Kai had noticed something peculiar about his boyfriend over their years together. He was by no means clingy, but he did seem to gravitate towards holding his hand whenever he could.
Cole wasn't about to complain of course, he loved any sort of affection from Kai at any time, really, but he was just a little bit baffled by the way that Cole seemed almost fascinated by his hands.
He found Cole coming out of his history class, where he'd had an exam he was stressing out about and noticed the signs of his anxiety rising almost dangerously immediately. He rushed over, intercepting him before he was completely out in the hallway. 'Hey babe.'
Cole looked up at him for a second before immediately reaching out to take his hand, squeezing briefly. He took a deep breath, Kai watching in wonder as the tension and anxiety seemed to flow right out of him as he squeezed his hand.
He smiled. 'Hey. I finished the test.'
'Do I ask how it went?' Kai raised Cole's hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles before letting their linked hands fall between them.
'Ah, I have no idea,' Cole said, squeezing Kai's hand again to calm himself down. 'It turned out to be an essay, so I at least got to pick the topic I wanted to write about, but it also means if I fucked up, I fucked the whole thing up.'
'You'll be fine, Rocky,' Kai reached up with his free hand to smooth down Cole's flyaway brown locks. 'You're so fucking smart I know you blew that essay out of the water.'
Cole smiled again, seeming to snuggle against Kai's hand for a minute before he tugged at Kai's other hand to start them down the hall towards their lockers. 'Come on, let's get out of here. The further away I am from that stupid test the better.'
Kai laughed. 'Ok, let's go home. Well, to one of our homes.'
'We can go to mine,' Cole offered. 'My parents always work really late on Fridays, so they won't bug us for a while.'
'Awesome,' Kai released Cole's hand in order to allow him to put his books into his locker and grab his bag, but immediately noticed the trembling he had come to associate with rising anxiety settle onto Cole almost instantly with the loss of his hand. Curious, Kai reached out and instead placed his hand gently to the small of Cole's back, watching in wonder as the trembling began to subside once he made contact. Huh. That was interesting.
'Ready?' Cole closed his locker, shouldered his bag, and eyed the backpack already hanging off one of Kai's shoulders in nonchalance echoing that of its owner. He held up his hand, waiting for Kai to remove his own from the small of Cole's back in order to entwine their fingers together. He smiled as soon as their hands were linked again, looking at Kai expectantly.
'Yeah,' Kai squeezed his hand. He led the way the doors and out into the early autumn sunshine, admiring the way the sun played off Cole's Black hair. He watched Cole from the corner of his eye as they walked, liking the way he seemed to be drawing positive and happy energy from the brightness of the day.
He smiled when Cole caught him looking, going a little pink in the cheeks.
'What?' Cole's cheeks reddened when Kai only continued to look at him. 'Is there something on my face or something?'
'Naw, just admiring your hair in the sun,' Kai grinned when Cole rolled his eyes.
'Sap.'
'Yep,' Kai leaned over to kiss his cheek as they made their way down Cole's street and up the drive to his front door.
'Unapologetic sap,' Cole amended, unlocking the door and tugging Kai inside. He beelined straight for the kitchen, heading directly for the coffee machine, Kai's hand still tightly held in his own.
