily.
He takes the tumbler from him to refill the drink. Tyson observes him silently as he walks toward the decanter on the table before the couches. The breadth of his shoulders under the white shirt. The seamless fit of the black slacks. His gait. His aura under the mute glow of the yellow lamps.
He pours him another glass. Gives it to him.
Tyson finishes it quickly, taking huge mouthfuls. The wine washes down his body with a blissful heat.
Kai takes the glass from him. Tyson picks himself off the floor. Slowly. He feels the back of his head. His nose. Nothing's broken or bleeding.
He's weak and soaked. There's a dull ache at the back of his head, but he's fine otherwise.
"The rain doesn't seem likely to stop tonight," Kai says, drawing the brown curtains over the patio door. "You can take my bed. Leave in the morning."
Tyson stands and drips water on the floor.
The hushed sounds of the rain fills the room.
The house is still around him.
He forces his feet to move. Towards the bathroom in the kitchen. He strips out of his wet clothes once he's inside. There's no mirror so he cannot see himself. The set of clothes Kai had told him to wear are waiting on a shelf. His fingers hesitate over the material of the light blue shirt.
When he draws it off the shelf, he notices it's soft. And that it smells faintly of Kai.
He pulls the shirt down his torso, and tugs the grey sweats over his legs.
The pants fit fine. The shirt is slightly big on him.
While Kai is not much taller than Tyson, he is much more broader. An inch on each shoulder.
So the sleeves start a little ways down his arm and he can make paws with his hands in the fabric.
He leaves the wet clothes in the laundry cubicle.
Kai's waiting for him on the couch, sipping on a drink, when he goes back to the living room. The tv is on for the first time while he's here. It's on mute though.
"Come sit" he calls, gesturing towards the cushion beside him.
Tyson pads over, the carpet fine under his bare feet. He sits. Two whole feet away. Hands between his thighs.
They breathe quietly in the uncomfortable silence.
The tv is playing a live football game.
"Are you sleepy?" asks Kai after a minute.
Tyson shakes his head, nibbling on the inside of his lower lip.
"More wine?"
"No" he says, his voice pitched barely above a whisper.
Kai sets the drink on his knee. He has one leg crossed over the other. His boot facing Tyson's direction.
It's Argentina vs Chile. Messi dribbles the ball, aims a kick. The ball goes flying over the net.
Tyson licks his lips. Bites down on the lower one.
Kai draws an audible breath.
"Wanna take a walk?" he asks, turning the tv off.
Tyson frowns. Then he listens. The rain has stopped.
"Yeah" he agrees. "Sure"
Kai puts the drink down and stands up. Tyson follows him when he rounds the couches and opens the patio door. The air outside is chilly. His face cools.
Kai brings his jacket with him. Tyson's warm in his full-sleeved shirt.
They walk toward the garden in silence.
The lights are still up. No one bothered to switch them off. The house was cleaned by Romero's team and some freshmen earlier right after the ball ended.
Tyson's mood lifts the further he ventures into the beautiful garden. It becomes easier to breathe.
A small smile graces his lips about half-way through the first round.
He slides his hands into his pockets.
'It's over', his words ring in his head. It's over. It's over.
The words repeat till their meaning sinks in well and truly.
He's free. Kai let him go.
"Why?" he asks out loud unintentionally.
"Hm?" Kai turns to him.
Tyson keeps his eyes on the shrubbery. "What do you mean 'it's over?' That we're even? How are we even?"
"You punched me in front of half the student body, Tyson, with no rhyme and reason," says Kai.
Tyson frowns. Almost laughs. "I punched you because you called my best friend a slut in front of half the student body."
"You think it's okay to punch a complete stranger after overhearing one part of a long conversation that pissed you off? Did your friend ask you to punch me? Were you even aware of what we were talking about for you to get in the middle of it and attack me?"
Tyson stops walking. He replays the incident in his head. "I-" No, he didn't know what they were talking about. He assumed.
"But you called her-" he turns to him.
"Did Hilary ask you to punch me, Tyson? Did she want you to hurt me?" Kai asks him. He called him by his first name.
Tyson stares. Blinking. He shakes his head wordlessly.
"You did it twice. First at the party. Then on the stairs. You got yourself involved in a situation that had nothing to do with you, and attacked someone. Do you think that was right? That that was fair?"
Tyson pulls on his sleeves, rolling the fabric over the heel of his palms. "You insulted Hilary harshly. Was that right?"
"Did you care to ask why?" he prompts. "Did you wait to ask the reason before reacting violently?"
No.
"You had a reason?" Tyson asks in response. "Did you have some reason when you filmed Hilary naked too?"
Kai tilts his head, an eyebrow furrowing down. "Excuse me?" he asks, seemingly offended.
Tyson gets confused by the look of genuine perplexity on his face.
"Filmed who?" he asks.
"Hilary?"
Kai frowns. Confused as fuck.
Tyson feels actual horror dawning. "The tape? The sex tape that you were going to play during her performance?"
Kai connects the dots. "That tape wasn't a sex tape, Tyson, what the fuck?" he asks in a whisper. "It was a footage of your friend making a fool out of herself. You thought it was a sex tape?"
Tyson stares at him. Oh my god. He gapes like a goldfish. "Robert-" he tries to recall it. "Robert said he checked the tape and...it seemed so."
Kai's eyebrows lift. "Seemed what? Sexual? Do you want to see the tape?" he offers with a small laugh. "Your friend's clothed throughout if that's what you are worried about."
Tyson cannot wrap his head around the shock of the revelation. He's not lying. He can see it in his eyes. On his face. Who lied then? Robert? Why? "Oh my god" he whispers faintly as the full weight of the situation dawns on him. "I did all that for..."
Kai watches on as he has a mini mental breakdown in the garden.
He never filmed her naked! Hilary wouldn't have been mortified and humiliated if a video of her being a clown leaked. Embarrassed definitely. But she wouldn't have died of it. Her dignity was never at stake. Robert lied it was and Tyson believed it without a second's thought. Because it was Kai and he had a bad reputation. And who was he to believe something other than what the rumours said about the rich bastard Russian?
"Can I see the tape?" asks Tyson. "Not now but later?"
Kai nods. Gaze running over his face.
Tyson glances up at him. The weather's getting colder. His cheeks are starting to freeze.
"You made me run around campus. Without eating. Without sleeping."
"Were you expecting me to let you go without any retribution?"
Tyson folds his arms, fists pulled inside his sleeves. The stars wink above them. "Why didn't you just...punch me back?"
"Without a head gear? Without any protection? If I'd punched you out of rage you would have lost your vision," he says.
Tyson looks down for a moment. Then glances back up. "You just punched me. In the living room."
"Not enough to make you bleed, was it? And I've had enough. No more fighting," says Kai. "I don't want us to fight anymore."
He holds his gaze. Tyson's tempted to look away. His gaze is dark. Overpowering. It's like an abyss. Trying to swallow him whole.
"So we're even?"
"We're even."
Tyson steps back, sucking in his lips. He resumes walking. Kai falls into step a moment later. The night sky is shrouded with milky clouds. It will probably rain again soon. Droplets drip from the trees and the leaves around them. Their footsteps echo in the quiet. Oddly in sync.
He takes a deep breath, inhaling wet earth and Kai. His chest tingles weirdly the longer the silence between them stretches. So he tries to fill it up by asking more questions. That he wants to know the answers to. Been wanting to know for a while.
"Why did you hurt Hilary?"
Kai heaves a soft sigh. "Because she wouldn't have left me alone any other way."
Tyson frowns. "You insulted her so she would...hate you?"
"And stop pestering me."
They're facing each other.
"You had sex with her," he argues.
Kai stares at him. "Yes. Like I said I wanted to."
"You made her fall in love with you."
"Your friend approached me. I made it very clear, the day I met her, that I wanted only one thing from her. Nothing more, nothing less. She was happy to go along with it. She agreed to it. When the deed was done, that was supposed to be the end of our interactions. The rest, Tyson. She made up the rest in her head. I don't have the power to make anyone fall in love with me. That's fucking crazy."
Tyson considers him quietly. A breeze blows by.
"And all the girls whose hearts you broke?"
"It's the same story." Kai watches the stones on the pavement as he walks, hair hanging in front of his forehead. "They come to me," he says, like he's almost angry. "I turn most of them down because they can be annoying as fuck, but the ones I don't turn down. I tell them exactly what it's going to be like. Strictly physical and a one time deal. But somewhere between the yes and the sheets they get shit confused. Then there's no option but to be rude because if I'm moderately nice they'll think they still have a chance."
Tyson watches the skies as he listens to him talk about how annoying it is that girls fall at his feet. But he gets it. Sort of. "Why don't you turn down some of them?"
"Why would I deprive myself like that?" Kai asks in response.
Tyson's face bursts into a grin. "Ah" he shakes his head, hunching his shoulders against the cold.
"Want my jacket?" Kai offers.
Tyson whips his head around to stare at him. He lifts a surprised brow. "I thought only girls were lucky enough to have that honour?"
He's grinning, thinking he's joking, but the grin falls off when Kai peels the jacket off his shoulders.
What the fuck
He opens his mouth to protest but the words don't form quick enough. Kai drapes it over his back, pulling it closed around his neck. He's immediately surrounded by heat. The words die.
"Warm?" he asks.
Tyson nods once, smiling softly.
Kai steps back, lower lip pulled in to hide a grin.
They resume their walk.
Tyson eyes his shirt. It doesn't look too thick. "Won't you be cold?" he asks.
"Where I come from, this feels like summer."
"Oh" he says. "Tough Russian skin."
"Mhm"
Kai's phone starts ringing. He pulls it out of his pocket to check the caller ID. The hint of smile on his face wipes clean off. "We should head back," he says, sounding tense, turning them around, before answering the call.
A/N: Didn't want to leave yall hanging like that.
