Two-Player Game
When the curtains opened again after a very short break, two beanbags had been set onto the stage. Digital music began playing almost instantly, and the spotlights focused on Charles, who was standing by the bean bags and Peter who was a few feet away.
“Apocalypse of the Damned!” Peter shouted with a smile.
“Level Nine!” Charles added with a similar expression.
“The Cafetorium!” They began to both sing together as they jumped onto the bean bags to face the audience. They began to imitate playing a game as they furiously played an imaginary game with the controllers.
“Find the bad guy, push him aside. Then move on forward with your friend at your side.”
“It's a two-player game, so when they make an attack, you know you got a brother, gonna have your back!” They sang.
“Then you stay on track and--” They jumped in pretend shock.
“Ah! Remain on course, And if they give you a smack, you--”
“Gah! You use your force!” They jumped again, with slightly annoyed faces this time.
“And if you leave your brother behind, it's lame, 'cause it's an effed-up world,” The two boys sang. “But it's a two-player game!”
“Hey!”
“So what do you think?” Charles asked Peter.
“He’s scammy. Scamming is super weird.” He replied.
“Okay, but what if he’s not! I mean this could be huge! All I have
With the last exclamation, Peter turned to look at Charles, and the rapid fake playing on the controllers slowed down just the slightest bit.
“Due, you are cooler than a vintage cassette.” He sang.
“It's just that no one else but me thinks that yet.” The two boys stood up and switched places.
“You're just a nothing in this high school scheme
“But it's no big, 'cause you and I are a team.”
“We like out-of-print games, retro skates, got a Pac-Man tattoo.” Peter showed his arm where, indeed, there was a pac-man tattoo.
“That better not be real young man.” Tony muttered, while Steve and Pepper looked at him with amusement.
“Nobody here appreciates, but soon we'll be together where they do.”
'Cause guys like us are cool in college.”
“Cool in college, this I know.”
“Guys like us are cool in college.”
“We rule in college, listen bro.” Peter continued to sing. “High school is hell, but we navigate it well.”
“'Cause what we do, is we make it a two-player game.”
He stopped singing and they returned to pretending to play the video game.
“Zombie!”
“Watch out!”
“Ah!”
“Wah!”
“Ugh” The boys assumed grumpy expressions as they supposedly lost in the game.
Now, Charles turned to Peter to sing.
“As losers, we have fought together for years.”
“Both Nintendo zombies and our popular peers,”He sang with and upset look. “Now we're stuck on a level, and I wanna move on—”
Peter cut Charles off. “Just wait two years whereupon.”
“You'll realize guys like us are—”
“Cool in college.” They both sung. “Cool in college, won't be lame.”
“Dude, I know, I get it.” Charles started, turning to look at Peter.
“Guys like us are cool in college—“ The sang the verse together again until Charles cut Peter off by stealing his controller with a joking look.
“But we're not in college.” He reminded, and Sam and Tony snickered. Peter snagged the controller back from Charles’s grasp. He quickly returned to the song.
“All the same.”
“High school is whack, but we have each other's back.”
“It's me and you—“
“We make it a two-player game!” The said together. The boys went back to the video game, with furiously clicking and slamming of buttons on the controllers.
“Gah!” They blurted out in surprise.
“Oh!” They leaned to the side in their bean bags as if it would help.
“Zombie!” They shouted in alarm.
“Hello?” A muffled voice sounded from behind the stage.
“Blood!” The two boys continued to shout, apparently ignorant to the voice.
“Son?” Jason could now be seen near the back of the stage walking towards Charles and Peter.
“Claws!” They yelled with the same vigor and excitement as before.
“Jeremy!” Jason shouted appearing behind the two.
“Pause.” They said with a deadpan tone and expression of annoyance. Charles looked over at Jason.
“Oh dad, put on some pants!” He yelled.
“Is that a girl? Are you with a girl?” He asked. Peter popped up from where he had been lying on his back on the bean bag looking bored.
“Oh, hi Micheal.” Jason said once he caught sight of Peter.
A few chuckles could be heard from the crowd.
“Hey Mr. Heere.” Peter replied.
“I was going to order pizza, if you boys want something.” Jason continued.
“Did you get dressed today? Like... at all?” Charles asked with an unimpressed look.
“Oh, um...they didn’t need me at the office today, so you know—work from home.”
“Yeah. Those people wear pants at home.”
“Well that’s why most people...aren’t your father, eh?” He said sheepishly.
“...Good talk.” Jason finished lamely.
Charles turned back to the “game” as Peter watched Jason leave. Once he had left the stage he turned to Charles.
“How’s he doing?”
“How does he look.” Charles replied bitterly.
“Have you heard from her?”
“No,” He scoffs though a sad emotion leaks through. “But I mean like who cares. Mom moved on why can’t he.”
“Hey!”
“What? I mean I don’t want that to be my future.” Charles paused.
“Rich said his hookup’s at Payless, right? What if we went there ourselves?”
“Just to see if his story checks out!” Charles added hurridly.
“And if it does? Will you be too cool for…videogames?”
Natasha raised a disbelieving eyebrow, while Wanda muttered “Micheal your gay is showing.”
“What no way man!” Charles told Peter.
“Hey!”
“Know that you, are my favorite person.”
“Gay.” They heard someone mutter from behind them.
“That doesn’t mean that I can’t still dream.” Charles turned back to the abandoned video game.
“Is it really true?”
“I’m your favwite person~” Peter sang with a shit-eating grin on his face.
Tony chuckled with the crowd.
“We’re never not gonna be a team!”
“High school is shit, and you’ve gotta help me conquer it.”
“It’s just what we do, we make it a top player game.” They finished that sentence together.
Turned back to the remote controllers that returned to pretending to play the game
“Find the bad guy, push him aside.” Two backstage crew members grabbed their controllers.
“Then move on toward with your friend at your side.” They jogged in place on the screen to imitate running.
“It's a two-player game, so when they make an attack.” The two boys struck poses.
“You know you got a brother, gonna have your back!”
“Then you stay on track and--”
“Ah! Remain on course,”
“And if they give you a smack, you--”
“Gah! You use your force!” They pretended to fight off invisible enemies.
“And if you leave your brother behind, it's lame,”
“'Cause it's an effed-up world,”
“But it's a two-player game!”
“Hey!” Peter and Charles fistbumped as the song ended.
Then the curtains closed once more.
“Okay that was pretty cute.” Wanda said.
“Still doesn’t explain why it was so hard for the father to put on some god damn pants.” Steve grumbled.
“Language!”