Work Text:
Damon Maitsu wakes up at 7 am. It’s officially his last day before retirement.
He’s worked at Eden’s Garden University for nearly 40 years now, as a philosophy professor. He loves it dearly, but Kai pestered him for months to “hang up the towel, old man. It’s time to get on with the rest of your life.” Eventually, Damon agreed.
This is how most things have gone in their married life: Kai wants something, Damon says no, and then slowly, Kai wears him down. Damon is reminded of this every time he wakes up in their over-decorated bedroom, on their too-soft bed and fluffier-than-life comforters. This morning is no exception. He throws the covers off and gets out of bed, and immediately groans. He got a little too aggressive playing pickleball last week, and his body won’t let him forget. He feels his left knee creak as he tries to shift his weight off of it.
Their morning routine, generally, is as follows: Damon wakes up first. He begins brewing a pot of coffee and reads the news in the kitchen. Kai usually enters about 15 minutes later, and starts making breakfast. Sometimes he makes eggs, sometimes he’ll even make pancakes. Usually, he just eats a bowl of cereal. But there is one thing that always stays consistent: Kai will ask Damon if he wants anything. Damon will say no. Kai will make him some anyway. Damon will eat it.
When Kai emerges from the bedroom this morning, Damon greets him as usual with a small smile. As time has gone on, Kai’s taught him to enjoy the smaller things in life: a good cup of coffee, a quiet morning, a husband who still loves him the same way as the day they got married. He’s been trying to show the joy on his face more; Kai has always loved his smile, after all.
Though his face has wrinkled from a lifetime of laughter and his hair is no longer bright pink, Kai still looks the same as Damon remembers meeting him. He hasn’t lost a drop of his charisma. He’s always been slightly jealous of his husband for that; while Damon’s career left him with forehead wrinkles and eye bags, Kai’s gave him the love of millions of people, not to mention substantially more money than a college professor.
When they first met, Damon was in his first year of grad school working as a TA for an introductory course in ethics. Kai was in his recitation, a senior who needed the class to fulfill a gen ed requirement and graduate. Damon had heard the name Kai Monteago before (who hadn’t at that point– you couldn’t own a smartphone without recognizing the influencer), and he had known that the famous internet celebrity attended the university. Still, he never thought he would ever run into him, much less teach him ethics.
And yet, just as his name had appeared on the roster, so too did Kai Monteago appear in his classroom. What really surprised Damon though, was when Kai showed up to his office hours the second week of class. He was actually the first person to show up that semester, which made sense; the course had barely started, there wasn’t exactly much to be confused about. Still, Damon did his best to help the influencer understand the introduction of Plato’s republic.
It took Damon the better half of the semester to realize Kai might only be coming to office hours to flirt with him. Even then, he didn’t fully comprehend it until Kai asked him to get coffee one afternoon in November. Damon couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Kai, this is a class about ethics and moral values, and you’re asking me, your teacher of ethics and moral values , to go on a date with a student?”
Kai pouted. “Oh come on, you’re a teacher’s assistant . You’re only a year older than me. And besides, I’ve been coming to your office every week, and you never kicked me out then. How’s this any different?”
“You have a right as my student,” he emphasized that word, “to come to my office hours. I can’t kick you out.”
“Ok, well, I reallllyyyyy need help studying for this final, so you can help me over coffee! It’s like office hours, but not in an office.” Kai paused for a second, a thought hitting his brain. “So like, just hours.”
Damon scoffed. “I am not getting coffee with a student. End of discussion.”
Kai’s frown deepened, but he didn’t give up. As Damon would later learn, Kai always finds a way to get what he wants. “I won’t be your student next semester.”
“What?”
“January. Let me take you out for coffee in January.”
And just like that, Damon couldn’t say no. After all, he was a broke grad student with a caffeine addiction, who was he to say no to a free cup of coffee from a rich not-his-student? And though he hadn’t admitted it to himself yet, Kai had already begun to grow on him. He had a way of doing that, as the ultimate influencer, of forcing people to like him, and Damon was his next victim.
The rest is history. After Kai graduated, he got a part-time remote job in marketing, in case the influencer thing didn’t work out (it did), and moved into Damon’s shitty studio apartment. A few years later, Damon got his Ph.D. and a job offer a few states away. A few years after that, they got married.
One of their wedding photos hangs next to the pantry that Kai is pulling a box of cereal from. It’s a shot of their first kiss as newlyweds, and when Kai turns around with a box of Special K Damon realizes how much time has truly passed since that photo. Though his love has stayed the same, when looking at them side-by-side he can really see how the youth has left Kai’s face, replaced with the comforting heaviness of age. He notices it in himself too, right now especially in his left knee.
“You want any Special K? There’s just enough left for both of us.” By the time the “no thanks, I’m not hungry,” leaves Damon’s lips Kai has already grabbed two bowls. Damon stands up to refill his mug, wincing at the pressure on his knee. Kai doesn’t fail to notice.
“Ugh, didn’t I tell you to ice that?” He tuts disapprovingly. “You’ve got to take better care of yourself.” He grabs some milk out of the fridge. “And you’ve seriously got to chill out at pickleball.”
Damon grumbles. “What, was I just supposed to let Grace and Wolfgang beat our asses?”
Kai gives him an incredulous look. “Hon, Grace is a former professional tennis player. She’s gonna beat our asses either way, even if Wolfgang sucks.”
Damon doesn’t respond, opting instead to refill his coffee and sit down without saying another word, opening his newspaper once more. A few moments later, Kai sits next to him with two bowls of cereal. Begrudgingly, Damon takes a spoonful.
“You’d probably be dead if I wasn’t here,” Kai chuckles. Damon rolls his eyes, but he knows there’s some truth to the statement.
Because for all of Damon’s complaining, in the end, every decision Kai has made has made his life better. It was Kai who pestered him until he agreed to go on a date. It was Kai who complained until they moved into a nicer apartment, and eventually, a small townhouse just a 10 minute walk from the university. It was Kai who forced Damon to eat something every morning so he didn’t pass out in his morning lectures. Damon would have never done any of that for himself, but it’s what Kai wants, and his love for his husband is stronger than his pride. This is how Damon finds himself giving his last college lecture wearing a knee brace.
His final day of employment is overall more underwhelming than he expected. His retirement party isn’t for another week, and he’s already taught his final upperclassmen and grad student classes. The only lectures he has today are for a few first-year introduction courses, and by now he’s given this lesson so many times he has it memorized. When he gets on the bus to return home it hasn’t yet hit him that that was the final lecture he would ever give.
Kai will be waiting for him, of course. He had quit his marketing job pretty shortly after it began, realizing that it was much more fiscally efficient to capitalize fully off his fame at the time. Damon remembers that time very well: getting stopped and asked for photos whenever they were out together, people constantly talking about their relationship online. It was exhausting, but he didn’t complain much because it kept the lights on and food on the table while he worked on his dissertation. He’s glad those days are over now though; occasionally, he gets recognized when the two are in public together, but never by himself. Nowadays, Kai stays home during the day, working on whatever his current obsession is. Recently, it’s been knitting. While the results were questionable at first, he’s gotten quite good over the past few months. For their anniversary in August Kai gifted him a gorgeous wool scarf. At the time, it was useless, but today it shields Damon from the cold winds of December.
He opens the door to find Kai sitting on the living room couch, watching some reality TV show with a knitting project in his hands that Damon swears he has seen him restart at least 5 times. He really thought Kai would have given up by now, as he’s done with many things before, but he’s been really determined about this. Damon takes off his suit jacket and tie, and joins the other man on the couch.
“What slop is this?”
“Hey, it’s not slop!” Kai pouts. “It’s a baking show where normal people who can’t bake try to make really crazy cakes.”
“Oh my god, that sounds awful .” Still, Damon doesn’t move to leave.
“Yeah, it is. And it’s awesome .”
They watch the show together in silence for a while, before Damon turns to ask a question.
“How many times have you restarted that thing?” He points to the pile of yarn and needles in Kai’s hands. “What’s it even supposed to be, anyways?”
Kai furrows his brows for a moment, trying to pull up a loop that fell off one of his needles. “It’s gonna be socks.”
“How is that going to become socks?” Damon teases, but his words hold no weight. Kai knows this, but he plays along anyways.
“It’s a work in progress, ok? Always so mean to your poor husband.”
They’ve been through this song and dance a million times. Kai turns away in mock anguish. Damon grabs his shoulder so they’re facing each other again. He apologizes, and Kai smirks before leaning in to kiss him.
As long as he lives, Damon will never get tired of kissing Kai. It’s only gotten better over the years, each time building on the memories of the last. Eventually, Kai pulls away, a serious expression on his face.
“I’m going to figure out how to make these damned socks. I swear.”
Damon laughs. “I believe you.”
They watch the show for a while longer, until it’s Kai’s turn to ask a question.
“So, how was your last official day of work?”
“Fine,” Damon responds. “I guess I’m officially retired now.”
“Yeah you are, you old man.” Kai elbows him playfully, but his words register deeper in Damon’s heart. This is the moment he realizes the reality of retirement. What’s left of his life now? He has no job, he doesn’t have many hobbies to do with his free time, his body is falling apart, as evidenced by his pickleball injury. What’s he supposed to do now, just sit around and wait to die?
“Hey, hon, you ok?” The feeling of his husband’s hand on his shoulder snaps him back into reality.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I just,” Damon collects his thoughts. “What do I do now? …What do you do after retirement?”
Kai looks thoughtfully for a moment. “You make socks.”
He looks Damon in the eyes. “So what if you’re retired? Your life’s not over, it’s just the end of one chapter. Cm’on Damon, aren’t you supposed to be the smart one?”
Damon smiles, a big, toothy smile, the kind Kai likes best. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“To our next chapter together, then.”
“To our next chapter. Who needs to be a contributing member of society anyways? Screw em!”
Damon chuckles. “Yeah, to hell with all of them.”
“And Damon, honey,” Kai looks down at his legs. “Go get an ice pack for your knee.”
Groaning, Damon stands up and grabs a bag of ice out of the freezer. The cold numbs his joints, and the pain slowly starts to subside.
“I think I’m going to start doing origami,” he decides.
“Awh, there you go, first retirement hobby down!” Kai leans his head on Damon’s shoulders.
And Damon can’t help but think how lucky he is that this gets to be the rest of his life.