Story of a Careless Boy and his Rusty Rat Trap

He dreams of a car ramming into his legs and jolts awake with his heart thundering in his chest. He's in a lecture hall. The class is wrapping up.

He wipes the sides of his face to get rid of any evidences of drooling and grabs his things. He realizes he has five unread texts from Kai when he checks his phone.

Shit

He calls Kai to make up for the lack of immediate response.

It rings a few times and then he picks up, as Tyson's rounding the corner and exiting the classroom.

"What did you want?" he asks in a carefully neutral tone.

"A lot of things," comes a drawl. "Come down to the fountain, Granger."

"For what?"

"Scavenger hunt," he says it like it pains him. Like he can't believe those words are coming out of his mouth.

"Oh" he says softly, surprised. Sophomore year, Dean Valkova had demanded that Kai participate in at least five social events that would have him mingling with the student body outside of his usual gang, non-sexually of course, deeming it necessary for fostering good relations between the students of Toho University because him and his posse had spent the entirety of their freshman year scaring the shit out of the third and fourth years in retaliation for hazing them right after orientation.

There's an exhale that sounds like a tired "yeah" from Kai's side but Tyson thinks he imagined that.

It's a miracle the building is still standing. The last remains of their old campus before it was reconstructed.

This place must at least be a hundred years old.

"Seventy eight," mutters Kai under his breath.

"Did I say that out loud?" asks Tyson, turning around to look at him. He is ignored as Kai bends to move a cloth on the ground. He's dainty with it, not wanting to dirty his hands as his fingers barely brush over it to nudge it aside. A rusty rat trap is under it. Dust inside.

This wasn't going to be easy.

Kai looks slightly disappointed, or may be that's just his face.

Tyson recalls the clue again and tries to make sense of it, but he cannot think of anything specific. The clue could literally be talking about anything.

All he got so far is that it's small. And easily hidden. And that there's five of them. The team that finds the most treasures wins.

Tyson spins on his heel and walks into the next room.

There are dusty shelves on one side. They have doors. Tyson pulls one open and a giant spider leaps out.

"Fuck" It scurries his way with the speed of a sports car, and Tyson nearly screams as he jumps aside.

He senses Kai coming up behind him and he yells at him to move out of the way.

"Watch out! Watch out!"

The eight legged lightning scrams in Kai's direction and Tyson's reaching for the dumbass' jacket to pull him aside, heart hammering in panic when Kai raises a boot-clad foot and steps on the spider.

Killing it.

Just like that.

Tyson stares at him appalled. "That was a life."

Kai meets his eyes, knowing all too well what Tyson's thinking. "Are you going to cry over a spider? Or try and lecture me about how it's cruel and uncaring to 'end any life'?"

Tyson opens his mouth and closes it, because he was actually about to do the latter and his heart did bleed a bit for the little thing that was now crushed under Kai's boot.

He saves the lecture and instead just says, "Only psychopaths kill spiders like that."

"Only psychopaths stalk people and resort straight to violence when angry."

He huffs. "I've already apologized for following you that night. I told you I didn't mean to do it. Do you want me to say it again? I will. I didn't know you were going to see your mother that night. I am sorry. I wouldn't have done it if I'd known. I wish I'd never followed you. I am sorry," he stresses again.

Kai stares at him. A ghost of distrust in his gaze. Like he's guessing at Tyson's intentions.

"You're not going to find any forgiveness from me," he says after a beat.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," he clarifies quickly. "I'm apologizing because what I did was wrong and I want to apologize for it. That's it." Then he adds on, making it very clear what he thinks of him, "I don't expect forgiveness from you anyway."

The set of his jaw hardens before he looks away dismissively, resuming to look for the treasure.

He can tell he regrets dragging him along for the hunt. Tyson feels good about having ruined his plans. Kai had thought he'd have a fun time tormenting him. He's glad he was able to put a damper on that. But he doesn't feel all that cheerful.

Tyson can never be truly happy around Kai.

He finds it after almost fifteen minutes. It's a small bag with fake gold coins in them stuffed into a hole in the wall. He grabs it and hurries toward Kai to show it off because he's been having a secret competition with him inside of his head.

Tyson spots Kai in one of the ancient lecture rooms with old broken chairs. "Hey, I found…" he starts and trails off as he notices something is off. He's just standing there, his back facing him.

Tension keeping the line of his shoulders rigid.

He walks in to the almost dark space and pauses. "Um Kai?"

He can hear his breathing. Faint but still audible. It's shallow and quick.

He notices that Kai has his fingers tightly curled around the back of one of the rotting chairs.

"Is everything…alright?" asks Tyson. Is this a prank? But if it is, it's not a very good one.

His breathing sounds more laboured the closer Tyson gets. He stops a few feet away, frowning, listening.

He's not faking it.

Tyson puts a hand on Kai's shoulder, lightly. "Hey" he calls, without any grudging or bitterness in his tone. "I found something."

There's a slight hitch in his breath before an erratic exhale punches out of him. He moves then, unfurling his fingers from the chair and stepping away from Tyson's touch.

He turns around and Tyson's able to catch a glimpse of his face before he leaves the room without looking at him once. His gaze darting around the floor.

Looking but not seeing.

He's panicking.

It's strange to see him like this but Tyson's had panic attacks before and he wouldn't-

He wouldn't wish it upon his worst enemy. Yet he's going through one right now. Tyson has to help him. Even though Kai doesn't deserve his help. He can leave him to deal with it on his own but Tyson thinks panic attacks are shitty and no one should have to go through them.

So he helps.

He's pacing in the hall trying not to make it obvious that he's pacing. Tyson grabs his sleeve and turns him around. "Kai" he says, trying to make him meet his gaze because he's avoiding it.

He's in his head.

"Kai" He grabs his shoulders and stoops down to his eye level, forcing himself into Kai's line of vision. "Look at me. You hate me, remember?"

Dark irises rise to meet his and they focus on him for a moment before they flit away, more troubled than before. Not enough of a distraction. He turns around again, trying to move to a different room. Go somewhere alone so he can have that full blown panic attack undisturbed.

No

"Wait, Kai." Tyson spins him back around by his upper arms and pulls him toward himself. Collides their mouths together.

Kai's lips are slightly cold, yet even softer than he remembers. He freezes as Tyson presses just a bit more firmly against his lips, closing his eyes.

He wonders if this is enough of a distraction to break him out of that space he is in in his head.

And it turns out that it is. Kai slowly unfreezes, his lips moving against Tyson's to return the kiss. His fingers coming to tentatively rest along Tyson's waist.

He kisses him gently for the first few seconds, then the hand that was touching his waist slides around to the small of his back and pulls him taut to Kai's side, his spine curving a little as Kai leans into him and deepens the kiss.

He can feel all of his attention is on him now. All his thoughts and focus zeroed in on the kiss. No longer stuck in his head. He can stop. He should stop.

There's no reason to keep this going anymore. It's not like he can search him for the tape. They're not making out. It's just a kiss.

Holy fuck, Kai is kissing him for real.

Tyson pulls away. Kai chases after him for a moment before he catches himself and leans away. He meets Tyson's eyes, gaze heady and drugged out. Tyson almost regrets breaking off. He gets him like this?

Kai clears his throat, his hand falling away from his back. Tyson steps back and takes a grounding breath.

"I found one," says Tyson, holding up the bag with the fake coins.

Kai glances at it and gives a tight nod. The air between them is quickly turning unbearably awkward as Kai realizes that Tyson just witnessed his mini panic attack and had kissed him to try and bring him out of it. And it had worked too.

Tyson can guess what thoughts must be running through his head as he turns around and walks out of there. Tyson follows too wordlessly, at a distance, figuring the building isn't likely to hold anymore treasures.

As he's walking back to their new campus Tyson wonders what had triggered the attack for Kai.

They are unable to find more bags and then noon rolls around and time's up. They come in fifth at least. Kai disappears somewhere after that and Tyson doesn't see him till it's almost one in the morning when he calls Tyson to the photocopier room in block B.

He's taking printouts of flyers to be hung around campus.

"No stores are open?" He sheds his backpack near the door and goes over to help.

"None nearby"

There are two neat piles of flyers stacked on a table near the printing and xerox machine. "How many are these?" asks Tyson, putting his hands on the top of each pile.

"Two hundred," says Kai, drawing a fresh stack out.

"How many more do we need?"

"A thousand and eight hundred more at least," says Kai, gaze rising to meet Tyson's eyes for the first time since the kiss in the old building that morning. A corner of his mouth is quirked up in the slightest of sneers.

The words register in Tyson's mind a beat later and he sighs. Great

He was going to be here all night.

Tyson takes over and Kai leaves the room. He's alone for around 15 minutes before Kai comes back and takes a seat on a stool near the table, swiping through his phone.

He prints around 140 copies before he feels eyes on him. Sure enough when he looks over his shoulder he finds Kai watching him with his chin lightly resting on a fist.

He looks away after a couple of seconds and goes back to his phone. To whomever he has been texting.

Tyson works in silence for another hour before his quota runs out and he starts getting fidgety. "What are these for?"

"Can't you read?"

"I can read," he replies crossly, looking at the paper in his hand. "But your flyer must be useless because I still can't tell what it's for."

Kai looks at him. "Then make another one and print out a couple thousand copies of it."

"You want me to-"

"Yes. You think the flyer's shit so make a new one."

Tyson drags in a breath through his nose. There's a computer right next to the printer. He glances at it and then back at Kai. "What's it for?"

Kai shows him a long WhatsApp text on his phone describing the event and inviting participants. "Turn this into a flyer that even the dumbest person on campus can understand, Granger."

Tyson narrows his eyes at him. "You're not as subtle as you think."

"I'm not trying to be," says Kai.

He makes one in around twenty minutes, prints it out and slaps it on the desk before Kai. "Simpler and prettier, don't you think?"

"Hm" he hums in sarcastic agreement, picking it up and inspecting it. "Just like you."

It's supposed to be an insult but Tyson's cheeks warm from hearing him associate that adjective to him. It's obviously not news that Kai finds him attractive. He likes kissing him after all. But hearing him admit it out loud is surprising.

"Shall I make copies of it then?"

Kai nods in approval after a beat.

Tyson makes copies. Around number 1300 the printer starts acting up. He's trying to figure out what's wrong with the machine when he hears Kai say from behind him, "It's on all of them."

"What?" He turns around. Kai's examining the stacks of flyers on the table. He flips the one in his hand and holds it up for Tyson to see. "That ugly pink spot. It's on all of them."

He looks at what he's pointing it: a small hot pink dot on the right side of the A3 sheet towards the top.

"Oh" He walks over and examines the other flyers. Almost all the flyers got that mark. "I don't think anyone will notice. It looks like a part of the design."

"No, it looks weird," says Kai.

"Fuck"

"Careless, which is what you always are."

"Well, you should have come and taken a look at them since you already know I'm so fuking careless. But you didn't. So I guess that makes two of us."

"My fault for trusting you not to fuck up something so simple."

Oh he's so rude and disrespectful. To hell with this. He throws the bundle of flyers in his hand onto the table. "You know what? You can fix that machine and print your flyers all by yourself. I'm out."

"You're not leaving until the flyers are ready," Kai says without missing a beat.

"Oh yeah? Watch me." He makes to move around him but Kai reaches out, fully intending to stop him by force. "I swear to god if you fucking touch me-" warns Tyson.

"What?" asks Kai. "What are you going to do?" He steps toward him and their chests brush. Tyson stops in his tracks, noting the change in his tone. It's slight but there's a soft, teasing quality to his voice. An absence of malice.

Kai touches his chin and Tyson doesn't immediately whack his hand away. Lets him swipe a finger over his jaw. It sends a thrill through his bloodstream, makes his heart go crazy. "Look at you," says Kai in that same tone, and he sounds so close. He's standing so close. "As fragile as a flower in my hands."

Tyson meets his eyes with a jerk and shakes his head. Tiny, tiny shakes of denial. Fragile is the last thing he is. And he knows that Kai knows it. Yet he's not talking about that kind of fragility.

"You think about it, don't you?" asks Kai, his gaze arresting. He caresses his cheek and Tyson feels his entire world narrowing down to the points where they touch. "You think about our kisses. In class, when you're hanging out with your friends, in bed. You think about this," his thumb presses on his chin, his breath fanning over his lips, "fantasize about it-"

"I don't fantasize-" denies Tyson, pulse hitching higher.

"No" He's guessing. He's sick. "You replay them." Bingo. Tyson clutches the edge of the table behind him. His gaze on Kai's mouth. "Over and over. Anticipating when it would happen next. You've dreamed of me. It didn't come out of nowhere."

"You- You kissed me first," says Tyson. Looking up into his eyes. "What does that mean?" The words hang between them. Barely a whisper but so loud. "That it didn't come out of nowhere?"

"Tyson" says Kai and he feels it in his soul. He almost never calls him by his first name.

"That you do it too?"

Someone's phone rings. Noisy and obnoxious. Persistent. It's Kai's.

Don't answer, don't answer, he chants in his head.

Kai slides a hand into his pocket, checks who it is, and declines the call.

A choice. A decision. Made in that instant or made days ago, the one that changes the nature of their relationship, solidifies and makes whatever this is real. A decision that impacts way too many things made known through such a simple action.

It's there between them as their gazes meet again, heavy enough to touch as Kai bridges the gap.

He's not sure who initiated but Kai shrugs off his shirt at some point, their mouths still connected. He flings it somewhere to the left. Still on the table, Tyson guesses.

He wants to touch but he's not confident about his boundaries. Taking his shirt off must have been an invitation, right? A sign that he wants to be touched?

Kai's hands are on Tyson's hips. They're flexing like they want to go to other places.

All that creamy smooth skin. Just an inch or so away from him. Inciting, inviting him.

Tyson pulls away from the kiss and looks down at Kai's torso. Wanting to look properly because he's never allowed himself to look properly. Not at all of him.

Good god.

Kai watches his face, his own disheveled by all the kissing (Kissing Tyson!)

He reaches out tentatively and Kai's gaze follows his fingers as they gently come to rest upon his chest. Right beneath his left collarbone.

A slightly shuddery exhale leaves Kai.

Tyson's fascinated and incredibly turned on as he presses his whole palm against his skin, next to the dip between his pecs.

It takes a second for him to register but that thudding under his fingers is coming from Kai's heart. Oh look, he has one after all. Warm and alive.

So alive. It's hammering away. A boiling sun inside of him.

Yet he keeps it like a secret.

His hand glides down and Tyson lets his left join his right. They're both kind of trembling. Kai closes his eyes as they brush over his abs.

Tyson explores. Palms on warm soft skin. A shaky breath leaves Kai and it sounds like an encouragement. He settles his hand on his chest again after a while, between his pecs, next to his heart. He puts another hand on the base of his neck, the curve leading to his shoulder.

Kai's eyes open to look at him. Hooded and hungry. Tyson pulls him in.

Their mouths crash together and Tyson feels the world around him slip away again. Kai kisses with his whole body. All of him is in it. Tyson can understand why the girls who hook up with him end up falling in love. Because he makes you feel like the center of his universe.

He would have fallen for it too if he didn't know how unkind and inconsiderate Kai actually is.

His own t shirt has been pulled down one shoulder. It's loose so it gives way easily. Giving Kai plenty of access to his neck and shoulder and collarbones. Tyson's sitting on the table and Kai's standing between his legs, Tyson's thighs pressed around Kai's hips. They're both keeping a safe distance between their crotches however.

He doesn't know how long they make out for but his lips are sore and his neck is stinging by the time he remembers the tape.

The tape!

Where's Kai's shirt?

He tries to recall where he'd thrown it earlier and extends his arm to feel around the table for it.

His little finger brushes against fabric and his heart does a backflip. He makes sure to kiss Kai well, angling his head and everything as he draws the shirt towards him a little and looks for the pockets.

He's scrunching the shirt in his palm and searching for something hard in the folds when a hand envelops his and holds it immobile.

Fuck

Kai pulls away, his teeth drawing Tyson's lower lip between them before letting go. "You're not going to find it," he says, from a hair's breadth of distance.

Tyson stays very still. Skin flaming hot with embarrassment and guilt.

"And if you somehow manage to do the impossible," he says, looking into his eyes, "I hope you know that I'll never let you go. I'll hold something else over your head. And if you get out of that, then another. And another."

"What the hell is your problem?" Tyson asks, pushing him away. "What do you want from me?"

"An apology" says Kai, sliding his shirt off the table and putting it on.

"Like hell I'm apologizing to you for your wrongdoings!" he says, jumping down to his feet.

"Then things will continue as they are," he says. "Let the spotted flyers be. Fix the machine and print the rest of them."

Tyson almost hurls the stacks of papers at his stupid head out of frustration.

Kai leaves him there with the printer. When he looks out the window he sees the sun breaking over the horizon.