"Tastes good."
Liam took a long drag on his cigarette as the two stood against a red brick wall outside of the diner. Unfortunately, Kai was unable to prove Liam wrong. He held a large Styrofoam carry-out container, including his leftovers.
He had eaten about half of the pancakes before he felt his body go into a wicked carbohydrate overload. His eyes were much larger than his stomach.
Kai looked over to Liam, who was putting out his cigarette. "I'm going home. I need to sleep."
"Why?" Liam asked, picking up the cigarette and stuffing it in a nearby trash bin.
"We worked all weekend," Kai sighed as he started walking to his car.
Liam shrugged and watched the blonde pass by him. He wanted to hang out with him more, but he mentally admitted that his own exhaustion was quickly catching up to him. He extended his arm and placed his hand over Kai's forearm, causing the blonde to freeze in his tracks.
Kai looked at him with a confused look on his face. "What?"
Liam shook his head in a in a subtle way. He leaned forward, which caused Kai to flush red. He could feel the taller man's warm breath against his skin.
Slowly, Liam brushed his lips across Kai's right cheek, leaving a delicate kiss.
Kai pulled back and rubbed his cheek. "Gross."
"Gross?" Liam laughed, standing back up straight.
"Y-Yeah," Kai was blushing again from the sudden contact. "What the hell was that for?"
In a weird way, Kai kind of enjoyed the gentle kiss, but he wasn't about to admit it. Admitting it would open up an entire new can of worms in his life. It was a can he didn't want to crack open. It held too many disgusting, wiggly worms and would be difficult to digest.
Liam shrugged again. He wanted to do more than kiss his cheek, but he knew the small blonde was feisty for his size. He imagined he would end up trying to smack him or beat him up, even though it would be like a small kitten trying to beat a bigger one. The mental image made him snicker.
"What's so funny?" Kai scoffed, beginning to walk to his trash can of a car again.
Liam followed Kai to his car and looked across the street, where he saw his own beat-up truck still parked in the nursing home parking lot. "Drive me back over there?"
Kai got into the seat of his car and started the engine. He took a deep breath. He couldn't believe the nerve Liam had.
"You're the one who wanted to walk over here."
"I'm tired now," Liam stated, leaning into the rolled-down window on the driver's side.
Kai sighed. Liam was really becoming an annoyance, and now he was an annoyance both during his long night shifts and now even after the work was complete.
He pointed to the passenger's seat. "Hurry up."
Liam smiled and got into the passenger seat. He then remembered the trash as soon as his foot kicked a few fast-food bags as he positioned himself in the car. "Gross."
"Stop talking shit about my sanctuary," the blonde mumbled as he handed Liam the leftover container to hold.
"You're just getting grumpy," Liam snickered. "You're like a toddler when he hasn't had a nap."
Kai rolled his eyes. It took all of thirty seconds to make it to the Shady Pines parking lot.
Liam quickly got out of the car, accidentally kicking out a few pieces of trash as he exited the car. "Man, you're littering at your place of work."
"You're the one littering," Kai corrected him.
"It's your garbage," Liam stated as he picked up the trash and tossed it back in the car.
"Either way," Kai sighed. "You are doing the littering."
Liam closed the car door and waved. "See you soon, pumpkin."
Kai waved back and flashed him a half-hearted smile before driving off.
He sighed as he was back on the road, headed home. He was glad all of that was over. It was a bit of a nuisance dealing with the man for so long after his shift was over, but in reality, he had fun just going out to a simple breakfast.
"No," Kai mumbled to himself as he drove. "I did not have fun."
Kai had fun.
Kai turned on the radio and listened to the local radio station. It was the Woody Show. On the show, Woody and the crew were talking about the time one of them realized they were gay. Thus, the conversation made Kai shift uncomfortably.
Why was everything talking about being gay lately? Or was he just now noticing the overflowing gayness in the world all of a sudden?
They had a portion where listeners called in to share their experiences. One was a woman who had never dated a guy but realized she was a lesbian when she started falling for a woman at work.
The show was hitting too close to home. He turned it off.
Was he gay?
No.
Maybe.
"Ugh," Kai groaned as he pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex.
He quickly got out of the car and walked up the stairs to his one-bedroom apartment. He locked the door and turned around.
His apartment wasn't messy. He threw away all the trash in his apartment. It hadn't met the same fate as his mobile trash can.
Kai went to the bathroom and stripped off his clothes. He sniffed them and recoiled. He smelled bad. The clothes smelled bad. There was too much sweat caked on them.
He started the shower and got in.
The hot water was lovely. It was like molten lava was flowing over his skin for the first few seconds of his shower. He loved hot showers. They were one of the few joys he got out of life.
As he showered, his mind wandered to Liam. He found himself getting pissed. He didn't want to think of him. To make matters worse, his body was starting to react to those thoughts.
"S-Shit," he stammered, attempting to think of something else.
After his shower, he put on a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt. He wasn't one to sleep naked. He hated the feeling of his bare skin against his sheets. He couldn't imagine someone wanting their bodies naked between the sheets.
He collapsed in bed and sighed contently. It was like every ache and pain was melting from his body as it sank into the memory foam mattress.
Kai laid there and closed his eyes. His mind wandered again. Why did he keep thinking about that man? Sure, it was better than thinking about Maria and her cooch, but thinking about Liam frustrated him to no end.
He turned to his side.
Kai had never been in a relationship, unless those couple of so-called girlfriends in middle school counted. But those were kind of pitiful. Each of those girls would ask a friend to deliver a note to him with an area to write yes or no to ask if he would go out with them. At the time, he said yes just because saying no would make him feel bad.
It only led to awkward encounters with those girls sitting at the same table with him at lunch. He quickly put an end to those terrible situations.
He went to prom in high school with his best friend, but she was a raging lesbian, so that barely counted. They did kiss, but she decided she hated it, which reinforced her gayness.
That was the furthest he ever went with anybody. He was too busy after high school, trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, to worry about dating.
It didn't help that Kai was extremely introverted. Since becoming a nurse, he had rarely left the house. He spent most of his time off playing video games or watching anime. He didn't like hanging out with random people.
He had a few anime crushes, including Waifus, who were super cute. Hell, he even collected figures of his favorite one. It wasn't actually a sexual thing, though. It was more him thinking she was adorable and liking her clothes.
He did think a few leads from some video games were hot.
Fuck.
He turned in bed again. He was having a hard time falling asleep. He groaned and rubbed his eyes.
He thought of Liam's taller frame, and it gave him goosebumps. He also thought about the way his lips felt on his cheek. He then admitted to himself how hot he was and how Liam probably worked out and would look pretty damn sexy without a shirt on.
Kai imagined Liam without a shirt.
His body reacted in all the ways he wished it wouldn't.
"Fuck," Kai whispered to himself. "I guess I am gay."
The can of worms had opened. Kai was not pleased.