You've got to be fucking kidding me." He growled, glaring at Arden.

Leona looked confused at first before realizing that it was Arden, not her, that Mycah was addressing.

She slinked by, dropping into the space beside Connor.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Arden hissed, glowering right back at Mycah.

"Me? What the fuck are you doing here?" Mycah replied, bewildered.

"I'm friends with Leona and Connor." Arden shot back. "Why are you here?"

"I'm gonna take a wild guess that this is Mycah." Leona interrupted with an amused grin.

Beside her Connor tried, and failed, to hold in a snort of laughter.

"And I can assume you're Leona?" Mycah replied.

"One and the same." She answered with a smile, which he reciprocated. A smile which promptly fell once he remembered Arden standing behind him.

"Oh boy, this is hilarious." She said, noticing the foul glare that Mycah was throwing at Arden. This time Connor didn't even try to hide his amusement.

"Someone want to tell us what's going on?" Katie piped up, herself and Felix sitting oblivious.

"Does telling you that I'm Arden answer your question?" Arden huffed, turning to face the twins.

Both their mouths dropped open, before bursting out laughing so simultaneously that it was almost scary.

"You can bet it does." Felix answered when he managed to regain his composure.

"I'm glad you guys all find this so amusing. But if you don't mind, I need to have a word with Arden." Mycah scowled, grabbing onto Arden's arm and pulling him away. He ignored the other boy's protests as he dragged him a few meters away to talk privately.

"Let go of my fucking arm Mycah." Arden hissed, whipping it away.

They had reached their destination — the side of one of the kiosks selling some cheap party game. Until, of course, Katie and Felix started winking and making obscene gestures and Mycah pulled around around the back so he wouldn't have to see them.

Which, obviously, earned them a chorus of wolf whistles and hoots from the group.

Mycah rolled his eyes, snapping his head up to begin his argument with Arden.

But wait..

Mycah blinked. Surely he was seeing things. Was Arden blushing?

"The fuck's up with you?" He said bluntly.

Arden's head snapped up to face him fully. "What are you talking about?"

Mycah stared at him uncertainly. "Are you blushing?"

Arden's brows immediately furrowed with confusion. "What are you fucking talking about Mycah?"

"Your cheeks. They're red." Mycah deadpanned.

"They're flushed, you idiot. I've been drinking." Arden said, leaving Mycah momentarily feeling stupid.

"Whatever. We need to talk."

"You don't say." Arden replied dryly.

"You need to find new friends." Mycah stated, brutally honest as usual.

"You can fuck yourself. I've been talking to Leona and Connor with the last couple of days. You just met them, so you can find new friends." Arden hissed.

"Absolutely not. I'm going nowhere."

"Mycah come on. We can't be stuck together again."

"Well then find some new friends." Mycah replied, stubborn as a mule. Hey, some things never change.

"This is freshman year all over again." Arden grumbled, rubbing his head which was starting to hurt.

"I was friends with James at least two days before you were." Mycah spat, still bitter about freshman year.

"Really Mycah? Let it go already. I was friends with Kaden before that."

"So you say." Mycah muttered under his breath, but still loud enough for Arden to hear.

"Whatever Mycah. That's not the issue right now." Arden said exasperatedly.

"For once, I agree." Mycah groaned, sighing in resignation.

"So? What'll we do?" Arden said frustratedly.

"I don't know Arden! You tell me. You're the one with the perfect GPA." Mycah hissed, pacing back and forth with agitation.

Arden was quiet for a few moments before letting out a sigh and turning to face Mycah with his hands on his hips.

"Let's be real here Mycah, there's no perfect solution to this. Our options are simple. Either one of us finds a new group, which seems like it's never going to happen, or we just suck it up." Arden scowled.

"Great. Well, I vote we put you in a rocket and fire you into outer space so I never have to deal with you again. How's that for an option?" Mycah suggested sweetly.

"Overly dramatic as usual." Arden muttered, rolling his eyes at the sentiment.

"Overly annoying as usual." Mycah replied, mimicking Arden.

Arden stared at him for a minute before speaking. "God you're int- "

"Intolerable? Yeah you've mentioned." Mycah finished for him.

"You know, that rocket idea isn't sounding half bad right now." Arden grumbled.

"Trust me Arden. If I could, then I would." Mycah said wistfully.

"Jesus, why did I get so unlucky?" Arden asked himself aloud.

"You're not the only one." Mycah huffed in response.

"You're so fucki-" Arden began, But was promptly cut off by Mycah.

"Intolerable? Yeah we've established that already."

"I was actually going for irritating but intolerable works too. Hey, at least you're self aware." Arden shrugged

"You know, your mouth is moving but all I'm hearing is white noise." Mycah replied.

Arden shook his head slightly, brushing past Mycah as he left to rejoin the group.

"Wait." Mycah said, catching Arden by the wrist before he could go.

"Yes?" Arden drawled, turning to face him.

Mycah's next words were ones he never would have envisioned himself saying to Arden. But, for the sake of peace he felt he had to.

"Let's just try and be civil. We don't know if they're going to take our fights as well as the guys back home."

Arden regarded him suspiciously, before nodding his head in resigned agreement. "For once, I agree. Don't be at my throat and I won't be at yours." He answered.

"Fair." Mycah replied curtly, nodding his head.

Arden was looking at him weirdly, and Mycah didn't realise why until he spoke up. "You can let go of my hand now Mycah." He said, and there was a weird tone in his voice that Mycah couldn't quite place.

He felt blood rush to his cheeks as he realized what he was doing, dropping Arden's hand like it was hot. He cleared his throat awkwardly, refusing to meet Arden's eyes.

Arden stood there for a moment, while Mycah kept his eyes glued to the ground. After a couple of seconds, Arden left out a breath of airy laughter, mumbling something under his breath that Mycah just couldn't catch before turning away and rejoining the gang.

Mycah took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. This was so out of character for him. Since when did get embarrassed, for crying out loud?

God, fuck Arden and his stupid arm and his stupid voice and his stupid pretty face getting Mycah all embarrassed.

Jesus Christ these thoughts were not helping. The fact that Mycah just called Arden pretty, even if it was just in his own thoughts, was mortifying on a whole other level.

Running a frustrated hand over his hair, Mycah took a steadying breath before detaching himself from the wall he was leaning against and following in Arden's footsteps to where the group was sat on the sand.

"Made it back huh?" Katie said as he rejoined them.

"Great observation." He teased back.

"We thought you were going to keep him there forever." Felix teased, smirking suggestively between Mycah and Arden who were sat opposite one another in the small circle they had formed.

"Ew." Was all Mycah replied, nose scrunching in disgust. (Though there was one small part of him very grateful for his skin tone for hiding his blush).

"He's not wrong, you know." Leone piped up. "The tension between you two is palpable, and I've only known you for ten minutes."

"We've always has a lot of tension." Mycah replied, causing the others to let out snorts of laughter.

"That's not the sort of tension she means, Mycah." Arden said awkwardly.

"What sort of tensio- oh. Oh." Mycah said, realization dawning on him. Jesus Christ, she meant sexual tension.

His cheeks flushed even further, and he thanked the stars he wasn't white. Arden on the other hand was not so fortunate, his red cheeks slightly visible in the dim glow of the bonfire.

Eventually the others' cackled died down, leaving both Mycah and Arden with identical scowls on their faces. Mycah brought his bottle to his lips, taking a swig as an excuse not to say anything.

"You know, the sooner you guys realize you're into each other, the easier for everyone involved."

Mycah choked on his drink, coughing and spluttering like a fish out of water.

Arden fought to keep his expression stoic, betrayed only by his cheeks slightly darkening further.

The others burst into laughter again, while Mycah and Arden refused to meet each other's eyes from across the bonfire.

Mycah promptly realized that he was starting to regret making friends with these guys.

What had he gotten himself in to?

+++

Yeah so this chapter took a while, sorry about that but I've had literally no time or inspiration until today. Good news is that I have the rest of the story planned out, now just gotta do the hard part.. actually writing it.

Anywho, hope you enjoyed !

-A