IN TOO DEEP│minizerk

37

"Josh," Simon sings as he jumps on the bed, shaking me awake.

"Si," I groan, opening my eyes and turn toward the alarm clock. I shriek when I notice it's five in the morning. "Simon," I growl.

"Come watch the sunrise with me," he whimpers.

"It's too early," I grumble as I flick the covers back over my exposed chest, which was beginning to get goosebumps from the chilled atmosphere of my room.

"Please, Joshy," he whines as he falls onto his butt, sinking into the mattress beside me. I groan again, but remove myself from the warmth and comfort of my bed. Simon cheers and claps as I quickly toss on a T-shirt and trackies. "You don't need shoes," he scoffs as he tugs me away from my closet, my feet stumbling as he drags me onto my roof.

We had sat here for quite some time now, waiting for the sun to rise and spread its beautiful colors across the blank, navy blue canvas of the sky.

"Look!" Simon exclaims as he points to the sun, which is poking out from the ground. He loops his arm through mine, squeezing my arm against his body.

"I can see it, Si," I chuckle. He intertwines our hands as the sun slowly rises more, loosening his grip on my arm.

Simon breathes out, "Its so pretty." I glance over at him, grinning as I watch him physically and verbally admire the fading of several colors.

I eventually turned back to the sun, gazing up a bit so I could watch the reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, and blues melt into one gradient, beautiful mess.

"Josh..." Simon whispers. I remove my stare from the sun and put it on him instead. His eyes meet mine, the orange lighting giving him a gorgeous glow. "Thank you."

"For what?" I question with a small chuckle.

"For everything," he replies. "For being an amazing person, for always being there for me."

"Well then I wanna thank you too," I respond. Simon grins, leaning his head onto my shoulder. I kiss the top of his head, then lay my head on his.

"I wish I could live in this moment forever," Simon confesses.

"We could at least capture it," I reply, parting from his warm body to pull out my phone. I point its camera at him, a shy smile appearing on Simon's face.

"I want one of both of us!" Simon exclaims, snatching my phone from me. First he takes a picture of me, which wasn't too bad, and then leans into me to take a selfie, an overrated and clingy word for a digital self-portrait in my opinion.

"I look so bad," I whine as I try to delete both pictures that include me.

"No you don't," Simon argues, not allowing me my phone back until the pictures have fully sent to his phone. "There," he smirks as he hands me my cellular device back.

"I hate you," I giggle as I tuck it away. Simon grabs my hand again, meshing our fingers once more. I return his smile as a quick kiss is placed on my cheek.

"Well, I love you," Simon replies, transferring the nerves in his body over to mine.

"I love you too," I reply. We both ignore how I hesitated, only because we both knew how big of a moment this was and understood the anxiety between us both with the exchange of such bold words in person.

"Never leave me, Joshua," he orders softly as he leans his head back onto my shoulder.

"I wouldn't even think of it, Simon," I reply, laying my head back on his.