forgive any typos or grammar problems i'm tired and disappointed in myself i'll fix them later*
Ryan places his palm on the cool wall of the basement and squints out at the darkness in front of him, his hand tightening around the camera. His heart pounded at his ribcage as he started heading down the twisting steps as his body protested with each step he took as he neared the bottom of the stair case. He ran his hands along the wall until he felt a light switch poking into it. A single bulb lit up in the center of the room making Ryan shudder.
"One ominously lit basement and a ghost," Ryan mumbles as he nears the chair in the corner. "Great. I'm feeling so much better." He places a recorder in the chair and sits on the dusty cement floor, grimacing at the dark stain next to him. He sat quietly, drumming his fingers on his knee as he listen to the house around him. It was still and silent until a small creak came from the stairs, causing Ryan to jump a foot into the air as he let out a small whimper. He looked over and shined his flashlight at the empty staircase. He's torn between feeling happy that it wasn't a demon or murderer, but he was now a few seconds away from shitting himself. He rubs his face and closes his eyes.
"If there is anyone here with me, please give me a sign." He said into the (hopefully) empty basement. And then he fell back into being silent and still.
It wasn't long before he started to feel uneasy and got the feeling of eyes digging into him but he promised himself that he would carry this out until the end. He draws in a deep breath of the musty basement air and then he hears small soft footsteps, causing him to grab his shirt in a fist with his sweaty hands.
"Hey I thought we were supposed to do it with the lights off?" A voice rings out in the silence suddenly sending Ryan shooting to his feet with a scream. He glares up at Shane who was standing under the light and looking up at it with a confused expression.
"Y-you're such a dick, Shane." Ryan's breathing was ragged and uneven as he lightly shoves his friend to the side. Shane chuckles and examines the basement even further before turning back to Ryan, who was listening to the audio recorder.
"Do you hear anything?" Shane points his camera at Ryan who just shook his head and tucked the recorder into his pocket. "Really? Normally you would get excited over a small little noise, but nothing? Really?"
"Nope, it's just silence until you scared me half to death." Ryan can't help but let out a small laugh at that. "God, I'm so jumpy! One of these days I'm going to get a heart attack over a paper falling off a desk and scaring me." That remark earns a snort from Shane and a loud bang upstairs. Ryan freezes and the two men look at each other with uncertainty. Shane raises an eyebrow and begins to open his mouth to say something before Ryan cuts him off by blowing past him and up the stairs and out the door.
"Wha-? Ryan seriously?!" Shane calls after him. "Don't you want to go see what that was? Isn't your little ghost hunting heart aching to go see what happened?!" He follows Ryan outside and back into the car. Ryan was already buckled in the drivers seat, gripping the steering wheel tightly to hide the fact that he was shaking.
"No, fuck that. I'm good, I'll live without knowing and the sooner we leave the sooner I can get back home and forget about all of this." Ryan pulls away from the house as Shane flips through the video footage.
"So, would you say this house was scarier than the Sallie House we visited way back when?" He asks Ryan, barely looking up at him.
"No, not even close. We didn't really get anything except me in the dark with fear in my eyes and you looking like the adult this entire trip." Ryan says.
"Well, you have nice eyes so I'm sure people wouldn't mind looking at them for-" He checks the total video footage. "Twenty minutes." Ryan rolls his eyes and smiles, fighting the warmth that the compliment gave him. Sure, there was no doubting it. The two men have gotten closer while making Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes, making them close friends and Ryan wasn't going to deny the fact that his feelings towards Shane went a bit further than friendship. Ryan takes a deep breath and purses his lips. He so badly wanted to tell Shane, it's been driving Ryan insane. He didn't even know if Shane was into guys or not, but he hoped he was.
"Dude, are you okay?" Shane's voice breaks him out of his thoughts. "You zoned out for a solid five minutes and kept sighing." Ryan internally winced and looked at the glowing clock in his car. Has it been five minutes? And how many times did he sigh in that time? Ryan quickly looked at him and gave him a quick nod.
"Yeah, I'm good." Oof, it hurt him to say that. Ryan bites his tongue and yells at himself for his stupid attachment to his co-worker.
"Are you sure? If you need to talk about something you know you can talk to me about it?" Shane had his body turned towards him and he could feel his eyes searching Ryan's face. Ryan didn't say anything, instead he flicked the turn signal and bit his tongue harder. "C'mon, Ry. You usually go on and on and argue with me about ghosts or something. But lately you've been quieter, not in a bad way it's just not you." Ryan came to a stop light and look directly at Shane, who's face was covered in red from the traffic light. It was quiet for a few seconds before Ryan shook his head again and turned back to driving before the light turned green.
"I really can't Shane, not about this." He muttered quietly. What else was he supposed to say? He wasn't lying because talking about your crush to your crush was a pretty bad idea. But he felt guilty and terrible when Shane turned back to the window and rested his head against it.
"Fine, I'll leave you be." Shane shrugged. Knowing Shane, it was no hurt feelings and he was just as tired as Ryan was, but something about his tone made Ryan even more upset.
Ryan opened his mouth and closed it, which made Shane look at him from the corner of his eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to look so closed off or upset. I don't mean to be dramatic about it either, it's just hard y'know? I-it's one of of those things that you don't like hearing yourself say." Ryan spits out quickly.
"It's okay Ryan, really. I get it, if you don't want to talk about it I won't force you to." Shane said. He didn't move or even flinch when Ryan honked the horn at some dumb lady that forgot how to drive. An hour passes and the only noises have been coughing, sneezing or gentle singing to the radio.
"Okay, now what's your problem?" Ryan rubs his eyes at another stoplight. He was exhausted and they still had another two hours to go in the trip.
"You."
Ryan sits up straighter. "What?"
"You." He repeats but slower. "You were all happy for a little bit then for like, a month now, you seem so sad and I'm actually getting worried for you." Ryan closes his eyes and slams his head on the back of the seat.
"I know, dude. I'm sorry. I'm not sad or anything it's just me being dumb and-" 'I 'm thinking about you because I like you and that causes me to zone the fuck out. ' Is what he wanted to say but he stopped himself short, he can't deal with two hours of awkward silence if he said that.
"..and..?" Shane was now sitting up straight and looking at Ryan expectantly.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nada, rein, nichts. " Ryan attempts to make a joke and it works. Shane smacks his lips and Ryan can clearly see that he was fighting back a small smile.
"I can understand English, Ryan." And just like that, the atmosphere of the car went back to being light and peaceful again though there wasn't much conversation. Every once and a while Ryan would glance at Shane and find him breathing softly with his eyes fluttering open and shut before he gave in and drifted off. Ryan couldn't help but smile at how ugly Shane slept, drool was making his sleeve wet and sudden loud snores would make Ryan jump (surprisingly) but it was oddly cute.
Ryan eventually slaps Shane's arm and tells him to get out, making Shane groan and swat him off.
"Shane we're at your apartment, get out and go to bed it's almost three in the morning." Ryan said as he, himself, was struggling to keep his eyes open. "It's been a long day for both of us so you should-"
"Fine! I'm getting out." Shane threw hims arms up and gathered up his things. Before he shut the car door on Ryan, he bent down to met his eyes. "And remember what I said, Ryan." Before slamming the door and doing a two finger solute to say goodbye and walking up the stone steps.
Ryan drives off, his apartment wasn't too far from Shane's so that left him a little time to fully process what he said tonight.
"God, I'm a dumbass!" He would growl at himself as he pulled into street. "The more I keep refusing to tell him, the more this bullshit is going to build up." He slams the car door and heads inside but before he can open his apartment door, his phone goes off but at this point Ryan was too tired to even bother looking at it.
Hahaha, whoopies i dont know how to end chapters so i'm gonna leave it here before it gets so long that it loses its charm. \_(ツ)/ after writing this i realized how cringey it is since its literaly a buzzfeed fanfiction but ah too late now. So goodnight ig.
