Short Summer Nights

CHAPTER FOUR

TW: PET DEATH
[Chris' POV]

I felt Ricky play with my hands as I held onto him. Is it bad that I just met him and I want to live my life with him already?

He's so beautiful, and charming, his whole vibe is so comforting, and absolutely perfect. I felt him gently kiss my hand, and I kissed the top of his head in response.

I could tell he was usually quiet and run-down. But today he seemed so happy, bold, and full of energy. I definitely enjoyed this side a lot.

I feel like there's something he isn't telling me. I mean, it is quite obvious. He has a cannula, but I think it gives him personality, I wanted to know why he had it, but I didn't want to ruin the mood or make him feel sad. I didn't mind at all.

I felt Ricky's breathing become slower and I realized he fell asleep. I looked over to Angelo to see what I should do. He looked back and gave me a signal to follow him.

I picked Ricky up gently and followed Angelo. "We'll just take him to his room." He says to me as he opened a door through the hallway. I walked in and saw a hospital bed, but I ignored it for now and lay Ricky down on his bed. Luckily he was still sleeping peacefully and moved his blankets on top of him. I gave him a small kiss on his head and walked out of the room with Angelo.

"Soo...you like him, huh?" Angelo asks me. "Y-yeah..." I say. "It's fine, but uh, we can um...he doesn't...I'll try to get him to talk to you. I'm sure you can tell he has something his body is battling, but please don't let that stop you from loving him. He deserves someone like you to love him in his life." Angelo says to me.

"Y-yeah I could kinda tell, I won't...I really like him, and who he is." I tell him. "I know, come on back out and relax." Angelo says as we both walk back outside.

We hung out for a while, and all the people eventually left. Now it was just me and Angelo sipping on some beer. "Hey man, why don't you crash here for the night?" Angelo asks me.

"yeah sure why not, but i don't want to be a bother." i tell him. "not at all! i'll set up the pull out couch, i'm sure ricky would be more than happy to wake up to you." angelo told me with a chuckle.

i smiled at him in response as we recycled our beer cans and walked inside. his house was small, but it was quite cozy. in the front was the kitchen, then there was a hallway with another bedroom. if you looked around you would go into the living room, past the kitchen was the dining area, although ange just had it as a open area; and then there was ange's bedroom, and across from that was the bathroom.

it was all in this right cramped space, yet it fit him so well. he lead me to the couch and i helped get it set. "alright, here's some blankets, i hope it's not to cold or hot, if so you can just adjust the thermostat." ange tells me.

"thank you man. have a goodnight." i tell him as i get under the comforters. "of course, sleep well. if you need anything you know where my bedroom is, and if ricky gets up and needs something, just come and get me." he says. "i will"

angelo left and i decided to scroll through instagram. i realized angelo posted a photo of him and ricky. 'x_rickyxxhorror_x' what a emo username. i chuckled to myself remembering that i used to have all my accounts with a name like that.

i checked his account and see he hasn't posted in a while. it seems as though he only posted before he got his cannula. his face was fuller in these photos, with a brighter smile. i really wanted to know what was wrong.

i saw a photo of him with his dad at a concert, a photo of him with some other friends. i went back up to the most recent post, which was around a year ago.

it was a photo of his side profile and a cat in the crook of his neck. the comment read 'i'm okay everyone, i'll get through this. thanks for the kind messages. <33'. the comments were turned off so i couldn't see anything that could help me figure out what could be the cause of the thing he is dealing with.

"chris? why are you here?" a faint voice says knocking me out of my trance. i quickly exit out of ricky's page and turn to look at him.

"oh hey rick, i'm spending the night. angelo offered since it got a bit dark." i tell him with a slight smile. "oh..that's cool. um...do you know if he is awake?" ricky whispers to me. "i'm not sure, i can go see and wake him up..." i tell him.
"no no it's okay. maybe um, can you help me with something?" he asks me.

"of course, is everything okay?" i asked him. ricky seemed to ignore my question but he gestured towards going to his room. i got off of the couch and followed him into his room once more.

he sat back down on the bed and handed me his phone. his phone was opened up to a post with the photo of the cat i saw in his other post.

as i inspected it more, i saw that the caption was explaining how amazing the cat was. and as i read more, i realized the cat passed.

"oh rick..." i whisper to him. i look at ricky and see tears ready to spill. i gently put my arms around him as i pull him onto my body. i could feel his body jolt from the crying, i just held onto him and rubbed his back.

"i'm so sorry honey..." i tell him. "t-they were always there for me chris..." he cried to me. "i'm sure bub." ricky just cried even harder.

i hear footsteps come up as i let go of ricky gently, still holding onto his side. "hi ange." immediately ricky latched onto angelo and kept crying to his hearts content.

"w-what happened?" angelo asked me. i didn't want to say it, in case it upset ricky even more, so i just showed him the picture and caption. angelo just sucked a breath in and let out a large sigh.

angelo held onto ricky tighter as he kept crying. angelo tried calming him down by rubbing his hair and his back, but nothing was working.

"c-chris? c-can you hold me? i-i'm sorry for waking you up ange..." ricky said quietly. angelo looked shocked, but nodded and let ricky go.

"it's okay rick, it's okay. i know it may not seem like it, but things are gonna be okay honey." angelo told him.

ricky maneuvered back over to me, and snuggled up to my side, making me lay back down on the bed. "get some rest rick, i'll be here if you need me." angelo said with a small smile as he gave ricky a little kiss on his head.

angelo left us, and i helped cover ricky with the thin blanket. i wiped ricky's tears away and fixed his cannula to be positioned a little better.

"t-thank you chris, i'm so sorry for bothering you." ricky told me while trying to avert my gaze. "it's perfectly fine, i'm here for you. and i'm very sorry for your loss, but i'll help you get through it okay?" i tell him quietly as i brush my fingers through his thin hair. i took note of how his hair was actually so thin.

"o-okay. thank you." he tells me. i nod in response, and move him closer to me. we both fell asleep some time in that moment, and i remember feeling ricky move closer throughout the night.

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hey everyone! thanks for reading again! i hope you all enjoyed , sorry I haven't posted much but I'm gonna start trying to! have a great day <3