WHAT HAVE I BECOME?

“Uh, I guess I’ll keep that in mind,” Kris chuckled. They smoothed their hair over their shoulder and directed another smile at Johnny. “No, I think I definitely need a break from studying. I’m not gonna absorb anything if I don’t take one.”

A pleased grin spread across their face when Kris admitted to needing a break. “Finally,” they teased as if they had been awake and waiting around for Kris to come to that conclusion instead of napping their own school off for the last little while. “Is there any places around in walking distance or are we gonna have to hop in my car?”

“Impressive, considering I don’t even brush my hair most days,” Kris remarked. They sat up and ran their fingers through their hair. “So, did you… I don’t know, want to do anything today? We don’t have to do anything super fancy. Maybe even just go out and get food.”

"I’ve never met anyone who didn’t look stunning with messed up hair. I kinda dig that look.” Johnny flopped over on their back, patiently chewing away and scrunching up their nose in silent protest when Kris sat up. “Only if you want to too,” they said firmly, affectionately bumping Kris’ hip with their knee. “’Cause if you feel like staying in and studying, that’s cool with me too. I just wanna be with you.”

“I have some gum in my drawer if you want?” Kris suggested through a fond laugh. They gestured to where they had gum and breath mints stored. Tilting their head, Kris kissed the inside of Johnny’s arm.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Stretching across Kris to dig through their drawer for gum, Johnny promptly shoved a piece in their mouth as soon as they had it unwrapped. “You’re beautiful too, y’know. It’s getting a lil out of hand at this point.”

“Good to know. I can go for a hard party,” Kris chuckled. They turned their head to fondly gaze at Johnny, a small smile on their lips. “You’re really beautiful.”

The last thing they expected was a compliment so it drew a surprised little laugh out of them in the same moment that they flipped over on their side, flinging an arm across Kris. “If I wasn’t pretty sure that my breath was bad right now, I’d smooch you.”

A surprised little laugh came out of Kris when Johnny replied that they knew. Johnny didn’t seem like the type to keep track of dates like Kris did so meticulously, and it warmed them that Johnny had remembered the date. It reminded Kris that Johnny took this–them—seriously. “Uh- I mean, a little is fine. I don’t like doing huge things for every single one, y’know? But acknowledgment is nice,” Kris shrugged. Abandoning the idea of returning to their work, they carefully got up and moved so they could rest next to Johnny. “Do you? And.. yeah. I get what you mean. Feels longer to me most of the time, but we were friends before.”

Laying back again once Kris moved to rest next to them, Johnny slipped an arm behind their head again. “I mean, I love any reason to celebrate anything but it’s not really necessary or anything. The first week, month- or whatever, those are all cool. But I promise I won’t throw any parties if this thing goes on for five months or something.” They huffed out a laugh. “Love celebrating birthdays though, and shit like... graduating. I’m gonna fucking go hard when I’m finally done with school.”

“Leo,” Kris confirmed. “It’s on the second of August.” They were slightly disappointed that they had missed Johnny’s birthday but were confident they wouldn’t miss the next one. The implication that Kris and Johnny would still be a thing several months from then was only slightly scary to Kris. They certainly didn’t want this to end anytime soon. If anything, Kris absolutely didn’t seem them flat-out not being in each other’s lives. “You know… uh, don’t laugh at me for keeping track, but- we’ve been seeing each other for a month now.”

A curious look passed quickly over their face, followed up just fast by a broad grin. With some difficulty since their body still felt a bit weighed down by sleep and tension from school, Johnny sat up to put themself just a bit closer to Kris. “I know,” they admitted. “Not that- I mean, it wasn’t like... marked on my calendar.” Only it was, since Johnny had been so overcome with everything that they couldn’t stop expressing how happy they were that entire day. Unfortunately, scribbling hearts all over the recipe for that day and that day on their calendar was part of that. “I dunno. A month is... wow. Sometimes it feels like it’s been longer and sometimes it feels like it hasn’t been that long at all. D’you like celebrating anniversaries and stuff or no?”

Kris ducked their head so that their hair would hide the pleased flush painting their skin. They happily took Johnny’s hand and squeezed it. “I’ll keep that in mind. When’s your next birthday? Mine’s in August. Always hated having that birthday in school. Was younger than everybody, always.”

“Mine was back in January so you’ve still got loads of time ‘til then.” Johnny grinned wider when Kris took their hand, toes curling happily. “Yeah? So you’re a Virgo or a Leo.” King’s birthday was in August too and they hoped they weren’t too close together—they liked birthdays, they liked celebrating them, but they preferred being able to put their all into one instead of celebrating one while recovering from the last. “I hated my birthday ‘cause it was always too fucking cold to do anything by then.”

“You know, I’ve never seen someone so into my voice before. Kind of nice knowing I could just say total bullshit and you’d still be interested because of the way I sound.” Kris chuckled. “It’s nice seeing you in my bed. Not even in a sex way, just, y’know… nice seeing you here. Does that make any sense?”

“It’s so bad. You know how people are all into that ASMR shit? That’s like me and your voice. You could be reading me the manual for my phone and I’d be so into it. For my next birthday, all I want is for you to read to me out loud ‘til I fall asleep.” Johnny reached out, wiggling their fingers in a silent request to hold Kris’ hand. “Yeah, it makes sense. It’s nice being here in your bed. You say the word and I’ll pass out here any time while you’re exercising that big brain.”

“Ha. Funny,” Kris huffed, a dry chuckle on their lips. They wondered if it would actually increase their chances to go down and beg. They could be well-spoken when they wanted to be. It was just rare. “You know, you look a lot better than I do when I wake up from naps.”

“I look better than most people at any given time, it’s pretty normal,” Johnny answered with a cheeky grin, raking their fingers through their hair in an effort to get control of the mess. “But you look fucking adorable when you first wake up and sound even better.”

“A job application for the Observatory,” Kris admitted. They picked up Johnny’s feet so they could sit down on the edge of their bed. Once they were seated, they settled Johnny’s feet across their lap. “They get a lot of applicants and take their time reviewing, so it’ll probably be a while before I hear anything.” They paused, absently running their fingers along Johnny’s foot. “How does a tiny wiener dog hog an entire bed?”

Grinning wider when Kris settled where their feet had been, Johnny slipped one arm beneath their had while the other rested across their abdomen. “What can I say? He’s a diva. I’ll end up on one side and he’ll be snuggled up next to me in the center of the bed so I can’t stretch out to the other side. Should’ve attached a picture to the application. They’ll recognize you as that space nerd that never leaves.”

Kris looked up from their laptop, crinkling their nose. “Not yet, but I wouldn’t speak too soon.” They gingerly closed their laptop and got up from their desk to kiss Johnny’s forehead. “Nap well? The bed’s pretty comfy but I’m not sure about Ursa being on top of you the whole time.”

A lopsided, lazy grin spread across their face, letting out a happy little hum when Kris kissed their forehead. “Really well,” they confirmed. “I’m used to Magoo hogging the bed anyway. What are you working on now?”