Chapter 5 - my heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue

"You're singing," Nya accused over a cup of tea. Her eyes glinted mischievously through the rising steam.

He rolled his eyes as he grabbed her plate, still sticky with the remnants of maple syrup.

"I am not," he said, setting it in the warm, soapy water.

"Yes, you are," Jay said as he dried a pan.

"The both of you are liars."

"Skylor," Nya said as their roommate rushed into the room. She looked nice, wearing a dark yellow dress and chunky belt.

"Have you guys seen my keys?" Skylor said. "I thought I put them in my purse, but…"

"Bowl?" Jay offered.

Skylor slid over to the bowl near the door with their keys. After a second of digging, she gave a cry of delight. She came back into the room, holding them up for the three of them to see.

"Congratulations," Nya said flatly. "Got a question for you."

"I might have an answer," Skylor said, grabbing her purse off the kitchen table where she'd dumped it.

"Was Kai singing?"

"What, just now or while he was helping Jay make breakfast?"

"Both."

"Then, yeah."

"I was not singing," Kai insisted.

Skylor exchanged a look with Jay and Nya and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say, lover boy."

She pecked him on the cheek and ruffled his hair.

"Wish I could stay and chat," she said. "But I've got a date."

"Is this the one with the cute earrings or the skirt?" Nya said, changing her sitting position.

"Neither. I haven't seen either of them in… two or three months? Anyway, I met this girl – totally gorgeous with bright green eyes and this smile. So, anyway, I met her about a month and a half ago at Laughy's –"

"The karaoke bar?" Jay said, his face scrunching up.

"Yeah, anyway. She wasn't sure which boba to get, and I suggested the brown sugar, because it's delicious. She ended up not liking it, but we got to talking and one thing led to another…"

"You ended up with your tongue down her throat in an alley," Kai said flatly.

"You know me so well." Skylor twirled in front of them. "I look okay?"

"You look amazing, as always," Nya said, resting head against the back of the chair.

"Thanks! So, she asked me on this date for this morning, and the plan was to spend the whole day together."

"I sense there's a 'but' there."

"But, she has to go in this evening."

"At least you still have what's left of the morning and most of the afternoon," Jay said.

"I won't if I don't leave, so bye! Love all of you!" She headed to the door, and slipped on her boots. "Jay, make sure to have dinner ready for me when I get back. I want chicken piccata."

"You'll have to pick up the lemons!" Jay called after her. "And the capers. I don't know the last time we bought capers."

"Do you want me to do a grocery run?" Nya said. "I don't have anything planned for the afternoon."

Jay sighed.

"Why did we ever agree to move in with her?"

"You were trying to be nice?" Kai said, starting on finishing up the last of the dishes.

"We needed money for the spare room after Kai moved out?" Nya said, taking a sip of her tea.

"Speaking of moving out," Jay said, turning to Kai. "Your lease should be up soon, right?"

"Uh, yeah. In another month."

"Are you thinking about renewing or…"

Kai dropped the plate back into the water. He turned around so he could lean against the cabinet.

"I actually haven't thought much about it," he said. "To be honest, I'll probably just renew."

"What about moving in with the guy that's got you singing?" Nya said, sitting her cup down on the table.

Kai's whole body tensed.

"I don't… Zane and I, we're not… I think it's too new to move in together yet."

"I think it's the right time," Jay said, patting his shoulder.

"We haven't been together that long."

"Jay and I moved in together after dating for a month," Nya said.

"We dated when we were younger though. I already knew how to annoy you."

"I know." She gave Jay a smile. Kai had seen it many times before. She always wore it when Jay did or said something that made her… made her extremely happy. That was the best way Kai could describe it.

And Jay gave her that dopey smile that meant he understood exactly and couldn't help but to kiss her right then and there.

"Ew," Kai groaned, covering his eyes. The smile that pulled at his mouth didn't disappear while he peeked out through his fingers. "Gross."

Nya broke the kiss to laugh. Jay and Kai joined in.

Jay settled at the table next to Nya, lacing their hands together and scooting his chair closer to her. She rested her head on his shoulder. Jay turned his head to kiss her forehead, making her hum.

Kai, meanwhile, finished up the last few things in the sink.

Seeing the two of them made Kai's heart swell. Nya had never been happier than when she was with Jay. And that was all Kai wanted for her.

And Jay was the only person Kai could ever imagine doing that.

When he was drying the last cup, Nya spoke up.

"You should bring him to game night," Nya said, lifting her head offJay's shoulder.

"Who?"

"Your boyfriend, Zane."

Boyfriend. Huh.

"We, uh, we haven't established that yet."

Nya frowned, her forehead wrinkled.

"Wait, seriously?" Jay said.

"Yeah. Zane and I, we really haven't talked about that yet. I mean, we're dating and everything but…"

Jay rolled his eyes.

"Labels. You seriously haven't talked about labels, yet?" Jay stood up and shook his head. "Nya and I talked about that before we moved in together."

Kai sighed.

"Look," he said, "I'll ask him to game night, and I'll… I'll talk to him about the whole… boyfriend thing."

"Kai," Nya said. "You're helpless. You know that?"

Zane invited him over for dinner that night. Jay and Nya had practically forced him out of the door before he could even get his shoes on.

A quick text asking if he should bring anything, sent Kai to the local liquor store. Wine. Zane was a Chardonnay guy. Kai… wasn't. He actually didn't really have much of an opinion of wine or Chardonnay, but Zane seemed to enjoy it every now and again. Especially if he was making dinner.

He wasn't sure what to really get, and Zane was taking longer than normal to answer him, so Kai went with his guts and picked out a bottle. Something with notes of oranges and honey and oak. At least, that's what the bottle said, anyway.

He'd just hit send and let Zane know that he found something that he hoped was good when he bumped into someone.

"Whoa there," a familiar voice said as a familiar hand stopped him from dropping the bottle. His phone did land on the floor however.

Cole.

Kai felt his breath stutter out when they locked eyes. A brief second of time slowing to a halt, warmth, comfort, and unending trust was broken through by pain and hurt.

He took a step back, trying to mask his feelings. But he must have slipped, because Cole let his arm go and a frown took over.

"Hey, Kai," Cole said. "How, uh, how are things?"

Kai opened his mouth when his phone vibrated on the ground. Cole blinked and picked it up, clearly reading the name and seeing the text that came through.

"Things are great, actually," Kai said, taking his phone. The screen wasn't cracked, thankfully. But the case had seen better days. "How are things with you?"

"Things, uh, things are fine, I guess." Cole stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He nodded towards the bottle Kai was holding. "Chardonnay? Didn't know you liked the stuff."

"Yeah. Well, I mean… You know how it is."

"Yeah." Cole opened his mouth to say something, a pained expression flitted across his face before being wiped away by an easy smile. "I should, uh, I should let you go. Don't want to make you late for your date."

Kai opened his mouth to retort, but Cole swept past him. A light kiss of his cologne tickling his senses. Pine and cinnamon and lemongrass.

The scent of his soap lingered in the bathroom for months. And he'd had to wash their sheets too many times to try and remove all traces of him.

His phone buzzed in his hand, jolting Kai away from his memories.

Zane. Checking in to make sure he was fine.

Kai let him know he would be checking out shortly and on his way.

Zane, a little frazzled, opened the door for Kai when he arrived at the apartment. He gave Kai a quick peck before turning right around and back into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Kai said, slipping off his shoes. His eyes trailed after Zane, who was dashing about the kitchen like a madman.

The entryway smelled amazing, but as he got further in, an acrid smell broke through.

There was a clatter as some bowls were dropped into the sink, a curse, and Zane hurried over to the stove.

"I ruined dinner," Zane said, turning off the stovetop.

"I'm sure you didn't ruin it," Kai said, setting the chardonnay into the fridge. They could probably add ice to it to cool it down. That was something people did, right?

He crossed the room over to where Zane was and, hesitantly, wrapped his arms around Zane's waist. His heart thudded in his chest as he placed a kiss to Zane's t-shirt, right between the shoulder blades.

Zane relaxed into the embrace, placing a hand over Kai's.

Kai wasn't tall enough to see over his shoulders, but he could see the protein stuck to the pan. Whatever sauce it had been cooked with had carmelized into a fine, crispy layer.

"Huh," he said. "Didn't know you liked things that well done."

Zane turned around to face him, pulling him closer to kiss him. Kai hummed into the kiss. This was nice. This was pleasant. He was actually getting very comfortable with kissing someone who wasn't Cole.

Cole.

Kai broke the kiss, his eyes fluttering open to see Zane chase his lips. When Kai didn't move to kiss him again, Zane opened his eyes.

"Did something happen?" Zane asked, still holding Kai close.

He couldn't tell Zane that he'd seen Cole, could he? It wouldn't feel… It didn't feel right. Cole was his past, now. Zane was… Zane was…

"Are you my boyfriend?" he asked.

It took Zane a moment to process what Kai had said, and Kai didn't blame him.

"I would hope so," Zane said slowly. "I told my father about you."

"Oh."

Zane smiled and chased after Kai's lips again. This time for a far more chaste peck.

"Nya wants to meet you. So do Jay and Skylor."

"I'd be happy to meet them. What day were you thinking?"

"Game night?"

Zane's eyes flicked over to the calendar on his fridge. How he was able to read anything from the stove, Kai didn't have any idea.

"Game night is Friday, correct?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be there."

"Yeah?"

"For you? Anything."

Inspired by: "Lover" by Taylor Swift