Of Stalking and Tomatoes

Chapter 5

Of all the people he could actually have as a brother, why did it have to be Fonsi? The guy's so used to heavy lifting. He's also very heavy. Nyx couldn't even push the door close on him and Jul wasn't helping. Not even trying. He was just sitting there, eating cookies on the floor, watching Nyx struggle with the goddamn door.

"A little help would be nice here!"

Jul took another bite from the cookie, "Nah, you got that. Besides, that's brotherly bonding right there."

"This is not bonding! It's trespassing!"

Fonsi's voice came from the tiny gap from the door, "We live in this same house, Anton!"

"Cállate! Déjame en paz, Alfonso!"

"Te amo!"

"DIOS MIO! CÁLLATE!"

With the last outburst, Nyx finally got the door closed and immediately locked it. He put a chair under the knob for good measure. He took a few step back to take a breather from that struggle. Behind him, he could hear another wrapper being opened and Jul cracking more cookies. He turned to him and just stared in disappointment.

"Really, Jul? Really?"

Jul just kept eating, "You guys are cute."

There was no use lecturing Jul. It never worked. Nyx let out a groan and sat on the floor across Jul. He got a cookie and started eating.

It's been days since he called Fonsi, 'hermano' and he never stopped pestering him. Fonsi would suddenly sit beside him on the sofa, creepily smile at him during dinner, and would, at times, chase him around the house, which was the case earlier. He was starting to regret even thinking about calling him 'hermano'. He was starting to regret calling him that even more. He didn't even know why he did it. No, he knew. It was Ren. Ren suggested it and, man, was Nyx easily persuaded. It was a mistake. A huge, irreversible mistake.

"Come on, man." Jul was waving a cookie around, "He'll calm down. He's just happy you're calling him that now."

"I did it once. Never again."

"Oh, come on, Nyx."

Fonsi was getting out of hand. And as much as he doesn't want to, he had been imagining that he would punch the daylights out of his brother. He'd never hit Fonsi, though. Only Jul. Maybe he'd talk to his mama about it or maybe papi. Fonsi listens to papi.

"Can I choose a different brother?"

"Too late for that." Jul laughed, "You're already acting like real siblings."

"Mierda."

Nyx could hear Jul laughing across him. He threw a wild shoe at him. Well, the thing with Fonsi was over. For now, anyways. Now, they have to focus on what they're actually here for.

They both received an email from Vandata Cosplay Group telling them that the cast list would be released today in the group's Tumblr. Nyx didn't know if he could deal with his nervous jitters alone so he called Jul over. Though Jul just started eating cookies the moment he got here and Nyx was starting to think that he just came over for snacks.

There was a 'ding' and Nyx saw Jul grab his phone. He smiled before typing a reply, then dropped the phone back on his own lap. He noticed that Jul has been texting someone ever since he got to his house. Maybe even before he got here. That ringing was getting on Nyx's nerves.

"Who have you been texting all this time?"

Jul blinked at him, mouth half-full of cookies. He glanced to the side before looking back at Nyx.

"No one."

"Am I going to ever know who it is?"

"No."

"Fine. Just keep it on vibrate. It's getting on my nerves."

Jul raised an eyebrow at him, "You're already on your last nerve. What's a phone gonna do to you?"

As if mocking Nyx, the phone made another sound and he threw the other wild shoe at Jul. Now Jul has his favorite pair with him. Great.

"That wasn't even a message, man!"

Nyx groaned and just stared at him as he scrolled his phone. Nyx saw a grin forming on his face. Jul looked at him, eyes bright, then back to his phone, then back to him again.

"It's a Tumblr notif."

Nyx wasted no time diving for his phone on the bed. He frantically unlocked it, cursing a few times as he mis-swiped his lock pattern, and tapped on his Tumblr app. The Wi-Fi wasn't very cooperative and it was loading very slowly for Nyx's liking. The moment it loaded, Nyx found the cast list at the top of his feed. Of course he would. He was only following two blogs: Vandata Cosplay and Ren's.

Nyx read the whole post. 'To everyone who made time to join our audition...' blah blah blah. Nyx skipped over the pleasantries and went straight for the list. Japan, China, Canada, France, Spain! He found it! And right beside it was his name! Nyx turned to Jul who was wearing a giant smile and just jumped.

"I GOT IN! I'M IN!" Nyx kept repeating that as he held onto Jul

"I'm there too, man! I'm there too!"

At that, Nyx let go of Jul to check the list again. Just in case he was pulling his leg. He scanned it again. Spain, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Prussia. There it was. Jul's name beside Prussia's. The two of them started jumping around again until they got tired. Both sat on the floor, laughing and catching their breaths.

Nyx lay on the floor as he saw Jul still scrolling on his phone. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, concentrating on getting air back to his poor lungs. A few moments later, he felt a light tapping on his arm that slowly turned into hard, painful slapping. He sat up and held his arm, about to glare at him but stopped. Jul had a look of absolute excitement as he stared at his phone. Jul looked at him and urged him to look at his own phone. He did. He kept scrolling on the list, which was what he thought Jul was telling him to do, and he saw it.

South Italy - Cosplayer Ren

He blinked so many times at his phone, making sure he wasn't seeing things. He felt his jaw dropping as his lips curved upwards. He has no words to describe what he felt at that time. He turned to Jul to find him bouncing. Holy shit! He was going on stage with Ren.

"Mierda."

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Translation:

Cállate! Déjame en paz, Alfonso! - Shut up! Leave me alone, Alfonso!

DIOS MIO! CÁLLATE! - OH MY GOD! SHUT UP!

Mierda - Shit