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It was a rainy night, so all the egos had stayed in. Movie nights were common for them, but they rarely had everyone together like this. It made picking the film an absolute slog. Anti didn’t have the attention span to care about whatever was out on, but the others were incredibly adamant. Jackieboyman flailed around yelling about the Marvel movies on Netflix and Schneep has about fifty episodes of some medical drama on the DVR and Jameson would be damned if all the hours he spent on Ebay looking for his obscure black and white film were going to go to waste. Marvin, pushed aside, begged them to consider a Disney movie, and Robbie was already noisily devouring the snacks they just made.
The only other ego not making a scene was Chase. He scolded their fighting, but only to deescalate it, and eventually forced them into some compromise. Anti had zoned out during it, but it seemed like Jackie had gotten his way, as the Netflix logo was appearing onscreen. As he scrolled to find his favorite, Chase leaned back into the couch he and Anti were sharing.
Anti held firm that he didn’t like Chase. It’s just that he would be damned if he had to hear someone ask, ‘Can you rewind? I missed the good part’ one more time. That was the only reason. Because as obnoxious as the egos were choosing what to watch, they were more so when the actual movie rolled. Chase was just the only one of them that quietly watched.
Anti kind of hated sitting by him though because there were many implications that came with it. Chase was the one with the popcorn bowl and when Anti reached for a handful, their fingers brushed together. He hated how much Chase blushed at that. It was stupid. And when he started to get tired, Anti couldn’t always control where his head landed. Sometimes Chase’s shoulder ended up being a pillow. It wasn’t like it was on purpose. It wasn’t that his shirt was soft or that his cologne smelled nice. Anti hated how quick everyone was to give him a sly grin at this. It was stupid. They were all so stupid.
Both of these situations happened to occur that night. The lights were dimmed for dramatic effect though, so the only ones who knew were Anti himself and Chase. As Anti felt his head rest onto Chase, he glared up as if to silently say ‘Don’t you dare move.’ Chase smiled back with his stupid toothy grin, his cheeks dusted pink.
The male and female superhero onscreen were flirting very obviously. They touched each other on the shoulder, made wink-worthy statements. Some of the egos rolled their eyes, others smiled wide. Chase yawned and snuck his arm around Anti’s shoulders. The sheer cheesiness of the move made Anti snicker. It was an act of pity, really. How else could he react to such a lame excuse of a move?
A solid chunk of the movie went by while they stayed like this. Anti actually found himself interested, if only because he and the villain had the same sense of humor. He could smell the redemption arc though and wasn’t pleased about that. Just as the big final battle was approaching, Anti reached for the popcorn on Chase’s lap. He immediately pulled it away. Chase was chuckling at the jerky movement, and ended up holding a piece in front of Anti’s mouth. He opened his mouth to make a snarky comment, but Chase simply dropped the kernel into his mouth. Anti was too lazy to bother fighting it. That was all. Besides, he didn’t want to risk feeling the buffoon’s warm touch again. So he relented, letting Chase feed him popcorn.
The movie wound down to the epilogue. Anti could hear Robbie and Jackie sniveling in their seats. He snorted at them. Just before he could make a joke, he felt Chase shift, leaning towards him. He brought his lips to Anti’s ear and whispered so softly, Anti shivered.
“Can I kiss you?”
Anti sputtered. His eyes darted around at the other egos. “A-Are you insane? They-“
Chase took off his cap and held it between them, blocking the others from seeing them. He gave a playful smirk. Anti rolled his eyes, but found himself craning his neck up to meet him halfway.
The kiss was horrifically awkward. Anti’s neck was cramping from the strange angle. He couldn’t stop checking on the other egos either. They were brainless, but if they saw he and Chase pressed together like this with a hat between the lower half of their faces, they could put two and two together. Luckily, they were all still enthralled by the ending of the film. Unluckily, Chase accidentally moved forward in an attempt to shift his position, and their teeth clacked together. Anti quickly jerked away, leaving Chase to nervously giggle.
“You prick,” Anti hissed.
“It was an accident, I swear,” Chase whispered back. “C’mon, babe, don’t give me that look.”
Anti scoffed. “Babe. Is that really what you’re going with?”
“There’s probs a thousand worse pet names I could use.”
“...Whatever.” The credits were rolling and Jackie was closing out of Netflix. The rain was beginning to subside, though it was far past their usual bedtimes by that point. Anti got up from the couch and stretched. “Later, fuckers.”
“See ya,” the others mumbled. Most of them were already half asleep.
Chase was too, but he at least had the energy to add “wouldn’t wanna be ya” to the end of the statement. He also gave Anti a wink that was far too suave for his dumbass face.
Anti groaned, glitching to his room. As soon as he was there, he flopped down on the bed and groaned into his mattress. He seethed at the hand touching and the head resting and the teeth clacking. Yet once he was alone or hidden behind that stupid baseball cap, he could feel his heart racing with something a bit different from rage. And that simple fact made him seethe even more.
Stupid fucking Chase Brody.