🏃Clark's POV🏃

"Clark get up!" Ethan yelled from outside my door. "You have half an hour to get ready for Aiden and Aaron's anniversary!"

I sat up, sleepily looking around the room as I tried to figure out what was happening.

"Mmm," I hummed out, classifying it as an answer in my sleepy state.

"Aiden and Aaron's anniversary. Get up!" he yelled urgently.

I still wasn't able to process much as I slowly turned so I was sitting at the edge of the bed.

"French toast!" Ethan added suddenly.

My eyes adjusted immediately and I soon found myself in the shower rubbing soap onto my body.

"I'll be out in fifteen," I shouted back to Ethan who was probably smiling smugly at my foolishness.

~~~

I stepped into the Rinx, looking around with wide eyes while Ethan went up to the receptionist. I looked over to Ethan to see him motioning for me to follow him.

I nodded, walking over to him as we headed to another room.

The door was wide open revealing Aiden talking to an older couple who I undoubtedly knew were Aaron's parents while Aaron was to the side talking to a couple of other adults in the room. Other than the three people standing in the middle of the room and a couple of other people that I knew and assumed to be some of Aaron and Aiden's friends, the room itself was empty with its brightly painted walls in yellow, green, red, and blue.

Ethan was about to open his mouth to say something but Aiden beat him to it when he spotted his best friend.

"Ethan, Clark!" Aiden called happily while walking towards us. "How are you guys?"

"We're doing really well," Ethan smiled while he pulled Aiden in for a hug. "We're just glad that you invited us."

Aiden and I shared a hug as well and he gave me an incredibly warm smile before he was talking to Ethan again.

"Of course. When we decided that we wanted to do something more public this year you were some of the first people to come to mind," Aiden told us.

I made my way over to Aaron and his friends, hugging and shaking hands with the people I knew and introducing myself to the ones I didn't. Afterward, I headed over to his parents and we shared our greetings before I found myself informing Mr. and Mrs. Tyler of everything that was happening in my life.

"I'm glad you're doing so well," Tania smiled at me as she held my hands. "I was so worried when Aaron told me about how Ethan found you so it's great that you are on even footing."

I felt my smile get tight as I thought about my complicated past.

Memories tried to sneak themselves in but I shook my head giving Tania a genuine smile.

"Thank you, Aunt Tania, I appreciate it."

I walked back over to Ethan's side wanting to comfortably wait for my friends with my wonderful entertainment.

Ethan and Aiden's conversation.

"Are you sure that you really don't want to go out with her?" Aiden was asking Ethan, a disappointed look on his face. "Aaron knows her personally and I can tell you that she would be an amazing girlfriend."

"I'm sure," Ethan replied, putting a smile on his face in the hope that it would make Aiden feel better. "I don't really need a relationship right now so you don't have to worry about my love life."

"Of course, I'm worrying," Aiden argued, his arms moving around as his annoyance rose. "You don't even have a love life, let alone a sex one."

Ethan winced at his friend's comment. He and I looked over to see if Matt and Tania were listening.

"Well, how about you and the hubby then? Did you have your private celebration yet?" Ethan asked teasingly with a wiggle of his brows.

Not only keeping Aiden from saying sex again in front of Aaron's parents but also drawing the conversation away from himself.

Nice.

Aiden's cheeks started to gain a little colour and Ethan and I both came to the same conclusion as we shared a look.

"Well, I guess that answers your question," I joked teasingly, watching as Aiden's cheeks heated up even further.

Aaron was suddenly beside Aiden a questioning brow rising as he noticed his husband's burning cheeks.

"Clark, what is this about?" he asked me, ignoring Ethan's irritated expression.

"So you're not going to ask me?" he questioned, his arms coming up to cross over his pecs.

"I don't trust you to give me the real answer," he turned his distractingly raised brow to me once again.

"Ethan asked Aiden about your 'humpity humping like bunnies' life," I told him blankly.

Ethan put a hand over his mouth while Aiden turned away from us.

"Our what?" Aaron asked again, looking at Ethan and Aiden's reactions in confusion.

"Your 'Netflix and chill' life," I explained, sighing in frustration when he just stared at me in confusion. "Your 'thing that cannot be mentioned' life. Your 'put the rod into the back exit' life."

I kept my blank face on when realization dawned on Aaron and he was joining his spouse with red cheeks while all I really wanted to do was fall onto the floor in a heap of my own laughter.

"Oh," Aaron muttered just as Meaghan came marching in.

"I have arrived with the children," she declared dramatically while sporting her incredibly accurate British accent.

"Actually I have arrived with the children, Meaghan included," Meaghan glared at her older sister who walked in calmly behind her but I couldn't help but smile at seeing the oldest Tyler sibling.

"Meaghan, Francy!" Aiden ran up to the sisters who greeted him with equally excited hugs.

"I'm terribly impressed," Francesca started, sparing a fleeting glance at her younger brother as she continued. "All these years and you still somehow put up with Aaron."

Aiden smiled, ignoring his husband's annoyed sounds from behind him as he spoke to his sister-in-law.

"Well, you get the hang of it after a few years."

I faintly heard elephants stomping down the hallway before I was on the ground with two of my best friends on top of me.

"Clark!" One of them yelled while the other one simply said. "Hey, Clark."

"Off," I ordered, dusting off my pants once I was on my feet. "Why aren't you guys greeting the people we all came here for?"

Mason shrugged while Jasmine quickly spoke.

"I'll talk to Aiden and my brother who is the most amazing guy in the world soon," she told me, her eye twitching as she spoke.

I was going to say something but I felt arms go around my neck and I was soon in a terribly uncomfortable noogie.

"Mark, stop!!" I groaned out, sighing in relief when the boy in question released me from his grasp.

"Hey, Clark," he smiled, his left dimple making an appearance. "You got yourself a boyfriend yet?"

"N-no, I haven't," I told him, cursing myself when I accidentally stuttered.

Mark's eyebrows raised before he got an excited glint in his eyes.

"Did you just stutter?" he asked me in slight disbelief. "Tell me that you guys just saw that," he whipped his head between Jasmine Mason and I while he asked his rhetorical question. "Shit, you actually have a boyfriend."

I let out another groan at what I knew I had just started.

Mark and I got along really well, and he was incredibly happy when we met because he said that I would be like his younger brother, even though I was older than him. But ever since I told him that I was gay he was constantly teasing me and waiting to hear from my "boyfriend" so my stutter would definitely set him off.

"This is fantastic! What's his name?" He asked me while I tried to slowly inch towards Ethan's side.

"You should just ask Mason," Jasmine started, pushing her friend to stand in front of her twin brother. "Clark definitely isn't going to tell you and Mason knows everything."

The two of them started staring at each other and I used their terribly obvious feelings to hurry back over to Ethan's side where I knew that I would be safe.

"Clark!" Someone called out to me. I turned my head just in time to see Meaghan drag me into a hug.

"Hey, Meaghan," I smiled wrapping my arms around her as well. "How are you?"

She pulled away from me, a huge smile still resting on her face.

"I'm doing fantastically, you?" she asked me politely.

"I'm doing great-" I said, quickly being interrupted by another woman le to my right.

"Clark! There you are," Francy said, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. "You are one popular fellow, you know that?"

We hugged briefly and I talked to both of the sisters a little bit before Aaron was speaking.

"Alright everyone, we're going to head to laser tag."

~~~~

"Who knew laser tag could be so tiring," Jasmine sighed jokingly as the four of us sat down. "I don't remember all of this running around when I was a kid."

I nodded agreeing as I tried to get comfortable on my plastic chair.

"Well, you didn't have to deal with Aaron and Francy battling each other and forcing everyone to act like it was a war when you were your kid," Mark told her, a smile falling on his face as he spoke.

"Isn't that a given?" Mason asked. "When those two aren't hugging each other they are at each other’s throats."

"Yup," I agreed with a sigh. "Sibling love."

We all laughed, thinking about the two siblings.

We all randomly chose who were on who's teams and Aaron and Francy happened to be on different teams. And because of that when Aaron's team lost, he insisted on a rematch so they each randomly chose people to their teams and had us work our asses off. Aaron because he wanted vengeance and Fancy because she wanted to keep her title.

Aaron won.

And Francy was extremely upset.

Until Aiden promised her any drink of her choice at the restaurant and she quickly turned her frown upside down.

Jasmine nudged Mark and he quickly blurted out.

"I have to go help Aiden," Mark looked at his wrist only to realize that he didn't have a watch and pulled out his phone instead, looking at it as if checking the time. "Uh Mason, could you help me out?"

Mason looked completely confused and was definitely about to blush as he started.

"Uh, I don't think-"

"Yeah, you should go!" Jasmine interrupted him loudly, stopping him from being heard even if he continued.

Mason was about to say something else but Mark grabbed his arm and promptly shut him up.

Once Mark and Mason were on their merry way--Mason flushed and Mark wonderfully flustered--Jasmine turned to me with a serious expression on her face.

"Spill it."

I was completely lost and decided to just ask her what she meant.

"Spill what?" she had a frustrated look on her face but took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Spill what happened on your date with Liam," she told me. "I've been trying to get you to talk about it for over the week but you never tell me anything. So tell me now."

I sighed. I was hoping to be able to avoid this conversation for as long as I could,

Not because I didn't want to tell her,

But because I didn't want to get my hopes up.

"Do I have to?" I whined, hoping that my childish antics would help.

"Yup," she simply said.

So I told her every detail of how our date went. Down to how his eyes squinted when he laughed and how light I felt when he kissed me.

Of course, as one of my best friends she smiled, cooed, and swooned at every cue to further encourage me, but in my case, it also further embarrassed me.

"So you had a good time?" She asked me, with a smile on her face and a tilt of her head.

"An amazing time," I corrected her, smiling as I thought of Liam.

"Good," she smiled. "Because I invited him to the restaurant."

My smile fell off my face so fast you would have thought that it was magic.

"What?" I whispered my voice raising as the new information soaked in. "How?"

"Well I just asked my brother who is absolute brilliance to allow him to come, and he agreed because he is amazing and awesome," she grinned, her eye twitching as she slipped in compliment after compliment about Aaron. "Under one condition because that is what absolutely perfect males do."

I gave her a look and she let out a sigh.

"My absolutely fantastic brother said that I had to compliment him fifty times today while talking to people so that Liam could come," she explained glumly before slapping on another smile. "But it's fine because it's for my best friend."

Right as she finished talking Aaron was at his side. holding a hand up to his ear.

Jasmine let out a groan before smiling.

"Hello my absolutely amazing and athletic brother of mine," she started. "I was just talking to Clark about how extraordinary you are."

Aaron nodded before shooting an evil grin her way.

"Seventeen more my dear sister."

She smiled back before rolling her eyes and letting out a laugh.

"This is super annoying but also pretty fun," she told me with a smile. "Also Liam is meeting us here so he should be here any minute."

Just then Jasmine's phone dinged with a message and she read it before smiling at me.

"It's him isn't it," I looked over toward where the front door is and saw the Asian boy in question waving in my direction.

"Yup."