[edited] ZeRoyalChaos - The Truth

C17

-Chapter 17-
-Chilled's POV-

We arrived at Smarty's, where we were faced with an immediate amount of inquiries about each speck of design. What is happening? I shrugged, shouldering through into the kitchen, leading Ze in front of me so I could keep an eye on him. Best to just stay out of the way.

"Drink?" I asked, gesturing to the routes of bottles.

Ze shook his head,

"I'm good, thanks."

Welp, a drink won’t hurt. I grabbed a glass, pouring in a small amount of whiskey, holding it up,

"cheers."

Ze grinned at me as I downed it, burning my throat with a satisfying cough. Fuck. My chest burned , never missed that. Ze chuckled in response,

"what a way to show strength,” so strong.

I grinned, pulling him into a loose hug,
"I'll show you my true strength,” I gave him a wink.

Ze's cheeks pinked, turning away from me. Cute.

"Guys, we need help!" Smarty yelled from the living room.

Great, I forgot about them. I removed my arms from around Ze, who was somewhat grateful for Smarty’s yell, leading the two of us to the living room. Smarty and Galm were holding a table suspended in mid-air. What is going on?

"Help please,” Smarty insisted looking at me, right.

I grabbed one of the empty sides while Ze grabbed the other. Together we moved the table to it's desired placement.

"How much is left to do?" I asked, glancing around the partly emptied room, it’s just seating right now and a table.

"We need to bring in some chairs then maybe set the lighting and such,” Galm explained gesturing around.

I see.

"How many people are going to be here?" Ze questioned quietly.

Is he shy? Smarty glanced at Galm, who awkwardly winced,

"maybe more than expected. But I mean, if it gets too much for you then I can sector off a room for you if you'd like."

Ze glanced up at me, does he severely not like people?

"I mean, I, I'll try for Smarty."

"Thank you," Smarty spoke, with true gratitude, "can’t have my guest of honour not enjoying himself."

Exactly. I smiled at Ze,

"I'll take care of you. I promise."

"Everyone has their sick buddy," Galm claimed with a chuckle.

Sick buddy? Ew, why did he have to call it that?

"Me? Be sick?" Smarty scoffed, "what light weight do you think I am?"

Galm shrugged with a grin,

"haven’t seen Steven give it a go yet,” Steven?

"Steven?" I asked, glancing at Ze.

He lightly nodded with an awkward smile,

"that's me,” he chuckled, “what a name."

I held out my hand for him to shake. He takes it slowly and cautiously,

"Anthony,” I smiled at him, sticking my tongue out slowly.

"Steven, it’s nice to meet you,” Ze softly smiled.

"You slept at a stranger's house?" Smarty gasped, acting shocked.

Shut up, Smarty, like you haven't. 

"Oh no, anything could've happen,” Ze joked, “how dare I jeopardise my safety?”

"Absolutely shocking,” Smarty played out, until a smile broke onto his face.

We all stood there laughing for a couple of minutes before Galm spoke again,
 
"come on guys. We have stuff to do."
Stuff to do, duh.

"Let's get to it," I cheered, grinning at Ze.

After a while, we had eventually managed to bring the chairs in, lined them up in a way which we all liked. We made the toilet and drinks easily accessible, which Galm insisted on. As well as creating a moderately big dance floor, which Smarty insisted on. Smarty finished linking the music up, collapsing on the sofa.

"Job well done,” Galm sighed, collapsing next to Smarty.

Thank god.

"Let's get the party started," Ze cheered, handing each of us a glass of presumably champagne each, where did he get this?

We held the cups together as Smarty spoke,

"here’s to another year of growing old!"

We cheered in response, each of us throwing back our drinks.