Work Text:
Bdubs glared. Not at anything, mind you, he just wanted to make it clear that he was pissed off. He folded his arms and huffed too, just to be sure. You know what, may as well tap his foot for good measure, why the heck not. Yeah, now he was the perfect picture of annoyance. There’s no way anyone could think that he was having a good time.
“Soooo,” Joel said, with an infuriating air of nonchalance, “are you having a good time?”
“What does it freaking look like!” Bdubs shouted.
Look, he and Etho had a very nice, open relationship. Had for over a decade! Each of them had their own fair share of beaus and casual flings outside of each other, and it worked out great for them. And hey, sometimes their beaus and flings overlapped, and that just made things more exciting! And even when they didn’t, most of the time Bdubs still liked the people Etho hooked up with just fine.
But this guy.
“Bro, what’s wrong?” Joel asked, and Bdubs was currently refusing to look at him, and yet could still see the man’s shit-eating grin in his mind’s eye. “Do you not like festivals?”
Bdubs whirled around. “I hate them, alright?” he yelled. “Everything’s too loud, the ground is always muddy somehow, and the stalls are always crowded and overpriced. And Etho’s going to spend ages shopping around, which means it’ll take forever until we get any food. I’m starving.”
Joel did not seem remotely fazed by the outburst. “I mean, you didn’t have to come.”
“And leave Etho alone with you?” Bdubs scoffed. “You freaking wish.”
Joel had the nerve to pout at him. “Come on, Bdubs, Etho brought us both here so that we’d get along,” he whined. “Can’t we just be friends? Pretty please?”
“Not on your life!” Sure, Bdubs might not have any actual basis to hate Joel, but look. It was about the vibes, okay? The man was a serial killer or something, he just knew it.
Joel opened his mouth to say more, but thankfully their phones both chose that moment to buzz with the notification of a voice message from Etho.
“Hey, guys!” the tinny, electronic voice said. “I found us a spot over by the water. Great view of the lanterns over here! Wanna come join me?”
The message ended, and Joel batted his eyelashes at Bdubs. “Want to go spend a romantic night watching the lanterns together?” he said with mock flirtatiousness.
“Shut up and start walking,” Bdubs grumbled. Jeez, he freaking hated this guy.