[Roseday] The first kiss

Kairos sighed, staring at the toothbrush that was given to him. He wrapped his hair up, preparing himself psychologically to clean the boy's bathroom.

The elf rested his hands on his waist, observing his surroundings. Everything smelled... Awfully. It was a mix between sweat and piss, especially near the showers. At that point, Kairos was used to that scent - the boy's bathroom inside the military school was the worst! He hid the sadness behind a poker face - as Kairos always did.

That day, however, was the worst moment possible for the teenager. After all, it was his 16th anniversary. And just like every single birthday before that date, nobody ever celebrated it. At max, a friend of the family would give him a piece of cake or a cold "congrats!". Kairos simply didn't celebrate it anymore at that point. He'd never tell anyone when he was born.

And even then, like every single year prior, he was hoping someone would magically find out about it. Or maybe he'd accidentally tell a friend, on a random day of the year, and that person would remember it and celebrate with him.

But no. If anyone would sing "Happy Birthday to You", it'd probably be a random cockroach, lost in the bathrooms.

He closed his eyes for a second, breathing heavily. Kairos chose a starting point that seemed easy: the sinks. They were partially clean anyway. The pallid elf filled a bucket with water first. He scrubbed the toothbrush onto the soap. Desperate for a distraction, Kairos' ears captured a sound to his left, coming from outside. He immediately turned towards the door.

A half-orc, a little bit taller than Kairos, leaned on the door. "Hey", he smirked, "are you having fun, dude?".

Kairos felt his heart beat in a faster rhythm. He grinned at the sight of Sorem, his best friend. He stuck his tongue, "couldn't be better! Did you come to help me?".

Sorem laughed. "I like you, but not so much", he winked as he got closer. His dark hair was wrapped in a ponytail, as usual, but some strands were falling in front of his emerald eyes. Sorem seemed prettier that day, somehow.

The little elf was so distracted he didn't notice Sorem was holding a package.

"And well, I know you don't like it too...", the half-orc tilted his head. "I mean, the whole bathroom thingy".

Kairos sighed once more. "Only crazy people like it! It is...", there was a hesitation. "Horrible".

"Yeah, it fucking sucks", Sorem giggled.

The elf's hand covered his mouth in surprise. Kairos usually reacted that way whenever he heard a dirty word - which only prompted Sorem to do it more times, since he found it to be cute. Eventually, Kairos joined the laughter.

Once he calmed down, his expression was shadowed by worry. "Sorem... If they see you here...". Kairos didn't want to end that phrase. His eyes were shut. He shook his head in denial. The elf couldn't bear imagining something bad happening with his favorite person in the whole world.

The half-orc was as worried as his friend. Yet, he forced a smile. "Hey, they won't find me here, man!", stated with confidence. "Actually, they won't see you here either".

"What do you mean?".

Sorem revealed the package he was holding behind his back. "Kitten, if you're quick enough no one will find you, y'a know?". 

Kairos' eyes were shining like a starred sky - one of the many features Sorem enjoyed about him. The teenager smiled. He held the package with care, unable to hide his smile. There were clothes inside. All black, a little bit too big for him. Maybe one or two sizes bigger.

"I hope it's your style", Sorem smirked.

Kairos held the shirt against his chest, measuring it. It had a random drawing dyed onto it - maybe it belonged to a rock band or something? He didn't know. Yet, he thought it was pretty cool how the lightning was striking a gravestone. Kairos also found a pair of pants, with holes on his knees, as well as worn-out boots. They were probably Sorem's previously.

His eyes were shining even brighter, as he was about to cry. "Are they for me?". Kairos waited for an answer before continuing. "They're... Masculine".

"Yep!"

Silence. A stubborn tear escaped. Kairos hugged the gift as tight as he could, smiling widely. "They're perfect, Sorem".

Feeling the need to hug his friend, Sorem approached him. He stroked his hair gently, and smiled when he noticed how soft it was - even inside a dirty bathroom. His hand was heavy, but Kairos enjoyed the sensation. Being that close to Sorem was extremely sublime. Kairos' heart was almost exploding.

"I'm so glad you enjoyed it!". Sorem's voice was as sweet as his kiss, planted onto Kairos' forehead. It was the first time he kissed him like that. "You deserve it, kitten".

Kairos rested his head against his shoulder, giggling. He swiftly wiped his tears from his face. “Thank you. Truly”. He hesitated, but eventually returned the kiss, touching Sorem’s cheek. He smiled, his lips still touching his skin.

Sorem returned the smile, caressing his cheek. “What are you waiting for, dude?”, he giggled. “Go get changed!”.

“What? Now?”.

“Yep! Otherwise, we’ll take so long the guards will mess our plans up!”. Sorem removed his uniform, revealing the clothes he was wearing underneath: a tanktop and jeans, both black. “I’ll keep on watch while you change, okay? You can bathe as well, but be quick!”.

Kairos didn’t need to hear it twice. He ran to the nearest and cleanest shower. Both teenagers were giggling. If someone was passing by them, no one would suspect a thing… Deeeeeefinitely not!

Kairos changed to his newest clothes. His long, blonde hair was wet still, but he didn’t mind. He felt nice and handsome as he stared his reflection. Kairos breathed in, smiling with confidence, feeling his whole body full of euphoria. He looked more like the person he’d want to be. Like the boy he should be.

He approached Sorem with a smirk on his face. “Okay! I’m ready now, heh. Where are we going?”.

Sorem stared at him, not talking for a while. He felt his heart beating faster. He analyzed Kairos, smiling wide. “Out of here”. Sorem held his hand.

Kairos blinked twice. “WH-”.

The half-orc put his hand up over Kairos’ mouth. “Kitten”, he whispered. He patted him on the head, to calm him down. “It’s a secret mission! We gotta keep quiet”.

Kairos got scared with the gesture, but eventually calmed down. He giggled, “okay, okay, stealthy”.

“Stealthy”, Sorem winked.

With their fingers interlaced, the boys ran through dark and lonely corridors. Both of them had tried escaping the school many times, but only had success that day. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was something else. It didn’t matter. They wouldn’t question their victory. Scaling the fence, Sorem helped Kairos to not get stuck on the barbed wire. The half-orc had no problems crossing through. Soon, both were outside, laughing together.

“All right”, Sorem finally caught his breath. “So, we’re now on our way to… Drum rolls, please”.

Kairos played his imaginary battery, mimicking its sound with his mouth.

“The beach!”, Sorem announced.

The elf’s eyes were shining even more. “Oh my, Sooorem! I can’t believe it! It’s been so long…”. He closed his eyes, smiling wide. “I can already imagine it! Sunbathing, swimming, eating shrimp… OhmygoodnessIwanttoeatshrimp”. Kairos licked his lips.

Sorem laughed, caressing his hands. “We can do all of it and more! Whatever you want”.

“I wanna do everything you want to do!”. Kairos hugged him as they kept walking.

Sorem smiled. “We have a lot of time!”.

The boys almost fell as their movements weren’t synchronized. 

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the beach. There were a lot of people around. Kairos imagined there was some festival or social event happening there, however it was just a normal day in Elderlight.  The sea seemed calm - and to Kairos, as beautiful as always. People were laughing, children were playing, vendors were announcing their prices.

The elf turned to Sorem, shaking his hand with a little more strength. “Look over there, Sorem!”, he pointed to a group of musicians in a circle. “Can we get closer?”.

“Of course, kitten”, he winked. “The last one to get there is the cleric’s husband!”, exclaimed, taking the lead before he finished the phrase.

Kairos screamed, running towards the group. The boys laughed. Kairos pushed his friend - who was stronger, so he barely moved. However, the musicians stopped their songs to stare at them, annoyed by the sound the duo was making.

Kairos shrinked. “Hmm… Hi, sorry”, he whispered. “You, hm, your songs are very nice”.

An elven woman frowned, still irritated. “Thanks…”. She turned to her colleagues, back towards the boys, and continued playing.

Kairos frowned as well, turning to Sorem. Understanding the look on his face, the half-orc approached them before the girl could sing: “is it okay if we listen to you guys? My friend wants to be a musician too!”.

One of the artists turned to them: “will the two of you be quiet, brats?”.

“Yes, sir!” Kairos said immediately, used to this treatment.

“You can stay then”, one of the women said. She was calmer than her friends. She quickly started playing the flute, and her friends accompanied her. 

Kairos slowly calmed down, paying attention to the song. Especially to the people: how they behaved, how they held their instruments, how they were so synchronized even without a sheet music or someone to guide them. Soon, the elf was singing along in a very low voice, not wanting to annoy them again. Or worse, be yelled at.

Sorem eventually left to grab a shrimp skewer for them. As he came back, Kairos held his hand. He smiled and took a bite. Kairos rested his head on his shoulder, enjoying the songs.

Once the musicians were done, both clapped. Kairos seemed the most agitated: “it was beautiful! Everything was so beautiful! I loved how your major chords sounded”. He didn’t understand the subject that much…

Noticing how the adults still didn’t want them around - with the exception of the sweet lady who smiled all the time, Sorem and Kairos decided to do something else. 

This time, Sorem suggested the next activity: “have you played beach volley?”.

Kairos denied.

“Do you want to try?”, he smirked and raised an eyebrow. He pointed with his head to a group of teenagers who were playing together.

The elf smiled. “The last one to get there-”.

“You already married the cleric, dude”.

There was silence. “Shit-”. Kairos had the same reaction as before, causing Sorem to laugh again.

The boys eventually approached the group, asking if they could join. The teens were very receptive, happy to have a bigger group now. They divided them into trios. Kairos and Sorem asked to join different teams, making a bet with each other:

“If my team wins”, Kairos started, “you’ll have to wash my uniform for a week!”.

“Okay, but if my team wins…”, Sorem thought for a while. “The next time they give us muffins as dessert, you’ll give me yours”.

Kairos pouted. He loved those muffins, even if they were way too dry. They rarely get desserts! So… It was war!

It took some time for the duo to learn the game rules. Kairos couldn’t understand how there was a correct way to hit the ball, and Sorem was very tempted to kick the ball every time. But in the end, Kairos’ group won.

The elf celebrated, high fiving his team mates. They responded out of education, since Kairos didn’t really help much. He quickly hugged Sorem. “Heh, it seems I won’t be going to the laundry for a very long time!”, and stuck his tongue out.

Sorem imitated him, saying goodbye to the other players. "Humpf"

Kairos laughed. “Don’t be sad, kitten”.

The half-orc blushed. Kairos never used a nickname with him before - except “Sorem”, but that’s because he asked him to. “I’m not sad, quite the opposite actually”, he gave him a cute smirk. “I like spending time with you, you know?”.

“You do?”

“Yeah…”, he caressed a spot behind his pointy ears ”Being with you is the best part of my day! And you’re my best friend… When you win, I’m happy too! Even if that means I’ll have to wash a bunch of clothing afterwards”, Sorem giggled.

Kairos smiled, hugging his friend with all the strength he had. He buried his face on his chest. Sorem hugged him back. They continued their journey by walking by the coastline. The two of them chatted for a while about random things, while the waves were hitting their naked feet. Their laughter became louder and louder. Suddenly, Kairos held Sorem’s hand and swirled him. The elf was singing. Sorem danced. They kicked the water and the sand, searched for seashells, pointed at something on the horizon that called attention and told bizarre stories to each other.

Once the silence took over again, Kairos turned to Sorem, calling for him.

“What is it, kitten?”.

“I thought about a name”, he admitted.

“Is that so?” Sorem got closer, sitting by his side and hugging him. “So what is your name, then?”.

The elf smiled timidly, looking away. “Kairos Rose”.

“Nice to meet you, Kairos Rose”, his knee touched Kairos’. “Badass name, huh?”.

“It means: the correct, critic and opportune moment!”, he explained. He didn’t understand half of those words, but they seemed pretty important.

“A strong name too, I liked it”, he commented, “it looks even better with my name next to it!”.

The elf blushed and nervously laughed. “Does it?”, he stuttered. “What do you mean?”.

“Sorem and Kairos”, he announced as if it was the title of a book. “Durriken’s best duo!”. 

Kairos sighed. He was thinking about a different suggestion, like their surnames together. He smirked. “Kairos and Sorem is better”.

“No, it’s not!”

“It is”.

“Nah-ham!”

“Ah-ham!”

They stayed this way for a while, friendly disagreeing with each other.

“Nah-ham”, Kairos accidentally agreed, though.

They laughed once more, Sorem taking the opportunity to get closer to his friend. “You know, Kairos… I was thinking about something…”.

“What is it?”

“Your mother and, you know, people from your family or even our neighbors… The guards… People will say your deadname and refuse to change it to Kairos. You have to be stronger than ever”.

Kairos frowned. He really didn’t think about that… But in the end, the elf sighed. “I won’t let them”, he confidently exclaimed. “I don’t like people calling me that way. They will call me Kairos! And if they don’t, they won’t be in my life”.

The half-orc smiled, celebrating with a scream. “Yeah! That’s my babe”, he proudly exclaimed.

Sorem didn’t realize the Freudian slip he committed. In fact, he didn’t even know what that was. Kairos knew even less! Even then, the elf blinked sometimes, confused. His heart was beating faster.

“Your… Babe?”.

Sorem froze. He blushed hard. His emerald eyes didn’t blink. The wind brushed the teens’ hairs.

Soon, Kairos smiled without showing his teeth. “Okay!”

“...Okay?” 

“Yeah, okay! I am your babe”, he hid a hair strand behind his ears. “I mean, if that’s what you really want…”.

The half-orc blinked. He laughed, out of nervousness than anything else. Sorem held his hand, smiling as Kairos caressed it. 

“Okay”, he exclaimed nervously. “In that case, I’m your kitten too, Kairos”.

Kairos was as red as a tomato. “I like that idea, kitten”.

“Me too, heh”.

They stayed quiet again, extremely nervous.

In Elderlight, or at least inside that school and their families, there wasn’t a worry to explain to the youth how relationships work. Nobody had a conversation with either Kairos and Sorem about how to deal with those feelings. Nobody gave incentive to explore their sexualities and emotions. So, it was expected they wouldn’t know how to deal with a crush.

And yet, some things didn’t need to be taught to happen.

Even though nobody told them what to do after the “okay”, Sorem and Kairos stared at each other. There were not that many people at the beach. The only sound they could hear was the sea waves. And maybe a bird that flew close by. Their eyes fell towards their lips for a moment. Kairos always found his little fangs charming. On the other hand, Sorazar already paid attention to the elf’s lip shape - so many times that he could perfectly picture it in his mind.

The more they stared at each other, the closer they were. With caution, and even fear, their lips met in a sweet and quick kiss. Their touch was strange. And yet, at the same time, interesting. They approached once more, sharing another kiss. Kairos giggled nervously, enjoying the sensation of Sorem’s fangs against his skin. His hand rushed towards his chin, caressing it. Sorem pulled him for a kiss, more desperate and passionate. The half-orc’s tongue gently explored Kairos’ mouth.

At the end, their cheeks were extremely warm. Kairos bit his lip. “That was…”.

“Perfect”, Sorem sighed.

“Perfect, yeah…”, Kairos licked his mouth, smirking. “Can I have another one?”.

Sorem laughed. “As. Many. As. You. Want”, and gave a small kiss during each pause.

Kairos rested his head against his shoulder, while the teenagers watched the sunset.

“Thank you, Sorem”, he closed his eyes, feeling peaceful. “For everything, but especially today”.

“And who said our day has ended, Kairos?”, Sorem giggled. He turned around, grabbing his backpack. He removed a small pot. 

“What do you have there?”.

The half-orc gave him the package, smiling. As Kairos opened it, he took a hidden lighter from his boot. Inside the pot, there was a small piece of cake, with a half burnt candle stuck in the middle.

“Did you…?”.

Sorem smiled, giving him a little kiss. “Happy birthday, Kairos Rose”, he whispered. “Did you think I’d forget, huh? Well, you were wrong!”.

Kairos didn’t answer.

“I made the cake”, Sorem continued. “And I’m sorry for the candle, it was the only one I found… But hey, now it is Kairos’ birthday, you know? The first day with your real name, with your real you and…”. He stopped as Kairos started crying. “Kairos? Kairos!”.

Sorem hugged him tighter, kissing the top of his head.

“Thank you”, Kairos stuttered. “Thank you, Sorem, thank you”. He hid his face onto his shoulder.

“Oh, it was nothing, dude…”. The half-orc frowned, giving him another kiss. “You don’t need to cry, babe. It’ll be the first of many cakes! Next year it’ll be even better”.

Sorem didn’t know, but during the next year, he’d learn how to make brownies. Since, well… It wouldn’t work with the cake.

Kairos laughed, cleaning his face. Sorem helped him.

“And yours will have enough food and music!”, Kairos promised. During Sorem’s birthday, there were only songs and dry cupcakes from the military school. It was great!

Sorem laughed too. “Can’t wait…”.

The half-orc lit the candle up. “You know what you have to do, right?”.

“Aham! My wish is ready”.

“You can’t tell me”.

“I won’t”.

Kairos laughed. He breathed in, gathering enough air so he’d blow out the candle with one try. And with that, he thought: “I wish Sorem to be very happy, the same way he makes me happy!”. He smiled when the candle wasn’t lit anymore.

The boys celebrated by hugging each other. Sorem opened his mouth to say something, when they heard the screams of a guard from the school: “ROSE! DAY!”.

Kairos and Sorem separated from each other, already trembling.

… Fuck.