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Smile sat at the wooden coffee table in his parent’s living room. It looked well lived in. X knew that must have been the case. Smile’s parents were kind, if a bit strict. As long as he got good grades, and kept the house in good shape when they left for corporate events, and kept a cheery demeanor, always working towards his dreams, they would keep a roof over his head. At least that’s what Vert had explained to X a few years back.
“Please pardon the scratch marks on the furniture. My cat Le Le can get a bit feral.”
Le Le, a tiny tuxie cat with white socks on each foot and a grey spot on one eye, stared at the intruder, took one second, then butted said intruder’s hand when he knelt down to pet her. X was glad the kitty didn’t bite his hand like she sometimes did, when she needed enrichment.
“Crack a beer, stay a while!,” Smile grinned, “not like we have anything better to do.”
Nothing better? Really? Didn’t he have his little soccer friends? He didn’t know that he cared that much to do nothing with him.
“And you’re not dragging me to some sort of jock party with your Soccer team buddies?”
X sighed. This was a surprise that Vert even remembered they had a reunion and that he didn’t think that he had finally given in and decided to head to one of his raucous parties.
“Good golly, no I am decidedly not doing that.”
He genuinely looked affronted that X would even suggest such a thing.
“ It’s our special day, X! Our three person reunion!”
Three person?
“Because my girlfriend can’t make it!”
Right. A traitorous voice in his head said ‘good.’ The hell you mean ‘good,’ brain?
“We’re rockin’ right here. Where’s Emily?”
Here was something X was sure of. He pulled out his phone but he was almost positive she was…yep. Late. As always.
“Said she was running late. Why do you ask?”
It was odd he even acknowledged Emily. What, did he have a calendar reminder? Like ‘Emily is coming back today?’ What is he talking about, of course a guy like Extrovert would have such a thing.
“It seemed like all your attention was on her the other night.”
Emily? Well, of course it was. It was her first night back. How could it not be? Did a hug at the airport matter that much to Smile? Or maybe it was when they traded bites of candy. What? He was curious about what American mints tasted like. And she hadn’t had Yuzu before (she said it was too sweet, but she said that about everything he ate. She was a black licorice or nothing lady. Except for maybe mints or gum, to keep her breath clean and nice. He didn’t really get it.)
“Her?”
He dismissed it a bit. Well, two could play at that game.
“What about you and your girlfriend, Vert?”
That would leave the responsibility a bit more to Smile. And Smile could talk enough for two people.
“Eh, nothing much. We went to DJ Shindig’s show the other week, had a good time. You know, if you weren’t so stubborn, we could perhaps go together sometime too.”
X paused, lounging back on the bright yellow couch. That was a hot ticket, with the advent of Trust being so soon in. Rumor was that Shindig would be X another year at least.
“Shindig’s? The old number one?”
Vert grinned that pretty…stupid grin of his.
“The very same! We played dance games. Threw a few drinks back, even sang along to karaoke!”
X raised an eyebrow. Sounded cheesy, but fun, if he actually cared. It had to be one thing, right?
“Love songs?”
Smile nodded, grinning his brightest. X could tell this one was real (even though he knew that Vert would often just Smile because he had to) because he had little lights in his eyes, picture perfect as always. He didn’t recall a moment where the hero wasn’t.
“Love songs! Perfection! He crowd surfed, like a rock star (my hands were still a bit numb a few days after, but I knew I’d recover with my trust where it is) and I even got his shirt!”
Hmm. Interesting. Sounded more like a rave than any sort of party X had managed to wiggle himself out of. He was almost jealous, but then he remembered that he had misplaced his Loop Earplugs and decided that bygones should be bygones. Pity. He decided to mention what he thought about the party just enough so as to not be too much more revealing.
“What? This is sounding more and more like a rockstar every moment. No self respecting disco man would do such things.”
Smile took a long swig of beer. His beautiful blond hair swept back as he gave him a knowing smirk. Or he would, if they were in a cheesy movie.
“And you know,” he lowered his voice slightly to a whisper. It sounded almost…sultry? He must be imagining it. “he kinda looked hot while he did it. I know you experience attraction differently than most, but I know you’d look at him the same way I do. Ever since I met you all the way back in 4th grade…”
“This story again?”
He always told the story of how they met. X didn’t know what was so interesting about it. In fact, he thought it was kind of embarrassing.
A knock at the door. That must be Emily. A good excuse not to hear that stupid thing again
“Oh thank god. I’ll get the door.”
Smile was the one who approached first, even though X had gotten the door. He held out a hand to shake and gestured to the shoe rack. Maybe the fact that Smile’s family had a shoe rack would bring her nostalgia in some way.
“Emily, so glad to see you!”
The redhead grinned, holding up some clear containers with names hastily Sharpied on.
“X, Vert - I brought you some old DVDs.”
Emily was really into watching movies through discs. ‘If I have the physical media,’ she had said, ‘It’s less likely to get destroyed.’
“DVDs?”
Oh, right. Vert didn’t know.
“Yeah, Mom’s a big fan of preservation. Got ‘em real cheap from her neighbor, complete with a way to play ‘em. Told her not to tell anyone she got these, how insane. What the hell’s the harm?”
Of course. Bootlegs. She’d probably paid for a dozen pieces of legitimate merchandise but when it came to the actual media she preferred to not pay the license holder for that.
She looked hopeful. She’d clearly been thinking about this all morning.
“These things are classics, history to be preserved in their entirety, and memorized word for word. Unfortunately these copies are in English. I added subtitles myself through a thing called, I think it’s Subler? Whatever. They’re good.”
Smile hid his sarcastic cough with a hand.
“You definitely weren’t interrupting anything.”
What? What wasn’t she interrupting?
Vert sent a grin their way. Ok, weird blip.
“Come in! We’ll be reckless and irresponsible together!”
X couldn’t help but verbalize the situation.
“What did you just say? Never mind, if you’re game, I’m game. What’d’ya say to the real gems of American cinema? I’ve really missed the hometown classics.”
She laughed.
“I brought the candy and some novelty popcorn,” said X. “Oh, and I have some blankets in my backpack. No offense, Vert, but yours don’t really cut it.”
“None taken!”
X gently nudged the blond’s shoulder.
“Smile here bought some beer,” X said with a teasing lilt.
All right. So he mentioned what Vert brought and tattled at the same time. Sue him.
Vert’s hero name was Smile, and X thought that was a self-fulfilling prophecy. He could already see the effects on his friend. The man looked almost like he couldn’t frown. The times he did came less and less. Bringing actual levity became a priority for X, to see him genuinely do it.
“Ok, you got me. I bought some beer. Hey, we’re all of age for it.”
Yes, they were all of age, but it still felt kind of wrong.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we should be having any.”
There. He said it. It didn’t taste that good. Then again, that one time he had a Lambic, that kinda tasted good. So he supposed that not all beer was nasty to him.
“Are you a lightweight? I’m genuinely asking. Because I saw you consume a shot glass of sake the other day-“
Oh, right. The sake. He had thrown his aloe drink into the shot glass and drained the whole thing.
“That was different.”
Wasn’t it? They were different types.
“How so? Because you were given permission? By who? You’re your own being, X. Live a little.”
Vert was always the ‘Bad Cop’ in X’s life. And, to be honest, X didn’t mind very much. X had always been the uptight one of the bunch. He was still trying to get out there and do things, even at age 19.
Emily looked like she knew something he didn’t.
“I feel like I’m intruding,” she said, trying to duck out.
Oh no she didn’t.
X needed to check something. It was like Vert was encouraging him, pushing him forward, to do what?
Oh, he was pretty sure he knew what. Time to toss a coin.
“Emily, I’m trying to prove a point here,” said Smile, “X, don’t get that coin, what are you trying to prove?”
What did he think?
“Nothing much. Just the probability of us actually watching the movie. And scoot scoot scoot that thing all the way to 100.”
“What’dya mean?”
Oh, X was onto him alright.
“You’re gonna try and set Emily and I up, aren’t you? Our first reunion sleepover in two years and all you want to do is meddle.”
Just like one of those old cheesy Dcoms Emily had them watch the first year they knew her.
Vert smirked.
“Pot. Kettle. Hey, Emily, did I use that right?”
Checkmated by his childhood friend. How embarrassing.
Emily checked the time on her watch, and started to bring her bookbag to the living room. Again, she looked like she knew something. X didn’t like that look very much. It said that she was going to plan something based around what she thought she knew.
“Idiots. Ok…so I got a completely different vibe from you two. I’m way off base.”
What did she-ok, he gave up.
“ I’ll go set up the TV. Did anyone get the popcorn?”
X pointed to his backpack.
“No. I’ll get it. It’s in my backpack. I should know where the kitchen is by now.”
Smile was the one to start asking the difficult questions that would have definitely been socially awkward for X to even bring up. . What a good hero move of his.
“A completely different vibe? How so?”
And…Emily started rambling again, heading towards the TV. Whatever. Probably not important.
“Nothing too serious, I just thought- well, maybe it- I don’t know - arghhhh - never mind. If one of you pops the popcorn I’ll load up Spiderverse. How ‘bout that? Or maybe The Princess Bride, if you’re not that psyched for superheroes. Then again, how could you not? They’re here to stay these days after Trust got established. Plot’s totally ridiculous on both, though. I mean, do other dimensions really exist in Spiderverse? And the whole Dread Pirate Robert’s thing in The Princess Bride? I won’t spoil it but wow… Who falls for that shit? They keep it all so purposefully ridiculous.”
Emily put on a ridiculous accent for the next bit as if she was referencing something.
“As you wish, your honor.”
She switched back.
“Y’know, works for X, might work for me. I’ll flip a coin.”
As long as they had fun, X didn’t care what movie they watched.
“I’ll be there in a sec. A different vibe?”
He chose to be bold and asked the same question. Emily turned to answer as he placed a bag into the microwave. He’d never popped popcorn before, so hopefully he was doing it right. The instructions on the bag seemed self-explanatory enough.
He almost didn’t hear it, her accent was so strong, but X could just catch the words.
“Yeah, it seemed you two were gonna kiss or something.”
“Wha/“
Was that what she thought? Huh.
“/Don’t look at me like that. Didn’t you say I interrupted something, Vert?”
Was that what he was trying to say? He thought he was just going to retell that stupid story. Oh wait, he was about to tell it again, wasn’t he.
“Yeah. I was just gonna retell that story about when I first met X. They had hung him from the flagpole and I thought I had to intervene, but there he was, right next to me in an instant. I still have no idea how you did that. But you had somehow made your way down with no shirt, so I lent you mine. You looked ridiculous!”
This was the equivalent of a parent showing off his baby pictures. Not like he had any at the time of this incident, but whatever.
“I could've just headed home. Not like the orphanage was that far from the school. Or to the nurse. Probably had a few spare shirts lying around. But you just had to-“
Give him his, went unspoken. Goofy, pretty, helpful guy. Wait, what?
Emily shook her head.
“Idiots. I’ll be in the other room, setting up the TV. You dumbasses.”