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Mid day. Overcast. Lampert pulled into a parking slot, finally. After driving around and every slot seemed to be taken by someone quicker than him, somehow. He exhaled, staring up and out of his windshield at the grey sky. He found some comfort in this weather, it was quite calm. And not at all overstimulating.
Much unlike a certain boy in a beanie clumsily running across the parking lot towards his car.
Lampert sighed an affectionate sigh of exasperation and slid out of the car. He couldn’t hide the smile on his face, seeing his favorite person darting towards him as if he was the last man alive.
“Lampert!” He called, happy as can be. “You ready?”
“Heck yeah!”
Kasper’s voice dropped a little, and he furrowed his eyebrows with a smirk.
“I stuffed my bag full of candy, we should be set for the whole 2 hours if we pace ourselves…”
“Sweet. Literally.” Lampert laughed, then took the lead, carefully looking both ways as the two crossed the parking lot towards the theater.
.
Ugh. Sounds. Even though he’d witnessed the claustrophobia of the parking lot, he didn’t care to imagine how much worse it’d be inside the building. He and Kasper walked shoulder-to-shoulder narrowly avoiding the crowd. Drink machines, order numbers being called out across the room, people talking and laughing as if they owned the place, the AC unit and popcorn machines humming at an impossibly loud volume.
Lampert’s attention was pulled away from this environment when he felt his hand being grabbed. Kasper awkwardly held onto Lampert as they weaved through the crowd, and Lampert couldn’t help but glow a little brighter. Wait, was this the first time they’ve held hands?
Why did it feel so normal?
This small lift in his mood was quickly dismissed when they arrived at their destination much sooner than expected.
“Wow, just narrowly avoided the line shooting out the back door,” Lampert joked, breaking the silence between them. The snack line was, in fact, about to leave the area made for it within the rope fencing. The two stood awkwardly at the end.
They’d be here for a while.
Lampert looked around at all the characters in the theater, distracting himself from the wonderful thing happening between them right now. Though trying not to call attention to it, Lampert felt every electronic nerve tingle at Kasper’s touch. He couldn’t suppress the giddiness glowing inside him. Oops, and outside, too. His light glowed and his tail swished contently on its own, much to Lampert’s dismay.
God, you idiot. You’re in a public space. Act like it.
He looked down at their interlocked hands and, reluctantly, let go. He shot a glance up at Kas, who looked a little hurt.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t—“
“Nah man, you’re fine.”
And that was that.
.
The entire time they spent buttering their popcorn to oblivion and filling their drink cups, Lampert’s mind wouldn’t stop whirring. He felt a deep sense of guilt in his chest, for little identifiable reason. Was it that he let go? No, he thought. Kas just forgot to let go. That was normal. He then began to feel guilty that he was even thinking about this at all. He stopped that train of thought as he clicked the lid onto his cherry-cola slushie, finding Kasper waiting for him by the hallway.
It was a good system. Kas held both drinks under one arm, and Lampert held the popcorn. Lampert paid attention to this. Slowly, he conveniently inserted himself on the side of Kasper’s free arm, making sure he held the popcorn in his other arm.
Just testing the waters.
He innocently brushed his pinkie against Kasper’s, pretending not to notice. What he did not expect was a reassuring squeeze as they interlocked pinkie fingers, continuing their walk without a word.
Lampert decided not to breathe. Not until he let go. Can’t ruin this.
Kasper shifted himself closer to Lampert, and they were now bumping shoulders again as they walked.
Shit. Fuck. Shit. Fuck.
He spilled some popcorn while trying to get a better grip on Kasper’s hand, now fully cupping one in the other. Kasper noticed, eyes following the pale yellow pieces on the ground before they passed out of his vision.
He giggled at the lamp, who just now decided to turn to look at him.
His eyes widened at the sight of Kas, whose face was a deep, very noticeable pink.
Wow. He was really blushing.
Lampert’s heart kickstarted, now going a mile a minute. In true Lampert fashion, he averted his gaze immediately and did some mental gymnastics to avoid the fact that they were holding hands and they were both just okay with it and this was actually happeni—
“Sorry, uh— is this alright? I mean, Do you—do you want your hand back?” Kas asked, looking over the nervous glowing mass that was the typically calm-and-composed lamp.
All Lampert could manage was a simple headshake no, and gave Kas’s hand a little squeeze. Do not fuck this up.
“No, as in, no it’s not alright, or no as in you don’t want your hand back?”
Goddamnit Kasper. You dopey motherfucker.
“Just— just leave it,” Lampert responded, sounding a bit harsher than he’d hoped for, which prompted Kasper to let go. Fucked it up.
Lampert quickly jumped to grab his hand again, hating the sense of emptiness he felt without it for that brief moment. He took a breath as he interlocked his fingers with the brunette’s.
He felt his hands quiver a little.
He was anchored with a light squeeze, and he noticed Kas was swinging their arms a little as they walked. Lampert smiled. So did Kasper.
.
The movie wasn’t that good. But Lampert got to(after spending about 30 minutes deciding)lift up the dividers between the seats, and slowly, carefullt, lean his shoulder against Kasper’s. A gesture unheard of to them so far.
Without hesitation, an arm fell onto his shoulder and wove under his arm, locking the two together. They lazily unwrapped airheads to snack on, neither acknowledging their situation. Because it was perfect.
He did not expect to full-on cuddle with his best friend that evening, while watching a film about aliens no less. But he wasn’t complaining. Every little fear he’s ever had about overstepping or driving Kasper away was dissolved in that very moment, forgotten about under the light of the huge screen and the warmth of his best friend.
His.