Fighting Butterflies (BoyxBoy)

Twenty One

"Where are you going?" Ryan's stepfather asked as the blond boy ran down the stairs and through the living room.

"I'm meeting Cain," Ryan shouted as he opened the door and stepped out. "See ya," he added, ignoring Dan's question of who Cain was. He took a deep breath and closed the door behind him, the cold winter air breezing past him. He rubbed his arms, cursing himself silently for not thinking about how cold it could get. It hadn't snowed yet, but winter was already here. A white T-shirt underneath a pair of blue jeans overalls, and white vans were not enough to keep him warm, but Ryan did not have time to get a coat as a black Honda Civic pulled up in front of the house. Smiling, he waved at the black haired boy seated in the driver's seat and hurried down the path to sit in the car.

"Hey," he breathed out.

Cain glanced at him and cocked his head. "You okay?" He asked. "It might get colder up the hill."

Ryan's cheeks brightened up to a cherry red. Cain was right, but he couldn't bother him by letting him wait that long for him to get a jacket. "I'm fine," he said to Cain who was fully covered up in a jacket. So what if I don't have a jacket on? It can't be that cold, right? He asked himself. Not wanting to focus too much on the weather, Ryan looked back in the car, searching for the cute dog.

"Where's your puppy?"

"He didn't wanna come along," Cain shrugged, offering no further explanation as he drove on. Ryan nodded at that and remained quiet on the drive. It was a fairly short one, and Cain parked at the foot of the hill. The only way up was a footpath which meant they would have to hike their way up the hill to get to the cliff. Though Ryan had not considered the hike before agreeing to come along, he still did not mind going.

Ryan couldn't help but gaze at the pine forest over the hill and beneath it as they walked past. He was always amazed at how beautiful nature was, though he did have to watch his step because he slipped on a stone the next second and would have fallen if Cain hadn't caught him in time.

"I didn't know you were this clumsy," Cain stated as he helped the blond boy up.

"I'm not," Ryan grumbled. "I was just looking at the view."

Cain hummed as he nodded, as if in understanding. The older boy reached as hand out to Ryan, offering to hold his hand for the rest of the hike up. Ryan glanced at the tall boy's hand and up at his eyes. Taking in a deep breath, he reached out and placed in hand in Cain's, lacing their fingers together and held on firmly. He doesn't want me to slip again, Ryan told himself. He just wants to make sure I'm safe.

He had no idea why he was overthinking it. They were just holding hands, something they'd done before, but it felt different this time and Ryan had no idea what it meant, what any of this meant.

"Why did you wanna come here?" Ryan asked Cain when they were close to the cliff, having entered the cave that led to it. It wasn't a dark cave, more like an open tunnel now that Ryan thought about it.

"My mom wanted some photos," Cain stated and finally let go of Ryan's hand. He reached into his backpack and brought out a digital camera. Ryan's eyes widened slightly as he nodded. He thought Cain would take some photos on his phone and be done with it but it seemed like the senior had put a lot of thought into it.

Without saying much, the two went out and stood near the edge of the cliff, taking in the view.

"Wow," Ryan gasped. It had only been about a year since he visited the area, but it still managed to awe him at how beautiful their small town was. The pine forest below that surrounded Redwood Valley reminded him of his trip to Aspen's Alpaca Sanctuary with Drew, and while that was a sad memory to think about, Ryan couldn't help but notice the vast difference between the two trips.