Butterflies ; boyxboy

ii

/ / Chapter Two: The Bestest of Friends / /

Ariel moved slowly, replacing his blue sweater with a black one. Though it was ever so slightly tighter, the teenager still could've comfortably fit his younger brother into the sweater alongside him. Ariel gazed blandly at his reflection, making sure there was no lint or hair on his all-black attire. Before he could dig through his closet for a pair of ratty black shoes to wear to the party, Ariel's phone played a Taylor Swift song. It was the personalized ringtone for one of his favourite people in the world.

"Cha-Cha," he greeted cheerily, settling onto his bed to talk.

"Grant and I broke up," Chance Hellings replied. "I thought he was the one!"

Ariel giggled. "You think every guy is the one," he teased. "Even T.J., and he thought the world was flat and the government was hiding sexy prostitute aliens."

"No!" Chance protested with a laugh. "I didn't think he was the one, he was just a spring break fling. I just kinda liked to pretend that T.J. stood for Thomas Jefferson, you know?" There was a long pause as Chance seemed to get lost in thought. "Anyways, can you come over? I really want a friend to cuddle and eat ice cream with."

"Sure," Ariel agreed readily. "I'll be there in a few minutes, just after I change." Chance hmm'ed in response.

Ariel left the house three minutes later, after struggling out of his tight black jeans and clothing himself in grey sweatpants and a band t-shirt that was three sizes too big. In the pockets of a blue hoodie, he carried his phone with his credit card tucked into the case. As Ariel exited his family's house, he was met with the sight of a particular brunette teenager.

"Ari!" Kace called, practically scampering up. The younger boy wore a pretty pink skirt and white sneakers, along with a matching white crop top. Kace's nails were painted the colour of bubblegum and his shock of blond hair was styled into a quiff. "Interesting choice of clothes," he teased.

"I'm not going to the party," Ariel replied. He started to walk away from his neighbour without a goodbye, unaware of the pout that'd taken over Kace's pale face.

-

"Ari!" Chance practically tackled Ariel as he entered the taller boy's house. "You look beautiful," he announced, smiling as he took a step back to properly admire his best friend.

"You say that every time I see you," Ariel said, grinning and pulling Chance out of the doorway and towards the year ten's bedroom.

"Yeah, 'cause every time I see you, you look beautiful," Chance said sweetly, allowing the older boy to drag him down the stairs. Ariel smiled as he listened to his best friend. Chance had a massive heart that held enough love for two people; he saw the world through fond eyes that could see the beauty or good in anyone or anything. "You're just a beautiful person, Ash." Chance dove onto his bed as he spoke. "Anyways, you wanna grab the ice cream then come cuddle me?" Ariel contentedly walked towards Chance's mini-fridge, grabbing a tub of partially melted cookies and cream and a spoon.

"I still don't understand why you like melted ice cream so much. It's just not as good," he said, crawling onto the bed next to Chance. The shorter boy wrapped himself around his best friend, tangling their legs and placing the ice cream between them. Ariel handed Chance the spoon.

"It's definitely better," Chance replied, brushing a strand of pitchy hair from his face. "Completely frozen ice cream is too hard or it has that weird texture. It's like frozen whipped cream or something." The Maori teenager filled his mouth with the soupy treat and handed his spoon back to Ariel.

"What do you have against whipped cream?" Ariel mumbled through a mouthful of cookies and cream. He adjusted his legs so that Chance's heavy, muscular thigh was no longer crushing him.

"The texture," Chance replied, making a face. "It's just... yuck." Ariel allowed Chance to reclaim their shared spoon as he giggled.

The two boys passed the spoon back and forth until all the ice cream was gone, chuckling and talking as they ate. "How do you eat so much ice cream and keep all these muscles?" Ariel complained, poking his best friend's bicep and tugging at his shirt to poke the teenager's abs.

"Join the soccer team, Ari," Chance said excitedly. "It's fun!" he added in response to Ariel's sceptical expression. "Stop making that face!" he giggled, gently swatting at his best friend. "You'd have fun!"

"Baby, I'm not joining the soccer team," Ariel replied, speaking in a tone of teasing condescension. Chance laughed and swatted his best friend's shoulder. Ariel giggled, rolling on top of Chance and hitting him back. The soccer player easily switched their positions, sitting on Ariel's stomach and grinning.

"Soccer strength," he teased with child-like happiness. Ariel's lips quirked up and he booped Chance's nose with the pad of his finger.

"You're a cutie," he announced, before rolling over and knocking Chance onto the plushly carpeted floor. "Want to go on an adventure?" Ariel spoke suddenly and seemingly without warning, but he knew Chance was used to Ariel's restlessness.

"No!" he giggled. "It's dark out, and I'm wearing pyjamas." Chance stayed on the ground as he spoke, with Ariel looking down at him over the edge of the bed.

"Exactly! It's dark, so no one will see your pyjamas," Ariel retorted, before rolling off of his best friend's bed and onto the floor next to him.

"Ariel, no," Chance said in a mother-like voice, though he let out a little laugh at the end.

"Then can we make cupcakes or something?" Ariel offered. Chance grinned and agreed, unbothered by the fact that they'd just downed a whole tub of ice cream by themselves. "This is why you're my friend," Ariel said cheerily.

"Bestest friend," Chance corrected.

a/n that ending was so awkward im sorry