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Kel felt bad for showing up at Sunny’s house unannounced, especially when he was planning on asking if he could stay over for the night. He knew that his mother was currently away, thankfully. As he walked up the stairs, almost to the floor Sunny’s apartment was on, he just hoped that his boyfriend would let him in. He did come over without asking every now and again, but this was different than those times.
The reason Kel was going to ask Sunny if he could stay over was that he had gotten into a verbal fight with his parents. It wasn’t the first time. He was coming dangerously close to failing that school year, and they certainly weren’t happy with him. After the shouting match that had come about, he stormed out. He didn’t feel like sleeping in that house that night.
It wasn’t long before Kel reached Sunny’s apartment, which was numbered 311. Kel knocked. While he waited for Sunny to answer it, he tried to relax himself, thinking about Sunny’s apartment number. When Sunny had told him, quite some months ago, that that was the apartment number he’d ended up with, he’d smiled. Eleven was Kel’s lucky number. He was born on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and his number on his basketball team was eleven.
It didn’t take much time for Sunny to open the door, and when he saw Kel on the other side of it, his eye lit up for a moment, before he ended up with a concerned expression on his face. He’d surely seen that Kel didn’t have his usual pleasant smile, though he still did have one. He was happy to see his boyfriend, despite the circumstance. “Hey, Sunny…”
“Hi, Kel…” Sunny said. He seemed to be examining the look on Kel’s face. “Are you okay? Do you want to come in?”
“Yeah, sure,” Kel nodded, not yet answering the first question. Sunny took his hand, and led him quickly to the living room couch after he’d closed the door behind them. The two sat down, and Sunny put a hand on his.
“What’s going on? You look upset.”
Kel guessed it was easy to tell that he wasn’t feeling his best. While Kel began talking, Sunny’s thumb comfortingly rubbed his hand. “It’s my parents… They’re not happy that I haven’t been doing well at school, and all of us ended up yelling…” He trailed off with a sigh. “I dunno. I think I’m just mad at them. And tired. It’s not like they even try to help with school… I had to leave, and I didn’t know where else to go. Sorry for just…showing up.”
“Don’t be sorry. You can stay here. My mom’s not around right now, anyway,” Sunny said. “I’m sorry your parents are being that way.”
“It’s alright, Sun’. It’s kinda my fault, too, for being a failure all the time,” Kel chuckled a little, though it was kind of weird-sounding. Perhaps it was because it wasn’t really that funny of a thing to be laughing at.
“Don’t say that,” Sunny insisted. “You aren’t a failure, Kel.” He sounded certain of what he was saying. “Some test scores don’t define your worth.”
“I don’t know. My parents seem to think my grades define everything. There’s a reason Hero’s the favorite child, and I’m nothing like him.”
Sunny held onto Kel’s hand, looking into Kel’s eyes and making sure that he was looking at him, too. “That’s their problem,” Sunny said matter-of-factly, “They shouldn’t have those unfair expectations of you. They shouldn’t expect you to be Hero. You are your own person…and I love that person.”
Kel felt his heart warm a bit. “Thanks, Sunny…I love you, too,” he said, before yawning. He really was tired.
“I assume you want to say the night?” Sunny asked. “It’s pretty late. It’s like eleven-thirty, I think.”
“Yeah…if that’s okay?” Kel asked. He really hoped Sunny would say yes, but he certainly wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t.
“Of course it’s okay,” Sunny said. “You can always stay over. Even if my mom was here, I doubt she’d care. If she’d even notice,” Sunny let go of his hand in order to stretch his arms a bit. “Do you want to get to bed? I can tell you’re tired,” he asked. Before he had the chance to answer, Sunny titled his head down so he could give him a kiss on his forehead. Kel smiled.
“Yeah, that’d be nice,” Kel agreed. “I’m exhausted… Were you already heading to bed before I got here, Sun’? I hope I didn’t disturb you or anything.”
Sunny shook his head. “I was going to, but I hadn’t actually gotten in bed yet, don’t worry. Even if I had, it would have been no issue. I wouldn’t have minded, really.” Maybe if he was more awake, Kel would still feel bad, but he didn’t have the energy for such things. It was better to try and be happy when he was able to spend time with Sunny, anyway. He had come here to get away from his sadness and bad feelings after all.
Sunny stood up from the couch, holding out one of his hands so Kel could grab it as he stood up for balance. Kel knew that he would have been fine without doing so, but he accepted the hand regardless. Sunny still held his hand all the way to the bedroom, and when they arrived, he let him lie down first, before joining him. Maybe it was just because he was happier, but Sunny’s bed felt much more welcoming than his own did. Or, it was just because Sunny was very picky with beds. A while ago, he even told him that he often gave them ratings. Kel found that a bit funny. Hah.
Sunny’s forehead was pressed against his. “Are you feeling any better?”
Kel gave him a smile full of love. “Way better,” he confirmed.
“Do you think your parents are going to be upset if you aren’t home?”
Kel chuckled a little. “Probably. But it’s fine, because they were upset already. Either way, it’s worth it to be with you.”
“Aw. I love you, Kel.”
“I love you, too, Sunshine…” Kel replied. Here, with the one he loved most, he felt so incredibly safe and loved.