His Last Chance

nine (part 1) • i wanna know

"Well, look who finally decided to show up. Your boy's excited to see you."

Anthony looks over to see Eric. He's pleasantly surprised to see him. Anthony couldn't be at rehearsal for Midnight Red tonight, because he had a dance class that was conflicting with his schedule. Eric immediately averts his gaze over to his boyfriend. He smiled at him, slowly making his way towards Anthony.

"Babe?"

"Hey, you." Eric greets him with a kiss.

"What are you doing here?" Anthony asked him.

"Hmm," Eric frowned in confusion, "that's no way to greet your boyfriend." he said jokingly to Anthony.

"You're funny." Anthony stared at him, trying not to smile. "No, but seriously. I thought you were still at rehearsal."

"It ended early."

"You should've just texted."

"Stop making this a big deal, babe."

"I'm not, I-"

Eric raised his eyebrows.

"You didn't have to come here, you know."

"I know," Eric stepped a little closer to him, "but, I'd be a bad boyfriend if I didn't. Also, I've been dying to see you all day."

"Don't do that, you're gonna make me feel bad."

"I'm not trying to." Anthony rolled his eyes, as he started to blush.

"I won't lie, I did miss you."

Their friends start cooing in the background. His blush started to fade, as he looks over his boyfriend's shoulder and glared at his friends.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

Eric turns back to look at Anthony, and bursts out laughing. "You're gonna let your boyfriend do that to me, Eric? That's not fair."

"Just leave them alone, man."

"Thank you." Anthony says to his friend, while staring at his friend.

"We'll see you guys later." His friend says to the couple, winking at them as he and the other guys leave. Once they were gone, Anthony started smiling to himself which makes Eric notice.

"Why are you happy all of a sudden? You're glad that I came to see you?"

"Shut up."

Eric laughed, as he wraps his hand around Anthony's waist, "Maybe I should visit you more often."

"Yeah, sure." Anthony says, as Eric leans in to kiss him.

***
Anthony hears a knock at the door. He opens it to see Joey standing in the doorway. "What are you doing here?"

"You and I need to talk." Joey said seriously.

"Why? So you can yell at me some more?" Joey rolled his eyes and looks back at Anthony. "Dude-"

Anthony scoffs, walking away from him.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"You're pathetic." Joey said bluntly.

"Excuse me?" Anthony stopped walking, turning around to face him.

"Yeah," Joey says as he follows Anthony inside his apartment, "I said it. And I'm not sorry either."

"Joey-"

"You have been nothing but stubborn and selfish and it's exhausting. And you're so full of-"

"You think this is my fault? Do you understand how hard this has been for me?!"

"Do you even hear yourself right now? What the hell is wrong with you?

"You know, what? I don't have time for this."

"Is this honestly what you want? It really seems like you don't care at all!"

"I didn't want to break up with him in the first place!"

"Then," Joey started to raise his voice at him in frustration, "why did you, huh?! Explain that to me. Once you figure it out, you let me know." Anthony stared at him, he didn't know what to say.

"Get out." Anthony says as he heads to the door, in an attempt to get Joey to leave his apartment.

After Joey leaves, Anthony slammed the door in frustration, starting to break down in tears. He doesn't even remember how long he cried for. Every so often he would try to stop himself from crying, but all he could do was cry harder. Joey was on the other side, broken. He was broken for his friend... he didn't want to say anything about this to Anthony, but it needed to be done.

"Eric, ask Anthony out already." Joey said.

"You need to make a move." Colton said.

"Thomas, help me out." Eric was stuck, he had feelings for Anthony for the past two years.

And Anthony's felt the same way, I mean, they've known each other since they were teenagers. But lately, it's been awkward.

"Sorry, man. But they got a point. What are you scared of anyway?" Thomas asked him sincerely.

"What if this ruins our friendship? Anthony's my best friend."

"It won't, and Anthony already told you how he feels about you. He really likes you, you know." Thomas said.

"You've been gushing over him for months now, you need to do something about it. What are you waiting for?!" Joey said.

"If you don't ask him out, we're literally going to kill you." Colton joked. The guys laughed.