“Is that King Kong?”

“No, fuck- is it Godzilla?”

“Jesus Christ Daniel, you look like you’re going to pop a vein!”

“Is it some sort of mecha?”

“It is!? Holy shit, um, is it a gundam?”

“No!? What the fuck is it then!?”

“You guys have ten more seconds!”

“Daniel, you have to be more specific!”

“Is it from Pacific Rim? Is it Gipsy Danger!?”

“Is it from Evangelion!?”

“Power Rangers?!”

“Time!” Mira shouted excitedly. Gabriel hooted and shook her excitedly. Aaron and Raven both maniacally laughed at Daniel and Annie, who were absolutely livid.

“Team Scream Queens don’t get the point!” Gabriel whooped.

“No one watches Voltron!” Daniel shouted angrily. “And how the fuck am I supposed to explain that without talking!?”

“Hey!” Mira shouted back. “I’ll defend Voltron to my grave!”

Deimos and Kalmin exchanged amused looks. It was the middle of the night and they were still going strong with their intense game of charades. Everyone sat around the dinner table, the top overflowing with snacks and drinks. Team Scream Queens, which had Daniel and Annie, Renee and Micheal, Sophie and Rika, were getting their asses kicked by Team Mountain Yodellers, which had Mira and Deimos, Gabriel and Aaron, Raven and Kalmin. (Mostly because Mountain Yodellers put in the most absurd, craziest things for Scream Queens to guess)

“Mira’s turn!” Sophie shouted.

Mira glanced at Deimos and handed her phone over to him. He smirked, watching his little girlfriend climb over Raven to the front of the table. Kalmin snickered when her foot got caught and she fumbled a bit, Deimos joining into the fun after he knew she was alright. Kalmin had a nice laugh. It was refreshing. Mira had a boisterous laugh, Kalmin had a relaxing chuckle.

Calmly, Mira plucked a slip of paper from their bowl and read over it. She nibbled on her lower lip nervously before crumpling it up and throwing it in a random direction. Sophie started the timer and immediately she came alive.

“It’s a movie.”

“Three words.”

“Second word.”

Mira flared out her fingers like claws and made a funny face. Deimos couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

“That’s horrifying,” Gabriel laughed.

Mira shot him a nasty glare.

“Lion?” Kalmin chirped up. Excitedly, she jumped and pointed at him.

“Ok, second word’s lion,” Raven repeated.

“Third word.”

Suddenly, she paused, the cogs in her head working slowly. Smoothly, she made another face that left Deimos’ stomach in stitches while she straightened her back and mimed putting a hat on.

Aaron slapped his hand down on the table. “The Lion King!” He shouted excitedly.

“Yes!” Mira screamed. Aaron rejoiced and jumped out of his seat, both of them colliding together into a spinning hug.

“That’s our last easy one!” Daniel snapped sassily.

“He’s said that three times in the hour,” Kalmin commented. Deimos grinned, leaning back onto Kalmin, their shoulders bumping together.

“Don’t tell him, it’ll break his heart,” he replied softly.

“He has to know how the real world works though.”

“Shhh,” Deimos hissed. “Let the boy dream.”

They giggled.

Renee went up next and glared at their group.

“You assholes,” she hissed.

“Stop talking!” Gabriel teased.

For two minutes, Deimos witnessed the weirdest mating ritual he’s ever seen.

“It’s a song!”

“Four words.”

“Jesus Christ it’s four words.”

“Four syllables.”

“No, fourth word.”

Renee shook her hips and slid her hands down her figure.

Everyone burst out laughing.

“My hips don’t lie?” Annie joked.

Renee shook her head vigorously and waved her hands at her breasts and crotch.

“Jesus fuck,” Mira cackled. “So sexy!”

Renee flipped her off and proceeded to draw circles around her breast and crotch.

Kalmin jolted beside Deimos and leaned in close. He whispered in his ear, “It’s Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” His breath was hot against his neck, and in most instances Deimos would shiver, but the absurdity of that fucking song title cracked him up.

“Did you fucking put that?” He whispered back.

Kalmin flashed him the most devilish smile. Deimos held out his fist and Kalmin bumped it with a giggle. They leaned in closer to each other, crossing their arms, and watched as Team Scream Queens fell apart.

“Jesus Christ, what is that,” Deimos commented when they finally got bikini from her odd flaunting of her private parts and moved onto trying to describe dots. She pointed into the air and Daniel lost it.

“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!?” He screamed, throwing his arms up into the air. Micheal and Annie, instead of helping, ended up rolling on the floor in laughter. Mira was wheezing, covering her face with Raven’s shoulder.

“Pee-ka-boo?”

“Who are you stabbing!?”

“You’re not stabbing? You look like you’re stabbing.”

“Oh, ok, fuck that, we’re going to the first word?”

“Round, sun, ball?”

“No!? What the fuck Renee!?”

“Sun!?”

“Space!? The world!?”

“JESUS CHRIST RENEE, C’MON!!”

“SCREW YOU, DANIEL!” Renee shouted. She made another imaginary ball that Deimos assumed was the sun which alluded to the fact that the sun was yellow.

“I feel so bad,” Kalmin laughed.

“Don’t be. They don’t deserve it.”

“You’re such a dick!”

“You’re realizing that now?” Deimos cocked an eyebrow.

Kalmin smiled and elbowed him. He elbowed back.

“There’s seriously no way of signing this,” Deimos pointed out. “So who’s the dick now?”

“Dicks goes with dicks,” Kalmin shrugged.

Deimos bit his lip. Kalmin seemed like the cute boy-next-door type, but in reality he’s a sly jerk. And Deimos liked sly jerks. The round ended up with Renee giving up and collapsing to the ground when the timer went off.

“What the fuck was the name!?” Sophie demanded.

“Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” Renee groaned.

Half the group screamed and rejoiced, and the other half whined and groaned.

“That’s a stupid name!” Daniel shouted.

“Ok, ok, stop being such a sore loser,” Raven sassed. Mira flipped and “oooh”-ed dramatically.

“Should we give the sore losers a punishment?” Gabriel chirped up.

Aaron grinned at him, a malicious grin on his face. “Yes,” he hissed.

“Bullshit!” Daniel slammed his hand on the table. “No way!”

“Let’s do it!” Mira shouted back.

“No!” Sophie barked.

“Yes!” Raven rebutted.

“Have about we have a face off and losers have to run into the lake,” Annie piped up.

“Deal!” Gabriel, Aaron and Mira shouted at once. All three of them were out of their seats, brimming with excitement.

“Fine!” Daniel and Renee shouted back.

“Who’s next!?” Sophie slapped the table. “Who’s gonna verse me!?”

“Oh shit,” Kalmin hiccupped. Deimos looked at him, shocked. He wasn’t going to get used to him swearing.

Elated, Annie pointed at the next victim. “It’s Kalmin!”

“Kalmin, fight me!” Sophie slapped her chest.

“Oh my god,” he laughed nervously.

Deimos patted his shoulder. “You’ll do great.”

“The whole group is counting on you!” Gabriel dug the knife in.

“I’ll never be your friend again if you lose!” Aaron pushed it deeper.

“You guys are the worst friends,” Kalmin nagged, passing them and ruffling their hair. They sneered.

“We need a neutral man to make our next topic!” Annie pointed out.

“Let Rika be neutral, she’s done nothing,” Sophie roasted her own girlfriend.

“Ouch, ok.” Rika winced. “You’re going to get a ridiculous one now.”

“OOoooohhhh,” Mira and Deimos said in unison. They locked eyes and snickered, Mira wrapping her arm around his waist.

“Look at him being cute,” Mira commented as Kalmin waited patiently for Rika to write down the winning buzzword. “So soft.”

“And long,” Deimos added on.

“So you’re finally admitting he’s taller than you?” Mira joked.

“Fuck off.” Deimos crinkled his nose in disgust. “His proportions are out of whack and he’s got big hair.”

“His hair is so fluffy and soft.”

“Are you saying mine isn’t?”

“Yours is silky, not fluffy.”

“I’m gonna fight him,” Deimos growled, biting her ear.

She snorted. “You sound like me.”

“That’s my impression of you.”

“It sucked,” Mira said blankly, her voice as low as it could go.

Deimos paused, shocked at how terrible her impression of him was. She smiled and patted his leg.

Finally, Rika flashed the two contenders in the ring the final word and immediately both their faces dropped. They looked pale as if they’ve just seen a ghost. Haughtily, Rika sat down and started the timer.

Immediately, Sophie ripped her hair out of her ponytail and pushed her boobs out. Biting her lip, she posed to the figurative camera that was conveniently situated in front of everyone at the table. Kalmin’s sheer expression gave Deimos life, his jaw dropping as Sophie suddenly turned into some sort of overt sexual being.

“Jesus Christ, Sophie, what’s the context to this shit!?” Daniel shouted.

Kalmin jumped and took advantage of that. He quickly did the motion for book and everyone shouted that out. He held out one finger and everyone shouted “one word.” Then his face went red and he bit his lip, awkwardly posing for them.

Gabriel and Aaron burst out laughing.

“Is that supposed to be sexy!?”

Kalmin glared at them while Sophie stole the show and rolled her body sensually, even going up to Gabriel to sit on his lap and flick her hair around.

“Oh, god, am I in the splash zone?” Gabriel blurted out.

“Is this just porn?!” Renee exclaimed.

“Pornography!” Micheal echoed.

“Sex!” Mira joined in.

“Girls!” Raven added on.

“Kalmin, try better!” Deimos shouted.

Kalmin glared at him and ran his fingers through his hair. He did the duck face and pulled up at his shirt, exposing his prominent abs that Aaron and Gabriel whistled to.

“Holy fuck he’s ripped,” Mira blurted out.

“Someone didn’t skip leg day!” Aaron cackled.

“Are you guys just trying to seduce us!?” Micheal yelled out. “Because it’s working!”

Kalmin rolled his eyes and paused to rethink his strategy. Then his face lit up again. Once again, he popped out his chest as if he was flaunting his breasts and showed off his (extremely nice) ass, however, this time made bunny ears behind his head.

Mira gasped. “Playboy!”

“YES!” Kalmin shouted loudly. Deimos has never heard him so loud before. Mira screamed and ran up to him. He swept her into his arms and spun her around. Ecstatic, Gabriel and Aaron joined in, while Raven slapped the table and laughed manically at the opposing team.

“Go swim! Go swim! Go swim!” Raven chanted. Deimos and the others joined in.

Team Scream Queens exchanged looks and sighed, getting out of their seats and headed for the doors. Team Mountain Yodellers kept chanting all the way outside and onto the sandy beach until suddenly Daniel and Micheal swept in and grabbed the girls. Chaos ensued as Gabriel and Aaron sprung to grab Mira and Raven back, but was only led to their doom as Annie led a pack of girls shoving everyone into the water. It was a clear night, the moonlight turning the turf silver, as all of them tumbled into sparkling starlight water with a splash, their screams echoing into the night. Mira climbed on top of Daniel’s shoulders and threw him into the water Black Widow style while Raven sumo wrestled Micheal back into the silvery depths. Sophie dragged Rika into the water as payback, and Annie and Renee enjoyed swimming at night while their boyfriends were being tortured by Mountain Yodellers. Deimos and Kalmin were the last ones dry, laughing away at everyone in the water. The sand was cool between Deimos’ toes, the wind refreshing and crisp.

“Oh my god,” Kalmin giggled. “Oh, god, my stomach hurts.”

“Should we join them?” Deimos cocked an eyebrow.

Kalmin made a face. “You can, I don’t really want to.”

Deimos sneered.

“Deimos, no.” Kalmin gasped, realizing too late. He backed away too late and Deimos grabbed him by the waist. Kalmin smelled like cinnamon and coffee. “Deimos!” He shouted and tried to wriggle out.

“Unlike you hockey-playing barista, rough-housing is my kind of thing,” Deimos teased. Easily, he hoisted him high into the air and sprinted to the water.

“You ass!” Kalmin shouted before both of them splashed into the cool depths. It got surprisingly deep quickly, and Deimos held onto him until the water was at their waists. Then, he threw him down into the water as if he was a wrestler and dove deep down with him. The moon lit up the dark water, and splashed onto half of Kalmin. Bubbles surged around them. Deimos slid his arms from Kalmin’s waist to his arms, feeling the cool undercurrent pass through his fingers as well as the heat Kalmin gave off. It was like the world was moving in slow motion. It looked like they were floating in another world. The screams and shouts from above were silenced underwater, their vision limited and all senses lost at the shore. It was just them, suspended in animation, swirling and twisting around each other, bubbles escaping their noses, clothes dancing, hair whirling. Deimos felt Kalmin’s hands slide down his forearm and meet his hands. He kicked up above him, Deimos now at the bottom staring up at a black silhouette above him. Kalmin’s fingers laced into his. Deimos squeezed his hands.

They breached, gasping and panting, blinking wildly. It took a moment to adjust to the dim lighting. But Kalmin was right in front of him, glistening silver and blue. His hair was straight and flat, twisting around his honey skin. His eyes were wide and lips parted.

Deimos blinked at him, in awe.

Kalmin was utterly beautiful.

Both of them immediately cracked up. They were still holding hands, and both leaned into each other, giggling like schoolgirls.

“You dick,” Kalmin chuckled. “I thought I was gonna die.”

“Your fucking face,” Deimos wheezed. “Your fucking face when I picked you up!”

“I didn’t think you could lift me, ok!” He whined.

“I’m scrappy,” Deimos chirped.

Kalmin sighed. “You’re something.”

His smile was fucking adorable.