#no.........

summer

It’s so weird seeing Steph during the summer, because they never used to meet up during the off season, so Klay doesn’t know what to do, now, with all… this; Steph in a too big sun hat, too much skin on display, too obvious tan lines around his shoulders and neck, the middle of his thighs, around his ankles.

Steph keeps looking at him, eyes darting again and again at his hair, and Klay doesn’t know what to make of it, is afraid to ask, until Steph finally puts him out of his misery and tells him he likes the new look, reaches out to rub the top of his head.

Klay ducks away from the touch too soon, a dangerous tingle traveling from the base of his skull all over his body.

It’d probably be too stupid to fall into old habits right now, when they’ve both gotten pretty comfortable in their new realities, no matter how tempting it is, how it breaks Klay’s heart when Steph smiles at him, too many freckles on his sunburned face, too much love in his eyes.

hands

Does it still hurt, Klay asks, and Steph doesn’t know if he’s still talking about the thumb, or something else, nods anyway, can’t be anything other than honest with Klay.

Klay sighs, the edges of his mouth curled downwards, cups Steph’s right hand gently inside both of his own, lifts it slowly up to his face, looks at it skeptically.

Steph wants to say It’s nothing, wants to pull back, hates having his injuries made into a big deal, but it’s Klay, and he’s touching him, and there’s a lump in Steph’s throat, and he’s just so, so tired.

He can just watch, frozen in place, as Klay bends his head, touches his lips softly – so softly – onto Steph’s hand, right on the joint of his thumb, where the ache and the swelling are the worst, his warm breath raising goosebumps on the skin there.