#kai.

tw: cheating, teen pregnancy, homophobia & public outing, anxiety & depression. malakai and maeve were born to two teen parents barley turned sixteen themselves. for many years that life was happy despite their many struggles. as a young boy, all malakai knew was that his parents were content. happy. it seemed like nothing could burst their family dynamic. john was a photographer, quickly gaining notoriety for his work. aofie was a stay at home mother until the twins started high school, at that point she got a job at the local council office as a receptionist. whilst working there she began to realize how bored she'd been, how repetitive life was. and when one of her male colleagues began to show romantic interest in her, things would take a turn the rest of the family would never see coming. aofie would embark on a year-long affair which would eventually lead to her leaving husband and moving out of the family home. this caused total devastation. seeing how heartbroken his father was, malakai could no longer stand to look at his mother, and soon all communication was cut. the worst part being that she never really fought to stay in their lives. if she had, maybe he'd have let her. all of a sudden, they became nothing. a distant memory to the woman who had birthed and raised them. when the twins turned fifteen their father would be offered a job in america. malakai was hesitant to leave - he enjoyed his quiet little life by the beach and the handful of friends he'd had since primary school. but feeling like it may bring his father some happiness, he reluctantly agreed. packed his bags and said goodbye to the life he knew. but at least he had his sister. for all their quarrels, they knew each other as well as two people could. fifteen and starting a new school in a new country, malakai struggled. the notion of being the new kid with the cool accent wore off quickly. he was thankful to have his sister by his side, but friends were difficult to make for a boy whose sarcasm and sardonic humour they didn't quite understand. most thought he was an asshole, and to their credit, they were right. but one friend came. a boy named jj. he was popular. the captain of the schools hockey team. nothing about them should have clicked, but it did. this friendship would bring him three things : his first taste of love, his second dose of heartbreak, and the loss of any ability to let people in. the closer the boys became, the more the dynamic began to shift. one kiss turned into two, and eventually they became an item. inseparable . . . only in secret. jj's father was an important figure in town, and because of this he had high expectation. the kind of expectation malakai wouldn't fit into. jj made it clear his father could not find out he was gay, and so they hid it well. that was until someone saw them kissing in a dark room at a party. the truth being set free should have been a relief, but instead it turned into hell on earth. for malakai, at least. not only was his own sexuality outed before he had the time to process it, but jj soon turned his back on him completely. betrayed him in ways he isn't sure he'll ever get over. instead of dealing with it together, jj told everyone that malakai had come onto him, pressured him into the kiss. he made it seem like malakai was obsessed with him, that he'd only been friends with him out of pity. this lie made the last few months of high school a living nightmare, with malakai being shunned due to jj's popularity even if many didn't believe the stories he'd spun. malakai swore then he'd never let anyone in like that again . . . and to this day he hasn't. the only outlet he had was music. writing. without both he isn't sure where he would be. some days he isn't exactly sure where or who he is now. everything feels so temporary, job at the local radio station tolerable even though he spends most of his time there getting high in the back room. but music is the only goal. the only real option. the only thing he allows himself to commit to.