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“Paris, it’s time for homework,” came Pete’s voice from downstairs and Paris whined as he was holding onto her controller and she pressed her lips together. She, Venice and Kit were all in Venice’s room and were currently busy playing video games. She just won against both Venice and Kit and they were about to do a rematch, but suddenly it was time for her to do her homework.
That wasn’t fair!
“Papa, we’re playing a game,” said Paris, but placed her controller back and pouted.
Vegas was just around the corner, so he knocked onto the opened door and then leaned against the doorframe, smiling when he saw the three of them sitting on the floor, playing games together. Kit was finally there and Venice couldn’t be happier – he’s been waiting to see his best friend in person for months now and it finally happened!
“Paris, listen to Pete, it’s time to do your homework,” said Vegas and Paris sighed sadly.
“I already did all of mine,” said Venice.
Indeed, Venice was very busy after he arrived from school the day before – he managed to tidy up his room, he did his homework and he studied as well. Because he wanted to have the whole weekend free to spend with his best friend, without any interruptions. Paris, on the other hand, wasn’t so keen on doing her homework, so she didn’t listen to Venice’s advice.
Perhaps she should have!
“I should’ve just done it yesterday,” mumbled Paris and slowly stood up. Even if she didn’t feel like doing her homework, she still listened to Pete and Vegas. After all, she knew that school wasn’t her thing, so she made sure that she did everything that was in her power to keep trying hard.
“Do you have a lot of homework?” asked Kit and Paris sighed and nodded.
“Far too much,” mumbled the girl and glanced at Vegas.
“I’ll help you,” said Vegas and Paris cheered up immediately.
“Great,” she said and stood up, slowly going to the door and then she looked to Venice and Kit again, sadly sighing along. The two of them were free – they could carry on playing the video game. Life just wasn’t fair sometimes and she pouted. “Wait up for me, okay?” asked Paris and Venice laughed.
“It’s just homework, you’ll be back soon,” said Venice and Paris clicked with her tongue.
“We’ll wait for you,” promised Kit and Paris just nodded, following Vegas to her room and Venice happily smiled, rubbing his palms together when Paris left the room. Venice sighed and glanced towards the screen of the TV in his room and he pursed his lips.
“I can’t believe she beat both of us,” said Venice and Kit laughed.
“We didn’t even stand a chance,” said Kit. As time passed, things changed, but there was something that never changed and that was Paris’ wish to win. She was very competitive and she knew that very much. Much like Vegas, she still cared a lot about winning even though Pete was trying his best to make her see that winning wasn’t always the point.
“Maybe we should team up for the next round,” said Venice.
“The two of us against her?” asked Kit.
“Seems fair because the two of us on our own don’t stand a chance,” said Venice and shook his head.
“We can try, ” said Kit.
“Yeah, only try. I bet even if we work together, we will still lose,” said Venice and Kit snickered. “To spare our egos, I think we should do something else after all,” commented Venice and then quickly hopped up onto his legs.
Venice was very excited because a TV series that he and Kit were planning on watching was finally released. Well, season two of the series. They watched the first season together when Kit came to visit the last time and now the second season was there, so this was more than the perfect opportunity to watch it now!
Venice was very excited about it and he wanted to watch it as soon as possible, but because he was a good friend, he decided not to do it! It was his and Kit’s TV series, so the plan was to watch it together. It was a so-called ‘’their’’ TV series.
“We can finally watch the second season now that you’re here,” said Venice and slowly took the remote control into his hand. Kit immediately knew what Venice was talking about and he sighed along.
“Oh, we can, yeah,” said Kit and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not as good as the first season though. The ending is really-”
“Ah, the critics are always wrong,” said Venice, thinking that Kit perhaps watched one of those videos that people made, in which they shared their opinion about the series. Venice never really listened to what the critics had to say because liking TV series was something very objective, wasn’t it? If someone disliked it, it didn’t mean that everyone was going to dislike it.
“No, I mean it’s really not as good as the first season,” said Kit and Venice slowly looked at him and blinked a few times.
“How do you know?” asked Venice carefully. If Kit was going to say that he already watched the series, Venice was going to feel betrayed. Perhaps it was an overreaction, but still – Venice waited for months! And if Kit-
“I watched it with Yuto last month and we were very disappointed,” said Kit calmly and Venice’s eyes widened, feeling a little bit deflated.
So, Kit really watched the series without him. Even if they said that they would watch the second season together. They’ve been talking about it, waiting for it together… even counting the days… Until the very end! The second season came out a couple of months ago, so they didn’t really talk about it anymore as they were yet to watch it, but Kit never said that he already watched the season?
But there was something else that bothered Venice even more.
Sure, he felt a little bit disappointed to hear that Kit already watched it without him. Yes, he broke their promise, but at the same time, it was hard not to watch it since he knew how excited both of them were. But to hear that he watched the series with someone else? Who was… Yuto?!
A friend?
Venice didn’t remember Kit mentioning anyone called Yuto before, but if the two of them watched the series together, then it was an indication that they were indeed friends and Venice felt… he didn’t know how he felt. But, it was a feeling that he didn’t like. It was almost as if he was annoyed for some reason.
Venice pressed his lips together. Kit noticed that silence fell between the two of them and he could tell that Venice wasn’t in a good mood anymore. He was wearing a blank expression on his face, but-
“Oh,” said Venice, finally. “You already watched the second season?” asked Venice and glanced away.
“Ah, yes,’’ said Kit and pressed his lips together. “You haven’t yet? Really?”
“No, we made a promise we’d watch it together,” whispered Venice, feeling deflated and Kit realised what it was – Venice was annoyed because he watched the series without him? But it was just a TV series, it wasn’t that serious, was it? Kit rubbed the back of his neck and he huffed under his breath.
“Ah, it doesn’t matter,” said Kit, trying to lighten up the mood. “I was over at Yuto’s place and we were bored. We decided to watch the series. You know, I kind of did us a favour,” said Kit and Venice looked at him. “I saved us time so that we don’t have to waste it on the second season,” said Kit and Venice pressed his lips together.
“Maybe I would like it,” said Venice.
“Trust me, it’s just like Yuto said, the writing is nothing like the first season,” said Kit and Venice’s annoyance was slowly growing.
Like Yuto said…
Who cared what Yuto thought and-
“Yeah,” said Venice and put on a happy smile, but he was feeling uneasy. “Is that your friend?” asked Venice carefully and Kit quickly nodded.
“I haven’t told you about him yet?” asked Kit and Venice shook his head.
“Nope,” said Venice.
“Oh! I guess I forgot,” said Kit and Venice glanced down.
How did one forget…
“So,” said Venice. “Tell me more about him?” asked Venice.
Venice knew that he was going to regret asking Kit about Yuto, yet he still did it because it was the polite thing to do and apparently, Yuto was now Kit’s best friend, not Venice anymore.
Kit and Yuto met at school; they were classmates and he was the very first friend that Kit made at his new school. As Kit was going on and on about how great Yuto was, Venice was just sitting there and his annoyance with this Yuto was just growing, which was completely uncalled for and Venice knew that. Yet, he couldn’t change how he felt.
Venice wasn’t Kit’s best friend and he was sure of it because why would he be? Yuto seemed a lot more fun than Venice. Not only that, but there were a lot of things that Kit didn’t tell him and Venice just felt a little bit deflated. Meanwhile Kit managed to meet a new best friend, Venice didn’t really… Well, of course he had many friends in school, he was popular after all, but no friendship could really compare to the one he had with Kit.
And while Venice really told Kit everything, Kit didn’t tell Venice about the fact that he started playing guitar – which was again all thanks to Yuto. But what really struck a nerve with Venice were the photos that Kit was now showing him – about all the fun things he and Yuto did together. There were other people there too, but Venice’s annoyance was targeted only towards Yuto.
The annoyance piqued when Kit told him that Yuto was the one who got them the tickers for a concert of a rock band that both Venice and Kit were a fan of. Venice knew that Kit attended the concert, but he didn’t know that Yuto was there as well.
Yuto was everywhere.
And apparently more important to Kit than Venice. Venice didn’t like what was on his mind because he didn’t feel like himself. But, he was annoyed, sitting there, Kit talking on and on about Yuto, even after Paris was back, all finished with her homework.
“Yuto is so much fun,” said Paris when she found out that he was training in martial arts and Venice tried not to sigh because it wasn’t really that impressive. Venice was pretty sure that he could take him on – Pete and Vegas have taught him enough of fighting to-
Venice quickly shook his head.
“Yes,’’ said Kit. “If you ever visit, you will meet him. I’m sure you will all get along,” said Kit and Venice sighed.
“Uh-huh,” was Venice’s reply, trying to sound as impressed and excited as he possibly could, but his voice fell flat and Kit could feel that there was some tension coming from Venice, but he couldn’t really figure out what he did wrong?
“I want to meet him,” said Paris.
“Of course you do, Yuto is just amazing, isn’t he?” said Venice under his breath, but Paris managed to hear him and she gave him a weirded out look. That… didn’t sound like Venice, what happened? Paris blinked a few times and she glanced at Kit, who also heard Venice before.
Did something happen while she was doing her homework?
“What happened when I was doing my homework?” whined Paris and Venice crossed his arms on top of his chest.
“Nothing,” said Venice. Ah, he really didn’t like how he was acting, but the more that he wanted to stop himself from running his mouth and saying things that he really didn’t mean. He bit into his lower lip, trying to think of consequences. He didn’t like fighting, but words were just kind of flowing.
In reality, Venice wasn’t really angry. He was annoyed, frustrated, yes, but also scared that Kit found a new best friend and he-
“Let’s just play a game,” said Kit and Venice looked at Kit. “My dad bought me a new game. It’s brand new and I haven’t-”
“Did Yuto tell you about it?” grumbled Venice – he didn’t know what possessed him to say those words.
Paris opened her mouth to say something, but then she pressed her lips together and she glanced at Kit, who looked just as surprised as her. Why was Venice bringing Yuto up now? Kit didn’t really know what to say, but Venice realised that he crossed a line. His heart sank to the pit of his stomach and he finally snapped back to reality.
What was wrong with him?
Venice was saying things that he didn’t really mean, words were spilling out and he pressed his lips together, swallowing thickly.
Jealous. Venice was jealous.
Oh, he messed up. He could tell that he hurt Kit’s feelings and he quickly stood up because he just needed to get out of there. That was why he just left the room in silence, leaving Paris and Kit alone in the living room.
“Stupid Yuto,” grumbled Venice as he stepped into the kitchen, angrily opening the fridge and Macau arched his brow when Venice barged into the room, opened the fridge and completely ignored his existence. Then again, to be fair, Venice seemed pissed off. Well, that was new. Macau leaned against the counter and hummed along.
“Well, hello to you too,” said Macau and laughed when Venice slowly looked up and noticed that he wasn’t alone.
“Oh, I thought-”
“You were alone?” asked Macau and Venice nodded. Macau crossed his arms on top of his chest and studied his brother’s expression. “Should I step outside? Would you rather be alone?” he asked and Venice quickly shook his head.
“Nah, it’s fine,” said Venice and plopped down onto a chair and Macau came closer.
“What happened?” asked Macau and Venice just shrugged and kept looking into the empty wall. Venice was clearly upset about something, but what confused Macau more was why Venice wasn’t in the living room with Paris and Kit. His best friend was finally there, what happened? “Why aren’t you with Kit and Paris?”
“I don’t feel like hanging out with them,” said Venice, which wasn’t true and Macau walked closer to him and sat down on the other side of the table and he hummed along.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” said Venice and Macau snorted when he saw Venice’s face, who sighed along and then he crossed his legs. Venice was a teenager now, so…
“This doesn’t seem like nothing. And who’s Yuto?”
Venice sighed along and took a deep breath before he spoke up again. He felt annoyed again when Macau mentioned Yuto and he just chewed on his lower lip.
“Kit’s new best friend,” said Venice and Macau arched his brow. “Oh, yes, apparently he has a new best friend,” said Venice. “They went to the concert together, they watched our series together, and apparently Yuto’s just so great that-” started Venice, but then his voice trailed off when he heard Macau’s chuckle and he lifted his gaze up.
“Venice, you will always be Kit’s best friend,” said Macau. “Even if he makes new friends, you will still be number one,” said Macau.
“I’m not so sure,” said Venice.
“You made new friends and yet Kit is still your best friend, right?” asked Macau, trying to cheer his brother up. Venice slowly nodded.
“Yeah,” said Venice.
“See?” asked Macau and smiled. “You can't be replaced as Kit’s best friend.”
“I just really don’t like Yuto,” said Venice. “Which is strange since I don’t even know him, but he’s annoying,” he said and closed his eyes, trying to calm down. “Ah, I don’t like myself right now because how can I possibly dislike someone I’ve never met?” asked Venice and opened his eyes. “And the worst is that I said things I didn’t really mean to Kit and now he’s probably angry with me, which I can’t really blame him because I acted like an idiot,” said Venice.
Well, for a thirteen year old, Venice was very self-aware .
Macau sighed along and he leaned back against the chair.
“What’s wrong with me?” asked Venice out of frustration and Macau smiled patiently. Well, it seemed like a pretty normal response to Macau. When he was about Venice’s age, he would probably feel the same way if he heard that his best friend found a new friend. And it was even more difficult on Venice since Kit was now living abroad.
Venice was now annoyed with himself and his heart sank to the pit of his stomach.
“Nothing’s wrong with you,’’ said Macau and Venice scowled at him.
“That wasn’t me before, I was-”
“Jealous,” said Macau and Venice blinked a few times and glanced down.
“No,” said Venice.
“No?”
“No, I was just worried that Kit would like Yuto more than me,” said Venice, processing things. “I was afraid that I’m not his best friend anymore since Yuto is so great, apparently,” said Venice and then he thought about it for a little longer and he realised that Macau was right. “Oh. Right. It’s… jealousy, huh,” said Vencie and covered his face with his hands.
“Jealousy’s a funny thing,” said Macau and Venice grumbled.
“It’s really not,” said Venice. “Look how I acted. Like a jerk. And now Kit hates me,” already making the conclusion himself. Just as he said those words, Pete and Vegas stepped into the kitchen as they were going to cook some dinner for the kids – it was a sleepover, after all.
“Why would Kit hate you?” asked Pete.
“I messed up,” said Venice. “Badly.”
“Kit isn’t going to hate you,” said Macau. “Just talk it out, tell him what you felt at the moment and I’m sure you two will make up,” said Macau. Venice glanced at his older brother and sighed.
“It’s not so easy,” said Venice.
“What happened?” asked Vegas. Pete and him were there to start cooking; he thought that things were going well. The last time he passed by the living room, Venice and Kit were having fun playing a game while they were waiting for Paris to be done with her homework. Well, at least it seemed that everything was okay.
Vegas was confused.
“I said stupid things without meaning the things I said,” said Venice, very frustrated. “Like, I knew how bad it was when the words were coming out of my mouth and yet I couldn’t hold myself back from saying it. Ugh,” grumbled Venice. “Ever had something like that happen to you?”
“Many times,” said Vegas and Pete nodded.
“Yeah, but I’m still confused to why-”
“Venice’s afraid he’s been replaced as Kit’s best friend,” said Macau and Pete sighed.
“Aw, you know this would never happen. You two are joined at the hip,” said Pete and Venice slowly nodded. It was true, all of that was true and Venice was now regretting the things he said even more. Of course he was always going to be Kit's best friend and yet he said all those stupid things about stupid Yuto.
Right… he needed to stop saying that Yuto was stupid – he didn’t even know him.
“I know,” Venice finally said and he pursed his lips. “I know all of that, but I still said stupid things. Ugh.”
That was when Vegas and Pete sat down at the table as well, so that Venice could explain everything that he felt when Kit was telling him about his new friend – it was very clear that Venice was just afraid of losing his best friend and Vegas of all could relate more than anyone.
Fear of being abandoned was real.
As Venice was growing up, the emotions he felt were more and more complex and he was just trying to wrap his head around everything.
“I need to apologise,” said Venice and Pete gave him a little nod.
“True,” said Pete.
“And also you shouldn’t be too concerned. You’re much better than this Yuto. It sounds like he’s trying a bit too-” started Vegas, but then stopped talking when he realised what he was saying and he bit his tongue. “Never mind. Yes, apologise to him,” said Vegas and Pete laughed softly, shaking his head.
“And understand that you can never be replaced, right?” asked Macau and Venice clasped his hands together.
“Yeah,” whispered Venice, who was already laying under a pile of guilt and it was just getting worse. “I don’t like being jealous. It’s so stupid,’’ said Venice – jealousy made him act stupid. “So, I’m not going to be jealous anymore,” said Venice.
Easier said than done.
“You sure processed things fast,” said Vegas.
“Yeah, dad, it’s not good to dwell too much about it,” said Venice. “I just need to apologise,” said Venice. “And hope Kit will still want to be my friend,” he said and Pete gave him a little wink.
“Of course he will still want to be your friend,” said Pete.
“Growing up sucks,” said Venice and Macau tried not to laugh when he heard that. “Things used to be much easier when I was younger,” complained Venice.
“Mood,” said Macau.
Venice then clasped his hands together – he was glad that he was able to talk about it with Macau, Vegas and Pete. They made him realise that things weren’t as gloomy as they seemed. Talking always solved problems, he knew that. He just needed to explain to Kit what he felt and why he acted out like that and then… give him space?
“I’ll go talk to him,” said Venice and then glanced at Vegas and Pete. “Wish me luck,” he mumbled and Vegas gently tapped his shoulders.
“You’ve got this,” said Vegas and Venice hoped that dad was right.
“I’m really sorry I ruined today,” carried on Venice. It was only Kit and Venice in the room; the two of them were now in Venice’s room. Venice was talking while Kit was listening. “I acted like a jerk because I was jealous of Yuto,” he said and Kit cocked his head to the side.
“Jealous?” asked Kit.
Kit wasn’t really mad with Venice – not at all. More than that, he was confused because he didn’t understand what was happening. Venice stormed out before and he still thought that Venice was mad with him because he watched the series without him, but apparently this was about something else as well.
“Yeah,” said Venice. “You didn’t even tell me you had a new friend,” said Venice and he sighed. “And all those things you two did together made me afraid that I’m not your best friend anymore,” said Venice and then he realised something else. It should be okay if he wasn’t Kit’s best friend anymore, right? Like papa said – people changed as time passed; not everything was going to last forever. That made Venice sad to the point of wanting to cry, but he realised that it was unfair of him to- “Which is also okay. If Yuto is now your best friend, I understand. I was mean and I apologise.”
“I thought you were angry because I watched the second season without you,” mumbled Kit.
“What? No,” said Venice. “I was just afraid.”
Kit understood where Venice was coming from – when he and Venice talked over the texts, Venice would tell him about his new friends and it made him feel the same way… afraid that Venice would find a new best friend. Maybe that was why he didn’t really tell him about Yuto.
“I understand,” said Kit.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I feel the same when you tell me about your new friends,” said Kit and Venice’s eyes grew huge.
So he wasn’t the only one?!
“I used to dislike your new friends,” said Kit. “Without any good reason.”
“Just like I don’t like Yuto now.”
Kit laughed silently and Venice felt a little bit better.
“Are you angry with me?” asked Venice. “I really am sorry. I shouldn’t have acted like that. I was a jerk.”
“I’m not angry,” said Kit, shrugging. “And just for the record,” said Kit, Venice perking up.
“Yeah?”
“Yuto isn’t my best friend, you are. Yuto isn’t as cool as you,” said Kit. “I always tell Yuto how cool you are,” said Kit.
“I’m not that cool,” said Venice. “You are way cooler.”
“No way!” said Kit.
The two of them burst out laughing and Venice sighed in relief. So, they were good. They were still best friends!
“You’re my best friend too!” said Venice and Kit smiled.
“Yes,” said Kit and offered his hand to Venice. “Best friends forever!” he said and instead of taking Kit’s hand, Venice gave him a quick hug and then he sighed in relief. Talking about things really did wonders, Pete was always right about that. Venice was going to work on it though, he still didn’t like Yuto too much… but that was a worry for another day.
Venice glanced over to the door when he heard footsteps coming closer to the door and then he narrowed his eyes when he heard…
“ Vegas, Paris, what are the two of you doing here? ”
Oh, that was papa.
“ Nothing! ”
“ Stop eavesdropping on Kit and Venice and let them have their privacy to talk things out, ” scolded them Pete and Venice started laughing. Paris and dad were spying on him and Kit?
“ We just want to make sure that things are okay, ” said Vegas.
Kit was now laughing as well. Venice’s family was really something.
“We’re good, dad, don’t worry, we made up,” said Venice. Did they really think they couldn’t hear them? Then after a few moments of silence, the door opened and Vegas looked inside.
“All good?”
“Yeah, we talked things through,’’ said Venice.
“All’s good,” confirmed Kit and thus eased Vegas’ mind. Vegas knew how afraid Venice must’ve felt before, so he worried the most.
“Oh, good. Then how about… dinner?” asked Vegas and Pete laughed next to him.
“Yeah, we’re gonna be there right away,” said Venice and Vegas quickly disappeared into the kitchen with Pete, where Macau and Leo were already setting up the table.
Just as the boys came downstairs as well, Elle and Mai showed up as well as they were dropped off by their mother – so, all of them enjoyed a lovely family dinner, just like in the good old times.
Things were back to normal.