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All night the speakers blared with energizing songs that made all the walls in the house shake. Around seventy or so teens filled every nook and cranny of the two story house. Red solo cups were either in tipsy hands or scattered about the floor with the rest of the discarded garbage. How the building was still standing was truly the mystery of the century.
Archie Aogiri was always one for a good party, but his energy was starting to wear thin. This was supposed to be the best party of not one, but two years. The old year would end and the new year would begin both with a bang. Next year he would be walking that stage to get his diploma. That was guaranteed at least. Anything after that was up in the air. If he had a quarter for every time someone asked him what he was going to do with his life, he could afford to go to school without taking out crushing loans that would follow him to the grave. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to sail the vast seas day in and day out without having a captain telling him what to do and when to do it. He wanted to be his own captain. He wanted to live his own life.
He wanted to get out of this place and never look back.
He pulled out his PokeNav and looked at the time.
11:38 P.M.
Twenty-two minutes until the start of the most dreaded year of his life. It was kind of hard to enjoy the party with that thought looming in the back of his mind. His friends couldn't say the same thing. A girl with large, fluffy hair sat on the couch with a group of girls and a few boyfriends thrown into the mix. Whatever their shriek-like laughter was all about, Archie would never know. All he knew was that Shelly was the one who dragged him to this party, but here role as the Mom Friend was thrown out the door after her third drink. His other friend, was nowhere to be found, which is actually kind of funny since he's practically the size of a house. Matt might be downstairs, doing who knows what. Actually, he might be out in the backyard. Archie hasn't been out there all night. That might explain why he hasn't seen him.
Archie was a large and bulky guy, but he tried his very best to make himself as small as possible when wading through the crowd of unsupervised teens. After bumping into a few shoulders and almost getting elbowed in the face, Archie finally found the screen door that led to the backyard. After passing through the doorway, the environment drastically changed. Music from the house still rang through the cool night air, but it was muffled. Only a few people found this escape. Some were passed out in the yard. Or maybe they were stargazing. It was hard to say. Others were dancing more freely in the open yard. One sat on the patio swing, criss-cross applesauce style. The light of his PokeNav illuminated his pale face. He briefly glanced up at Archie before turning his attention back to the device in his hand.
It was clear to see that Matt wasn't out here, but Archie wasn't eager to go back inside just yet. The fresh air was refreshing after being cooped up in a crowded house for a few hours. He could stretch out and take a second to collect himself before returning to the party again.
Archie glanced over at the guy on the swing. It looked like that was the comfiest place to sit other than the ground itself. There was still enough room on it to fit himself and another person. With as much caution as a tipsy teen could have, Archie wandered over to the swing. The guy looked up at him again, this time his stern green eyes met Archie's deep blue.
"This seat taken?" Archie asked.
The guy shrugged. "Guess not," he replied, completely uninterested. His eyes reverted back to the device in hand.
Archie could tell that he wasn't welcomed, but he sat down anyway. He would much rather be uncomfortable out here than in there. His feet gently pushed the swing back and forth. Since he didn't get an order from the guy next to him to stop, Archie kept on doing it.
Without anything else to do, Archie pulled out his PokeNav, but found it hard to focus on the screen. He found his eyes continuing to glance over at the guy beside of him. Thick glasses framed his long face. Red hair was pulled back in a tiny pony tail. Archie tried to put a name to a face, but he didn't recognize the face to begin with.
"Say," Archie started. The redhead didn't move his head, but his eyes looked over at him. "I haven't seen ya around here before."
"That's because I don't live here," came his reply. He didn't further elaborate. Archie didn't think of that to be a satisfactory answer though.
"Where ya from then?"
"Lavaridge."
"Lavaridge? That's an awful long way from Slateport. What brings ya out here? Both here to Slateport and here, like, here here," Archie gestured to the swing.
The light illuminating the red head's face disappeared when he clicked it off. Now the red head looked over at Archie fully, but his eyes didn't look pleased in the slightest. They were droopy with tiredness with a hint of annoyance. "And why do you care?"
"Friendly conversation," Archie replied with a shrug. "This social outing ain't been so social when ya don't like half of the people here."
"Or know them, for that matter," the red head added, shocking Archie for a moment. So he was finally contributing to the conversation a little bit. Archie considered this a success. Now to keep it going.
"So you've been out here all night?"
"Most of it. I snuck instead to get a drink and some snacks but that was pretty much it."
"The cheap drinks they got ain't worth it, in my opinion."
"I second that, but I guess the host had to take what he could get his underage hands on."
Archie laughed at that. The red head even let a small smirk play on his freckly face.
"Why are you here?" he asked. Archie blinked in surprise. Seeing the blank look on his face, the red head elaborated. "If you don't like the people here, then why even bother staying?"
"That ain't my decision to make. I got some friends in there that I don't wanna ditch."
"Then why are you out here?" The red head rested his chin on his hand with a grin. Archie was baffled at first, but matched the grin with one of his own.
"Using my own question against me, huh?"
"I believe it's only fair."
"Well, ya didn't answer it when I asked it."
"Then you're not obligated to answer it when I ask it."
The words sounded like a standoff, but it was anything but. Perhaps it was the drinks. Perhaps it was this instant connection Archie felt. It could be a lot of things or nothing at all. No matter the reason, both of the boys found themselves laughing at their inane conversation.
"Time to say goodbye to this shitty year!" Someone on the inside shouted. They were quickly followed with cheers and hollers from the rest of the drunk teens inside. Both of them checked their PokeNavs. Ten minutes till midnight. Some of the people outside rose from the grass and stumbled their way inside.
"Are you going back inside?" The red head asked with a hint of disappointment, like he already knew what the answer was going to be.
Archie glanced over at the screen door. The cheers were getting louder and louder. He could even see some people pairing off by grabbing each other's hands and pulling each other towards the living room.
"I don't think so," he answered, earning a look of surprise from the red head. "I don't feel like dealing with all that mess just to watch a stupid ball drop." Archie leaned back and rested his arms behind the swing. "Are you headin' in?"
The red head brushed some loose strands of hair behind his ear. "I haven't been in there the majority of the night. I don't see a reason to do it now. It isn't like something magical will happen at the start of the year. Time will continue to tick on at the same rate it always has."
They both sat in silence for a moment. It wasn't awkward. If anything, it was comfortable. Archie looked to the brilliant stars in the sky, but from the corner of his eye he caught the red head looking at him, quick to advert his gaze when Archie turned his head.
"Are you looking forward to the new year?" Archie asked, deciding to break the silence.
"Honestly? I wish Dialga would stop time as we know it just so I won't have to deal with these upcoming months."
"Wow, same."
The red head laughed. "I suppose there's no point in bouncing the question back to you."
"Nah, mate. I can tell next year is totally gonna suck. But I guess there ain't a thing I can do about it."
"Have you ever thought of making it not suck?"
Archie blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Time is inevitable and bad things will always happen. I'm not looking forward to next year. So many things will change. I'll be graduating and going off the college to study in a field that may or may not have any readily available jobs, you know, the whole nine yards. I'm not looking forward to the obstacles that are headed my way, but seeing all of the opportunities that lie past them is honestly quite...exciting."
Archie...never really thought of it like that. He felt his shoulders relax a little bit. "I just gotta show the future who's boss."
"Exactly." The red head nodded.
"Two minutes!" Someone on the inside cheered.
"It's fast approaching," the red head commented. "Are you sure you're not going inside?"
"Why would I want to?" Archie countered. "I've had a better time out here than I have in there."
"Well...you had mentioned that you were with some friends. I didn't know if one of those friends was...you know...something more." The red head scratched his cheek while Archie outright laughed at the absurdity.
"Dude, it ain't like that. This mofo ain't tied down to no one," he laughed and moved his arms to now rest against his knees. "I take it as you ain't got no one either."
"A bold accusation!" he countered, his face going slightly red. "...But an accurate one."
Archie scooted closer to him as his laughter challenged the muffled music. Even the red head started to laugh more to cover his embarrassment than anything else. "Looks like neither of us is gonna be gettin' that New Year's kiss, huh?"
"I suppose not." The red head offered him a sheepish smile, still calming down from the embarrassment. "Unless..."
Archie blinked. "Mate, don't even play," he laughed. "Like hell you swing that way."
"What if I do?" he challenged. "Do you?"
"Well..." A silence overcame the two. The crowd was in the homestretch. Thirty more seconds until midnight. They're eyes met and instead of looking away, they laughed. They laughed and laughed and laughed.
"A'ight man, whatever. We gonna do this thing?" Archie stated more than he asked.
"Are we going to do this?" The red head scooted oh so closer to him. Twenty seconds.
"Fuck it, mate. Let's fuckin' do this."
"I never expected this was how the night was going to turn out, but I'm certainly not complaining," he laughed.
"Five!"
"Are we for real?"
"You tell me. Are we?"
"Four!"
They both laughed.
"Three!"
Their heads inched closer together.
"Two!"
Snickers left their lips.
"One!"
A second of hesitation would have been detrimental. They closed their eyes and met each other half way. Archie planned on giving him a small peck and then moving away, but he didn't. He...actually liked it. The red head must have felt the same way.
"Happy New Year!!!!"
It was illegal for residents to shoot off fireworks in this neighborhood, so when red and blue lights flashed down the street followed with a siren, both of their eyes snapped open.
"It's the fucking cops!"
The sound of glass breaking quickly followed. "EVERYONE SCATTER!"
They broke away and were quick to hop to their feet. Archie needed to find Matt and Shelly and he needed to find them NOW.
"I-uh-" Archie stammered.
"It was, uh, it was really nice meeting you-"
"Archie, bro!" A booming voice came from behind. The human building himself came bolting through the door with a very intoxicated Shelly thrown over his shoulder.
"Matt, there ya are!"
"Archie?" the red head repeated. Before Archie could further comment, Matt leaned down and scooped Archie up and tossed him over his shoulder like he was a tiny toddler despite Archie's sounds of protest.
"Matt, let me down!!!"
"No way, dude! We gotta book it!"
Archie buried his face in his hands, separating his fingers just enough to see the red head reach out for him, only to draw his hand back to himself the further down the yard Matt ran. He looked around before finally running away himself.
Matt charged right through the wooden fence that separated this yard from the neighbor's yard. Archie hid his face even further while Shelly laughed at the fact Matt actually charged through a fence. She was also really drunk. Everything was funny.
"Soooooo, who was tall, white, and nerdy?" she asked, reaching over to poke Archie's arm.
Archie's eyes snapped open in realization.
"I never got his name."