Paint You Wings.

⊱⊱ Riley Van Acker ⊰⊰

Gentle movement of fingers brushed through my hair, stirring me from my sleep, and the arm that was probably wrapped around my shoulder pulled me closer to the person who's arm was holding me. I bit back a small smile as I felt soft lips graze my forehead.

"Morning." The familiar scratchy, deep, morning voice filtered into my ears, making me only cuddle closer to him as I tried to delay waking up as long as I could.

"Wake up." Alex chuckled from beside me.

I blew out a small, annoyed breath, tilting my head to look up at him. He was already looking back at me, a content little smile playing along the edges of his lips. This was the Alex that I found my thoughts lingering to many a time. This Alex wasn't the rockstar that girls fawned over, this Alex was just... Alex.

The one with a stubbly chin, because he hadn't shaved in a couple days. The ones with bags under his eyes due to how he'd just woken up. The one who slept with a mischievous little grin, as though he was causing trouble for Matt Flyzik and Matt Colussy, even in his dreams. The one with droopy eyes, because he'd just woken up and hadn't gotten himself pretty for everyone else yet.

And by pretty, I only meant that he hadn't taken a proper shower and washed his face. He didn't wear makeup.

At least, not as far as I knew.

And the things that worried me about him, or me, or just this, in general - was that I didn't have any desire at all to move, that I didn't really mind his morning breath as much as I should have, that I wished I could wake up to the same sight more often.

My brain started to function properly as I rubbed my eyes, making a move to sit up and get out of the bunk; only to be pulled back into his strong, toned chest. Alex wrapped both of his arms around me, even going to the extent of using one of his legs to lock my own legs to him. I smiled in amusement at him, giving him the most pleading look I could; silently asking him to let me go.

He shook his head, a smirk planted on his lips.

"I don't want you to go." He mumbled into my hair, making me frown in confusion.

Then, as I realised what he meant, I tried even harder to get out of his grasp. He only laughed, tugging me even closer to him. I didn't even know that was possible.

Biting on my bottom lip, I leaned up, grazing my lips against his. God. That felt good to do. His arms loosened themselves around me, as did his leg, and I couldn't help the small smile that came to my lips. Pressing a chaste kiss to his lips, I rolled out of the bunk, grabbing my phone with me. I didn't even bother getting to my feet as I checked my phone.

I had a flight to catch in approximately thirty five minutes; and the idiot I shared the bunk with had shut off the alarm that I'd set the night before. Brilliant.

Alex was propped up by his elbow, chuckling. He didn't even look guilty. I fixed him with an annoyed stare and he merely grinned, dropping his elbow so that he was lying on his back and staring at the ceiling of the bunk again.

"'Lex giving you problems, Ri?" Jack's voice made me turn, the aforementioned male peeking his head out from the curtain.

I showed him my phone screen which displayed my flight time and he let out a laugh. "You'll never make it. Might as well stay another day. Or two." He smirked, pulling his curtain back close.

Rolling my eyes, I turned back to look at the pink-haired male who was grinning at me rather childishly. "Or three, or four." He listed on, blinking his brown eyes.

I got up and made a move to walk out of the bunk area, only to be stopped by a hand latching itself onto my calf. I looked down, raising my eyebrow at the pouty faced twenty-four year old that was currently looking back at me.

"Come back to bed."

"That sounds like an invite for sex." Jack's loud voice came from behind the curtain of his bunk.

"You are not having sex on the bus. No matter how much I like Riley." Flyzik warned from somewhere in the front lounge, making my cheeks heat up.

I'd been afraid that the rest of his band and crew would be weirded out by the fact that Alex was hanging around someone like me. Turns out that I'd been afraid for no reason, 'cause they welcomed me with open arms. Vinny even kidnapped me for an hour or two just so that I could help him with the merch the day before; saying that he had to hang out with me if I was going to be 'hanging out' - he made finger quotations at that - with Alex.

There was a double meaning to that, I was sure, but I didn't bother trying to figure out what he meant.

"I'm not going to have sex with her!" Alex called back to Flyzik and probably Jack; although anyone else who might've been on the bus probably heard him, as well.

"But you want to." Jack replied in a flat tone, the curtain to his bunk still closed.

I felt my cheeks heat up again, and as I locked eyes with Alex - I realised that he was blushing even more than I was.

"Fuck off," he mumbled half-heartedly, worrying his bottom lip.

A smile crossed my lips as he tugged me closer, and then yanking my hand down so that I could slip back into the bunk.

Alex wrapped his arms around me, sponging a kiss to my temple; burying his face in the crook of my neck afterwards. "You wanna know something?" He mouthed, making me shiver as his warm breath hit the skin of my neck.

He removed his head from its spot in my neck, smiling down at me as he manoeuvred himself so that he was practically straddling me. "You make me happy." He whispered before leaning down to kiss me gently.

You make me happy, too, you know. Happier than I've ever been.



I shot the ginger in front of me a flat look, earning a chuckle in response. "Come on! You have to do it. I dare you."

I blinked at him, pulling my phone out to bring up a blank note - only to have him snatch it away from me. "I can't read." He smirked.

Rolling my eyes, I flipped him off, grabbing my phone back from him as I walked away; smiling when I heard Alan laughing from behind me. Unlike what I expected to happen, Alan didn't even bother asking how come I didn't talk. He just straight up dared me to last a full day without using my phone or pen and paper to communicate with people, instead using my hands and actions, much like a game of charades. He said that he would do it with me but I didn't really want to. I mean, people probably already thought I was weird, why should I give them even more reason to shun me out?

I'm stuck - not necessarily in a bad way - here till who knows when since Alex stole my passport and made sure that no one would give it back to me, so that I wouldn't be able to book a flight home. It actually made me feel all weird when I realised how much he really didn't want me to go home. Even if he did steal my passport and hid it somewhere just so I wouldn't be able to get a flight home.

"Riley!" Alex's voice called from a couple feet behind me, making me turn only to have him run straight into me. I staggered back a few steps and ultimately fell to the floor, instinctively reaching for Alex's arm and pulling him down with me, since there was no pole for me to grab.

I winced as I felt the pain shoot through my body - the man that landed on me not really doing anything to ease the pain at all.

"Oh my fucking hell. Sorry!" He spluttered out, hurriedly getting off of me and sitting on the floor next to me while I still lay on the hot, asphalt ground. I could cook a sunny side up with the heat, I swear.

"Shit, I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Fuck. Are you hurt? Shit, baby, I'm so sorry -" He babbled on, only shutting up when I placed my hand over his mouth.

My lips curled up into a reassuring smile, as did my cheeks heat up at the use of the pet name, and he heaved a small sigh of relief before peeling my hand off of his mouth and pulling me to my feet. I cringed as my back stretched out, regretting it as Alex started looking guilty again. He was about to start apologising again but I stopped him by slapping my hand to his mouth. Again. I seemed to be doing that a lot.

He rolled his eyes, peeling my hand off of his mouth again.

"Are you sure you're okay? Not hurt? No broken anything? My fat ass didn't break your skinny one?"

I raised a brow, shooting him a look and he shrugged his shoulders. "Seriously, though."

'I'm fine.' I typed out, making him nod reluctantly.

"So... Uh... I was wondering..." He started nervously, bringing a hand to the back of his neck. "Would you, uh, wanna like go to dinner with me or something? We've got a day off tomorrow and I figured, you know, might as well since you're not going back tomorrow. Because you're not. So... Uh, yeah."

Though I could've sworn my heart skipped a couple of beats, I couldn't help the amused smile that crossed my lips as I watched him being all nervous. Compared to how he was sometimes a cocky and confident asshole that everyone couldn't help but adore on stage, this whole nervous and stuttering thing was really cute.

'I'd love to.'

His face lit up. "Great!" He all but exclaimed before he cleared his throat, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his cutoffs. "I mean: uh, cool."

I only looked at him with a mocking eyebrow raised. I guess he must've realised that I was mocking him for he rolled his eyes, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, mumbling a "whatever" under his breath as he directed me to one of the many stages.

The weather was too hot. There were way too many sweaty bodies brushing up against me - Alex's included. The dryness of my throat was almost painful. But honestly? I don't think I've ever been happier.

And it's all thanks to the man with bright pink hair next to me. I would've never seen it coming.