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A repeated string of ‘Mn’ left Klein’s mouth as he leisurely strolled through the busy hallway with a stack of papers in one hand and phone on the other. The phone was held up to his left ear as he absentmindedly listened to the nagging voice on the other line of the call.
“—You said you were going to visit a museum tomorrow?” The person on the other line asked.
“Mn.” Klein repeated once more and added, “It’s for a group project.”
“Where are you going now?”
“Library. I have some papers to finish up.” So please stop nagging me and let me hang up already. Klein mentally complained.
“Okay. Make sure you eat properly and—“ Klein was about to answer with another string of ‘Mn’ when out of nowhere, he felt something hard crash right into his shoulder. The collision was quite strong, causing him to drop his papers and stumble backwards for a few steps.
Immediately, he winced from the pain of being bumped into, a frown forming on his lips. Klein wanted to curse loudly but was still in daze after the collision. He could only silently watch as the perpetrator bent down and swiftly picked up all of his papers before handing it over to him with his head bowed low.
“Sorry! Sorry! I was in a rush and didn’t watch where I was going.” Mumblings of apologies escaped the other person’s lips.
Sensing how genuinely apologetic they were, Klein could only tightly press his lips together as he slowly accepted the stack of papers handed to him. Because of the pain on his right shoulder, he had wanted to curse up a whole storm but decided to keep his mouth shut instead.
Forget it. He thought.
Even if it had hurt, he wasn’t the type of person whose temper would explode from a matter such as this anyway.
But before he could even say anything, the other man had already slightly lifted his head before dashing away in a hurry.
“…” Klein was stunned speechless.
He must’ve really been in a hurry.
… But haven’t I seen him somewhere before? Klein‘s brows were slightly furrowed as he thought about it. Earlier, right when that man had lifted his head, he caught a glimpse of the upper half of his face. Those green eyes were especially striking and it reminded him of someone he’d seen before.
Before Klein could think even deeper, a sharp voice sounded through his left ear.
“Zhou Mingrui, are you even listening to me?”
“Ah….” Klein blinked, slowly recovering from his dazed state.
“Don’t ‘ah’ your mother! Are you sure that the university over there is not that bad?”
“It’s not…. I just got a little distracted.” Klein chose not to say anything about the situation earlier. Before his mother could say anything else, he quickly added, “I’ll take care of myself, you don’t need to worry much…” He continued to reassure his mom for a few more lines before she finally bid her goodbyes to him.
“Mn. Love you, bye.” Klein hung up the phone with a quiet sigh.
Six months had passed since he moved here to study and although he had already adapted to the western lifestyle, his family — or more specifically, his mother — hadn’t adapted to her son living on a completely different continent at all. She would constantly text and call him, asking repeated questions such as, “are you eating well?” or “is it hard on you there?”.
Of course Klein knew that it was just the worries of a mother but he couldn’t help but find it a little too overbearing. His father on the other hand, was much more lax than her, only occasionally asking if he was doing well.
Regardless, Klein didn’t find it to be too bothersome at all. Whenever he was free enough from school work, he would obediently answer the phone and listen to his mother's endless strings of nagging while his father would say, “Alright, let the kid be. He’s an adult now, he’ll be just fine . ”
As Klein was about to continue making his way towards the library, he suddenly paused and realised that he’d left something important on his desk.
Shit. He cursed to himself, immediately turning a heel then rushed straight back to his classroom.
☆
“What? Seriously?”
”I’m serious.” Leonard sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
No matter where he went or what occasion it was, Leonard was the type of person who valued his own appearance. Nevermind his stunning looks that could bring down famous models to their knees, even the way he dressed regularly was eye catching. He always had his hair styled neatly and wore clothes that fit him well, letting him stand out even in a crowd full of people.
It was rarely ever that he had a strand of hair out of place and unfortunately, today was one of those rare instances where he did.
The green eyed man looked frustrated as he ruffled his own hair. His current hair was slightly messy unlike his usual styled hair that was kept neat and his clothes looked as if they had been hurriedly thrown on with the collar of the shirt unbuttoned, exposing the skin of his collarbones.
Although Leonard looked as if he didn’t put much effort into taking care of his own appearance today, the people passing by him still couldn’t help but steal a second glance. The messy look along with his handsome face that displayed a look of frustration gave off a fierce but attractive vibe, completely different from how he normally was.
The passersby only had three common words that popped up in their minds after laying their eyes on him: A hot mess.
Leonard Mitchell looked like a hot mess.
“Gosh…I must’ve accumulated ten lifetimes worth of good luck to be able to witness such a sight….” A passerby mumbled.
Leonard was completely unbothered from the attentuon and continued, “The professor should’ve assigned me to a group, right?”
Seeing how serious Leonard was, his friend couldn’t help but sigh and patted his shoulder before reassuring him, “Don’t worry about it. I covered for you.” Hearing this, Leonard let out a silent sigh of relief.
His friend added, “I seriously thought that you overslept or something. Do you know how nervous I was?”
As his friend continued to talk, in the corner of Leonard’s eye, he noticed a figure rushing towards the classroom. He only got a brief glimpse of the other’s face before they entered the classroom, completely disappearing from his sight.
They both were currently standing a little further away from the classroom, making it hard for Leonard to see that person’s face clearly but from this distance, he could still tell that the man was Asian and wore black framed glasses.
That person seemed to be his classmate whom he’d seen a few times. Leonard had never spoken to him nor had they ever made eye contact but the few times when his gaze would land on that man left him with an odd feeling in his chest.
He didn’t exactly know what that odd feeling was. If he were to describe it then he would say that it felt as if his heart was being squeezed. Leonard felt suffocated every time he gazed at that familiar yet unfamiliar man.
Just from that brief glance alone, Leonard had unconsciously curled his hand, tightly clutching onto the fabric of his pants. His eyes were glued to the half opened door of the classroom as he swallowed dryly. The familiar feeling of suffocation slowly welled up in his chest and his mind seemed to have gone blank in an instant.
“—Leonard?” His friend loudly called out to him, slightly shaking his shoulders, causing Leonard to jolt awake. “You okay?”
“Mn….” Leonard nodded as he blinked, slowly moving his gaze away from the classroom’s door.
“I made a groupchat for the project so you should check when you have the chance to later.” Leonard absentmindedly nodded in response and his friend continued, “The details about the meet up for tomorrow have been sent to the groupchat.”
“The issue I have still hasn't been resolved so I’ll be a little busy tomorrow morning….”
“It’s fine as long as you show up—“
“…. Wait a minute.” Leonard paused then continued, “What meet up?” He had only registered bits and pieces of what was said to him and only now did he process most of the other words.
Hearing this, his friend immediately closed her mouth and shot him a look.
“You didn’t listen to a word I said, did you?”
Leonard only slightly smiled in response.
☆
Klein had arrived at the meeting place early. He stood outside of the museum as he glanced down at his phone which displayed three different text messages.
— I’ll be a little late, sorry!
—Same here! [sob]
—Anyone who’s early can enter the museum first. You can look around and start checking it out before we all get there.
He stood still for a while, feeling complicated as thought to himself, how come all three of his group members were late?
It couldn’t be that he had been unluckily grouped with a bunch of slackers…..
This thought was so startling that Klein immediately switched off his phone and stuffed it into his pocket before making his way into the museum. Although he felt a little suspicious, he chose not to jump into conclusions so early and decided that he should just check out the museum first.
Klein’s eyes darted all over the place as soon as he stepped foot into the museum. This museum was known for displaying a variety of things but despite that, not many people visited this place so it wasn’t as crowded as other museums. But not being crowded didn’t mean that it was completely empty; there was still a fair amount of people walking around.
Without much thought, he started to tour the museum on his own, occasionally pausing his steps whenever he encountered something that caught his attention. When he saw something interesting, he would take out his phone to snap a picture of it before sending it to the family groupchat.
Unfortunately, in the middle of it, his fingers had accidentally slipped and the picture was sent to a different groupchat.
“…”
He had intended to send it to only his parents but instead ended up pressing the other family groupchat.
This family groupchat was different from the one that had only his parents in it —It had almost everyone from his bloodline in it, from his parents to his aunts and uncles… even some distant cousins whom he had never interacted with were added to this groupchat. More than a family groupchat, it felt like one big public groupchat that was opened to almost anyone that shared even one percent of his family bloodline.
Immediately, a cousin who he was familiar with replied to the photo that he had sent.
—Mingrui, are you at a museum?
Klein was about to type up a quick reply but after seeing his Chinese name on the screen, he suddenly paused and realised that aside from his parents, it had been a while since anyone else referred to him with his Chinese name. After moving here, all he had been called was ‘Klein’.
Not even a few seconds later, the groupchat quickly started to explode. One by one, his relatives started to flood the chat with many different messages. Seeing this, Klein held his breath and hurriedly typed out a simple ‘yes’ before sending it out. As soon as the text was sent, he switched off his phone and pretended as if nothing had happened.
There was no way that he was going to reply to all of those messages.
☆
Klein wasn’t sure how much time had passed but he couldn’t bring himself to check the time as he was too engrossed in staring at every piece of thing that his eyes landed on. Currently, he was observing a collection of old black and white photos that were framed and nicely hung up on the wall for display.
A few people passed by this area and only stared at it for a brief moment before moving on but Klein was different, he was the only person who stayed much longer, inspecting each photograph one by one.
There was nothing special about the photographs. It showed ordinary people who were a part of a police force from a few decades ago called ‘Blackthorn Security’.
Although all of the photographs showed signs of aging, they were all still in good shape except for one particularly eye catching photo. The photo had everyone who was a part of Blackthorn Security and nothing was out of place except for the corner of the photo which seemed to have been burnt long ago by fire.
In that corner stood a man but his face was completely unrecognisable from the burn mark. This made the photo stand out the most as it gave off an ominous feeling to whoever was looking at it.
For some reason, Klein felt oddly drawn to that photo and couldn’t help but wonder what the man might look like. After staring for a while, curiosity got the best of him and silently moved his gaze away, examining the other photos in hopes of finding that man’s face.
Eventually, his gaze landed on a photo with two men photographed on it. The young man on the right immediately caught his eye first. He had slightly long smooth looking hair and was dressed neatly, wearing a coat with an opened collar shirt. The man’s hands were covered with a pair of gloves and his face was undeniably handsome.
The handsome man was gazing at someone to his right with soft eyes that looked as if they held nothing but love in them — More than love, there seemed to be another type of emotion mixed in as well.
What was it? Klein wondered. Longing, perhaps?
He paused, slowly following the gaze of the handsome man and his eyes landed on another young man who sat next to him. That young man was dressed in a normal suit and wore a top hat on his short hair that was parted in the middle front. Compared to the handsome man next to him, he looked much more ordinary and had a slight smile on his lips as he looked forward.
Klein froze.
He had a feeling that this seemed to be the face of the man who was missing in the group photo.
☆
Unexpectedly, Leonard was the second person to arrive. He sent a quick text to the groupchat before entering the museum, intending to explore for a few minutes while waiting for the last two group members to arrive.
With both of his hands stuffed into the pockets of his coat, he walked wherever his feet took him. His aimless wandering eventually led him to a corner that had a wall full of framed old photographs.
Leonard’s green eyes swept across the display before stopping right on the photograph with two men. The two men sat side by side with one of them looking forward while the other’s gaze was fixated on him.
Staring at the man on the right, Leonard couldn’t help but become startled. He wasn’t sure if there was something wrong with his vision or not but for some reason, he felt as if that man’s face was eerily similar to his. The resemblance was so uncanny.
Without even blinking, Leonard’s gaze moved over to the man sitting on the left. The moment his gaze locked on the young man’s face, Leonard felt a familiar squeeze in his heart. His breathing slowly started to pick up its pace as his chest became heavy.
Unlike the other instances, he didn’t feel the usual painful suffocation. Instead, that feeling of suffocation was replaced by something else, some other emotion that he couldn’t quite describe.
Who was this person?
Leonard felt as if he should know him but as his mind desperately flipped through the memories containing the twenty or so years of his life, he concluded that this man was supposed to be a complete stranger to him — He should be a complete stranger and yet that thought alone had caused a small spark of anger in Leonard’s heart.
This person….
At that moment, something warm trickled down the side of his face. Not thinking much of it, Leonard raised a hand up to his cheek and used the back of his palm to wipe it off. It was only then did he realise what it was.
I’m…. crying?
The realisation caused him to instantly freeze up in place. Leonard blinked a few times before quickly using his cold hand to wipe away the remaining tear stain on his cheek. After wiping off his cheek, he noticed that there was someone staring at him from the corner of his eye. Leonard’s actions slowed as he made eye contact with them.
In the secluded corner of the museum stood two men with their gazes interlocked with one another. Time seemed to have come to a stop for these two men as their visions gradually blurred, leaving only the figure of the person in front of them still clear.
Through Leonard’s glistening green eyes, the figure of the man in front of him overlapped with another person’s figure. The man in front of him was clearly dressed in casual clothes and wore black framed glasses and yet in his vision, Leonard saw a completely different person — He saw someone who was dressed neatly in a suit with a top hat resting on his head.
Through his ringing ears, Leonard heard the man laugh and say in a playful manner, “My dear poet, you really aren’t fit to write poems at all.”
At the same time, through Klein’s vision, he too saw a different figure overlapping with Leonard’s. That figure wore the exact same outfit as the one from the photograph but unlike the black and white photograph, his red gloves stood out, giving him a completely different type of vibe.
The figure smiled at him and extended his gloved hand out as he spoke, “From now on, we’re partners.”
The two men were in a dazed state, silently staring at one another with their hearts rapidly beating in sync.
Leonard gulped and thought that his throat felt strangely itchy as if he had countless words he wanted to say but not a single sound could even escape his lips.
What had he wanted to say? Leonard himself didn’t know either.
The person in front of him was no better. Klein felt the overwhelming urge to decrease the distance between them but as soon as his feet shifted, he suddenly froze in place.
What was he about to do? Klein himself also didn’t know.
The two stayed like this for a while, neither moving nor talking — It stayed like that until a female voice was suddenly heard, instantly shattering the strange atmosphere and pulling the two men back to their senses.
“Hey! There you guys are!” The eye contact between them quickly broke off then landed on the owner of the voice who was approaching them. “I texted the groupchat but nobody replied so we decided to come find you two.” Behind her was the fourth group member. These two seemed to have both arrived at the same time.
“…. Seems like I don’t have to introduce you two then?” Yesterday, Leonard only had the chance to meet one of his group members and this person who had covered for him was already his friend which meant that Klein was the only group member he hadn’t met yet.
Realising this, he subconsciously turned back to glance at Klein. At that moment, Klein was also looking at him, causing their eyes to meet once more.
Leonard, “….”
Klein, “……..”
After a brief pause, the two quickly moved their gazes away.
“Ahem.” Leonard cleared his throat and without making eye contact, he held his hand out towards Klein and said, “…. Nice to meet you, I’m Leonard Mitchell.”
The sudden introduction took Klein off guard and for a split second, he thought he had seen the figure form earlier overlapping with Leonard again. He blinked and looked down at other’s extended hands before hesitantly reaching his own hand out.
As soon as their hands made contact, a spark of electricity was felt.
“Nice to meet you too….” Klein momentarily paused and became dazed but it didn’t last long as he immediately recovered with a cough and he continued, “… You can call me Klein.”
Leonard absentmindedly nodded and unconsciously tightened his grip on the hand that he was holding onto. Klein was startled and wanted to pull away immediately but instead, his grip on Leonard’s hand also tightened.
“…”
It really seemed like neither of them were willing to let go.
“Alright. Should we walk around more?”
At that moment, Klein seemed to snap out of his dazed state and immediately withdrew his hand after slightly shaking it a few times. Leonard on the other hand, seemed to have also woken up as he quickly withdrew his hand as well.
“We can.” Leonard spoke calmly and maintained a nonchalant attitude but the rapid beating of his heart was completely opposite to his demeanour.
“Actually, I think we’ve seen enough while we were trying to find you two…”
The four of them exchanged a few more words with one another before they decided to go to a nearby cafe to discuss the project. During the brief walk to the cafe, although they had all chatted normally, both Klein and Leonard maintained an awkward distance between each other.
The two men acted as if nothing was amiss but the warmth on their hands still lingered, reminding them of what had happened back in that secluded corner of the museum.
☆
Although Klein was not a talkative person, that didn’t mean that he was completely mute. He would communicate with his group members as normal but for some reason, when it came to communicating with Leonard, his mind would go blank as if he had forgotten how to speak.
Despite being group mates, they hadn’t even had a proper conversation. The atmosphere between them felt awkward but more than that, there was some other feeling that he couldn’t quite grasp.
Being near Leonard made him feel hot all over as if he had suddenly caught a fever. Whenever those green orbs met his, Klein would immediately avert his gaze and his heart would start to quickly pick up its pace.
Is there something wrong with me? Klein would ask himself this same question repeatedly and every single time, he wasn’t able to come up with an answer at all.
In this type of situation, there was only one thing he could do….
Anonymous Poster
[ Title: Whenever I’m near my classmate, I feel strange.
— There’s a classmate I have but we’ve never even talked to each other before. I’ve noticed him a few times but it never left a big impression on me. Recently, we were grouped together for a project and there was an awkward situation…. It was nothing much, just somewhat of a really long eye contact that we shared… Ever since then, we can’t even maintain eye contact with one another and I feel strange whenever I see him. Does anyone know that the problem is? ]
Klein became so desperate that he had no choice but to resort to posting it online anonymously in hopes to gather some help from others. In order to avoid unexpected problems, he had posted it on a Chinese forum and rather quickly, the post gained a bit of attraction in under an hour.
Klein blankly stared at his phone screen as he read the comments one by one with furrowed brows.
—Have you ever had a crush on someone before?
—It seems that this is OP’s first time.
—Really!!! This is such an innocent post!!!
—OP, I’m cheering for you ~~~~
—From all of these comments, I hope OP has realised lol…
…
Feeling completely dumbfounded, Klein could only turn off his phone with a complicated expression on his face. Out of all things he had expected, this was one that hadn’t even crossed his mind.
He had a crush on Leonard?
After that sudden thought had struck him, Klein immediately froze on the spot, feeling as though he was about to cough out a mouthful of blood and faint from shock.
☆
“I think I have a crush on my classmate.” Leonard blurted out rather loudly with a dazed look on his face.
“ Cough—!” Audrey, who had been calmly drinking her iced coffee, suddenly choked on it with her eyes blown wide. “…. Pardon?” She blinked towards Leonard, wondering if she had heard him correctly.
“There’s this…..” Leonard paused, still lost in thought. “… This strange feeling whenever I see him.”
“Ah….” Audrey blinked, unsure of how to react to the sudden news but despite being caught off guard, she quickly adjusted her emotions and asked, “Do you get flustered whenever you’re near him?”
“Something like that…” Leonard wasn’t sure how to describe his feelings whenever he saw Klein. “… Whenever he’s there, I feel warm all over; my heart feels as if it could burst out of my chest and I start to get flustered… but other than that, I feel as if he’s familiar. My chest becomes heavy and I have the urge to pull him into a tight embrace. It’s as if I’ve finally found who I’ve been looking for — as if I’ve regained what was once lost.”
Audrey momentarily fell silent, feeling stunned as she listened. From her point of view, it seemed as if Leonard had fallen quite hard for this person but more than that, she thought that the latter half of his words reminded her of something she’d read before.
“Have you ever heard about the red strings of fate theory?”
Leonard nodded and answered, “I have.”
He had watched and read a fair share of romance stories so the topic wasn’t something new to him at all.
“Perhaps it’s something like that.” Audrey placed her iced coffee down and continued, “If you’re sure of your feelings then it wouldn’t hurt to try and confess.”
Upon hearing that, Leonard immediately became silent.
Confess?
He only felt a vague suspicion that it could it be crush but nothing as daring as that thought had ever crossed his mind. Just from hearing the words ‘confess’ had thrown his mind into a complete mess and that familiar feeling of suffocation started to rise up in his chest once more.
Would he even dare to?
Leonard dryly swallowed, his hands unconsciously curling up into fists as he bit down on his lower lip.
What if Klein didn’t feel the same way?
That one thought hit him like a truck, instantly causing him to feel dizzy and sick.
At the back of his mind, a mocking voice rang out,
“You don’t dare to.”
“You’ve never dared to.”
“You’re only ever capable of loving him from afar.”
Leonard wanted nothing more than to throw up right at that moment.
☆
During Leonard’s sleepless nights, he would constantly dream. Those dreams were all filled with a certain dark haired man named Klein. Although this Klein looked completely different from the Klein he knew in reality, Leonard still felt as if they were the same person.
Leonard and the Klein in his dreams could be described as ‘best friends’ without a doubt.
He dreamt of them being partners who worked along side one another. Sometimes they would just chat, sometimes they would go on work related trips together, and sometimes they would play cards or board games with each other.
Leonard would also frequently have nightmares that were related to Klein as well. Sometimes he would dream about that same Klein dying in his arms. Those nightmares were especially terrifying for him as the man he loved laid lifelessly in his arms, covered entirely in blood, becoming nothing more than a cold corpse.
Whenever Leonard awoke from those nightmares, he would immediately rush towards the bathroom and throw up with tears streaming down his cheeks.
All of those dreams felt so real to him — it felt so real that Leonard would show up to his university campus with a disheveled look as he desperately tried to find Klein. After confirming that the other person was fine, he would feel as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest.
From then on, he became almost obsessive towards Klein. Leonard would find himself anxiously looking for the other man through a crowd of people and whenever his eyes did land on Klein, he would instantly slip into a state of daze, staring at the other attentively as if he was trying to see if there was anything wrong with him.
If Klein had let out a cough, Leonard’s head would immediately whip towards his direction, eyes filled with nothing but worry.
This was too much.
Leonard thought that he had gone crazy.
☆
The ringing of a phone sounded throughout the entire room. It rang loudly, vibrating on top of the desk. Klein, who had fallen asleep on his desk while working, twitched a few times from discomfort before reaching a hand out to feel around the desk for his phone.
After grabbing a hold of the vibrating phone, Klein pressed the answer button through his slightly blurred vision and held it to his ear then groggily spoke with a hoarse voice, “Hello?”
“Hey, Klein!” Klein immediately recognised it as one of his group mates. “Since our project is pretty much wrapped up now, I was thinking of going out to eat together with the rest of the group members. What do you think? You wanna join us?”
Still half asleep, Klein unhurriedly answered without thinking, “Mn. Okay.”
“Great! I’ll send the details to the groupchat. See you tomorrow!” With a beep, the phone call ended.
It was only then did Klein realise what he had agreed to.
Although he was introverted, he was no stranger to invitations like these. Most of the time, he would make up an excuse not to attend but sometimes, he would have no choice but to attend. This time was one of those rare occasions where he didn’t mind joining in at all but at the same time, his mind wandered off to Leonard and his stomach immediately started to feel weird.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Leonard, it was just that….
At that thought of it, Klein quickly covered his flushed face and softly cursed underneath his breath.
☆
Klein ended up at a barbecue restaurant with his groupmates, grilling meat and slowly drinking beer as they mindlessly chatted. Leonard sat across from him and they would sometimes make eye contact before one of them would quickly break it off with an awkward look on their face.
Fortunately, the two other groupmates never seemed to notice the weird atmosphere between them as they still continued to chatter endlessly as usual, occasionally laughing here and there.
Klein was an introvert and rarely spoke up. He only quietly took a few sips of his beer while eating as he listened. Leonard, on the other hand, was quite extroverted. Although he avoided talking to Klein as much as possible, he naturally chatted with the others whenever he could while taking big gulps of his beer.
Before they knew it, the alcohol had started to set in, making them feel warm all over and slightly dizzy at the same time. After chatting for a bit more, the two groupmates left with one another, leaving Leonard and Klein to see them off as they both got into a taxi.
It was chilly night, the wind carried cool air that brushed past them as they quietly stood in front of the restaurant. Klein shivered, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants and thought, I should’ve brought a jacket with me.
As if someone had read his thoughts, something warm was draped over his shoulders, covering him from the cold wind. Immediately, Klein looked up and was met with the sight of Leonard who had slightly flushed cheeks from drinking.
Klein’s lips parted in surprise and the words, “You don’t need to” was about to leave the tip of his tongue when Leonard muttered, “Sit on the bench and wait for me.” Klein sent him a puzzled look and before he could even react, Leonard had quickly rushed off, leaving him no choice but to sit on the bench and wait as he was told to with the other’s coat still draped on his shoulders.
A few minutes later, Leonard came back with a bag belonging to a convenience store. He stood in front of Klein and dug around the bag before handing him a bottle of water.
Klein was stunned.
Although he had drunk alcohol, Klein still thought that he was very much clear headed and out of the both of them, Leonard seemed to be the more drunk one but yet, here he was, offering him water after running to the convenience store.
“No need….” Leonard ignored him and continued to push the water bottle towards him. Seeing such eagerness, Klein could only swallow back his words and accept it, muttering a “thank you” in the process.
He twisted the bottle cap and took a few sips of water then realised that Leonard had bought him room temperature water. He had taken into consideration that Klein was cold and would be uncomfortable if he drank something that was cold as well.
Klein looked up at Leonard, his gaze softening as they made eye contact.
“You should drink some water too.” Leonard said nothing in response and wordlessly handed him the plastic bag in his hand.
“You….”
“It’s for you.” Leonard spoke out softly.
Klein hesitated for a bit, his eyes flickering back and forth from Leonard and the plastic bag before finally reaching a hand out to accept it. After accepting the bag, he couldn’t help but take a look inside. Unexpectedly, the bag was filled with things one would like during a cold weather.
“…. Thank you.” Klein was speechless and could only utter out these two words.
All of a sudden, Leonard knelt down, startling Klein whose first reflex was to reach a hand out to catch the other person, thinking that he’d collapse. But instead of doing just that, his hand was frozen in the air as he looked down with wide eyes, unsure if he was seeing things wrong or not.
Leonard was kneeling on the ground, calmly tying up Klein’s shoelaces as if this was an ordinary thing for him. Klein watched with a stunned look on his face and his slightly curled hands unconsciously made its way down, resting itself on top of Leonard’s soft hair.
“Why…..”
What are you doing? Why are you like this all of a sudden? Are you drunk right now? Klein had countless questions he wanted to ask but none of them seemed quite right to him.
Just then, Leonard raised his head, showing his handsome face as they made eye contact once more. Still kneeling on the ground, the green eyed man stared at the other and lifted a hand up to grab Klein’s hand that was still resting on his head.
Without breaking eye contact, he pulled the hand down, letting it rest on his right cheek. Klein’s hand was warm, causing Leonard’s face to flush even more. Under the dimly lit streetlight, Leonard’s soft features were illuminated, giving Klein, who was staring down at him, a clear view.
Seeing Leonard’s flushed cheeks, Klein thought that the color red really did suit him a lot.
Those striking green eyes that stared up at him held the same exact emotions he’d felt from the photograph back at the museum. Leonard’s gaze was just as soft, filled with nothing but love and longing.
At that moment, Klein thought that they clearly didn’t need to exchange words in order to understand each other. Just one glance at Leonard’s eyes alone warmed his heart.
With a pair of eyes staring at him like that, what more do they need to say? Were words even enough to describe what they felt?
And so, Klein let his emotions consume him completely.
Without hesitation, he bent down and crashed their lips together. As soon as their lips met, there was a brief moment of shock where a curse rang out in both their minds at the time, Fuck.
Klein passionately kissed Leonard, letting his chaotic emotions run loose. Earlier, when his lips had touched the other’s soft ones, he felt as if something missing inside of him had finally been filled — as if this was something he’d been wanting to do for a long time now.
He held Leonard and kissed him deeply for a few moments before reluctantly letting go. As Klein admired Leonard’s dazed look, he couldn’t help but feel his lips tugging upwards into a smile. Although he was shocked by his own boldness, Klein still felt satisfied with what he’d done.
But before he could even let his emotions fully settle down, Leonard suddenly caught a hold of his collar and harshly pulled him down.
After Klein had kissed him earlier, Leonard thought to himself, Fuck it.
He‘d known what restraint was and had always been restraining himself for as long as he could remember but from the moment he’d gotten a taste of what he had been longing for, Leonard exploded immediately.
He let his desires consume him.
For a second time that night, their lips met once more. This time, the kiss was strong and full of desperation. It felt as if Leonard was pouring out all of the emotions that had been locked up for a long time into one kiss. He was unwilling to let go as he kissed Klein like his life depended on it.
Leonard bit the corner of Klein’s lip before pulling away and confessing hoarsely, “I like you, Klein.” Without even letting Klein react, he kissed him for the third time, prying the other man’s lips open with a bite before pushing his own tongue in.
Klein was kissed until his mind blanked out. As soon as Leonard pulled away again, he quickly panted and tried to catch his breath. Through his ringing ears, he heard the other say softly, “I’ve liked you for a long time now.”
Those were the words he’d been unable to utter for a long time — These few words that he had wanted to say for god knows how long now, finally rolled off the tip of his tongue that still had the lingering taste of Klein on them.
“Mn….” Klein hummed, letting Leonard kiss the corner of his lips. “… I’ve liked you for a long time too.” He confessed, breath unsteady.
“Then….” Leonard paused and pecked his lips before continuing with glistening green eyes, “You won’t leave?”
You won’t leave me again, right?
“I won’t.” With unfocused eyes, Klein answered firmly and leaned down to place a soft kiss on Leonard’s cheek. “I won’t leave you.” He repeated, sounding like a promise.
At least, not again in this lifetime.