An Insatiable Hunger
"Loog at all dos cars, bois," Tyson whistles as he pulls into the parking lot. They evaded the police. By sheer dumb luck. Also, Tyson was counting on Kai to call someone and bail them out if they got hauled to the station by the shurtah(1). "Luxury vans, RVs," he lists as he reverses into their allocated spot. "RVs? Damn, what kind of people are staying here?"
Kai spares him a glance before climbing out of the vehicle. He thinks he rolled his eyes at him. Discreetly.
"I never told you," Tyson shuts the door and it makes a satisfying thud sound. "I love your cars. This one. The one you drive back home," he says as he rounds the car to fall in step beside Kai. "This is my fave however, it's so majestic."
"The car?" Kai asks as they make their way to the elevators, his tone borderline haughty. Tyson hands him the keys.
"Yeah, go ahead, judge me all you want, but I know how to appreciate a work of art when I see one." The translucent glistening doors to the lift open before them. "What a beast," Tyson praises as he enters.
"Thank you"
Kai leans against one corner as they go up. The floors are visible from inside. They glide past them with ease. Tyson sees something like pretty bubbles all wrapped together hug the sides of the elevator for a moment. He's stunned as he touches the glass. It's already gone. They go up another floor. "What was that?"
Kai's eyes are on him, but he doesn't grace him with a reply. He thinks this is amusing or something. He watches Tyson like he's constantly putting on a show.
"Do I look like a circus to you?" he asks Kai. He gets a full grin from him in response, his shoulder lifting briefly in a silent laugh. He's insulting. "You're insufferable" Tyson mutters, turning back to the glass.
The reader beeps as the doors unlock.
Kai steps through the entrance to their suite first. Tyson follows him. The room lights up on its own.
Kai's arm brushes his when he reaches around him to close the door. His body crowding him for a moment. Tyson holds his breath, staring at a point above Kai's grey shirt covered shoulder, away from his neck peeking through the unbuttoned collar.
He relaxes when Kai moves away, and toes his shoes off.
"I'm kinda hungry again," Tyson says, sinking his soles into the luscious rug with a sigh.
"You have the appetite of a baby dinosaur," he hears Kai comment and turns around with a mildly offended look on his face.
"What?"
Kai lines his boots by the doorway. Order. He's a man of order.
"Order whatever you want," he says, gesturing towards the phone at a nearby end table stocked with flowers.
Tyson's stumped. He thinks and comes up empty handed. "But I don't-" Know the names of most things here. He shuffles to the phone anyway and picks up the hand piece. "What do I want?" he muses to himself, the phone against his chin. They would probably have anything he asks for. This being the Royal suite and all.
"They left a menu," Kai says, picking up a booklet beside the landline. It's maroon. With something in bold written across its front cover. In the native language. Kai flips through it as Tyson sneaks a peek at the contents.
He needs something that will fill his stomach but nothing heavy. Another one of those felafel sandwiches? No, that's too hot. No sandwiches.
Kai's on the sandwiches page.
"No" says Tyson.
"No?" He flips, a sleek eyebrow lifting. "How about dessert?"
"I already had that ice cream."
"And you puked it out."
"I want something light and fun," he tells Kai, eyes shining up at him.
Kai stares. Tyson feels the judgement coming from him all the way to his bones. "I'm thinking chicken nuggets," he says, unfazed, although that doesn't sound too savoury.
The chicken nuggets might have reminded Kai of something, because his scrutinizing eyes light up all of a sudden. He puts the booklet down and grabs the handset from Tyson. "I know what you'll like," he says, pressing a button and raising the phone to his ear like he's got it all figured out.
"What? What have you thought of?" Tyson asks with confusion, watching him as he listens to the phone ring. "What if I don't like it?"
"You'll like it," says, Kai, gaze slanting towards Tyson. "Trust me"
He shakes his head. "Your money, pal."
They're a variation of finger sandwiches. They are made of kneaded bread and bite-sized, with delicious stuffing of meat and cheese and honey inside. He loves it. He doesn't know the name but he is in love with the the dish. For once, he is thankful for Kai's impeccable people-reading abilities. Tyson finishes them off all by himself, sitting in the silence of the grand living room as Kai gets ready for the night in the bathroom.
He places the empty plate aside on the coffee table and gets up to brush his teeth. He doesn't look at the bedroom as he passes by it on the way to a sink.
He can feel a headache coming on. It's probably the jetlag and the rash driving. Also, the vomiting. He's always gotten a headache after a throw up.
His eyes look drowsy when he looks up at his reflection in the mirror on the wall the sink is attached to.
A lock of his bangs is sticking up too. He fixes it. It doesn't stay in place. His hair is acting weird. It feels weird too. Must be the water.
He hears the door to the bathroom unlock. Kai's done.
Tyson speed walks to the bedroom and grabs his suitcase. He needs a soft shirt and a pair of shorts. He takes out a full sleeve (because modesty) cotton white tee and pale pink shorts. Then rethinks the pink shorts. He has three pairs. A black, a beige, and the pink. He packed all the nice ones for Roppongo and he brought that suitcase straight here. He chooses the beige. For someone reason, he wants to match the colour tone of the bedroom.
He doesn't know why. Camouflaging purposes may be.
The hallway is empty when he makes his way to the bathroom.
Kai is not there either.
He must be somewhere else in the suite. May be the gym. Who knows?
He changes into his night clothes in the bathroom and folds his button down and jeans neatly on the marble counter beside the sink. He tucks them under his arm and merrily trots back to the bedroom.
Kai is there now. He's in his sweats, checking his phone. The cream shirt stretching across his broad back. Tyson can see his muscles through it.
He averts his eyes and takes a deep breath before stepping inside.
The bedroom is warm and cosy and rose golden. The drapes hang beautifully around the bed. He sets his folded clothes on the chair, his back turned to Kai. He fiddles with the ends of his sleeves that fall over his wrists. Curling his fingers in them.
"Do you want me to sleep out in the hall?" he hears Kai ask all of a sudden.
He turns around startled. "No"
"You sure?"
"You paid for the room. I can't let you do that." What kind of ass would he be if he did? "I'd rather sleep on the-"
He's already shaking his head. "I brought you here. I don't want you to be uncomfortable."
"I'm not comfortable." Tyson takes three big strides towards the bed to show him.
"Okay" Kai nods, understandingly, looking at him.
"Okay" Tyson repeats, his knee nudging the blanket. The soft sleeve stretched enough to tear in his hands.
Kai's near the foot of the bed. He has to look at him through the space in between the drapes. The darned classical-looking drapes that make him feel like he's married to him. Kai's staring at him, his bottom lip pulled in. One hand in his pockets like he doesn't know what to make of Tyson.
Honestly, Kai. I don't know what to make of myself either. He winces a breath between his teeth and pushes the drapes aside, climbing up on the mattress. Fuck it.
There's a small world inside. Just for him and Kai.
He's contemplating life, sitting on his haunches on the satiny sheets, when the room suddenly goes dark.
"Did you do that?" Tyson asks in a tiny voice like he's afraid to wake the ghouls that live under the bed.
The drapes are shoved aside as a figure slips in through them. He's clutching at the blanket in his lap. It is pitch black around him.
"Kai?" His name is a whisper in his throat.
"Yeah" Comes his even-toned reply, his voice as dry as ever. "I turned off the lights."
"Okay" He exhales in relief. Staring at what he thinks is the canopy. There's rustling and shifting next to him as Kai settles. He's close. Yet he's still too far away for his presence to be comforting. "Can you fix the air conditioning?" Tyson asks. There's a whine in his words. Like he's a child again.
"What's wrong with it?"
"It's too hot."
"It is?" There's surprise in his voice. Tundra-living creatures like him are usually the ones who complain about these things. But tonight, it's Tyson who's suddenly all sweaty. He sweats in buckets when he's afraid.
Kai fiddles with the remote till the temperature dips enough to calm his wildly beating heart. Tyson shuffles toward him inconspicuously while he's distracted.
When Kai lies back down with a deep-felt exhale again, Tyson's in the middle of the bed. But since it's dark as fuck, nobody can tell.
And he can't call him out on it.
He shifts to his right a few more inches, may be feet, very silently, before lying back on the mattress. His head sinking softly into the cool lush pillow.
A quiet sigh leaves his lips. Finally he can sleep.
"You realize we are shoulder-to-shoulder?" Kai asks out loud in the dark.
He's pretending they are not. "Kai, don't talk."
"Why not?" His voice. His voice. Is right next to him. He could just turn his head and kiss him.
"Because if you keep talking, I'll explode," he says. Eyes scrunched shut. Basking in the contrast of the coolness all around him and the heat on his right coming from Kai.
He shuts up. Doesn't say a word after that.
Tyson sleeps soundly. With a smile on his face.
The sun is on his fucking face. It's beaming on Kai's sunglasses as he stands with his hands on his hips, looking up and down the road. They're parked along the road from Palm Jumeirah.
"Clearly, we are not equipped enough for this," Tyson squints at his phone.
Kai grabs it out of his hand.
"Hey!"
"You're googling 'Activities to do in Dubai'?" he reads out with a frown. "What do you have me for?" he turns to ask like he's offended.
They both realize what he just said at the same time.
"That was not a line," Kai clears up for Tyson. Then goes back to being a bitch. "Did you not read the itinerary?"
"We are not sticking to that thing." He takes his phone back from him. "It's dull and boring. I want to go to the fish market."
Kai barks a laugh. "Ha! 'Cause that's entertaining?"
The fucking contempt. "That's the kind of sight you don't get to see all the time," Tyson argues. "That's cultural."
Kai pushes his tongue against his cheek. Considering it for a moment. "The place will stink," he says after.
Tyson grins. "I don't have a problem with that."
"I do"
"You can put up with it. Plus, they will have freshly caught fish, which we can buy and-"
"Barbeque" Kai lifts his chin, an idea striking him.
"Yeah" Tyson gazes up at him. "Glad we could finally agree on something."
He sees a sharp, jagged smile curl across Kai's face. "We're not going to the fish market," he says. "We're going to Zabeel park." His hand closes around Tyson's wrist and drags him back to the car.
There are so many people in the park because it's Friday and it's an off day. Tyson people-watches as Kai swats at the smoke in front of them with a hard paper cover. They're sitting along the curb of the walkway separating two sectors of the park.
There's a large family sitting around in foldable chairs in a haphazard semicircle. He sees a chubby child throw a disc to his slightly older brother. A European couple strolling past them, holding hands and chatting.
There's another man barbecuing like them a few metres away.
The meat smells delicious.
Tyson rests his chin on a hand and watches the two large pieces of mutton cook slowly on the charcoal grill.
Kai has a light frown between his brows as he uses a pair of tongs to flip one of them.
"Where did you learn how to bbq?" he asks him.
"Garden parties" He picks up the smoke swatter again. "My father used to throw a lot of them. He taught me when I was seven."
"Your father taught you to cook meat on grills when you were seven?" Tyson's eyebrows hit his hairline. "My grampa won't let me in the kitchen even now. He's scared I might burn the house down. Or myself."
"Your grandpa sounds like a wise man," Kai drawls.
Tyson tries to pinch his knee. He jerks it away in time.
"Your dad doesn't throw garden parties anymore?" he asks, noticing that he'd said 'used to'.
"No" Kai replies casually. His tone and manner almost bored. He'd seen it last night too. When Kai had said he wasn't close 'at all' to his family. This retired unaffectedness when he talked about them. Like he was talking about a scar from a wound that had healed a long time ago.
"What kind of people are they?" Tyson asks him softly. Watching a beetle crawl past his left shoe.
"Who?"
"Your family" He's always been interested. Tyson feigns nonchalance and ease like he's not hanging onto every movement of Kai's.
His shoulders stiffen the lightest bit. Tyson senses it more than he sees it. The discomfort rising within him. His expression betrays nothing however. He's just smoking meat.
"My family are the same people who fled their country at the first sign of a revolution," he says, lazily flapping at the smoke wafting from the grill. "To keep their Fabergé eggs safe." Tyson marvels at the simultaneous sarcasm and distaste in his tone.
"You mean they're...rich people who like being rich?"
Kai's silent for a beat. "You summed it up perfectly," he says after. The breeze playing with his hair.
Tyson stares at him with his hand still propping up his chin. "You don't like any of them?"
He doesn't answer, a wan smile curving on his lips. Tyson doesn't know what it means. His smiles are just as inscrutable as his poker face sometimes. It could mean anything and nothing.
He asks a better question. "What do they do?"
"My grandfather's a businessman," Kai says, his tone conversational, his eyes still on the grill. He hasn't taken his eyes off the grill since he started talking about his family.
"The Hiwatari Enterprises," Tyson chimes.
He gets an affirmative nod. "My father works in the same company."
Tyson watches him, expecting him to go on. Nothing except silence follows. He waits a moment before prodding, "And your mother?"
Kai's lips part as he takes a silent breath through his teeth. "Absent" he says.
Absent. Absent as in absent-minded parent or absent as in...not present in his life? Did she leave? he wants to ask, but now's not the time or place for that conversation.
"Your granny?" he nudges instead.
"Dead"
"Oh. Sorry, my bad." He immediately feels guilty.
"You don't have to be. She died a long time ago." Kai picks up the tongs. The meat is almost done.
He relaxes. "Your aunts and uncles?" Tyson leans forward slightly when he feels his attention move away from him.
Kai flips the meat, then grabs a bottle of water from his side to drink. "They don't do anything," he tells him, looking at something in the distance. His forearm balanced on his knee, the bottle hanging from his fingers. "They have enough to last them a lifetime." Wow. His aunts and uncles must get bored out of their minds. He wonders how they spend their time. Causing trouble?
Kai hands the water to Tyson. He accepts it readily. The smoke was parching his throat.
"Your grandfather has how many children?"
"Four. Three sons and a daughter. My father's the eldest."
"Everyone married?"
Kai nods. It's nice that he's being so open to him. Tyson feels something grow in his chest as he looks on.
"Cousins?"
"My father's direct younger brother and his wife have two children. Wyatt and his sister, Masha. His other brother doesn't have any. His sister has twins. They were born last year."
"You don't like them either?" he teases. "Wyatt's the only one that gets a free pass?"
"You're asking me if I like the twins because they're children?" Kai raises an eyebrow. Tyson nods. "I don't like children."
"Of course you don't." Tyson lifts the bottle to his lips. Kai's family sounds strenuous. People with too much time on their hands are never kind. He wonders what they did to make Kai pull away from them. And how far. He said he wasn't close 'at all' yet seems to talk to his aunt still, Wyatt's mother. How good is their relationship? Does he still accept their money? Who is paying for his college tuition and the cars and the jets?
"The eggs are in my family's treasury. I would never touch it."
It. Their treasury. He would never touch their treasury. He's paying out of his own pocket for everything.
Tyson's drinking mouthfuls when Kai suddenly says, "My great grandfather is still alive." He almost chokes.
"Wow, how old is he?" he asks, peeling the mouth of the bottle away from his.
"He's ancient" Kai's dragging his thumb along his chin, watching a kid drive a three-wheeled bike along the walkway. His expression is light. "And he doesn't talk."
Tyson laughs. Screwing the bottle's cap back on. "He must be fun at family dinner's."
Kai shakes his head. "Ready to have your bbq?" he asks instead of answering, closing the topic. His gaze finally falling upon Tyson.
"Oh, we're done?" he gasps, his attention diverting back to the grill. The meat looks delicious.
"We're done" Kai pulls a bottle of juice from the kit by his side and pours it over the barbeque.
Tyson leans a little forward, his mouth nearly brushing his hair as he whispers to him, "Are you a chef?"
Kai's lips curve in a light smile as he adds the last touches to their food. "Yeah" he replies in a hushed tone.
Tyson grins, charmed.
"This isn't the fish market," Tyson's eating kebabs as they walk through the creek. He hasn't stopped eating since they landed and it's wonderful to watch. It's like the city is making him hungry.
He's distracted by the small colourful boats and the old-fashioned buildings around them. The salty smell of the canal and the rush in the area.
"Let's go boat riding," he suggests to Kai. "Ooh! Floating restaurant!" He points at a boat waiting in the canal for people to board. "Kai, look." He takes a bite from the beef on the skewer and pulls on Kai's hand insistently.
He nods, acknowledging him. "We'll take an Abra."
"What's an Abra?"
An Abra is a traditional ferry made of wood. They hire one and the man takes them around the creek. From Bur Dubai to Deira. Tyson bought a large hat and sunglasses earlier. He holds onto the hat as the boat gently cruises through the water, wind whipping around them. "It is windy today," he says to the driver in lightly accented English. "Is it always like this?"
The driver, who is a middle aged Bangladeshi man, replies with a smile. "No. Today we have much wind. It makes the heat bearable. Usually, noon time is very hot."
Tyson nods. "I wanted to come in the morning. He didn't want to." He jabs a thumb over his shoulder at Kai, who is leaning towards the back against a wooden pillar.
"Evening time is best. Next time, come in the evening. Where are you two from?" the man asks.
"Japan!"
"Oh, far away!"
"Yeah!"
They continue to converse throughout the ride. Kai stays out of it. Admiring the city around them.
Tyson seems happy. He's enjoying his time here. Away from his friends he'd thought he might be unhappy, but Tyson makes wherever he goes his home. He fits in seamlessly to his surroundings. Belonging everywhere.
"Make him fall in love." Tala's words echo in his head. It seems ridiculous now. How desperate he was to pull Tyson back into his life. Now that he's here, shining all around him like the sun again, he feels a quiet tranquility.
He doesn't have the power to make anyone fall in love with him. Neither does he want anyone to. He brought Tyson to Dubai to make amends, to keep him around for a while longer. And if the magic happens, and Tyson does fall in love, then Kai would get to keep him for a lot longer. Perhaps till the end of the year. But it also means breaking Tyson's heart when his fixation with him ends. And he does not want to break it.
Despite everything he said to Sergei and Yuriy, he does not want to hurt Tyson.
They stopped playing that game in freshmen year. After hurting one too many innocent people. It was never meant to go as far as it did. The game was started to protect them. But they got carried away. And it ended ugly.
In a way, the others were still playing. Not Sergei. He's guilt-ridden.
Just like Kai.
But Yuriy and Bryan never paid a price as big as he did. So they never learned.
"You two are...friends?" he hears the ferry driver ask.
"Yeah, friends," Tyson replies with ease, fixing his hat.
The possibility of Kai ending up hurting him is starting to seem more and more likely.
The ferry guy drops them off at the souk side of the creek, and Tyson goes rampant. He is bedazzled by the hundreds of shops and marts and restaurants in such a small crowded space.
He spends every penny he brought along with him that morning buying shit he's never going to use. He spends hours pulling Kai from shop to shop till he has enough to fill the entire Range Rover's storage.
At five in the evening, Tyson buys chai from an Indian snack stall and sits at a table outside with Kai, sipping on the steaming drink. His eyes get bigger whenever he takes a sip, like the cup is blocking his vision or something.
"Good?" Kai asks him, sprawled on a plastic chair, arms folded across his chest. Tyson's boot is touching his.
"Yeah" he says, moving the cup away from his red and slightly swollen lips. He ate a cup of spicy ramen half an hour ago and cried. His body seemingly still hasn't recovered from the fiery assault on its senses. "You want some?"
"No. The Global Village is open," Kai tells him.
"It is?" His eyes light up. "Let's go there tonight."
Kai agrees. He picks up his phone and scrolls through his texts. There are hundreds. Yuriy is shouting at him in caps for ignoring him. They're here. They're staying at the Obelisk.
The sky is orange and the canal waters are gleaming. The sun dipping behind the tall buildings. The air's beginning to grow chilly. Tyson hunches his shoulders and cradles his tea with both hands.
Kai taps the side of his boot with his.
"Mm?" He raises his head in response.
"Shall we go?" The flea market is starting to get busier.
He wipes his mouth with his palm. "Where?"
"Back to the hotel. Let's unwind for a bit and come back when we're refreshed."
"Okay"
Kai grabs his keys off the table and stands. Tyson gets up too, finishing the rest of his drink, before discarding the paper cup in a nearby bin.
Something tumbles off the bags of stuff in the back to the center console when he brakes at a red light. Kai picks it up and examines it.
It looks like a hair accessory.
Tyson snatches it out of his hand and twists to the back to stash it back in its bag.
Kai stares out the windshield at the signal, one hand on the wheel.
Tyson turns to the front in his seat and sighs.
"You're judging hard, like," he licks his lips. "Some of those things are for my friends, okay? Most of them are."
"What did you buy?" Kai asks out of curiosity. Watching the numbers count down. The streets are busy since it's the weekend.
He bought so many trinkets.
"Clothes. Souvenirs. They're going to ask when I get back anyway, and everything was so cheap."
"Is the hair thing for Hilary?"
"Yeah"
Kai chews on the thought silently. What kind of a person simply gives and gives and gives?
"Do you have some water?" Tyson asks him, swallowing and putting his hand on his chest. "I think I have heartburn."
There's a bottle in the side pocket. He slides it out and hands it to Tyson. He drinks gratefully, lips sealed around the opening. His throat bobbing with the gulps.
Kai holds out his fingers for the water when he's done, his eyes on the signal. He gives it to him without screwing the cap back on. Kai lifts it straight to his mouth.
Tyson looks away, cheeks colouring.
The room is artificially lit when he walks in so he strides to the windows and wrestles the curtains apart to reveal the breathtaking view beyond.
Half the bedroom is edged by a rounded wall. Covered by drapes. When those are cast aside, he finds out that the wall is made of clear glass.
The sky is wide and painted with warm colours. He can see the ocean in the distance. The cars moving slowly in the traffic ten floors below. The buildings around them.
He hears footsteps behind him.
He pushes the curtains aside some more. Revealing more.
"Wow" he says to Kai, turning, who is sitting on the bed, pulling on his socks, in a fresh set of clothes. Newly showered like he's allergic to sweat. He glances up at Tyson. There's a ghost of a smile on his face.
He is dressed in navy blue and dark jeans. His hair recently combed neatly to the side.
He's glowing.
"Are you like OCD?" Tyson asks him.
"What about me screams OCD, Tyson?" he prompts, in that ever-composed and sarcastic tone of his.
"You take a lot of baths."
"I take two in a day. That is perfectly normal." He rolls his jeans down over his ankle, his gaze on him.
Tyson narrows his eyes. "Hmm"
o - o - o
He steps toward him. Till he's standing right in front of Kai. A thoughtful look on his face.
He lifts a hand. And runs it along the side of Kai's head. Like he's tucking a lock of hair behind his ear.
Kai holds still, staring at him, silently.
His fingers graze the side of his neck for a heartbeat. Then they're gone.
He moves away from him and walks out of the room. His gait peppy and unconcerned.
Tyson's stuffing his face again. They bought Luqaimat, sweet Arabic dumplings, from a group of ladies selling them from a tent. They're in the Global Village, which is a themed park/ market that has pavilions showcasing the culture from around the world.
They visited the Dubai mall earlier, where Tyson clicked a bunch of pictures at the aquarium to show his friends. Kai was caught in the background of one of them. Tyson promised him he'll crop him out of it.
"What is the syrup?"
"Date syrup"
"Nom" he says happily, looking like a chipmunk with his cheeks full.
They enter the Yemeni section and Kai buys bottles of honey. For Wyatt. Boy loves honey more than his life.
He chooses the best-tasting ones with the help of Tyson. (Kai accepts samples from the shopkeeper and pours them down Tyson's throat, who nods approvingly or disapprovingly to each. Kai worries for his health.
"You shouldn't be so enthusiastic about drinking honey."
"It's just a spoonful, Kai.")
They exit Yemen and enter a bunch of others. Iraq, Saudi, Turkey, Egypt. Tyson chats up every seller he meets like he's being paid to do so.
Yuriy calls him in the middle of a show. Tyson's too distracted by the dance performance on the stage to pay mind to Kai when he slips away for ten minutes to talk to him.
There are lots of spectacles. They arrived at the time when the Village was at its peak. There are endless entertainments around them.
Fire-breathing stunts, traditional male group dances that involve men dancing in their cultural garbs with long canes, acrobatics, fan dances. They're occupied from 08:00 pm to 10:00 pm.
Kai pulls Tyson into a big tent at 10:30. Tyson pulls him back out into another one at 10:31. "I wanna see belly-dancing. Shut up and come with me."
They sit down on cushions among other audience members. A big circular space left in the middle of the tent for the performer.
o - o - o
There's food on the low table that is perfect for eating from when you're sitting cross-legged on the floor. The tent is fully carpeted. He thinks he saw a similar design in one of those rugs shops in the Eqyptian pavilion.
He picks up a green grape and plops it in his mouth. Kai's nice and silent for once.
The dancer suddenly enters the tent and Tyson gasps. A grape falling out of his hand. She's beautiful. Wearing a long, ruby-coloured, flaring skirt and a red bejeweled blouse. Her long black hair is let down behind her back, and it flows past her hips.
The music starts before he can prepare himself. The dancer begins and Tyson's thunderstruck by her beauty and gracefulness.
o - o - o
He's crying when it ends. It's ridiculous. Kai hands him a kerchief because he's wiping tear after tear from his cheeks and clapping too.
"Why're you crying?" he hisses when Tyson seems unable to stop.
"She's a goddess," he hiccups, blowing his nose. He's a mess.
Kai grimaces when the dancer herself notices him bawling.
His tears dry in an instant when he sees her approaching. Kai is irked.
She smiles, holding her bangled hand out to Tyson.
o - o - o
This is fun. This is so much fun. He's twirling with the lady, a cane in his hand. The music is loud in his ears.
She's teaching him how to dance like them.
The world spins around him. He sees Kai's pinched face among the happy ones, and breaks free from the dancer's circle to pull him up to his feet.
He doesn't budge at first. Even after he drags him out to the center of the tent.
The dancer calls other people onto the floor.
Tyson pushes at Kai's chest till he gives in. Loosening up. His expression lightening. When the stage is crowded around them, he accepts the cane from Tyson.
o - o - o
He giggles at Kai's sunglasses. He's utterly handsome when he grins behind them.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses?"
"For propriety's sake."
"You're ridiculous"
He's lithe. He's manly. He makes Tyson think things he never should.
There's a dimple on his cheek. A five o clock shadow along his jaw. His skin glows in the dark blue shirt.
He teases Tyson, beckoning him toward him. He tugs at him with the cane. Tyson goes. He wants to touch his hair.
The dancer's hand pulls on his. Breaking him out of the spell.
Kai's phone rings. His grin falls.
He watches as Kai signs to him that he's going outside to take the call. His eyes follow him out the tent, his face growing lonesome as Kai leaves.
A/N:
(1)The POLICE
So it appears we are moving at a pace slower than I anticipated. Y'all, stop counting. This is embarraazzing. Are you embarraazzed?
*reading* "got your back part 2 electric hoO-" TF- Grab-my-digits-dude! There will be no part 2! We will complete this in one. We will. But not in 3ish chapters, honey, no. *is extremely embarraaazzed*
Big thanks to everyone for reading. And reviewing.
Have a fun and spooky Halloween everyone!
Special thanks to CuteTyHil, Macibacsi, AlyssWonderland, Maya (welcome, honey!), Grab-my-digits-dude, Ana, ScarletWitch-QueenOfChaos, stormingflames, Ellaorants and the guests for all the support so far. You are all very much loved.
