Noah finished kicking Ronan’s ass in Call of Duty and was going on and on about Ronan’s shortcomings as a first-person-shooter player when Ronan’s eyes went to Noah’s lips, wondering if it had always felt like this, the heartbeat of the ley lines vibrating on his skin.
“Are you doing something ghostly?” Ronan interrupted him.
Noah frowned, pursing his lips. “What do you mean?”
With a slight shake of his head, he said “nothing. Just got goosebumps, that's all.”
A teasing smile appeared on Noah’s lips. “Nervous, are we?”
“Fuck you,” said Ronan, without any heat behind his words.
He wasn’t nervous. He didn’t have any reason to be nervous. He was just glancing at his friend. Casually.
Noah’s smile grew bigger, illuminating his whole face. It was easy to forget that he was dead, especially in moments like this: bright eyes, teasing tone, the light hitting his face just right to make him look as real as any of Ronan’s dreams.
“Ronan.”
He didn’t realize he was staring until he saw Noah’s lips form his name, barely a whisper in the room. Ronan’s heart raced, its thump thump thump loud in his ears as he dragged his eyes towards Noah’s. Ronan didn’t know where his next words came from. “Have you ever kissed anyone?”
“Yeah. Have you?” Ronan shook his head, afraid to say it out loud. Noah didn’t skip a beat. “Would you like to change that?”
The air seemed to thicken, suffocating Ronan. He swallowed, inspecting Noah’s face in case he was fucking with Ronan, but Noah was as serious as death.
Ronan nodded once, watching as his friend put his controller away and sat closer, bumping his knee against Ronan’s.
“We don’t have to if you don’t wanna,” Noah said, clearly giving Ronan an out.
He could take it, pretend he wasn’t even a little curious about kissing him, that his heart wasn’t beating double time at the idea of feeling Noah’s lips on him, but that would be lying to himself. Ronan hated lying, even if lying to himself was one of his favorite pastimes.
“I want to,” said Ronan. “I really do.”
Noah didn’t need more encouragement, coming close enough to kiss him but giving Ronan enough space to pull away if he wanted.
Ronan closed the distance and kissed Noah’s lips.
It was barely a touch of their lips, but it was enough for Ronan’s heart to jump in his chest. Noah’s cold lips pressed against his as his hand came to cradle Ronan’s face and all Ronan could think about was more more more.
He didn’t know who moved first, but suddenly their bodies were flush against each other. Ronan’s hand found the small of Noah’s back and brought him closer, parting his lips as Noah’s tongue slid over his lower lip.
Noah deepened the kiss, his tongue pushing against Ronan’s, sending a shiver down his spine. Time stilled and all Ronan knew was the touch of his friend’s cold hands on his cheek, his chin, the back of his neck.
He wished he had the words to untangle the feelings inside of him, but all he could come up with was maybe those stupid love songs were onto something.
They came apart panting, even if Noah didn’t need air like Ronan did. Noah touched his forehead to Ronan’s and whispered “man, that was intense.”
Ronan nodded, unable to form the right words to explain what he felt.
“Wouldn’t be opposed to repeating it,” he added, pulling away to look at Ronan.
Without a trace of doubt, Ronan said “yeah, me neither.”