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Mane was currently surrounded by his lovely family if “lovely” meant “loud, chaotic, and emotionally exhausting.” Of course, he cared about them. Deep down. Somewhere. But if he had the choice? He’d absolutely rather be with the most amazing person in the entire world his boyfriend, BaconWaffles.
Sure, family night was technically fun at least in theory. But in reality, it always ended in utter mayhem.
It usually began with Branzy pulling out a board game and insisting, demanding , that everyone play. Tonight, it was UNO, but with house rules that no one fully understood, or followed. Then Flame and Clown would inevitably start a competitive war, turning a simple game into a battlefield. They both had the same drive to win and the same inability to play without talking trash. It never ended well.
Wemmbu, on the other hand, never really cared about the game. He usually sat in the corner scrolling through his phone, occasionally tossing in a sarcastic comment or vaguely making a move that half the time didn’t even follow the rules. Honestly, Mane admired that level of detachment.
Then, as if the situation couldn’t escalate more, Branzy would also start getting competitive halfway through, usually after losing once or twice. That’s when the yelling started. And not just mild bickering. Full-on passionate debates about rules, card placement, and who was “obviously cheating.”
Planetlord? Well… Planetlord was just Planetlord. A chaotic neutral in the truest sense. They’d make weird cosmic comments about “the alignment of cards” or “the fate of the Draw Four.” No one really knew whose side they were on. Maybe they didn’t either.
Eventually, the whole room would devolve into a shouting match over who won, who cheated, and who was gaslighting everyone about who laid down the reverse card last. And then, instead of letting it go, someone, usually Flame, would suggest playing another game to “settle things once and for all.”
Even though literally everyone had been cheating the entire time.
Mane, meanwhile, wasn’t even playing. He was sitting off to the side, on his phone, texting the one person who could make this night bearable, BaconWaffles.
“be a while :(”
“i accidentally won :(”
“i wanna cuddle w u :(”
“i miss u :(”
He had won UNO entirely by accident, which only made things worse. He’d laid down his last card without even noticing it was his turn, and suddenly everyone exploded with accusations of “rigging the game” and “winning doesn’t count if you weren’t paying attention.”
So now he was being forced to play another round.
Great.
After a few long minutes, Bacon finally texted back.
“Do you want me to come down?”
Mane’s thumbs moved quickly.
“no”
“you can’t you’ll be sucked into the game :(”
Bacon replied almost instantly.
“I’m just going to come down.”
“nooo don’t :(”
But it was too late.
Mane looked up to see Bacon walking out of his room and making his way down the stairs. He moved casually, like he wasn’t stepping into a warzone. Then, without a word, he sat down right next to Mane and leaned against him.
Mane blinked. “You’re so brave.”
Bacon just smirked. “Had to rescue you from the chaos.”
And yeah… Mane did, in fact, get to cuddle with his boyfriend. But now Bacon was fully engulfed in the madness. Branzy was already explaining the new round’s rules (which he was 100% making up), and Clown was staring at Bacon like he knew he wasn’t supposed to be there.
Mane caught Clown’s eye. Clown gave him the look, that mix of disappointment, amusement, and “you better have a good explanation” energy. But in the end, he let it slide. Mostly because Bacon was shockingly good at UNO and had just laid down a Draw Four on Branzy without blinking.
Honestly? Not a bad trade-off.
Mane leaned his head on Bacon’s shoulder, feeling his tension melt just a little as the shouting resumed around them. Even if Bacon was dragged into the family tornado, he was still there, beside him. And right now, that was enough.
At least he got to cuddle while watching his boyfriend destroy his family at a card game.