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Spring was, by far, one of Kyle’s favorite seasons. There was something about the disappearance of the dirty, slushy aftermath of winter and feeling of warm air that was so incredibly refreshing, and this was marked by being able to play basketball out on the court again. The air was completely different, the change so palpable and rejuvenating. Playing in the stuffy gym was one thing, but the court by the park felt far more liberating, and definitely more sentimental, to Kyle.
They had played around casually for some time, jackets off and throwing jokes around more often than they actually shot for the hoop. Before long Stan left early, saying glumly that he had a lot of work to catch up on before their last semester came to a close. Stan had an unfortunate tendency to procrastinate on his work, even despite Kyle’s help at times. That left Kenny to be the only one left to toss the ball to. Kenny still didn’t always talk much, but in the recent year he’d sprouted up – wider shoulders and lankier legs. So Kyle welcomed the slight added challenge of playing against him in the meantime.
Their shoes scuffled against the worn concrete as they took turns handling the ball, but Kenny certainly wasn’t trying too hard, or rather Kyle found himself a little too into the satisfaction of making a shot right over Kenny’s blond head. Kyle told himself it was also this love for the game that made him not notice the changing sky, rather than it being that nervous tension that always settled back in his chest around Kenny’s quiet gaze. Either way, the nearly clear day had become split by clouds, which were now rolling in from the east, thick, dark, and quickly veiling the sunlight in a short few minutes.
Kyle felt the first droplets of rain fall onto his face and looked up, resting the basketball against his hip. “Aw shit,” he said with dread in his voice, finding the dark storm clouds looming over the court, having brought with them that airy, dewy rain smell. It looked like it was about to be one of those abrupt spring downpours. This he was not prepared for, and worry pinched his brows.
“Damn. It’s gonna pour.” Kenny uttered, also staring up at the undulating storm overhead. Then just like that it started coming down just as suddenly as it had appeared. Their game was over. “We should go, dude.”
“Uh, yeah…” Kyle made eye contact with Kenny a moment before they headed over to the bench to grab their jackets and backpacks.
If there was one thing Kyle did not look forward to every spring, it was definitely spikes in humidity and rain. As anyone with even mildly thick or curly hair would know, those two things were a recipe for impending frizz and even more unmanageable, curling wisps of hair that just refuse to stay out of your face. Kyle was already starting to fret about it as they both headed to the sidewalk, pulling on his jacket and realizing he had neither a hood nor his hat. Today of all days he didn’t bother bringing his hat, and now it was going to downpour. Of course.
The droplets hit the pavement faster and faster, coloring the once dry ground and slowly soaking everything. Kyle ducked his head as he and Kenny began picking up the pace down the sidewalk towards their neighborhood, already feeling his hair getting pelted with raindrops. It sucked as it was to get drenched in a shower, but becoming a potential frizzball was really bothersome. He didn’t want to be seen looking like an awkward, frizzy mess, even around his friends. He hated it, but luckily they’ll part ways and rush home soon.
Kyle felt something land on his head then, finding that Kenny had plopped the hood of his large parka onto him. Kenny must have noticed how he was trying not to get his head wet and decided to drape his only source of cover onto him instead. Somehow the gesture made Kyle feel more guilty than anything else, as if somehow he was taking Kenny for granted. Maybe he was, in a way… He usually ended up spending the least amount of time with him, sometimes avoiding even his gaze. Even today part of Kyle was glad Stan left early and left them to play alone, left them to get the chance to have some of their own jokes. Kenny had made a lot of small efforts to hang out more, to show he liked being around him – some fairly bold efforts even, Kyle hesitated to think. He gazed intently at Kenny’s face as they walked briskly against the rain, wondering what exactly went through Kenny’s mind, what exactly did Kenny even think of him when his silence was so palpable and lingering, when it left Kyle hanging for something.
“Don’t worry, I don’t mind gettin’ wet,” Kenny assured then, making Kyle blink and see that Kenny was giving him a modest, if not humored, little grin. “But if you want, I could hold ya up over my head and your ass would be pretty good cover.”
Kyle made a face and shook his head, tearing away his stare and focusing back ahead of them. “Oh my god. Don’t be ridiculous,” he deadpanned, pulling forward the brim of Kenny’s hood to keep it from slipping back, though the playful suggestion still made the corners of his lips curl up. His response made Kenny breathe out a short chortle.
“Well we’d both be covered wouldn’t we?”
“Let’s just head to my house,” Kyle decided, ignoring the lightheartedness to Kenny’s words and any potential logic they could ever have. “It’s closer, and then you can just wait until the rain calms down before heading home.” The least he could do now was save Kenny the trouble of having to go another few blocks down to his own house in the pouring rain. After all, at this point it was coming down hard; the town was completely overcast with heavy, grey clouds and the storm was practically torrential. Besides, Kenny’s parka might’ve just saved his hair anyways.
At the sight of Kyle’s house finally coming into view, they went for a full-out jog for the door, the rain cold and pelting their faces as the wind picked up, thunder rumbling in the distance. Kyle opened the front door and they hurried inside, grumbling out a few curses but relieved to be out of the rainstorm.
They stood there in the abrupt silence that followed and looked at each other, both soaked and breathing heavy.
“We got totally pissed on,” Kenny stated, looking to Kyle with his arms slightly held out as if to show off how he was, in fact, dripping wet. Water droplets ran down Kenny’s arms, his t-shirt soaked and hair darkened, clinging to his face. Of course having sacrificed his jacket, he was completely exposed.
“That’s one way of putting it,” Kyle said, amused by Kenny’s usual phrasing, finding it odd how when wet, Kenny’s features appeared much more pointed, flattering. He cleared his throat, shrugging underneath the weight of Kenny’s damp parka still hanging on his body while he walked into the living room. Kyle let his bag slip off his shoulder onto the floor near the couch before surveying around the room and kitchen doorway for signs of his family. They were most likely on a trip to the store. “I don’t think my parents are home right now. You can just run upstairs and grab a towel, or something, if you need it…”
“Alright,” Kenny nodded, his voice lowered, before he then brought his attention to the stairs.
Kyle stepped toward the living room window, where the rain pattered the glass in rhythm, and put his hand to the top of his head. He could feel that Kenny’s parka had grown heavier, but though it seemed to keep him drier than his counterpart, Kyle could already feel that Kenny’s hood didn’t do him much justice anyways. Unfortunately the worn, fur-trimmed brim did not save his hair entirely from the water, and he could feel his bangs already sticking to his forehead, curling up uncomfortably with the heat of his skin and dryness of the house. Kyle frowned, knowing they would dry quickly and begin to stand up at awkward, untamable angles. Pushing down the hood with something of a frustrated sigh, he tried futilely to adjust his hair with the back of his hand.
“Something wrong?”
Kyle turned his head to see Kenny hadn’t gone upstairs but wandered into the living room instead. In that moment Kyle grew increasingly more self-conscious about the state of his hair, keeping his hand up and brushing at the front of it awkwardly, frustration intensified by the discomfort of the sticky feeling between his hair and skin. He had hoped Kenny would have maybe disappeared upstairs long enough for him to quick find his hat or manage the unruliness somehow. “Uh – no I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
Kenny stood there still dripping wet in his t-shirt and ripped jeans. Kyle wondered how he wasn’t cold yet. Then, Kenny’s eyes shifted down to the floor in a somber sort of way. “Did I say something?”
“Huh?” Kyle faltered at the look of doubt that was crossing Kenny’s face.
“I mean, you seem really annoyed,” he added, giving a meek shrug of his shoulders. “If I said somethin’ dumb before, I can go, yanno… Won’t keep buggin’ you, heh.” Kenny finished with a small laugh, as though trying to ease the discomfort with more joking around, despite how he seemed to think that had been part of the issue all along.
“No, no,” Kyle shook his head, Kenny’s parka then falling off him and onto the floor, earning an almost comically disgruntled glance from Kyle. Now that he shook it up, there was really no hiding his hair, or that it was bothering him ever since it began to rain. He resigned with another sigh, slouching in defeat. Admittedly, Kyle knew he was probably frowning most of the way home and then some. Kyle couldn’t really blame Kenny for thinking it was something he said or did before that might’ve bothered Kyle – he was a pissy type of person after all. Now not only did he feel guilty but like a idiot for stressing out so much about his hair that it’s ended in Kenny feeling at blame for his annoyance. No frizz was worth that.
“It’s just my hair…” Kyle grumbled, feeling even more ridiculous admitting it now. “It gets all messed up when it rains and I didn’t… really want you to see me look all stupid with it sticking up… That’s it. Really.”
Kenny blinked and an oddly cute, dumbfounded expression crossed his face for a moment before he gave a chuckle. “Oh. Really?”
Kyle fidgeted with his hair again, now flustered and annoyed with himself more than anything, though Kenny laughing at him was not helping. “Yeah. Okay. I know it’s dumb, but it just bugs me and –”
“But it’s cute.”
“—I wanted to hang out with you but… huh?” Kyle stopped complaining, nearly not catching Kenny’s usually light voice.
“I said it’s cute, dude,” Kenny repeated. “Yanno, when it gets all fluffed up like that… I dunno why you’d be so worried about it. I like it.”
“Oh…” Kyle still absently fingered at his damp bangs, trying to brush them into place out of habit, but the comment smoothed over the furrow in his brow.
“You wanted to hang out with me?” Kenny brought back up with some kind of playful smirk, though really the only thing Kyle noticed was not how Kenny lit up at the notion but how he was obviously shivering, his arms visibly prickling up at the cold draft from the window.
“Kenny, dude, why didn’t you grab a towel?” Kyle scolded, coming forward and grasping Kenny’s forearm. “You got goosebumps. You could catch a cold like that.”
“Huh?” Kenny sounded in surprise, looking down at himself before giving Kyle a promiscuous grin. “I’m not perky, just happy to see you.”
Kyle tried not to laugh, rather trying to maintain a serious face. “Kenny.”
“Or was that an invitation to take my clothes off.”
“God dammit. Seriously, look.” Kyle frowned with concern, because Kenny’s skin was truly cold to the touch, and if his mom had nailed anything into his head, it was taking care not to get cold and end up sick. Suddenly he felt a light kiss peck the corner of his mouth though, and somehow he knew it was aiming to wipe away that frown, because not only did it work, but it had happened before.
“That’s the third time you did that now…” Kyle said, after taking it in. Oddly enough, this was the first time he actually spoke up about it. This was the first time he wasn’t trying to somehow keep talking despite it and casually hide the flush that worked up to his ears. Maybe half his stress all this time was having had it at the tip of his tongue for so long.
“Should I stop?” Kenny asked, though something told Kyle that Kenny knew if he had wanted him to stop, Kyle would have said so a long time ago. So then Kyle decided to not leave things so cloudy for him, if at all.
“No.” Kyle relaxed his shoulders. Still holding onto the other’s arm, he gave Kenny an affirming and rather sly look, pointing to the center of his lips with the faintest smile tugging at them. “But next time don’t hit the rim, make the shot.”