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You could ask anyone on the street and they would tell you that Uno doesn't take skill to play, just luck.
Fortunately, Willie was not just any person on the street, and knew that all winning Uno really took was the ability to hide cards up your sleeves (take that Luke), an oblivious boyfriend, and a few mad cheating skills, all of which Willie happily possessed.
What he did not possess, however, was the ability to play Uno (this particular unattainable power happened to come in the form of a repurposed get-out-of-jail-free-card labeled "Willie's 'playing Uno, Monopoly, and other easy-to-cheat-at-games' pass".)
He had tried puppy eyes. He had tried bribery and begging. He had tried everything, and he still couldn't convince the group to let him play more than two rounds of each game. Pleading with Alex was no help either; Alex had actually been one of the main ones petitioning to ban Willie from a few select board games and card games, his competitiveness outweighing his affection for his boyfriend.
(He was also still sore from the time Willie broke his seven-game streak of winning at Settlers of Catan.)
Willie gave a long-suffering sigh and kissed Alex on the top the of the head (glancing at his cards as he did so) and then wandered over to sit next to Bobby, who was also not playing -his own choice; Bobby didn't like how competitive he got, and knew it was harder to control his temper when it was Game Night- and smiled when he bumped Willie's shoulder as he sat down.
"No luck?" Willie rolled his eyes and nodded, a rueful smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Flynn brought up last Game Night's 'incident' so-" he shrugged, "who am I to ignore the cold facts?"
Bobby laughed at that, head tilted back and shoulders shaking, and Willie chuckled with him, appreciating his friend's deep laughter. When the two had first met, at a hole-in-the-wall coffeehouse that Alex had dragged them to, Willie was worried that Bobby wouldn't like him, but then the two hit it off and Willie was accepted into the Julie and the Phantoms group like they had been waiting for him the whole time.
It was nice to be a part of something that felt so much like a family.
Bobby scrunched his nose at Willie, and Willie raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Do you... want to form an alliance... with me?"
Willie glanced over to the group at the table, where Flynn had an arm slung over Alex's shoulders in victory while Luke groaned and drew a few more cards, and felt a grin split his face, before nodding to Bobby.
"Absolutely, I do."
Bobby's eyes lit up and he winked, a conspiratorial smile sliding across his features.
"Great, where's the Twister mat?"
~~
In a tragic turn of events, Flynn did not win the game of Uno. Instead, in a twist of fate (and a well played draw four) Carrie placed her last card on the discard pile and smugly looked at the group. After her came Alex and Flynn, then Julie, Reggie, and finally Luke, who was happy Flynn hadn't won first, if only out of spite.
"I think Willie has been rubbing off on Flynn, and that she cheated." he complained half-heartedly as they cleared the table. Flynn just tossed her hair and winked.
It was then that Bobby made his move.
"Aight kiddos," Bobby clapped his hands together, "what say you to a round or two of Twister before dessert?"
There was an immediate agreement; Bobby was the best of the group when it came to cooking, and they were all excited to find out what he had made for Game Night.
"I'll be the caller, unless someone else wants to." Reggie offered as he brought out the Twister mat. Willie debated on teasing him for a moment (Reggie just wanted to watch Bobby win-) but decided against it and instead settled winking at him and giving a significant glance at Bobby.
Reggie blushed and quickly spun the pointer, calling out "Left hand, red." and avoiding eye contact. Willie grinned.
The game progressed until it was only Carrie, Alex, Willie, and Bobby. Willie wasn't surprised Carrie made it that far; her flexibility did her proud, the only thing she had to worry about was- "Right foot, blue." - the fact that she was shorter than the rest of them. In an effort to reach a blue circle, Carrie went off-balance and tumbled to the ground, almost knocking Bobby (and therefore Alex, who was in a compromising position involving three legs and two green circles) down with her. Luckily both of the boys made it through unscathed, and Flynn hopped over to the disgraced Carrie to poke her side.
"Better luck next time Care Bear, it happens to the best of us." Carrie rolled her eyes, but took the hand that Flynn was offering and gave a small smile.
"That leaves Alex, Bobby and Willie." Reggie said, getting ready to spin again.
"Well, then either Willie or Alex have to get out, cause I ain't ever seen two pretty boyfriends-"
Julie laughed at Flynn's remark and gave her a high-five, Reggie calling out the next play.
"Left foot, red."
The trio of boys on the mat hesitated for a moment. If Bobby had to go around Alex, he'd fall, but if Alex had to go over Willie, then they might both lose. It was down to Willie, and with an apologetic look towards Alex, he gave a sigh.
"Alex... you know I love you, right?"
"Willie, don't-"
"Bobbers and I made an alliance, I'm sorry Sunshine."
And with that, Willie placed his foot on the only circle that had the power to win the game, his hip bumping Alex and tipping him over with a pleading "no-"
Once Alex was out of the way, Bobby and Willie both stood up and shook hands, Bobby ruffling Willie's hair and grinning at Alex.
"Alright, alliance over, whoever gets to the kitchen first gets an extra slice!!" Bobby shoved Willie away and raced into the kitchen, Carrie and Luke the closest behind him, Reggie hopping off the arm of the couch that he had perched himself on and tumbling after them. Willie sputtered for a moment and Alex grabbed his hand, pulling him forward.
"Betrayal sucks, huh." he teased, hitting Willie's shoulder with his own.
"No need to rub it in," Willie pouted. Then he smiled affectionately and pressed a kiss to Alex's jaw.
"Bros before hoes," he whispered into Alex's ear, giggling when Alex smacked his arm.
"Asshole," Alex rolled his eyes fondly, and Willie grinned back at him.
They entered the kitchen to a stand-off. Luke was sitting on the counter begging with Julie, and Bobby was pointing an accusing finger at Flynn. Carrie seemed to be siding with double trouble, while Reggie stood off to the side, a forlorn look on his face.
He turned to the two as they entered. "Julie and Flynn hid the peach cobbler, AND the ice cream," he explained. Alex immediately turned to Julie.
"Is this true?!" peach cobbler and ice cream was serious business, and Bobby's was simply to die for.
Julie shrugged. "Maybe it is," she conceded.
"I hereby disown Julie from the Molina family," Bobby stated, petulantly crossing his arms.
"Bobbin... you literally can't. She's the og Molina."
"Flynn, I am begging you to stop with your slang; I can't understand a word you say," Luke complained, still making puppy eyes at Julie.
Finally, after a lot of begging, bribery (and a few threats from Bobby) the girls brought out the cobbler.
"I'll cobble you," groused Luke at a smug Flynn. "Turn you into a shoe."
"Shut up and eat your Ice cream," Alex lightly smacked the back of Luke's head, and Willie grinned at his boyfriend.
Next week. Next week he'd get them to let him play Uno.