“Achy. Nothing new, though. Do you wanna go for a walk with our coffees?” he asked.
Nora had bought them both fancy travel mugs for their walks so they could always have a drink with them when they wanted something else than bottles of water.
Emil flicked the percolator on. “Yeah, sure. I’ll go brush my teeth first.”
While Emil was in the bathroom, Makai went to pull on some sweats and one of the hoodies he’d grown to love. This one had a zipper and was already worn from being used in the shed and washed regularly. The mornings weren’t that warm, and he didn’t need a cold while battling the other stuff. His left arm needed the sling and getting a top on was still on the painful side, but then again, he had instructions that he should use the arm if needed, to a point that didn’t feel too bad.
He managed to get the hoodie halfway on and then had to wait for Emil to come help him.
“Can you roll the other sleeve for me?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Emil smiled at him, then leaned in to kiss him and hummed contently. He didn’t say anything, just proceeded to roll the sleeve for Makai so that it was easier to get it over the forearm cast. Then he rolled it back down for him as much as he could with the way the cast almost touched Makai’s elbow and was clunky, even though much better than the one Makai had had as a kid when he’d broken his other arm while falling from a tree.
When Emil was about to step away, Makai caught the hem of his long-sleeved tee and pulled him back. Emil took the hint, smirked in a pleased way, and sank his fingers into Makai’s hair before kissing him again. They made out lazily for a while, until the coffee maker gurgled in the kitchen.
“Can you tie my hair back?” Makai asked when they separated. “You messed it, so….” He teased, mostly because even without the messing, Emil would’ve had to help him. There was no way to turn his arm in a way that wouldn’t hurt like hell with the cast.
Emil smiled, his lips all pink and swollen from the kissing. “Sure.”
He grabbed a brush off the dresser—it really did look great dark green—and used it to tame Makai’s now shoulder-length hair. Then he tied it neatly back with one of the hair ties Makai had gotten from Joy. This one was bright pink, and Makai loved it.
“You have beardburn on your chin,” Makai pointed out as he got up, and they went to the kitchen. “Just so you know.”
Emil blushed and shook his head but said nothing. After a moment he grinned. “I bet Lotte has some too.”
“Oh?” Makai looked at him and took the creamer out of the fridge.
“Jason’s been spending time there lately.”
Makai chuckled. “Well, he does seem like a good guy and likes Joie a lot.”
“I think he is a good guy. A great cop, Dad says. And he’d stand up for Joie and Lotte if someone came at them, you know?” Emil fixed the lids of their travel mugs and shook a kitten off the leg of his jeans. “Not now, kiddos. Daddy and I are going for a walk. You might get to go out later. Be good.”
Makai followed him out the door and then took his mug. “Let’s say Lotte’s choice of deputy was pretty damn great,” he grumbled, still remembering all the shit Mark had put them all through just by existing in town. He wouldn’t dare to be horrible to anyone anymore, not after what had happened at the shed teardown, but he glared at all of them more than before.
Emil snorted. “Oh yeah. Apparently, Mark has been going out of town every time he has time off. Jason thinks he’s going to get away from us weirdos and to get laid.”
“I don’t like the guy, but I can see the reasoning in that.”
“Yeah, but see,Ithink that he’s going out of town specifically to hook up with guys.”
Makai almost dropped his mug. He stopped, looked at Emil and uttered, “What?”
“I think he’s being such a jackass because he has some issues about his own sexuality,” Emil said as if it made complete sense, and sipped at his caffeine as they slowly ambled along the driveway.
Makai thought for a while. “I guess it’s possible. Self-hatred is a powerful thing.”
“I think it’s been studied that a lot of homophobic men actually have repressed homosexual feelings themselves.” Emil shrugged and then waited for Makai to cough and spit into the bushes before they continued to walk again.
They had this down. Walking to a certain point to the driveway and then turning back to make the same trek back. It was okay. At least it was easy terrain to walk with a mug and an arm cast. Here, Makai didn’t have to worry about tripping and hurting himself more.
“Oh hey, I was going to order some stuff off Amazon today. Do you need anything?” Makai asked after they’d turned back home.
Emil didn’t say anything at first, and when he did, his tone was hesitant and quiet. “Maybe new strings for the guitar and some picks?”
Because Emil wasn’t looking at him, the most obvious choice was to not make a deal of it. By now, Makai knew when something was too much for Emil to talk about further.
“Sure. Pick what you think you need, and we’ll use the gift cards. You can get groceries or something if you insist on paying back.”
