It Was An Angel All Along

Chapter 5

-"So, you wanna talk about whats keeping you awake at night?" Ryan said while taking a cigarette from his pack, offering one to the other man, who thanked him.

-"Well-" Shane started as he took a long drag, slowly exhaling the smoke from his mouth and lungs. It burned his throat. Ryan's cigarettes must be stronger than his, but like he always says, it's a good burn, like alcohol. "-I..." Shane couldn't form the words. He had to keep his skeptic mask up for Ryan otherwise he wouldn't see the end of it anytime soon. He can't trust himself with what he's seeing or hearing because ghosts can't be real but man, the things he felt in his apartment. Like, first of all, it's ALWAYS so goddamn cold, by any weather, then, things like a vinyl or a vest or anything, are never where he left them before ; of course, the night was when anything crumbled appart. Recently he refused to go to sleep in the dark, always keeping a light on, otherwise he sees "shadows" walking around him. There's also many other sounds like knocking on the wall, footsteps, a faucet leaking with no reason to. He was becoming insane.

Ryan watched the taller man smoking nervously, taking long drags and exhaling quickly. His eyes were glassy, Ryan knew he was in deep thinking so he land a hand on his shoulder, sorting him out of his thoughts.

-"You can talk to me you know that, right?"

Shane startled a little as he felt a hand on his shoulder, he was met with Ryan's worried but encouraging gaze so he dropped his eyes, eyeing the cigarette between his fingers as he took another drag, nodding slowly
-"Yeah, yeah, I know that that's not the issue, it's just that I can't believe what I'm about to tell you it's... Oh my god-" He shook his head at his own disbelief-"I think my apartment is haunted. Oh for fucks sake what have I become?" He laughed nervously and took a long long drag to calm himself down.

Ryan wasn't expecting that : AT ALL. Shane, the biggest skeptic of the paranormal, said that his apartment was haunted. Well.
Ryan didn't want to make fun of his friend right now, rubbing the truth of existence under his nose, screaming "I told you so".
That will be for another time.
Right now, he must focus on the issue itself and if it made Shane changed his mind about ghosts, it must be a huge fucking problem.

-"Okay." He said as he took a quick drag "I'm not going to brag about all this time that i was right because I'm not an asshole BUT you have to tell me all of the story."

Shane was utterly glad that Ryan didn't screamed triumphantly at him saying he was right all along, he then instead nod his head as he spoke

-"Thanks about that. Okay, but erm- can I ask you something first?"

Ryan looked at him as he exhaled the smoke and crushed his cig down on the ground.
-"Yeah, sure, of course"
-"Can I stay with you a little? Like at your house and erm- yeah, with you ?" The tall man asked, embarrassed and looking anywhere but at Ryan.

Ryan had to restrain himself for not "awwed" at loud, Shane looked like a scared child who the monsters in his closet made too much noise so he wants to sleep with his parents.
Instead he took the cigarette from Shane's, brushing his fingers as he did so.
-"You're not smoking enough-" He chuckled "- Tabacco's expensive man" He said as he took a drag of Shane's half-finished cigarette. The filter was moist and there was something, almost intimate in a weird way, to finish another smoker's cigarette. He try to not think much about it and put it on the "no waste" reason.

Shane watched the smaller man steal his cigarette away from his fingers, making him look at his face and, therefore, at Ryan smoking.
He looked like such a different person : intimidating, self assured and, yeah, pretty freaking hot when he smoked. He always had some kind of a smoke kink anyway, he never knew why, but as bad as tabacco is for you he always found people smoking hot and Ryan was no exception.
Shane felt himself blush at the sight in front of him and looked down at his feet, suddenly forgetting the question he asked.

-"Yeah, sure you can stay at my place man. We can go at yours to pick some stuff and you'll be all settled" Ryan said, a big honest smile on his face.
"And some groceries, cuz' now that we're two big guys under the same roof, we need to cook some meat" The smaller man said in a playful tone, wriggling his eyebrows.

Shane laughed, loudly, like he hadn't done it in weeks ; he felt so relieved, so happy.
If it wasn't for the cigarette in between Ryan's lips he would have smashed him in a big ass hug. (got you bish)

Ryan laughed as well, happy to see his friend smile again and to be the source of it makes it even better.
He crushed the cigarette down on the ground, throwing it in the bin outside of the house ; he turned back to Shane and said with a big smile :
-"Let's go shopping!"