Kai rolled around in bed. He had fallen asleep and ended up sleeping hard.
His eyes fluttered open, and he looked toward his window. Even though he had blackout curtains over the bedroom window, he could see the light peaking through the edges.
Kai picked up his phone and looked at time through squinty eyes. It looked like he had slept an entire day, as it was early Tuesday morning.
He flicked a finger to look at his notifications. His heart skipped a beat as he noticed a message from Liam.
"Why is he texting me?" He muttered to himself as he opened the message. "He must be bored."
Kai was happy he was texting him. It meant he was thinking about him.
"Do you want me to help you clean out your car? I have nothing to do today - lol."
Kai smiled when he read the message. He did need to clean the garbage out of his car. Usually he would spend his Tuesday mornings laying in bed, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to agree.
"Yeah, sure," Kai responded.
It only took a few moments for Kai to get a response.
"Cool. Come by my house. My mom has a dumpster rented because she needed to clean out the garage after centuries," Liam responded through text, also including his address.
Kai sighed. He didn't want to get out of bed. He was lazy during the week. He worked three weekend shifts in a row, so he was used to lazing around on his days off. He had no obligations, so most of his time was spent alone in his apartment.
It was one of the joys of being a nurse—living his life on the opposite schedule of the rest of society worked for him, plus he got an extra per-hour bonus for working every weekend.
Slowly, he stood up. He stretched and could hear his back crack.
"Damn. I'm getting old."
Kai seemed like a zombie as he approached his dresser and found an orange graphic shirt with a popular anime character on it and a pair of skinny jeans.
"I even dress like I'm gay," Kai laughed to himself as he pulled on his jeans.
Only a small, gay man could get away with jeans like those.
Kai brewed a pot of coffee and poured the contents into his thermos. He also added a hot chocolate packet to the coffee. He always called it a poor man's mocha.
He went to the bathroom, then left his apartment. Oddly, Liam lived awfully close to him. He thought it was a bit ironic that they lived just a couple blocks from each other, so it only took him a couple minutes to pull into the driveway.
He saw it. Three giant dumpsters were rented. It looked like someone was going to throw away the entire contents of the small house they sat in front of.
"I'm here."
"Just come in; the door is unlocked."
Kai raised a brow. He was supposed to just walk into someone's house? That didn't feel right to him. He grabbed his thermos and took a sip.
Sweet caffeine. The essence of life.
As he walked to the door, he noticed the garage door was open. It appeared the garage was piled to the ceiling with pure garbage. Perhaps the garbage hasn't been cleaned out for decades.
There was an older man bent over in front of the garage, sifting through cardboard boxes. His buttcrack was exposed, and it was a hairy crack.
The man also had his gut hanging out of the bottom of a white tank top.
There was an open, tall can of beer next to him on the ground. It was only 8 in the morning, and it looked like he was already drinking. It made Kai wonder if he was a functioning alcoholic.
Kai got out of his car and walked up to the door. The door was open, and the only thing separating him from the yapping chihuahua was a screen door. He looked at the dog and waved. He wondered why he waved at a barking dog.
He was so awkward.
A larger woman, probably in her 50s, waddled to the door. She shooed the dog aside, who quit yapping when it saw her. She smiled at Kai and opened the door.
"Boy, get in here," she said with a warm tone.
"Sit down," he heard Liam's voice call out.
Kai looked over and saw Liam seated at a round dining room table. He was looking at the morning newspaper, like he was an old man who didn't have a smartphone to look up news and current events. He was also wearing a pair of thin, wired-frame glasses, which made him look more sophisticated than he was.
The sight made Kai chuckle.
Nervously, Kai walked to the table and sat down. He placed his thermos on the table and looked between Liam and the woman.
"Thanks for having me," Kai stated, smiling brightly at the woman.
"Oh my god," the woman gasped as she walked to the kitchen. "You're beautiful."
Liam snickered but didn't look up from the paper. "Isn't he?"
Kai frowned in Liam's direction. His expression softened when he saw the man's eyes look up at him. Something about the glasses made him look even sexier.
Kai felt he needed to be careful with his thoughts or his body would react again, and he didn't want his body to react in front of Liam. He was certain he would have something to say if he noticed.
The woman placed her hand over her heart. "You're always welcome here."
The small dog followed the woman. It sat on the ground and snarled at Kai. It was such an ugly little dog. He couldn't imagine it ever being cute.
The woman looked down at the dog. "Shut up, bitch."
Kai held back laughter as the woman called the dog a bitch. The interaction reminded him of one from a sitcom.
"This is Kai," Liam stated as he folded the paper, then placed it down on the table. "She's my mom. Brenda."
"Nice to meet you," Kai politely said to the woman.
He felt so awkward being around new people. It was fine at work because he was paid to do a job, but outside of that, he hadn't met new people in years.
It was making his anxiety flare up. He had terrible social anxiety that was getting worse with age.
"What's in there?" Liam asked as he pointed to the thermos.
"Coffee," Kai stated.
"Of course," Liam chuckled. "Do you ever drink water?"
"No."
"But you're a nurse."
"Yes."
Liam shook his head. "That's going to catch up to you someday."
"Maybe," Kai stated. "But caffeine is wonderful."
Brenda looked at her son and frowned. "Leave the boy alone. Look at him. He's doing something right."
She frowned for a moment longer, then waddled off to the living room.
Liam looked at Kai and leaned forward. He grinned and looked down. "I bet your ass looks good in those."
Kai blushed and looked away.
Liam laughed. He could tell his statement made Kai uncomfortable. He liked making him squirm. He wondered what it would look like to have him squirm underneath him.
Kai looked under the table and saw a box. There were some toys in it and a few books. He reached in and picked up a book. It was a manga. He recognized it, and he knew he had the same manga at home.
Liam's brows rose when he noticed what Kai had picked up. "You know this is a kids' book, right?"
Kai rolled his eyes. "It's a manga, you asshole."
"I'm kidding," Liam said.
"It's an adult manga," Kai explained. "A lot of adults read manga. There are a ton of adult manga, you idiot."
Kai was pretty offended that he would refer to manga and anime as something for children. That was the uneducated opinion of people who thought anything animated was meant for kids.
It was almost like a personal attack. Liam had attacked Kai with his statement.
"I was joking, calm down," Liam said with a chuckle.
Kai's expression softened. He was glad it was a joke.
"I'm a huge anime fan," Kai told him with a serious look.
"Really?" Liam asked, raising a brow.
Liam had never heard him speak so passionately about something. He thought it was adorable.
"Yeah," Kai told him.
Liam stood up and walked to the box. He picked up a few books and flipped through them. The manga he had picked up was about some giant titans who would bust into towns and eat people.
"This was my favorite anime," he said as he showed Kai a book.
"It's really good," Kai replied. "Though the ending left a lot to be desired, I can't believe Mikasa cut off his head and kissed him."
"Yeah, I was a nerd," Liam admitted, his cheeks flushing a bit. "I didn't get to the end."
"I am a huge nerd," Kai told him.
"We are nerds together," Liam chuckled.
"I was the president of the anime club in high school," Kai told him, a small smile on his lips.
"Oh my god," Liam laughed. "Were you the only member?"
"No," Kai laughed. "I mean, I was the president. So there was a club. There were a lot of members, though the club wasn't very active."
"That's funny," Liam stated.
"What's so funny?"
"It's funny that you were an anime nerd," Liam explained. "And now you are a gay anime nerd."
"Shut up," Kai mumbled.
"So, did you date guys back then?" Liam asked with a smirk.
"No," Kai responded with a frown.
"So, you dated girls?" Liam laughed.
"No," Kai admitted.
"Did you date anyone?"
Kai shook his head. "Nope."
"I would've dated you," Liam said, giving him a suggestive grin.
"You're such an asshole," Kai remarked, not being able to hold back a laugh.
"You know you like it," Liam grinned.
"Yeah, I guess I do." Kai sighed, feeling defeated.
"Really?" Liam questioned.
Kai scratched his head and then looked up at Liam. His cheeks were flushed red as he looked at the taller man. "Yeah."
Liam reached down, brushing his fingers through Kai's fair. The close contact made Kai shiver.
"Yeah," Liam began speaking. "I couldn't see you dating a girl. You are the girl."
"Fuck you," Kai mumbled.
"Would you like to?" Liam laughed. "We could go upstairs."
Kai's eyes widened when Liam made the suggestion. There was no way he could have been serious. He was just messing with him, per usual. Aside from that, Kai was obviously not the type to randomly have sex with people for fun.
"I-I, uh," Kai stammered.
"Chill," Liam sighed. "I was joking."
Kai felt a wave of relief wash over him. He inhaled deeply. He glanced around to make sure nobody else was around.
"Hey, Liam?" Kai asked nervously.
"What's up?" Liam looked at him. For once, he had a serious expression on his face.
"I like you," Kai boldly admitted out of nowhere.