A few months had passed by, meaning both boys had recently turned twenty. Though their drunken conversation about marriage had not been brought up once since the night it had happened, the idea of moving in together was starting to become their most talked about subject.
It all started when Ryland was cooking breakfast for the two of them; Shane was sitting on the counter next to him, watching quietly as Ryland concentrated on not burning the waffles. The thought had been bouncing around Shane's mind and he wasn't thinking about saying anything to Ryland yet, but clearly his mind had different plans when he blurted out "I can't wait to move into our own place and watch you cook there." And then not too long after that happened, they were at Ryland's house trying to watch documentaries but were constantly being interrupted by the members of his family. After the fourth time it happened, Ryland mumbled "At least when we move out this won't keep happening."
And when subtle hints like that were constantly being dropped, they had a talk about the whole idea of moving out together. It went pretty well- they decided that they would stay in this little neighbourhood as this is where home was. They grew up here, had their first kiss here, made love for the first time here, made thousands upon thousands of memories here and they weren't ready to move away from all of that. So this is where they would stay.
Shane was a little apprehensive at first to start looking at places to live; he wasn't sure if he was actually ready yet or if it was more like a fantasy he liked to imagine, but after thinking about it for a while he realised that he was ready. He wouldn't have been thinking about it so often if he wasn't. And Ryland, well, he had been ready for a long time.
They had been looking at a few houses, seeing a few they liked, and many they didn't. But there was one house, a small one with a big garden that they both fell in love with. It was perfect for the two of them. They could picture themselves growing up here, bringing up a family here, but most importantly- other than the fact it was very cheap- they could see themselves being happy here.
The only problem was that seemingly a lot of people thought the same thing, as the waiting list to get the house was longer than they had hoped. But they didn't let that put them off- they wrote their names down and kept their fingers crossed.
A few days had gone by and they still hadn't heard anything about the house.
"Do you think we'll get it?" Shane asked quietly as they laid tucked up in bed. "I don't know. I hope so." Ryland whispered, being careful not to wake up the sleeping adults in the room next to them. Apparently parents don't like to be woken up to the sound of constant chatting and giggling as they had previously learned.
"What will we do if we don't get it, though? Like I know there are other houses, but I can't see us living anywhere but there, you know? That just felt like home." Shane mumbled, stuffing his face into Ryland's shoulder. "I know baby, but we've just gotta keep faith. And if we don't get it, well, we'll just have to think of something else. But for now, all we can do if keep our fingers crossed."
They lay like that for a little while longer till Ryland got bored and suggested for Shane to paint his back again. And like expected, Shane jumped straight out of bed and grabbed his paints and paint brushes. Ryland didn't think he would've enjoyed the back painting as much as he did, but it was oddly comforting and they both needed a little bit of down time to get over all the stress the last few days had thrown at them. So while Shane got all of his stuff organised, Ryland lay on the floor (this time placing some pillows underneath him), and put on some music.
"D'you know what you're going to paint?" Ryland asked, his voice slightly muffled from the music that played in the background. "I'm not sure. Maybe I'll try and paint some luck into your skin by painting our, hopefully, new house." Shane smiled, placing the various assortments of blues and purples on the floor next to Ryland, who just hummed in reply. As Shane got into position, he began to mentally paint the picture. Their house was in the centre of Ryland's lower back, with rows of houses behind it, taking up the majority of his back, and with what was left of the skin, was where the sky sat.
He only used blues and purples for this piece. He liked the way the colours complimented each other, as they were so similar yet so different at the same time. As he brought the painting to life on Ryland's back, he couldn't help but think of a life in that house with Ryland.
They would finally be independent; they would be able to do anything they wanted, whenever they wanted. They could stay up talking all night long- without whispering- if they felt like it because there would be no one there to disturb. They could never wash their clothes again (though of course they would), as there would be no one there to force them into doing laundry, so if they didn't feel like doing it, then they wouldn't do it, just because they had that option. They would be able to do so much and that's what they were looking forward to the most. They couldn't wait to be their own person with their own lives, but doing it together.
The painting was finally complete and it came out just like Shane had hoped it would. He was pleased with it and so was Ryland. Shane took a couple of photos before Ryland got up to wash it off. It was quite annoying that so much time and effort had gone into the painting just for it to be washed down the drain, but it couldn't stay on his skin forever.
When both boys had finished cleaning up it was around three am and they were finally starting to feel tired. They had been finding it hard to sleep these past few days- there was just so much going on in their minds and it was hard for them to shut their thoughts up. But this had seemed to do the trick as as soon as they got into bed they fell straight to sleep, which their bodies appreciated very much.
