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No one was sure where the alcohol had come from, only that it was there and no one was stopping them. By the time anyone suggested spin the bottle, most people were already two or three shots deep. Laughter and conversation filled the room. The few who had chosen not to drink stood off to the side. Likely just making sure nothing went wrong.
Scott himself was pleasantly buzzed, sitting in the circle and picking at the shitty carpet. The music from the speakers was loud enough that everyone could barely hear each other. Whose house was he at again? Grian’s? Scar’s? It didn’t really matter, but remembering would be nice.
There was an uproar of noise as two other people were chosen by the bottle. Scott looked up, catching a glimpse of Jimmy and Martyn being pushed into the closet on the other side of the room. Pearl forced the door closed, and once there was no more pushback, held up her phone with the timer on it. “Seven minutes!” Some people whooped and cheered, all returning to the circle to sit down until the distinct alarm was heard. Pearl took her seat right next to Scott, leaning on him a little too much and speaking a little too loud. “You wanna go next?”
“Sure!” He agreed. “As long as I don’t get one of the girls.” He and Pearl giggled.
“I can promise you won’t have to kiss me or Cleo.”
“What about me?!” Cleo yelled from where she was trying to hold back a feisty Bdubs from roughhousing with Scar.
“You don’t wanna kiss Scott!” Pearl yelled back, her mouth still next to Scott’s ear. He flinches away. “Oops, sorry.”
“That’s true!” Cleo turns back to the two boys, annoyed to find them on the ground in a tussle. Scott laughed, glancing at the bottle in the middle. The label was torn so he couldn’t even tell what brand it was, but the bottle was still somehow intact. It likely wouldn’t be by the end of the party.
Pearl elbowed him. Scott frowned and rubbed his ribs, looking over at her. “Who’re you hoping for?”
“No one in particular,” Scott said truthfully. He and Jimmy had ended on good terms, and since then there wasn’t really anyone who had caught his eye. Sure, there were plenty of attractive people, but none who he really actually liked. Scott had just supposed he would wait until someone came along.
“C’monnnn,” Pearl groaned, slurring her words slightly as she leaned on him. Scott pushed her off with a laugh. “There’s gotta be someone. Okay, okay, who would you want to kiss most?”
Scott scanned the room. “I don’t think Impulse would be bad. Martyn either, but I dunno if he’ll wanna go again. Uhh,” Scott muttered, eyes landing on the couch. He let out a snort. “ Not Joel.”
It was well known that Joel hated Scott because of something in freshman year. Even Scott wasn’t completely sure what happened, but whatever he had done pissed Joel off enough to trigger a years-long hatred. If he was stuffed in a closet with Joel, he might not make it out alive.
He would admit, Joel was handsome. Mid length hair adorned with a green stripe, short and stocky build, eyes that seem a little too keen especially since Joel wasn’t often paying attention. It was like he was mapping all the ways he could hurt Scott whenever he was looking his way. Which, sure, was definitely a red flag and did not make Scott feel very safe but it also was intriguing.
Pearl elbowed him again, harder this time. “Ow, Pearl, stop.”
“You’ve been staring at himmm,” she replied, singing the last word. “Are you sure you don’t want to be locked in a closet with him? There’s so much to do on there—“
“No, Jesus, Pearl.”
An alarm sounded from Pearl’s pocket, and she grinned. “Times up!” She announced to the crowd, getting the same amount of excitement as before. Scott stayed sitting, watching the closet doors get thrown open to a very embarrassed Jimmy and Martyn. They were sitting on opposite sides, but something about the way Martyn kept licking his lips and Jimmy avoided eye contact told Scott that those seven minutes had been entertaining.
The circle around the bottle reformed—though it was more of an oval now—and a chant began of “Spin, spin, spin!!” Pearl pushed Scott forward, and he grinned, basking in the cheers he got before crawling to the middle and picking up the bottle. Watching it spin was anxiety inducing, slower and slower until the bottle neck decided his fate.
Scott glanced up, smile fading from his face when he saw where it had landed.
Joel.
The one person out of everyone he least wanted to be stuck in a closet with. Their eyes met, and instead of some big romantic moment where Scott realized maybe everything would be okay, Joel just sneered and turned away.
And still, after much coaxing, Scott watched two doors get closed and locked in front of him. Pearl winked at him through the gap before snapping them shut. He was left with a temperamental teenager and about seven boxes of dusty clothes.
“Can’t blummin' believe it had to be you,” Joel muttered, sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest. There wasn’t really a lot of space unless Scott sat on a box, and he didn’t trust those to support him. Instead he stayed standing and examined Joel, in his slightly cropped skull t-shirt and baggy jeans.
“We can sit in silence for seven minutes,” Scott suggested. It wasn’t ideal, but there was really nothing better. Not unless he wanted to kiss Joel.
“Better than hearing you talk.”
“There’s a lot more I can do with my mouth than talk.”
“ Ew.”
Scott laughed breathily, trying to keep his voice hushed. It wasn’t like he wanted to kiss Joel, it was just fun to see him blush and avoid eye contact. There had always been something about the way Joel got so defensive that piqued Scott’s interest. It wasn’t like he was homophobic, rather the opposite. Scott knew for a fact that Joel was Jimmy’s first kiss, and that he and Etho had an on-and-off situation up until a few months ago.
(Etho had dumped Joel permanently for Bdubs, from what he heard. Then again, Cleo did exaggerate every once in a while.)
A knock rattled the closet doors. “I hear too much talking!!”
“Go away, you psychopath!” Scott called back, to which a chorus of giggles and running footsteps answered.
Joel looked up at him, still scowling but with more consideration about his expression. Scott tried to sit down as well. It didn’t work perfectly, and he definitely knocked a few boxes over, but eventually he was level with Joel. Well, as level as he could be. Joel was still shorter than him.
“You know,” Scott mused. “They’re probably going to lock us in here even longer if we don’t kiss.”
Joel scoffed. “Grian’ll let up eventually. Unless he gets even more drunk, then he might forget completely.”
“If Pearl had one more shot, she might not even hear her phone go off.”
Joel snorted a laugh, which surprised Scott. “There’s worse people to be trapped in here with.” It sounded almost fond. “There’s also many people I would prefer.” And it was ruined.
“Better you than most of the other people here,” Scott admitted. Joel looked perplexed at that.
“I literally don’t like you, what’s worse than that?”
“Better you than someone drunk off their ass who wants to do more than kiss.”
“Ew. You’re right, I am much better than that. And probably a lot hotter as well.”
Scott rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. “Sure, Joel.”
“I am very sexy, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Joel flexed in his shirt, doing various poses that made Scott giggle.
“If you didn’t hate me so much, I would think you were trying to impress me.” Their shoes brushed, just for a split second. Scott took note of the sharpie-covered sneakers that Joel had donned, matching the color in his hair. He chuckled hesitantly, pulling his legs away.
“Yeah well, you’re fucking annoying.”
“I could say the same to you.”
“But you would be a liar.” Joel grinned. There was something hesitant in his voice, something that made Scott curious about what was going on in his head. Was he counting down the seconds until they got out? Or was he letting his mind wander to other, unrelated things?
Or was he thinking about Scott?
Before he could answer, the closet doors were flung open and a very disappointed Pearl looked down on them. “Well that’s no fun,” she slurred, looking back and forth between them. “You two must need another seven minutes.”
“Pearl, no—“ but before he could protest, the doors snapped shut again, and Pearl's voice could be heard on the other side lamenting about them. Scott rolled his eyes dramatically. There was no convincing her otherwise when she was drunk and wanted something.
“Well, we could just kiss so she lets us out.”
Scott snapped his head towards Joel. He looked like he was actually considering it.
“We could.” Scott didn’t mention how they had seven minutes left, and how they would be kissing for a long time. He also didn’t mention how the prospect of that set his nerves on fire with excitement.
“We could.”
Neither of them moved for a split second, until Scott started crawling across the floor. Joel looked alarmed and flustered, flinching without telling Scott to stop. He settled on Joel’s lap, effectively pinning him to the boxes behind them. There was a moment where they were just breathing and looking anywhere but each other's faces before Scott spoke.
“Is this okay?” It was hushed, like anything louder would break the air between them. Joel nodded, his hands coming to rest on Scott’s waist.
He actually got a good look at Joel’s features close up. Freckles spanned his cheeks and forehead, tanned skin from being in the sun, a small scar just under his eye. Absentmindedly, Scott lifted a hand to brush it with his thumb. Joel just watched, closing his eye and making the skin around it wrinkle up.
“Don’t touch my eye, idiot.”
“I’m not touching your eye, I’m touching under your eye.”
Joel scoffed but didn’t protest, letting Scott cup his face in one hand. The other landed on his shoulder, half acting as a support for Scott. They drifted closer, neither talking, the air full of uncertainty and stray glances and something that seemed like a mixture of hatred and curiosity.
“Can I—“
“Shut up.”
And then Joel surged forward and kissed him. It wasn’t some measly peck on the lips, he kissed Scott and then he kept kissing Scott. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for Scott to kiss back, pushing Joel back against the boxes. They kissed like they were running out of time and this was what they had always wanted, what everything had been leading up to. They kissed like it was more than a stupid game in some stupid closet.
Joel pulled away and, instead of taking a breath, bent down to nip at Scott’s neck. It started next to his jaw, slowly working down to the junction between his neck and chest. Scott gasped, biting his lip to prevent any other sounds coming out. “Don’t leave any—“
He cut himself off with a hiss as Joel bit down, sucking at his skin like a starved animal attacking its prey.
“Fuck you,” Joel muttered back, moving to bite at him again. “I want you to fucking remember this.”
“And why—why would I want to remember this?” Scott’s eyes fluttered shut, each exhale bordering on being a whine.
“‘Cause you’re never getting another chance with me.”
Scott pulled Joel back up, kissing him before muttering against his lips, “Then I better make use of this one.”
They kissed again, slower this time but no less ravenous. Scott bit at Joel’s lip, making him open his mouth with a gasp. It was warm and wet and, honestly, exactly what Scott thought kissing Joel would be like (and if he had to admit it, he’d thought about it a few times). He could feel the hot flush on Joel’s cheeks under his hands. The hands on his hips moved down, snaking under Scott’s shirt to brush against his bare skin.
For the second time, the closet doors were flung open, and they were met with a pleased gasp. “THEY’RE KISSING!!” Pearl announced, making Scott and Joel pull apart and both glare at her.
“I’m going to kill her,” Joel muttered, already trying to stand up. Scott stayed on top of him.
“No you’re not.”
“If she doesn’t close that door and let me keep kissing you right now, I will.”
Scott turns to smile at Joel, raising his eyebrows. “You liked it? Maybe you’ll give me a second chance?”
“Maybe I’ll give you a thousand blummin’ chances if you keep kissing me like that.”
Pearl, who had been yelling updates about Scott and Joel to someone else, looked back at them, grinning ear to ear. “C’mon, get up. We gotta keep playing.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Joel pushed Scott off him gently and pulled them both up, keeping Scott’s hand in his as he pulled him away from the circle and down a hallway. Pearl's voice trailed after them, though she gave up fairly quickly.
He led them to a corner of the house with another living area, complete with a couch that Joel pushed Scott onto. He climbed on top of him rather clumsily. Scott laughed softly, helping Joel stabilize.
“Chance number two.”