strawberry daiquiri

eight

"one day you're saving my life from a demon, and the next day, we're at a carnival on the pier," ryan remarked, strolling alongside shane contentedly.

"yeah, there is a bit of a contrast, isn't there?" shane said lightly.

the sun was just beginning to set, and even though they had just arrived, ryan already felt like the two had been there for hours. days, even. it was if he treasured every second with shane so much that he felt the need to drag them out as long as possible.

he glanced up at him, unnoticed by the taller man. ryan could tell that shane was happy; a soft smile danced across his face as he took in their surroundings on the pier, and the wind was blowing just strong enough to tousle his hair. what a beautiful man.

"what?" shane asked, turning to look at ryan.

ryan reddened and faced forward. "what? nothing."

"nothing? didn't you just call me a beautiful man?"

"you are," ryan said in a small voice. he was embarrassed, but felt the need to let shane know everything that he -- and probably everyone else -- thought of him.

shane reached for ryan's hand, entwining his fingers with the younger man's. they moved a couple inches closer as they walked.

"coming from you, of all people? that's the greatest compliment you could ever give me," shane said lowly. ryan felt butterflies in his stomach, as if he was in middle school all over again.

"let's go on the ferris wheel," ryan said.

"my legs are too long for those, my dear," shane replied.

"then... i don't know, shorten them."

"oh! why didn't i think of that?" shane said. he made a machine-like noise and squatted down until he was the same height as ryan, as if he had indeed shortened his legs in some way. "perfect! let's go."

ryan laughed as shane stood back up to his full
height. they skipped the ferris wheel, and instead found themselves outside a small rollercoaster called 'devil's drop'.

"'devil's drop'?" shane repeated, amused. "i'm intrigued."

"let's go, demon boy," ryan said, pulling shane's hand as he made a beeline for the ride.

•

"the only thing that dropped in that ride was my colon," ryan said as the two men emerged from the ride. his hair was sticking up everywhere, his cheeks flushed, and he stumbled sorely around. he looked over at shane, wondering how long it would take for him to make ryan feel the same way, in different circumstances. embarrassed at this thought, he laughed at himself.

"something funny?" shane asked.

"nothing," ryan said, a little too quickly.

the moon had begun to rise, making the lights from the carnival seem brighter. shane yawned, opening his mouth widely.

ryan flinched slightly, then returned back to his normal self. "thought you were turning into a werewolf for a second."

"shut up."

"shane, can you fly?"

"no, i can't fucking fly. what do you mean?" despite shane's words, his tone was still loving.

"i don't know, sorry for not knowing how demons work."

"ryan, you've constantly acted like a demon expert. just admit that you're wrong about everything."

ryan laughed. "all right, fine."

they strolled in pleasant silence for a while, before ryan spoke again.

"so, do we really own that bridge?"

"yes," shane said definitively.

ryan smiled.

"do you wanna go back?"

shane stopped in his tracks. he turned to face ryan, making sure no one around them were close enough to hear the conversation. "ryan, it's not really safe to go back to those places."

"you didn't seem to think it was that bad when we were there the first time," ryan responded.

"well, we - very luckily - missed him that time. but he might be there next time, and then we're royally screwed," shane said.

ryan paled. "him? who's him?"

shane's eyes darted around, realizing now that he had said too much. "let's go home, love."

ryan looked like he was about to protest, but as shane grabbed his hand and started leading him to the exit, he said nothing.

ryan's thoughts were racing all the way home.

he might be there next time.

there was only one person "he" could be, ryan decided. the goatman.

he was real.