Paycheki!

You decide who you play for!
The city outside the bus window had long since turned into a blurry watercolor of lights, and Elliot, tired after school, felt his eyelids growing heavier with each passing second. The warm hum of the engine was hypnotic, lulling him, turning the world into a viscous, sleepy jelly. He leaned his head back against the cold glass, and the next moment, reality began to melt, giving way to fragments of fuzzy dreams. The entire day had merged into a single, tiring blur, and the only desire now was for complete silence within his skull. The gentle swaying over the uneven road felt like a lullaby sung by infinity itself. Just then, when Elliot's consciousness had finally fallen into a sticky slumber, the bus doors hissed open, letting in a wave of cool evening air. Chance appeared on the threshold—a boy with wind-tousled hair and a gaze blazing with the fire of eternal search. There were almost no empty seats, and his gaze automatically fell on the back row, where a stranger slept by the window, his head thrown back serenely. Chance moved toward him, simply to take the seat next to him, but as he approached, he froze. He sank into the seat next to him, holding his breath. Elliot slept so defenselessly and beautifully that Chance's throat tightened. In the dim light of the cabin, the sleeper's features seemed chiseled from precious stone, and his dark eyelashes cast long, fluttering shadows on his pale skin. Chance noticed how his lips trembled faintly in his sleep, as if he were catching up with someone in his dreams. Chance's heart skipped a beat, and then began to beat with a frantic, frightened speed. The world around him ceased to exist—the street noises disappeared, the other passengers vanished, only this stranger remained, breathing evenly and deeply.
Chance, unable to look away, watched, mesmerized, every microscopic movement. Like a beam of light from a passing lamppost, it glided down the curve of Elliot's neck, outlining the thin line of his collarbone visible beneath his shirt collar. Chance desperately wanted to touch him.