It was dusk and the boys had finally ventured outside after spending yet another day indoors watching movies- though this time they did it at Ryland's house.
They were sat on the roof of Ryland's house, hand in hand, staring up at the sky watching the sunset. It was one of their favourite things to do together. They loved how in one moment the sky was completely pink and in the next, purples and blues appeared blending together beautifully.
Shane's head was resting on Ryland's shoulder, while Ryland's head rested on top of Shane's. "This is so pretty..." Shane whispered. "I want to paint it." "You should." Ryland said, taking his eyes away from the sky and focusing them on Shane. "It'll be such a pretty painting."
Shane gasped and turned to face Ryland. "I've got a good idea! I wanna paint it onto your back!" "On my back?" Ryland asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. They'd never done that before, though it did sound fun and interesting. "Yeah! Can I? Please!" Shane smiled, looking at Ryland with big, pleading eyes. "Okay! Fine, you can paint my back." Ryland sighed, easily giving in, which made Shane cheer in delight. They spent the next few minutes watching the sun disappear into the horizon, bringing all the colour from the sky with it.
On the way back to Shane's house, (they were going to spend the night at Ryland's but because Shane wanted to do painting tonight, they had to go to his house where all the paints were kept), he wouldn't stop talking about how excited he was to paint Ryland's back. He had seen videos of people painting their significant others backs and he always thought it was so romantic and cute and he wished he'd be able to do that with his boyfriend one day.
Ryland couldn't lie- he was really excited about the painting too. He wasn't too chuffed about having to lie on his stomach with Shane sat on his bum for an hour or so. Nor was he too chuffed about having to clean up all the paint from his skin afterwards. But what he was excited for, was seeing how calm and happy Shane would be while he sat there painting. How his tongue would poke out the side of his lips as he concentrated on getting the colours to mix just right. How he would sit there in silence as he tried not to mess up the silhouettes of the houses and trees. That's what he was excited about.
Once they got in, they raced upstairs to Shane's room. Ryland pulled his shirt off and set it down on the bed while Shane pulled out some paints from his art drawer. Ryland laid down on the floor and got into a comfortable position, crossing his arms and using them as a pillow for his head. Shane plopped a variety of paints down next to Ryland, along with a cup of water and paint brushes, and put on an indie folk playlist that they had made consisting of their favourite songs to listen to together.
When everything was set up and ready, Shane sat down on Ryland's bum and got started. He started off by lightly wetting Ryland's back to make applying the paint easier and lighter on the skin. He slowly started adding the different shades of colours, bringing the sky together using just his memory of what it looked like not too long ago.
Ryland gently hummed along to the songs that played in the background, with his eyes closed, and he decided right there that this was the calmest he had ever been. He didn't think he would enjoy this but it was incredibly relaxing. It was just the two of them in a dimly lit room, with soft music playing, enjoying each other's presence and not saying a word. They were both in their own little worlds and couldn't be happier.
Time passed quicker than they both expected and Shane had finally finished. He looked down at the masterpiece and smiled, then looked at the painting he did and smiled again.
"It's finished already?" Ryland asked, his voice soft and sleepy. He was pretty sure he had fallen asleep during the process of the painting- it was hard not too, really. It was just so relaxing. "Yep," Shane whispered, gliding his hand over the dried paint. He grabbed his phone from the pocket of his jeans and took a picture of it to show Ryland.
He leant forward and showed Ryland the finished product. "Wow, baby. That's beautiful." "You think so?" Shane smiled, blushing slightly. "Yeah, it's really pretty, Shane. Wow. It looks just like the real thing." He complimented, turning his head to look back at Shane and smile at him.
After another minute of Ryland gushing over how much of a good job Shane did, and Shane acting embarrassed, they got up off the floor and put everything away. Well Shane put everything away while Ryland lay on the bed. His body was aching from lying on the floor not moving for so long, so Shane let him rest for a while, while he did all the cleaning.
Shane looked over at Ryland, (who wasn't paying attention to Shane but to the ceiling above him), and smiled to himself. He was so in love. Ryland meant everything to him. They were best friends. Soul mates. Lovers. He truly couldn't have found a better person to fall for. He was so afraid at first. He couldn't fall for his childhood best friend. That's just wrong. It didn't matter if they grew up holding hands or kissing or saying that they loved each other- that's just what friends do. Friends. But that wasn't true. Friends wouldn't do the things they did for each other. They wouldn't say the things they did to each other. They wouldn't love each other the way they did. No. They were more than friends and they always had been; they were just too young and blind to see it.
But now that they opened their eyes, everything felt so much realer, so much more special, so much better. Sometimes Shane wished he would have realised his feelings earlier, but he's glad he didn't. He needed the time it took to figure things out. It wouldn't have been right otherwise. This is how it was meant to go.
He stopped staring when Ryland got up from the bed and went into the bathroom to wash the paint off his back that was now starting to itch. So as Ryland scraped the sunset off his back, Shane got ready for bed, tucking himself in between the mattress and the warm cover.
He tried to stay awake for Ryland, but after what felt like hours (it was only really about ten minutes), he fell asleep. Though he did wake up when he felt the bed move under someone's or something's weight, but quickly drifted back off to sleep after he felt familiar arms wrap around his torso and soft lips kiss the back of his neck.
