lukewarm (krii7y)

soul

"I won't never sell my soul, and I can back that
And I really wanna know, where you at, at?"

Roddy Ricch - The Box
—

It was all smiles and a bruised face at the airport, black skinny jeans (that maybe weren't so skinny anymore) and a green belt, full of emotions and ballin' with his bright yellow orange pink and black oversized jacket with only the clothes on his back and an overnight bag. Jaren arrived with a rucksack, with one strap only, an unbothered look about him - checkered patterned baggy trousers that were orange and a green polo shirt and a black denim jacket. It was the kind of outfit only he could pull off.

There were no questions asked, and The Box was playing in the airport. Passports together, it looked like they were booked and they were gonna take off in two hours.

"It takes my friends months to all get together. You dropped your shit and came right away," John observed, a soft gaze reflecting back at him.

"Of course I did," Jaren replied with a smile.

To any onlookers, they looked like a pair of disorganised strangers at a festival, though there was some time missing, they'd actually known each other for a couple of months now.

It was a long flight, they spent some of it sleeping, a bit of it fidgeting, and the rest listening to each other's music. Though, it seemed Jaren had everything in the world, John wasn't sure why he'd want to hang out with him.

Though, Jaren couldn't help but noticed the massive bruise on John's forehead. It didn't do much trying to bring down his appearance, he was already attractive anyway, but it seemed painful.

"Feel sorry for your girlfriend," Jaren joked.

There was a silence, and Jaren began to wonder whether his humour wasn't John's cup of tea, until he replied.

"Feel sorry for my boy too," John replied.

And with that, John reached into Jaren's bag of cherry gummies and grabbed a handful, placing one on his tongue for longer than he should have before chewing it and swallowing it. There was a comfortable silence between them for the rest of the journey.

They landed at noon UK time, relying heavily on Google Maps to show them where they could stay. Once they agreed on where to spend the night, they were on their way to the nearest hotel. The room was a bit smaller than they anticipated, though they'd manage.

However, when John went to take a quick shower, Jaren heard vibrations coming from across the room. Curiously, he investigated, but by the time he made it over to John's phone, they'd stopped. What followed was a short series of vibrations of texts instead.

Jay: hey, I heard the other night got a bit out of hand.

Jay: had a bad feeling when I woke up this morning, forgot to check if you got home okay.

Jay: you haven't been answering your phone, can you call me back when you get this? just really worried

As much as he didn't want to pry or come across as a stalker, he had to wonder whether John's joke earlier was legit. He had to wonder if Jay was his boy or something. Not that there would be any problem with that.

John emerges from the shower, slowly and slightly red, his hand tightly gripping his towel, in fear that it would drop or something. Jaren's eyes studied him, taking him in, admiring his smooth, pale skin. He wasn't sure he would have called it attraction at that point, but he was bewildered why John was so shy and reserved, yet spontaneous. Honestly, Jaren thought he was a lot more attractive than he gave himself credit for. His dusty light brown hair and his green eyes (in most lights), though his eyes were mainly drawn to a scar on his chest. A slight dot, and a bruise like scar that looked as if it would never heal.