“Kris! Kris! Kris! Kris! Kris! Kris….”

The horribly noisy crowd fades out as Tao stands on the field, watching his boyfriend of two years get carried out on the shoulders of his team mates, all ready to celebrate their championship win. Tao doesn’t mind the fact that they want to celebrate, because it really is a big deal for the High school seeing as they hadn’t won a championship game in football in 15 years, what he does mind is the fact that Kris wants to celebrate with them.

He’s not a clingy boyfriend who expects Kris to be with him 24/7, but after all it is his birthday, so he was expecting some form of compliments from his boyfriend. Instead, he didn’t get to see Kris at all that day, and when he finally did it was right before the game and all Kris could say was hi, and give him a peck on the cheek before he sprinted out onto the field. All in all, Tao wasn’t too happy about it. He gave up a lot of things to help Kris further his high school football career. And by a lot, I mean volunteering at every game, and cleaning Kris’s uniform each night, and making his lunch each morning, and everything else Kris ever needed him to do.

Kris was a good boyfriend too, he was sweet and caring, and he never disrespected Tao, but still…when Kris got so serious about his games that he neglected Tao, it was a little hard for the boy to feel understanding and forgiving about. Especially when it happened more than a couple times. When they had first started dating Kris had opted out of their first month’s anniversary dinner to go train, which was okay with Tao, because an important game was apparently coming up, so he decided to just reschedule it. He had to reschedule that dinner three more times before he actually got his boyfriend in a chair long enough for him to actually serve the food. Kris couldn’t go with Tao to his grandmother’s funeral because of a charity match on the same day, and while he expressed his regrets, Tao was still upset. Prom hadn’t happened for Tao in either of their two years of dating, and would you like take a wild guess on why? He could get through those hurdles for Kris, as long as Kris did a little in return once in a while, be it taking a night off from his practice every month to go on a date, or maybe remembering his birthday, that’s all he was asking for.

He was just irked by the fact that Kris didn’t even glance his way after they had headed for the field’s exit, and not surprisingly enough, the parking lot was empty besides Tao’ own car when he finally left the empty football field. Tao considered waiting around a bit, just to see if Kris remembered and felt guilty enough to come back for him, but he decided against it once the heavy clouds above him opened up and it started pouring outside. He couldn’t take the pathetic feeling building up in his chest anymore and decided to head home and have a reality T.V show marathon to cheer up his poor soul. Cheap girls and ice cream always seemed to do the trick when this kind of thing happened.

“Babe, where were you last night?” Tao glances up from his book, choosing not to smile up at his boyfriend as the older male slides to sit on the top of his desk. “Where was I last night? Kris, I was at home.” Kris frowns a little at this, but Tao doesn’t really care what Kris does at this point, he’s too angry. “Why didn’t you come out with us? It was a big win for us!” Kris smiled, earning a few cheers from the rest of the class at the mention of their big win. “You know Kris, I just thought I should spend such a special day back at home with my mother. It seemed more appropriate than hanging around in a basement with some drunk, thick skulled jocks.” “Hey, calm down…did you not get enough sleep last night?” Tao rolls his eyes, completely unbelieving of Kris’s obliviousness. “What, was it your mom’s birthday last night?” Tao nearly screams at the world birthday, because no it wasn’t his mothers, it was his. “No Kris,” Tao sneers, standing up and slamming his book shut. “It wasn’t my mother’s birthday you inconsiderate numbskull, It was mine.”

Tao can’t help but slightly enjoy the way panic starts to seep into Kris’s features, and although he’s always been forgiving of Kris, it feels good to finally be able to express his frustration. “And while you went out, mind you without even bothering to find me, I was at home, alone without you.” Tao punctuates the last words of his sentence by jabbing his finger into his boyfriend’s chest, inflicting a slight flinch from him each time Tao takes another jab. “And you know what, I liked it better that way! I’m ing tired of you just expecting me to go along like some little groupie, because I’m your boyfriend, not a maid! You’ve been neglecting me from day one, and you know what I was understanding, I was caring, I’ve been everything you’ve needed me to be, but where the hell were you? That’s right, I don’t know because you didn’t care enough to even tell me.” Tao says, his anger slowly deflating as he finally says everything he’s been holding back for the past year. “But, Tao…”

“Don’t but Tao me, I’m nowhere near finished with you! Don’t go telling me that bull crap of how I need to be considerate of your career, what career? You aren’t even going to play football in college, why the hell do you need to train so much? To get a stupid trophy for the school association to show off to everyone? Well then, I think that’s totally worth more than your love life don’t you? I mean, if you offered me a three foot tall plastic trophy, I’d definitely put our relationship in jeopardy for it.” Tao calls over his shoulder, already packing his things back up into his bag. “Tao where are you going?” Kris asks, his brow furrowed in concern. “Oh since when did you care?” Tao shoots back, not even bothered by the pained expression on his boyfriend’s face. “Mr. Huang!” the teacher calls as Tao walks passed him to exit the class room. “I’m sick, I’m going home!” Is last thing he says before he disappears down the hallway, bag clutched to his chest like a safety device.

“ZiTao, darling you’ve got visitors.”

“Tell them to go away.” Tao mumbles into his tear soaked pillow.

“Honey, come on Kris came to see you.”

“Tell him I hope his head burns in acid.”

“ZiTao, come one honey. I’m sure whatever fight you’ve gotten into can be resolved.”

“I don’t want it resolved, I want him to burn in hell.”

“Well, I’m sending him upstairs, just so you know.”

“Mom!”

Tao doesn’t have time to whine though, he hasn’t seen Kris in a week, and he definitely doesn’t look like romantic reunion material. Then again, this could be Kris’s way of breaking up so it shouldn’t really matter what he looks like. Out of optimism Tao takes the chance of it being an apology and fixes his hair. His bedroom door creaks open, and Tao glances over to find Kris nudging his head in from the small crack between the doorframe and the actual door. “Tao…” Kris’s voice is disgustingly sweet, just like whenever he feels majorly guilty with Tao. It’s cute though, So Tao starts to feel a little more forgiving. “Baby, darling, Tao my amazingly gorgeous boyfriend could I please come in and see you?” Kris asks, being sure to sound extremely apologetic and adorable as he speaks. “Well,” Tao pretends to think even though he already knows the answer, “I guess so…but don’t get too close to me.” Tao motions for Kris to enter, and behind the door, clasped in Kris’s arms is probably the largest teddy bear Tao has ever seen. Tao tries to hide the excited twinkle in his eye, because who doesn’t love obscenely large stuffed animals? But Kris still catches the way he lights up at the sight of his gift. He smiles over at Tao hopefully but the boy quickly masks his happiness.

After a few seconds of silence, Tao finally sniffs, “What’s that?” He asks nonchalantly, or what he hopes sounds casual, to Kris as he throws a glance over to the teddy bear that is now taking up a quarter of his queen sized bed. “It’s uh, well it’s kind of a late birthday present…But, I got you something else too!” Kris hurriedly adds, pushing forward the large stuffed animal before he started to dig through his coat pockets. While Kris seems preoccupied with searching himself, Tao takes the chance to inspect the fuzzy creature presented to him. He tries to mask how pleased he is, but he can’t help but smile at it. It’s adorable and baby blue and Tao can’t think of anything better than the bear, well besides Kris. He realizes maybe he had over reacted a tad bit when he had confronted Kris, but Kris needed to learn his lesson, otherwise how was he supposed to learn not to repeat the same offense? “Here!” Tao snaps his head around to Kris reaching out with a small box in his palm. “I thought it was perfect for you…And I’m sorry for neglecting you, and forgetting your birthday, and just being a crappy boyfriend in general… I’ll work on it though I promise!” Kris leans a little bit closer, urging Tao to reach for the box,

With a wary glance to Kris, Tao picks up the box, which is surprisingly light weight. It’s a little disappointing, because he had hoped Kris was willing enough to spend some money on him, but then again he can’t tell what’s inside the box so he can’t call Kris cheap just yet. With his eyes narrowed, Tao tries to hide his emotions as he pulls the lid off of the small box Kris handed him, actually very curious as to what’s inside. The moment he sees what’s inside of the bow, he drops the lid to the side, eyes wide in surprise. Kris is beaming at his side, scooting a little closer in hopes that Tao won’t get mad at him for trying to get nearer to him now. “H-how did you…” Tao asks, eyes watering as he looks up for an answer. “I had my championship ring melted down to make the pendant, I thought it would be a nice gesture to prove how much I really do love you.” “Y-yeah.” Tao laughs, because it really is a loving gesture, he’s actually surprised Kris would think of melting down the one thing he has to show for all of his effort.

Inside the small box is a silver chain, and hanging off of it is a heart shaped pendant, outlined with the blue crystals that had once adorned Kris’s wining ring. Engraved in small cursive words on the inside of the crystals, it reads I’ll always love you. Tao can’t help but choke up at the gift, because he knows just how much thought is put into Kris’s gift. “K-Kris…” Tao is speechless, but he still manages to turn himself around and fling himself into the elder’s arms, glad to have his boyfriend back.

I hope you enjoyed it!