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As the sun flickered through the trees in Hyde Park, Jonathan dug his hands deeper into his jacket pockets and trudged through the growing pile of leaves on the sidewalk. He huffed, burrowing deeper into his scarf as the crisp fall breeze turned his cheeks rosy from the cold. What I wouldn’t do for some fucking coffee right about now, the brunette thought to himself blearily.
“Hey, Jonathan! Wait up!” Ryan’s voice called from across the way and Jonathan turned at the sound, a smile tilting the corners of his lips despite his growing headache. Ryan’s lean form sprinted towards him, a grin spreading his lips from ear to ear. A few strands of his flyaway darkened chestnut hair peeked out from the edges of his beanie, his hazel eyes bright behind the lenses of his glasses. His cheeks were flushed from the cold and Jonathan felt his stomach flutter in nervous anticipation. He bit the inside of his cheek distractedly. Get a fuckin’ grip, Jon, he berated himself.
Jonathan hitched his book bag higher up on his shoulder as he waited for his best friend to approach. He shivered suddenly, goosebumps ghosting on his arms. His fingers played with the frayed hem of his shoulder strap absentmindedly and his stomach twisted in knots. Nevertheless, he held his hand up in a wave, grinning widely he waited for his best friend to approach.
Ryan slowed down as he drew near, bumping shoulders with Jonathan in greeting. He grinned wickedly, his eyes shining with mischief.
“Guess what, Jon-a-than?” Ryan asked in amusement, his voice pitching lower as he drug out the syllables in Jonathan’s name. Jonathan swallowed, hard, pretending not to notice how the dark five o’clock shadow accentuated Ryan’s jaw line or the way his adam’s apple bobbed enticingly every time he spoke. He pretended not to react to the way Ryan’s gravelly voice rumbled over his name, making his stomach drop and a flush work its way onto his cheeks. (Honestly, Jonathan didn’t think he was doing a very good job of it - of not noticing).
Pushing aside this- whatever it was- Jonathan made himself look back up to Ryan, who wiggled his eyebrows perversely.
Suddenly amused beyond belief, Jonathan cocked an eyebrow at Ryan, smirking a bit. “Did Nogla grow the balls to ask Berenice out? Because that would be a fuckin’ relief- he’s bitched to me about her for two goddamn months.”
“W-what?” Ryan laughed, “Nah, it’s nothin’ like that.” He paused in suspense for one, two, three seconds, before a shy, hopeful smile softened his features. “I got it- the apartment, I mean,” he laughed nervously, “I got it, even without the full price. A-and I know there were other offers with higher bids, but the landlady gave it to me anyways. I-” Jonathan leapt up and crushed Ryan in a hug, grinning a wide, lopsided smile he just couldn’t contain.
“You’ve wanted to get ya own place since freshman year! Fuck, Ry’, this is- this is fuckin’ amazin’! Man, you gotta tell Tyler and Bryce-” Jonathan paused for a moment. In fact- “Fuck it, you gotta tell everyone! I’m so goddamn happy you have no fuckin’ idea-” Jonathan stopped short when he noticed just how Ryan was staring at him, hazel eyes wide, as if he still couldn’t believe that Jonathan actually cared .
“Ry’?” Jonathan asked, waving a hand in front of his best friend’s face.
“Yeah,” Ryan coughed, “I mean- I couldn’t believe it myself. But… It makes everything easier, y’know? Like, maybe, just fuckin’ maybe, we’ll be able to do it.”
Jonathan’s face darkened. “We gotta,” he said quietly. “To prove all those goddamn bastards wrong, we’ll fuckin’ do it, Ry’. Jus’ you an’ me.”
Ryan nodded once, his features streamlined with determination.
“But first,” Jonathan declared, “I need to have my coffee- it’s been too long, too goddamn long , since I’ve had some caffeine, y’hear?” He narrowed his eyes exaggeratedly up at Ryan, who looked amused, if nothing less. Good , he thought, relieved. Ryan had the tendency to get himself stuck in these god-awful moods, so Jonathan took it upon himself to get them both out of it in any way he could (usually by acting like a goddamned idiot, but that wasn’t the point).
Taking advantage of Ryan’s distracted air, Jonathan dragged his best friend along until they were walking together towards the nearest coffee shop.
As they walked side-by-side, the older boy asked “How are you wearing a jacket right now? It’s 60 degrees out, dude.” Ryan stared in absolute disbelief at the full-on coat Jonathan was wearing (and still shivering in). Jonathan grinned; he knew that Ryan was fine if he was still able to tease him about this shit.
“Not all of us grew up here, ya asshole,” he shot back, “It’s fucking cold here, man, and I hate getting sick.” He shot a disgruntled look back up at Ryan, who merely raised an eyebrow back at him, his eyes shining with amusement. Fuckin’ bastard , Jonathan thought affectionately.
He wasn’t quite sure when (or even how ), but Ryan had managed to settle himself into Jonathan’s heart effortlessly, filling the previously desolate void with teasing remarks and bright laughter in a way he had never thought possible. Instead of the hollow feeling that came with being completely and utterly alone, Ryan swung by his dorm constantly, coloring the bare walls with his easy-given affection and wickedly perverted humor that had never failed to make Jonathan crack a smile. Ryan showed him that he was more than the homeless orphan left to hitchhiking and hiding in the backs of pickup trucks in order to get the next town (to get away from the place he would never call home).
This stubborn, Capri Sun-loving Chicago native had broken through all of the hatred and anger that he had thrown at the world to mask the aching emptiness within him. Emptiness as a result of being thrown from one empty foster home to the next, so close to what he’d dreamed of - of family - yet never quite making it that far. Ryan had broken through to the part of him that had been lost to a streak of delirium, wandering from state to state in the hopes of finding something- someone- that would make him stay (someone that would make him want to stay ).
Ryan had slotted himself into Jonathan’s life (like a fuckin’ easy-breezy covergirl or some shit), filling that void and making him trust someone for the first time in years. It was a strange feeling that filled him with warm affection that hadn’t come this easily to him in, well, ever. And Jonathan would be damned if he ever let Ryan go, no matter how much the dark-haired boy used his bright-eyed happiness to mask the multitude of scars that he held. Ryan was good in every sense of the word, and Jonathan would do anything to get it through the Chicago native’s thick skull.
For now, though, Jonathan dragged his best friend through the doors of the coffee shop because they finally had something worth celebrating.