The Hills (boyxboy)

Chapter 8

"You seriously ship your own best friend and brother. That's disgusting."

"It's not my fault y'all work so well. You got that whole stoic mathlete and happy art kid dynamic going on."

Colton and Terrence have been discussing this all night while we're watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. Because any time is Tim Burton time according to Colton. I agreed because I thought it would make him smile. I was right. My mind isn't focused on the movie though. There are other things preoccupying me. Things like 'Should I come out to my parents?' and 'We didn't say we're official though'.

Jack Skellington starts singing his famous What's This. Terrence and Colton jump up and sing along, even throwing in some choreography. They've been doing this with every song. It's oddly satisfying to watch. They're really not that bad. Not bad at all. Colton is just a smidge better than Terrence though, naturally.

"Which musical is the school going to put on this year?" I suddenly blurt. Two pairs of eyes, one brown and one gray, switch their attention to me. "We don't know yet. Miss Keaths said she's still looking into it." Terrence replies. I nod and fidget with my popcorn instead of eating it. We continue watching the movie.

At eight the house phone suddenly rings to life. Terrence jumps up and runs towards the kitchen to pick it up. "Hello?" he asks. I feel Colton his hand rest on my leg and look at him. He bites his lip, trying to keep back a smile while keeping his eyes trained on the tv screen which is now playing Corpse Bride. "Alright... No that's fine, we'll live." Terrence says in the receiver with a sigh. My hand finds Colton's and I intertwine our fingers. His hand responds with a soft squeeze and I swear my heart feels lighter, maybe even faster. My brother hangs up the phone and comes back to the living room. He grins when he sees our hands, then he opens his mouth.

"Mom and dad had car trouble. They're spending the night in some motel and they'll be back tomorrow around noon. We're allowed to order pizza."

Colton cheers and starts chanting 'pizza'. A small smile tugs at my lips. Eventually we settle on a margherita and pepperoni because none of us are feeling adventurous enough to go for something more refined. When the delivery guy arrives he is welcomed like a God by Terrence and Colton, which includes: wide eyes, gaping mouths and a cringy robot dance with some sub-par beatboxing. The poor man doesn't even know what's happening. I decide to free him from his misery and just give him the money for our food. He nods at me with an awkward smile and leaves. Terrence and Colton run to the kitchen and start plating the pizza.

When I enter the kitchen it surprisingly hasn't turned into a warzone yet. I accept the plate with one slice of each pizza that Colton offers me and sit down next to him. Our knees touch briefly and my heart flutters.

"But did you know there's an actual village in Australia named Penguin." Colton tells Terrence. "Why would I even want to know that." my brother replies. There's a brief silence where we just chew on our pizza. "Because... Penguins." Colton then says. I nod. "It's in Tasmania" I add on. Terrence snorts, which turns into choking, and then coughing. I just look at him. When the coughing doesn't stop Colton stands up and gets him a glass of water.

After a moment of silence Terrence continues talking. "Now I have two people in my life who feed me unwanted fun facts about penguins. God please help me." he exclaims dramatically. Colton does his giggle-snort and I smile. I've been smiling a lot lately. There is finally a reason to though so it's justified. "Shut up. We're relationship goals." Colton states. Then he turns to me. "We gotta do the pocky game but with pizza crust." he says. His face is nothing but seriousness. I raise an eyebrow and take another bite of my pizza.

"No!" Terrence exclaims. "Not in front of me. I'm too young to witness PDA please spare me!"

Colton smirks. "I thought you ship it." he says with a sultry voice. Then he pops the edge of a pizza crust in his mouth and turns to me. I look at his eyes, then at the pizza crust, and back into his beautiful brown eyes that are alight with amusement. After swallowing the pizza I still had in my mouth I lean forward and bite onto the remaining edge. We eat our way towards each other. I close my eyes and our lips meet halfway. Terrence makes gagging sounds, but I just smile and continue kissing Colton. After a while we break apart. Just in time for my brother's opinion.

"How can you be so disgusting and cute at the same time. Seriously. The pocky game is cute. But doing that with pizza!? You guys are nuts."

"Nah." Colton says. "We're gay."

"Why hello gay. I'm dad."

"That doesn't work? 'We're' is plural."

I'm so proud of Colton. He noticed a grammatical mistake. Maybe he'll be alright after all.