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The weather was in that weird state between spring and summer. During the day; the sun's harsh rays beat down on you— anyone would start drowning in their sweat. But once it hit dusk, and the sun started to hide behind the horizon, the breeze would pick up. You’d need to keep a sweater in the car, if you planned to be out past 7.
It was 8:14, and Cal was beginning to regret leaving his sweater 5 blocks behind them, in Andre’s car. He glanced over to him, wondering if he too was starting to feel the cold nip at his exposed skin. Racking his brain, Cal can’t really place the last time he saw Andre wear a jacket or sweater, outside of the middle of harsh winters. He was always in those t-shirts that always fit just right. Andre almost always held onto that stupid schoolboy’s idea that getting cold ‘was for girls’, even if he never said it out loud.
“Man I’m gonna start shivering soon, where are we even going?” Cal crossed his arms, opting for a rapid up and down movement to try to warm up.
“Just have to make it to the video store before they close, it’s right up the block. You’ll be fine,” With that, Andre shoved Cal a bit. He stumbled to the side, aimlessly waving his arms back in Andre’s direction. Andre swatted back, before letting Cal catch his balance again.
“Could we not have just driven the car over here,” Cal briefly looked back, the pizza shop they parked at in the distance. “It’s so fuckin cold, man.”
“Don’t be such a wuss, dude. I thought getting in some steps would be good for us, keep us fit for you-know-when,” Andre always tried to tiptoe around loudly proclaiming stuff about zero day, especially in public. Despite there being no one around, barely any cars driving by, he didn’t want to risk anyone getting any ideas. Cal found this funny, a bit endearing, how much Andre took the technical aspects of it all so serious. Keeping it as stealthy as possible, as if they were really carrying out a covert military mission.
“What are we getting at the video store, anyway? How about we rent a movie?” Cal cocked his head to the side, looking at Andre with that puppy dog expression; he loved movie nights. The two of them could spend hours scouring the rentals for some new, stupid movie to watch. They usually opted for something that sounded cool and action packed— bonus points for guns and gore. They spent even more time binging them all, going between new titles and ones they’ve seen countless times.
“I was coming to pick up extra tapes, just in case,” Andre looked down at the pavement, and when he looked back up to meet Cal’s gaze, he couldn't help but give a small grin. He was going to say no, not tonight, he had shit to plan for zero day, stuff to get in order. But then the thought that their time for movie nights was limited hit him, and he didn’t want to wipe the stupid smile off Cal’s face. He enjoyed sitting in his room with Cal, food wrappers and empty stolen beers surrounding them, enjoying terrible action movies anyway. “Yeah, I’m down for a movie night.”
Finally approaching the video store, with about 45 minutes until close, the two boys book it to the movie rentals. Essentially gravitating to the action genre, they flick through all the movies. Picking up and laughing at the tacky covers, and punny names half of them had.
Cal noticed one in particular—Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. He picked it up, and turned it around immediately towards Andre. They both were sort of entranced by this absurdly stupid cover. It was almost too on the nose— a scantily clad woman, with her dark hair and red lipstick, and a machine gun for a prosthetic leg. It was the epitome of shitty, stupid action shit.
“Would that even work?” Cal held the DVD case in his hand, really taking in the sight.
“Definitely not, but I still wanna see her operate that thing.”
“I think you’d rock her look, Andre. I mean— I could see you with the machine gun leg, and the leather skirt, too,” Cals shit eating grin grew big with his remark, and Andre just rolled his eyes.
“Shut the fuck up, you weirdo,” He threw Cal a friendly middle finger. Cal just giggled, and followed Andre deeper into the video store, holding onto the DVD.
Sometimes, if they came late enough in the day, the guy sitting at the front desk of the place would barely pay attention to them. They’d use this time to sneak into that little back room, where they keep all the R rated stuff. They never had the gall to try and rent any of it— even after Andre’s 18th. They would just bicker between who had to bring it up, and it would always boil down to deciding it should just go right back on the shelf.
They slid past the beaded curtain draped over the doorway, Andre slowly brushing them to one side, and back down to minimize the clacking of the beads together. They scanned the shelves, taking turns pointing and laughing at all the stupid porno covers, or admiring the extra gorey details on some of the horror stuff. This time around Cal kept pointing out the stupid, over the top faces all the girls made on the porn dvds.
“No way your face naturally can just hit that, man, she had to practice that shit,” He pointed at the particularly cartoonish ‘pleasure’ face of some porn actress.
“I mean if you try hard enough I’m sure you could pull that face, give it a shot,” Andre was half joking, also enthused by her gnarly expression. Cal gave it his best shot, contorting his face and crossing his eyes, exaggerating it as much as he could. He’s only able to hold it for a second, before just bursting out laughing. Andre made a pretend disgusted face, looking away and shaking his head.
“Dude, don’t ever do that shit again, that was like… traumatizing,” He said through their shared giggling. Cal brought his hands to his hips, mimicking offense.
“What? Wasn't it sexy?” Cal said, half trying to mimic a sultry tone but failing miserably through his laughter. The two of them continued meandering around the video store, eventually making their full round trip back to the front.
Andre placed the single box of tapes he was buying down, and as Cal was about to place his down, he noticed a rack of novelty keychains, made to look like mini DVD cases. Scanning over them, he saw some for titles he knew-- From Dusk Till Dawn, The Crow, Blade. Andre peeked over, interested in whatever was making his friend so distracted. Cal was eyeing one in particular, the cover for Scream. Drew Barrymore's terror filled face, her hand covering her mouth, presumably stifling a, well, scream. The whole thing was coloured black and white, except for her icy blue eyes, wide and full of horror. When Andre saw it, looking into her eyes, he immediately thought of Cal’s own icy gaze.
“You want one?” Andre asked, eyes flicking to the $4.99 price tag. Cal looked back at him, a bit embarrassed he was caught so focused on a silly keychain.
“Nah, it’s chill, just looking,” With that, he placed Planet Terror down with the tapes. Cal turned to look at some other racks near the front, and Andre reached a hand over, and plopped the Scream keychain beside the tapes. Andre paid for everything, and the two left the store.
As they walked, Andre reached into the grey plastic bag provided by the store clerk, and fished for the keychain. Once he found it, he held it out in Cal’s direction, waiting for him to notice. Cal turned, as if to say something, but stopped when he saw Andre’s outstretched hand.
“Awe, dude no way,” He said, grabbing it, and inspecting it closely once again. Andre shrugged, not showing how much he enjoyed seeing Cal’s big smile.
“They were only 5 bucks, and you seemed to like it,” He said, scratching the back of his neck. “Plus, she kind of reminded me of you, her big ass blue eyes,” He said, a bit of a joking tone in his voice. Cal laughed at this, still staring at it. He pulled out his house keys from his jean pocket, and fastened it onto it, and it blended right in with the few other keychains Cal accumulated.
“Thanks, Andre,” Cal shoved his keys back into the pocket, and then reached over to grab the movie out of the bag Andre was carrying. He inspected the cover, then flipped it to the back.
“What’s the movie about, read me the back,” Andre said, peering over Cal’s shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of it again. Cal cleared his throat, and found the blurb.
“‘Director Robert Rodriguez is back,’” He put on his most over-the-top action narrator voice, and grabbed Andre’s shoulder. “‘With a rip-roaring, zombie infested rollercoaster that “sure as hell keeps you hanging on for the ride”’— that's according to Mr. Peter Travis of The Rolling Stone,” Cal said, as if he was Peter Travis’s biggest fan. Andre was smiling, giggling as Cal shook him about, really trying to sell the fake excitement.
“Wow really? The Peter Travis?” Andre fake gasped, with a hand to his heart.
“Yeah, and get this— ‘Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Bruce willis and an all-star cast fight for their lives in the ultimate showdown between an army of flesh-eating mutants and a motley group of rag-tag survivors,” Cal pretended to shoot a gun, and be hit, all in slow motion for the added effect. “Seems pretty cheesy, I wonder what leads to the sexy machine gun leg.”
“It sounds like how they’d describe our mission, minus the zombies,” Andre basked in this idea, the headlines and papers, sensationalizing their actions. “Andre Kriegman and Cal Gabriel in the ultimate showdown, between terrible monsters, and the army of two,” He uses his hands to mock the sprawling of the words.
“They’re going to call us the monsters, dude,” Cal said, sounding more annoyed than upset about it.
“Well they’re wrong, we’re the saviours, they just don’t know it.”
In the car, the Bleach CD drowned out the hum of the Pontiacs engine. The boys sat in a comfortable silence, Andre focusing on the road while Cal mindlessly drummed along to the song. It was about 9:17 now, and they were headed towards the Kriegmans, as usual.
“Did you see what I scored?” Andre pointed to the backseat, Cal peered behind his own seat. Sitting in the dark, right in the middle seat was a 6-pack of beer. Cal looked back to Andre and he grinned, as if telepathically already planning the stupid shit they’ll do while getting wasted. “Snagged it from Chris’ place, he’ll never even notice, that guys like a beer hoarder dude.”
“I missed this, you know,” Cal’s voice had a sudden serious tone. Andres brow furrowed, and he gave Cal a quick glance, trying to focus on the road.
“Missed what?” Andre tried to keep the worry out of his tone, how well he did that was debatable.
“Just… doing me and you stuff. As friends, not the army of two,” Cal’s hands were in his lap, and he picked at the skin around his nails. “Not that I don't like our missions. We just… haven't had much time to do this, with all the planning,” Andre knew out of the two of them, he took the missions and planning the most seriously. He never felt like all of it was taking away from their friendship, he thought being the army of two was making them stronger if anything. Taking a moment to think, he guesses a lot of their hang outs in the past weeks were all surrounding something with Zero Day. Even if they would end up doing something less important—which Andre would always try to wrap up and move back into planning— that is always how they started. Even today, they were going to the video store for more tapes, for their Zero Day documentation.
“Well, don’t go all soft on me now,” Andre tried to lighten the mood, but it didn’t land. “Hey well— you know I missed it too,” he actually did, even if it only just now occurred to him. “Tell you what, we’ll just hang back, get wasted and watch the movie tonight, promise.”
“Yeah, I like the sound of that,” Cal untensed, a soft smile across his face again.
Just as the clock hits 9:30, the car rolls into its spot in the driveway, and the two boys exit swiftly. Cal gripping the DVD, Andre grabbing the sixer from the back seat. They snuck downstairs with ease, an artform they’ve perfected over all the years. Not that they don’t like Andre’s parents— just would rather not get caught up by Mr. Kriegman rambling on and on about life or the news. Andre’s sweaty fingers gripping any conspicuous item they were trying to sneak by like his life depended on it— perhaps it did. Cal always pushes it, enthusiastically wrapping an arm around Andre and shaking him around, making it much harder to hide shit behind his back. ‘Dude are you trying to never see me again?’ was a sentiment Cal was very familiar with coming out of Andre’s mouth, who was always quick to frustration—but Cal was quick to turn it around, bring Andre back down and make him laugh again, forgetting why he could ever be mad at his best friend, even briefly.
The two made it into Andre’s house without any problems, if anything Mr and Mrs Kriegman probably didn’t even know the pair had come in. Andre was always thankful of his parents, they never barged in or excessively came to check on them downstairs, which made this whole ordeal run a lot smoother. The most his mom does is yell down that there's food, or that she needs help with something. Cal headed down to the basement, beelining it for the tv set up. He flicked on the screen and ejected whatever dvd was in the player before— Fight Club, which they watched per Cal’s father’s suggestion. Cal carefully opened and inserted Planet Terror letting the menu play while he waited for Andre to come down.
Andre was upstairs rummaging around below his bed, reaching for the box of empty tapes he kept. There was more than enough for months of recording, but Andre always wanted to be sure they wouldn’t run out before a particularly important mission, or—even worse— the day of the big event. He figured the 20 bucks for a case of 10 wouldn’t really matter, in the bigger picture. Once done with his task, he swapped his jeans for a pair of sweats and headed back down.
The Kriegman household basement over the years has sort of become a second bedroom for Andre, specifically for when Cal is over. Andre can’t really pinpoint when, but the two of them spent so much time down there, that Andre’s dad offered to set up their spare tv and an old couch so they could use it like their own living room. He figured it was a win-win situation, Cal and Andre would be out of his parents hair, and vice versa. Nowadays, there's even an extra bed, for the times Cal spends the night. The idea was that Andre would just go up to his own room, but he always just ended up on the couch fast asleep before Cal anyways. Once he made it down, he noticed the sounds of the dvd menu.
“Popcorn?” Andre asked, pointing towards the box of it on the side table. Cal turned, a little startled by Andre’s stealthy entrance.
“God, dude, you’re like a fucking ninja,” He said, before processing the question. “Yeah, just as long as you don't burn it this time.”
“That was not my fault,” Andre grabbed and unwrapped the popcorn from the box, heading over to the slightly-shitty microwave plugged in the back corner of the basement. His parents let the two have it down here when they got a shiny brand new one in some sort of raffle. The thing worked, well enough, except for the time the timer never went off, and they were left with extra-well-done popcorn.
While the microwave hummed, Andre walked over to lean over the back of the couch. Cal had the remote now, and was browsing the dvd’s menus. He clicked the special features, which had a picture of Rose Mcgowan’s character, in some stripper-esque get up striking a sexy pose.
“Do you think she gets to wear anything that covers more than 20% of her at any point?” Andre says, a laugh in his words.
“If it’s anything like the other movies we watch, no, definitely not,” Cal giggled. “Not that I’m really complaining.”
“I am—How am I supposed to believe she’s surviving zombies and warfare in a pair of stilettos and a miniskirt?” Andre sounded almost serious, Cal couldn’t quite place if he was or not.
“Dude. She has a fucking machine gun leg, if anything the trigger happy stripper thing is 100 times more realistic,” Cal stared up at Andre, from his spot on the couch, sideways and taking up the whole couch with his legs. There was a beat of silence, and then the two burst into laughter. The microwave beeped, and Andre turned back around to go fetch their popcorn, still giggling.
“Touche, touche,” He said, pulling the bag from the microwave and opening it, avoiding getting a finger near the hot steam that released from it. He grabbed a random silver bowl and dumped the bag's contents into it, discarding it in the overflowing garbage. He came back, lightly hitting Cal’s legs to signal he wanted to use the spot. Cal brought his knees closer to him, sitting up and hugging them. The popcorn bowl rests between them, and Cal played the movie.
They watched the movie, laughing at the over-the-top effects. They ate the popcorn, and cracked open some of the stolen beer. Once they had downed about two cans each, they could feel the effects of the alcohol washing over them. Whatever beer Chris always bought seemed to get them drunk way too fast, and their habit of skipping out on meals in favour of small snacks to focus on their Zero Day tasks made it hit much, much harder. While Cal was fixated on the movie, Andre would flick popcorn pieces at him, which turned into a silent war of who could hit the other the most throughout the night.
“Oh my god that was disgusting,” Cal shielded his eyes, not being able to stomach the view of the gross zombie infection slime getting all over the doctor dude’s face.
“If you’re going to vomit,” Andre paused to sip the last of his beer. “Do it in the trash, not on the carpet. Last thing I wanna do is mop up your yack.”
“I’m not gonna vomit, but shit that slime looked nasty,” Cal emphasized the ‘a’ in the word, then looked back to the movie, shoving some more popcorn in his mouth. The two continued to watch, being almost entranced by the extra-gorey, almost gaudy sfx. They found it brilliant.
“Do you think that’s what it really looks like—like when you shoot someone?” Cal said, eyes glued.
“Shit, I hope so,” Andre didn’t even look away to grab another beer, he just felt around for it off to his side.
At some point during the hour-forty-five of crazy effects, machine gun leg fights, beer and popcorn, Andre had dozed off. This wasn’t the first time one of them had fallen asleep during a movie, usually woken up by a loud sound effect or the other informing them the movie had ended. This time, though, because they had swapped their positions to sit side-by-side, Andre’s head had leaned to one side and came to rest on Cal’s shoulder. It wasn’t crazy weird, but once the movie ended, and credits rolled, Cal wasn’t quite sure what to do. He looked at Andre, sound asleep. He giggled a bit to himself, the boy who always tried to come off as strong, mighty and soldier-like looked so peaceful, almost like a cat, fast asleep. Cal brought a hand up—to brush the hair that barely touched Andre’s brow—to the side. Andre stirred, which made Cal pause. What was he doing? His hand still hovering over Andre’s face, he hesitated, and then the sudden silence from the movie’s credits startled him. He could hear Andre’s soft breathes now audible. Without letting his thoughts take over, he finally brushed the hair out of Andre’s face, hand lingering for a moment. Andre’s hand came up to his eye, rubbing it.
“Is the movie over?” He said, groggily. Cal managed to pull back his arm without much notice. Andre sat up, not even really aware of his position on Cal’s shoulder.
“Yeah, just ended,” Cal said, readjusting his spot on the couch. “You didn’t miss too much, Cherry’s boyfriend didn’t make it, but she had his kid or something,” Cal chuckled a bit, recounting the ridiculous plot. Andre laughed, too.
“I liked that one, good choice dude,” Andre’s voice was strained as he stretched. “You wanna watch another?”
“Yeah, but only if you promise to stay conscious this time,” Cal said, sliding off the couch to go eject the dvd.
“Let’s just throw on something we’ve seen, I can’t guarantee I’ll manage to stay up longer,” Andre moved the popcorn bowl to the side table, and leaned back in his seat, eyes already threatening close, and sleep creeping up on him again. Cal looked back, and noticed this, and opted for tossing the couple of empty cans that were on the floor at Andre.
“Jeez! Okay—okay! I am awake,” Andre threw his hands up in surrender, laughing. Cal turned back around, and rummaged for something to throw on from the pile they had accumulated. He opted for Alien, one of his personal favourites, but that he thought could work as good background noise. He slotted himself back on the couch, the space between him and Andre smaller now, sans popcorn bowl. He couldn’t help but think back to just minutes before, Andre sound asleep on his shoulder, his own slim fingers brushing the short hairs away.
The two of them had always been close—everyone knew this. Andre and Cal, dynamic duo, inseparable, these were all synonyms to the people in their lives, since they met. As kids, they slept over at each other’s houses, making pillow forts and falling asleep in them. They shared a bed at sleepovers, until around 8th grade. That was when everyones favourite words to throw around were gay and fag, and the two of them never outright discussed it, but at some point one of them would always end up taking the floor, or couch. Despite this, they had always been physically close. They’d always sit next to each other, stand an inch closer to the other boy than they would any others they’d be near. Neither of them thought much of it, for the most part, it’s just the way it always has been. Cal felt as though, with the fruition of the Zero Day plan, there was something different about these small quirks, they suddenly had more meaning than ever. A lot changes when you know you’ll be dead in a few months.
“What are you thinking about?” Andre snapped Cal out of his thoughts. He always was able to read Cal, more so than anyone, it could be a bit unsettling at times. But Cal could do the same to him, so he supposes it was only fair.
“Just, y’know, stuff,” the words came out before he could really put any thought into them, realizing how he sounded like he was hiding something. He sort of was.
“Oh yeah, dude, I think about stuff all the time,” Andre’s natural sarcastic tone shone through. “But seriously—what’s up?” Andre’s sarcasm quickly disappeared; a more serious tone in his voice now. It was mirroring Cal in the car earlier, and it had the same effect on him. Cal paused, collecting his thoughts.
“Remember when we would make pillow forts—then fall asleep in them, together?” Cal stared at his socks, focusing on the funny patterns. Andre let the question sit, his turn for a pause, as he felt almost like the idea came out of nowhere.
“Yeah I remember, you used to always hog the blanket we had left for sleeping,” He chuckled, recalling how young Cal would always want all of the blanket’s warmth, and how even today he was so much colder than Andre. “You probably still would.” He let this out without a thought, not thinking much what he meant by it.
“Why’d we ever stop?” Cal reached for the blanket on the couch, pulling it off the arm rest where it was folded. He stood, holding out the blanket to Andre, who stared up at Cal for a moment. He said nothing, neither of them did, but Andre understood what he meant, and without much thought stood up and took the blanket.
The two of them grabbed pillows and more blankets out of the linen closet just around the corner from the basement entrance, rushing down with them. They piled the pillows as high as they could, and draped the blankets over top. They grabbed the old flashlight, that just barely had battery power left, and lit up the inside of their little fort.
“This is so dumb,” Andre said, giggling. He felt like a silly kid.
“This is awesome, I don’t know what you mean,” Cal laid back, admiring all the strange shapes in the shadows cast from the blankets. Andre joined him, propping his head up with his arms behind it. There was a small hole in the roof of their building, just enough to see the old glow in the dark stars plastered on the ceiling above the bed. Whenever they would build forts as kids, they’d pretend they were a number of places, a popular one being the Colosseum from Rome. Once inside, they would play gladiators, roughhousing to the ‘death’. Cal, a grin forming over his face, turned towards Andre. Before he could react, Cal grabbed a non-supporting pillow and smacked it right into Andre’s face. He flailed around a bit in response, as Cal giggled to himself.
“Oh you fuck,” Andre said, once Cal had drawn back his weapon. “You’re getting it,” Andre swiftly grabbed his own pillow, and wasted no time swinging right back at Cal. The pillow made a loud thud against the side of Cal’s head, sending him into the bed. With this move, full on pillow-warfare was set loose. They sloppily moved around each other best they could on the bed, mostly hitting their pillows against each other. This circling went on and on, until Andre drew back for a killing blow, but instead caught some of the blanket, and sent the entire fort plummeting down onto the bed and floor. Both of them were trapped under the rubble. A beat of silence passed, and then laughter ensued.
“You destroyed the colosseum!” Cal exclaimed, trying to find his way out from under all the fabric over him.
“Just as I was about to win, too,” Andre managed to free himself from the blankets first, and watched Cal’s silhouette struggle under the blankets.
“You were not.”
“Was too, that was going to be a finishing move, Mortal Kombat style,” Andre reached a hand out, pulling the covers down to help Cal free himself. He was leaning on his side, hovering over Cal. He caught his eyes, and his cheeks flushed with laughter and from the excitement of their battle. He looked like he was 10 again, all the childlike wonder. Andre felt like he was, too, at least for a moment. Why did they ever stop doing this?
Cal looked up into Andre’s face, for a moment he looked just as calm as he did while asleep. At this moment, they were both just stupid kids again (had they ever really stopped?). Without a second thought—perhaps a result of this childlike stupidity, Cal sat up, and met their lips together. Andre was startled, mostly from the sudden movement, and then definitely from the action itself. For a moment, almost like time had frozen, Andre was stuck in this shocked expression, his and Cal’s lips still pressed together. Finally, after what was probably the longest half second of their lives, he leaned into the kiss, his hand coming to rest on the bed just beside Cal.
The kiss was chaste, only lasting a few seconds, but both of them pulled away feeling a bit dizzy, almost. No one said anything, they just stared into each other's eyes. Almost like neither could believe it, despite both fully knowing what they had done. The silence was deafening, and the emotions began to overrun Cal’s mind. Just as he went to open his mouth, to say something—an apology— Andre’s hand cupped his cheek, and without a moment wasted he kissed Cal again. Cal met him with instant reciprocation, this time a bit more intensity. There was still an air of hesitation, of fear, but as they continued to press their lips together, they grew more confident. It felt correct, like this was an outcome destined to be, but one that neither would have ever said out loud.
Cal’s hand snaked around Andre’s neck, and he slowly laid flat on his back, pulling Andre down with him. Andre followed the movement, throwing a leg over Cal, now straddling him. They continued to kiss, the want growing between both of them. Now, both of Cal’s arms wrapped around Andre’s neck, he was pulling himself up into the kiss, straining his core, but he couldn’t even feel it over the thoughts racing in his mind. Andre had his elbows firmly planted beside Cal’s head. As the kiss went on, Andre couldn’t help but notice the faint taste of beer on Cal’s lips, how it felt like only moments ago they were just simply hanging out on the couch. Just two friends, two very, very, close friends.
Without warning, Cal pushed against Andre’s chest, swapping their positions. Despite being ‘built like a twig’ according to his own description, Cal could match Andre pretty well when it came to roughhousing, and apparently this talent translated to making out, as well. In response to the sudden thump of his back against the bed, just barely breaking their lips contact, Andre let out a small whine. This made Cal grin into the kiss, Andre’s cheeks flushing.
“Don’t even say a word,” Andre said, before Cal could’ve even thought to do so. To really make sure this didn't occur, he just reached up and intertwined his fingers into Cal’s peroxide blonde hair, pulling him back down into the kiss. Andre let his lips part slightly this time, inviting more intensity to the kiss. Cal understood, slipping his tongue into the other boy's mouth, exploring every inch. Andre’s grip on Cal’s hair tightened, which earned a noise from Cal, and Andre took his turn to smile into the kiss, even if it was just briefly. His free hand wandered, finding its way under Cal’s oversized polo, running up and down his sides. Cal shuddered at the feeling of Andre’s fingers, so delicately running across his skin. They kissed for a while more, every movement laced with teenage inexperience, but neither cared. After a while, Cal broke away, icy blues peering down at Andre. His flushed face paired with them reminded Andre of the poster for Scream again.
“Sorry,” Andre was surprised at the word, not expecting it to come after that. But then, Cal grinned a bit. “I couldn’t help myself.”
“Shit, man, I'm glad you couldn’t,” Andre’s words came out hastily, a bit exasperated from the kiss still. Cal flushed at them, darting his eyes anywhere but directly at Andre. A hand came up to his cheek, and Andre moved his face to look at him. He looked at Cal for a moment, noticing his gaze still not focused on his own. He brought up both hands, holding Cal’s face between them. “I’m glad we had a movie night.”
With that Cal grinned, holding Andre’s wrists and moving his hands out of the way to peck a quick kiss to his lips again.
“Me too,” Without any more words, Cal laid himself beside Andre, resting his head on his shoulder. Andre’s fingers found Cal’s, and they intertwined, staring up at the plastic stars together.
Eventually the pair drifted off into sleep, amidst the rubble of their colosseum, and while the tv buzzed as the movie, long forgotten, played as white noise in the background. They still held their hands together, sleeping tonight as the stupid, idiot kids they would swear they weren’t anymore. They never really stopped being them, and they never will, even after they wouldn’t ever be in this room, on this bed, together again.