A few minutes after Rei had cleaned the entire house, there was a knock at the door, causing the small boy to tense up. He forced himself to the door and opened it to reveal Ryan, carrying a bag on his back.

"Hey, just put the bag there and come in." He insisted.

Ryan nodded and looked at the house from what he could see. "Nice place. Very clean." He said as he put his bag down after sliding it off his shoulders.

Rei shrugged. "It's usually not this clean, cause well... My dad's always out here and never cleans anything, and I spend most my time in my room."

Ryan looked at the other. "So you cleaned it all to impress me?"

Rei quickly shook his head. "No! It's nothing like that! I just did a quick tidy up so you wouldn't think any less of me!" He said and hid his face. "I was just being polite, okay?"

Ryan laughed. "It's no secret that you like me, Rei. You can easily tell." He explained. Rei looked horrified even though he knew this was true. But what was confusing him now was the fact that Ryan was still hanging out with him. So did that mean he liked him back? Or was Ryan just enjoying the fact that another male liked him? Messing with his feelings.

Rei shook his head to snap out of it. "No... I'm just anxious... I have bad anxiety... I'm like this with everyone." He tried to convince the other - though it was true that he anxiety. His hands were sweaty and he had strange dotted patterns on the palms of his hands.

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck. "well, you don't need to anxious around me. I promise you I'm a decent person."

"That's not how it works, Ryan..." He sighed. "I'm even anxious around my dad, though it's not that bad." He explained.

Ryan nodded and rubbed his chin. "Okay, well, what makes you feel more comfortable?" he asked, seeming curious about it.

"Oh, well... Sketching, I guess? Uh, I've recently discovered that cooking is rather fun and calming. Silence is usually relaxing too. Except for awkward silences." He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

"So, being away from other's then?" He asked. Rei shrugged and looked away. "I guess? I mean, talking to you can sometimes be relaxing. But it depends." He mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

"Is that because you like me?~" He hummed. Rei shrugged. "As a friend, yeah..?" The male was avoiding given anymore hints about his crush. He needed time, just in case the feelings weren't forever. He wanted to be sure - especially now that the other obviously didn't mind being in a relationship like that. Or from what Rei could tell, he didn't.

Ryan nodded. "Alright, like a friend then." He smiled lightly. "So, would you like me to sleep over, as your friend? Who knows, maybe we can go up a tier and be best friends? Or maybe mega friends!?" He teased.

Rei tensed up and his anxiety went wild. The male felt tingles from the core of his body to his fingers tips. Does Ryan actually like him? It sure does sound like it. Especially now that he was going on about being best friends.

Ryan watched him, examining the other's behaviour. He could tell the other was anxious, but he didn't dare say a word. He didn't want to ruin the chance to get to know Rei better. Especially if the other did indeed like him. The only problem was, Ryan had never been attracted to a male before, so he wasn't sure if he could ever love the other back.

----

As night fell upon the two, they began sorting dinner. Rei decided that the easiest thing for them to make would just be pizza; as the only ingredients they had were for making pizzas, and that way Ryan would be able to eat something that was actually eatable, rather than something he had never seen before.

Rei made his father's pizza first, then made Ryan's base before heading off to give the overly-stacked-with-meat pizza to his dad. Meanwhile, Ryan began making up his pizza, with pepperoni, bacon and pineapple on a pizza sauce and cheese base.

When Rei came back, he helped Ryan put the pizza in the cooker before sitting back and taking a deep breath. "You want to just share that pizza for now, or?" Ryan asked.

"It's fine, I'll just make my own pizza." Rei smiled sweetly at him. "I like extra cheese, so I probably couldn't eat yours anyway." he laughed nervously.

Ryan nodded. "Damn, should've added more cheese then. You think it would be too late now?"

Rei bit his lip and checked the pizza. "Well it hasn't really started cooking yet, so do you want to add the cheese or would it be too much for you?"

Ryan nodded. "yeah, I love cheesy pizza, I was just keeping some for you." He smiled.

Rei blushed slightly and nodded, taking the pizza back out and adding the cheese. while doing that, Ryan spoke up.

"So, can you tell me a bit about yourself?"

"Oh, well, what would you like to know?" Rei tilted his head slightly.

"Where you're from, hobbies, likes, dislikes, those kinds of things? just anything you can share with me, really?"

"I'm from here, I've already told you my hobbies; cooking and drawing. It's probably easier to just list my dislikes, which is just annoying people, causing harm to other's, people who use others. you know, all the negatives? I hate people trying to make me all 'manly' when I know that I'm not at all. I can't say I really dislike anything else - at least I can't think of any?" He said as he made his own pizza.

Ryan listened to him, nodding along to show he was paying attention. "You have to dislike something? Foods? Sports?"

"Oh yeah, I hate sports." He chuckled. "It's never been my thing, no matter what sport I try." He smiled.

Ryan nodded and smiled back at him. "Yeah, me neither. My dad has been trying to get me into doing sports, but just like you, it's not my thing." He shrugged then looked at the pizza cooker "is that done yet?"

Rei looked at the cooker and gasped, quickly opening it and taking it out. He groaned when he saw the edges burned. "At least it's still eatable..." He mumbled.

Ryan laughed and nodded. "alright, Let's go back into your room to eat. Maybe we can watch something?" He suggested. Rei's eyes almost instantly landed on the lounge room TV. "The TV out here is huge if you want to watch something out here? My dad wouldn't mind."

Ryan smiled. "alright, sounds good!" He replied and sat on the floor just in front of the couch. The two then ate their pizzas and watch a movie that Rei found through their Netflix. After eating, the two males then fell asleep side-by-side, eventually cuddling with each other as the slept.

-------

"Ryan~ Wake up! We have to get ready for school." Rei whined, stuck in the other's arms.

Ryan groaned and held him a bit tighter. Rei pouted and tried to push him off. "I'm not missing a day of school because of you!"

Ryan slowly opened his eyes and looked at the other before letting him go. "Sorry." He chuckled and yawned. Rei moved away from him and sighed. "We have to get ready.." He muttered.

"We can just skip and do something else?" Ryan shrugged and smiled at the other.

Rei frowned, nibbling on his bottom lip. "We'll get in trouble..." He mumbled. He had never even thought of skipping school without reason, so for someone to bring it up was rather shocking. Especially since it was Ryan bringing it up.

"My parents don't care if I skip, and I'm sure your dad will understand, right?" Ryan smiled at the other innocently, as though this wasn't anything bad.

"Ryan, I can't skip school... I already missed out on days worth because I got 'sick.' I need to catch up." He explained as he dug around for his school outfit.

Ryan sighed deeply, giving a small nod. "Alright, alright... Maybe on the weekend then?" He suggested. "We can go out for lunch and a movie, maybe?" He smiled.

Rei was in the process of getting changed as he listened to the other speak, nodding to the suggestion of a possible 'date'. "Yeah, the movie sounds fun."

----

After the school day was finished, the two arrived back at Rei's house. Rei sat down in the lounge room, on the floor by the coffee table, taking out his homework to get it all done before the weekend. Ryan sat across from him and just watched, not bothering with the homework that he was given.

"You're not going to do your work?" Rei questioned, glancing up at him. Ryan shook his head and smiled. "I never bother with homework. Unless I actually want to do it."

Rei bit his lip. "You can go do something while I do this... I'll be a while."

Ryan rested his head on the table, in his arms. "I'll just watch you." He insisted.

Rei sighed softly and continued on with his homework, eventually getting it all done. After that, they both had their showers and made dinner - butter chicken and rice.

"Mmm~ This is so good! How do you know how to cook these things?" Ryan hummed, eating away at his food happily.

Rey smiled softly, watching him. "I-i just learn it from cookbooks or the internet..." He shrugged.

Ryan nodded and continued to eat happily. Rei watched him, smiling softly at him, loving the fact that Ryan liked his food so much.

-----

After dinner, the two went into Rei's room, sitting on his bed while on the laptop and browsing around on social media and YouTube. Rei fell asleep while they were watching a video and so Ryan put the laptop away and looked at Rei. He smiled warmly and cuddled with the smaller male before he eventually fell asleep as well.