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Damon can’t believe he agreed to be here.
Honestly when Kai invited him to a party, thrown by Cassidy out of all people, he thought he was being sarcastic. I mean, does Damon look like a party kind of guy? Really?
But it’s no use thinking about that now because he managed to successfully drag him to this.
It has not even been an hour since he’s been there and Damon already downed two drinks of… whatever the hell was given to him — the guy in the kitchen just answered “Pure fuel” when he had asked about it — and stared off into space from the corner of the living room.
He had planned to talk to Eva to pass the time, knowing that she’s just as much of a party hater as he is, but she has been glued to her girlfriend Diana ever since she got here. He’s not about to interrupt whatever lesbian mating ritual is happening over there.
Speaking of clingy pink haired individuals, Kai is now heading toward his side of the room, seemingly excited about something.
“Hey Damonnnn” he exclaimed, noticeably tipsy enough to be slurring his words a little, if Damon wasn’t so bitchy by nature, he would admit that it’s kinda cute. Or maybe that’s the alcohol talking. What the hell has he been drinking?
“Me and the others are about to play games and they sent me to get more people so let’s go!!!” The influencer didn’t wait for Damon to object before immediately latching onto his arms and bringing him to the room of people participating, in a very similar way that he was dragged to this party in the first place.
The deja vu hits Damon hard while Kai makes him sit in an empty spot on the circle of people formed on the floor, in between Eva and Mark. Well it could have been much worse, Damon has a pretty friendly relationship with Eva and he’s convinced Mark only starts conversations when strictly necessary. Damon watches as Kai goes to sit on the opposite end of the circle, directly across from him until someone loudly clears their throat.
“So okay hi to all the people who just joined but yeah so me and Jett were brainstorming game ideas when i got a totally genius idea… SEVEN MINUTES IN HEAVEN” Cassidy announced, way louder than needed.
Damon sighed. Of course, they would choose this stupid game.
He has no idea why everyone his age is obsessed with pointless games like these. Like do they not study? No wonder most of them complain about being late on assignments when all they do is think about this kind of thing instead of being productive.
Damon has never actively seeked this kind of activities. He spends most of his time researching topics for his next debates and, in Kai’s words, “being a stuck up smarty pants who’s ideal Friday night involves listening to classical music while reading a book that’s at least a century old, like some kind of grandpa or whatever.”
During the time Damon passed mentally cursing everything he did in his life to get him to this point, Cassidy placed an empty bottle in the middle of the group of people and started spinning it.
The spin came to an end. Damon followed the trajectory of the bottle and frooze when he saw that it had landed on him. Fucking great. He then looked up to see the other end like he’s in some kind of weird denial just to be reminded that it is in fact Kai who is sitting across from him. Kai, who is looking quite panicked, just as Diana, who is sitting next to him, starts elbowing him with a mischievous look on her face.
Huh. Well, that’s worrying.
Before either of them could react, they were shoved into a storage closet down the hall and forcibly locked inside. Knowing there was no chance their friends would set them free before the end of the seven minutes, they sat on the floor, accepting their fate.
The narrowness of the room didn’t leave much space between the two of them. Shoulders and knees touching in the dark, a weird tension lingering in the air.
The first minute of silence was agonising. Damon considered breaking it when suddenly Kai spoke up.
“So uh… do we just wait until they come get us?”
“That’s if they remember to. I don’t know why but I have a feeling this will take longer than seven minutes.”
The influencer turns his head, now looking at Damon directly.
“Really? Fuck, then i guess we should find something to do until then.”
“Like what?”
“Well, i don’t know dude like talking or uh…” he trailed off, seemingly hesitating before continuing “just you know… make out or i don’t know”
At that, the debater finally met Kai’s gaze.
Is Kai offering to… kiss him?! He realised they grew close since the beginning of the school year, going from blind petty hatred to what seems to be an actual friendship, which seemed to confuse their classmates given their opposite personalities, raising many questions from them.
Do friends usually offer to kiss? It’s embarrassing to admit but Damon never really had friends, preferring to focus on his studies. That is his fault and he doesn’t regret that, but he does admit that his adamant refusal to build relationships growing up results in him lacking standards of what is and isn’t normal in friendships, leaving him extremely confused in this situation.
“What does kissing have to do with this game?”
Kai made a face as if he was about to laugh, but as he continued looking at Damon’s face his expression morphed into one of confusion.
“Damon… Do you know what seven minutes in heaven is about? Like i know Cassidy didn’t explain the rules but that’s like because it’s kinda general knowledge” he trailed off. “Do you really not know?”
“I know that you’re supposed to put people in a closet for a certain amount of time. I never stuck around or cared enough to know how this is supposed to end.”
“Oh my god dude where have you been all your life??? I was joking when I said you lived in a cave before coming here but now I don't know if it’s really a joke. People are put here to make out Damon.”
A moment of strangely tense silence passed.
“Oh.” Well he clearly didn’t realise that.
“But like we don’t have to, it's fine.”
Damon has rarely been rendered speechless in his life and certainly not in a context that was not a debate.
“Dude your face is sooo red” the influencer suddenly exclaimed in a teasing tone.
“What?! No it’s not!” Damon retorted.
“Yes it is! We should just kiss so it’s like less embarrassing for you”
“What…”
That didn’t seem to be the answer the other was waiting for because he sighed and said in a visibly frustrated tone “Oh my god you don’t understand anything” Kai then seemed to collect himself before continuing “I really want to kiss you dumbass.”
Oh…
Oh.
In that moment, Damon realised a number of things quicker than it should be possible for someone as emotionally dense as him. His relationship with Kai was in fact, not as platonic as he thought it was. And Damon was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to kiss him stupid. He should probably take some time to process this turn of event and ponder the nature of these new found feelings but he simply could not bother to.
Okay maybe there was some weird shit in his drink.
But whatever, that is not important right? Kai is looking at him and the more time Damon stays unresponding, the more he looks like he’s about to start crying. Kind of like a puppy. It’s so fucking cute Damon feels like he’s going to pass out.
So, before Kai had any more time to overthink what Damon’s silence meant, he grabbed him by the collar and crashed his lips onto his.
Kai froze for a second. But as Damon was about to pull back, Kai reciprocated the kiss, keeping Damon close by grabbing his face.
Well it was more of a clash of teeth than a proper kiss, Damon had no prior experience after all. But soon enough Kai took the lead and they both melted into it. Now fully making out in a dark closet in Cassidy’s house. There’s definitely a joke to be made here but none of them cared, way too immersed in each other.
After what must have been way more than seven minutes —Damon lost track of time to be honest— a scream echoed from outside. “GUYS TIME IS UP! PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON IT’S MARK AND JETT’S TURN!!!”
That was all the warnings they had before the door burst open. Cassidy stood there, a teasing smile on her face, followed by a few people including Mark, Jett and surprisingly, Diana.
Both males quickly let go of each other before hurriedly exiting the closet. No pun intended.
Damon turned to look at Kai, he looked disheveled, hair a mess and smudged eyeliner, which is actually pretty hot if he was being honest.
“Look who’s the red one now”
Kai elbowed him playfully, clearly flustered.
They both watched as Mark was being dragged into the closet by a very excited looking Jett before they turned to each other. “So um…” Kai started “Wanna get out of here? Like back to the dorms or something” he finished, an expectant look on his face.
“Yeah. I do.” Damon’s attempt at being nonchalant was clearly not successful, if Kai’s laugh is anything to go by.
As he exited the party with Kai clinging onto his arm, Damon decided that he didn’t really mind parties if it meant he got to go home with a boyfriend in exchange.