Twenty minutes later, Ren stepped into the crisp fall weather, clad in a droopy logo covered pullover and sporting a squashy beanie. Hair gel, it seems, took finesse. Not that it mattered too much, the weather was somewhat cool and rain threatened for the last week. Hats were the way to go, judging by various passersby and their own head accessories. Weeks ago, against forum advice, he’d purchased a roll of bandage wrap to compress. He knew the risks, heard the stories, but when you were so disgusted with parts of yourself and even seeing them? You took matters into your own hand. It wasn’t completely uncomfortable, then again, he hadn’t exactly tightened all the way down since his baggy hoodie did tons to hide any terrible bumps his paranoia picked up.

October was always a colder month in their city, something he was happy with, since sweaters were allowed at school and thus his discomfort abated substantially. Until the Halloween parties rolled around. Last year he’d been cajoled into going to the main shindig by Ethan, who wanted to nip a bit of alcohol while being unsupervised by whatever CIA people normally tailed him. A fiasco last year involving none of his trailing personnel being competent in tailing him finally proved to daddy dearest that he could handle himself appropriately, and Ren rarely saw anyone ghosting around them.

Elliott and Malcolm were another story altogether. Mostly his experiences with the older two stemmed with the odd drive to the arcade from school with Ethan, or when one or the other came to pick the teen up from his house or school. They were juniors this year, and it seemed as though Mal had quite a bit more free time to run Ethan around than Elliott, considering he was more often behind the wheel. Elliott seemed to be the more studious of the two, and Ethan had mumbled more than once that he was taking college credits on top of his regular courses, something Ren was both envious and terrified by.

Elliott was blond like him, albeit far fairer haired, with just enough of the longer bangs for him to sweep them over his glasses and the greenest eyes he’d ever known. Even his weren’t as vibrant, though maybe the glasses added to the intensity of the hue. Guy totally had his shit together too. And Ethan’s for that matter. He was definitely an adult before his time, and Ren felt like Elliott was cheated of fun due to that characteristic. What did he know, though? All he saw of him were snips and snatches of a calm exterior shell. Ethan swore up and down that it all just depended on the situation.

Where Elliot was a quiet intelligence and dry wit, Malcolm was terse and aloof. Of all the times they’d been in the same car or space, he’d maybe said one or two words to the other teen. Black hair and grey eyes that zeroed in on you the moment you so much as moved, as though he was assessing your weaknesses and coming up with ten ways to take you out before you next breathed. Ethan said he was cocky, and from what he’d heard even the jocks gave him a wide berth. It was a mystery to him, and all he knew was that for the moment he was in no danger of death, as long as he remained friend and not foe to the group.

Stepping inside the arcade hall allowed Ren to slip through the door barrier, immediately attacked by bright lights, multiple game sounds, and the smell of greasy pizza.

Ah, home away from home.

It didn’t matter who he was here, what he looked like, not even his income. All that mattered was his high score. He moseyed, lanky strides pulling him further from the nickel arcade and into the land of coordination games. Pinball machines and button mashers gave way to first person shooters, skee ball, and of course, the dance machines. A line had formed, but it wasn’t to play.

The two on the pads were working up a sweat, and the crowd gathered cheered them on with perhaps a bit more rooting for the black clad figure with green highlights in his spiky black hair. Ethan. Music pumped along, both players bouncing along in tandem, though it was obvious Ethan had the upper hand. His friend held a certain mix of the other two, but the rest was all him. Calm, distant, intelligent. And lazy to boot. Often he’d end up daydreaming out the window, annoying the teacher when she tried to call him abruptly and he knew the answer.

By the time he approached, Ethan’s opponent was on the ropes, guaranteeing his defeat when he missed a crucial combo. Stepping back, he waited for the save lent by his opponent, finishing out the song with grace and stepping down when the match ended. The crowd thinned once they realized the winner wasn’t staying to play the next opponent, allowing him easy movement towards Ethan’s side.

“You’re late.”

His eyebrow climbed at the drawl over his soda,dropping a hand to prop against his hip. “Are you kidding me? Some of us have to hoof it through Friday night foot traffic in a high pop area to get here.”

A shrug met his sputter, pale blue eyes tilting up after his sip. “Shoulda left earlier instead of wasting time planning out what you wanted to eat when I lost. As if I’d lose.” He nodded to the mini food court, and the two figures situated in the back corner. “El and Mal are here, they’ve been stalking me all week. Apparently the last three times I slipped detail to come out with you, he took the hint and ‘suggested’ they come out more with me. I think they’re going out, so whatever.”

Cocking his head, Ren trotted after to keep up, stunned into silence by the whopping amount of words his friend had just thrown. By no means was Ethan vocal, which led him to believe something was obviously bothering the other teen. “Hey woah, down with the angst there amigo. What’s wrong with them dating? Aren’t they always together? I kinda already assumed.”

Apparently the wrong thing to say. Ethan shoved his empty can rather forcefully into a waste bin and trudged on, bypassing the food court in favor of stepping up to the button mashers. “You assumed right I guess.” He muttered tersely, barely waiting for Ren to shove his own money in before jamming through the first fight scene.

“Oh man, are you jealous? Is this you being jealous? No way. You don’t feel emotions about anythi-hey! Friendly fire!” Ren yelped, hurrying to zig zag his player out of range when another fireball came his way. “Okay, I get it, touchy subject, consider it closed.” Silence broke out between them, only the constant beat against multicolored buttons clacking wildly as they advanced to a boss interrupting the quiet.

“Okay but, have you asked them about it?” Silence was not Ren’s strong suit.

A wordless growl rolled up from his throat as his player waited for respawn from his sudden misstep for being sideswiped with that question. “That’s not closed.” Ethan gritted out, watching ‘Game Over’ cheerfully roll across the screen in bright pixels. He let out a quiet sigh, tension seeping out of his shoulders after another calming breath. “It feels like they’re gonna leave me behind.” Ethan admitted, blowing a wisp of hair from his face, wrinkling his lip when it fell right back into his sight.

“See? Was that so hard?” Hell, this made his own problems feel like rainbows and sunshine. “Listen, just because they hang out more, it doesn’t mean anything. Maybe they have to study, or what if it’s some upperclassmen thing? You gotta listen to their side. I bet they have no clue! And I mean, even if they do end up being together...they aren’t gonna leave you in the dust man. You guys grew up together, I’m pretty sure if something like that developed, you’d be first to know, yeah?”

Another shrug, but this one seemed far more natural, in true Ethan lazy ass fashion. “See? That’s the spirit! Man, all that pep talk made me hungry. As lord of emotions, I order you to buy the cheeseburgers. You know, since I totally saved your bacon from making an emotionally stunted and irrational tantrum in the long run at your best friends.”

This sigh was far more long suffering. “You just want me to buy dinner because you know you’re going to lose tonight.” It was complete with an eyeroll, but the smile was there, barely present on his lips in the form of the tiniest tilts at the edges. It was far from a stable balance, however it was much better than his previous mood.

“Guilty!” Ren chirped cheerfully, turning him with a grin towards The Burger Barn. It was a wonder a place that served all ages had something so blatantly macabre as that title while depicting happy cows everywhere. “Come on, we can get the double tonight for half off if you order both at the same time.” It was the Friday special for the place, and normally couples got the meal grouping. But they’d been coming together for so long, nobody batted an eye at the two friends nabbing the discount.