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Kieran sighs as he rests his head back against his usual tree. The Mason situation had been really weighing on him, along with the stress of lying to Cella and the… incident. Now he has that date he went on with Maria to pile on his plate even more.
None of these problems would even be existent if Mason Kane hadn’t stomped his way into Kieran’s life.
He looks up at the clouds from his sketchbook, sighing. He had to admit that part of this situation was his fault. Mason wasn’t the only participant in that kiss after all. Kieran squints in frustration, looking back at his sketchbook, only to see the face of his problems staring back at him.
His eyes widen and he threw the book to the side, covering his face with his hands and groans.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Kieran peeks through his fingers and catches a glimpse of messy brown hair and freckles on tan skin. He pointedly closes his fingers and ignores the boy in front of him.
“Ok fine, we’re doing that then.” Mason walks over and Kieran can hear him plop down beside him, clothes ruffling as he leans back against the trunk of the tree.
“What do you want you menace,” Kieran mutters, finally dropping his hands and he turns to him exasperated. “Haven’t you messed things up enough for me?”
Mason scoffs. “As if you haven’t done any of the screwing up yourself. I didn’t make you lie to Cella. I didn’t make you avoid talking about that kiss. Encouraged it, actually.” He huffs and turns to face Kieran as well. “Ever thought about that?”
“Now you’re just shifting the blame,” Kieran grumbles. “My life was perfectly peaceful and safe without you.”
“Perfectly boring you mean.” Mason runs a hand through his hair. “And missing the love of your life.”
Kieran’s head whips around with wide eyes and a flushed face. “As if you’re the love of my life! You are so arrogant and-” Mason smiles to let him know he was only teasing and Kieran’s argument falls. He wasn’t wrong though. Mason was an arrogant prick.
Kieran sighs and looks back up at the sky. After a while of comfortable silence, he hears the ruffling of paper and panic fills his veins, but before he can reach for the sketchbook Mason has it held out of his reach.
When Kieran had turned his head, Mason had kept his facing toward him, leaving them now nose to nose as Mason holds the book behind him in the air.
Kieran’s eyes betray him as they trail from Mason’s eyes down his face to his lips, mouth gently open in a gasp. He glances up to see Mason’s eyes doing the same, and sees his tongue dart out to wet his lips nervously and Kieran’s ears feel warm.
“What… What are these drawings, Kieran?” Mason murmurs, voice lowered due to the close proximity. His waits patiently, eyes lifting and flitting between each of Kieran’s eyes.
“Um…” his words leave his brain and the smell of Mason’s shampoo. A faded scent of almonds, soft pine. Unlike expected, he in fact did not smell like a dog. “What drawings?”
The corner of Mason’s lip twitches, eyes squinting with amusement as he tilts his head toward Kieran. His eyes drift half closed and he slides his nose against Kieran’s until their lips are only a hairsbreadth apart.
Kieran holds his breath through this whole ordeal, then suddenly regains consciousness and turns his head away from Mason’s with a downturned brow and drawn mouth.
“Right,” Kieran hears Mason mutter as he rises from his seat and tosses the sketchbook at his feet. Kieran’s eyes squeeze shut, trying to stop himself from reaching out to Mason and telling him that he didn’t want him to leave. He wanted him to come back, sit next to him, and grab his face and press his lips to his.
But that wasn’t an option. Even if he was awful and didn’t act like it, he was in a relationship with Cella. And he had just tied Kieran down to Maria after that date stunt he’d pulled. What they had between them, whatever it was… couldn’t be. Not unless Mason decided to be honest with himself and stop toying with Cella. And Kieran.
At every crunch of leaves from Mason’s receding footsteps, he felt a pain in his chest. Another sigh left him and his hair fell into his eyes as he looked down at his hands in his lap and then lifted his gaze back up to the clear blue sky. Mason Kane, you insufferable jerk.