Chapter Text
The foxes are cleaning up after finishing their latest D&D campaign when Aaron brings it up. He pauses in collecting his shimmery black and green dice and looks up at the others.
“Hey, what if, um. Nevermind.” He dips his head back down to quickly finish scooping up his dice, but a hand snatches the last one up before he can. The hand is attached to Renee who smiles kindly at him.
“What if what, Aaron? Did you have an idea for our next campaign?” Kevin’s head snaps up from his notebook where he’s making notes in pencil about the campaign they just finished.
“Ari? Did you have an idea? I’m still planning, so if you have any ideas you can tell me.” Aaron smiles at him and shakes his head.
“No, I was just thinking that, like. Well, do you guys remember that one Tik Tok Andrew and Neil posted from our D&D session that time? People really liked it, they thought it was funny, so like. What if we recorded videos of our sessions and posted them to, like, YouTube? Do you think people would be interested in that?” A dramatic gasp comes from behind Aaron and then two massive hands come down on his shoulders so hard Aaron’s knees buckle, almost causing him to collapse.
“Ope, sorry, buddy!” Matt exclaims. “I just wanted to say that I think that’s a fantastic idea! Kevin, shut your goddamn face, we’re doing it.” Aaron looks back over to see Kevin snapping his mouth shut, but a nervous expression remains on his face. Aaron shrugs off Matt’s hands, and Matt goes to talk excitedly about the idea with Allison, who seems surprisingly into it, and he goes over to plop himself in Kevin’s lap. Kevin’s hands come up automatically to rest on Aaron’s hips, while Aaron loops his arms around Kevin’s neck. Aaron can hear Nicky begging Andrew and Neil to get on board with the idea, and Neil trying to calm him down by promising they would do it. Renee is chatting quietly with Dan, but they both seem pretty pleased with the idea, so it seems like Kevin is the only one with reservations.
“What’s up, babe?” Kevin whines a bit and buries his face in Aaron’s neck, mumbling something incoherent. “Kev, honey, I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Speak more clearly, love.” Kevin lets out a huge sigh and tips his head back to stare resolutely at the ceiling.
“I don’t want people to find out I’m a nerd.” Aaron stares at him, forcing himself to keep a straight face while he considers his boyfriend’s words. It lasts all of five seconds before he’s laughing, loudly tipping so far forward he slides out of Kevin’s lap and onto the floor. Kevin scowls and lets him fall, crossing his arms across his chest and glaring straight ahead. It’s several more seconds of Aaron’s hysterical laughter while the other foxes stare at them both before Aaron calms down enough to speak.
“Kev, Kevy, baby, what?” Kevin can see Nicky mouthing the words ‘Kevy, baby’ out of the corner of his eye but doesn’t give him the satisfaction of reacting.
“You heard me,” he grumbles. Unfortunately, that sets Aaron off again, and the rest of the foxes are left looking at each other in confusion. Once Aaron’s laughter slows to quiet snickers, he pushes himself up to his knees and puts his hands on Kevin’s legs to haul himself further upright so he can look Kevin in the eyes.
“Kevin, darling, my love. Look at me in the eyes.” Kevin obliges him, steadfastly ignoring how Nicky is continuing to mouth the terms of endearment Aaron uses with what appear to be tears in his eyes. “Kevin. I’m pretty sure everyone who has ever heard you speak not on a talk show or in an interview knows you’re a massive nerd. The minute you get talking about anything without an agenda, you start nerd rambling. It’s incredibly endearing.” Kevin opens his mouth to protest, but he gets cut off by Allison.
“I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call it endearing , but it is incredibly obvious how nerdy you are. Half of Neil and Andrew’s Tik Toks are about you nerding out about some ancient civilization or another. Anyone who’d be watching our D&D campaigns has seen those already. Plus, do you really want their only experience with our D&D campaigns to be Andrew’s first and only time as DM?” Neil lets out an offended ‘hey’ on Andrew’s behalf, but Andrew shushes him. Andrew knows the truth. He knows it was a disaster. Aaron slides further up Kevin’s body, smiling innocently in the way that tells Kevin he's about to be played like a fiddle.
“Sweet pea, just think about it. The whole world deserves to know about the plots and missions you spend weeks thinking up. They deserve to know the twists and turns you come up with purely to give us all heart attacks and anxiety. You put up with our bullshit and shenanigans, and – hell, you plan for our bullshit and shenanigans. Other DMs need to be put to shame, you need to shame them. Don’t you want people to know you’re the best DM there’s ever been?” That challenge is what gets Kevin in the end. He always wants to be the best. He always wants to be recognized as the best, too. Aaron knew exactly what he was doing when he said that.
“Fine, I’m in, but I will need more time to plan this next campaign. If other people are gonna watch this, it needs to be perfect.” The rest of the foxes let out a chorus of ‘of course’ and serious nods, but the minute Kevin has his stuff packed and he’s left the room, they all start snickering.
“So he really thought the world didn't already know he was a nerd, huh?” Neil says, giggling. Aaron shakes his head fondly and retrieves his last die from Renee, who’d hung onto it for that whole interaction.
“He’s oblivious like that, you know? My stupid, stupid man.” He smiles and pockets his dice. “Now everyone get out of my room, it’s bedtime.” The remaining foxes grumble and groan as they move toward the door, leaving Aaron, Matt, and Nicky behind. As she passes, Allison leans down to speak to him.
“I’ll take care of camera equipment and stuff. I’m thinking we just upload unedited videos of each session, so we really just need a good camera and mics,” she says, brushing her hand over his shoulder affectionately. Aaron nods and smiles gratefully at her. They’d bonded after Aaron came to apologize about the parking lot incident, and they're good friends now. They get coffee together once a week to talk shit about their classmates. Aaron closes the door behind the last of them and turns back to Nicky and Matt, who both have gleeful smiles on their faces.
“So,” Aaron says, drawing the word out. Nicky starts bouncing and slapping Matt’s shoulder.
“So,” Matt replies, reaching out to wrap an arm around him. “I guess we’re gonna be YouTubers now, huh?”
“Oh, I can’t fucking wait! I’m gonna go tell Erik. Goodnight, you guys!” Nicky bounces off to the bedroom and Matt starts cleaning up empty bottles and cans. Aaron’s phone buzzes in his pocket and he pulls it out to check who’s texting him. Unsurprisingly, it’s Kevin.
Kevy: You’re so lucky I love you, Ari.
Aaron: i know :)
Kevy: And?
Aaron: and…. i love u too, kevy baby
Kevy: That’s what I thought. Go to sleep, Aaron. Goodnight.
Aaron: goodnight, my love. sleep well, darlin <3
Kevy: <3