"... So?... Marc?"
Nathaniel looked to his side to see the noirette wasn't walking next to him anymore. "Marc?" He looked around for a moment, finally catching the bright red hoodie just about twenty feet behind him.
Marc had this deep-in-thought, skeptical, questioning look on his face, and Nathaniel didn't know why, but it looked so cute the way he furrowed his brows like that. He would always do it when trying to come up with what to write next when he's working on his fanfiction.
The redhead walked back over to the hoodie-clad boy and tapped his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Oh-oh! Sorry, that just sounds..." He trailed off. "How do I say this?"
"Insane? Fucked in the head? Bogus?" Nathaniel listed, making Marc laugh at the outrageous guesses he came up with.
"Yeah," he said before taking a quick sip of his cherry slushie. "I-I really don't know, Nath. What's it called?"
"A Squip."
"See? That sounds made up," Marc pointed out. "And come on, it's a pill that makes you cool?"
Nathaniel groaned and shoved his hands into the pockets of his purple cardigan. "Maybe you're right. What the hell was I thinking?" Suddenly, he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders and had to resist the red that threatened to appear on his cheeks.
"How about you explain it again? Maybe over a quick game of Apocalypse of the Damned at your house? We can try to beat level 9," he crooned, knowing his friend could never resist the call of beating that hard-as-hell level.
Nathaniel gave his response as he wrapped an arm around Marc's waist and pulled him in a little closer. "I'm in.
Apocalypse of the Damned!
Level Nine!
The Cafetorium!
Marc and Nathaniel sat on the redhead's bed and waited for their game to load... And waited... And waited... With a sigh, Marc took a sip of his cherry slushie while Nathaniel tossed his controller up in the air and caught it a few times.
Finally, the screen showed a cafeteria in disarray. The walls were covered in blood, tables were damaged way beyond compare, and zombified students, teachers, and lunch ladies had them surrounded.
Marc's avatar revved their chainsaw while Nathaniel's cocked their gun.
"You ready?"
"Always."
Find the bad guy, push him aside
Then move on forward with your friend at your side
It's a two-player game, so when they make an attack
You know you got a brother, gonna have your back
Then you stay on track and..
Ah! Remain on course
And if they give you a smack, you..
Gah! You use your force!
And if you leave your brother behind, it's lame
'Cause it's an effed-up world
But it's a two-player game!
Hey!
"Well?"
Marc replayed Nathaniel's words over and over in his head again. This sounded too good to be true... It really did. Kim, the biggest asshole in school claims that he became so popular because of a pill with foreign technology inside of it. Now, he's offering Nathaniel one for six-hundred euros because the pill told him to.
Marc shrugged. "He's scamming you. He's scamming you in a very weird way. On your left," he added before cutting off the head of a zombie teacher.
"But what if he's not? This could be epic! All I have to do is..." He frowns. "Give the guy who tortures me every day-"
"Six... hundred... euros," Marc said with him. "Now you're getting it."
Frustrated that he nearly fell for something so stupid, Nathaniel took his anger out on the debate team captain who was feasting on the brain of some poor student, shooting their decayed limbs off and gaining an extra life. He sighs. "I'm doomed to be a loser for life. Probably even longer."
Marc frowned. '... What's so wrong with that?' He paused the game for a moment and set his controller down, his almost hurt look disappearing as quickly as it appeared. "Nath, you're probably one of the coolest people I know. You're like..." He reaches into his bottle and pulls out a half-empty bottle of Pepsi, only the drink is clear. "You're like this Crystal Pepsi I bought on eBay that expired in nineteen ninety-six." To Nathaniel's disgust, he takes a sip.
He gags. "Unsafe for human consumption?!"
"Better with age," he sighed.
Dude, you are cooler than a vintage cassette
It's just that no one else but me thinks that yet
"So what if the things we like are considered nerdy? None of that matters, and you know why?"
You're just a nothing in this high school scheme
But it's no big, 'cause you and I are a team
Nathaniel smiled and gave a shrug of his shoulders. "You're gonna tell me anyway or take another sip of that toxic soda?"
"It's because we're a team, you nerd," Marc answered with a light punch to Nathaniel's shoulder. "As long as we have each other, who cares if no one else likes vintage comic books, manga, or reads stories off of FanFiction.Net anymore? When we get to University, that is when we will find our people. People with taste," he added bitterly.
We like out-of-print games
Retro skates
Got a Pac-Man tattoo
Nobody here appreciates
But soon we'll be together where they do
'Cause guys like us are cool in college
Cool in college, this I know
Guys like us are cool in college
We rule in college, listen bro
"I don't know, Marc." Suddenly, he felt Marc take hold of his hand.
Marc gave him an understanding look. "Believe me, Nath, I know Lycée is absolute hell." The redhead chuckled. "It's the damn worst! It doesn't matter, though! Because we have each other. It's sort of our own two-player game."
High school is hell, but we navigate it well
'Cause what we do, is we make it a two-player game
The two spent quite a while just staring at each other, and neither of them could stop. Nathaniel maneuvered his hand so his fingers could interlock with Marc's and began to move a little closer to him until their knees were just barely touching. Nathaniel's never spent this long looking into Marc's eyes before. They were so beautiful, more dazzling than the most valuable emerald.
They couldn't stop what was happening next. They leaned in close... Closer... CLoser...
"Zombie!" Marc's avatar shouted, startling the two boys and making them quickly pick up their controllers to resume the game. So enthralled by the beautiful shade of blue Nathaniel's eyes were, Marc didn't notice his other hand was pressed on his controller, accidentally hitting a button to unpause the game. He mentally cursed himself a hundred times and collected a power-up so now it took less time to decapitate the zombies.
Zombie!
Watch out!
Ah!
Wah!
Ugh
Frustrated that he lost a life, Marc grabbed a pillow and screamed into it, prompting Nathaniel to pat him on the back.
"My life feels exactly like this level," Nathaniel bemoaned. "Marc, we've spent our lives fighting our own zombies." Every single one of those asshole popular kids who torment them non-stop, for example. "I... I just wanna move on, y'know?"
As losers, we have fought together for years
Both Nintendo zombies and our popular peers
Now we're stuck on a level, and I wanna move on
"I hate to say this Nath." Marc removed the pillow from his face with a sigh. "But this is a two-year level." Seeing the frustrated look on his friend's face, he continued. "Come on. We're going to live our greatest lives in University."
"I know, I get it," he droned, tired of hearing this conversation for the hundredth time. But why can't they live their greatest lives now? One where he and Marc aren't the punchline of every joke, constantly tormented by the popular kids, and... A life where he can just be together with Marc without constantly getting teased for it.
Just wait two years whereupon
You'll realize
Guys like us are
Cool in college
Cool in college, won't be lame
Dude, I know, I get it
Guys like us are cool in college
But we're not in college
"I've got your back," Marc promised him as he started the game over. "In the game, and in real life."
"... Our own two-player game," Nathaniel repeated Marc's words from earlier, a loving smile on his face.
All the same
High school is whack, but we have each other's back
It's me and you
We make it a two-player game
Aah!
Oh!
Zombie!
Aya Kurtzberg peaked her head in. "Hello?"
Blood!
She knocked on the door to try and get their attention. "Nathan?"
Claws!
"Nathaniel!" She shouted.
Pause.
Nathaniel turned to his mother with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, mom. We were got a little too much into the game." The redheaded woman smirked. "What?"
She chuckled. "Sure, Nathan. Hello, Marc," she greeted.
Marc gives a shy wave. "Hi, Ms. Kurtzberg."
"Anyway," she continued. "Just letting you know, I ordered a pizza for you two. The diner's needed a little tending to ever since Marachi's son was put in a hospital."
"What happened?" Asked Nathaniel.
Aya furrowed her brow, trying to recall what one of her employees told her. "Um... Something about a computer in his head." She waved it off. "I really shouldn't be talking about this. Anyway, I'll see you in a bit, sweetie." She leaves, but not before saying this, "And leave the door open next time."
Once she left, Nathaniel fell back on his bed. "She always has that look when we're together?" He groaned. "Like... What's even up with that?"
"No idea." Marc fell back, practically on top of Nathaniel. They both start giggling.
Nathaniel wrapped an arm around Marc to keep him there and combed through his shiny black hair with his fingers, whispering a quick apology if he ran into any tangles. "... What if we head to the shoe store to see Kim's story checks out?" He feels Marc stir a bit in his hold and frowns. "Marc?"
The noirette lifts his head up, his expression a little dejected. "Okay, but... What if it does?... If you do get the Squip, it helps you become cool, will you be too cool for m-" He chokes back whatever he was about to say next. "F-for video games?"
Nathaniel had a deep feeling this went beyond video games. "Marc," he whispered sadly. "Are you okay?"
"... What'll happen when you take that pill anyway? You'll get cool, make way more friends like... Kim, Chloe, Aurore, Adrien..." He choked back a sob, prompting Nathaniel to get back up and pull Marc into his arms for a warm embrace. "I-I'm sorry, it's... It's your choice. M-maybe you'll get more popular than them, c-call them out on th-their-"
"Hey," the redhead interrupted. "Hey. Look at me. Come on." Marc lifts his head, and Nathaniel can feel his heart break at the sight of the watery mascara running down his cheeks. "Marc, I'll never be too cool for you, ever. And I'd sure as hell never hang out with those assholes," he scoffed while wiping away a blackened tear with his thumb. "Besides, you're my favorite person."
"You mean it? I'm your favowite person?" Marc asked in a playful mocking tone. Nathaniel laughed and just hugged him tighter.
You know that you are my favorite person
That doesn't mean that I can't still dream
Is it really true?
I'm your favowite person?
"... Fuck Kim," Nathaniel said after a beat. "I'm not wasting my Bat Mitzvah money on some dumbass pill from Japan." He moves Marc's hair off of his face. "And, I am most certainly not going to leave you behind for popularity and a bunch of people talking about sports cars and getting wasted at parties."
Marc giggled as Nathaniel poked at his ticklish neck a bit. "Yeah. I bet that 'Squip' is just a wintergreen tic-tac. Now let's finish this level once and for all."
Nathaniel gave a determined nod. "Yeah. Just pretend those zombies are Kim and Chloe."
Yeah, we're never not gonna be a team
High school is shit, and you gotta help me conquer it
It's just what we do
We make it a two-player game!
On the screen, Level Nine: The Cafetorium appeared written in blood. Marc's avatar grabbed a grenade and launched it at the hoard of zombie lunchroom monitors, splattering their rotting flesh and organs all over the walls while Nathaniel's avatar shot at the zombies' heads, immediately killing them. They continued on through the room, grabbing any power-ups and pushing obstacles out of their way.
Marc didn't notice a zombie lunch lady creeping up behind his avatar but Nathaniel did and blasted her head off. The two moved their avatars back to back so they wouldn't miss anything and continued their way into the kitchen where the final boss of the level, a horribly mutated zombie with three heads and kitchen utensils fused with their skin. Marc threw a grenade at the creature's face, taking away some of its health. In retaliation, it fired some sort of green acid at the avatar's face, making their health go down.
Nathaniel swapped out his gun for a bat and smacked one of the zombie's heads, making it fall off. As the creature screamed in agony, Marc cut off another one of its heads. With its health down way more than half of the bar, the duo delivered a final blow and threw two grenades at the final head, making it explode into chunks of rotting flesh and organs.
Find the bad guy push him aside!
Then move on forward with your friend at your side!
It's a two-player game, so when they make an attack
You know you got a brother, gonna have your back
Then you stay on track and...
Ah! Remain on course
And if they give you a smack, you...
Gah! You use your force!
And if you leave your brother behind, it's lame
'Cause it's an effed-up world
But it's a two-player game!
Hey!
Level Cleared flashed on the screen. Nathaniel stared in awe. "We did it... We finally did it! We beat level nine, finally!" He pulls Marc in for a hug. "Oh my God!"
Suddenly, without warning, Marc pulls himself out of Nathaniel's embrace much to his disappointment. But when Marc grabs the collar of his shirt and kisses him, Nathaniel's overcome with bliss and immediately kisses back. They don't really know what they're doing since this was their first kiss, very evident by how sloppy and a little out of sync they are but they didn't care. Neither of them would have it any other way, just glad to be in each other's arms.
Two-player game
Two-player game
He-e-ey!