“C’mon, it’s IKEA. What are they gonna do, yell at us in Swedish? That would be foolish. I don’t even speak Swedish.” Despite the hesitance that his friend showed, Cam was beaming ear from ear when Kingsley joined him on the bed. “Hey now, don’t let your dreams be dreams,” Cam quoting an infamous Shia LeBeouf meme. “You can always be the big spoon or in your case, my jet pack. Unless, you seriously want to be the little spoon. I’m cool with either. They don’t call me flexible for nothing.” 

Kingsley chuckled and then said, “I don’t speak Swedish either. But I suppose if they did get upset enough and kicked us out for lying on this couch-bed, then it would make for a real story to tell later.” He made his way onto the bed to lie next to Cameron and then furrowed his brows a bit, thinking about the quote he didn’t know was a quote. “Profound,” he commented while scooting a bit closer to Cam, ignoring the warmth rising to his face. “Your jet pack?” he chuckled and shook his head, “No, I think I’d prefer to test your flexibility and just be little spoon.” And after a moment, he smiled a bit, “I wonder if it would be possible to cushion it a little more but otherwise, I kind of like this. What about you?”

Kingsley did bring up a good point. For as long as he had known the man, Kingsley wasn’t the kind to bring random girls back home to his place, so the example that he was using may not have been 100% accurate. Cam wasn’t even sure why his friend wasn’t bringing home girls since he was pretty much an eligible bachelor, but hey, he must have had his reasons, right? Pondering the conundrum that Kingsley had brought up, an idea came to Cam’s mind. “Well, there is only one way to find out,” he began before he walked forward and gently laid himself on the bed. After all, IKEA was all about trying out the product before taking it home. Getting comfortable on the bed, which was barely long enough for his frame, Cam patted the spot next to him. “Come on over and snuggle up. I’ll even let you be the big spoon if you are nice.” 

Kingsley looked up to Cam as he went ahead and laid out on the futon. He smiled, amused and tilted his head a little. “Well you look comfortable already,” he commented, folding his arms and chuckling. But hearing Cam’s request he raised his brows and glanced around, “Are you sure they won’t make us leave for this?” He laughed a little and stepped forward, initially lowering one knee onto the cushy material, and then deciding to flop down next to Cam, just in front of him. Teasing himself a bit, he said, “I don’t think I have the luxury of being big spoon here. I’m too short.”

Of all the things that Kingsley wanted to try in America…. it was canned cheese.

Thomas had to laugh. His mind shot back to him, home alone, sitting on a couch and watching an episode of Drake and Josh. Apparently, the two step-brothers had to take an European girl out on the town (town meaning San Diego, and her specific background? He can’t remember), and Drake suggested Let’s show her American things. Like sushi and Mexican food. 

“Dude, no,” Thomas said. “Next thing I know, you’re gonna tell me you wanna try Spaghetti-O’s. It’s disgusting. Are you just trying to cross off your bucket list? Come on, we can get better food. But if you wanna cross off canned cheese, be my guest.”

“The pasta in a can, right?” Kingsley asked while opening a package of crackers. He laughed a bit at Thomas’s comment. “Oh this is, of course, for a list of things I am trying, just to say that I tried them. I was curious about certain foods that are only, or mostly found here and I bought some of them. But I’m all for us going for an actual meal later.” As he squeezed some of the cheese whiz onto a cracker, he hesitated, scrutinizing the look of it. “Is it really that disgusting?”

Clementine had been on a bit of sight-seeing walk early in the morning. With the sketchbook in hand there was a lot of more stopping than walking. By the time it came around noon it seemed they were still very close to where the walk started. It was clear that the two were not paying attention so both were at fault for the incident. Nodding their head and smiling “don’t worry I wasn’t paying much attention either.” Turning around to look at the mural it caused them to understand why it all happened. “Oh yes this is one of my favorites! Portland is full of so much amazing street art but the ones in King really can’t be beat. I think it has to do with the culture of the town. Do you live in this area?” 

Kingsley kept a nervous smile and listened to them. “I promise I’m usually more aware of my surroundings though. But I agree, the art here is truly a spectacle. I have never seen anything like it.” At their question about him living in the area, Kingsley shook his head, “Oh no. I mean I do live in Portland now but I’m fairly new to the area and was deciding to explore more of the city than getting to my apartment or the supermarket near it. What about you, are you familiar with this neighborhood?”

Kingsley Kalu’s Playlist

Could You be Loved?--Bob Marley & the Wailers

The Great Escape--Boys Like Girls

Give Life Back to Music--Daft Punk

Stay With Me ft. Mary J. Blige--Sam Smith

Lonely Boy--The Black Keys

Such Great Heights--Iron & Wine

Living In America--The Sounds

On Top of the World--Imagine Dragons

Starman--David Bowie

“I don’t know! Ask the person who put the number on it, I don’t work here.” Rory shrugged, taking another bite of her burrito as she used the back of her hand to stop some of the rice falling onto her top. “Ah! That is it, if you can put it together on your own, it is not easy. All those sticks and… hammer bits.” She gestured to the pegs with a weirded out look on her face, not that this was really valid since France wasn’t exactly somewhere that camping had never existed. She’d just never personally had the opportunity to take part. “Where are you going to urinate? Or what will you eat? I guess you could take a lot of like…maybe cake?” A totally impractical option obviously. “Or peanut butter.” For the second option she put on her best, and fakest, American accent with a smirk.

“Oh!” Kingsley apologized with a guilty lift of his hands. “Sorry. I didn’t realize.” Granted it didn’t take too long after for him to realize that that was the case--he wondered if maybe she was someone on break before, but ‘hammer bits’ would given it away had she not told him she didn’t work there. He raised his brows, “Cake? No, no I don’t think so. I’ve read that dried foods are best to take camping, like dried fruit, nuts, jerky, and foods such as that... have you never been camping before either?”

@dkkalu​

“Okay. this is the couch for you,” Cameron declared, as if he hadn’t said that about the last four couches he and Kingsley had looked at. With one arm around the other man’s shoulders, Cam used his other arm to motion at the dark grey Friheten sleeper sofa. “Picture this, you got a lady friend over. Y’all are cuddling and canoodling in front of the tv and then,” Cam paused for dramatic effect as he let go of his friend and leaned down to start pulling at the cord on the bottom of the couch, revealing the storage underneath. “Boom, you put it all together and now it’s a bed. Amazing.” With his arm back around the other man’s shoulders, Cam tilted his head to look over at Kingsley. “The Swedish are so smart.” 

Kingsley couldn’t help chuckling while leaning into Cam a little and then righting himself, arms crossed with a pensive look at the couch. He watched and listened to Cameron try to sell him on the couch. “That is a good point and I do like the color. But be honest--you’re more likely to end up sleeping on it more than anyone else. So the only question at this point is, is it comfortable for lounging and for sleepovers?”

If there was one thing Kingsley could admit about himself, it was that he wasn’t very good at gift giving. He usually ended up having some kind of help to give nice gifts; otherwise, they didn’t necessarily seem all that thoughtful. He wanted to pick up some sort of souvenior for his siblings back home but wasn’t really sure what to get them. Rubbing the back of his neck, he asked, “What do you think you would get someone as a gift to give, simply because you want to give them a gift, when you’re not a very good gift giver?”

Kinglsey sat in one of Portland’s many parks with a bag of various snacks and convenience foods and pulled out a can of cheese whiz, “Alright, I’ve had a list of things I have wanted to try since I have been here, that we either don’t have back home or that I’ve learned is either exclusive to America, or is mostly popular here. Today’s the day. Like this... I have never seen cheese in a can before.” He showed it to Thomas and asked, “Have you had this?”

Kingsley stepped into Chez Machin, ordering himself a savory crepe to enjoy while also looking over the dessert options to take to-go. When he decided on a chocolate souffle, he walked over in hopes of making a special request, “Pardon me?” he wondered, nearing the counter, “Hello, yes, I wanted to order a chocolate souffle to go, but I wanted to know if there was any way to make it look like a gift? It’s for a birthday, but I wasn’t sure if there was an option like that.”

Kingsley was walking about different areas of Portland, taking in the sights and snapping pictures of landscapes and building murals. He was steadily backing up while holding up his phone to a mural in the King neighborhood when he bumped into another person and quickly stepped aside, “Oohp.. I’m so sorry--I was really impressed with this, so much so that I wasn’t looking at anything else, apparently,” he chuckled a little nervously, hoping that they weren’t too upset with him.

Cam: Give me a sec I'm putting on pants

Cam: Ok I'm heading out the door be right there

Kinglsey: Good idea, make sure your neighbors are charged for that kind of a show.

Cam: LOOK, if you are going to hit on me, you gotta buy me dinner first. Thems the rules.

Cam: You are speaking my language. And also IKEA isn't just a furniture store. It's made of Swedish dreams. And meatballs.

Kingsley: Can you hear me sighing all the way from my car about these rules? Because I am. But fiiine. I'll buy you all the IKEA meatballs you want.

Cam: Don't kink shame me.

Cam: DUDE. There is like a whole cafeteria at IKEA. We will eat EVERYTHING.

Kingsley: 😂 Just the opposite, I want you to EMBRACE it lol