By the time Angelo had awoken, Kuza had already gone off to work. What more could he expect, though, when he ended up sleeping past noon?

Angelo let out a sigh as he hauled himself out of bed, throwing a pair of sweatpants on before he left his room. He then made his way out to the kitchen, trudging to the pantry to grab some bread to use to make himself some toast. Making himself an actual lunch probably would've been a better idea, but at the moment, he didn't care very much. He was still a bit groggy, and all he really wanted was a little bit to eat.

He leaned against the counter, running a hand through his messy hair. As he waited for the bread slices to pop up from the toaster, Angelo pulled his phone out from his pocket, glancing down at the screen. He noticed that he already had a text notification from Ryan from earlier that morning, which made a small smile spread across his face. Angelo was quick to open up the message to read it.

Ry ✨: hey, i've got a proposition for you

One of Angelo's eyebrows raised with curiosity as he read the message. Before he could reply, though, his toast popped up from the toaster.

Angelo sighed lightly, setting his phone down on the counter while he grabbed a paper plate. He then took his toast out of the toaster, setting both slices on the plate, before fetching some butter from the fridge and a butter knife from one of the drawers, so he could butter his bread.

When he finished up with that, he quickly typed out a reply to Ryan, before tossing the knife into the sink, and putting the butter back where he found it.

Ange 🔆: and what would that be?

Angelo stuffed his phone back into his pocket, then picked up his plate of toast, plopping down on the couch. He took a bite of one of his slices of toast before he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He was quick to take it out, reading over the new text Ryan had sent him.

Ry ✨: i think you deserve to have the most fun summer ever, and i wanna be the one to make that happen

Angelo rolled his eyes a bit, chuckling as he began to type out his response.

Ange 🔆: and how do you plan on doing that?

Ry ✨: well neither of us sleep much at night

Ange 🔆: and? your point is?

Ry ✨: we should get together, and have some fun doing lame shit for the rest of the nights you're spending here

Ry ✨: nothing major, just kinda hanging out, doing whatever we can think of

Ange 🔆: you know, i think i like that idea

Ry ✨: i thought you might

Ry ✨: meet me on the boardwalk at midnight tonight

Ange 🔆: ok, i'll be there

------------------------------------------

As he had been told to do, Angelo started heading down to the boardwalk just a few minutes before midnight struck. And, just as he had been expecting, Ryan was already there, waiting for him to show up.

"There you are," Ryan said with a grin as Angelo approached him.

Angelo smiled back at the older boy, letting him take his hand as the two of them began walking down the boardwalk.

"So, Mr. Mysterious," Angelo joked, "what are our plans for tonight?"

"Well," Ryan chuckled, "tonight, we're just gonna take a nice little walk along the beach."

"Are you trying to go for a cliché kind of thing here?" Angelo asked, laughing a bit.

"Maybe a little," Ryan responded, grinning at the younger boy. "Come on, let's go."

Angelo nodded, his hand still in Ryan's as they walked down onto the beach. The moon reflected on the water, giving the ocean's surface a bright shine, almost as bright as the lights coming from the city in the distance.

"So, what would you like do to with our sleepless summer nights?" Ryan inquired, looking at the younger boy.

Angelo turned his head, meeting Ryan's eyes. "I... I don't know," he shrugged.

"Come on, you've gotta have some ideas," Ryan responded. "It could be literally anything."

"Well, I mean, it would be nice to go further into the city sometime, look at all the lights," Angelo mused.

"Yeah?" Ryan asked with a small grin.

"Yeah," Angelo replied. "I've always loved the way city lights look at night."

"Good to know," Ryan nodded. "Anything else you'd want to do? I wanna have some kind of reference when I make our plans."

"I'll let you know if I think of anything," Angelo chuckled. "It's okay to surprise me, you know. I'm sure we'll find a way to have fun matter what we end up doing."

"You know, when you say things like that, it's hard to believe that you spend so much time alone in your bedroom," Ryan said.

"It isn't my fault I was raised thinking having fun was a waste of time," Angelo shrugged. "That was my dad's fault."

"I'm sorry about that, again," Ryan spoke softly.

"It's no big deal, it isn't like it's your fault," Angelo responded. "And besides, you're trying to give me a fun summer before I head off to college. You shouldn't be apologizing for anything, because you're trying to give me back some of the fun I missed out on."

Ryan let out a sigh, giving Angelo's hand a light squeeze, as the two of them continued to walk slowly.

"Come on, let's sit down on the shore and look at the stars," Ryan suggested.

"It just gets more cliché by the second with you, doesn't it?" Angelo joked, taking a seat on the sand,

"Not all the time," Ryan replied with a laugh.

"Sure, whatever you say," Angelo laughed along.

Ryan turned his head, looking over at Angelo, whose face was illuminated by the moonlight. He couldn't help but feel lucky that he came across him again. He thought for sure that first encounter on the boardwalk would be all he saw of Angelo, but now here he was, Angelo sat down next to him, both of them simply enjoying each other's presence. He was still entranced by the younger boy's laugh each time he heard it.

Angelo soon laid his head on Ryan's shoulder, surprising him a bit. Ryan draped his arm around the younger boy in response, pulling him a bit closer. The two of them began to point out constellations to each other, laughing every now and again as they did so.

Ryan began to realize that Chris wasn't wrong. He was falling a bit hard for Angelo after knowing him just a few days. But there was just something about him that he felt he just couldn't lose.