Kyle sat up again, his breath coming out in carefully timed "huffs.” He repeated this over and over and over again. Then he finally finished doing his sit-ups, his stomach was sore now. He had spent close to three hours working out and he knew that he was going to feel the effects but Kyle also knew that it would be worth it.

Kyle was in his family's basement, it was the only room in the house with so much floor space so his sisters, his parents, and Kyle, especially Kyle, liked to use it for exercising and even his sisters’ occasional dances.

Kyle had just finished his daily exercise routine and while he wiped the sweat off of his chest and face, Kyle checked his phone.

Kyle raised a questioning brow when he noticed a message from Neal.

Neal

Hey man! I'm bored!

What are you doing?

Are you busy?

I'm coming over in fifteen since you didn't answer!

See you then!!!✌😋

Kyle checked when Neal sent the message and realized that he had sent it 14 minutes ago. Kyle sighed and shook his head softly. Kyle started to walk up the stairs and out of the basement. If Kyle was right then Neal should be arriving any second now-

The loud doorbell of Kyle's home suddenly rang out and Kyle heard his sister Maddie yell, "I'll get it!" and run through the house.

Kyle came to the top of the stairs and walked over to the front door. Kyle smiled when he saw Maddie's shoulders slump in disappointment at the sight of Neal.

Neal just stared back at Maddie and smiled.

"Hey, Maddie! It's been too long! How have you been?" Neal asked enthusiastically, walking into the house with a familiarity that matched how he smiled at Kyle's sister.

Despite previously being disappointed by the fact that Neal was not someone "New and interesting" Maddie seemed to perk up again when Neal asked her questions and soon the two were deep in a conversation.

Assuming that Maddie would take care of Neal until he finished, Kyle silently walked away from the two who hadn't yet seen him, walking up the stairs to take his long overdue shower.

—————

An hour later Kyle was clean, dressed, and setting up Neal's favorite two-person board game when Neal finally walked up the stairs. Neal casually walked into the room, only to stop in surprise when he found Kyle setting up the game.

"Oh, I didn't expect to find you already setting it up." Neal said, walking over and sitting directly in front of Kyle.

"I didn't expect you to talk to my sister for an hour but I made do." Kyle shot back, smirking at Neal's stunned expression. "Glad that you finally graced me with your presence even though you are the one who texted me and invited yourself over."

Neal scoffed even though he was clearly already beaten and tried to salvage the situation.

"Well sorry for being my extroverted/introverted self. I can't help but converse with people and then be shy! Let me live!" He yelled, standing up then running onto Kyle's bed. Kyle started laughing at his dramatic display and laughed even harder when he saw Neal's happy grin from over Neal's shoulder.

"You're so dumb!" Kyle told him, insulting Neal in-between his laughs. Neal shrugged and walked back over to where the game was set up and sat down.

"If you are done laughing then I would like to play. Specifically, play and beat your ass." Neal smirked, getting the pack of red pieces and spreading them out in front of him.

Kyle scoffed and grabbed the bag of white pieces.

"Keep telling yourself that Neal. We both know that I am much better at Catan." Kyle told Neal confidently.

"We'll see."

—————

Kyle lost by one victory point.

1

It was so frustrating for Kyle to have to sit there and watch as Neal did his fucking disgusting victory dance and shove his victory in Kyle's face.

But, all was well when Kyle's mom called them down for dinner. She had made Panko fried fish and chicken. Neal had almost injured Kyle while they were running down the stairs because of how excited he was for dinner.

When they were seated at the table and Kyle's mom started bringing out the food, she immediately started laughing because she saw how Neal was anxiously sitting in his seat and staring at the tray of food.

"My goodness, Neal! You look so hungry! You do get food at home, yes?" Kyle's mother asked with a chuckle, her Congolese accent sounding heavy as she spoke in English.

Neal laughed, his focus leaving the food for a moment to smile at Mrs. Bonheur.

"Yes, I do get fed Mrs. Bonheur. I just missed your cooking so much that I got excited." Neal told the older woman. Kyle smirked when his mom quickly put the tray of food on the table. Mrs. Bonheur dusted off her hands on her apron and walked around the table to hug Neal.

"Eh! You are so nice, Neal! You can come over and I will feed you any time." Mrs. Bonheur beamed, squeezing Neal tightly. Kyle stifled his laugh when he saw Neal's pained expression. Kyle thought that it might be an African woman thing or his maman's thing to be so strong and to believe in tight hugs.

Neal thanked Kyle's mom and she finally let go of him.

Maddie walked into the room, caught sight of everyone in the room, and sighed.

"Did you compliment her cooking again, Neal?" Maddie asked, sitting across the table from Kyle and Neal.

Neal nodded with a sheepish smile and Maddie rolled her eyes.

"Alright. Maman, is Papa here or do we have to eat without him?" Maddie asked.

Mrs. Bonheur opened her mouth to answer but instead, someone else spoke.

"No, I am here." Mr. Bonheur walked into the room casually, slipping his phone into his pocket before kissing his wife on the cheek. "Don't try to eat without me so that you can get more food for yourself, Maddie."

Maddie's mouth dropped open while the rest of us laughed.

"That was really mean, dad." Claire commented, laughing as she walked into the dining room.

The rest of the group all turned to stare at her because the way that she joined them was creepy.

"What?" She asked when they all kept staring at her.

"Don't do that again Claire." Kyle told her. "That was really weird."

Claire sighed and rolled her eyes, sitting down next to Maddie at the table.

"Fine, I won't do it at dinner anymore. But don't expect me to refrain from being creepy everywhere else in the house."

Everyone groaned and Claire attempted to send a glare to all of them.

—————

Dinner was great, like everyone at the dinner table expected it to be, and after they were stuffed Kyle and Neal went back to Kyle's room and decided that they wanted to watch a movie.

"What movie should we watch?" Kyle asked, scrolling through Netflix's comedy section.

Neal hummed as he stared at the screen.

"I don't know, I want something good but I'm not exactly sure—wait! Go back!" Neal yelled suddenly.

Kyle jumped from surprise and gave Neal a dirty glare.

"Stop yelling."

"Sorry, I just saw something that might be good, go back." Neal tried to apologize, still focused on the movie cover that he saw.

Kyle sighed but listened, scrolling back up until Neal said, "there!"

"The Ryan Reynolds movie, right there." Kyle looked at the Ryan Reynolds movie that Neal was talking about.

"Just Friends." Kyle said simply. He was a little bit skeptical, but he did know that Ryan Reynolds was a really funny guy so he had some hope. "Okay, let's watch it."

They have been watching the movie for half an hour now and have both laughed much more than they expected. Kyle was deep into the movie, but he noticed that Neal seemed to be focusing on something else. Kyle thought about addressing it but decided that if his friend wanted to talk about something then he would.

They continued to watch the movie for a few more minutes when Neal reached for the PS4 controller and paused the movie. Kyle looked at Neal to find his friend staring at him intently.

"Neal, why did you pause the movie?" Kyle asked with confusion. "It was starting to pick up even more. I know that a really good joke was about to be said."

Neal stared into Kyle's eyes with a blank expression. The look made Kyle very uncomfortable. Kyle was trying to come up with a way to get him to stop in his head when Neal spoke and completely shocked him with his words.

"You have a crush on Cole, don't you?" Neal said simply, watching Kyle's expression intently.

Kyle didn't know what to say. He had come to terms with his feelings but had never even thought that he would have to admit it out loud. But Neal has just put it out there and now he had to figure out if he wanted to acknowledge it in some way or not.

"Yeah . . . " Kyle trailed, not being able to come up with a better answer. "How did you-"

"Oh come on!" Neal interrupted, seeming genuinely insulted by Kyle's confusion. "How was I not supposed to know, the way that you look at Cole is so. You have never been good at hiding your feelings and when it comes to how you talk about him or just look at him. You have it bad Kyle. I'm surprised that he doesn't know."

Kyle felt his cheeks heat and hoped that his darker skin covered it up.

"Well I'm glad that he doesn't know, and if I can help it, he won't ever know." Kyle told Neal, hoping that his friend got the message. Neal froze for a second before his eyebrows scrunched up.

"Wait, you're serious?" Kyle nodded to Neal's question. "You're not going to try, at all?"

"Yes, Neal. I thought that I made that clear." Kyle drawled, starting to look annoyed with his friend.

Neal didn't seem to agree with Kyle's decision but didn't say anything more about it.

"Alright. I guess I'll just sit back and watch as you fawn over Cole." Neal told Kyle, quickly making his last comment before playing the movie again.

Kyle glared at Neal who just watched the movie as if he hadn't said a word.

"You know that I really hate you right?" Kyle asked his friend, his eyes narrowed the slits.

"Yes, just like I also know that you hate your mother's cooking." Neal answered, taking just a second to turn to Kyle and send him a triumphant smile.

Kyle huffed but smiled nonetheless.

He sure had a weird friend.