For you, i will

chapter VII

it appeared that the line kept growing longer in front of shane, and despite having waited for nearly an hour, he found himself further away from the office door than where he had initially started. time passed differently in this realm, and he supposed reality shifted as well. it'd been so long since he had visited his homeworld: hell.
despite being a creature made to inspire fear, shane was never able to fit himself into that mold. he liked earth, humans... he enjoyed ryan too much, and with that in mind he began to think about the man once again. shane let his memory glide over ryan's figure, his perfect shape and kind eyes staring up at him. through his thoughts shane suddenly reached a realization about the mistake he had made. the two had the rest of the week off from work, and shane had told ryan he was going to work. his heart dropped and his anxiety began to rise, causing him to consider his options. if ryan wasn't awake yet, shane might be able to sneak back and rewrite an excuse... "shane madeJ."" a lady's annoyed voice announced, emphasizing the J at the end. "Mister lucifer will see you now." shane resigned to his situation, knowing regardless of his attempts ryan would know he had been lied to. he took a step towards the intimidating office door.

as soon as he opened it, a deep voice greeted him. "Shaney you came back! wow you've somehow grown taller." yes, the voice was certainly one to invoke fear, but who that voice belong to was really just a fun, best shane could describe him, 'dude'.
"what brings you back home?" lucifer said. "did you miss me?" he winked at shane, who sat up in his chair as lucifer's hand brushed over his shoulder.
"i didn't know who i could talk to." shane began, speaking sternly, trying not to make eye contact with his former friend and lover. lucifer leaned down, placing his head beside shane's. "oh we're not gonna do much talking." he whispered into shane's ear, finding his way to shane's shirt collar.
"lucifer, i have a grey hair. a few, actually."
lucifer leaned back up, his stern demeanor returning. he took shane's chin and examined his face. "oh honey you've got wrinkles too." he concluded.
shane's stomach dropped from the shock, and he turned and faced lucifer, his eyes pleading for an explanation.
"why is this happening to me?"
"well", lucifer said, sliding into his chair, "you've grown quite older, despite being an immortal demon. you're not supposed to age yet look at you, it finally happened!"
"yes i know but can you explain to me why it's happening?"
"my demons i didn't think you'd be this slow in comprehension, you were always the smartest..."
"lucifer." shane began to get out of his chair, but lucifer grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back down.
"i wasn't finished."
shane glared up in annoyed submission.
"you've grown attached to the human world shane. you have something there that's causing you to moratalize."
"i don't understand. what..?" shane whispered to himself
"baby you're in love!"
•••
back on earth, a nervous ryan, in reverie, absentmindedly rolled his hands together while trying to figure out where shane could be. he knew he shouldn't be so anxious about it, that the man would return, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. finally, through his hangover headache, an idea emerged. ryan would call shane. simple.
he began searching for his phone, concerned only minimally when he couldn't locate it, as he often misplaced the device. he finally found it, fallen by the couch and drained of battery. the discovery seemed to be somehow significant, but ryan had no memories of the previous night and decided not to let it engulf his concerns of the moment.
he placed his phone in its charger, and after several minutes the screen lit up, revealing the opened camera application with a notification that the storage had been filled up. ryan grew curious of the situation and went to explore his camera roll, within it finding several screenshots of the hotdaga and a 3 hour long video. he clicked on the video.
it was him and shane sitting in his living room.
"do you, shane alexander madej, believe in ghosts?"
ryan's heart dropped. he suddenly felt a pinch at his gut as his memory came flooding back, creating a piercing silence around him.

"oh god shane why do you do this to me?"
the video made its way back to ryan's consciousness.

"ryan what's wrong ryan?"
he could almost laugh at shane's slurred speech.

"shane gosh. i..." the video began.
"please don't say it ryan." ryan said to himself, invested in the video, knowing what was to come next but still in denial.
"i like you. a lot."
ryan shut off his phone immediately and clasped his head into his hands. he was a grown man, yes, but this was a lot. it was no ordinary crush. it was his best friend. and now he knew.
this changed everything. he laid back in bed, in shock, never hearing the last part of the video.

"i like you too bergara."