kai parker • villains of circumstance ✔️

CHAPTER EIGHTY THREE

He bit the inside of his cheeks after taking the cigarette out of his mouth. Daisy studied him, her mind racing with whatever this could possibly be about. She hadn't ever really seen him like this, and it was a weird feeling. She felt like she had to have done something wrong that caused him to react this way.

She ran over the past events in her head. He won the merge, he was happy. Then they got the hotel room, had sex a few times, then passed out. Then this morning, he was exhausted, and Daisy went shopping without him- as she assumed that winning a merge probably did take a lot out of a person but- she couldn't recall the last time she'd seen him cry, or if she even had before.

Then it clicked, and she felt like an idiot for not even bothering to consider it beforehand. Her shoulders slumped, and as her eyes softened, Kai realized that she realized. "Luke?" She asked quietly, like if she asked it in a quieter tone then it wouldn't hurt him as much.

He stared at her, and she watched as he fought back the urge to cry. But before she could say anything else, he had fallen into a hug.

It wasn't really a hug, it was more of a desperate tug for comfort and support. Daisy's chest rattled with a sudden hurt in her heart as he leaned into her. She hugged back, leaning onto his shoulder. "Kai," she frowned. "Kai it's okay."

Kai closed his tired eyes, shaking his head slightly. "I don't know what's happening to me." He said, his voice cracking.

Daisy's mouth gapped open slightly in a mix of confusion in worry. She could feel his body tremble, and the pain in his voice was so unfamiliar she wondered if she had accidentally stumbled into the wrong hotel room. She could smell the alcohol on him, and she considered that that had something to do with it- but he'd drank before- never had it made him react like this.

"You're grieving." She says, and Kai immediately pulled away from the hug before she could even finish.

He shook his head quickly; putting the cigarette back in between his lips. "No, I'm not." He says, rubbing his forehead as he walks to the other side of the room.

Daisy watches him with concerned eyes. "It's okay..." She reassured him, smiling faintly. "It's okay to cry-"

He waved a hand at her as if to tell her to stop, continuing to shake his head. As a tear fell from his eye, he looked angry to see it fall to the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his palms into his sockets forcefully. "I don't—" he scoffed a little, trying to force a smile. "Why am I acting like this?!" He laughed at himself.

Daisy quickly walked over to him, grabbing onto his arms and pulling them away from his face to reveal his tear filled, scared eyes as they looked up at her. "It's okay." She reassured him, but it sounded more like a command.

He inhaled deeply, rubbing at his throat as if to relieve some of the tension. "I feel sick." He says, trying to make sense of this as he begins to pace.

"You're sad." Daisy says, staying in place as she watches him.

He shakes his head quickly. "I'm not sad." He scoffs, though you could hear in his voice that that was very much the truth. "Why would I be sad- I wanted to win?! I—" his sentence falls short as he thinks. "I never cared about him, why- why now do I feel like this?"

Daisy felt like she'd never comforted someone before. Like this was something she was just trying out for the first time. She'd forgotten everything you were supposed to do in times like this. She'd hugged him, she'd told him it was okay- she'd ran out of options. So she tried to rationalize it instead. "You said when you merge you take some of their traits- maybe you got some of Luke's empathy?" She shrugs, watching as Kai struggles to cry like a normal person