For you, i will

chapter V

shane opened his eyes in a hospital room, confused by the sudden change of scenery. then the memories of the previous day flooded his mind, and he remembered bits of what had happened...he was with ryan.. they were filming unsolved...then a demon. they had fought. and then..?
shane couldn't remember anything after that. he began to sit up more in his hospital bed, a sharp pain shooting down his spine as he did so. the rustling of the sheets woke up ryan, who had fallen asleep in a chair by shane's side.
"shane you're awake, oh my gosh!"
"hey...ryan...what..happened?", shane's words came out slowly and slurred, something that surprised him.
"we were ghost hunting and there was a demon and you fought him. don't you remember?"
"yes, i do but... what am i doing here?" shane lifted his arm, indicating the IV in it.
"oh, well after you defeated the demon you lost consciousness...so mark and i rushed you to the hospital." ryan saw shane's face filling with concern, "don't worry, i didn't tell anyone what really happened."
but shane wasn't concerned about that. his mind did back flips as he processed the information ryan had just told him. he had lost consciousness? passed out? him? shane madej? what could possibly have caused that? he was a demon, and an extremely powerful one at that. fighting the other creature shouldn't have been as difficult as it was, and it certainly shouldn't have caused this. he was growing weaker, he concluded. but why?
"shane you okay?" ryan interrupted shane's thoughts, and shane looked up at him.
"yea, just a bit surprised. but anyway, let's get me out of here and back home. i miss my cat."
"not so fast madej, doctor said you can't be left alone for a few days. you can stay at my house...and i guess you can bring obi over too." ryan added, hoping it would make shane feel better.
shane opened his mouth to argue—out of habit of course—but realizing staying at ryan's house was something he actually wanted, he simply nodded his head and concluded, "only if obi is there."
•••
he couldn't seem to stay away from ryan's house, shane thought to himself, and whether or not it was fate at play he didn't care; he was happy here. ryan's house had a warmness to it that his own was missing ever since sara had moved out. but ryan had been there for him when that had happened. and now, here he was, being there for him again; he didn't deserve a friend like that, shane thought to himself.
it was getting closer to sunset, but a sense of restlessness had taken over shane. he got up from his spot, an action that startled obi, who jumped off the couch and headed towards ryan's bedroom. shane decided to follow.
the door to ryan's room was slightly ajar, but shane took it upon himself to knock anyway—basic courtesy.
"come in" the voice behind the door said, almost a whisper. ryan sat hunched over his laptop, sorting through the footage from the previous day's adventure, drawn into his work.
"how's it going in here?" shane asked.
"well, as well as work can go. i'm pretty exhausted though, it's a good thing they gave us the rest of the week off."
"well maybe you should actually take a break then. come have a drink with me." shane gestured to the shorter man. a visible change could be perceived in his expression, somewhere on a line between surprised and happy. ryan let his mind wonder back to the last time he and shane has shared a drink. when they had kissed. his heart accelerated in his chest and he felt his stomach dropping over and over again, as if he his body was in free fall, knowing the sloppy mess the drug could get you in.
"alright then", ryan said, getting out of bed and making his way towards shane, whose figure, leaning by the doorway, caused his stomach to do yet another backflip.
•••
5 shots in and the two were mostly out of it, on the brink between asleep and slightly conscious. the sun had set by now, leaving the room mostly illuminated by a single lamp and the blue hue of the television screen. on the couch, shane and ryan sat facing each other, laughing about every five seconds at the look on the other's face, or at a random sound obi made.
"i gottttta get this on camera" ryan slurred together as he pulled out his phone, nearly dropping it more times than he could count.  "do you, shane alexander madej, believe in ghosts?"
shane began to laugh. "do i believe in ghosts ryan? i'm a demon ryan, ghosts are like my annoying next door neighbors ryan..." shane kept saying ryan at the conclusion of every phrase, which made ryan laugh even harder. he dropped his phone in the process, and reached down to pick it up at the same time shane had, causing them to collide. the two looked up from their awkward positioning, their faces only inches apart, their hands touching, and the time froze. the scene felt familiar to shane, like a distant memory somewhere that had been piled over with responsibilities and no longer accessible save a vague feeling of nostalgia. they stayed like that, close to each other, for a few brief moments, before pulling away, ryan clearing his throat awkwardly with his hand up to his mouth.
"well that was hot" shane joked. ryan tried to laugh, but found himself choking back tears. shane, seeing this, reached his hand out onto ryan's shoulder to comfort him. "ryan what's wrong? did i say something wrong ryan i'm sorry.." shane felt himself feeling emotional at the sight of his tearful friend.
"oh god shane why do you do this to me?" ryan whisper, letting a tear glide down his cheek.
"ryan what's wrong ryan?"
"shane gosh. i..." shane leaned in closer to the his friend, placing his free hand on top of his, "i like you shane. a lot."
"ryan—" shane began. he let his mind wonder at the words ryan had just said. he felt himself falling into all the memories the two had made together, realizing what he had been missing this entire time, the thing he only had with ryan. ryan made him whole again. shane looked up to speak to ryan, but he found the man passed out on couch, soft snores leaving his mouth as he inhaled. shane leaned down over ryan and placed a light kiss on his cheeks.
"i like you too bergara."
then he picked up the smaller man and carried him off to his bed, slipping under the covers next to him.
•••
all the while, left forgotten by the couch, ryan's phone continued to record, a soft light illuminating a short distance around its screen.