king of (broken) hearts | lavashipping

III | crying in my prom dress

To say that the feeling of bright sun rays beaming into his face was the worst thing would be kind of a cliché. But it was true.

Kai hated the sunshine and he hated the birds outside because it meant it was morning – a new day. His 18th birthday...

So yeah, Kai really wasn't in the mood to get out of bed and go have breakfast with people he barely knew. He wished to just close his eyes, cover his body with the blanket and just sleep some more. Sleep through the entire week. Yes, that would be nice. He would like that.

And no, his struggle with getting out of bed had nothing to do with talking to Cole into the late night – thanks to the fact that, as Cole predicted, "somebody came and stole him" – unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Kai stared at the canopy above him, letting thoughts swim around his head without acknowledging them. He bit the inside of his cheek, an arm under his head. Why was getting out of bed so difficult? – Not a rare question. Kai did struggle with this several times before. It always ended the same – eventually getting out of bed anyway, just like that. So he waited for the figurative switch to turn and make him suddenly able to jump out of the cosy bed.

There was something weird about being eighteen. There's not much of a difference – how could there be? It's just another day, coincidentally with the same date as the day you were born, that's all. But the knowledge that he's now an adult felt bizarre. People start treating you differently. You're supposed to be different, to feel different, to present yourself differently. Suddenly you're old enough for the boring, "important" things, too old for "childish" things, and yet still too young for "adult" stuff.

It's a thin barrier between two parts of life, and balance is difficult. Kai has an awful balance. As a kid, he could barely manage to stand still on one leg. If balance was money, he would be in debt, with how many times he lost it.

However, this was just hypothetical balance, so no hassle, right? This is totally different. After all, he had to be an adult since he was five, so he already had some practice with this.

A glance at the clock, a sigh – seven hours of the morning. Kai's sleeping schedule was always unpredictable. Sometimes he wakes up early, sometimes late, and sometimes he couldn't sleep at all.

It did feel odd to say "I'm eighteen" now. It always is. And before you get used to the new number, it changes once more and the cycle continues.

The switch has been flipped and Kai hopped out of the bed after kicking the blanket off. How simple, makes you wonder why it always takes so much time.

Kai stretched, trying to wake up his whole body. A yawn and a rub of the eyes. He decided not to go to breakfast and just ask someone to bring him food. Kai just wasn't in the mood to face people eager to wish him a happy birthday and adulthood... congratulations or whatever so early in the morning. He needed to adjust before appearing in front of people.

Eh, who cares, breakfast isn't important – lunch was. Acronix and Crux liked to show off their kindness and whatnot, so they decided to make some cheap version of a party. Kai couldn't say he wasn't excited about the cake – who wouldn't be?

Cole will like it, definitely.

"I could eat cake for my entire life. There are so many versions and options!"

"You could say the same about pies, though."

"But cake is better than pies, Kai. You have frosting, and corpus, and fruit, and you can have several tiers, and there are so many kinds of decorations!"

"Still... you can even have salt versions of pies..."

"Ugh, you're not getting it, Kai."