Soy Milk
Max was sitting in the hotel's breakfast bar area with a bagel in one hand and black coffee in the other. He still felt groggy, just wearing a red long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. He set the bagel down on the small plate he had grabbed with his other things and sighed, taking a small sip of the piping hot coffee. His nose wrinkled with disgust at the bitter taste, but he hadn't seen any soy milk to put in it. He irritably grumbled something to himself about 'shitty hotels', but looked up, his train of thought stopping as a man holding a mask starting frantically apologizing to a woman he had bumped into. Max chuckled to himself.
Maybe if he wasn't holding that dumbass Omega symb- Max's thoughts processed properly and his eyes widened.
Oh shit, is that... Is that Ohm? I didn't think he'd be flying in for PAX. Huh. Max lifted an arm and waved at the flushed man, who immediately brightened and skipped over.
"Max! Is that you?"
"Uh, yeah. Who else would it be?"
I also didn't think he'd be this cute in real life. Fuck.
"Heh, I dunno. Also, uhm, would you mind just calling me Ryan? I mean, fans and all..."
"What? You want me to call you Ryan but you're bumping into people while holding your signature mask? Yeah, alright, Ryan."
"H-Hey, shut up, I didn't see her!"
"Oh, were you too busy looking at me?" At that, Ryan fell silent, setting his mask face down on the table.
"I'm gunna... get some coffee." Ryan sprinted away, nearly running into someone else on the way. Max just smiled to himself, shaking his head slowly. After a few more sips of the horrid coffee, he looked back up as Ryan came back slowly, already nursing a much more pale version of what Max held, sitting down across from him.
"Oh, what did you put in it?" Ryan set it down carefully before responding.
"Uhh... Soy milk, what I usually do." Max's fingers clenched around the cup's handle and his pupils narrowed.
"...Excuse me?"
"I-I said... soy milk?"
"There was fucking soy milk and no one told me? " Max hissed rhetorically, seemingly staring into a now sweating Ryan's soul.
"I... g-guess-?", Ryan squeaked, his own eyes wide. Max, noticing he was frightening the smaller man, settled for a twitching smile.
"It... wasn't actually a question. You didn't have to answer, Ryan."
"O-Okay..."
"Sorry for making you nervous."
"It's fine, lots of things make me nervous!", Ryan laughed, eyes sparkling. Max felt a lot more calm, but it took a lot of self control not to just get lost in Ryan's eyes.
"So, you're up here for PAX?"
"Yeah! Isn't everyone, though?"
"Hah, that's true. I'm actually excited. Adam an' Anthony are gunna be up there, so I'll probably hang out with them. Maybe Bryce, if he turns up." Ryan's eyes seemed to fall slightly at the mention of Adam, focusing on the soy milk infused coffee.
"Aww, Ryan, don't worry. I meant with you too." Ryan laughed softly.
"Sorry... For seeming, uh, needy, or something..." Max's eyes got a distant look as he seemed to stare right past Ryan.
"No, needy... needy is good. It lets you know they care." Ryan tilted his head, a bit concerned.
"Um, Max? You alright?" Max snapped back to reality, covering up his zoning out with a hearty laugh.
"Yeah! Just thinkin'."
"About what?" Max grinned, picking up his bagel.
"How pretty your eyes are." As he took a bite, Ryan's entire face turned red and he looked back down at the coffee, falling silent.
Adam was at home, seated in between 'Sark' and 'Hutch', a controller in his hand, and a giggle on his tongue. They were just playing Mario Kart, not even recording, but this was nice. Shaun would always swoop in like a mother bird with a forehead kiss or gentle stare if he seemed to be getting down, and Scott... Well, Scott had made them all snacks. Scott was nice like that. He had guessed early on that Shaun was only paying for one person, not three, but nothing could get him down, not even vaguely breaking the law. 'Vaguely breaking the law' was Adam's middle name! So Adam sat there, unaware of the chain of events that would lead to bad things in his world. Still, ignorance is bliss, and Adam seemed to represent it very well as he sat there.
After a few rounds of Mario Kart, Adam found himself sitting in Shaun's lap as the taller man whispered to him, saying it would all be okay, that everyone would forgive him for what he had done. Scott walked over with the snacks- three banana splits with extra chocolate sauce- and sat on the bed next to the other two. Crawling off of Shaun's lap, Adam grabbed one and began eating it with the spoon Scott had lodged in it. The three of them sat there, content, eating icecream, a happy family. Everyone could forget what each of them had done in that moment, as if all of their sins were forgiven. The moment wouldn't last forever, but Adam was determined to grasp onto it for as long as he could.
After the snacks were gone, Adam reminded Shaun that his suitcase was at Anthony's apartment at the moment, and that he didn't have his things or clothes.
"I'll get it, don't worry your little head over it."
"Th-Thank you... both of you... I can always come to you two when I need help."
"Damn right.", Scott muttered, earning a glare from Shaun.
"We'll always be here for you because we love you, Adam. Nothing you could ever do would make us love you less. Remember that."
"I will...", Adam whispered, laying back on the bed. Shaun smiled at him warmly.
"I have to talk to Scott about something. One moment." Shaun grabbed Scott's hand and pulled him off of the bed, eliciting a yelp from the normally composed man. He continued to march the both of them into the bathroom before shutting the door, leaving Adam alone to his thoughts about everything that had happened since he'd been on the East Cost. Even still, Adam could hear the two men's hushed voices. He recognized a few words, but, for the most part, it was too soft for him to make out.
There was beeping. That was the first thing that Steven noticed when he came to. The second thing Steven noticed was hands intertwined with his, warm on cold. He knew who it was. A shaky smile forming on his lips, he whispered out a few words.
"You're so warm, Anth." In response, all he got was the sound of hundreds of previously unsaid words. Things ranging from 'I should have locked the window' to 'John ate all of the fucking pancakes before you could have any' to 'I love you.' Steven could only seem to smile and laugh, and, after a bit, Anthony was smiling too.
"Steven, I-"
"Shh, you aren't gunna lose me. I'm too much of a hard ass to die to a little scrape."
"God, Steven, you're the worst."
"You love me anyways."
"I do." After saying that, Anthony tore his eyes away from Steven's pale form, a sigh escaping his lips.
"You know... Y-You scared me for a while there. I-... I thought I was going to lose you and I had only j-just-"
"Shush. You'll never lose me, Anth. You know why?"
"...Why?"
"Because if you lost me, who would you have a bromance with?" Steven said, breaking off into giggles. Anthony shook his head, a grin starting to grow on his face.
"Damn. I need to get me some of whatever those doctors put you on...", he said, shaking his head. Anthony leaned down to plant a kiss on Steven's cheek before letting their hand's slip apart. To his dismay, Steven whined needily.
"Noooo, Anth-"
"I'll be back tomorrow. I can only stay for so long, but I promise I'll be back tomorrow. The doctors said that you were lucky enough to not have any of your organs hurt, so you should be up and running in time for day two or three of PAX, alright?"
"Ugh, fine." Anthony shook his head, laughing.
"I'll be back, my prince."
"...Fuck you."
"You wish!", Anthony called back, chuckling as he walked away.
It was about five minutes before Anthony got into his car, and another ten to drive to a frozen yogurt shop. He parked outside and got out of his car, already enjoying the weather far too much as he hopped into the small store. Getting a medium sized paper cup, he immediately gravitated towards the chocolate flavor, offsetting it with a healthy dose of blackberry. Toppings were his weakness, and he proved so by pouring practically pounds of peanuts and marshmallow sauce onto the tasty concoction. As he set his creation on the scale and grabbed a spoon, he made a mental note to take Steven to the shop as soon as he was out of the hospital. After paying for the treat, he grabbed it and went outside, sitting down at an outdoors table to further enjoy the weather. Taking the spoon to the yogurt, he 'sliced' a chunk off, delivering the payload into his watering mouth. Anthony had always enjoyed 'froyo', but this particular combination simply took the cake. Or, rather, the yogurt.
After that delicious detour, he climbed back into his car to head home. On the way there, he briefly contemplated not going, and just heading back to the frozen yogurt shop, but decided otherwise, against his better judgement. There were about four things Anthony expected when he opened his apartment's door. Part of him expected to see GaLm and Smarty in a fistfight concerning Mario Cart. Another part reasonably figured that Smarty would be drunk, passed out on the floor while GaLm tweeted pictures. Maybe, Anthony had considered, Smarty would be editing vlogs for upload while GaLm complained about him eating all of the pancakes. Or, perhaps they'd just be asleep. What Anthony did not expect to see, however, was to see John's legs wrapped around Anthony's waist as the two of them softly kissed on the couch. Well, it was on the list, but very far down.
"Ahem", Anthony interjected, clearing his throat. The other Anthony, out of reflex, violently pushed John off, his face burning with shame. John, after crumpling to the floor, turned equally red.
"Oh! What the fuck, Anthony!?"
"Which one?", the Anthony's responded in unison. Getting up and dusting himself off, John glared at each of them.
"Both of you jackasses." He strode off angrily, and the Anthony standing in the doorway felt awkward.
"Sooo..."
"Yeah."
"You, uh... you two are...?"
"...Yeah."
"Huh. I mean... ...Huh."
"What?"
"Nothing! I'm just, uh... surprised? I mean, I always expected to walk in on Tom balls deep in Smarty's ass, but-"
"Wait, what?"
"I mean, this is great! I'm so... happy for you?" The Anthony still sitting on the couch crossed his arms.
"Just because your boyfriend is in the hospital doesn't mean I can't kiss mine." The Anthony standing in the doorway laughed, waving his hand dismissively.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. He'll be out before you know it, though. And, speaking of boyfriends, you should, uh, check on yours before he sets something on fire." The Anthony on the couch snorted as he stood up, walking in the direction that John had fled. The Anthony in the doorway shook his head slowly, chuckling to himself as he stepped inside, shutting the door behind himself.
"Home sweet home." After a few minutes of Anthony getting himself oriented, the other Anthony nearly crashed back into the living room.
"Wait, is Steven actually your-" He broke off as both Anthony's blushed.
"I... maybe?"
"What do you mean 'maybe'?"
"Well... I told him that I love him, but he hasn't said it back, and-"
"Oh, Chilled, you know that shit takes time..."
"Yeah, but I just-"
"You're worrying yourself too much. It'll be fine."
It'll be fine.