he couldn’t stop his hands from touching nate’s face, couldn’t pry his arm from around nate’s neck, couldn’t pull himself out of nate’s lap. he couldn’t stop his stupid heart from squeezing much too tight… and he couldn’t stop his stupid mouth from admitting,
“think ’m a li’l bit in love with you,” as he poked at nate’s nose. for a moment he was horrified that he’d literally said that out loud. that he couldn’t suck it back out of the atmosphere and had absolutely no prayer of a hope that nate hadn’t heard it.
he almost took it back. but the way nate was gazing at him – quiet wonder and awe in his expression – as he said, “yeah?”…
it made kit say, “yeah.” it made kit say, “li’l bit.” even though his heart was pounding way too hard. in the morning, maybe, he could just brush it off as being too drunk.
but nate said, “i’m in love with you.”
kit wasn’t sure he’d heard the words. he repeated them in his mind just to make sure he’d said in love and not, like: i love you, bro. just when he’d convinced himself that he’d exaggerated the moment, nate repeated himself.
nate said, “i’m in love with you for sure.”
this wasn’t happening. kit couldn’t believe this was happening; it was something he’d dreamed up and he would wake up tomorrow disappointed. he was sure.
nate let kit cuddle into him for a long time just like that, only moving to wrap his arms around kit and hold him close. and kit felt content to stay that way and just breathe nate in. he knew he would regret it in the morning, but he couldn’t make himself create space where he wanted none.
and while he was just drunk enough to climb into nate’s lap, he wasn’t drunk enough to take it further than that. eventually, they shifted so that nate could lean back against the armrest, but kit didn’t let any space sneak between them.
even so, kit literally climbing right onto him surprised nate. he hadn’t expected kit to be able to move that smoothly or quickly, considering his current drunken state.
but suddenly, there he was. a lap-full of kit. he wrapped himself around nate with his legs and his arms, and then buried his face against nate’s neck. he skimmed his nose along the curve and sighed in clear relief.
it took nate a second, but he adjusted and his surprised expression melted into amusement.
“‘m kinda handsy when i’m drunk,” kit continued to spell it out for nate, his voice dragging and his words sliding together a little. “n you’re… you.”
“you’re always handsy,” nate laughed but he understood what kit meant. he understood that the fingers on his face were making a decent towards his lips. he got it. still, he said, “i like it when you’re on me. so…”
“you wanna get in bed then?” nate prompted, sitting softly on the edge of the sofa and looking down on kit. “if you pass out there, you’ll probably regret it.”
“can’t,” kit shook his head against the cushions then lifted his head up slightly to look at nate. “with you?” his words were slurring – just a little bit, not outrageously. “can’t sleep with you tonight,” he said, and he sounded pretty down about it.
nate felt his brow furrow as he asked, “why not? what’s wrong?”
“you okay, babe?”
kit had a hand held against his head and another wrapped around his stomach, so nate had a good guess as to the answer to that question. but he still asked.
kit groaned, shifting on the couch and squeezing his eyes closed. so nate said, “you think you gonna be sick?” he still remembered how kit had told him that he was never hungover, so nate couldn’t help but wonder how much he’d had to drink to elicit this kind of reaction right now… must have been a lot.
nate hadn’t exactly been waiting up for kit. it was more like… sleep just wouldn’t come. he’d gotten home from a closing shift at the bar only to find that kit still wasn’t back from his night out. nate had waited a bit – upstairs – but sharky was home from his date already and he kept giving nate these knowing looks. so he’d abandoned that idea and headed downstairs to get ready for bed.
he’d showered, he’d brushed his teeth, he’d wasted time surfing the net even. but no kit.
it hadn’t.
his brain wouldn’t stop worrying about kit, he supposed. he couldn’t get comfortable, so he kept tossing and turning. and then – finally – he heard the sounds of someone sloppily coming down the stairs to the basement. he heard it when kit kicked off his shoes and collapsed on the couch. and then… nothing.
“better get to work before i’m late,” nate announced in the midst of his roommates’ drinking and teasing each other and loud chatter. he was almost to the door before kit pounced, wrapping him up from behind in a hug that literally swung him around, and showering kisses down the side of nate’s neck.
nate immediately broke into laughter, squirming to get away from kit’s lips. he didn’t bother to tell kit to stop – hadn’t for a while, actually – it was all too playful and silly and kit didn’t listen to him anyway. probably because he could never say it with a straight face.
nate pulled away and hugged kit to his chest instead. “you stopping by the bar tonight to keep me company?” he wondered if he sounded as hopeful as he felt.
“you can check any time. how about right now? is now good?”
kit demanded, which nate ignored. but he still grinned because he always felt stupidly pleased whenever kit called him by a pet name; because, apparently, he was like some kind of teenage-girl with a crush wherever kit was concerned. and also because kit flirted with literally everyone but whenever he said ‘babe’ or ‘baby’ or ‘bae’ he was always talking to nate or about nate.
