It Was An Angel All Along

Chapter 1

       Shane was sitting at his desk, slowly sipping his cup of coffee like every day at the Buzzfeed office.
It still was very early in the morning, just about 8am, explaining the empty seats around him and the overpowering quietness of the place.
It's been quite some time since he was there ; making researches all night long for the next episode of Unsolved. It was Ryan's baby but Shane wanted to help as much as he could to make it grow the best he could ; researching all night wasn't that big of a problem anyway, he couldn't sleep nowadays and Ryan needed some rest, like REALLY.
         About 3 hours ago he found out a very interesting story, a legend, which was told since the Pharaohs's time ; the story evolved along the centuries and events that made history but the main core stayed pretty much the same. To make it short, it was about a love story between an angel and a demon ; however, like in Romeo and Juliet things didn't go as plan and he was waiting for Ryan to arrive in order to tell him the full story, kinda, since it was quite a ride to go through EVERYTHING.
The other thing that convinced Shane to investigate the whole legend even more is that there's this place in Louisiana, a very small and ancient wooden church in which, supposedly, the angel and demon promised to each other for infinity.
Visitors of the church declared feeling "at peace", "loved" and some have witnessed "a white bliss falling down the roof and landed in front of us, enveloping us in a reassuring embrace".
It was different than the usual demonic possession kind of thing and Shane knew it will pleased Ryan's curiosity.

        The second Ryan entered the building and sat at his chair in their common office with sparkling eyes and a boyish smile painted on his face, Shane knew he did a good job.

-"So?! Tell me more about the case! I've waited all night for this ! I almost put an all-nighter, I was so excited!"

        At this point, Ryan was literally bouncing on his chair with excitement, still wearing his coat, scarf and beanie ; his nose and cheeks pink due to the pretty rough winter that suddenly hit L.A.
Shane was used to the cold and, to be completly honest, he really liked it ; it reminds him of home, he knew however that Ryan wasn't.
He knew that the Californian man never really experienced winter, the cold, the snow, the ice ; so, it's no surprise when he saw him arriving in big winter clothes. The sight of Ryan, swallowed by clothes, just his little pinkish nose peaking through everything made the whole picture quite comical.

        Shane looked at the other man, trying his best to ignore him or at least act nonchalant at him ; he unfortunately failed as the corner of his lips curved upwards, showing off a soft smile. He couldn't win against the contagious childlike excitement of his best friend ; however, he regained some composure as he answered Ryan with his usual sarcastic tone :

-"Hi, good morning to you too! No, I didn't sleep well last night thanks for asking. And you? Did you sleep well? Is it cold outside?"

      Ryan rolled his eyes, he was more than familiar with Shane's sarcastic self. He, nonetheless took a look at his friend and instantly felt bad for not noticing the obvious black circles under Shane's eyes which looked smaller due to the lack of sleep; his skin was an unusual greyish one, his lips were chapped, a small cut suddenly appeared as Shane let out a big yawn, colouring his whole bottom lip red.
        Okay, now Ryan felt terrible.

      As soon as Shane spoke he saw all joy and excitement leave Ryan's face and body as he was now scanning Shane's face with a worried expression written all over his face. Ryan was like reading a page, from an open book, with very powerful glasses : you cannot miss one word.
Right as he was about to say something to break the awkward silence, a very powerful yawn escaped his body, almost breaking his jaw with it.
Suddenly he tasted iron in his mouth and was instantly met with Ryan's hand, slowly applying pressure on his bottom lip ; he didn't even saw the smaller man stand up.
        He really was exhausted

       Like a reflex, Ryan jumped to Shane's side and hovered over him, stopping the bleeding by applying pressure with a tissue on his bottom lip. Of course it was nothing but seeing blood made everything more real to Ryan, more real that Shane was exhausted mentally and physically.

        Shane jumped at the sudden contact and met Ryan's concerned gaze ; the smaller man looked back at Shane's very confused eyes and that's when the reality of the situation hit him.
He was 5 inches away from his best friend's face while touching his bleeding bottom lip with a tissue, on a Tuesday morning at 8:40am.
        His cheeks suddenly redened as Shane's hand hovered on his to hold the tissue:

-"I think I can handle it from here." Shane said.
"Thanks though"

-"No problem man" Ryan said as it was totally normal, backing off a little, gazing down and suddenly forgetting who he was.

-"Ryan? You good man?" Shane asked with a small laugh.

-"Yeah, yeah, it's just that I feel like a total jerk for not asking you how you were doing and I didn't even noticed how tired you looked and... I don't know... I'm sorry..." Ryan rambled while standing awkwardly in front of Shane.
He was looking down at his feet when a hand took his ; he gazed up to meet Shane's soft smile that never failed to reach his eyes.
       Shane pulled on his sweater sleeve to bring him closer.

-"Hey, look at me, I'm fine! I'm still very alive and breathing ! I even can stand up on BOTH of my feet!" The tall man said while comically standing up, making two loud thuds with his feet.
  
         Ryan laughed softly at his friend's behaviour.

-"There you go! You're prettier when you smile Bergara." He paused slightly, considering the man for a moment. "Do you wanna hug ?" He asked, opening his arms wide, a smirk on his face as he saw the smaller man's eyes lit up.

-"Actually, yeah, I really need some kind of affection right now. I'm also cold as heck." That wasn't a lie, Ryan never experienced this kind of weather : he was freezing.

-"Say no more!"
And with that, Shane stepped in front of him, closing the remaining space between him and the other man and circled his arms around Ryan's shoulders, holding him close in order to warm him up, resting his own head on Ryan's one, hopping it wasn't awkward for him ; however, as soon as he heard a little noise of content and felt Ryan nuzzeling his chest, Shane relaxed as well in the embrace, smelling hints of fruity shampoo from the other man's hair.
It smelled good, Shane thought, maybe strawberries and banana...

-"If we stayed like that any longer I might fall asleep" Ryan said, softly giggling, his voice muffled by Shane's chest.

-"Yeah, you're right, that would be unfortunate" Shane declared while pulling off the embrace, he instantly felt colder as he sat down at his desk.
He opened his notebook and said as Ryan was unbottoning his coat :

-"So, our new case shall we ?"