TRIGGER WARNING! Theres some bad slang being used once in this chapter, but I'll warn you before it happens. Also, there is major alcohol use.

Ben

I shuffled through the Meira Mart isles, looking for the good beer. (Ben is legal to drink) I finally a bottle of the good one (I can't pronounce the name) and next was some cheese and crackers.

"Hey man! Did you get in to 714 yet?" I sighed and delicately placed the beer bottles in the basket.

"They said it would be a while." Steven sauntered over next to me and leaned up against some shelving.

"You gotta know something." He groaned, continuing to poke for answers.

"They said that we might know something, sometime next year."

"Next year!" He looked down at watch sarcastically "Thats in like nine hours!" I chuckled softly.

"I mean, like, not for a while." I walked past him, on my way to the cold cuts.

"How long is 'a while'? Like..."

"Ugh, can you not bug me about that for a minute?" I sighed, picking out a couple cheeses and tossing them into my basket.

"If you want, I can pester you about Devin. By the way you better kiss him at midnight." I groaned and started to walk away from Steven and towards the chips isle. "You've needed to make a move for the past... month now! It's been a month and I'm still waiting." I kept walking around the grocery store with Steven on my heels, monologuing about me and Devin's 'nonexistent' relationship. If I told him we cuddled two nights ago, he might get me off the hook... or make him even more... perstery. "I have made moves on twice as many girls as you have. You seriously need to step up your game man, at least talk to him. Have you even talked to him?"

"Of course, I've talked to him! We watched Friends together for like three hours a couple days ago."

"You did! Great! Did anything important happen? Did you make a move?" He nearly jumped in front of me, begging for an answer.

"If I tell you, will you lay off for a while?" I stopped walking and looked Steven in the eye to tell if he was lying.

"Of course! Of course, I will. Now pleaseeee tell me!" I smiled at his childish begging.

"We cuddled for a bit and he fell asleep on my shoulder." I smiled proudly and walked around him on my way to get some crackers.

"I know I must sound like a teenage girl, but that is so cute! Did you sleep together? As in... like... going to bed next to each other." He suddenly stopped in his tracks, eyes wide, "Did you sleep with him!?" I burst out laughing.

"No way! I'm no slut." (Sorry not sorry for language). "He woke up only after ten minutes or so then he went home." I grabbed a box of Ritz crackers and placed that in the basket.

"Oof. Omega F." (Me in a text conversation be like) On the way out of the isle, Steven made sure to grab a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

"Yeah whatever." I plopped my basket down in front of Meria. "Hey, Meria." I smiled.

"Bon après-midi belle." Steven leaned his arm on the little table in front of her.

"Bonjour à vous de!" Meira smiled back. I sighed and replied.

"Please. I beg you to stop." Meria started to scan the food, trying not to laugh too hard.

"Well, if you took French, we wouldn't be like this." Steven replied in fake spite.

"Sí, bueno, puedo hablarte así y reírme de tu despista respuesta." I replied in Spanish, chuckling as his smile fell.

"Whatever." He looked away, a laugh nearly escaping him.

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Translations:

Line 1: Steven, "Good afternoon, beautiful."

Line 2: Meria, "Hello to you to!"

Line 3: Ben, "Yeah, well I can talk to you like this and laugh at your clueless response."

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Devin

I stood in front of my wide-open closet, regretting my every clothing decision I have ever made. Why didn't I bring more nice clothes? I heard from Lizzy that everyone was yet again going to another party. She didn't tell me if I was supposed to dress nice or not and now, I'm too afraid to ask. What are we even going to do? I know it's not another Damien party, so it wouldn't be so... high quality? I don't know and don't really care if that's the right word or not. Are we going to be dancing again? If we are, I'm definitely going out to find cologne.

"Hey M?" I turned around to face the half-asleep cat sitting atop my pillow. "Red or blue?" I held up two collared shirts, one a dark, plain red and another a blue with dark blue pin stripes on it.

"Meow." She replied, without too much thought.

"Really? The red one? I always wear red."

"Meow." She said again.

"Yeah, but blue is Ben's color." I sighed and racked my brain for something, anything, good I could wear. "Fine! I wear the red one." I pulled off my old Mageton County 'Pumpkin Fest' shirt and pulled on the crimson red button up. I stepped over some clothes laying on the ground and stopped in front of my mirror. "I don't look half bad." I smiled, fixing the collar.

"Meow."

"You did not tell me so!" I turned around and looked the little grey cat in her lime green eyes. "You're a cat, you can't tell me so." She rolled around on my pillow and eventually got settled in a little ball. "I would pet you, but I don't want my shirt getting Mercedes fur all over it." I kissed her little head then started on the monstrous task finding good pants.

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Trigger warning—alcohol

I was able to hijack some coordinates from Lizzy, so I knew where I was going, and I was well on my way. The party was hosted by a girl named Lily, who I have never seen before. The fly there was a good ten minutes or so of cold, biting wind and a little bit of rain, which was not enjoyable, but otherwise it was nice to see everything.

I finally found the house where the New Year's party is being held, after an extra five minutes of searching, of course. It was a pretty plain building and rather small if anything. There was a stone base with what looked like nice waxed oak wood for walls and a weird, slightly misshapen roof. There were plenty of loud music and people talking for me to know that this was definitely the place.

I swooped down and quickly pulled off my wings and hung them up on a hook with many, many others. Luckily, mine were defiantly newest, and easiest to spot. I stood in front of the door, took a breath, and stepped in. Boy was I not ready.

I was immediately met with a thick stench of alcohol and sex. It took all my will to not throw up right then. There was a ton of people everywhere, all of them were somewhere on the spectrum of 'drunk.' A couple girls were talking loudly in the corner, some guys were playing a game that looked suspiciously like strip poker in the middle. (As I'm writing this I just hear AS YOUR FATHER I EXPRESSLY FORBID IT (YEAH!) AS YOUR FATHER I EXPRESSLY FORBID IT(WOooO!)AS YOUR FATHER I EXPRESSLY FORBID IT, IM YOUR DAD! I'm your dad)

How have people gotten so rowdy? I know I was late, but I didn't realize how late. I saw an open door that led outside to a porch and figured that it couldn't be worse than the inside.

The small porch space seemed much more... normal. There were about five people sitting around a little fire, chatting while sipping on various drinks, most of them probably alcoholic. On the far side of the lawn there were some girls playing cornhole. As I watched, I saw a glimpse of blonde hair. Lizzy blonde hair.

"Hey Lizzy!" I greeted, walking over to her, Grace and another girl. I didn't remember her name, but I know her face.

"Hey Devin, how's it going?" She tossed a bean bag and it just barely missed the hole.

"Aww, that was close." Grace commentated.

"I'm good. What's up with you? Or more importantly this party."

"Pfft!" One of the girls giggled.

"That's what I said!" Grace laughed.

"Yeah... Lily isn't the best with parties." Lizzy finished. "I only go cause everyone else goes, so, like might as well."

"Yeah, I guess."

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We played cornhole together for a little while. I didn't want to go back inside the house out of fear of what else there might be. I ended up caving and went inside just because Ivy (the other girl with us) wanted a drink, but I called 'not it' last. Rules are rules.

I tried my best not to breathe too much as I yanked open the sliding glass door as the wall of alcoholic air—is that a thing? —bombarded my nose. I shuffled over to the drink table and scanned the labels looking for a "yellow drink, looks kinda like pee but tastes like lemons, but with alcohol" as Ivy put it. I found a tall skinny bottle labeled "limoncello" looked an awful lot like pee so I assumed that this was the stuff. I grabbed the classic red solo cup and carefully grabbed the bottle and started to pour.

"Aye! Hit me up 'lil buddy!" Some drunk guy wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his chest, right next to his alcoholic stench. I silently gagged, but reluctantly filled up the guy's cup.

"I'm going to go!" I shouted over the music, desperate to get out the house.

"Nu uh 'lil man!" He grabbed my wrist and a six pack of beers and yanked me over to a corner with about five other people. "This is 'lil man! He'll be our waiter for the evening!" He burst out in drunken laughter and collapsed on the couch and popped open a beer and poured it into his lemon drink. A very drunk lady waved me over. She looked to be about 25, with dark bags under her eyes.

Trigger warning—slang

"Hey little f@gg0t boy!" I whipped my head towards her. What the hell did she just say!

"What the f*ck was that!" I screamed right back. The room grew silent. Heads turned. My face grew red and my entire body was suddenly drenched in sweat.

Trigger warning over—both

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I couldn't bear staying at that wretched party anymore. I swiftly grabbed my jacket, opened the door and straight up left. I didn't really want to go home, that would be too long of a fly, and I'm just not up to it. Considering that I had nowhere else to go, I just started to stroll through the woods.

The air was crisp and cold, but not uncomfortably so. It was nice to get a break from all the yelling, singing and overall drunken noise. A cool breeze shook the tall pine trees as I walked underneath them. I heard a quiet snap of a twig; it sounded like it was from behind me. I snapped my head around. Nothing. I scanned the forest floor looking for some animal or god forbid another person. Every horror movie starts with someone being alone and scared with a silent figure stalking them in the woods.

I kept walking despite that, and not even two minutes later I heard it again, but more from beside me.

"Hello!" I shouted, maybe I could scare whatever it was away.

"Devin?" It, or rather Ben, replied.

"Oh." I sighed, my heart steadying. "Hey." Ben walked up next to me, kept warm by a khaki-colored coat, buttoned tightly at the front.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked, staying next to me as I continued to walk in the woods.

"I could say the same to you." I responded, kicking a pinecone.

"Oh, are we going to talk all cryptic like we're in a movie?" He joked, smiling down to me. I laughed along quietly.

"No..."

"Then I shall ask again. What are you doing out here?" I tried not to laugh to hard, as I did my best to keep a blush off my face.

"The party was too much. I just needed to get out." I shoved my frozen hands deep into my pockets as that girl's words replayed in my head.

"Yeah, that wasn't cool." Ben's voice dropped to a whisper. We stayed silent for a while after that, I wasn't in the mood to continue talking about this. I looked down at my phone for a second, trying to get a glimpse at the time. 11:47, thirteen minutes to midnight. What if I did tell him? We're alone, so nothing could theoretically 'get out'. But if I did tell him and things went wrong, what would he do then? We see each other so often that awkwardness would be unavoidable. What if he never saw me the same ever again? Since we were 'just friends' we could still cuddle and dance together, but if I came out, would he stop?

"Whatcha thinking about?" Ben asked out of the blue. My face reddened. What do I answer that with?

"Uhh... nothing." I avoided the question; I couldn't answer that head on. "What about you?" I shoved the 'blame' on him. He sighed quietly.

"Nothing." I fixed my eyes on the ground, shuffling my feet in the dirt. How bad could it be? He certainly wouldn't hate me... right? Just tell him. Yeah. Do it! In 3, 2, 1... I can't do it. I shook my head, trying to compose myself. Just do it! (-screaming- jUsT dO iT AhHhHh! Anyone remember that GIF?) Ok, ok. 3, 2, 1... go! "Hey Ben?" I asked, immediately regretting everything.

"Yeah?"

"I... I really gotta tell you something." My voice got quiet and shaky at the end.

"Go ahead, I'm listening." I started to sweat, even though I'm very, very cold. I blinked my eyes rapidly as I felt my heart burn.

"I-uh..." I felt a lump grow in my throat, but I quickly choked it down. "Umm... do you swear you won't hate me?" I looked up at him just as Ben looked back down at me with a soft, trustworthy expression.

"Of course! I would never hate you. I swear on Stev—well that's not a very swear now is it." He chuckled quietly, trying to make me laugh, but frankly it wasn't working. "I swear on Ziggy that I would never hate you." I sighed, there's no way to stall anymore.

"Ok, s-so... uh..." I started to twist my fingers around each other. "Well..."

"Devin, you can trust me." I felt my heart beat considerably faster and my palms sweat like I just dumped them in water.

"Alright, so, um..." I bit my lip nervously. "I-I'm..." I took a shaky breath. "I'm gay! I'm gay and I really like you and I k-know I shouldn't because we-we're just friends and I don't want to make you uncomfortable so I should've j-just kept this to myself because now everything w-will be weird for us now and—"

"Let me respond to the first bit." Ben interrupted, stopping me in the middle of my 'anxiety rant.'

"Fine. Respond!" I through my arms up in the air out of pure desperation and turned towards him.

Ben stopped walking with me and turned to look at me. He brought his hand up to my face pressed two fingers to the bottom of my chin, pushing my face up to nearly match his. My stomach twisted and turned as Ben's face moved closer and closer to mine. I let out a small gasp as his lips pushed against my own; his hand moved over to the side of my face and cupped it gently. I wasted no time and started to kiss him back; letting my eyes fall closed, feeling my eyelashes brush gently against his skin.

Only a moment after, Ben gently pulled away leaving me red and flustered. It must have lasted only a moment, but it felt like an eternity. An eternity that I didn't want to end.

Ben

Ho. Ly. Shit. Did I just kiss Devin? No. There's no way. No POSSIBLE way. A big, goofy smile slid across my face as I kept my eyes focusing on him. Dev started to giggle quietly as he turned his head away from me.

"Well, that's what I think." I responded, letting my hand fall down to his side as I gently took his hand.

"You know... this wind... was pretty loud I don't think I heard you well enough." He looked up at me with the most innocent smile on his face.

"Would you like me to repeat it?" I smiled slyly, already leaning in.

"Mhmm." I tilted my head to the side as we connected our lips again, this time my hands wrapping around his hips, pulling him into almost a hug. I felt Devin's arms wrap around my neck and his nose gently bump my cheek. My heart thumped hotly in my chest since I was so close to him, closer than I've ever been. I pulled away after a second, looking him in his beautiful hazel eyes.

Just then there was a loud ring from his phone. His face turned comically red as he fumbled around to pick up his phone then promptly silence it.

"Who was it?" I asked, starting to walk again, with Devin starting back up with me.

"Just Lizzy, nothing important." He shoved his phone in his back pocket, forgetting about it and taking my hand that dangled by my side.

"She's going to call you back, you know that right? She won't stop." I tried to contain a giddy smile as we walked together.

"Eh, whatever. I'll just hang up." His phone started to buzz again.

"I would pick up if I were you."

"No, not right now." He hung up again and took my hand again. Not even a millisecond after his phone started buzzing yet again. He angrily picked it up and held it up to his face. "Free cheesecake if you don't call back!" He hung up again and we both waited anxiously, waiting to see if it worked. After a solid ten seconds without a new call coming in, he called it a victory. "I'm so smart." He smiled proudly and kept walking.

"I never thought of that. I should've that would've made everything so much easier!" I laughed along with Dev, as I wrapped my arm around his shoulders. This realm might just deserve a second chance.

HAHAHA I told Tomato that Devin and Ben wouldn't kiss and wouldn't get together this chapter and I told her that this would be very angsty. HAHA get dabbed on Tomato.

This chapter is soooo long its 3,138 words! Jeeeez. I still really like this chapter; I think it's my new favorite. I was planning to have more still, but I decided that I should save it for next chapter. I don't even remember where this chapter started lol.

Love y'all!

--Kio

People telling me I could read, finish and make a powerpoint on a book project due in four days 

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https://youtu.be/_wkQSF3TdQU