Archive of Our Own

“Hey, what are you all doing this weekend?” Kinn asked when he and the others joined the four younger boys in the hallway.

“Why?” Porsche asked.

“Kinn’s parents are out of town for the weekend so we thought we could use the opportunity and throw a little party,” Vegas said and Kinn nodded while wrapping his arm around Porsche’s waist and pulling him close to himself.

“We’re in, of course and we expect you all to be there as well,” Tay said and Time nodded in agreement.

“Party?” Pete repeated a bit nervously and looked at Arm who looked a bit unsure about it as well.

“Nothing too crazy, don’t worry. It will be more like a sleepover than an actual party,” Kinn assured them.

“I’ll need to ask my parents about that.”

“Tell them that my brother will be there so there will be an adult to keep an eye on us the whole time,” Kinn said and Pete nodded.

“Just make sure to let your parents allow you all to go. It’ll be fun, trust me,” Vegas looked at the freshmen.

“Do you drink while having these…sleepovers?” Pete asked.

“Yeah… a little bit,” Time nodded.

“But you don’t have to if you don’t want to, don’t worry,” Tay assured the younger ones.

“It’s about just having a good time, not about to get wasted, ok?” Vegas pulled Pete to himself and kissed his cheek which make Pete smile.

“We’ll order some take outs, probably play some games and most likely watch some movie… stuff like that,” Time said.

“That sounds like fun,” Pol said.

“It will be. So you all better be there,” Kinn nodded.

*

“Like a party?” Pete’s mom asked when Pete told them about it.

“More like a sleepover than a party.”

“While the parents are not home?" his dad looked amused when he looked up from the newspapers.

“B-but Kinn’s older brother will be there!” Pete said quickly.

“Will you be drinking, Pete?” the mom asked and Pete quickly shook his head.

“So what’s the point of going there,” the dad muttered and Pete bit his cheek to prevent laughing while his mom rolled her eyes.

“Look… we don’t mind if you’ll drink. You’re at the age where you might want to try it. And that’s alright. Trying is fine, just don’t get drunk so you will not do something stupid or dangerous, ok?” the mom placed her hand on Pete’s shoulder.

“Kinn and Vegas said that they don’t even want us to get drunk. That we will just have fun. Games, movies and these things. Like what we do with the boys when we’re having sleepovers.”

“The difference is that usually there is at least one parent home when you’re having these sleepovers,” the mom noted.

“I know,” Pete admitted. “S-so can I go or not?” he asked not sure if he’s allowed to go or not.

“We know you’ll not do anything stupid, Pete so of course you can go,” the mom smiled and pulled her son in a hug.

“Thanks!” Pete smiled while hugging her back.

“Do you want some tips on how to deal with a hangover?” the dad asked.

“I will not get drunk, dad!” Pete laughed, still hugging his mom.

“Again… so what’s the point of going there?” the dad rolled his eyes in amusement.

“Be glad that our son is nothing like you when you were his age,” the mom unhugged Pete and looked at her husband.

“That would be a nightmare to raise,” the dad nodded.

“Were you really such a troublemaker, dad?” Pete asked with a smile and went to sit down at the table where the dad was reading the newspaper.

“I definitely knew how to get in trouble,” the dad laughed again while putting away the newspaper so he could tell Pete one of two stories from when he was a juvenile.

“I am really glad that you did not inherit your dad’s troublemaker nature,” the mom said and ruffled Pete’s hair.

“Just you wait. He still might start with it,” the dad said.

“Please don’t,” the mom looked at her laughing son.

“But I doubt it. We raised him way too well for that,” the dad admitted and smiled proudly at his son who smiled back at him, happy that his parents consider his son to be someone they can be proud of.

“And will the other boys be there as well?” the mom asked.

“Porsche most likely for sure. Arm and Pol have to ask their parents first.”

“I am sure they’ll have no problem to be allowed to go. There never were any trouble with any of them,” the dad said and the mom nodded in agreement.

*

“Sleepover? Who’s the host this time, Porsche, Pol or Pete?” Arm’s mom asked.

“None of them actually. It’s at Kinn’s house. You know, one of the sophomores we made friends with? Kinn’s parents are not going to be home this weekend so the boys thought it might be fun to just…”

“So it’s a party then,” Arm’s dad looked at his son.

“No,” Arm shook his head quickly. “Just a sleepover.”

“Who knows how many teenagers left alone in the house is hardly just a sleepover, Arm,” the dad noted.

“You’re 14, Arm, don’t you think you still have plenty of time for parties?” the mom asked.

“It’s not a party, mom. They said they don’t even drink there. They just play some games or watch movies. Just like we do with the boys during our sleepovers,” Arm was not giving up but not even bothering to point out that in only a couple of months he’ll be 15. “And, and also there will be an adult with us!” he added quickly.

“Yeah?” the dad asked.

“Yes. Kinn’s older brother will be there the whole time,” Arm nodded.

“Well… in that case…” the mom began to think about it, so Arm really believed he'd be allowed to go. “Are the other boys going to be there as well? Pol and the others?” she asked while thinking.

“Yes,” Arm nodded.

“So what do you think?” the mom looked at her husband.

“That I had my first party when I was 13, so I think we should let him go,” he said.

“It’s not a party, dad,” Arm laughed a bit and the dad did a bit as well.

“Alright, fine. I am sure that you’re smart enough to know what to do and what not to do,” the mom said finally and Arm smiled and after he said quick thank you, he ran to his room to pack some stuff.

*

When Pol and Porsche assured their parents that it’s a sleepover and not a party, that the other boys will be there as well and told them that there will be at least one adult person in the house to keep an eye on them, the two were allowed to go as well.

*

Vegas, on the other hand, ran into a slight problem with the sleepover.

“I said no like ten times already,” Vegas rolled his eyes while getting ready.

“But why not?” Macau whined.

“Because I said so and now get out of my room I need to get ready,” Vegas pushed Macau towards the door.

“But... but…”

“Macau, I said go!” Vegas managed to get Macau out of his room before he closed and locked the door.

“I am going to ask mom anyway!” Macau called from behind the door.
Vegas really hoped that their mom would not make him take Macau with him to Kinn’s house. He was sure that she wouldn’t do that to him, but the small possibility of that was there so he just really hoped for the best.

While Vegas was getting ready in the bathroom he got a text from Pete telling him that his parents allowed him to go which made Vegas smile victoriously. He didn’t even consider the option of Pete not being there to be honest.

He texted Pete back, telling him that he’ll come to pick him up and also told him to tell Porsche and the others that he’ll drive them to Kinn’s house as well. Kinn and Vegas agreed that this way it’ll be easier for everybody.

“I’m going, mom,” Vegas entered the living room with a backpack with the basic sleepover stuff.

“Mom… pleeease,” Macau was sulking on the sofa.

“Macau, come on. Vegas will be there with his friends. He isn’t going with you to the sleepovers you have with your friends either, is he?” The mom shook her head while going to hug Vegas.

“Thank you, mom,” Vegas told her quietly while hugging her.

“Don’t destroy uncle’s house, alright? And don’t drink too much. Actually, Pete and his friends should not be drinking at all, you know that, right?” she told him when she pulled back.

“Don’t worry mom, we’re not going there to get wasted,” Vegas assured her.

“We’ll see in what state you’ll come home and then I will maybe believe that,” she laughed a bit and Vegas did as well.

“You’re leaving, Vegas?” Gun entered the room.

“Yeah, I should head out by now, I need to pick up the boys on my way to Kinn’s.”

“Take this to your uncle, will you? He knows about it so just place it on his desk in his office,” Gun handed Vegas some papers.

“Sure, no problem.”

“Thank you.”

“Dad, please tell Vegas to take me with him,” Macau asked desperately and ran to his dad.

“Trust me, you don’t want to go with him. Eight teenagers with no adults in the house… yeah you’d need therapy from what you’d see over there,” Gun shook his head and ruffled Macau’s hair.

“Ok, firstly, Khun will be there so we do have an adult there and secondly, what do you think is going to happen over there, pa?” Vegas laughed.

“I was young once as well, son. So I think I have a very good idea about what is going to happen over there,” Gun chuckled. “Which reminds me. It’s my brother’s house so make sure he’ll still have a house to return to, alright?” he added, more seriously.

“We always do, dad. You know that.”

“And don’t forget to clean up the mess you’ll make there,” the mom said and Vegas nodded.

“Ok, bye,” Vegas told his parents and Macau as well.

Macau was clearly upset that he wasn’t allowed to go with him, he had his arms crossed while looking at the ground. Vegas knew that Macau would get over it in no time. He always does. They can never stay mad at each other for long, no matter what, but he still felt a bit bad to see Macau like that.

“Hey, Macau?” he said and Macau pouted even more. “Could you look after Archie for me?”

That made Macau look at Vegas immediately. Vegas rarely lets Macau do that because he’s worried about his little pet companion too much to leave him in care of his little brother. So when Macau is tasked to do that he always feels really proud because of that.

“Me? Really?!”

“Who else?” Vegas chuckled. “You know what to do, right?” he asked and Macau smiled and nodded immediately. “Make sure I’ll not come back to a hedgehog corpse then, ok?”

“I will, don’t worry!” Macau promised.

“Thanks, bro,” Vegas fist bumped Macau so he was sure that he and Macau are ok now. Before he left the room he looked at his parents, silently asking them to keep an eye on Macau while he’ll be keeping an eye on Archie and the parents smiled and nodded.

*

“Tay and Time are here,” Vegas noted when he saw Time’s car parked outside of Kinn’s house.

“Wow… This house is huge. Is Vegas’ house as big as this one?” Pol asked Pete quietly when they all got out of the car. Pete looked at him and nodded and then blushed when he heard Vegas chuckle a bit so he knew he heard them.

“Let’s go inside,” Vegas wrapped his arm around Pete’s waist while heading inside.

“Hey! Finally,” Time, who was just in the hallway, said happily when he saw them. “Kinn and Tay are in the living room.”

“Will you show them the way? I am just going to take this to uncle’s office,” Vegas gestured to the papers he had in hand and Time nodded and told the boys to follow him.

Vegas pulled Pete closer when he was about to go with them. “You’re coming with me. I’ll be your personal guide,” he said and Pete giggled and followed him.

*

“Look, what I’ve found!” Time announced when he brought the boys to the spacious living room where Kinn and Tay were making their base camp. They brought some pillows there and placed them on the floor to make a few comfy sitting areas, put some food, snacks and drinks on the coffee tables so it was easy for everyone to have whatever they wanted.

“Hey!” Tay greeted them with a smile and Kinn did as well while going to kiss Porsche.

“Haven’t you lost a few people on your way here?” Tay looked at his boyfriend.

“Vegas went to give some papers in Kinn’s dad’s office and he forced Pete to go with him.”

“Poor Pete,” Kinn muttered and the others laughed a bit. “Anyway… please take whatever you want, ok?” he looked at Arm and Pol while gesturing to the various food options.

“We will get proper food later,” Tay added when the boys were looking at the not so healthy food everywhere.

“Oh, new arrivals!” an older boy said excitedly when he entered the room and saw them. Arm and Pol were a little bit surprised by how colorful the boy’s clothes were. It should look weird. They knew that the bold colors should look weird but for whatever reason the clothes looked absolutely fitting for that boy.

“Hey, Khun,” Porsche waved at him and Tankhun greeted him back.

“This is Tankhun, my brother. And this is Arm and Pol,” Kinn did a quick introduction.

“Well, let me tell you this just once…” Tankhun began in a serious tone and looked at Arm and Pol while going towards them. “If I see a single drop of alcohol you’re in trouble, ok? I was tasked to keep an eye on you so there will be no drinking whatsoever. Also the bedtime is at 8pm and if anyone will be out of bed after that, they’ll be in serious trouble,” he continued and Arm and Pol were nodding to agree with it, not seeing how the others were trying not to laugh when seeing how convincing Tankhun was while saying that.

“Damn I should be an actor, huh?” Tankhun looked over his shoulder to look at the others when he saw how seriously the two boys took his words. That made the others laugh finally. “I am just kidding!” Tankhun exclaimed with a smile and looked back at Arm and Pol who laughed a bit at hearing that. “Don’t worry, you are here to have fun.”

“Hey, guys,” Pete greeted everyone when he and Vegas entered the room.

“Is this Pete, Vegas?” Tankhun asked and went to them.

Pete was a bit surprised by Tankhun knowing his name already.

“Yep… that’s Pete. Pete, this is Tankhun,” Vegas nodded proudly and wrapped one arm around Pete’s shoulders.

“He’s adorable,” Tankhun said and pinched Pete’s cheek which made Pete laugh a bit, still not sure what exactly is going on, but not really caring much since Tankhun seemed to be really friendly..

“Don’t I know it,” Vegas muttered and looked at Pete who giggled before he slipped out of Vegas’s hold and went to Arm and Pol who decided to try some of the snacks there. They all found some place to sit and began to talk. Tankhun was getting to know the new three boys who got over the initial shock of meeting him and had a good time while interacting with him.

*

“Kim? Kim, come say hi,” Tankhun noticed his brother passing through the living room but not bothering to let his presence know, he just continued to the hallway so Tankhun called him back in the room, or tried to anyway.

“Hi!” Kim called from the hallway with no intention of stopping or coming back, which made Time and Tay laugh. Vegas knew for sure that Kim chose to go through the living room on purpose, he didn’t have to go that way to get out of the house. He chose this route to see who was in the house and what was going on.

Kim was nosy so he liked to know what was going on, especially when it was going on in his own house.

“Khimhant!” Tankhun called again. They heard Kim sighed before he came back to the room.

“What?” The younger boy looked at his brother.

“Are you going somewhere?” Tankhun raised an eyebrow when seeing that Kim put on a jacket and had his guitar over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Kim nodded.

“When did I allow it?” Tankhun asked.

“When did I ask?” Kim replied immediately which made Time and Tay and Porsche as well laugh. “I am just going to hang out with Big,” Kim added, almost annoyed he has to have that conversation.

“You’ll be home at 8,” Tankhun said.

“Sure thing, mom,” Kim rolled his eyes and left the room.

“Please let me have Kim. I’ll give you Macau,” Vegas looked at his cousins when he saw how uninterested Kim was in being around them. He knew that if Macau was here, nothing would make him leave the room.

“Why?” Kinn laughed a bit.

“Macau wanted me to take him with me here.”

“Aww… wasn’t he sad that you didn’t? You should have…” Pete started and turned his head to look at Vegas who was hugging him from behind. Vegas prevented him from finishing the sentence by quickly placing his hand over his mouth.

“Do not even dare to finish that sentence, Pete,” Vegas warned him while Pete was laughing in his arms.

“That’s a violation of basic human rights, Vegas,” Tay said while laughing, just like the others. Pete began to nod, as much as he could, in agreement while trying to move Vegas’s hand away from his mouth.

“Do you promise no more insane statements?” Vegas asked Pete who while still laughing nodded a bit. Vegas moved his hand away from his mouth and leaned closer to kiss his cheek.

“Anyway… how about we start with something more fun than listening to Vegas’s whining about Macau?” Time asked.

“I am not whin…”

“What do you have in mind?” Kinn ignored Vegas and looked at Time. Vegas laid his head on Pete’s shoulder while muttering more complaints, this time about his friends.

“Me? You have the key to our happiness, don’t you?” Time looked at the not so small liquor cabinet in the corner of the room.

“Before you’ll plunder that thing, just let me say this. No one will get too drunk. One or two drinks will be the limit, ok?” Tankhun said. This time he was being serious and they all knew that and agreed. They knew that he wouldn’t try to stop them from having a drink or two but he still knew that they should not really be drinking at all so he was willing to make a compromise with them.

Kinn hopped to his feet and went to get the key from the liquor cabinet.

“I am not sure if I should be drinking,” Arm whispered to Pol.

“Take him as your example. All of you!” Tankhun pointed at Arm who blushed when he realized that since no one was saying anything, everyone heard him.

“No one is saying you have to, Arm. If you don’t want to then you don’t have to,” Tay smiled at Arm.

Tankhun was about to say something but got interrupted by his phone ringing. “Oh, this will take a while. Behave children, I’ll come check on you later to see how many of you are still alive,” he said while leaving the room.

“Finally,” Time said when Kinn returned and unlocked the cabinet. Vegas, Time, Tay and Porsche went to Kinn.

Pol looked at Pete and Arm before he shrugged a bit and went over there as well. Pete and Arm looked at each other but stayed where they were, happy with having just juice.

“Wait… can I mix some drinks for you?” Porsche offered them eagerly.

“You know how to?” Time asked a little bit skeptically.

“You bet. I am going to open the best bar in the whole country. Just wait. My auntie Yok owns one and she lets me help her there sometimes,” Porsche nodded.

“A bit young for that, aren’t you?” Vegas chuckled.

“For now I am mostly helping with the cleaning. But when she has time she’s showing me how to make really great drinks.”

“I am curious to see what you can do then?” Tay smiled and the others let Porsche mix some drinks for them as well.

“Arm? Pete? Really nothing?” Porsche asked while making the drinks.

“We’re good,” they assured him, so Porsche made just six drinks for those who wanted to.

“Wow… this really is good!” Tay said surprised when he took a sip of the drink.

“Not bad,” Vegas nodded and offered the glass to Pete who bit his lip a bit before he gave in and took a sip of it as well. He’s just tasting it, not getting drunk, he told himself.

“Ok… that bar thing is really a good idea,” Time told Porsche when he tasted the drink as well.

“You’re really good at this,” Kinn looked at his boyfriend.

Porsche grinned happily at hearing that everyone seems to like what he made for them.

Pol offered his glass to Arm who signed a bit and decided to taste the drink as well.

“So how long are you two together?” Time looked at Pol and Arm who choke on the drink, surprised by that question. Pol was quickly trying to help him by hitting his back a bit.

Time and Tay looked confused by that reaction.

“We’re not… not…” Arm was trying to say while gesturing to him and Pol and shaking his head while trying to escape his near death experience by drowning.

“You’re not dating?!” Tay asked surprised and Arm shook his head. Pol did a bit as well.

“Are you sure? Cos I…” Time asked and Tay elbowed him in the ribs to make him stop talking.

“This is really very good,” Kinn decided to divert the attention from the awkward moment and gestured to the drink in his hand. Everyone quickly agreed and began to talk about that and other things.

Tay noticed that Arm and Pol were sitting a bit further from each other now. He hoped that it’s just a coincidence and that he and Time didn’t make them feel too awkward.

They decided to play some video games. They were picking games they can either all play at the same time or can take turns while competing against each other 1v1.

*

“It’s about dinner time, what do you want to order? Literally anything anyone wants, ok?” Kinn said when, while playing, he noticed it’s getting a bit late. When they told him what everyone wanted he stood up and went to order the food. He stopped in Tankhun’s room. Tankhun, who was still on the phone, told Kinn what he wanted before paying attention to his phone again.

“Did Kim come back yet? I didn’t hear him come back yet,” Pete asked when the food arrived and they all began to eat. Tankhun finally finished his phone call and joined them in the living room.

Pete asked because it was almost 9 o’clock.

“He’ll be back before 9, don't worry,” Tankhun assured him.

“Didn’t you say 8?” Arm asked.

“And he always makes sure to come back like an hour later so he can feel like a little rebel,” Tankhun waved it off.

“When me and Tankhun tell him when he is going to be home, that is. When mom or dad tell him that then he’s home on time,” Kinn added and Tankhun nodded.

“Still… are you sure he’s ok?” Pete asked.

“What do you think could happen to him?” Kinn asked amused.

“I don’t know… what if someone kidnaps him or something,” Pete shrugged and the older ones laughed when hearing that.

“Trust me. If anyone would kidnap Kim, they would give him back very quickly,” Time laughed and Kinn with Tankhun agreed.

“Really?” Kim asked and made everyone jump and some even scream a bit. No one heard him enter the room and stand there for a moment when he heard that they’re talking about him.

“Yeah, you little… you scared the shit out of me!” Time complained.

“It’s not my fault you’re wuss,” Kim shrugged.

“Watch it. And don’t test me, I am not above beating up a child!” Time warned him and Tay rolled his eyes in amusement.

“Is it because you can’t take down guys your own size?” Kim raised an eyebrow and Tay with Porsche burst into laughter.

“You’re late,” Tankhun looked at Kim as if this was a totally everyday interaction between these two.

“Am I?” Kim deadpanned.

“Are you hungry?” Kinn asked.

“There is plenty of all sorts of stuff so come join us,” Pete said with a smile.

Kim looked at the food, clearly considering the pros and cons of that.

“Or are you too scared to come anywhere near me right now?” Time smirked.

Kim’s eyes narrowed at the insulting implication and went to sit down.

“Vegas said you’re into music, Kim,” Pete said friendly while Kim was reaching for a slice of pizza. The boy just nodded a bit as a reply.

Pete, worried he did something wrong, looked at Vegas and Kinn who silently assured him that it’s not personal, that’s just Kim being Kim.

“How’s your boyfriend?” Time asked teasingly.

Kim rolled his eyes. “Gross… Big’s just a friend,” he muttered.

“I am still shocked you have any friends at all,” Time chuckled.

“Funny, I am thinking the same thing about you,” Kim nodded calmly.

Pete and Arm were at first a bit worried about Kim and how much Time seemed to tease him but they found out soon that the younger boy was not affected by the teasing in any way and that he was easily coming up with clever witty comebacks so they presumed that Time wasn’t really meaning to hurt Kim’s feelings in any way.

And also they saw that Kinn and Tankhun are both totally calm while watching his little brother being teased like that so they presumed everything was just in a joking matter.

“We’re gonna watch some movie later, Kim. Wanna join us?” Porsche offered him.

“No,” Kim shook his head.

“Seriously… I’ll give you Macau, give me Kim!” Vegas told Kinn quietly. Pete who heard it hit his arm a bit which made Vegas chuckle.

“Huh?” Kim asked when he heard his name.

“You’re a perfect little brother Kim. Wanting to be locked up in your room and not being here with us and all,” Vegas said.

“But you can be with us here, if you want to!” Pete said quickly.

“I don’t!” Kim said even quicker.

“Like I said… perfect little brother,” Vegas repeated.

“I bet he and his boyfriend have some plans. That’s why he’s not eager to hang out with us here,” Time nudged Kim a bit and Kim gave him a very annoyed look.

“Come on Time… give him a break,” Tay clicked his tongue.

“What? He’s 13, about time to start with these things,” Time shrugged.

“I didn’t,” Pete muttered quietly.

“Lucky me,” Vegas whispered, also quiet enough just for Pete to hear that which made the younger boy smile a bit. He didn’t mind taking his time with dating, especially since it really felt like he was just waiting for the right person.

“Just make sure to not go to Kinn or Vegas for any advice about dating, ok?” Tankhun told Kim. “The dumb and dumber over there would end up telling you to burn down the school or some nonsense like that.”

“I didn’t say that. I told Vegas to trigger the fire alarm, not burn down the school!” Kinn defended himself.

“And I was… not really thinking about doing it!” Vegas tried to sound convincing.

At that time the fire alarm idea did sound quite tempting to be honest.

“What?” the freshmen asked, confused.

“Don’t look too surprised, Petey. You’re the one who almost made Vegas burn down the school,” Tankhun looked at Pete who looked even more confused now.

“What?” Pete laughed and looked at Vegas.

“What? I was running out of ideas on how to make you realize I am into you,” Vegas said.

“And burning down the school was the first thing you came up with?” Porsche laughed a bit and looked at Kinn.

“No. Again, I told him just to trigger the fire alarm, not starting any fires,” Kinn repeated himself.

“But how was burning down the school supposed to make Pete realize you’re into him?” Pol asked confused while looking at Vegas.

“I would like to know that as well,” Pete nodded.

“It was supposed to be about the gesture. Something so big you would not be able to overlook. Everyone would gather outside of the school, right? And then I would let everyone there know that I want to date you,” Vegas explained.

“Also… when is burning down the school not a good idea?” Time asked and made everyone laugh.

“I am glad I was not having any trouble like that with you, Porsche. You luckily picked up on my flirting quite quickly,” Kinn smiled and pulled Porsche closer.

“Are you calling me a slut?” Porsche raised an eyebrow. He managed to last a few seconds before starting to laugh and the others joined him.

“So like I said… just come to me when…” Tankhun began and looked at where Kim was supposed to be sitting but that place was empty now.

“Shit… that little creep is like a ghost,” Time said when noticed Kim was gone and looked around to see if Kim wasn't somewhere in the room but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

“His stealth is getting out of hand by now,” Kinn admitted and Tankhun nodded a bit as well.

“Quite impressive to be honest,” Vegas noted and the others nodded in agreement.

“So… do we know what movie we wanna watch yet?” Tay asked.

“Will you join us, Khun?” Kinn looked at his brother.

“I think I’ll leave you to it. I don’t think I need to witness what 8 teenagers are doing when the lights turn off.

“We’ll watch a movie, just like we said,” Kinn rolled his eyes in amusement.

“You maybe, but what about the horny bunnies over there?” Tankhun looked at Tay and Time who both immediately looked shocked at being called out like that.

“Hey… we are totally capable of keeping our hands to ours…” Time started.

“No, you’re not,” Vegas shook his head in amusement which made the couple roll their eyes.

“If you want something from here it’s your last chance. I am taking the key with me,” Tankhun announced while the boys were trying to agree on what movie they should watch. Tankhun was standing at the liquor cabinet. He trusted them, but also he will feel better when he’ll know that the cabinet was locked and he has the key.

“Porsche, would you make me one of your delicious drinks, please?” Tay looked at the younger boy who jumped to his feet immediately.

“Make two,” Time waved at him.

“Three, babe. Thank you!” Kinn called.

“Four,” Vegas raised his hand.

“Guys?” Porsche looked at the remaining boys.

“I am good,” Pete shook his head.

“Me too,” Arm did as well and Pol this time declined as well.

“You’ve been tasked to be the barman for tonight?” Tankhun asked when Porsche got to the cabinet and began to make the drinks. Porsche told him about his aspirations of becoming one some day and so he’s using any chance he’ll get to practice. Tankun at hearing that asked for a drink as well, curious to see if Porsche’s drinks are any good.

“Hm… not bad,” Tankhun said when he tasted the drink. “Well done,” he patted Porsche’s shoulder.

Porsche grinned happily at hearing that.

“Ok. Have fun, don’t do anything stupid… you know the rules. Night,” Tankhun waved at the boys while leaving the room.

“Goodnight!” the boys replied.

“Ok, ready?” Time asked if everyone was seated, had enough food and drinks in their reach and were ready to watch the horror they agreed on.

Pete whined a bit and cuddled closer to Vegas he was under one blanket with. He wasn't really keen on watching a horror movie but he would deal with it since he wasn’t there alone. He would never watch a scary movie on his own, but when he had people there with him he was able to somehow get through it.

Vegas muttered something comforting in his ear and pulled him even closer.

When the room went dark, with the only light coming from the big tv, Pete moved even closer to Vegas.

Every time there was something scary about to happen Pete hid his face in the crook of Vegas’s neck and didn’t look back on the screen until Vegas assured him that it’s safe to look.

Vegas was really doing a really great job at it since he saw that movie before so he knew when the scary scenes ended for real. Vegas of course couldn’t have been happier. He was happy that Pete considers him as someone who can offer and provide him comfort. Also Pete was fricking cute while cuddling to him like that.

The others were not looking away from the screen the way Pete did.

Kinn, Vegas, Time, Porsche and Pol were commenting and offering their own solutions to situations in the movie or calling the characters idiots for making stupid choices, but they managed to do it in a funny and not annoying way so they were not ruining the ambience for the others.

Tay flinched a bit when something more brutal happened but didn’t look away. Arm was approaching the movie with logic so pretty much along with the other boys calling the characters idiots for being stupid enough to get themselves killed, but the others were louder and their comments were more frequent than his.

Pete, even though he was a bit scared while watching, also had a really good time. The others with their funny comments made it a bit less scary and also they were all there so that helped him a lot. But not as much as Vegas’s hand wrapped around him the whole time.

*

“How do you guys want to sleep? Do you all want one bedroom or do you want one each?” Kinn looked at Pete, Pol and Arm. He didn’t have to ask Porsche because he knew that he would be in his room with him.

“Together!” Pete said quickly, and then looked at his friends for confirmation. He was not about to sleep all alone in an unfamiliar house after watching a horror movie, no thank you.

“Or… you could… you know…” Vegas looked at Pete, kind of expecting Pete to stay in the room Vegas uses here as his own.

Pete figured what was Vegas offering but he wasn’t sure if he’s ready for that so he, hoping Vegas would understand, shook his head a bit and looked at Arm and Pol, silently telling him he’d prefer to stay with his friends for the night.

“Alright,” Vegas smiled and Pete was glad that he wasn’t trying to change his mind.

“Or you could join me and Tay,” Time pulled Pete in a side hug and winked at him.

Pete, not sure what he should say, just laughed a bit.

“Time please… let him go, poor thing looks traumatized just from that idea alone,” Tay laughed when he saw Pete having no idea what to say or do.

“No need to. We’ll make sure to show you a really good ti…” Time began while looking at Pete.

“You will not finish that sentence and also you will let go of my boyfriend right now,” Vegas walked up to them and pulled Pete away from Time. He knew that Time was just joking, Pete knew it as well since he was not looking uncomfortable, but Vegas still didn’t like Pete being this close to anyone but him.

“Ok… what about you two? Any takers for some fun?” Time looked at Pol and Arm who were just finishing up some of the snacks. Upon hearing that, the two made a perfect impression of a deer caught in the headlights, clearly thinking that if they’ll not move they’ll be ok.

“Am I not good enough for you?” Tay put his hand on his hips and Time immediately looked at him. Time knew that Tay also knows that he was just messing around but he still wanted to make sure Tay knows he’s more than enough.

“Of course you are, babe,” Time went to his boyfriend.

Tay raised an eyebrow. “So stop trying to bring cute freshmen in our bed,” he said, still nowhere near upset or offended by Time’s friendly flirting.

“But I would share them with you, honey,” Time assured Tay and placed his hands on Tay’s hips to pull him close to him. Tay rolled his eyes before he had to laugh which made Time grin victoriously. He loves making his boyfriend smile and laugh because Tay looks amazing while doing so. He looks amazing no matter what he does, but smiling is one of Time’s favorite things to watch Tay do.

“Are you not going to offer me some fun?” Porsche asked Time.

“No, he is not. Because you’d be in,” Kinn said and pulled Porsche to himself.

“Wait till Kinn falls asleep and then come to our room,” Time whispered to Porsche, loudly enough for everyone to hear it, and winked at the boy while he was gently guiding laughing Tay towards the hallway.

“You’ve got it,” Porsche whispered, as loudly as Time, and winked at him as well.

Kinn, of course, could see and hear all of that and rolled his eyes.

“Well, there goes Kinn’s sleep for tonight,” Vegas laughed.

“Nah… I’ll just lock the door.”

“Yeah? Not going to tie me to the bed or something like that?” Porsche chuckled.

“In Porsche’s case, you should do both,” Pete noted while helping Arm and Pol to finish another snack.

“Probably,” Kinn areed amused and kissed Porsche’s cheek.

“You can leave it here like this. We’ll clean it up in the morning,” Kinn told the ones who were still there while he and Porsche were leaving the room.

“Did Kinn show you where the guest room is?” Vegas looked at the three who, unsurprisingly, shook their heads. Of course Kinn was too busy paying attention to Porsche to do that.”

“I’ll show you then, come on,” Vegas smiled.

They were passing by some door and heard Tay laughing.

“For your own sake, do not go in there right now,” Vegas looked at the three boys, knowing what and who’s making Tay laugh like that.

“Do you think they…” Pol began quietly asking Pete and Arm but Vegas heard him and nodded to confirm it which made all three freshmen blush.

Vegas brought them in a big guest room. “I guess you will not have an issue with sharing the bed, right?” Vegas looked at the boys who all shook their heads while looking at the king size bed where they will all fit easily.

“The bathroom is over there, see you in the morning,” Vegas pointed at the door and gently pulled Pete with him to the hallway to say goodnight to him.

“Still sure you don’t want to come with me?” Vegas asked while stroking Pete’s cheek.

“Not yet, sorry,” Pete shook his head and smiled a bit since he could tell that Vegas wasn’t upset at all.

“So, I am the only one who’s going to sleep all alone huh?” Vegas sighed dramatically.

“You can join us, the bed is huge,” Pete giggled a bit and Vegas laughed shortly.

“I don’t think I can do that to Arm and Pol,” Vegas said and Pete giggled quietly. “Ok then… see you in the morning,” Vegas said and kissed Pete.

“Oh, when do we need to get up?” Pete asked after the kiss.

“Whenever you want to. Kinn’s parents will come back late in the afternoon so we will have plenty of time to clean up the living room,” Vegas said and Pete nodded.

“And Tay and Time like to sleep in so you three really don’t have to try to be early birds”, Vegas said and Pete nodded again, happy to hear that.

“Goodnight,” Pete smiled and leaned closer to Vegas for another kiss.

“You’re really making me not want to go anywhere, you know?” Vegas noted and Pete giggled.

In the end Vegas brought himself to leave and Pete slipped back in the guest room.

Arm was sitting on the bed and since Pol was nowhere to be seen Pete guessed that the other boy was in the bathroom.

“I think that this bed is bigger than my whole room,” Arm said and Pete laughed at hearing that. “Now I get why you were embarrassed about your house. If Vegas’s house is anything like this one that is,” he added and Pete chuckled while sitting on the bed next to Arm.

“Pete, why do you think…” Arm looked at him but stopped when the door to the bathroom opened and Pol walked out of there.

“Bathroom’s free. And, like, so huge. It’s almost ridiculous how big that room is!” Pol told Pete who laughed but kept looking at Arm waiting if he would finish his sentence he started before Pol walked in the room. But Arm didn’t look like doing so, so Pete got up and went to quickly wash up.

“Can you imagine having such a huge house?” Pol asked.

“Imagining it is all I can do,” Arm replied and they both laughed a bit.

“But cleaning it up must be really annoying,” Pol noted and went to the bed and got under the blanket.

“They probably have people for that, I guess,” Arm said and slipped under the blanket as well.

“I am surprised Pete didn’t go to sleep in Vegas’ room.”

“Are you? I would be surprised if he did that, to be honest,” Arm laughed a bit. “Porsche? Sure. But Pete is too shy to share bed with Vegas just yet.”

“Do you think… Porsche and Kinn…?” Pol raised an eyebrow.

“Did what Tay and Time are doing right now?” Arm asked and Pol nodded.

“Porsche didn’t say anything, did he? Just that they kissed and touched and stuff.”

“I feel like I need to find a boyfriend as well now,” Pol laughed a bit while taking the glasses Arm was handing him and placing them on the nightstand.

“Boyfriend? Why?” Arm asked and looked at the other boy.

“Everyone has one now so… I feel left out,” Pol shrugged a bit.

“I don’t. Have a boyfriend I mean.”

“I know but… you know… Pete and Porsche both do now so I guess it’s a matter of time before we’ll find someone as well, right?”

“And… and do you have anyone in mind, yet?” Arm asked, trying to not let the nervousness be heard in his voice while saying that. For whatever reason, he felt relieved when Pol shook his head.

“And what if….” Arm began but was interrupted by Pete returning from the bathroom and getting the bed.

“Pete, do you think Porsche and Kinn did… you know what, yet?” Pol asked Pete and Arm was actually glad he didn’t get to finish his sentence.

“Porsche would tell us if they would,” Pete shook his head.

“And you and Vegas?” Pol asked, jokingly.

“If we did it, do you think I would be here with you two?” Pete laughed a bit, but blushed at the idea of him and Vegas getting this far.

“Are you nervous?” Arm wondered and Pete nodded, not bothering to pretend otherwise.

“I mean… I’ve never done it, right? So what if Vegas will not like it with me.”

“You can go to Time and Tay to ask for a demonstration of how to do it,” Pol suggested and then they all burst into laughter.

“I am sure Vegas would be thrilled if he would find out,” Pete said, still laughing.

“Should we set an alarm for the morning?” Arm asked when they turned off the lights and laid down.

“Vegas said we don’t need to. That we will have pretty much the whole day to clean up the mess we made… and also that Time and Tay usually sleep in so we don’t have to get up super early or anything.”

*

“Pete?” Arm whispered quietly when he was sure that Pol, who usually does fall asleep quite quickly, was asleep.

“What?” Pete whispered back.

“Why do you think Time and Tay thought me and Pol are dating?” Arm shifted so he was laying on his side, facing Pete who did the same thing. Not that they could not see much in the dark.

“Well…” Pete began but stopped and bit his lower lip while not being sure if he should continue talking.

“Well what, Pete?”

“Well… you two do hang out a lot. I mean it’s kinda rare to see one of you without the other one, you know? So thinking that you two are dating is not that crazy.”

“Hm,” Arm replied while thinking. “Pol said he’s going to get a boyfriend,” he said.

Pete felt like Arm wasn’t happy about that at all. “Like that he likes someone already or…” Pete started and in the dark saw Arm shake his head a bit.

“No, just that… It's a matter of time before both of us will find someone. With you and Porsche dating now as well and all.”

“I mean… he’s probably right,” Pete admitted and reached his hand to place it on the Arm’s shoulder.

“But…” Arm started but then went quiet.

“But what?” Pete asked while running his hand up and down the other boy's arm.

“But then he will not want to hang out with me… not as much as we do now, I mean. You and Porsche are spending time with Kinn and Vegas now a lot as well. I don’t mind, I get it, it’s just… you know…” Arm was struggling to come up with the right words but Pete understood.

Arm was right. Porsche and Pete weren’t around Pol and Arm as much as they used to be because they were somewhere with their boyfriends. Of course they were still happy to hang out with their best friends but it was really not as often as it used to be, not since he and Porsche got together with the two sophomores.

“Arm… do you like Pol?” Pete asked extra quietly.

“He’s my best friend, of course I like him… when I don’t want to kill him, that is,” Arm replied a bit confused about why Pete needs to ask that.

Pete laughed quietly. “No I mean… Do you like like him? Like… you know?” Pete was still trying to keep his voice extra low.

“What?!” Arm whispered, shocked when he realized what Pete was asking. He was glad that it’s dark so Pete can not see his cheeks turning red. “No… of course not. That would be weird!” he shook his head quickly.

“What? Why?” Pete asked, confused.

“B-because… because we’re friends!” Arm was trying to come up with something.

“Time and Tay were friends as well before…” Pete started but Arm shook his head.

“No, this is different. Me and Pol are friends… best friends so… yeah… ehm… friends.”

Pete had a feeling that Arm was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince Pete about that.

“Arm, there is nothing wrong about you liking Pol and…” Pete started gently but Arm shook his head again.

“I don’t. Really, I don’t,” Arm said, again clearly trying to convince himself more than anyone else. Pete sighed a bit, knowing that he will not make Arm admit his feelings to himself right now.

“I… ok… ehm… that movie was scary,” Pete decided to change the topic.

“Scary how stupid people there were,” Arm agreed and Pete chuckled a bit. “I mean… you hear weird sounds coming from behind the door, you don’t just go there to see what it is, do you?” Arm continued and rolled his eyes.

Pete giggled a bit but then froze when there was actually some noise coming from the hallway.

“Arm?” Pete swallowed nervously and sat up a bit to look at the door, hoping they would not begin to open.

Arm sat up a bit as well, but unlike Pete he wouldn’t see if the doors were opening even if they were since he did not have his glasses.

“Shit,” Pete cursed and reached for Arm’s hand when even in the dark he was sure that the door handle began to move down slowly.

“What?” Arm asked.

“The door,” Pete said, not trying to be quiet anymore which woke up Pol who looked over to his friends, confused about what was going on.

“The door what?”

“Something’s opening them,” Pete swallowed.

“What’s going on?” Pol muttered.

“Kinn’s house is haunted,” Arm whispered and blinked a few times while looking at the door, as if that would help him to see better.

Pete who really didn’t need Arm to say that whined a bit and blindly reached for a pillow so he had something as a weapon. It was a stupid, non lethal and totally useless weapon but Pete was too scared to realize that.

“What?” Pol asked and sat up as well and since he was closest to the door, Arm and Pete both moved closer to him to hide behind him, Pete still clenching to his deadly pillow.

“Mom is going to kill me if I die here,” Arm said nervously.

Pol laughed a bit at that sentence. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to let you die here, Arm,” he assured Arm who was again glad that it’s dark so Pol couldn’t see he made Arm blush.

“Should I turn on the light?” Pol asked.

“Yes/No,” the two whispered at the same time.

“What do you mean, no?” Pete asked.

“If we do that, we only expose our position to that thing,” Arm said.

“Oh, shit… you’re right!” Pete did not question Arm’s logic and moved closer to his two friends.

“But how do you want to fight that thing in the dark?” Pol asked Arm.

“Maybe it’ll go away?” Pete suggested hopefully.

“Maybe… if it will think no one’s here,” Arm nodded. “So, we just need to be really quiet,” he added and Pol and Pete nodded.

They managed to be quiet for a few seconds but when the door suddenly opened they all screamed. Pete decided to use his weapon and threw the pillow at the door.

“Are you crazy?!” Pete yelled when he could hear Porsche’s laughter and saw a familiar figure in the dark, having a hard time to not fall on the floor because of the laughter.

Pol reached for the lamp and when he switched it on they saw Porsche leaning against the door, holding his stomach while laughing.

Pete felt quite embarrassed when he saw how far the pillow was from the door and the monster that was standing there.

“What’s wrong with you?” Pol asked and felt Arm resting his head on his shoulder.

“I just came here to say goodnight,” Porsche laughed and noticed the pillow on the floor. “Hell of a defense,” he chuckled and picked it up while he was going to the bed and jumped on it while throwing the pillow aside.

“If I knew it was you I’d throw something else,” Pete said and took his pillow back.

“And would you totally miss as well?” Porsche asked teasingly and Pete rolled his eyes in amusement. “Kinn’s in the shower so I thought I’ll be a good friend and pop in to wish you goodnight,” Porsche said and made himself comfortable on the bed.

“In the shower? How come you’re not there with him?” Pol chuckled while he, Arm and Pete were making themselves comfortable as well.

“What? Come on… we’re not that far yet,” Porsche laughed a bit. “Did you hear Tay and Time?” he added and his friends nodded.

“While Vegas was taking us in this room,” Arm said.

“Wait… what are you doing here? I thought you’ll be in Vegas’ room,” Porsche looked at Pete.

“We are not that far yet either,” Pete shook his head.

“You’re being really cruel, you know? Letting poor Vegas sleep all alone,” Porsche said teasingly and Pete rolled his eyes again. “You know he wouldn’t want to do anything, right?” Porsche said more seriously.

Pete nodded. “I know he wouldn’t. But… I just don’t think I am ready for even sharing the bed with him just yet,” he shrugged.

“Hey, stop trying to break our little happy trio, ok?” Arm said and pulled Pete to himself which made Pete laugh and lean into the hug immediately.

“Trio? I got voted out or what?” Porsche asked confused.

“No, but you’re spending the night with Kinn and not with us,” Pol said and the other nodded in agreement. Porsche could see they’re joking so he just chuckled a bit.

“Do you think we woke up Kim? When you creeped in our room and scared the shit out of us,” Pete frowned a bit.

“I don’t think he went to sleep yet,” Porsche shook his head.

“Really?” Pete looked at the clock to see that it’s quite late.

“You’re not his babysitter, Pete,” Pol said.

“Also, it’s Friday so he can stay up a bit late,” Porsche shrugged and Arm and Pol nodded. Pete just rolled his eyes a bit but gave up, admitting that Kim is Kinn’s and Tankhun’s little brother, not his.

“There you are,” Kinn walked in the room. “I was worried you decided to take Time up on his offer,” he chuckled and the boys laughed a bit.

“I wanted but their doors were locked so I had to improvise,” Porsche chuckled and winked at his friends who rolled their eyes.

“Sure. Well… better these guys than Time and Tay,” Kinn laughed a bit and went to the bed and reached for Porsche’s hand to pull him on his feet.

“Goodnight, guys!” Porsche looked at his friends.

When Pol switched off the light, Pete cuddled to Arm while falling asleep, which wasn’t anything unusual, especially after they watched something scarier before going to sleep.

Arm turned his head to Pol. “Pol?” he whispered.

“Hm?” Pol replied.

“Do you… ehm do you want to do something tomorrow?”

“You bet. It’ll be Saturday so what else would I do if not hanging out with you?” Pol said quietly and Arm could hear him smiling while saying it.

Arm smiled a bit as well, but then his smile slowly vanished when he realized he had no idea for how long he and Pol are going to hang out like that. How long it will take until Pol will actually find someone and starts to spend his free time with his boyfriend instead of with Arm.

God, Arm hated that guy already, even if he didn’t exist yet. He hated the idea of Pol wanting to spend his free time with someone else but him.

When Pete and Porsche started to spend more time with Vegas and Kinn, it sucked a bit but Arm was ok with it. He got it. But when Pol will start to do that as well, being with someone else as much as the boys are with their boyfriends, Arm knows already that it will not be ok. And that there will be nothing Arm would be able to do about that.

“Do you know what we are going to do, yet?” Arm asked to distract himself from the gloomy thoughts of the inevitable loss of his best friend.

“Hm… someone promised me a little help with the math homework,” Pol chuckled and moved closer until he laid his head on Arm’s shoulder. Again this was nothing unusual, but this time Arm felt happy and unhappy at the same time when Pol was so close to him.

Happy because he likes to be this close to Pol and unhappy because he knew that sooner or later Pol will be this close to someone who will not be Arm. Arm wondered if they will be cuddling like that even after Pol will have a boyfriend.

“By little help you mean do it for you?” Arm joked and Pol laughed quietly.

“You’re the one who pretty much yanks the pen from my hand and does it for me when I am, apparently, taking too long with it.”

“Only because if I wouldn’t do that, you would never finish it,” Arm chuckled.

Pete mumbled something in his sleep and cuddled closer to Arm.

“Do you think he’s having a bad dream because of the movie?” Pol wondered a bit worried and placed one hand on Pete’s shoulder and began to run soothing circles there to calm Pete down in case he had a bad dream.

“I doubt he even saw anything. You know he keeps looking away from the screen.”

Pete, still sleeping, giggled a bit and cuddled even closer to Arm.

“Not a bad dream then, I guess,” Arm chuckled a bit and Pol did as well while pulling his hand back and placing it on Arm’s chest.

They were so used to Pete’s mumbling or giggling or other little sounds he makes while he’s asleep they didn’t even consider it weird anymore. It was just a Pete thing for them.

“Night Arm,” Pol mumbled while falling asleep.

“Night,” Arm replied while hoping it’ll take Pol a while to find someone who will replace him.

Arm was having a little bit of an issue to fall asleep that night and just when he was about to fall asleep…

“Arm?” Pete whispered.

“What?” Arm muttered.

“I… think I need to go to the bathroom,” Pete said quietly.

“Well… go on then,” Arm sighed.

“But it’s dark…” Pete noted and Arm sighed again, regretting Pete wasn’t ready to share a bed with Vegas since it would be Vegas and not Arm who would have to get out of the bed to go with Pete to the door leading to the bathroom and wait there for him.

“Thanks, Arm!” Pete smiled gratefully when they got back in the bed and Pete resumed his previous position and cuddled to Arm again.

*

Pete, Arm and Pol entered the kitchen.

“Hi!” Pete smiled at Kim who was sitting on a stool at the kitchen island, eating cereal. Kim nodded a bit as a greeting.

“You can take whatever you’ll find… if you want breakfast,” Kim gestured to the kitchen without looking up from his bowl.

The three looked at each other and nodded a bit before they went to see what options they had.

“I hope we were not keeping you awake last night?” Pete looked at Kim who shook his head.

“He probably went to bed later than we did. He’s still young and has the energy for it,” Pol joked a bit and he was sure he saw Kim chuckle.

“Hey… will you tell Khun or Kinn I went out?” Kim looked at them while placing the empty bowl in the dishwasher.

“Sure. Where are you going?” Arm asked. “Just… that what should we tell them?” he added when Kim looked at him, clearly thinking he’s being too nosy.

“Just that I went out,” Kim shrugged.

“Do they know about… I mean sure, we will tell them,” Pete began but Pol elbowed him in the ribs to make him stop acting like a fricking babysitter.

Kim nodded and left the room.

“Oh, when will you… come back.”

“You are going to be terribly anxious mom one day, Pete,” Pol looked at Pete who didn’t seem to even hear him, he seemed to be thinking about going after Kim to find out more about where he’s going and when he’ll be back. Arm who did hear Pol laughed and agreed with him.

“Do you think we should have let him go?” Pete looked at the other two, looking a bit nervous.

“And what else would you want us to do? At least Kinn and Tankhun will know that he left the house,” Arm said.

They decided to have what Kim had for breakfast and went to sit down at the kitchen island.

“Look who’s alive,” Vegas said when he walked in the kitchen and saw the three boys there. He went to Pete and kissed his cheek before going to grab some breakfast for himself.

“Vegas… Kim said he’s going out,” Pete said while Vegas was getting breakfast.

“Yeah, he does that.”

“We were just not sure if we were supposed to let him or not,” Pete continued nervously.

Vegas chuckled a bit. “I would really love to see you three try to stop him,” he laughed a bit.

“How did you sleep?” Vegas asked when he sat down with his breakfast.

“Good/Not bad/It was good, what about you?” the boys replied.

“Terrible. All alone in that big bed,” Vegas sighed and looked at Pete who could see the corners of Vegas’s mouth twitching as he was trying not to laugh.

“Well… maybe next time you’ll not have to sleep alone,” Pete said shyly.

“Yes, please!” Arm nodded immediately, recalling Pete’s bathroom visit.

“What?” Vegas asked amused but also confused about why Arm was so supportive of the idea of Pete sharing a bed with Vegas.

“Nothing!” Pete said quickly.

“Does he sleepwalk or something?” Vegas chuckled while looking at Pol and Arm.

“No, just needs an escort to the bathroom,” Arm shook his head and Pete hit his shoulder while his cheeks were turning red.

“It’s just… that this house is… and the movie was… I don’t know this place yet and…” Pete was desperately trying to come up with something while looking at Vegas who stood up and went to Pete to hug him.

“Calm down, sweetheart,” he muttered and placed a kiss in Pete’s hair.

“I just don’t want you to think that I can’t go to the bathroom on my own. I can, obviously. And I do that, it’s just that...”

“Pete, really… calm down,” Vegas smiled and hugged him tighter.

“Please don’t think I am weird,” Pete whined and Vegas laughed a bit.

“Honey, you lost that battle when you named the plushie Snowflake,” he said and Pete whined a bit again and burrowed his face in the fabric of Vegas’s shirt.

“He also had a pet fish and named it Fluffy,” Pol told Vegas and Pete really began to wonder why he is friends with the two.

Vegas just burst into laughter at hearing that and could not stop for a while. “Jesus Pete… what happened to you? Did you have an accident or something when you were little?” Vegas asked when got over the worst laughter.

“He fell from a tree when we were… like 5 or 6 I think,” Arm noted.

“Which would explain a lot,” Pol added and Arm nodded.

“I see,” Vegas chuckled and kissed Pete’s forehead.

“It is not weird to fall from a tree, kids do that all the time,” Pete defended himself.

“Not everyone does it while stepping over a caterpillar though,” Pol reminded him.

“Caterpillar? What?” Vegas asked.

“There was a caterpillar on a branch and Pete decided he didn't want to disturb it and wanted to step over that thing,” Arm explained.

“Oh… that’s cute,” Vegas smiled and looked down at Pete while stroking his cheek.

Pete frowned a bit but didn’t manage to be like for long before he smiled. He saw that Vegas wasn’t thinking Pete is weird or that he will make fun of him because of what Pete’s former best friends told him about Pete.

Vegas kissed Pete’s forehead again before he went back to his breakfast. They began to talk about other things that were not supposed to only embarrass Pete so Pete was happy to join in the conversation as well.

Kinn and Porsche joined them after a while as well. The boys informed Kinn about Kim leaving the house earlier and Kinn just nodded at that while getting himself something to eat.

Tay and Time entered the kitchen when the others were all done with their breakfasts and were cleaning up the mess they made while preparing and eating their breakfasts.

“Good morning everyone,” Tay said with a smile and hugged Arm from behind, since he was the closest person to Tay.

“It’s almost noon,” Kinn corrected his friend, amused.

“I know… I told Tay that it’s too early,” Time agreed and Tay laughed a bit before he cuddled closer to Arm who had no other choice but to just accept that.

“What happened baby. We were waiting for you all night,” Time said when he was next to Porsche who was leaning against a counter. Time leaned against the counter as well and wrapped one arm around Porsche’s waist to pull him closer.

“He was probably scared off by the noises that were coming from your room,” Vegas said while hugging Pete from behind.

“Yeah… it didn’t sound like you’d have a room for another person there,” Porsche agreed and comfortably leaned in Time’s hug.

“Oh no… plenty of room there. Next time feel free to come in,” Time assured Porsche who chuckled before he looked at Kinn.

“Please, feel free to. But make sure you can afford the therapy you will need after you’ll see what is going on there,” Kinn said and Porsche just like the others began to laugh.

“We should go clean up the living room,” Kinn suggested and the others nodded and told Tay and Time to hurry up with their breakfast and then join them.

“Wait… you stay here… you’re comfy,” Tay muttered and pulled Arm back to him when he wanted to follow the others in the living room.

Arm blushed and looked around for anyone who could help him, but no one was nearby at that moment.

“I should go… help the others.”

“You’re helping… See? So helpful.” Tay shook his head and rested his chin on Arm’s shoulder.

“I’ll get you a coffee, babe,” Time smiled at his boyfriend who smiled a bit in return.

“Tay… ehm I really should…” Arm began and tried to move away again.

Tay made an unhappy noise but this time let Arm move away and go into the living room to help the others.

Tay went to Time who was pouring a coffee in two mugs.

“Thank you, you’re the bestest boyfriend ever!” Tay leaned against the counter and smiled at Time when he pushed one of the mugs closer to Tay.

Time leaned to Tay and kissed him.

“It’s easy to want to be when I have you for my boyfriend,” Time said and kissed Tay again. When the kiss ended Tay giggled a bit while looking at his boyfriend.

Time smiled and placed his hand on Tay’s cheek, stroking it gently before he moved to Tay’s neck with his kisses.

“Kinn’s gonna kill you,” Vegas noted while getting the trash bags from one of the drawers in the kitchen.

Tay got a bit startled by someone suddenly being in the room with them and tried to gently push Time away from him, but Time placed one hand on Tay’s hip to stop him from that and to pull him closer which made Tay laugh.

“Come on, Time…” Tay giggled while still trying to push Time away from him. Tay yelped and bit when Time decided to abuse his strength and lifted Tay up so he ended up sitting on the kitchen counter with Time standing in front of him.

“Don’t blame me for not being able to keep my hands away from you, Tay. No one would be able to resist,” Time said while placing one hand on Tay’s hip and the other one on his thigh.

Tay couldn’t stop smiling while looking at the other boy and placed his one hand on Time’s shoulder and the other one on Time’s hand that was on his thigh, but did not try to remove it.

“We really should go help the others,” Tay muttered with a smile.

“Sure,” Time nodded with no signs of moving away from Tay. Instead of moving away he moved his hand he had on Tay’s hip to his face and gently stroked his cheek. “You’re so pretty, Tay,” he muttered, making Tay blush.

“I feel like I am not saying it often enough,” Time said, as if saying it to himself as reminded to do so.

“You do. Really,” Tay assured him but Time shook his head a bit before he kissed Tay, gently, while moving his hand in Tay’s hair.

“Ahem,” the sound of someone clearing their throat came from the direction of the door and when the two looked over there they saw Kinn standing there with his hands on his hips. He raised his eyebrows, silently telling them to move and come to help them.

“Do they fuck yet?” Vegas called from the living room.

“Not yet!” Kinn called back while still looking at his two friends, as if almost scared if he’ll look away for even one second they might start.

Time rolled his eyes and with a sigh stepped away from Tay and helped him down from the counter.

They took their mugs with them in the living room, planning to finish the coffee while cleaning up the room.

Since there were eight people and not that big of a mess they were done with it quite quickly.

“Hey… it looks like our living room again,” Tankhun said happily when he walked in the room.

“Yep. We did a great job and we now we’re about to have our reward,” Kinn nodded while sitting on the couch with Porsche sitting on the floor in front of him, leaning his head on Kinn’s knee.

“If you’re planning an orgy you will go to your room. Don’t even think about doing it here,” Tankhun warned them.

Pete, Pol and Arm of course blushed at hearing that. Tay and Vegas just rolled their eyes and Porsche and Time began to agree and already planning that event, Porsche even hopped to his feet, ready to go, so Kinn quickly pulled him to him so Porsche ended up on his lap.

“No, we are waiting for lunch to arrive,” Kinn told his brother. “We ordered something for you and Kim as well, by the way.”

“Thank you, little brother,” Tankhun nodded with a smile. “Well… how did you three enjoy the night in our house?” he looked at Arm, Pol and Pete who assured him that they liked it very much.

“I hope that my brother and cousin behaved at night,” Tankhun looked at Porsche and Pete.

“He did. Me on the other hand… well…” Porsche chuckled and winked at Kinn who laughed a bit.

“Oh God…” Tankhun rolled his eyes, regretting he even asked anything. “What about you, Petey? Vegas was nothing but a gentleman I hope,” he looked at the younger boy who nodded quickly.

“Yeah. He was such a gentleman he let Pete stay in someone else’s bed,” Kinn nodded and Vegas threw a pillow at him and Porsche, who was still sitting on Kinn’s lap, caught it easily. Kinn kissed Porsche for being such a great bodyguard of his.

“Wait, what? It wasn’t our bed for sure, don’t look at me,” Time said confused when Tankhun looked at him.

“No. We were in one room together,” Pete shook his head and gestured to himself, Pol and Arm.

“That had to be the cutest threesome in history,” Tay tilted his head to the side and smiled while looking at the three freshmen. He laughed a bit when they all blushed.

“I’d kinda love to see that. Did you have a pillow fight?” Time asked hopefully.

“No,” the three replied at the same time.

“Not that Pete would be able to do anything. His pillow attacks are terrible,” Porsche laughed a bit and threw the pillow he had in his hands at Pete who was luckily better at catching than throwing pillows so he caught it.

“I did not know what I was aiming at! It was dark. If I could see properly, I would not miss,” Pete said and threw the pillow back at Porsche… almost. It landed on the carpet in front of the sofa.

Porsche burst into laughter and the others began to laugh as well.

Pete blushed, gave the stupid pillow a very hostile look but then he began to laugh as well.

“Gosh, you’re so cute,” Vegas said, still laughing a bit, while pulling Pete closer to him to kiss his cheek.

While they were talking, Macau called Vegas, asking if he can go over to Kinn’s house now and Vegas just rolled his eyes and agreed. He was honestly surprised Macau managed to wait until now before asking him that. Or that he was asking at all and did not just show up.

“Macau’s at the door,” Vegas said when he ended the call.

“He just called if can come over, didn’t he?” Kinn looked at him.

“And he definitely made the call while being on his way here,” Vegas laughed a bit, knowing his little brother way too well.

“Great. I definitely prefer Macau over Kim, no offense to you two. I just don’t feel like I am gonna get stabbed while being around Macau,” Time said, actually looking forward to seeing Macau again.

“Vegas?” Macau called from the hallway and when Tankhun called him in the living room the boy half ran half walked in there, smiling happily which made everyone, including Vegas, smile as well.

“Hey, guys!” the boy waved at everyone and got a bunch of waves, greetings and also some introductions, in return.

“Come here,” Tankhun opened his arms and Macau immediately went to him and let his cousin hug him.

“How’s Archie? Still alive or did you have to secretly buy another hedgehog, hoping I will not be able to tell the difference?” Vegas asked while watching Tankhun cuddling his brother.

“He has never been better, Vegas!” Macau replied immediately, offended at that accusation. And Vegas chuckled a bit.

“Is your favorite person in the world not gonna get a hug as well?” Time asked Macau and opened his arms and Macau nodded and got out of Tankhun’s hold who ruffled his cousin's hair while the boy was leaving him.

Macau went to Time and Tay and after he grinned cheekily he hugged Tay instead of Time who looked shocked at the betrayal and attacked the boy, abusing the fact he’s very ticklish.

The room was filled with Macau’s laughter, pleading for Time to stop and Vegas to help him.

“Don’t ask for help now, Macau. You went over there willingly,” Vegas laughed while watching it.

When Time ended his attack on Macau, the boy quickly rolled over away from him to safety. He moved closer to Vegas who was sitting on the carpet with one arm wrapped around Pete’s waist. When Macau settled down next to him he ruffled his hair as well, actually glad to see his little brother again. He is maybe complaining about him and keeps asking Kinn to trade him for Kim but he knows, deep down, he would never want that. Kim is great and all, but Vegas actually likes how much Macau enjoys being around him and his friends. And he hoped that it will not change as Macau will be getting older.

“You’d never trade him for Kim, would you?” Pete asked Vegas quietly with a teasing smile while Macau began to talk to Arm, Pol and Porsche who were new to him.

“Shush” Vegas chuckled a bit and smiled when Pete began to laugh.

“...right Vegas?” Macau pulled Vegas back to reality.

“I have no idea what you were asking, but I am sure that the answer is no,” Vegas said, not being stupid enough to agree with anything Macau said when he had no idea what it was.

“I said that next time you should have the sleepover in our house,” Macau told him.

“Well in that case, my answer is totally, but I doubt you should be there,” Vegas nodded.

“What? Why?” Macau pouted, hurt and confused.

“Because they are animals, Macau. All of them. You don’t want to see what they are up to, trust me,” Tankhun told him.

“But…” Macau started.

“When they’ll have the sleepover in your house you should definitely come over here and we will have so much fun, ok?” Tankhun smiled at him.

“That’s a great idea,” Vegas nodded and Macau was clearly torn between wanting to protest about not being allowed to be at Vegas’s sleepover and between looking forward to spending time with Tankhun, because it’s always fun with him.

“Who do you call an animal?” Time asked offended.

“Kitchen,” Kinn reminded him.

“Kitchen what?!” Tankun asked quickly.

“Kitchen nothing!” Tay assured him even quicker.

“Kitchen something,” Vegas shook his head amused.

“I swear if you two f…” Tankhun looked at the couple, but glanced at his youngest cousin to remind himself to make sure he’ll not say something the boy should not hear.

“Don’t worry Khun, Kinn co… I mean entered the room,” Time said and Tay quickly stopped him from using the work “cockblocked” by elbowing him in his ribs.

“You’re a hero, Kinn,” Tankhun looked gratefully at his brother.

“What were you doing in the kitchen?” Macau looked curiously at Tay and Time.

They both froze a bit and looked at each other.

“What were they doing?” Macau turned to Vegas who looked at the others, silently asking for help.

Luckily he was saved by the bell, literally, the food arrived so they used that as a distraction for Macau who jumped to his feet and went to help Kinn and Tankhun to bring it into the room.

When Macau left the room Vegas breathed a sigh of relief and rested his head on the couch he was leaning against while sitting on the floor in front of it.

“That was a close one,” Time noted.

“I am going to kill you,” Vegas muttered while still getting over the shock of almost having to have a discussion he really didn’t want to have, with Macau.

“And for the record. We were not doing anything there,” Tay told everyone.

“I’ve seen you two!” Vegas lifted his head and looked at them.

“Ok we… kissed, but that’s all we did,” Tay said.

Vegas couldn’t reply because his cousins and brother came back in the room with the food.

“Have you eaten yet?” Vegas looked at Macau.

“Yeah,” Macau nodded. He and his parents had lunch before Macau was allowed to come to Kinn’s house.

“Who cares if he ate or not. Take whatever you want, Macau,” Tankhun rolled his eyes and gestured to various food options. “When do you think Kim is going to show up?” he asked Kinn who shrugged a bit while opening the box with his order.

“Don’t say his name. That’s how you will summon that little psychopath,” Time looked at Tankhun who, just like Kinn, chuckled a bit. They knew that Time was just joking.

Also they saw Kim entering the room just as Time was saying it.

Kim tilted his head to the side and slowly and quietly went to Time who, just like Tay who was sitting next to him, had no idea Kim’s behind them. The others, Macau included, were obviously not going to ruin it, and just watched what’s going to happen.

“Psychopath?” Kim asked and both Time and Tay got startled and jumped up a bit before they quickly turned around to look at the boy who had his hands crossed over his chest and had a victorious smirk on his face.

“Fuck sake… what is wrong with you?!” Time placed his hand on his heart.

Kim chuckled a bit, clearly pleased with how successful his stealth mission was.

“Thanks for the warning!” Tay looked at the others who were laughing since the moment Kim managed to jumpscare the two like that.

“I’d want to be stealthy like you, Kim. Will you teach me that?” Macau asked eagerly while looking at his cousin who was just sitting down and taking some of the food there.

“No, he’ll not,” Vegas said quickly. He really didn't need Macau to be able to sneak around the house the way Kim does.

Kim laughed a little bit at Vegas’s quick reaction.

When they finished their lunch and cleaned up, Arm, Pol, Time and Tay decided they should head home. Pete and Porsche stayed a little longer because Macau talked them into playing some games with him, Vegas, Kinn and Tankhun. Macau asked Kim to join in as well, but Kim didn’t even bother to reply to that and went to his room.

Time and Tay offered Arm and Pol ride home and the boys happily accepted it.

*

“Ok, right… and then what? Arm? Arm?” Pol looked at Arm who was lying on his stomach, just like Pol, on the bed while they were working on the math homework and Arm was trying to explain to Pol what to do with it.

“W-what?” Arm shook his head a bit when he got snapped out of his thoughts. He was thinking about his conversation he had with Pete in the middle of the night. He does not like like Pol. Of course he doesn’t like like Pol. How could he? That would be ridiculous. He was trying to convince himself of this but was not sure if he’s being successful.

“Are you ok? Since when are you getting bored while doing math?” Pol laughed a bit and Arm quickly turned his face away, pretending to look for something in the textbook that was open next to him, so he can hide the fact he’s blushing.

“I am not bored… I just… ok so next you need to…” Arm began to tell Pol the next step in the exercise they were working on. Pol was listening carefully and then began to try to apply it in the exercise.

While Pol was distracted with writing, Arm looked at him and couldn’t look away. He was looking at his best friend’s face while he was focusing on the math problem. Arm never realized how cute Pol is when he frowns a bit while trying to solve some problem, or when he bites on the pen while thinking. How did I never notice that? Arm thought.

“No, I do not like like Pol!” Arm shook his head a bit but didn’t look away from the boy next to him. “So why am I so nervous ever since Pol said he needs to find a boyfriend?” Arm frowned a bit. Pol said it as a joke, but Arm knew that sooner or later Pol will actually start to date someone. Why did this thought bother Arm so much?

“Because he’s my best friend. That’s why. And when Pol will have a boyfriend he will not want to spend his time with me as much as he does now,” He thought.

But why was Arm feeling… jealous? Jealous of that boy Pol will date one day. He was never jealous of Vegas or Kinn for spending time with his friends. So why is it different with Pol? Why is Arm jealous of a person that does not even exist yet.

“No. I do not like like Pol!” Arm thought to himself. “Of course I don’t like him. I fucking love Pol!” he realized and his eyes widen a bit at the realization. “How long am I in love with my best friend?!” he thought to himself and tried to control the panic he felt. “For quite some time, I just never realized it. Because Pol was always here and I did not have to realize that I love him when he was always there with me and for me,” Arm kept thinking.

But when Pol mentioned that he is going to find a boyfriend, it made Arm realize that Pol might not always be there with and for Arm. Not when he will find a boyfriend, just like Pete and Porsche do now, and that thought made Arm panic and realize his feelings for his best friend because now he was terrified of losing Pol.

“Shit…” Arm muttered.

“What? I barely even started, Is it wrong already?” Pol laughed a bit and looked up from the notebook he was writing in.

“What?” Arm asked and quickly remembered what they were supposed to be doing there.
“Oh… no. No keep… going, you doing… totally not well, what the hell are you doing?!” Arm began to tell Pol to keep going but then he looked at the paper and saw what was Pol writing there.

“What?” Pol asked, confused and looked at the paper as well.

“How do you want to get to the correct result when…” Arm took the pen from Pol’s hand and began to scratch and correct what Pol already wrote there.

“I have no idea what I would do without you, Arm,” Pol laughed a bit while watching Arm showing him the correct way to do the exercise.

Arm blushed and tried to not let Pol’s words get into his head too much.

“Well… if, if you don’t want to find out then you better pay attention to what I am saying you should do so you’re not coming up with nonsense like that,” Arm said and while finishing up fixing Pol’s math mess.

“You’d not give up on me, Arm,” Pol smiled and shook his head a bit. “No matter how much I drive you nuts with being terrible at math,” he added and pressed himself closer to Arm who blushed again but tried to hide it by turning to his textbook again, pretending to check something there.

“You’re not terrible at it,” Arm muttered. And he isn’t, Pol is not terrible at math. He just doesn’t always immediately understand how he should do the things there and sometimes he panics a bit which causes him to make mistakes. But he is not terrible at math, not if he has someone who takes their time to properly explain to him the right way of how to get to the correct result.

“Wow… I must have made really stupid mistakes when you're pitying me enough to be so nice to me,” Pol joked. And, sure. Arm does sometimes run out of patience while doing anything math related with Pol, because… well… Arm just does not understand how something so simple as math can take Pol so many tries or so much time to do. But he knows that Pol knows Arm is never being serious. Never actually means it when he calls Pol an idiot or anything like that.

And Pol never takes it personally. He just laughs a bit, mainly because seeing Arm getting a bit angry over the math is really adorable. And also because he knows that Arm does not mean it. If he would, he would not be the first one to defend Pol when someone else calls Pol stupid or stuff like that. Arm is always the first one to tell whoever, who is not their friend, who shittalks Pol to shut up and then makes sure Pol is ok and assures him that he’s not stupid at all.

“And if you don’t want me to stop being nice then you better focus now. Go on,” Arm looked at his friend, when he felt like his cheeks were not pink anymore and handed the pen to Pol so he could continue with the homework.

“Or we could take a break?” Pol suggested hopefully.

“After you finish this. We're almost done,” Arm shook his head.

Pol smiled a bit. He knew Arm would not let them take a break when the homework was not finished but he had to try it. He was sure that now he actually knew what to do so he started to write in the notebook again.

Arm was watching Pol writing and smiled a bit when he saw that all the numbers Pol was writing were actually supposed to be there.

“Hm… what do you know? I don’t have to stop being friends with you after all,” Arm chuckled when Pol finished writing the last correct number.

“Don’t even joke about that, Arm. I can’t imagine not having you around,” Pol looked at him. He laughed a bit while saying it, but Arm saw that he meant it, which made him blush and swallow nervously.

“Well… when… when you’ll get a boyfriend then you will be ok with it,” Arm said and reached for the textbook to close it to distract himself with something to do.

“What?” Pol asked and sat up on the bed while watching Arm getting off the bed and going to the desk by the window to place the book there.

“You know that Pete and Porsche are with Vegas and Kinn a lot as well,” Arm shrugged while pretending to look out of the window at something very interesting. “So when you’ll get a boyfriend you will be with him rather than with me as well,” he added and crossed his arms, still looking at the nothing that was outside of the window just so he does not have to look at Pol.

“I would not be with anyone else rather than with you!” Pol shook his head. He really could not imagine being around someone else as much as he was around Arm.

“You’re saying it now. But wait till you start to date your stupid dreamy boyfriend,” Arm muttered a bit bitterly. Gosh, he really hates the non existing guy!

“Then I don’t want a boyfriend!” Pol said, stood up and went to Arm. “If I’d have to pick between you and dating, I’ll pick you, Arm. Always,” he made Arm turn around so he could look at him.

“So what… you wanna be single forever?” Arm rolled his eyes a bit at that idea. “That’s nonsense, Pol. Of course you’re going to find a boyfriend. Sooner or later you will,” he shook his head.

“Not if it would mean that I could not spend time with you,” Pol shook his head as well.

“Let’s just leave it, Pol. I should go,” Arm shook his head and before Pol could stop him he left the room and the house.

“Arm! Wait…” Pol called after him and followed him but Arm was quicker so Pol did not see in which direction Arm went when he left the house. He went to try Arm’s house first, since they lived quite close to each other, to see if Arm went home but Arm’s mom told him that he didn’t so Pol was not sure where he should go to look for his best friend now.

*

Arm walked without even thinking about where he’s going. He somehow ended in one of the nearby parks and sat on one of the benches. He regretted he even started with that debate. If he would just be quiet, he and Pol would be totally fine.

Everything would be just fine. But now he made things weird and awkward and he was scared that Pol would not want to be around him as much as he is now because of that.

“Arm?” A familiar voice made him look up and when he did he saw Tay and Time. Holding hands and looking a bit concerned when looking at the younger boy.

“Are you ok?” Tay asked as they both went to him. They sat up on the bench next to him so Arm was sitting between them.

Arm nodded quickly but he could tell they were not convinced.

“What happened, buddy?” Time asked and placed one hand on Arm’s shoulder. He was not making any jokes, like he usually does. He seemed to be genuinely concerned about what made Arm look so sad.

“Nothing” Arm shook his head a bit.

Tay and Time quickly exchanged a quiet concerned glance.

“You know you can tell us, right? Whatever happened, if we can help, we will,” Tay said gently and Arm nodded a bit.

“It’s nothing… I am just stupid,” Arm muttered while looking down.

“Stupid? You?” Time said and sounded genuinely surprised because stupid was definitely not a word he would use to describe this freshman. Quite the opposite of that actually.

“Arm… come on, tell us what happened,” Tay said, gently.

“I told Pol… I didn't mean to say any of those things, I just started and then I couldn’t stop myself,” Arm said finally.

“You two had a fight or something?” Time asked and Arm shook his head a bit.

“I just… I just don’t want him to get a boyfriend,” Arm sighed unhappily. “He said, last night, that since Pete and Porsche are both dating now, it’s a matter of time before he and I will as well. But when he gets a boyfriend he will not want to be with me and I don’t want that. But I didn’t want Pol to know about any of that, I didn’t mean to say that aloud,” he continued.

“And also you like Pol a lot, right? More than just a friend I mean,” Time said.

“But I don’t want to lose Pol by letting him know about it. What if he does not want to… me. And what if he would not want to be my friend anymore knowing about me liking him,” Arm looked at the older boys.

“Oh honey…” Tay said quietly and placed one hand on his shoulder and ran it up on down on his back in a soothing gesture.

“Hey… me and Tay were friends for quite some time before we got together,” Time told Arm.

“So sometimes these things do work out,” Tay nodded.

“Sometimes. But what if this time it will not?” Arm shook his head, unhappily.

“You will not know that unless you tell Pol that you like him,” Tay said.

“How?” Arm asked.

“Just… tell him that you like him. It’s not that complicated, really,” Time shrugged and Tay nodded a bit.

“Was it weird when you two started to date?” Arm asked curiously.

“Not really?” Tay looked at Time who smiled and agreed.

“We didn’t stop being friends once we started to date. We were still doing stuff we were doing before. So nothing really changed. We just… added kissing to our activities,” Time laughed a bit and Tay laughed a bit as well while nodding in agreement.

Arm smiled a bit at that. He liked the idea of that being him and Pol. He knew that the kissing would be really awkward, since neither of them had much experience in that. But he knew they would work it out together. Just like they always do when they’re dealing with something.

“But what if Pol really does not like me? Like… like like me I mean,” Arm looked nervously at the two older boys.

“I was a bit nervous when I was asking Tay on a date and telling him that I really like him. But I also knew that even if he would not feel the same way about me, he would not want to stop being friends with me. So, really, I knew that the worst thing that could happen was that Tay would tell me that he wants to be friends and nothing more, which would suck, but I knew I would deal with it somehow,” Time told Arm.

“How long do you and Pol know each other anyway?” Tay asked.

“Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like there was a time we didn’t know each other,” Arm chuckled a bit. And it was kinda true. They were friends from a very young age.

Tay and Time laughed a bit at hearing that.

“Well in that case, I am sure everything will be totally fine. Just tell Pol how you feel about him. That you don’t want him to get a boyfriend because you, yourself, want to be his boyfriend” Time patted Arm’s shoulder.

“Exactly, Arm!” Tay smiled while agreeing with his boyfriend.

Arm bit his lower lip while thinking about what he should do now. Tay and Time were probably right. Even if Pol does not like Arm the way Arm does Pol, they will most likely not stop being friends because of that.

But if Pol does feel the same way about Arm but Arm will not say anything then Pol will actually, sooner or later, find a boyfriend and Arm did not like the sound of that.

“I don’t know how to do these things,” Arm muttered, almost as if to himself.

“Trust me. When you’ll get to Pol and start talking to him you will be totally fine. The words just come to you naturally,” Time told him. “The most difficult part is to actually bring yourself to go and talk to that person you have feelings for,” he added and looked at Tay who smiled at him before he focused back on Arm.

“Ok…” Arm nodded a bit and the boys smiled at hearing that.

“Everything will be just fine, ok?” Tay said and squeezed Arm’s shoulder encouragingly before Arm stood up from the bench.

Arm took a few steps but then he stopped and looked at Tay and Time who moved closer to each other and Time had his arm wrapped around Tay’s shoulders.

“Thank you,” Arm told them.

“Of course,” Time nodded and winked at him friendly.

“And if you’d ever need anything else, you can always come to us, ok?” Tay smiled and Arm nodded a bit before he turned around again and this time did not stop while leaving the park.

“I really hope they will be ok,” Tay said and leaned his head on Time’s shoulder.

“Sure they will. They’re dating without even knowing about it anyway,” Time joked a bit and Tay playfully hit him but laughed a little bit anyway.

“Were you really nervous to ask me out?” Tay asked and turned his head to look at his boyfriend.

“Of course I was. I am still shocked you agreed. You can have anyone, babe, so I had no idea why you would want to get stuck with me,” Time nodded and with his free hand stroked Tay’s cheek.

Tay blushed but could not stop smiling while leaning closer and kissing Time who smiled happily.

“You know you could have anyone as well, right? I mean, just the amount of people hitting on you on a daily basis,” Tay noted when the kiss ended.

“What people?” Time asked while looking at his boyfriend who chuckled and rolled his eyes a bit. “They don’t stand a chance, Tay. Not a single one of them. Not when I have you,” Time shook his head and pulled Tay in another kiss that made Tay hum happily.

“What about Porsche?” Tay asked teasingly after the kiss and Time laughed a bit but didn’t bother to come up with any reply. Not when he could just respond with another kiss.

*

When Arm was leaving the park he noticed Pol across the street looking around and when Pol noticed his friend he smiled and quickly went to him.

“Arm. I’ve been looking for you!” he laughed a bit and pulled Arm in a hug.

“I am sorry,” Arm cringed a bit when he remembered his, not so brave, escape from Pol’s room.

“Don’t worry about it,” Pol shook his head when the hug ended. “What do you want to do? We can go somewhere and just…” Pol began.

“Pol I need to tell you something,” Arm interrupted him while they both began to walk towards the park, which was one of the spots they usually hang out with their friends so they went there without thinking about it too much.

“What?” the other boy frowned a bit when he saw that Arm seemed to be a bit nervous.

“I… I just…” Arm didn’t know what words to use. Didn’t Time say that it will be easy? That he will know what to say? Well, that was a lie, wasn’t it? Arm had no idea what to say while looking at Pol, desperately trying to telepathically make him understand what he’s trying to say.

“Is it about… about the boyfriend thing again? You don’t have to worry about that. I told you that I don’t even want to date anyone. You were right. Pete and Porsche do spend a lot of time with Kinn and Vegas rather than with us, and I don’t want that. I’ll rather be with you than with some stupid boyfriend,” Pol assured him.

“No, you were right. About getting a boyfriend,” Arm shook his head.

“What?” Pol asked confused.

“Yeah…” Arm nodded.

“But I don’t want any…”

“And… and your boyfriend should be someone… me… it should be me. You should… should date me,” Arm managed to make a sentence and when Pol stopped when hearing that he stopped as well while looking at his friend.

“You would want to date me?” Pol asked surprised. He for a while now felt he liked Arm more than just a friend, but he tried not to think about it too much because he did not think that Arm would feel the same way about him. He always thought Arm would want to be with someone who will be as smart as Arm is. Which Pol really is not, so he did not think Arm would want to be more than friends with him.

“Yes. Because logically it’s the only way we could have boyfriends and still hang out as much as we do now,” Arm nodded and Pol laughed a bit.

“Well… when it comes down to logic no one is as good at it as you are, so you probably know what you’re talking about,” Pol smiled a bit and took Arm’s hand in his. Arm looked down at that and smiled.

“Are we boyfriends now then?” Pol asked.

“Shouldn't we… kiss?” Arm asked and blushed while saying it.

“Do you want to kiss me?” Pol asked, hoping Arm would say yes.

“No… I mean yes. But, but you have to kiss me because there is no way I am going to make the first move and…” Arm started and Pol listened to him and interrupted him with a kiss.

It was not weird at all, Arm thought happily and smiled against Pol’s lips. It was anything but weird. It was amazing. It was amazing because Pol was there with him.

When the kiss ended and Pol moved back a bit they both laughed a bit.

“I guess that now we are boyfriends then?” Pol smiled and Arm laughed a bit while nodding.

They were boyfriends. Arm was Pol’s boyfriend. Boyfriend Pol will want to spend a lot of time with. Not some stupid jock or anyone from the school band or whoever Arm was imagining Pol’s boyfriend might be. No, it was Arm who was holding Pol’s hand. Arm laughed happily while fully realizing it.

“Aww…” A familiar voice made them both turn at the direction it was coming from and saw Tay and Time walking towards them. Tay was smiling happily when he saw the boys holding hands which made them both blush but they didn’t let go. They both gripped the hand of the other boy tighter, as if worried the other one would want to let go.

“You two are good then?” Time looked at Arm while he and Tay were going to them.

Arm blushed more but nodded a bit, still smiling.

“I’d say that they are better than just good,” Tay laughed a bit. Arm and Pol laughed a bit as well, clearly not about to disagree with that statement.

“That’s good to hear,” Time placed his hand on Pol’s shoulder when he and Tay were near their friends.

“Come on, Time. Let’s give them some privacy,” Tay smiled, took his boyfriend’s hand ready to keep going and let Arm and Pol get used to their new relationship.

“Right. We’ll see you on Monday in hell, ok?” Time looked at the boys while following Tay who rolled his eyes a bit at his boyfriend’s nickname for school.

“Oh, and don’t worry. The others will not hear about you two from anyone else but you, ok?” Tay assured them while he and Time were walking away.

“Thanks!” Pol said and Arm nodded a bit.

“So… what do you want to do now?” Arm asked Pol when they were alone again.

“Want to go play some video games?” Pol offered. Arm nodded immediately and they went back to Pol’s house.

Arm was happy that nothing really seemed to change at all. They were still doing things they used to do. They spent some time playing video games before Arm had to go home.

“Wait, you forgot something,” Pol stopped Arm when the other boy was about to leave.

“I did? What?” Arm was trying to remember what he left in Pol’s room and he quickly figured out what was Pol talking about when Pol kissed him.

Arm smiled while kissing Pol.

*

“Hm?” Porsche said when he noticed something in the hallway and tapped Pete’s shoulder to make him look there as well.

“What?” Pete asked while looking for something in his locker.

“Look!” Porsche urged him and Pete sighed a bit but looked where Porsche was looking and had to smile when he saw their two friends walking towards them while holding hands.

“Are you two…” Porsche started when the two walked up to him and Pete.

“Yep!” Pol nodded happily.

“Since Saturday,” Arm added and smiled at Pol who smiled back immediately.

“That’s awesome!” Pete exclaimed happily and went to hug them and Porsche joined the hug as well.

“What’s going on?” Kinn asked when he and the others joined them.

“We have a new couple here,” Tay smiled at Kinn and Vegas who quickly figured out who the couple is.

“That’s nice. Congrats,” Vegas said.

“Do you know what that means?” Pete asked when the hug ended.

“We can mix things up a bit and exchange our boyfriends,” Time nodded, which was met with laughter, a little bit of blushing and one or two eye rolls.

“No. But we can have like… quadruple date,” Pete said when he quickly counted how many couples were there. No one was against it but they knew that it would not be anytime soon since Arm and Pol were still getting used to being boyfriend instead of just friends.