It was homey in a sense. The kind of homey where you feel like you can relate to everyone around you almost as if you came out of a factory in mass production.
Aksel couldn't say that a lot.
His face ached from the sheer amount that he'd smiled over the course of 24 hours. These people, all of these other YouTubers, made him feel at home.
Sure, Estonia was where he most definitely felt like his home was, but there he couldn't just talk about something YouTube related and have everyone jump to bring up more about it and add to the conversation. Yet here, that's exactly what all of them had been doing and it made him smile every time.
The group had all gathered to hang out at a hotel bar. They chose a large table encircling a pebble fire pit that was outside so they could be as loud as they want and act however they wished.
It was cozy, Aksel thought as everyone began sitting down. He placed his stuff down on a far end of the table, delighted when he saw Alex give him a bashful smile and start to place his stuff beside him.
That weird connection they'd had earlier still lingered fresh in their minds and even moreso when their eyes met.
Aksel smiled to himself, about to sit down until someone called Alexis's name.
Brandon, he thought as he watched Alex stand up straight, awkwardly holding his belongings before having a short conversation over the top of everyone else's with Brandon about where he was going to sit. Unfortunately, it didn't take much for him to budge, and without an exchanging of words or looks, Alex waddled over to sit beside Brandon on the complete opposite end of the table.
Aksel's heart fell in his chest but he did his best to show no hard feelings by... completely ignoring the whole movement and sitting down, leaning into his palm.
"Hey, mind if I sit with you?" Asked a much quieter than usual voice. Henry.
Aksel had to double-take and really make sure it was Henry--because that certainly didn't sound like his usual character.
"Go ahead."
Henry smiled down at him, then tossed his stuff down and fell into the chair, a bit more accurately to his normal behavior. Aksel snorted.
At first, things were all laughs and jokes, and it was either one person speaking with everyone listening or a million different conversations going on. There was even a point where he and Henry whipped out their phones and began Discord calling each other for the meme of it all, laughing and taking jabs at each other. Most shocking of all was seeing Ani barely pull out her camera, more pointed towards talking with those around her.
Soon, the conversations began to dim and split off into even smaller groups, and Aksel found himself watching Alex and Brandon talk from across the table, his vision slightly askew from the flames.
He wasn't sure what emotion he felt watching them chat. How it made him feel when Alex would let out a beautiful giggle at something Brandon said. It wasn't a bad feeling but it just felt offputting.
He chalked that down to his own selfishness with a sigh, not noticing the eyes that burned into the side of his head.
"You really care about him, don't you?"
It felt like his spine nearly jumped clean out of his mouth with how quickly Aksel jumped and turned to Henry, who he now saw to be watching him.
"Uhm, yeah--he's my best friend, why wouldn't I?" Aksel answered, a little too fast.
Henry chuckled softly. He reclined further in his chair, looking across the fire that stood between him and the two boys over.
"I know what you mean."
The Estonian was confused, cocking a brow down at the other boy.
"And I don't know what you mean."
Henry's bright eyes wandered back up to Aksel, his head turning lightly too. His long hair flopped gracefully all over the back of the chair.
"Best friends are the guys you watch with an adoring puppy expression, yeah?"
Aksel's face went a bright pink and he huffed, trying not to show it, but the fire's light dancing on his face not making that an easy task.
Henry grinned in a way that felt criminal. Aksel's stomach turned.
"You like Alex, don't you?"
"No!"
Henry's little chuckles got louder and Aksel's shoulders grew tense just listening, his heart feeling heavy in his chest.
Thankfully, their little conversation was drowned out by everyone else's, so nobody heard his little outburst.
"Relax, Aksel," Henry whispered, his face falling to a more somber expression as he glanced over at Brandon who was looking around, "I'm not poking fun, I'm relating. It sucks, doesn't it?"
Confused, Aksel glanced over at Brandon and Alex. Alex was checking his phone, absently chatting away and Brandon was observing everyone around him, nodding in agreement to whatever the other said.
What the fuck was going on?
"You see, I happen to be fond of my best friend too," Henry muttered shyly from the corner of his mouth.
If Aksel was holding a drink, he would have dropped it.
For a brief second, Brandon and Henry linked eyes and playfully glared, until Alex nudged Brandon to look at his phone. Henry then was smiling like a child high on sugar as he looked back up at Aksel.
"I may be a hyper meme man but I can recognize things. And I just wanted to say, that it's okay. You're not alone."
Aksel stared down at the other as if he'd just confessed to being the tooth fairy.
"Wait, how long have you liked Brandon?" Was all he managed to utter in response, mentally slapping himself right in the face.
The more petite YouTuber snickered, flipping his phone in his fingers.
"Couple years," Henry admitted nonchalantly with a light shrug of his shoulders, "how long have you liked Alex?"
The taller of both froze in a cold-sweat, gulping as he took another gander back over the table.
The flames perfectly shadowed the Hispanic boy's face, accenting his smile and dark eyes more than ever as he cracked a joke that didn't quite make it to Aksel's ears, his toned skin glistening with the dancing light.
"... Five years," Aksel breathed, closing his eyes only to find the image of his friend stained to the inside of his eyelids.
"I've been in love with my best friend for five years."
After being greeted with a terrifying silence, Aksel eventually opened his eyes, blinking a bit before looking over at Henry.
He was just smiling up at him, a light in his eyes.
"Dude. That's gay."
Aksel's face burned into a smile and he kicked the other's leg beside his, watching as Henry let out a yelp before falling into fits of quiet chuckles. The sight made him relax more, feeling a weight off his shoulders now that someone actually knew and it wasn't just him alone with his very Quackity-oriented thoughts.
"You're not gonna tell anyone, are you?" Henry asked a bit quieter.
Aksel looked over at him with wide eyes.
"Of course not, dude. As long as you don't tell anyone either, then I'm pretty sure your biggest worry is Ani."
The two of them glanced over the table at the girl with the short, white hair, taking a sip of a drink and fiddling with her camera, smirking amongst themselves quietly.
|| A/N: AAAAH! A little broment between Aksel and Henry because I really just like their friendship a lot? Lmao. Small update to tide you over until I'm ready to write the big chapter.
Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to my Aksel friend, Egg, if you read this. You're a real homie and I enjoy you a lot. But that's gay, and I'm not gay, I don't do peace signs LMAO.
P.S. Stop calling me Rufus.
ANYWAYS comments and votes are appreciated and I'll see y'all soon.||