FALLING ━━

THERE WAS A LONG SILENCE THAT FOLLOWED THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE PALPABLE QUIET sound in the room. Ethan was unsure what to continue the conversation with, he felt as if the air was crashing down onto his lungs and completely crushing every bone that was crushable in their body. He coughed embarrassed and looked away snapping Anthony out of his daze, which the boy strangely found himself engulfed in every time his eyes met a glance of Ethan his presence. He stared at his hand, "Umh.. how long do you want me to stay?"

I don't want you to leave.

Those words echoed in Anthony his mind, making him realise he may be scarily obsessed with this boy. He mentally cursed at himself for being so absurd, how could one be so desperate for another's presence that they were willing to beg for it?

Anthony tried to make himself seem calm, normal, whatever his normal state was but it just didn't seem to come. He couldn't make himself normal around Ethan, as if the boy had cursed him with an unbreakable spell that made him seem like a deity from heaven. He shouldn't be feeling this way, it was strange.

"O-oh, well, dad will probably bring us pizza in like ten minutes.. So, I don't know d'you wanna hang afterwards or not?" Anthony asked leaving the choice in the hands of the person he admired most, somewhere deep inside quietly, desperately wishing that Ethan did enjoy his presence as much as he enjoyed his. Ethan his stomach grumbled simultaneously, his eyes quickly darted to his stomach embarrassed cursing its entire lifespan for the worst timing he had ever experienced.

"Umh, if you don't mind. I don't really know what we have in common though." Ethan sheepishly exclaimed, embarrassed out of his mind for the stupid noise his stomach decided to make. Anthony couldn't put his mind to why Ethan found it embarrassing, he found it oddly cute. Weirdly enough he started to realise he found almost everything about this boy cute, his eyes would continue to linger for ages as his mind would take a picture of it to create a breeze of a memory he knew he would hold for way longer than any other person would.

To be frank, Anthony didn't give a flying fuck about their common or shared interests. Anthony just really wanted the warmth radiating off of Ethan to stay close to his side. It felt as if being around Ethan made his own a whole, as if a piece of him had been ripped apart like the old Greek myth had once spoken about and been given back in the form of Ethan. Across the thousands of universes and worlds he had been blessed with a deep rooted feeling of safety around the presence of Ethan. He couldn't keep his eyes from wandering the path they had come to know on their own in this short period of time. As if his eyes had been destined to long for an artwork as perfectly crafted as Ethan's skin.

"Well, what do you like?" Anthony proposed as he leaned back into his chair, manspreading his legs like any other guy did at his age, taking in space which every girl had a deep rooted hate for. Ethan shrugged awkwardly, he only liked a very few amount of things to which he obsessed over.

"W-well, umh.." Ethan often asked the same question to himself. What did he like?

What was something he enjoyed doing, something that was fractured into his soul so deeply he felt whole with it without his social surrounding having an impact on it. Something that had naturally came to him before he could reach for it to brush past it with the lightest touch of his finger tips. Your surroundings could have such an impact on everything you perceive as normal and fun, it's why so many different cultures have different norms and traditions based on what the world had taught them to find acceptable.

"I like painting." Ethan started off, but he already knew that this was definitely not something Anthony would decide to interest himself in. Despite this known fact Anthony seemed to stare at the boy with such intense gaze Ethan didn't even know how to continue the conversation. Their eyes locked and the odd indescribable feeling crashed into their souls again. Like how the moon needs the sun to shine as bright as she did Anthony felt like he was the moon. Ethan glowed, he felt so warm and bright Anthony couldn't possibly think he was a moon. Admiring every breath he took he felt like he was just a very privileged person taking in the same air as someone miles above his status, Ethan was so pretty he was sure not even a poet could connect the dots correctly on the fresh parchment paper that had made their entire career.

"Oh, well.. I love A Series Of Unfortunate Events." Ethan added knowing he had rewatched the series at least a thousand times which had concerned his mom a thousand times aswel. Anthony his eyes widened as he fought back the urge to smile at how excited Ethan seemed about this particular series. He had such a cute smile, how could anyone want to hurt that?

Ethan had asked that question a million times himself.

"Really? Sounds interesting. Isn't that the series with.. Malina Weissman?" Anthony asked, Ethan almost jumped out of his stool in excitement. "Oh my god yes!"

Anthony would have called anyone else weirdly obsessed but with Ethan he found it oddly endearing. He smiled at the clear enthusiasm lacing his voice.

"I was obsessed with it the second it came out like holy shit." Ethan explained as he felt himself start to ramble about a show he genuinely liked. "Personally my favourite was Duncan, but Klaus was close aswel honestly." He explained.

Anthony nodded along, he didn't really understand what he was talking about. He knew it was a series that used to be really popular on Netflix but for the rest he wasn't sure what it was about. He only really wanted to watch it because Dylan Kingwell was one of his favourite actors.

"Ah, I've never watched it but it's been on my watchlist for like ages." Anthony explained as he leaned back against his chair. Ethan felt his lips turn into a gentle frown.

"You should totally watch it! I've literally tried forcing Erin for ages but she says it's too predictable!" Ethan whined childishly which only fuelled Anthony his amusement, it felt impossible for Anthony to not smile whenever he saw Ethan.

He let out a gentle chuckle, "I'll watch it around break if I can." He responded which almost made Ethan's excitement jump through the roof.

"The second you watch it you need to tell me who is your favourite. Oh- and your favourite ship because honestly Klaus and Isadora would have been so adorable!" He stated with a gentle pout tugging at his lips as he remembered that his favourites never ended up being the endgame.

"Oh- and your opinion on Duncan- and if you like Duncan more than Quigley because most people Quigley more but that is a shitty opinion." Ethan rambled which made Anthony smile and nodded. Laughter erupted from his throat which snapped Ethan out of his own thoughts and made him look up a bit confused.

Ethan quickly felt a smile pull on his lips either way and let out a joined chuckle. "Sorry- I really like the serie." He explained sheepishly.

"What- no don't apologise! Honestly, you should have heard me when I was obsessed with Lego Ninjago." He explained which earned a laugh from both of them.

"Lego Ninjago?" Ethan mused.

"Stop don't laugh at me! It was an awesome series!" Anthony barked out in offence which made Ethan only laugh harder.

"Hey!" Anthony exclaimed as he gently pushed Ethan who was laughing a bit too hard at this revelation. "Woah-!" Ethan yelped as he felt his balance be ripped out of his thighs. Quicker than he thought he felt himself fall off his chair, quickly he latched onto the nearest thing which coincidentally was Anthony his arm.

"Hey wait-!" Anthony exclaimed as he felt himself fall onto Ethan. A small 'oof' sound left Ethan his throat as he felt Anthony crash directly onto his stomach.

"Sorry-" Anthony mumbled as he pushed himself upwards on his hands, Ethan stared at Anthony suddenly realising their faces were only inches apart. Anthony stared at Ethan for a second, their eyes locking as if it was the only thing that truly mattered in their lives. "O-oh."

Anthony immediately turned red, remember his stiffy from earlier all of a sudden. He felt his stomach burn with warmth, Ethan almost felt his heart jump out of his body. "Ah- no- no you're fine-"

"Hey pizza's here-" Sam stated as she opened the door, she paused mid her sentence as she stared at the position in front of her eyes. "You know what? I'm not even gonna say anything about this." She mumbled. Anthony quickly pushed himself onto his feet.

"It's really not what you think-!"

"Yeah, I don't care at this point." She responded with a sigh, "Not dating my ass." She quietly whispered to herself.

"Pizza is here." She spoke as she placed both pizza boxes onto his bed.