-
Kris squints, leaning in closer, trying to read the tiny humans...well, Aaron's...expression. The beauty face is like a locked vault, but Kris is determined to crack it. Maybe he should've been a detective instead of… whatever this was.
Aaron's breath catches in his throat like it's been caught in traffic. "Yes," he whispers, voice barely a breeze. "But… I'm still uncomfortable."
Uncomfortable? Yeah, well, so was Kris. He frowns, trying to shuffle through his mental files like, What now? What's the play here? Push? Pull? Run?
Nah, he's not running. Not yet.
"I mean, you look uncomfortable," Kris says, his voice hushed, like they're sharing some top-secret intel. His hand hovers awkwardly in the air for a second before it grazes Aaron's cheek. It's so light, he might as well be touching a cloud, but Aaron doesn't flinch.
That's a start, right?
Aaron's eyes are like a strobe light—blinking and flickering in Kris' direction. "I don't know how to act around you," Aaron says, sounding like he's about to hit some kinda dramatic climax. "You're… different."
Different? Kris' ego does a quick double-take. Different how? Like, 'different' cool? Or 'different' weird?
He's not exactly Mr. Warm and Fuzzy, but hearing Aaron say it feels like a punch to the gut. Except instead of fists, it's made of those little candy hearts that say "Be Mine" and "U R Cute."
"Sorry," Kris mutters, words dripping with more guilt than a dude who just stole the last slice of pizza. "I never wanted to make you feel this way. I want us to be… comfortable."
Aaron's eyebrows shoot up like, Wait, what?
"I mean, yeah," Kris says, nodding like a bobblehead. "I want us to be more than… I dunno, whatever this is. I want us to be partners."
Kris cringes internally at how cheesy that sounded. But then, it's not like he's winning any awards for romance lately.
"Partners?" Aaron repeats, like the word tastes foreign, but he's kinda into it.
Kris nods again. "Yeah, partners. But, like, for real. We can't keep dancing around how we feel. If something bugs you, just tell me, okay?"
Aaron swallows, his eyes flickering between nervous wreck and adorable lost puppy. Kris can almost hear his internal monologue screaming, Should I say it? Should I not?
Finally, Aaron nods, and Kris breathes a silent Hallelujah. "Okay… I'll try."
The moment sits there, like a weirdly comforting silence, just Kris and his senirips (a word Kris still refuses to admit makes him feel all kinds of mushy).
But then, Kris' inner monologue does that thing where it switches from respectable partner to I-am-way-too-into-you. His fingers, still pressed to Aaron's cheek, feel like they're soaking in some kind of electricity. God, why does he have to be so cute?
Kris' brain hits a wall. He's not some walking hormone (okay, maybe a little), but the temptation to just grab Aaron and… well, ruin the moment is way too strong.
Not now, he tells himself. Play it cool.
"Thank you, Aaron," Kris says, keeping it low and gravelly because that always works, right?
"For what?" Aaron looks up, all innocent.
"For giving me a chance. For trying," Kris replies. His brain's flipping through fantasies like I'm totally winning him over.
Aaron blushes, looking down again, and Kris' heart does a happy little dance.
Yeah, this is it, Kris thinks. My senirips and I, destined for greatness… and maybe something a little less PG.