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Aaron was still awake.
The only ones left in the room were him, Ella, and Kenji. Nazeera was busy, Adam went home half way through, and no one had any clue where James was.
Well, Aaron had an idea on where James was.
It was by no means a surprise that he was the last to fall asleep—he usually was. But for all Kenji’s talk of “definitely staying awake this time” Aaron thought he would at least make it to the second half.
Especially considering he was the one that picked the movie.
He decided on Tangled because, according to Kenji, Aaron never watching it before was a sin that needed redemption. Aaron felt it was an extreme overreaction until Ella agreed with him.
Kenji then proceeded to fall asleep on her shoulder twenty minutes later.
Aaron wanted to kill him a little for it, but he cared about Ella enough to spare the imbecile.
He was about to turn off the television when he heard a grunt of disapproval from behind him. Eyes narrowed, he turned to the source of the sound and was greeted with a half asleep Ella, fighting to stay awake.
Aaron couldn’t help but smile at her sleepy expression as he slowly placed the remote back on the table.
“I didn’t realize you were still watching,” he uttered.
“It’s alright.” She sat straight up and wiped her eyes. Then she turned to Kenji, who was now snoring. “I should probably wake him up.”
Aaron sighed. “He’ll likely mope over it tomorrow if you don’t.”
She let out a soft laugh, and he nearly lost himself in the sound.
He really didn’t want her to wake Kenji.
“Kenji?” Ella whispered, softly shaking his arm. “Kenji!”
He shot up, rapidly blinking as he looked around the dark room. “What? What’s happening?”
“Quiet down, idiot,” Aaron warned.
Ella gave him a pointed look before turning back to the other male.
“You fell asleep,” she explained.
“Oh. Did I?”
Aaron could sense Kenji’s embarrassment even though he made a clear effort to hide it.
“Yes. Less than thirty minutes in,” said Aaron. “Ella thought you might want to finish it.”
“Always so considerate.” Kenji grinned and tousled her hair.“You could learn from her, you know.”
Aaron glared.
Kenji threw up both hands. “Sorry—geez. Learn to take a joke, dude.”
“Learn to be funny.”
“I’m hilarious.” He crossed both arms. “Youre just too serious to recognize that.”
“Can we please just finish the movie?” asked Ella.
“Of course, love.”
Kenji snorted. “Pushover.”
“Permission to kill him?”
“Not tonight.” She took the remote and rewound the movie to where Kenji had fallen asleep.
“Don’t word it like that,” Kenji said. “He might take it as a sign to strike tomorrow.”
She simply smiled.
“You know, I really thought I’d make it this time,” he mumbled after a moment. “Drank gross black coffee and everything.”
She unpaused the television and turned to Kenji. “Why drink black coffee if you hate it?”
“Well I needed to stay awake somehow. And your weirdo husband refuses to buy creamer.”
“He’s not—”
Aaron ignored the insulting comment. “It’s not my fault you decide to ruin a perfectly alright beverage by adding a sickening amount of sugar. What’s the point in drinking it if you can no longer even tell that it’s coffee?”
The other man raised a brow. “Because it tastes better, obviously?”
Aaron sighed, sinking deeper into the couch. He directed his attention to the screen in attempt to avoid the inevitable headache that Kenji always seemed to bring. There was a fight going on, though Aaron wasn’t sure what the fight was even about. He stopped paying attention to the movie a while ago.
“Either way,” he began, “don’t drink my coffee and then complain about it. Buy your own creamer, Kishimoto.”
“Noted,” said Kenji, grabbing the pillow that he kicked onto the floor. “I’ll be sure to remember your depressing taste palette next time I’m buying groceries.”
“My taste pallet isn’t—“
“Shush. Trying to watch a movie here.”
Aaron clenched his jaw. “You’re—“
He was interrupted by a soft click at the front door. The lock turned quietly, as though whoever was on the other side didn’t want to be heard.
“Huh?” asked Kenji. “Who’s that?”
“James, I would imagine.”
Ella’s entire demeanor suddenly shifted, a soft smile spreading across her face. “Oh, I was wondering when he’d show up.”
Slowly, the door opened. As suspected, James quietly entered, shutting the door as softly as he opened it. He took a breath before turning around, flinching when he saw the three sets of eyes pinned to him from the couch.
“Oh.” His voice came out slightly choked and he quickly cleared his throat. “I uh… thought you’d guys would be asleep. Wait, is that Tangled? Oh right, Kenji did say something about that, didn’t he? Sorry, I meant to be here, but—”
His brother's nerves were painfully obvious.
“You were with her, I assume?”
“Her?” James said too quickly. “Who?”
“He means your girl,” intervened Kenji.
“She isn’t my—” He stopped when he caught his mistake.
“Were you on a date?” Ella exclaimed with bright eyes.
“It wasn’t a date.” James’s face turned a deep red. “I just…I walked her home.”
“I’m surprised she allowed that, given what you’ve said about her,” Aaron replied with raised brows.
The boy’s face turned deeper red. “It…took some asking.”
“You mean begging,” said Kenji.
“I didn’t beg!”
“Yeah, you totally begged.”
“Leave him alone.” Ella turned back to James. “You should bring her one day!”
James sighed. “Not gonna happen. I can barely get her to hang out with me at school.”
Kenji snorted. “Clearly.”
“Kenji!” said Ella with a glare.
“Yep, never talking to you guys again.” James began to walk towards the staircase, dropping his messenger bag on the way.
“Don’t leave your belongings on the floor,” Aaron called.
James whispered some vulgarity as he took a step back and slung the dark green bag over his shoulder. Without another word he dragged himself to his bedroom, shutting the door much less gently than he did the living room one.
Aaron squeezed the bridge of his nose.
“Ridiculous,” he muttered under his breath.
“You have no right to talk, lover boy.” An annoying smirk took over Kenji’s face.
“Just watch your movie.”
Miraculously, Kenji didn’t protest.