Work Text:
Oh how the night felt everlong.
It started when Chris asked to sleep at Paul's place after band practice. Nothing out of the ordinary, they were all friends and never had an issue with crashing at each others houses every so often. But something felt different to Paul. A sense of curiosity bubbled inside of him in the short silence that followed Chris's question before he responded.
"'Course, man. No problem."
The sun was setting by the time the rest of the band headed home, filing out of Paul's basement as they waved and hollered their goodbyes and walked to their cars. Small talk was made among the men that parked next to one another. Paul leaned his back against the doorframe with a half-empty can of beer in his left hand, the other in his pocket. He watched as they drove off. Smiled when Shawn beeped his horn as he headed down the dirt road. Chuckled when Joey pulled an abrupt U-turn upon remembering he needed to run to the store to get milk, Mick nearly hitting him. Average. Normal. Everyday.
Paul felt a hand rest gently at his shoulder from behind, twisting his head to see who the hand belonged to; it was only Chris. He joined him in watching the rest of the band go their separate ways down the road, a freshly cracked-open beer sweating in his hand. The pair of brown eyes remained fixed on the man as the peach sky highlighted their skin. Chris stared out into the glow of the sky contentedly, catching Paul's gaze and looking back at him, locking eyes with him as he gave him a soft smile.
The gesture only lasted a short second before Chris's attention returned to the balmy sunset ahead of him, but Paul couldn't help but blush when he saw those pretty blue eyes stare back at him the way they did. It felt more tender, more heartfelt, more indicative. Paul awkwardly cleared his throat and looked down one Chris looked away from him and he felt like an idiot. The percussionist was none the wiser.