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“Tyler, Aiden, stop touching each other,” their teacher said calmly from the front of the classroom, leveling them both with a flat look. Tyler looked annoyed as all hell. Aiden slowly turned his head, and flashed an easy grin.
“You know, Ms., I was just explaining the problem to him.” Aiden nodded sagely, holding up his notebook with perfectly done math in it. The teacher squinted at it. She sighed.
“If that’s what you’re actually doing, then…” the teacher trailed off, clearly giving up on these two—who had rapidly become her problem children of the class after knowing each other for maybe a month, by now, only. Honestly, it was only a certain amount of time before they ended up in detention together for the next few weeks. Which would hopefully not end up as a Breakfast Club style situation.
Ben observed this from his seat nearby Aiden. He was not particularly thrilled about how Aiden was being right now. His cousin had always been great at math, but he never really put in that effort anyways.
Aiden hummed loudly, and the teacher shot him a deadpan glare him for it. He looked undeterred, blinking as if oblivious. Tyler hit him on the arm.
“Owie!” Aiden yelped over dramatically (ever the class clown), making everybody who wasn’t already looking at him and Tyler turn to see their table, where Ben just sits like he doesn’t exist. Maybe he wouldn’t if he stays quiet enough.
“Could you be any louder?” Tyler asked with a roll of his eyes, shoving at Aiden’s arm. Aiden winced again, though snickering as he rubbed at his arm like he was hurt by it.
Aiden feigned thought for a second, tapping a finger to his lip as if he were deeply considering the idea. Really, he was just thinking of more ways to annoy Tyler. “Yes, actually.”
“Don’t,” Tyler deadpanned.
Aiden pouted like a stray dog left to soak out in the rain with nothing but a cardboard box and a dream to its name. “But Tylerrrr—”
“Aiden,” the teacher cut in, tone chastising. Aiden glanced back to her as if he’d just remembered that he was in class of all things. He tilted his head, waiting for her to go on. “It’s class time. You’re supposed to be doing your work.”
“Ah…right, right!” Aiden smiled, nodding like a perfect student as he brought his pen over a paper, and instead doodled a “:3” on Tyler’s paper just to bother him. Tyler glared at the paper first, and then Aiden.
This was basically how the rest of math class goes. Yes, Ben was just supposed to sit there and watch this like it was normal and not the stupidest thing he’d ever seen. They were so petty. It was annoying.
Aiden poked at Tyler. Tyler kicked him under the table. Aiden laughed. The bell rung.
Ben quietly collected his things, still just listening in silence as the argument didn’t falter in the slightest while the pair of them head for the door. Ben had been reduced to nothing less than a practice child for them to practice neglecting, really.
“So, Tyler,” Aiden started brightly. Ben listens with slight intrigue. He knew when Aiden started stuff, it wasat least interesting in one way or another, if nothing else. “I got you a gift.”
Tyler looked at him skeptically, because he trusted Aiden less than anyone with gifts. He expected something stupid like a rubber duck, probably.
Aiden just grinned, and opened up his locker, standing on his tip-toes to properly reach the top shelf of it. He closed the locker, and in his hands were two drinks from Starbucks. Tyler looked over them, less than impressed, but Ben caught that he’s a little surprised Aiden didn’t get him something gag-joke, like a rubber chicken (Ben really doesn't understand gag jokes, he couldn't think of any other example).
Then Ben looked at the drinks properly. And he caught on. He almost snickered...well, would have if not mute, but whatever.
Yeah, that was definitely a gag joke if nothing else at all.
“...A pink drink,” Tyler said flatly.
Aiden nodded sagely, holding out a bright pink drink for Tyler to take. Tyler squinted at it, looked back at Aiden’s grinning face, and then back to the drink. He scowled. Hard.
Tyler looked at the drink like it had personally wronged him. Like it was a mini Aiden. “Like hell I’m drinking that—”
“C’mon, you would look so cute with a little pink drink in hand,” Aiden cut him off, leaning in just to get more of a rise out of Tyler. He pushed the ice cold drink into Tyler’s chest, as if insisting even more.
Tyler shaked his head, more determined to keep that annoyance on his face than anybody ever had been. “I am not drinking that.”
“Yes, you are!” Aiden nodded rapidly, like an overenergetic child. (Note to self: don’t let Aiden wander and get Starbucks and get on caffeine.)
“Hell no.” Tyler crossed his arms. “I hate Starbucks drinks. Every single one of them. They all suck, and they’re all just sugar. Disgusting, and overpriced. The coffee isn't even good.” Nevermind that a pink drink wasn't even coffee...
“Fine, then,” Aiden sighed loudly, handing the drink off to Taylor, who was talking to Ben by her locker. She didn’t even question it, and Ben sighed internally at this as he watched the last of Tyler and Aiden’s interaction before they were forced to split up for next period.
“Next time, I’ll bring you a caramel macchiato,” Aiden chirped in promise.
Tyler jabbed a finger into the fake blond’s chest. “Don't try it.”
Aiden just laughed brightly, ending up back at Ben’s side, cause they had their next class together. Ben listened as Aiden talked animatedly about how easy and funny math was today.
“About Tyler,” Ben started to sign, and Aiden perked up in attention. His interest was definitely caught by it. “Why do you like bothering him so much?”
Aiden blinked. “Oh. I don’t know.” He paused, like he was thinking it over, and then offered an unhelpful shrug. “I don’t know. It’s funny.”
Ben raised an eyebrow.
“After all,” Aiden mused, not replying to Ben’s little look, just shoving his hands back into his pockets as he kept walking. “Asleep or awake, I’m just always thinking of ways to annoy Tyler.”
Ben paused slightly at that. That’s…okay, Ben was not unpacking that today. Aiden would come to the realization when it’s due…hopefully.
***
If you asked Ashlyn what she wanted to do on a Friday afternoon out with her friends, it was not to third wheel two of them. In fact, it would be anything other than third wheeling two of her friends. She didn’t like most social interactions. This was nothing much better than the other kinds.
Ashlyn crossed her arms, shifting on her feet as she watched Tyler and Aiden bicker like five year olds fighting in the playground who wouldn’t admit they liked each other’s company.
“Hey, Tyler, wanna make a bet?” Aiden suggested eagerly, bouncing up on his feet like an excited puppy.
He did not wait for an answer before dragging Tyler along by the wrist to a Street Fighter machine, and Ashlyn just trailed behind them. She wondered if Aiden was any actual good at these kinds of things. (I mean…she assumed so, at least? He struck her as the type with way too much free time and way too much money. The latter is confirmed, though.)
“So. How about this? Loser has to listen to whatever the winner says for a whole week.” Aiden paused, feigning thoughtfulness. “Like a dog, you know?”
Tyler’s eyes narrowed. And when Ashlyn almost thought he was about to get pissed at Aiden again—particularly for the comparison—he instead agreed, saying: “I’m never letting you win that bet.”
Aiden just snickered, entering his coin into the slot on the machine. Tyler did the same on the other side.
Now, one thing Ashlyn did know about these two was that they were weirdly competitive whenever pitted against each other. It was nothing less than a little funny and really ridiculous.
Ashlyn wasn’t good at reading people by any means, but she could tell that the both of them were weirdly dedicated to beating each other out for stupid bets like this. Honestly, it was ridiculous, and pretty immature, but Ashlyn couldn’t help but smile in slight amusement.
The two of them were too distracted bickering with each other over who was going to win as their characters fought. Like a cliche, Tyler won the first round, and then Aiden won the second. Which left them with the third round as the tiebreaker.
The buttons clacked stupidly loudly (Ashlyn winced slightly) with the sheer amount of intensity they were dedicating to this. It was just a bet. Was it ever that serious?
Although, it finally struck her at that point, despite being terrible at reading people…maybe that amount of dedication was just them trying to hide how much they liked spending time together. She tilted her head in slight realization.
Ah.
Finally, Aiden won the third round just barely, and he beamed, completely and utterly smug about winning. It was almost too funny how Tyler glared at that smile.
“First order of business,” Aiden started, leaning into Tyler’s space with a wide grin. He was decently shorter than Tyler, so, theoretically, that glare should’ve been mildly intimidating, even, but Aiden seemed to…not care. At all.
“You’re taking me to Starbucks.”
Ashlyn could imagine Tyler’s eye twitching. But it didn’t, he just recoiled in outrage that was almost theatrical. “Starbucks??”
“Mhm.” Aiden smirked, just slightly. Ashlyn blinked. The thing that got on Tyler’s nerves so much…was Starbucks? “I think I’ll get an iced brown sugar oat shaken espresso.”
Tyler stared in horror at the drink’s name. “What? Could you be any more annoying?”
“Oh, yeah,” Aiden said with an enthusiastic nod. “I could actually specify the size as the largest one, add extra pumps of flavoring, ask for less ice—which means more money spent on it—ask for whipped cream on top—”
Tyler groaned, cutting him off. “I’m going broke…”
***
Aiden’s room is stupidly massive.
That was the first thing that Tyler thought to himself upon entering the place. He’d already gone up a long flight of stairs through the obnoxiously big house, following Aiden as he yapped on and on about beating Tyler in Mario Kart (again).
Tyler shoved his hands in his pockets and grumbled all about it on the way up to Aiden’s room. But now that he was there, his eyes had begun to flick around the room curiously. Why was he so curious about Aiden? He wasn’t even sure.
But whatever.
Tyler settled down next to Aiden on the couch, as the (cough cough, fake) blond flicked on some stupid K-drama Tyler had specifically said he didn’t want to watch. But Tyler didn’t even bother to complain, just rolled his eyes.
The episode passed like molasses. A whole hour, and somehow, it also didn’t feel like that much had happened.
At the end, Aiden turned to Tyler. “You secretly like this sappy shit, I’m sure.”
“The hell no I don’t!” Tyler denied, sputtering slightly. Really, he did have a soft spot for romantic movies—he had lots of memories of sitting around with Taylor and braiding her hair while she watched something as stupid as Twilight, a few years ago—but he would rather die than admit that, especially to Aiden.
“Right, right. You don’t,” Aiden agreed sarcastically, but instead of smirking about it, it was too soft. His smile looked more genuine than typical as he glanced at Tyler, laughing just slightly. Tyler’s eyes, for some stupid reason, lingered on the way Aiden’s hair tilted with the motion of his head tipping to the side just slightly.
He tried to force himself to remember: this is Aiden. His hair isn’t even pretty. The bleach job is the shittiest thing you’ve ever seen, Tyler.
And yet…his gaze lingered, stupidly. And a tiny thing, in the back of his mind, clicked for him. He almost scowled in horror.
Tyler blinked rapidly at that sudden realization. Damn. He liked Aiden. AIDEN?!
What the hell kind of terrible taste in guys did Tyler have?
Before he could spiral even more (or do worse, like act on the realization in whatever way), Aiden poked at Tyler with a single finger. “You’re being weirdly quiet.”
Tyler stiffened. “What? No, I’m not!”
Aiden snickered at that just slightly. “Right…not being weird at all.”
Tyler scowled like always, but, FUCK. Not only did he have to come to a realization that he was very gay on a random Wednesday, but the person who sparked the realization just had to be Aiden, didn’t it?
“So…” Aiden started, picking up a game controller. “Mario Kart? Or Minecraft? If we do play Minecraft…I swear I’ll only drown intentionally once or twice.”
Tyler rolled his eyes, back to normal out of habit. “I don’t trust you to keep your word on that.”
“Harsh,” Aiden said with a mocking wince.
“I’m just right,” Tyler replied, shaking his head.
“Uh huh,” Aiden said, almost patronizingly, but it was all in teasing, good fun.
Tyler just huffed, glanced away from Aiden, and then immediately looked back, side eyeing the fake blond. “Stop looking at me like that, psycho."
“Like what?” Aiden asked, mockingly innocent.
Though, the only reason Tyler said that wasn’t annoyance. It was because he could feel the heat pricking up the back of his neck, and if Aiden saw that?
Well. He’d be found out. Not a wonderful idea.
Though, maybe if Aiden returned the feelings…?
No. NOPE. Repressing this and never coming back to it.
(Tyler proceeded to fumble for words the next morning when Aiden smiled at him too nicely and not smugly.)