They find their rhythm again. After two weeks, the awkwardness has mostly faded away, replaced by a close friendship like before, if a little changed. Joss calls Eliseo ‘bruh’ all the time, like he’s scared Eli is going to forget if he doesn’t say it often enough. Eli has more self control than that, enough to know when Joss is too close, too touchy, too much at once. He scoots away, or brushes him off, or makes an excuse to go to the bathroom. He can hold his feelings inside, where they belong.

He and Joss go to a lot of movies together. They share popcorn, kick their feet up on the seats, and generally act like a pair of teenage delinquents. After Joss discovers that Eli has trouble paying for his own tickets, he starts buying them for him. Eli stops protesting once he realizes that Joss isn’t going to take no for an answer.

“What should we see tomorrow?” Joss asks one Friday.

“I don’t know. Aren’t the team members mad that you’re spending so much less time with them?”

Joss slams his locker. “Not really. They miss my credit card, I’m pretty sure. But other than that, I stopped them from talking the levels of shit they wanted to talk, and they in general hated me.” He pauses, “Jesus. I was like the revolting sugar daddy. Ya know, bruh, the one you put up with because he’s like filthy rich?”

Eli looks up from his own locker to find Joss leaning back against the wall. “Not really. I don’t have much experience with sugar daddies.”

Joss doesn’t respond, just nods in affirmation, looking every bit the rich asshole.

“Why do you talk with them like that? With the team?”

“I do not. I hate the way they talk, and you know it, pretty boy.”

Eli ignores the nickname. “You do. I’ve heard you. Before I got to know you.”

“Before you got to know me, I was the sorriest jackass on the planet. I didn’t have friends. You’ve changed me, bruh.”

“But…”

“But I was just trying to get them to like me, but they just thought I was pretentious, and a huge waste of resources, and could chirp for shit.”

“Chirp?”

“Talk shit. I really hated it. I still hate it. And them.”

Eli frowns, brows wrinkling. “Then why are you still on the team?”

Joss jumps off of the wall, and his eyes brighten to the wattage of a small lightbulb. “Have you never seen me play? You should! I’m fucking good, biker boy. That’s why I’m still on the team, because they can’t kick me off or they’d suck ass big time!” He quiets down a bit. “And I love it. It calms me down.”

Eli smiles, a rare occurrence. “I’d like to see you play.”

He minds the boundaries that Joss sets, careful not to slip up. He really, really does not want to wreck the friendship he has right now. It seems to be working, as they get to know each other better and better.

Until one night their equilibrium dissolves.