king of (broken) hearts | lavashipping

VII | the blue wedding

Cole felt like a tennis match attendee as he watched Kai pace around his room. The prince had his hands behind his back and a frown on his face. A sigh escaped Cole's lips, but he remained sitting on his bed, just watching and waiting. Buttoning his shirt back up wasn't on Cole's to-do list, despite feeling slightly cold. Honestly, all he wanted was to get comfortable under the cosy blankets and let Kai's body heat warm him up, although that didn't seem to be on Kai's to-do list.

"Kai, let's just get to bed, you need to get some sleep," he spoke up after all.

"Nah, I'm good," replied Kai absent-mindedly. Feeling that he wasn't even being listened to, Cole decided to test his theory by saying, "Let's get married and run away. We can sell cotton candy for a living and be vigilantes by night."

"I said I'm good."

"Kai."

"Just start without me."

"Would you just stop and listen to me for a second?"

"Cole, I'm trying to think." At last, Kai was snapped out of his trance.

"About what? Tomorrow? Because that's kinda written in the cards the twins are holding and as much as I hate witnessing all of this, I'm not sure there's a way out without leaving the kingdom to them."

"That's right. I know. I'm counting on that, but I'm not thinking about that right now," Kai ranted while still walking up and down the room, like a ball passing from one side to another on the tennis court. Cole raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"You're not?" he wondered. Then Kai sighed and, finally stopping and standing still after some time, he turned to Cole. Sadness washed over his eyes.

"Cole," Kai began, but stopped as quickly, still considering the words in his mind. "I don't want to hurt you in the process. This wasn't supposed to happen." Just as he said that he could see how it was completely meaningless. "I should've— I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done this, I just... It's all my fault I really, really want to just kiss you and forget about everything but then I catch my breath and something up there–" he holds his forehead "–reminds me that you're just going to get hurt. I'm marrying Skylor tomorrow and I don't want to give you—give us—hope. Because I don't think there is any. As much as I— as much as I want to share my feelings with you, I can't let Acronix and Krux win."

And then Cole stood up and started walking over to Kai, who would gladly scream in frustration, but all that there was, were just some tears trying to get to the surface. He looked up, at the beautiful face that haunted his common sense.

"Kai, you think I didn't know what I was going into when I kissed you back?" he said so softly, it felt like the brush of his fingers against Kai's cheek. "I'm there for you, no matter what. I don't care if it means that tonight will be the only of its kind, or that we could be only together behind closed doors, I really don't care about that. I care about you. I'll do whatever you want, okay? Just say it." Kai took the hand that held his face into his and brought it down, his eyes following them. He took a deep breath.

"I want to get drunk by your lips."

"What?" Cole chuckled.

"What? I was trying to keep the poetic thing you had going on alive and you just killed it," complained Kai. He let go of the hand to poke Cole in false annoyance. "Mercilessly too, you monster."

"Aww, my first pet name, who knew you can be so adorable?"

"Ah, Cole, shut up." But he smiled along anyway. Silence followed as Cole studied Kai's face from his close position. He almost felt like a VIP visitor of an art gallery, getting glances at things behind the curtain only a few could get. He was one of the only people allowed to take off the actor's mask and see who was actually behind it. And it was a handsome yet heartbreaking sight. His thumb brushed over the scar that cut through Kai's eyebrow and that captured a memory better than a camera could. They were such stupid kids.