Don't You Wanna Be? (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 6

POV - Ken

We saw Matt and Jeremiah emerge from the house just as we finished pulling up. Matt looked exhausted for some reason, but I ignored it as they got into the car and we immediately headed for the highway.

"Soooo, what's in the works for today?" I heard Matt ask as he rested in Jeremiah's arms. They were so cute for being a relatively new relationship, and it'd be everything if we all lasted forever.

"Maybe the mall or a movie, who knows?" Chris said back. His eyes were fixed on the road ahead, but the mischievous grin on his face indicated that he had something strangely fun planned for us.

"I'm not sure we're all ready for whatever you have going through your mind right now, so I think the movies would do us some good" I said to him. The grin didn't leave his face, but I could see that, in his eyes, the thoughts had stopped.

Before long, we arrived at the city mall and got out, walking towards the entrance. There seemed to be an air of ease over the entire area, and I hoped that meant sales, because I was in a mood to buy a lot of things.

"Is it okay if we break off for a few minutes?", Matt suddenly asked us, stopping everyone in their tracks.

"To go where?" I asked, confused.

"There's something I've been meaning to get for quite a while, and it won't take long, I promise."

After some further deliberation, we decided to meet back at the food court in five minutes as Chris and I headed to the nearest GameStop. There was an uncanny sale on every game we laid eyes on, and we couldn't help but stare in awe.

"This can't be real right now", Chris said out loud, running over the aisles with his eyes in an uncontrollable frenzy. I found myself gravitated towards the PS4 aisle, and looked in wonder as I looked at all the new titles on sale.

"We should get this so you can finally understand why I love cars" I heard Chris say. I turned to see him holding a pre-order form for Gran Turismo Sport, and I stared blankly at the promotional paper.

"Babe, that's for pre-order, it didn't come out yet".

"I know, I just thought that with this we can tap a little more into your competitive side" he said, chuckling. He seemed fairly confident in his declaration, and I could only laugh as he went on and on about all the different models this game featured.

"If you want to see me under pressure, why not just get this?" I said as I held up a copy of the newest Dead or Alive game. I lived for fighting games, and I could already think of the interesting conditional matches we'd have.

"I like where your head's at, I can wrestle you around in that game until you've had enough, and then wrestle you into bed and show you who the real champion is". His statement made me bust out laughing as I realized an old woman watching our conversation in shock. He was really feeling himself, though, so I decided to humor him as I purchased the game and headed to the food court with him on my heels.

"C'mon, you'll never know how good this is until you try it!" Jeremiah said as he tried to pull Matt in the direction of a Panda Express vendor. He shot back arguments about wanting Burger King, but soon conceded and stood in line with Jeremiah as he took the both of their orders. As Chris and I watched them, we saw him wrap his arms around Jeremiah's waist, hugging him from behind as he rested his head on Jeremiah's shoulder and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"They're quite the couple" Chris said, breaking my line of sight as he stood in front of me. "I wanna be like them when I grow up".

"Oh, shut up", I said as I playfully pushed him, "we love each other just as much as they do".

Before long, we'd all gotten food and sat at a table, eating and sharing our shopping excapades.

"So I hope you guys are at least kinda good at fighting games", I declared, "because I'm gonna end up hurtin' some feelings". Everyone started laughing, but Jeremiah suddenly stopped and gasped as he looked straight ahead, almost as if he'd seen a ghost. We all looked in the same direction to find a strange guy staring back at him with anger in his face.

"Who is that?" Matt asked him, only to be met with a silent but terrified look on his face.

"My ex. He-"

"He what, you little fucker?" We heard as we all turned to see him coming towards our table. Chris and Matt got up instantly to bar his view, which only made him laugh.

"Y'all can't save him from me", he said as he turned his face up at us, "not like I want much of anything to do with him anyway".

"Then why are you here?" The words coming from Matt seemed unlike his usual self, like he was actually upset with this random guy. Jeremiah's ex simply threw his hands in the air and walked away, smirking slightly before he turned onto the escalator and descended out of view.

"I think we should go home now" Chris suggested, looking back towards Jeremiah as he said so. We all could see the distress on his face, and not much was said on the way back to the car. I personally couldn't deal with all the silence, though, and broke it with what everyone was thinking for so long.

"What exactly happened between you two?" I asked.

"Basically anything bad that could happen", he began, "the first few months were okay. Y'know, going out on dates, hanging out, really solidifying our relationship. That's when it all started. The arguments were about simple things at first, then he started hitting me, and he once beat me so bad that I couldn't see for a week-" his voice was beginning to cut off at the presence of tears that began to fall in torrents as he suddenly covered his face and weeped silently. Matt could do no more than pick him up, give us a nod, and walk off without anymore words, leaving Chris and I by ourselves.

"I'm not even sure I wanna play these anymore" Chris said as he watched them go. I could do nothing more than agree with him as I threw out the food and stood up.

"Let's go home".

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Sorry for such a wait and a short chapter. I really wanted to put a small emphasis on abuse as I've recently been able to overcome a cycle that I've experienced ever since I was young. Maybe that'll be foreshadowing for what's next 😌.