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“Why is romance such a popular genre?” Vyncent asked, grabbing a handful of William’s popcorn.
“Dunno, I guess people just—”
“They like to watch people kiss !” Dakota interrupted from the floor, a box of pizza by his feet.
“Sure,” William huffed.
“Is it really that fun?” Vyncent asked.
“Is what really that fun?” William tilted his head.
“Kissing.”
“I wouldn’t know.” William shrugged.
“You guys are lame. It is,” Dakota leaned her head backwards onto the couch.
“How would you know?” William asked, sarcastically.
“Hey!” Dakota frowned.
“Who would kiss you ?” Vyncent threw a piece of popcorn at Dakota, who caught and ate it.
“I’ll have you know, I have kissed many people,” Dakota said smugly.
“Sure you have, buddy.” Vyncent patted his head.
“I’m an amazing kisser!” Dakota turned around and jumped up onto the couch, shoving himself between William and Vyncent.
“Excuse you,” William mumbled under their breath and rolled their eyes.
“Prove it,” Vyncent folded his arms in a challenge.
“What?” Both William and Dakota said.
“Prove you’re a good kisser.”
“Okay!” Dakota shrugged. He grabbed Vyncent’s head, one hand on either cheek, and kissed him. He puffed out his cheeks and yelled “mwah!”
“Eh, two out of ten.”
“What?” Dakota asked, clutching his heart dramatically.
“Wasn’t that good,” Vyncent grabbed a piece of popcorn.
“Guys, I asked if you wanted your own bowls,” William piped up quietly. The other two either didn’t hear him, or ignored him. “It’s okay…you can just have mine, I guess”
“I’m an awesome kisser! If I kissed you properly you’d melt.”
“Sure I would.”
Dakota grabbed Vyncent again and kissed him, this time leaving out the dramatics, making the moment less of a joke. When he pulled away, he grinned proudly.
“Six out of ten.”
“You’re impossible to please,” Dakota pouted. Then she turned to William. “Your turn!”
“What?”
“If you side with Vyncent you have to buy me pizza for the rest of the month.”
“I already buy you pizza, Dakota.”
“Well, you’ll have to buy double!”
“Yeah, sure,” William laughed.
Dakota grinned, then grabbed William’s face and raised her eyebrows in question. William raised his eyebrows back. Not a yes, not a no. More like an “up to you.” And Dakota chose to go for it.
He punctuated the kiss with another loud “Mwah!”
“Yeah, that was shit.” William reached over and grabbed his popcorn from Vyncent’s lap. He looked down, hiding the blush on his cheeks.
“You owe me pizza.” Dakota pouted.
“I always do,” William turned back to the tv screen, and focused on the movie. When Dakota slumped back down onto the floor, and Vyncent was focused on the screen, he reached up and held his fingers to his lips.
“How many of these movies are there?” Dakota groaned.
“Too many,” William answered.
“Only three,” Vyncent said, at the same time.
“ Three ? How?!” Dakota whirled around.
“Shit happens.” William shrugged, throwing a piece of popcorn in the air to catch, and missing.
“How much shit?” Dakota grabbed William’s popcorn.
“They’re good movies, guys. You just have no taste,” Vyncent frowned.
“They’re okay.” William said, “I guess.”
“You guess ?” Vyncent gasped.
“Yeah. I dunno. They’re kind of overrated,” William started.
“I am hurt. I am heartbroken. I am leaving and going to watch the movies alone in my room. All alone. Because you both hate me,” Vyncent said dramatically, and jokingly. He grabbed William’s popcorn and walked out, closing his bedroom door gently behind him.
“Well then,” Dakota said. He jumped up and took Vyncent’s place next to William on the couch.
William shrugged.
“I guess I’m that bad of a kisser,” Dakota laughed, “if he had to leave afterwards.”
William shook his head and laughed softly. “I’m gonna go make more popcorn,” he mumbled.
In the kitchen, the ambient sound of popping and the movie in the background, William leaned his head against the fridge and sighed. He thought about Dakota’s lips on his. How his heart pounded so hard he thought Dakota might hear it. And he thought about how that was the closest he would ever get to kissing Dakota Cole.
William felt his lip tremble, and stood up straight. The microwave beeped. He bit his lip and wiped his eyes. He banged his head against the fridge in frustration. He cried so easily.
After pouring the popcorn into a new bowl, William headed back to the couch to find Dakota slumped, her legs on the floor, chin to her chest.
“What’s…up?” William asked, sitting beside Dakota gently.
“Am I really that bad at kissing?” He looked up to William with big eyes. He reminded them of a sad puppy.
“Well, it’s not like you properly kissed him. We were just poking fun.” William grabbed a handful of popcorn.
Dakota shot up, “Why are they all straight?”
“What?” William choked.
“All these romcoms. They’re all straight people.” Dakota turned to William.
“Yeah. Uh, I mean, there are a few queer romcoms but…” They trailed off, picking at more popcorn.
“How ‘bout you?”
“Pardon?” William coughed. This is not the direction they expected the conversation to go.
“Like. Uh. Straight?”
William snorted and doubled over laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Dakota looked frantic, which sent William into a further fit of laughter.
“Dakota! Have you seen me?” He said, between hiccups.
“Well, I dunno. I don’t want to assume!” Dakota said sheepishly.
“I have a pride flag in my room!”
“I wasn’t sure if it was like…an ally thing!”
“Dakota!” William almost fell off the couch.
“It’s not my fault!” Dakota pouted.
William took a deep breath. “No, you’re right. Allies totally keep specific pride flags in their rooms.” They nodded earnestly.
“Okay. That’s– you– Yeah.”
“Yeah.” William smiled.
“I was just wondering.” Dakota shrugged, picking at the hem of her shirt.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed,” William looked over at Dakota.
“Yeah. I mean– no. It’s okay.”
There was a moment of silence before Dakota said, “So, you’re bi?”
William looked up, eyebrows furrowed, “Yeah.”
“And you’re seventeen?”
“Yeah…?” They said, unsure where this was going.
“And you haven’t kissed anyone ?”
“Fuck you!” William gasped, throwing pieces of popcorn at Dakota.
“I’m just saying ! Kinda sad.”
“You’re so mean,” William laughed, shaking his head.
There was another moment of silence, broken by Dakota saying, “I’m sure you’re a good kisser.”
William froze, hand halfway to their mouth. “Hm?”
“Like. I dunno. You seem like it.”
“Like I’d be good at kissing ?” William raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah…” Dakota thought for a second, then “Oh my god!”
“What?” William asked, frantic.
“Did I steal your first kiss?”
“I would hardly call that a proper kiss…” William fiddled with their hands.
“It was still technically your first.”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t like…real?”
Dakota pressed her lips together before blurting out, “Would you want to?”
William’s eyes widened in shock. Suddenly they felt themselves slipping through the couch, intangible. He landed flat on his back, turning tangible, and felt the crush of the couch on his chest. He could hear Dakota’s cackling.
William lay there for a moment, wincing, before turning intangible and returning to his seat atop the couch.
“My stomach hurts!” Dakota cackled, coughing and gasping for breath.
“You are so annoying!”
“Oh my god!” Dakota hit the armrest, leaving a dent with her super strength. “You just fell through! The timing !”
“Yeah…great timing,” William mumbled.
Dakota regained composure, and grinned at William. “You never answered me.”
“What did you ask?” William looked down at their hands.
“If I could kiss you.”
“That isn’t what you asked,” William whipped his head towards Dakota.
“It basically is,” Dakota shrugged, her grin widening.
“No. You asked if I would want to have a real kiss.”
“Would you?”
“Maybe.” William lifted a shoulder, still not looking up at Dakota.
“From me?”
William swallowed and picked at their nails. He swallowed, and took a deep breath. “Yeah.”
“Yeah?” He could hear the grin in Dakota’s voice.
“Yeah.” William nodded, finally looking up at Dakota.
“Okay.” Dakota nodded quickly, eyes flicking between William’s eyes and lips.
William took a deep breath and gave Dakota a small smile. Dakota returned the smile, then suddenly turned his whole body to face William. Now both were cross-legged, Dakota facing William. Dakota looked down, between them, and frowned. He shifted again, dropping both legs over the front of the couch. William dropped a leg, and held back a soft laugh at Dakota’s behaviour. William dropped one leg and turned his body to face Dakota. Dakota copied, then dropped both legs in defeat. He sat forward, torso turned towards William, then turned forwards again. Then, Dakota returned to his original position, sitting cross-legged across William, chewing on his nail, leg bouncing.
“Dakota.” William raised their eyebrows.
“Huh? Yeah?”
William shifted closer, and smiled.
Dakota let out a huff, opened her mouth to speak, and closed it.
“I, uh. I’m usually much better at this, I don’t know what–”
William surged forward, grabbing Dakota’s neck to hold her face against his. Their lips connected. William loosened his grip on Dakota as they both relaxed into the kiss. Dakota kissed back gently for a few moments before pulling away and grinning.
“I think I really like you,” Dakota whispered.
“You think?” William breathed.
“I know I really like you.” Dakota said, before taking both of his hands and aggressively cupping William’s face. This time, the kiss felt like a fire running through William’s body. It was better than they had imagined. Dakota was eager, as if she had been waiting to do this for a while. If that was the case, William was in a similar situation.
William pulled back. “Me too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” William grinned and once again pulled Dakota in, smiling against her lips. He lost track of time kissing Dakota. He felt like all the breath had been sucked out of him, yet so alive. William was really happy for the first time in a while. He had never thought he would be able to do this, and now he’s finding out that Dakota wanted it just as much as he did. And it showed through the kiss.
Until William fell through the floor. They landed with a hard thud in the basement of the base. They blinked in disbelief, and turned their head up. In the distance, they could hear Dakota yelling, and laughing.
“William? William!”
“Is William okay?” Vyncent’s frantic voice rang out.
William dropped his head into his hands and sighed.
“I’m all good!” He shouted, then started to make his way upstairs.
“What happened?” William heard Vyncent’s say. He creaked open the door slowly and slowly walked towards them.
“Who knows. They just disappeared,” Dakota laughed. William felt a pang in his chest. Maybe he was wrong, maybe Dakota didn’t want to kiss him. Maybe Dakota didn’t like William as much as William liked him. Maybe—
“So, did you do it?” Vyncent’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
Dakota stopped laughing, “do what?”
“Kiss him, dumbass.”
“Oh. Uh…”
“You better have. I left just so you could have some alone time with them!” Vyncent poked Dakota’s bicep to emphasise the “you,” and pointed off to the distance to end the sentence. William snorted quietly as Vyncent pointed in the opposite direction.
Then the sentence registered, and William’s jaw dropped. The pang in his chest was replaced with a fluttering giddiness.
“Yeah. You…yeah. Wait, what?” Dakota rubbed his neck.
“Did you think I just left ?” Vyncent asked in disbelief.
“I mean, yeah. You were upset that William hated the movies!”
“Dakota.” Vyncent rubbed his temples.
“What?”
“Just– Did you kiss him or not?” Vyncent was still rubbing his temples.
“I, uh. Well…kinda?”
“What do you mean, ‘kinda?’”
“I kissed him first,” William finally spoke up. Dakota jumped, then tried to play it off by leaning on Vyncent, who stepped away.
Vyncent and William watched as Dakota fell to the floor, and proceeded to pose and wink at William.
“Why do you like this man?” Vyncent stared down at Dakota, who was grinning wide.
“I…don’t know.”
“Valid.” Vyncent nodded. He looked between the grinning, and red, Dakota, and William. “Okay. Bye.” And just like that, he walked off.
William watched him leave, then stared down at Dakota. “Do you want help up?”
“Nope!” He jumped up, effortlessly, and smiled at William. “Wanna finish the movie?”
“You actually liked that movie?” William asked, taken aback.
“No, but I liked kissing you,” Dakota said sheepishly.
William felt the blood rush to his cheeks. “Yeah,” he nodded. “Yeah, okay. Yeah. That– yeah, that sounds good.”
Dakota smirked and grabbed William’s hand and dragged them back to the couch. The credits were playing on the screen. Dakota grabbed the remote and turned on the sequel, and William laughed.
“You know, there doesn’t have to be a movie playing, Dakota.”
“Yeah, but, if it stops then Tide will come out and ask what’s up. And then he’ll try to have the talk with me again,” Dakota shuddered.
William was speechless. He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it. Then opened it again. “Ew.”
“Yep.”
Dakota’s eyes slid to the screen as the characters on it kissed. He turned back to William. “Why are we talking about Tide right now?” He flopped dramatically onto William’s lap.
William grinned, and leaned down to kiss Dakota. When he pulled away, Dakota sat up and gave him a blinding smile before leaning in to kiss him. And William knew that he could do this, stay in this moment, forever.