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“alright,” claude sits up from where he was lying down on seible’s couch with a sigh, “i’m free tomorrow.”
the room’s ambient chatter dissolves into unpressed silence, kaelix blinking trying to register the situation whilst seible and shu attempt to bite back their smiles. sonny’s hands had stopped for a moment in the midst of washing dishes, uki’s too as they dried each plate and cutlery. but they both quickly returned to their duty as to not cause unnecessary attention. those words were simple, meant close to nothing to the normal ear, but every person in seible’s flat felt a shift in the air.
“h-huh?” kaelix stuttered, claude just rubbing his face to wipe away the last lingers of tiredness. he made no attempt to meander his words he just shrugged, “you need a pc, i have the time. simple enough?”
claude felt eyes on him from his two best friends, to which he stuck a middle finger up behind a pillow to them, causing them to return cheerfully to their forgotten conversation. he kept his eyes on kaelix. his lips were slightly parted, shock still rendering through his circuits as claude admired the way he softly blinked. he shook his head slightly to rid the blankness which allowed white strands to fall perfectly around his features, framing him like a movie claude wanted to watch again and again.
“yes!” kaelix sat forward on his knees, expression elated like a child in front of candy, “thank you so much!”
claude nodded in response. his heart thrummed, but face remained easy. kaelix always made things feel easy. he found solace in it. he stood up and walked into kitchen to grab a glass of water.
“you’re staring, k-chan.” seible whispered cheekily into kaelix’s ear, earning a glare from the flustered and a pinch from shu.
tomorrow.
“you’re all good now.” claude crawled back out from under kaelix’s desk and stood back to admire their handiwork. the pc had finished it’s final test run, and with everything running smoothly, kaelix could finally get his life back in order.
“you are a godsend, claude.” kaelix thanked, grabbing claude’s hands and clasping them in between. his gratitude and excitement overwhelmed him. claude felt his blood course through his body as he noticed how perfectly kaelix’s large hands completely engulfed his own. god, he was losing it.
“just happy to help.” claude cleared his throat and slyly released his hands from kaelix’s hold. he didn’t want his nervous sweat to be noticed.
kaelix buzzed, “let me treat you to dinner, please! it’s the least i can do!”
claude yawned and cricked his neck. while he was always down for a good feed, he had stayed up much later than he had anticipated the previous night. after returning home from seible’s, he found himself unable to stop researching for better pc parts and occasionally getting distracted by sites like “what happens when you have this coworker whose also your friend who you admired for a year online but then he moved to your city and since then you haven’t been able to stop thinking about him and he’s also a great singer, has an addictive laugh and the prettiest eyes you’ve ever seen?”. just something along those lines, of course. so he wanted nothing more in that moment than to let his eyes rest.
“don’t even think about repaying me,” claude raised an eyebrow, “this is a friendly gesture, dude.”
kaelix drooped like a kicked puppy. claude folded, “okay fine, i’m down for food.” kaelix perked up again and nodded, “stay here! i’ll… i’ll get something good!”
“you can just order shake shack dude i-“ and he was out the door. claude sighed and chuckled softly to himself. he found his feet take him to kaelix’s bed and without another thought flopped down on it. the sheets were soft, and smelt gently of warm spice and vanilla. it was the same scent he smelt when he sat next to kaelix on the train to seible’s place yesterday. he relished in the comfort and shut his eyes replaying the day and also all the admittedly useless tips he had researched. people always said when you were in love, your heart beat crazy and butterflies bounced in your stomach. but when he was around kaelix, his heart thrummed a still beat that thumped heavy. it was intense, like sticky sweet molasses. and his stomach didn’t flutter, but it ignited in a tepid flame. he never felt panicked, or jittery or shaky around him, instead he felt soothed, assured and balmy. maybe that was what love was to claude. or at least the first steps into it. he shut his eyes to see flickering frames of kaelix flash before him. yeah, like a movie he could watch forever. like he was dreaming.
“now this is good food!” kaelix stumbled back into his flat, beginning to unpack containers of hot curry and steaming rice. only silence responded. “claude, are you still here?” he stopped unpacking and approached his bedroom door, which was left ajar. he peered in.
claude’s face was slightly pink, the warmth of being snug under kaelix’s blanket heating him up as his body moved up and down slowly in equal breaths. kaelix stepped closer, like he was approaching a cautious cat, as the quiet hum of small snores escaped the sleeping man. he wondered whether to wake up, seeing that he seemed to take a great liking to kaelix’s bed. he opted to be selfish, and crouch beside him. his eyes darted across the few freckles speckled across his face, connecting them in his mind like constellations that would sure compliment the soft purple hues of his hair. he allowed himself a moment. he raised an albeit hesitant finger up to glide against claude’s hair. it was just as soft as he had imagined every time he laid eyes on it. he wondered what shampoo he used, and hoped it wasn’t just a lucky case of 3-in-1 used on already genetically perfect roots. but he’s sure he wasn’t, there was the same fresh, honey apple-like fragrance he had picked up on before.
he got a little bolder, this time letting his desires take over and thread a whole hand of fingers through the bangs that swooped across claude’s face. delicate.
but his fingers lingered a bit further than he should’ve, grazing a spot behind claude’s ear that made himself twitch and grow restless. kaelix froze as he watched claude’s face wrinkle and his hand reach up to check what had brushed past his ear. kaelix cursed himself internally, out of all situations where he could choose fight or flight, why did he choose freeze this time?
his hand continued to hover, stiff—whilst claude who was still blanketed in sleepy haze and mistful dreams, blinked slowly to see the dissolving sunlight. oh, he meant kaelix. kaelix who was stunned, breath absent but unsure lips parted shakily. kaelix who glowed amongst the sunset and kaelix who had a hand held up just shy of claude’s cheek. this was it, the exact feeling claude had been trying to define. he was enveloped in a state of serenity, not a single bad thought or sense of muddy self-hatred could even dare to touch claude when he was next to kaelix. a twinkling star of hope, a sun beam amongst the storm, the melody to his steady, intense heart beat.
love was palpitating, but it didn’t have to be for everyone. love for claude was bundled up between hesitant touch and deep understanding. love for claude, was right in front of him.
he grasped kaelix’s frozen hand, and tugged. kaelix yelped as he fell forward and his face landed on claude’s shoulder with his arm now curved around the span of claude’s upper back.
“breathe, kaelix.” claude muttered, voice groggy but he couldn’t fight the smile that had crept on his face. kaelix stuttered but decided that no matter what words he would stumble out, breathing was the first thing he had to do to make sure this moment was real.
a deep exhale tickled claude’s nape and he rolled over to help kaelix onto the bed.
the two laid side by side, claude’s eyes still closed with the yearning to sleep again but they faced each other. kaelix continued to breathe manually, one arm over claude as he reminded himself to keep inhaling and exhaling. it was quiet, and it was enough.
“we’ll talk in half and hour, yeah?” claude shuffled closer, kaelix’s arm curved in tighter.
“what will we do until then?” kaelix’s cheeks were dusted in the same pink of the sunset hue as he searched claude’s expression. but the man wrapped in his arms had already drifted off again, snores gentle, chest moving. he pressed a peck to claude’s forehead, letting his lips linger before pulling back and shutting his eyes.
but he couldn’t help but smile, feeling like butterflies were racing around his gut. his blood was rushing, heart frenzied and stomach bubbly. but that was love for him. and he had it all within his reach.