“Can we do more stand-up?” Makai grabbed the remote control and his iPhone and smoothly turned the TV and the Chromecast attached to it on, and then started Netflix from his phone so that it showed up on the TV screen.
Emil couldn’t hold in a little snort.
“What?” Makai looked at him, baffled.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” Emil managed, then giggled and rested his temple against Makai’s shoulder. “I’m not laughing at you. More like with you. It’s just the fact that a while ago you could hardly use a modern laptop and certainly not a smartphone.”
“Oh,” Makai breathed, then blushed. “I’ve had a good teacher.”
Emil let the happiness wash over him. “Okay, so, I’ve watched some of the stand-up specials on Netflix. Are you looking for weird, witty, sarcastic, what?”
“I can’t remember the guy’s name, but there’s this really funny British guy, really sort of… blunt and inappropriate. Ring any bells? Could he be on Netflix?”
Emil thought for a while, then grinned. “Oh yeah, I think you mean Jimmy Carr. He has a new special I haven’t seen yet. Seen the old stuff, though. He doesn’t probably even know what politically correct means.”
As soon as Makai found Carr’s special on Netflix and saw his face, he brightened. “Yeah, this is the guy!”
“Alrighty, let’s settle in for some horrible humor.”
The kittens soon tuckered out and went to their milk bar that purred loudly in the corner of the couch.
Emil and Makai laughed their asses off, and at one point, Emil was laughing so hard he cried and then instinctively hid his face in Makai’s shoulder to calm himself down a little.
They had tea and sandwiches for a late-night snack, and eventually it came time to go to bed.
“Can I sleep in the bedroom with you and the cats?” Emil asked. Then before Makai could ask if he was sure, he added, “If I feel bad about it or wake up and panic or something I’ll just come here.”
Makai’s face did something complicated, but he nodded. “Okay. It’s your choice. I just warn you, from what I remember, when I last slept with someone in the same bed, I was a cuddler in my sleep.”
Emil snorted. “I might be able to handle that.”
They carried the sleeping kittens into their little nest and Mouse went to the kitchen to eat a bit, and then they heard her using the litterbox in the utility room. The domesticity of it all made Emil’s stomach flutter. They made sure the bed was ready, and then Emil went to brush his teeth—he’d brought a spare toothbrush at some point. When he got back, he texted his mom not to worry. She’d asked if he’d come home for the night, but he hadn’t had an answer then.
Now, as he sat in bed in his underwear and T-shirt, waiting for Makai to come to bed, he felt… anticipation. The good kind. He wasn’t ready for anything sexual, but oddly, it wasn’t really what was on his mind right then anyway. He wanted the closeness, the cuddling.
Makai had changed into sleep shorts and a tank top. He came to the bedroom and looked at Emil almost shyly.
“Is that side okay to you?” he asked, even though it was obvious Emil was on the side he didn’t normally use, based on the stuff on the bedside tables.
“Yeah.” It warmed Emil’s heart to know Makai would’ve changed sides with him, just to make him comfortable.
“Okay.” Makai slid under the covers, then settled down with his hair falling around his head like a black halo.
Emil made himself comfortable, too, then looked at Makai. “Do you mind if I come closer?”
“No, not at all. Just… you know, I wantyouto feel comfortable.”
Something about the way Makai said the words gave Emil pause. He frowned as he tried to parse together the message he wasn’t sure Makai even knew he was transmitting.
“Wait,” he said and got into an awkward half-sitting position. “You do realize that this is also about you. That if at any point you’re not comfortable with something, you need to tell me. This isn’t just about me, Makai.”
Makai looked… surprised, and then relieved, and then surprised again. As if the fact that he relaxed hearing the words were somehow weird for him, only in a good way. “Okay.”
“So now, let’s try this again,” Emil said and smiled. “Can I come closer to you? Is there anything you don’t want me to do?”
“Uh… I gotta be the big spoon, and I might freak out if you sleep too tightly behind me. Maybe also if I’m on my stomach and you roll too close….” He seemed to be thinking about worst-case scenarios, and Emil understood.
“Okay. Let’s try it this way, then.” He moved until he was against Makai’s arm and then burrowed closer to him, head on Makai’s shoulder and waited for Makai to get the hint. He did, and soon Makai held him close, and they both relaxed.
