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“Morning, sleepyhead,” Monty whispered, poking at Miller’s side.
Miller groaned and squeezed his eyes tighter. Monty could feel Miller’s hair tickling his neck.
“Come on, you have to move if you want me to get out of here before Bellamy wakes up.”
“How are you so alert at five in the morning?”
“I have to be. Otherwise our friends are going to find out about us. This will lead to three things. Number one: them being pissed that we didn’t tell them. Number two: them constantly warning us that friends with benefits never works. And number three: us having to stop sleeping together because our friends are nosy as fuck. I don’t want to deal with any of those three things, so get a move on, Miller.”
Miller lazily opened one eye to look at Monty. “Are you saying you enjoy sleeping with me?”
Monty laughed quietly. “Oh, I’m sorry did you think that we’ve been having sex every other day for 5 months because I didn’t enjoy it?”
“Yeah, but you like it so much you don’t want it to end.”
Monty rolled his eyes and tried not to blush. “Whatever. You know what I meant.”
Monty knew that having a crush on your friend that you were casually sleeping with was ill advised. He had a crush on Miller anyway.
Miller reluctantly rolled over so Monty could get up.
As he got out of bed, Monty wanted nothing more than to kiss Miller on the forehead, but they were just friends. They didn’t do domestic, romantic things.
“I’ll see you at the Halloween party.”
“Mmm,” Miller responded as he fell back to sleep.
Monty sighed as he pulled on his pants and shirt and then slipped out of the apartment quickly and quietly.
“Hey, dude! Get ready, we have to be at Raven’s place in 20 minutes!” Bellamy called.
Halloween. Miller hated Halloween. It was nothing but children hyped up on candy, teenagers pulling pranks, and adults drunk out of their minds. “Do I have to be there?”
Bellamy stuck his head into Miller’s room. “Yes.”
Miller gave Bellamy a pained look before relenting, “Fine, I’ll be ready in 15 minutes.”
“No. You’ll be ready in 2, because we’re walking.”
“Why?”
“The car is stalled again.”
“Fuck. Why didn’t you call Raven to fix it?”
“I did, but she’s busy setting up this party with all the decorations and candy apples and stuff. She was so excited about having a party at her apartment for the first time, I couldn’t make her come here to fix our car.”
Miller groaned and pulled on a hoodie. He didn’t need to dress up for this party. No one would expect him to, anyway. “Okay, I’m ready,” he said as he walked out to the living room.
Bellamy gave him a strange look.
“What?”
“Umm. You’re wearing a hoodie with Pikachu on it. Unless you’ve suddenly developed an interest in Pokémon, I’m pretty sure you’re wearing Monty’s hoodie.”
Miller didn’t even blink. “Yeah. I’m being Monty for Halloween.” He hadn’t planned on pretending to be Monty, but what was he going to say? That he accidentally wore Monty’s hoodie because he’d left it there this morning? If only they weren’t hiding this whole thing. If only Monty wanted a real relationship.
Bellamy raised his eyebrows. He obviously did not believe Miller. “You’re being Monty for Halloween?”
“That’s what I said.”
Bellamy squinted at him. “Does Monty know this? Does he even know you have his hoodie?”
“No, and I don’t think so.”
“So he left it here?” Bellamy looked amused, like he was about to catch Miller in his lie.
“Or I stole it.”
“Of course you did. And here I thought you left your thieving days behind you.” Bellamy rolled his eyes and Miller silently sighed with relief.
“Raven, you have outdone yourself. This place looks awesome!” Monty grinned and hugged her as soon as he walked in the door.
“Doesn’t it?” she smiled back. She had decorated her whole apartment with streamers and pumpkin candles. She’d put bowls of candy everywhere and all sorts of Halloween goodies on her kitchen counter. There was a quiet undercurrent of Halloween music playing.
“Also, you are the perfect Morticia Addams. I love it.”
“Yes! You got it on the first try. I was worried everyone would think I was a vampire. Who are you supposed to be?”
Monty gave her the most disappointed face he could. “Raven, I know you don’t like superheroes, but I’m very clearly the Hulk.” He was wearing purple shorts and had painted his skin green.
Raven grinned. “I know. I’m messing with you. Your friend Superman is in the back getting high, I think.”
Monty smiled. He and Jasper had done paired costumes ever since they were little and that still hadn’t changed. Although this year, Maya was Wonder Woman and Monty felt a little bit like he was being replaced. Still, at least they were both superheroes.
Monty was just about to head back when the door burst open again, and in came Bellamy and Miller.
“Raven! So good to see you! The place looks amazing!” Miller said, enveloping Raven in a huge hug.
“Ummm, what?” Raven looked confused. She gave Bellamy a worried look and asked, “Is something wrong with Miller?”
“He’s Monty for Halloween,” Bellamy replied, shrugging.
When Miller released her, Raven gave Monty an amused look. “Did you, like, dare him to be you for Halloween?”
“No,” Monty knew Miller hated Halloween. Why Miller had decided to change things up and dress up as Monty tonight was beyond him.
“You make a great Morticia Addams, Raven,” Miller continued, as though the conversation around him wasn’t happening.
It wasn’t until Bellamy gave Raven a hug and a long kiss that Monty had a chance to notice the hoodie Miller was wearing. It was his Pikachu hoodie that he’d left at Miller’s apartment this morning.
It made his heart ache just a little bit, to see Miller wearing his clothes, but he pushed that feeling aside and gave Miller an amused smile. “So, you’re being me for Halloween?”
Miller whispered, “This wouldn’t be happening if you hadn’t left this at my place.”
“Or you checked to make sure you were wearing your own clothes before leaving your apartment.”
“Touché.”
“Do you actually think you can pull this off? Pretending to be me?”
Miller raised one eyebrow at Monty. “What, you don’t think I can do it?”
“Nope.”
“Challenge accepted. I’m pretty sure I can be you better than you can.”
Monty snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“Okay, well, I’m going to go get high with Jasper now. I don’t need this negativity in my life.”
Miller was doing a good Monty impression. Fuck it, he was doing a great Monty impression. All night, he was bubbly and happy. He did all of the things Monty always did, even the things Monty didn’t realize he did: bouncing on his feet when he was having a conversation, tilting his head when he was confused, biting his lip when he was thinking.
Every so often he’d glance at Monty and give him a “look at how great I am at being you” look, somewhat to piss him off but mostly because it was a good excuse to look at Monty.
It was partially torture though, given that he was now stuck in a conversation with Clarke and he had to stay engaged as she went on and on about how beautiful Netter’s Anatomy book was. People who loved art as much as Clarke did and talked as much as Clarke did should not be doctors, Miller decided.
Half an hour into this conversation, Clarke just shook her head. “Damn, Miller, I cannot believe you have kept up pretending to be Monty for this long. Don’t you want to punch me?”
Miller smiled widely and tilted his head, “Clarke, why would I want to punch you? I love seeing people talk so passionately about the things they love.”
“Jesus. This is too weird. You are too good at this. I’m going to be glad when Halloween is over and you go back to being Miller.”
That was when Miller caught Monty staring at him. Miller flashed him a grin and Monty blushed before turning away. Miller had noticed Monty doing that more often, the blushing thing. He wondered what that meant.
Clarke noticed the exchange and squinted at Miller. “Is something going on there?”
“Going on where?” Miller feigned innocence.
“With you and Monty.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Miller was trying to keep a straight face. Someone was going to figure out that he and Monty were sleeping together. Or that Miller had fallen head-over-heels for Monty. Neither one of those options sounded particularly good to him at the moment.
Bellamy happened to walk by just at that moment and Clarke grabbed his arm. “Hey Bellamy.”
“Yeah?”
“Look at Miller’s face.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
“Okay.”
“Miller, is there something going on with you and Monty?”
“Again, I don’t know what you mean.”
Clarke turned to Bellamy. “Is his face telling you anything? I can’t read him.”
Bellamy looked at Miller a little bit longer and then sighed. “Sorry, Clarke, I’ve got nothing.”
Clarke looked disappointed. “Alright, well thanks for humoring me.”
Bellamy disappeared after that.
“So you really don’t have a thing for Monty?” Clarke asked.
“I am Monty.”
Clarke rolled her eyes. “Okay, whatever.”
“You know, Miller is observant as fuck,” Raven said. She was sitting on the couch next to Monty and sipping her drink.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I didn’t realize he spent so much time getting to know you and all of your mannerisms. Seriously, if he could suddenly shrink two inches and become Asian, I don’t think I could tell the two of you apart.”
Monty stared at her.
“I’m just saying his impression of you is on point.”
“Right,” Monty gave her a small smile.
“Hey, you should be flattered. I don’t think he pays attention to anyone else like this.”
Monty’s smile dropped. Raven was the only one who knew about Monty’s crush and just how bad he had it. “I don’t know about that.”
Raven nudged Monty. “I’m serious. He must like you a lot to remember to do all that stuff. He’s talking like you. He’s gesturing like you. He’s making faces the way you make faces. And, he looks over at you constantly, like he wants you to notice him.”
“Raven, you are way overthinking this. You’re seeing things that definitely aren’t there.”
Raven raised her eyebrows at him. “If you say so.”
Monty stood up. “I’m going outside, I need some air.”
He didn’t wait for a response as he headed out the door. Raven’s building had stone benches near the entrance. He sat down and immediately regretted it; the benches were freezing. He sat there for a few minutes, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths.
He heard footsteps walk up to him, but ignored them. He felt someone sit down next to him.
“Hey.”
Monty opened his eyes. “Hey Miller.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
They sat in silence for a minute. “Aren’t you cold? Do you want your hoodie back?”
“No. You should keep it for today. Everyone thinks you’re doing an amazing job of being me.”
“Are you mad about that?”
“What? No.”
“Then why’d you leave?”
“Something Raven said. I just needed to clear my head.”
Monty expected Miller to leave after that, but he stayed. And Monty just couldn’t handle this anymore.
“Miller,” Monty shook his head. “Nate. Nathan.”
Miller looked at him, expectantly, uncertainty clear on his face.
“I can’t do this anymore.”
“Do what?”
“Our friends with benefits thing. I can’t do it. Watching you tonight, wearing my hoodie, looking so comfortable pretending to be me, I can’t.”
Miller looked upset. “Oh.”
“We never should have gotten involved. I like you too much. I always have. And I don’t want to just have sex all the time. I want to hold your hand. I want to kiss you in public. I want to be your boyfriend. I want our friends to know. I want Raven to see you doing such a good impression of me that she thinks it means you must be in love with me and I want it to be true.”
Monty couldn’t even look at Miller’s face. He didn’t want to watch Miller as he walked away from him.
But Miller didn’t get up. Instead he wrapped his hand around Monty’s wrist and rubbed his thumb against the back of Monty’s hand.
Monty looked up reluctantly. “What are you doing?”
“Holding your hand.”
“Nat-”
“I want those things too.”
“Don’t-”
“Monty, I’m serious. I want you to be my boyfriend and I want to tell the whole world. I want you to stay the night without worrying who is going to find out. And I don’t want to pretend that I like Halloween just because you left a hoodie on my floor.”
Monty cracked a smile at that. “Okay.”
Miller grinned at him, the rare, wide grin that he seemed to save for special occasions. He leaned into Monty and gave him a quick kiss. “Alright then, what do you say we head back in and tell everyone?”
“Sounds amazing.”