Chapter Text
Wyatt Hayes is particularly observant, so when he had been the first to notice a 6 pack of ginger ale in the back of the fridge and nobody had noticed, he had been weary about how it ended up in their fridge. The frat house fridge that usually contains condiments, cheese, beers, and some soda, was now stocked with ginger ale, how odd. He had never seen a single person in that house drink a ginger ale, he doesn’t even know what ginger ale tastes like, and he doesn’t think anyone else in this house would either. So where did it come from?
After some more interrogations with the other people that lived in the house, none of them could explain where this mysterious package of 6 canned ginger ales had come from. His girlfriend Lisa had theorized that maybe it had been someone that had gotten drunk, bought it, put it in the fridge, and then promptly forgotten it had ever happened. That seemed believable after he had found a bag of marshmallows that weighed at least 5 pounds wedged under the couch, the only evidence of it being him that bought it was a video of him slurring his words as he stands outside a convenience store waving the bag right in front of the camera.
On his way to his finance class with Zane, he had brought it up in hopes that Zane would have seen someone put it in the fridge.
“Not a clue, sorry.” He answered.
“But who the hell put it in the fridge? Most of the guys rarely ever buy stuff for the house anyway, so it really doesn’t seem like them.”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s a prank, or a way to see if any of the freshmen would drink it and then it would turn into some elaborate prank.”
“Oh you’re so right, maybe Roz put it in there to see if the freshmen would drink it. It’s probably actual ginger juice or something.”
“Only one way to find out.” Zane smirks.
Now Wyatt and Zane were sitting at the small, circular, dining table that had chips and marks all over it from the amount of crazy parties they had held, where most people would have probably bumped into it or intentionally tried to break it. They had finally brought the ginger ale out of the fridge, still cool to the touch. As Wyatt grabbed one of the bottles out of its packaging, he slowly opened it up and sniffed it. He handed it to Zane who took a sniff, but the problem was, neither of them even knew what ginger ale really smelt like.
“Well, I actually don’t know if it smells off or not.”
“Me too.”
“Hey freshman!” Zane yells towards the living room. Luca Haas appears, eerily creeping towards them wondering what the issue was.
“Is everything okay?” He asks.
“Take a sip, it’s not poisoned, we just want to know what you think.”
“Okay, well now I think it’s poisoned.” Luca replies.
“Take the sip.” Zane demands.
Luca takes the can cautiously and raises it to his lips, taking a small sip. “Tastes nice?”
Wyatt and Zane looked at one another, so if it didn’t taste bad, what was the point? Luca put down the can, taking a seat next to Wyatt. Zane explains the situation to Luca, the mysterious ginger ale and their theory that it had been some kind of elaborate prank meant for the freshmen, however, after confirming it was in fact, just ginger ale, their theory was now null. Wyatt kept wondering where this ginger ale had come from, it was a well known rule that they wouldn’t buy anything for the common space unless everyone agreed to it, personal items were meant for their own personal mini fridges in their rooms.
Their heads all shot up as they heard someone enter the house. Troy Barrett and Harris Drover entered the dining area, talking about the movie that they had just gone to see, clearly arguing about whether it had been a good movie or not. Troy was clearly losing based on his vague arguments, compared to Harris’s more detailed argument. Once their eyes both landed on the table, Harris’s eyes widened in shock.
“Why did you touch the ginger ale?” He asks.
“Um, we just wanted to try?” Zane confessed.
“Oh no, this is bad, you have to put it back right now. You already opened one, oh shit, Roz is going to be so mad.” Harris is already grabbing the rest of the cans and shoving them back into the fridge.
“What, why? So Roz put them in the fridge, I knew it!” Zane pumped his fist in cheer.
“These are for Shane, nobody should touch those.” Harris admits.
“Hollander? Why does he have ginger ale for Hollander? He doesn’t even live here.” Wyatt asks.
Troy chuckles as Harris continues panicking. “Guys it’s so obvious, he’s totally smitten with Hollander. Don’t you see them at training? I feel like they're constantly seconds away from making out.”
Wyatt took a moment to process this information. Roz was smitten with Hollander? The man who claims he didn’t cry during Titanic even though he definitely saw some tears, the man that claims he fought a bear at 16, the man who says he never ever blushes. That same man was buying ginger ale for Shane, who rarely ever came over. Now that he thought about it, he noticed how they would often bicker during training, he had assumed that they were just weirdly competitive with one another, but now he realises he was subjected to watching their weird foreplay. He pulled out his phone and found Ilya’s contact.
Wyatt : ‘Okay so don’t be mad’
Ilya : Why would I be mad, what did you do’
Wyatt : ‘The freshmen drank your ginger ale’
Ilya : ‘What! Why would they do such a thing???’
Wyatt : ‘Yeah, sorry dude. I’ll buy another can to replace the one that he drank from”
Ilya : ‘Who was it? I’ll make them pay’
Wyatt waited for a moment, would he really throw Luca under the bus? Zane was the one that had told him to drink it, it wasn’t Luca’s fault that he was thrown into this situation. He knew how mean Ilya could get when someone angered him, Wyatt thought to himself, Luca is in for a tough time when Ilya gets back.
Wyatt : ‘Luca Haas’
Ilya : ‘Little Luca took a ginger ale without asking someone first? I am not as dumb as you think Hayes.’
Shit, Ilya knew he was lying, he was so going to die.
Wyatt : ‘Okay, Zane told him to drink it’
Ilya : ‘Why did you not say that before’
Wyatt : Come back and we’ll explain
Ilya: I am busy ;)
Wyatt : You’re insane, you’re seriously having sex on a Wednesday afternoon?
Ilya : What? I am in my pottery class. I meant to send :) not ;)
Wyatt closes his phone, he explains to Zane that Ilya knows what they did, but that they would explain more once he got back.
Once Ilya had made his way back holding a very abstract flower vase, he sat down at the dining table, the only thing on the table was the half empty ginger ale can.
“Are you in love with Hollander or something? Why the hell would you buy ginger ale for the frat house?”
“What? I can’t buy Hollander some drinks for when he comes over? I buy the cheese Luca likes, does not mean I am in love with Luca.”
“Okay, so I didn't hear a no to my original question, sooo.”
“You guys are overthinking this.”
“Right, so the bickering between you two at training isn’t some secret foreplay?”
“You guys must have hit your heads too hard at training, take some rest.” Ilya gets up, "And don't touch the ginger ale anymore, Shane will be here tomorrow so we can play Mario Kart in my room."
"As friends or lovers?" Wyatt smirked.
Ilya didn't even dignify it with a response, he just walked upstairs and slammed his door.
Harris and Troy are sitting on the living room couch cuddled up to one another. “I told you he wouldn’t admit it, I don’t even think he knows he’s in love yet.”