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"Bruh."
Harsh, rapid button-clicking of game controllers can be heard, along with strained breathing and a string of vulgar words toward a CPU character. Matt and Ryan's old apartment is small and has very few furnishings, so their voices echo throughout the living room and bedrooms. It's late at night on a warm summer evening in L.A. Hot, actually. It's more early morning than late evening at this point.
"Justin, edit this out. Matt sucks," says Ryan calmly but slightly irritated. The older man is dressed in his usual black hoodie, black gym shorts, and is casually tying his dark, shoulder-length hair up into a messy ponytail. He's sitting criss-cross on the carpet floor in their living room, a few feet from their television. He scratches his leg and wiggles his toes, humming along in his baby voice to the peppy Mario Party tune playing in the background.
"Hey man, not my fault that someone chose to put the computer player on hard mode!" Matt yells in defense, beckoning for another arguing bit. Matt's irritation is a little worse than usual because he's tired. Exhausted, really, from an all-nighter of recording, then another all-nighter of editing some sort of side project. Matt is wearing a pastel pink t-shirt with some sort of hiragana on it that Ryan doesnt know. His jeans are loose and slightly distressed, and his spongebob socks somehow match his shirt. Beneath his thick-rimmed glasses, the dark circles under his eyes are more pronounced. Unlike Ryan, he's sitting on their couch at a slightly safer distance from the tv.
Ryan can hear the stress in Matt's voice. Without looking at the younger man on the couch behind him, he already knows the expression that would appear on his face. Furrowed brows. Nostrils fuming. Half of his mouth twitched down in frustration. Ryan takes his chances and continues the arguing bit.
"Well, Matthew," Ryan starts. "You can't have all the fun beating them in baby mode. Gotta make this challenging for me too."
"Damnit, Ryan!" Matt exclaims, fingers twitching random buttons on his controller. The arguing and snarky come-backs last a little longer, which then leads into a random conversation about sharks and then into a random bout of "what are the odds" that results to calling in the Tucker Brothers at 1:30 in the morning to come over and play with them. They've given up on trying to record at this point.
Apparently the Tucker Brothers have nothing else to do, so they bring over some beers and some extra gamecube controllers to the apartment. Mario Party continues, with laughter and yelling and whatever else the guys choose to do. It's a miracle that their apartment neighbor hasn't stopped by to complain.
The game of Mario Party is on the part where it's the final 5 turns and the 4th place player gets to jump and hit a block to randomize some board places and move the Star. It's a little past 3:30am at this point. Harryson and Ryan are giggling because Matt is the one in 4th place.
"Shut up," Matt complains, though there's no fight in him. He stopped raising his voice. Actually, he stopped talking altogether a few turns ago. Matt being quiet is a rare thing, and the boys know it. This is it. Matt has reached his breaking point. He's too tired to bicker and argue. His eyes are half-lidded and glazed on the tv screen. Matt hits the A button. The star moves. They play a mini game. 4 turns left.
The room is quiet and Ryan downs the rest of his beer. Jackson has been sitting on the couch next to Matt while Ryan and Harryson were on the ground. Harryson got up from the floor to throw away some empty bottles. As Harryson rinses some cups in the apartment kitchen's sink, he overlooks the living room.
"Jackson," Harryson calls out from the kitchen. "Is he out?"
On the couch, Matt is slumped against Jackson, his body is relaxed. Jackson nods, trying not to giggle. Matt's head keeps bobbing down, unconsciously unaware of where to rest his head. His hands are slack and controller-less. It turns out Jackson had been playing as Matt for the last turn.
Its then that Ryan turns around to get a look at the couch behind him, and he too refrains himself from giggling. But he also wants to hold his breath and just stare for a moment.
Matt is handsome, Ryan thinks. Even though it's dark and it's just the light from the tv illuminating the area around them in a blueish hue. The shadows against the light bring attention to Matt's face. His cheekbones, his jawline. His little moles that scatter from his right cheek to his left nose, to the one on his chin, then down to the moles on his neck. His eyelashes, his nostrils breathing air in and out, in and out. His lips are slightly parted, his glasses are trying to slide down his nose with each bob of his head.
"We should wake him," Jackson whispers. "He can't be...comfortable like that."
"I've got an idea," Ryan replies, getting up from the floor. His knees crack a little on his way up and he lets out a small burp. "I'll trade places with you, Jackson. He'll lean his head on my shoulder. Let's finish this game and then I'll wake him. You guys can crash out here when we're done."
"Sure, okay," Jackson agrees, carefully peeling himself off the couch. Ryan takes his place on the couch next to Matt. Sure enough, Matt's head unconsciously slumps down to find Ryan's shoulder and his head stays there, completely relaxed and unaware.
Ryan complains a bit about Matt's boney chin digging into his arm, but secretly he enjoys the warmth and comfort and trust that his friend must have for him. This is Ryan's chance to be a good older brother. Carefully, he takes off Matt's glasses for him. The three men take turns playing as Matt, moving the controller around from lap to lap. At last, the game ends. Ryan wins, of course. Surprisingly, Matt got 3rd place. Might have had to do with the guys winning as him.
Jackson and Harryson get up to turn the game and tv off and finish tidying up the last of the drinking glasses. When they come back from the kitchen, they see Ryan helping Matt up and walking him to his bedroom.
"One of you can have the couch and the other can have my bed," Ryan tells the Tucker brothers before he closes the door to Matt's room.
"Aww, how sweet," Harryson replies, smiling.
"I call Ryan's room!" Jackson interrupts, walking briskly to the empty room.
And thus ends their fun night. The next day, when the Tucker brothers wake up, they find Ryan and Matt sound asleep in Matt's bed, with Matt resting his head on Ryan's chest.
"Bro, that's gay. Let's go home."
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End :3