Dark Days for Denver

Chapter Four

After the kiss, most of the evening felt like a blur of emotions, alcohol and laughter to Craig. Only few images remained on his mind. Kenny falling asleep in his arms. Stan slow dancing with Wendy to some cheesy rock song. Stan challenging him to a drinking match - that, admittedly, he had only won because Kyle got so concerned that he forbade Stan from partaking any longer. Craig was fairly certain to have carried a sound asleep Kenny out of the bar into a taxi and onto his bed, before falling asleep right next to him, still fully clothed.

The first thing he could feel in the morning was Kenny's heartbeat on his chest and his periodical deep breaths. Carefully tugging the sheets upwards, Craig pulled the other man even closer to him. Only small beams of light got through the blinds, touching the walls and the edge of their bed like small golden fingers in a loving embrace. Everything was so nice and quiet. Peaceful, even. Not even the usual autumn rain was disturbing it. Craig decided to dwell in it for a little longer. Softly stroking Kenny's back and running his fingers through the messy blond hair, he closed his eyes. This was more than he had ever thought he would get in his life. Lying here, in his arms the man he admired and possibly even loved, without judgement from anyone. It filled him up with warmth and a feeling he could only describe as true happiness. Sure, outside of this room there was a rotten world waiting to get them, but in here nothing could cause harm. No misery, no hate, just two hearts separated by slightly more than an inch, just two people recovering from all the world had thrown at them.

Still, in the back of his mind and between the light rays shining through the metal gaps, he could feel something linger. It made him want to stay in bed, take in all the tranquil joy of the moment until it ceased to exist. Alas, he never got the chance to do so because Kenny lifted his head from Craigs chest, accompanied by a very sleepy: "Rise and shine." The kiss and all that followed engraved itself into Craigs memory. He did not, ever, want to forget how it felt to be kissed this way. No diversions or cloudiness from anxiety or alcohol on his mind. Just Kenny, who had all of his undivided attention.

By the time they had actually managed to get out of the apartment and to the Ford still parked outside last night's bar, it was already late afternoon. Kenny was wearing Craig's hat, who himself had borrowed an outfit from Kenny's closed, the one he, in his own words, deemed least dreadful. It was the first time Kenny had seen him outside without the dark hat covering his black hair almost in its entirety. He couldn't resist but ruffle through it, laughing at Craig's disgruntled reaction.

"What are you going to do if the guy never comes back and you have to stake out the streets of Denver every single night for the rest of your life with me, huh?"

Craig's expression turned pensive. "First off, I'll show you the place where feet are supposed to go in a car, you'll be surprised to know it's not the dashboard." Kenny promptly crossed his legs, stacking them even further up against the inside of the windshield.

"And afterwards, I'd like to live every single day just like this one. I'd actually like to do that whether we solve the case tonight, tomorrow or, if your unnecessarily pessimistic prophecy holds true, never. Nothing is waiting for me outside of Denver. I have never felt like until I belonged somewhere until you kissed me last night." Kenny tried counteracting his flustered face with a mocking grin, only partly in success. "Quite the romantic, aren't you?"

Most of the remaining day they spent talking and driving around the city in search of other potentially endangered buildings. The only stopped by the Post for a few minutes so Kenny could drop off his writing for Wendy. The sun was up for longer than autumn in Colorado usually offered, and the peaks of the surrounding mountains looked like they had been coated in thick golden syrup. Kenny leaned back in his seat and watched Craig go through various files. His brown eyes were fixated on the matte paper, carefully memorizing everything. Kenny took the camera out of his bag, carefully not to make any sound that could potentially tear Craig's attention from the pages in his hands. He adjusted the settings and quickly took a shot. "Hey!" Craig dropped the files to cover his face with both hands, but Kenny just took both of them into his own, intertwining their fingers. "Do I look like a crime scene to you?!" Now that he was over the initial startlement, and with Kenny's thumbs stroking over his knuckles, Craig couldn't really be mad. "Just promise me it won't headline tomorrow's paper or something." "Can't withhold from the people what they want, sorry, it's my duty as a reporter." Kenny laughed as the last traces of sunshine slowly faded into the mountain-covered horizon.