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"C'mon, dude! My singing was so much better than whatever your Big Time Rush crap was!" Henry said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey! BTR was a crucial part of the early 2010s boy-band revival era!" Liam pointed a finger accusingly at the other boy on the other side of the couch. "Plus! You unironically sang an Imagine Dragons song. You literally can't get any worse than that,"
It was a Friday night, and the group had just finished their first term of freshman year. After the day ended, Henry begged for the group to crash at Drew's place for getting through the week. Drew was confused at first, but when you're a 5'2 freshman whose main interest is 2D anime dating games (Visual books, or whatever Henry called them), it's probably hard to survive in highschool.
It was pretty normal at first: playing video games and watching shitty films. Then Liam and Henry suggested they do karaoke in Drew's cinema, and it all went downhill from there, as they prayed that Drew's neighbours don't file a noise complaint for terrible singing.
"Guys, we can all agree that both your song choices sucked," Drew said from his place on a seperate love seat. He continued before the pair could get into another argument, "And Jake's up now, so you guys better shut up," Henry and Liam still shot glares at each other before looking at the TV when the upbeat instrumental started.
Jake chuckled at the conversation, "Drew's right guys, you should be quiet," He started. "Because you're going to witness the most amazing performance of your lives!" He struck a dramatic pose before turning back to the screen.
"Take me to your best friends house!
Goin' round this roundabout,"
Jake started to sing, and Drew was surprised. Because Jake was good, like good enough to be a music freak good.
"Take me to your best friends house, loved you then and I love you now!"
It was then when Drew realised he felt something in the back of his mind. It was the same thing that pulled Drew to Jake when they met in middle school, and the same one that he's felt with Jake ever since then. It was somehow familiar and foreign and Drew didn't know what it was.
"Don't take me tongue tied, don't wave no goodbye, don't break!"
Jake continued. His volume increased as the lyric hit a peak, and Jake ended the line with a small laugh. Drew smiled slightly, it was a cute laugh.
Shit.
Drew realised it wasn't just Jake's laugh, it was everything about him. His eyes, and his small habits, like the way he always cracked his joints before they played a video game, and the way he would always lean down when Drew whispered something to him even though he wasn't that much taller than him. It would've been sweet, if Drew hadn't remembered Jake's huge crush on Daisy. And the fact that Jake probably didn't like boys.
He sighed softly, so no one else could hear over the music. The thought stuck with him for the remainder of the song, settling in his chest and creating a sense of anxiety that was never there before.
He was drawn out of his thoughts by the sound of Henry and Liam cheering at Jake, and Drew plastered on a grin.
"Okay, I think it's unfair for Jake to be actually good at singing, while the rest of us sound like dying seals," Liam rolled his eyes.
Henry scoffed as bumped his shoulder into the other boy's, getting an "Ow!" in response. "Speak for yourself, I think I sounded rather awesome!" He crossed his arms proudly.
Drew noticed a slight blush on Jake's face. "You really think I'm good?" His eyes lit up and a hopeful grin spread across his face. It made Drew's heart flutter before it made it churn with worry.
"Of course you are, you could probably beat all of those music freaks," Drew said after a beat from his racing heart.
"Totally! And I might say, I do believe it is my turn now to sing again," Henry hopped off the couch as he attempted to grab the mic from Jake, who held it slightly out of his reach.
Jake cleared his throat and looked to the other two boys. Nobody wanted to hear Henry's singing, if you could call it that, again. "Woah! Are you sure?" He chuckled, awkwardly. "You don't wanna overwork your, uh... amazing vocal chords!"
Miraculously (and by poking Jake in the ribs), Henry had managed to grab the microphone. Jake gave an expression to Drew and Liam that said 'I tried!' before he sat cross-legged in his arm chair. The trio stared in anticipation as Henry entered a song in the search bar, letting out a mixture of annoyed sighs when they read "MHA OP karaoke version".
-
The night went on like that, full of banter and terrible singing. And a few hours later Liam's mom had come to pick up Henry and Liam, and honestly, Drew was relieved to have some quiet... Other than the sound of his phone vibrating as the pair continued their arguments in their group chat.
Now it was Drew and Jake, alone, standing in front of Drew's front door while they waited for Jake's mom to arrive.
"Y'know," Jake started. "This was really fun! We should do it again sometime."
Drew scoffed, "I mean, it was pretty funny to see how you sing compared to Henry and Liam," he continued. "Actually, you could impress Daisy with a voice like that."
"R-Really? You think so?" Jakes voice was eager, and his face flushed.
"Well, yeah, if you ever man up enough to tell her," Drew nudged Jake's elbow with his own. He hoped it sounded natural, but it was hard with his newfound realisation looming over him.
"Hey! I'll tell her some day!" Jake said loudly. After he was done talking, a car slowly pulled up in front of the house. "Oh, my mom's here!"
"Alright, bye, Jake."
"Bye!" Jake hugged Drew quickly before running to the car. A slight breeze blew, but Jake's warmth stayed with Drew.
He wasn't ready for the overwhelming silence in the house, so he quickly put in his airpods before coming back inside. He stood there for a moment, deciding what song to put on. After a quick search, he put on the song Jake sang. But he'd be lying if he said that he thought about Jake the whole time he listened to it.
In the furthest corner of his mind, Drew had a million questions that he'd never thought of before. Why did it have to be Jake? Why did it have to be right then? What did that mean for Drew, did he just... like boys now? He decided to leave them unanswered, and instead chose to make the easy decision.
He'd have to just pretend everything was normal. So, that's what he did a week later, when the trio returned to his house to hang out again. And that's what he did for years after.