Fighting Butterflies (BoyxBoy)

Thirteen

It was Wednesday, and Nora and Ruxie were standing in front of their school, arms crossed and faces determined as they waited for their friend to meet them. The blond boy saw them from his father's car when the man dropped him off, and all he wished when he noticed them was for his father to turn the car back so he could miss school the second time in a row.

"Are you seeing that boy?"

"What?" Ryan frowned as he turned to his father.

The older man watched his son carefully, eyebrows raised as he waited for an answer from him. "That one," he said, nodding toward a group of boys standing near a black BMW near the school's fountain. Ryan followed his sight to see Drew standing with Zane and Cain, among a few other guys from the swim team.

I wish. The thought came faster than the speed of light and as much as Ryan hated himself for even thinking it, he knew it was the truth. Sighing, he shook his head.

"I'm not," he deadpanned, eyes narrowing as he watched the boys talk to each other. There was something about the way Drew interacted with his friends, the way he was always so confident and carefree when he was with them. Seeing him being this way in public, and knowing that Drew had been vulnerable with him, unafraid to share his secrets in private with him, caused a warm feeling to flow through the blond boy. His heart ached, weirdly, because though it felt so incredibly good to know he was important enough to Drew in this way, Ryan also knew it wasn't meant to last.

No matter how badly he wanted to deceive himself of the fact.

"Are you sure?"

Ryan licked his lips and turned to his father, shaking his head. "We're not... we're just friends," he stated and turned back to the window, ending the conversation. His eyes met Nora's from afar and he shuddered slightly when she smiled and waved at him. "I better get going, Nora and Ruxie are waiting," he said.

"Say hi to them for me," his father stated. "And make sure to call Dan when you close. He'd like to give you a ride."

"Dad I can walk, it's no big deal," Ryan said with an eyeroll as he got down from the car.

"Try," his father said with a pointed look. Ryan sighed then and nodded, not wanting to get further into why he didn't want to hang out with his stepfather. He turned away from the car and headed over to his friends, ignoring his father's sigh which sounded so much like his. Sometimes, he hated the way he and his father were so alike, but today was not the day to get into it, he thought.

Ryan put on a brave face as he neared his friends, smiling when he got close in greeting and reached out to hug them both.

"You fucking idiot," Nora exclaimed as she punched him playfully in his chest, making Ryan take a step back as he put his hand on his chest.

"Ow, that hurt Nora," he whined.

"As it should! I was so worried about you!" She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, eyes narrowed at the blond boy.

"Aww you were worried about me?"

"Of course we were, idiot!" Ruxie stated. "Glad to see you're doing alright," they continued as they hooked their arms in with Ryan's. Nora did the same on his left side and the three friends walked to the school building together.

Ryan smiled warmly at his friends, feeling warm and elated to have friends that did care so much about him as he did them. The slight pang of guilt in his chest didn't wane though, especially when they passed by the boys on the swim team. As the three of them walked to class, Ryan couldn't help but feel an intense gaze from behind him, and as much as he wanted to look, to know whether it was Drew or Cain who stared so hard at him, Ryan didn't turn back. He couldn't, not when he was with Nora and Ruxie.