drowning in violet - skephalo

23:48 PM, Friday

Darryl found it pretty settling to simply sit and watch the group of students behave like complete morons around each other; despite feeling slightly left out. It was nice to watch Zak be able to show a little more of himself again without the shadow of girls surrounding him, masking his actual, human personality. If anything, it had definitely made him crave popularity less; from secondhand experience, the disadvantages definitely out-weighed the advantages.

Darryl hadn't noticed he been staring at him until Zak aimed a shy smile in his direction, self-consciously fixing his hair as he began narrowing the space between them on the bench. "Why are you sitting by yourself?" He asked in a soft voice, positioning himself so close beside Darryl that he could detect the warm spicy scent of his aftershave.

He shrugged helplessly. "I like it here." He took in the sight of the overhanging trees above them, their leaves allowing tiny pools of moonlight to struggle out through the gaps in the branches.

"It's really nice." Zak answered, although his expression softened. Darryl's eyes flickered over to his face, and he was suddenly distracted by Zak's own pools of moonlight, reflecting off the darkness of his eyes which were partially covered by his hair in a surreal contrast. The light consumed his flawless skin with a pale wash, outlining the contouring lines of his face right down to his defined jawline. It was as if his appearance was dependent on the light; by day, he was the mediocre 'girls love me' appearance, with a straight stature, infallibly smooth personality, and a face so gorgeous that it put the stars to shame.

(And that was saying something.)

But the night transformed him. It was as if without the sunlight, similar to the sky, his blue shield of atmosphere had faded, and his real self was in full exposure; his own stars of weakness, vulnerability and possible sadness shining through the infinite black. No pick-up line or random girl in his contact list could be deemed even remotely a quality worth considering. Not at night.

Darryl watched as his face fell, and although his mind was always somewhere very far away, he craved to see inside him. His thoughts. His feelings. His opinions, and theories.

"We'd better get back." Zak mumbled calmly, almost sweetly.

"Oh, yeah. Okay." Darryl tried to keep his voice as light-spirited as he possibly could as they paced back to their tent in silence.

They rolled their sleeping bags out on top of the tiny tarp-floored tent and crawled in one at a time. They were painfully close to each other, but neither of the boys minded.

"I love you." Darryl said, only it came out as "goodnight."

"So damn much." Zak responded, only his lips pushed out "you too."