A 17-year-old Kai Hiwatari was walking down a corridor of the new BBA building, and appeared to be alone. Kai knew better, though. He knew that a certain 18-year-old, redheaded Russian was following him, and had been for a while.
Kai stopped, and turned around just quickly enough to see a red blur shoot into the shadows. Kai sighed.
“Tala, I know you’re there,” Kai called to the figure just barely visible in the dark.
The figure shuffled in closer to the darkness, trying desperately not to be seen, even though he had been busted.
Kai sighed again, and continued walking. He rolled his eyes when he heard the return of the soft footsteps behind him. Kai spotted some toilets further down the corridor, and hurried his pace a little to reach them quickly.
Slipping through the door, Kai quickly locked himself into a cubicle and waited. He heard the door creak open, and someone went into the cubicle next to him.
To be absolutely sure that it was Tala who had just come into the toilets, Kai bent down and looked under the dividing wall. Sure enough, there were Tala’s shoes. With Tala in them.
Kai straightened up again, and gently put the lid down on the toilet. He got up carefully, trying not to make a noise, and looked over the dividing wall. Tala was stood there, not doing anything, clearly waiting for Kai to leave.
When Tala realised he was being watched, he raised his eyes to meet Kai’s.
“Do you mind?” he asked Kai casually.
“No, not really. Can you please stop following me?” Kai replied, equally as casual.
“I wasn’t following you. Oh, and some might consider it rude to look over the tops of toilet cubicles,” Tala said, smirking.
“Some might consider it rude to stalk someone, too,” Kai retorted. “Anyway, it’s not as though you were doing anything.”
“I might’ve been about to take a leak. You just don’t know. And I wasn’t stalking you!”
“It looked like you were, to me.”
“Well I wasn’t.”
“Of course you weren’t…”
Kai stepped down off the toilet, and exited his cubicle. He opened and closed the door of the room, but didn’t leave. Instead, he leant against one of the sinks, with his arms crossed, and waited.
The door of Tala’s cubicle opened, and Tala himself stepped out of the cubicle, but quickly shuffled back in when he saw Kai was still there, now with his eyebrows raised.
“What are you doing?” Kai asked at the now closed cubicle door.
“Nothing,” came Tala’s voice.
“Tala, for crying out loud. Just come out and tell me why you’re following me,” Kai said in exasperation.
The cubicle door opened again, and Tala walked out. He went over to Kai, and stood directly in front of the younger boy.
“Tala, you’re too close,” Kai mumbled, blushing a little, and looking away. He hated it whenever someone got this close to him.
Tala noticed that Kai was feeling a little uncomfortable, and lifted his hand to touch Kai’s cheek, to try and make him relax. This made Kai blush more, though, and Tala found that he couldn’t control himself anymore.
“Eeeeee! Kai, you’re so CUTE!” Tala squealed, wrapping his arms around Kai, and pulling him into a hug.
Kai was about to complain, when the door to the toilets opened, and Ray walked in. He looked at Kai and Tala, who had frozen and were looking at him, and backed back out of the door slowly, choosing to find another set of toilets.
“Tala. Get. Off. Of. Me!” Kai said, trying and failing to push Tala away from him.
“Nooooo, you’re too cute!” Tala replied, still latched onto Kai and not showing any signs of letting go.
“You’re suffocating me!”
“Well, that’s what happens when you’re in love with someone! You suffocate them!”
“But I’m not in love with you, and you definitely aren’t in love with me, so let me go, dammit!”
“I dooooo love you, though!”
“No you don’t! Let me go!”
“I WUV YOU KAISY!”
“LET ME GO!”
-----*-----
Kai rubbed his neck as he walked home. It had taken him a full half an hour to prise Tala away from him, and during that time, Max, Miguel and Brooklyn had all walked in. Needless to say, Kai was feeling as though he was going to have to wear a paper bag over his head for the rest of his life.
It wasn’t as though he didn’t like Tala. In fact, he liked Tala very much, but he felt that Tala was pushing it a bit too far, and was determined to embarrass Kai in every way possible. What Kai didn’t know, though, was that Tala was being serious when he told Kai he loved him.
“Hey, Kai!” someone called behind him.
Kai turned around, and saw Max running towards him. He waited until the blonde had caught up with him, and began walking again.
“What?” Kai asked.
“About earlier with you and Tala in the toilets…” Max began, realising that what he had just said would sound very dodgy to anyone who didn’t know what had gone on.
“Forget about it. Nothing was happening. Tala was just getting a bit… Touchy-feely,” Kai replied.
“He seems to really like you,” Max commented, smiling.
“Hn.”
“Has he told you that he likes you?”
“Yeah, I have, and he doesn’t believe me!”
Kai and Max both turned around to see Tala following them, and wearing the biggest pout either of them had ever seen.
“Actually, you told me you loved me, which is a bit different from telling someone that you like them,” Kai said, frowning.
“But I like you so much that it’s turned into love! So that’s why I tell you I love you!” Tala exclaimed, latching onto Kai’s arm like a leech.
“You don’t bloody love me, so stop saying it!” Kai shouted, flushing a bit and trying to get Tala off his arm.
“I dooooo! I love you!”
“Will you stop it?!”
“No, because I love you!”
“Stop saying that!”
“I LOVE YOU, KAISY!”
“DON’T CALL ME KAISY!”
Max stood and watched with his eyebrows raised, as Tala suctioned onto Kai properly, giving him a massive hug. Kai tried desperately to get away, but only succeeded in falling onto the ground - with Tala on top of him.
“Well, well, well,” Tala smirked. “This is a compromising position…”
“Get off of me!”
“Not a chance, lover-boy-”
“Don’t call me that, either!”
“Can we kiss?”
“No we bloody well can not!”
“I want to kissssss you!”
“Well, I don’t want to kiss you! So get the Hell off of me!”
“Pucker up, Kai!”
“GET OFF!”
Max’s eyebrows virtually disappeared into his hair as he had raised them so high. He watched as Tala managed to pin down Kai’s arms, legs and head, and lean down to kiss him. Max could see that Kai was struggling frantically, but to no avail. Tala pressed his lips against Kai’s own, and stayed there for about a minute.
When Tala moved away from Kai, Kai wasn’t moving. Max was worried that Tala had actually suffocated him, or had eaten Kai’s face… But no. Kai’s nose was still there, and he was breathing. He just looked shocked.
Feeling that he’d gotten the desired effect, Tala smirked and sat up so he was straddling Kai.
“Tala, for crying out loud! We’re in the middle of a street!” Max shouted.
“What? I wasn’t going to do anything,” Tala replied, looking up at Max.
“You’re on top of Kai! What if someone walks past! What if the paparazzi see?!”
“Let them.”
“GET OFF OF ME!” Kai shouted, finally regaining control of his brain.
-----*-----
Kai turned into the street he lived on. He had managed to shake off Max, but was left with Tala. Tala had even insisted that they held hands as they walked the remaining distance to Kai’s house. Kai didn’t know why he didn’t object, but he did know that he sort of liked Tala holding his hand. He just had to make sure he was looking at the ground at all times so Tala and anyone else couldn’t see how very red he was.
Tala was practically skipping. Kai had let him hold his hand, and he now felt that he was finally getting through to Kai. It had only taken a year… Tala glanced sideways, and saw Kai’s head hanging down. Tala stopped grinning, and looked a bit worried. He didn’t like it when Kai wasn’t happy.
Tala stopped, and Kai only stopped when his arm tugged on Tala’s, and he realised that the older boy wasn’t moving. Kai looked at Tala.
“Why have you stopped?” Kai asked.
“You’re not happy,” Tala commented.
“What makes you say that?” Kai said, quirking an eyebrow.
“Because you’re not… Well, I wouldn’t say smiling. But you at least smirk most of the time you’re happy…” Tala replied.
“I’m fine. Just feel a bit… Weird…” Kai said truthfully.
“Why? About holding my hand?”
“About everything, you moron. You kissing me, latching onto me whenever you can, hugging me, holding my hand, and telling me you love me! Why the Hell do you do it?!”
Tala tilted his head, and walked up to Kai, still not letting go of his hand. Tala kissed Kai’s cheek, and smiled when Kai blushed crimson.
“I do all that because I want to. Whenever I feel the urge to. I tell you I love you… Because it’s the truth.”
Kai just stared at Tala, and suddenly had an urge of his own.
“So… If I told you I had an urge to hug you…”
“Then do it.”
Kai let go of Tala’s hand, and wrapped his arms around Tala’s abdomen, pressing his head right against Tala’s chest, where he could hear his heartbeat.
“Does this mean you love me, too?” Tala asked.
“I wouldn’t go that far just yet…”
“Why not?”
“Well, I like you-”
“Then you love me!”
“No, that’s not how it works!”
“Yes it is! You said you liked me, and therefore that means you love me!”
“It does not!”
“I WUV YOU, TOO, KAISY!”
“STOP IT!”
