enters with a dramatic and definitely shadowy flair after a long and mostly inexcusable hiatus
I'm back, and this time with something different yet again. This is an excerpt from a book I'm planning on writing. Literally every aspect of this story is out of my storytelling comfort zone, so this is going to be a fun one. I'm aware this could've been executed better, but I just had to get this out before I went to sleep. Enjoy, I guess.
The stars have always been beautiful. They coated the sky in their winking and shining eyes, clustering together in families to form pictures and patterns. He’s always loved the stars for as long as he could remember. Perhaps it was his connection to the night sky, or perhaps it was the beauty of the lights that protected the world from eternal darkness. Maybe it was the comfort and serenity he felt when he gazed up at them, or the moon glowing bright, embracing him in her pale radiance. Whatever the reason, he could never get enough.
Aris sat down on the soft grass with a happy sigh, falling back and tucking his hands behind his head. He would lie there all night if he could, but alas, there was a psycho murderer out there looking for him, and he couldn’t afford to risk his life for the stars.
His lips turned up in a happy smile when he felt that particular presence, his head tipping back and brushing against the earth to look behind him. There sat a fluffy and chocolate brown cat, tail curled around its paws as it waited patiently. Aris’s eyes of crystal blue met its eyes, the irises a beautiful gradient of light to dark green. He didn’t need to say anything for it to stand up and prance over to him, cheerfully hopping up onto his chest and curling up there. Aris thoughtlessly petted the furball on his chest as he went back to staring at the sky, finding his favorite constellations with small hums of satisfaction.
Aris didn’t know how long he had been scanning the night sky. He had become lost in his imagination, oblivious to anything happening around him. He had the lights above him, gracing his features with soft highlights, the delicate grass below him, tickling his cheeks and skin.
In a blink, that all changed.
Eyes of green hovered above him, and then a face solidified in Aris’s vision as he blinked. Fluffy chocolate brown hair full of soft curls fell into those beautiful eyes, which were shaped like a cat’s and framed with thick lashes. A face with rounded and soft features, very faint freckles dusting those curved cheekbones and button nose, a defined but not sharp jawline, those damn dimples that appeared even without that devilish smile; semi-visible neck tendons stood out with the slight strain, enunciating that small but visible adam’s apple.
Aris glanced down at the ground next to his head, where those smallish hands with knobby knuckles pressed into the ground, up to the thin wrists; followed the light brown arm to that small and thin, but lithe, body above him, then traveled back to that face—that face that was so very close to his.
His heart pounded in his chest and his eyes widened with panic. He didn’t know what to do or what to feel, but all he knew was that this boy was far too close and he needed space.
“Ryker! Get the fuck off of me!” Aris shoved at the boy above him, angry and confused and frustrated and stressed. Ryker didn’t complain as he was pushed off and fell to the ground next to Aris, his lips simply turning down in a disappointed but not surprised frown. Aris quickly got to his feet, a hand running through his short blonde hair and tugging at it. After a few seconds, he turned to the smaller boy—who was a good 7 inches shorter than Aris at 5’4. “What the Hell is your problem? I fucking told you, I’m not-”
“Gay?” Ryker finished with an unimpressed look, sitting cross-legged with his arms crossed as he watched Aris pace back and forth. “Maybe. Maybe not. I saw you checking me out, though.” He smirked slyly, that forever flirtatious personality that just pissed Aris off even more.
He stalked over to Ryker and picked him up by the back of his shirt, the boy allowing himself to be handled without batting an eye, and bent down enough so they were somewhat eye-to-eye. “I wasn’t, and I suggest you leave it as that. I’m tired of you and your games, Ryker! When are you going to learn to take a fucking hint and leave me the fuck alone? You just plow right on through life like there’s nothing wrong with you and the world, and then you bulldoze your way into other people’s lives without any consideration as to if they want you or not! Get it through your thick skull.” Aris let go of Ryker but didn’t back off, his anger clear in his eyes and tense body language. “I. Don’t. Want. You. Period. Never. Not as a friend, not as whatever fucked up fantasies you have in that twisted mind of yours. Let it go and leave me be, before I hand you to that psycho as a peace offering.”
Ryker seemed to hear what the taller boy was saying because his face melted in sadness and cruel realization. His lips parted and his eyes widened as they stared up at Aris’s face, searching for something that was likely not there.
Without another word, Aris stalked away, shaking. He wasn’t even the target of his own words and they stung. He knew—he knew damn well—that what he had said was unfair and uncalled for. Ryker was an adoption kid. Aris saying that he wasn’t wanted was like a blow to the face for the poor boy, and his heart twisted at his own callousness.
But what’s done is done, and there was too much swirling through Aris’s mind for him to turn around and apologize to Ryker. Even the stars couldn’t ease these burdens.
~~~
Three days.
It’s been three days since Ryker and Aris have spoken last.
It’s been three days since Aris has last seen Ryker.
Three days since Aris verbally slapped Ryker in the face.
He couldn’t take it.
He needed to see that cheeky motherfucker.
But how?
Aris sighed and sat on the edge of the cliff, the cliff he always sat at to look at the night sky. Tonight, the stars were silent. Disappointed. So was he. He had regretted his words almost instantaneously, but he couldn’t take them back. What was he supposed to do? Ryker hasn’t come out of his room since that night, not even to nose his way into the case.
The cat didn’t come tonight. Of course it didn’t, because it was Ryker. How didn’t he see that coming? He’s been bonding with that damn cat for weeks now, and he never put two and two together. Leave it to Ryker to make the first move.
No.
Aris stood up and let his feet take him to the sheriff’s station, which had the sheriff’s home right above it.
Ryker wasn’t going to be the one to pull Aris into this thing they had between them.
Not this time.
Aris had a responsibility to fulfill. This was his screw-up, this was his mess. He was the one to fix it.
The walk didn’t take long, probably because he had jogged the second half, and soon he found himself at the door leading to Ryker’s bedroom. He barely remembered his adoptive mother letting him into the house, but that had apparently happened. Now this was reality—his galloping heart told him so.
He knocked on the door and heard a slight ruffle of blankets, then the soft patter of feet on carpet. The door opened, and once again Aris had no choice but to admire that beautiful face that stared up at him, the softness of it hiding the hidden thoughts that were far from innocent and happy.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped, reaching up to tap his neck in time with his pulse. “I never-I shouldn’t have said any of that to you.” He sighed and ran both of his hands through his hair. “I miss you, goddammit. I don’t know why, but I do. And I-” he sighed, then froze when those adorably small fingers hooked around the collar of his shirt and tugged him into the room. Ryker didn’t say anything, for once, so Aris thought to continue as he numbly shut the door behind him. “I don’t know what I’m doing, with you or the murders or with my life—nothing. I’m scared and confused, but you’re an unplanned thing that showed up out of nowhere that I don’t want to lose, surprisingly and sadly.”
Ryker’s lips quirked up slightly, still dragging Aris back until his legs hit the bed. The smaller boy let go of Aris to crawl onto the bed, then reached out and tugged at the taller boy’s shirt. Aris didn’t say anything more as he followed suit, moving over Ryker as the boy laid back onto the bed, guiding Aris over him. Only when their faces were parallel did Aris speak again, his eyes scanning Ryker’s face. “I was wrong when I said I didn’t want you,” he whispered, “and that’s probably the scariest thing.”
Ryker smirked at that, reaching up to brush his fingers over the taller boy’s face. “Scarier than a murderer?” he whispered with humor.
Aris stuck his tongue out at the boy below him, though was quick to retract it when Ryker made as if to nip at it. “Yes. That I can deal with. You, I can’t.”
Ryker hummed with that trademark shit-eating smirk of his, then slid his hand up to cup the back of Aris’s neck, bringing him closer until their lips were a hair’s breadth apart. “You love it.” He didn’t allow Aris to say anything before he tipped his head up, pressing their lips together.
They fit so well.
It was as if they were molded for each other’s lips, the silky pink skin gliding over each other and getting caught between teeth. Breaths mingled and words were lost to the wind. Again and again, they came back for more, hungry and eager for more of what they tasted.
Aris was the first to break it off, pushing himself up and further away from the tiny and smiling devil beneath him. “Maybe,” he finally answered, slightly breathless though a smile ghosted over his lips, his tongue flicking out as if he could taste Ryker still.
The smaller boy gave Aris a minute to process before tugging him down again, letting their lips brush without actually kissing him. He knew there was one last thing Aris had to say. Knew what the whispered words were going to be.
“I didn’t mean any of it.”
He also knew what he was going to say.
“I know. I was letting you come to me.”
Aris’s blue eyes flashed with realization and surprise, then he shook his head with a breathy laugh. “Always the manipulative one, aren’t you?” Aris had said numerous times that he would never seek out Ryker as the boy sought out Aris on a daily basis, and then that night claimed to not want him.
Now look at him.
Ryker grinned and pulled Aris closer, murmuring against his lips, “You love it.”
This time, Aris didn’t bother to deny it.
“I do.”
