Chapter Text
Lloyd had decided to listen to Jay and Cole. He had gone out with Kai instead of going back to the palace. Kai had been glad that Lloyd didn’t risk going back there. Kai didn’t know what might happen if Lloyd was caught. On their walk, the two had taken their usual route. They did their best to avoid any densely populated areas due to the amount of guards that were out. The two walked along the street together, most stores were closed and there really wasn’t anywhere to go. After roaming around for a while, they walked towards the park. They had stopped there multiple times previously during their walks. It was a nice, quiet spot where the two could relax.
Lloyd grabbed onto Kai’s hand and led him over to a nearby bench where the two sat down together. They sat in silence for a while, both of them not knowing what to see. The other times they had come here, the two had engaged in endless conversation, but now they were quiet. Lloyd’s hand was still intertwined with Kai’s, although neither of them made any move to remove their hand. They didn’t comment on it either. The park was dark, and everything was barely visible. Kai, using his other hand, started a small fire so that they weren’t in complete darkness.
Lloyd glanced over at Kai. His hair had covered the movement of his eye, so Kai didn’t realize that Lloyd had started to stare at him. This also made it a bit harder for Lloyd to see Kai with some of his hair blocking his view. A faint blush dusted Lloyd’s cheeks, painting them a slight hue of pink. Lloyd was repeating in his head the words which he had planned to say, but every time he tried to actually say them his mouth just wouldn’t move. He felt his heart rapidly beating within his chest. He took in a deep breath to try and calm himself down, and realized that he had completely forgotten to breath because of his nervousness. The sound startled Kai and he looked over at Lloyd.
“Are you okay?” Kai asked a bit concerned.
“Yeah, I forgot to breath,” Lloyd smiled feeling none of the anxiety he was feeling before. He had looked up at Kai and sat up a bit straighter. At his words Kai just started laughing, and his hand was freed from Lloyd’s as he moved it. Lloyd slowly reached back out for Kai’s hand before immediately retracting it and laughing awkwardly alongside Kai. The fire that Kai had made suddenly went out and the two of them were engulfed in darkness.
After that the two fell into silence again. This time it was much more awkward then peaceful. Lloyd felt like he had ruined the moment and that if he were to say anything now it would be weird. He turned his gaze away from Kai, his smile dropping. Kai noticed Lloyd turn away from him and felt that he had done something wrong, but he had no idea what it could have been.
“What made you change your mind?” Kai questioned. He thought that Lloyd would have preferred going to the palace over just hanging out with him. Yet, Lloyd was here with him instead of sneaking into the palace.
“Huh?” Lloyd responded looking up at Kai.
“What made you want to walk with me instead of going to the palace?” Kai asked.
“I talked about it with Jay and Cole. They convinced me it was too dangerous to go,” Lloyd explained. Kai felt a bit of happiness wash over him. Glad that Lloyd realized the danger of going to the palace, and would most likely not consider going any other night.
“I’m glad they did. I like that you’re here with me,” Kai smiled as his hand slowly inched closer to Lloyd’s. Lloyd tapped one of his fingers against Kai’s, but they weren’t fully holding each other’s hand.
“I-I like that I’m here with you too,” Lloyd smiled the blush he had earlier started returning to his face. He didn’t care anymore whether Kai noticed it or not. Kai returned the smile as he brought the fire closer to them, illuminating their faces.
They spent a long time just staring and smiling at each other like that. Neither of them dared to move or speak, afraid that one wrong move would mess everything up. Lloyd knew that he wouldn’t be able to say anything to Kai, so instead he formulated a plan in his mind.
“Can I… um… can I do something?” Lloyd asked, he felt his face growing hotter.
“Sure?” Kai replied, he wasn’t quite sure what he was agreeing to, but it probably wouldn’t be anything too weird. Lloyd nodded in response to Kai’s agreement and slowly leaned in closer. Then he moved quickly, capturing Kai’s lips in a kiss. The fire in Kai’s hands burst brightly then went out. A sudden rush of adrenaline filled Lloyd, and he pulled back after a while and started running away, laughing as he went.
“Lloyd!” Kai called out flustered. He quickly stood up from the bench. It was hard to see Lloyd in the dark, but he could hear him. Lloyd was really fast so Kai knew that if he didn’t start running after him now he might lose him.
“You’re going to get caught by the guards if you make a this much of a commotion!” Kai yelled a warning at Lloyd. Despite being flustered about what had just gone down, his main concern was Lloyd getting trouble while he was running back to what Kai hoped was the tea shop.
When he got no response and the laughter had faded away, he thought that he should probably start running in order to catch up to Lloyd. He was worried that he had lost him already and that he if didn’t find him, Lloyd would end up getting himself into trouble of some sorts. So Kai rushed out in the direction Lloyd had started running in to find him.