None the Worse ✓

37) 'Don't Talk About Sex To Avoid Awkward Conversations' And Other Advice...

"Am scared," Pi whispered.

Meanwhile, Link—Heston's character—began beating everyone up. Benjamin let him, just to see the rest of the squad revolt once they noticed. Martin crossed his arms. "What? You're all acting like we're supposed to care and support like, come on. It's just two weeks. Stop being so obsessive."

Messiah and Pi exchanged glances.

"Whatever, let's keep plaaAAA HESTON."

Heston cackled.

The good side was that everyone ganging up on him for the next few games allowed Benjamin to stay alive for longer. RPGs? No problem. He was an expert. Fighting games, shooters? Not so much. Martin usually went after him so he'd get the most kills.

Regardless, Messiah was right. This prompted him to say, "We're kinda like the five pieces of Exodia," despite all the backlash he'd get. Individually, they sucked. Together, they brought havoc upon their enemies.

He was ignored.

He'd just said about the cheesiest, most cringy-geek-quotes.com thing ever and nobody paid attention. Or maybe nobody got the reference. "Guys, I said—"

"We heard you," said Messiah, "I know you miss Thijmen, but damn. No need to be so clingy."

"We should play Yu-Gi-Oh again sometime, though," said Pi, as his character beat the shit out of Heston's.

"Right?"

"Remember when Benjamin lost the blue-eyed dragon in a bet and cried and told his parents we were bullying him?"

"Stop," said Benjamin.

Martin had grown silent.

"Wasn't that last year?" asked Pi.

"Ah, yeah. He also cried when he lost the Pokémon game."

"I was fourteen," Benjamin grumbled.

Cue cackling.

Out of nowhere, Martin said, "I have a boyfriend."

He paused the game for extra drama and turned to stare at them all.

Heston unpaused the game and said, "Nobody cares."

Martin paused it again. "Did you listen to what I just said?"

Benjamin unpaused it. Messiah paused it. The game got paused and unpaused to many times it got stuck, and since it'd been a particularly heated match, instead of soft-resetting, they let it do its own thing for now. Miracles happened. Also, Benjamin hadn't died. Heston, who'd won more times than the rest of the squad combined, began spilling one swear word after the other, and Martin, whose maturity rivaled that of a toddler, said, "Nobody cares."

But the thing was, with the game stuck, they had nothing to do. Talk? This was the twenty-first century.

So.

"Congrats, I guess," said Messiah.

After about five seconds of silence, Pi added, "Yeah. For how long have you known each other?"

Benjamin knew him enough to know he meant 'did you actually find someone who could stand you and lust after you holy shit', and while it was kind of a mean thought to have, he honestly shared it. Surely enough, they would've had to know each other for months, at the very least. Who would've known it would be Martin to keep a secret friendship?

"Three weeks," said Martin.

If this had been a cartoon, this would've been the moment where everyone fell to the floor and twitched. Messiah frowned and Pi raised his eyebrows. Benjamin tried to have a funny reaction, but he kind of choked on his saliva and broke out coughing instead. Thankfully, Martin was hogging up the attention again.