Sometimes Fantasy is Better Than Reality || Slow Updates

Chapter 5: For the

John opened his eyes, blinking a few times to clear his vision. He watched as the colors around him slowly begin to take the form of a large room. He squinted his eyes, glancing down at his hands. He watched with fascination as a swirl of brown and white slowly formed into a warm cup of coffee. No matter how many times he witnessed the swirl of colors taking shape into various objects, it always amazed and captivated him.

He looked around and saw that his surrounding area was almost finished forming. He blinked and straightened, curiosity burning through him. The spot he was in looked like a cafe, but it didn't resemble The Downtown Cafe. He pursed his lips and was surprised when he realized that Aaron was nowhere to be found.

He frowned. That didn't make sense. Aaron was clearly the focal point of the physical painting, so where was he?

As of on cue, the front door opened and in walked Aaron. John's frowned deepened. Now that he could see Aaron up close, he could definitely pick out mistakes ad imperfections. Like the fact that Aaron skin tone was just a tad too light and his eyes were slightly too large. Suddenly, Aaron's gaze landed on John and his eyes lit up with joy.

"John!" He said with a kind smile.

"Hey, Aaron," John said and his eyes widened when Aaron walked over and hugged him before  kissing his cheek.

"I've missed you." Aaron said softly, sitting down beside John and smiling adoringly at him.

"I missed you too," John replied, trying to play on along. This was always the worst part when he went into a painting. Finding out the context of the events.

"So, what do you have planned?" Aaron asked, beautiful brown eyes bright.

John barely contained his surprise at the question. What did he have planned? Did Aaron mean as a date? Or just hanging out as friends? He pursed his lips. No doubt as a couple, considering Aaron had kissed his cheek and was staring at him with pure love.

"I thought a coffee date would be good." He said, smiling down at his smaller companion. "We can do some catching up."

"That sounds perfect," Aaron said. He smiled again before standing up. "I'm going to grab myself a drink. I'll be right back." 

He kissed John's cheek again and walked over to the counter. With each step he made towards the counter, a barista started to swirl into existence, an easygoing smile on her face. It was then that John realized she looked like Peggy. There were enough differences that it was easy to tell that it wasn't her, but their size and make-up were very similar. Instead of pink tips, the woman had a deep purple and her make-up was slightly less dramatic than Peggy's.

John took a sip of his coffee, grinning slightly when he realized it was plain black coffee. He always found it weird that whenever he was sucked into a painting it already knew what his preferences for things were. He wasn't sure exactly how the whole 'getting sucked into a painting for a day' worked, but it had been happening since kindergarten.

He could still clearly remember that day. He'd scared his parents half to death and a missing report had been filed, plus police officers searched for him and he appeared in the news.

When he'd reappeared a full day later in his kindergarten classroom, covered in finger paint, people thought his teacher had kidnapped him, but because they had no evidence, all that happened to the teacher was that he got fired.

John had switched schools only a week later.

Aaron came back a few minutes later, all smiles. He set his drink down and sat next to John, who was startled when Aaron began to cuddle with him. John didn't protest, finding comfort in the man's warmth.