Aleks stared at his computer screen, blinking slowly. Besides him, his clock screamed bright, red numbers that read that it was sometime between 'fuck' and 'me'. Which meant, of course, that it was about 2 in the morning. Aleks yawned (for, like, the third time in a row) and rubbed his palms into his eyes hoping to wake himself up. It didn't work. He grumbled to himself and set his headphones down; there would be no editing while his eyes were attempting to glue themselves together. 'I could probably go for something to eat right now', Aleks thought, tiredly, to himself (and his stomach growled loudly in agreement). With a sigh he peeled himself from his chair and groggily shuffled through the quite apartment.

On his way to the small kitchen he passed by Eddies door and listened for the sounds of his loud snores. Strangely, he couldn't hear a thing coming from the room. Had Eddies chain-saw-impersonation been put to an end? Aleks shrugged to himself and continued down the hall. With his eyes almost completely closed Aleks bumped into a very awake Puerto Rican. The two yelled, sprang apart, and scrambled to regain their footing.

"What the fuck? What are you doing up?" Aleks half yelled still startled, heart hammering, and no trace of sleep in his voice.

"I was just looking for some munchies, Jesus Christ! What are you doing here?"

"I live here"

"Well no, duh! Asshole. I meant what the fuck are you doing up?"

"I'm fucking hungry, okay?", Aleks growled (along with his stomach).

Aleks pushed by Eddie to open the fridge only to find it hopelessly empty. He turned his head to glare over the fridge door. Eddie held up his hands in defense, taking a step back.

"Hey, man. I came in look for food, too"

"Did you fucking inhale the entire fridge, what the hell, man?" Aleks spat, disgustedly slamming the door shut.

"I'm not that fat" Eddie sniffed and gave his stomach a small pat.

Aleks rolled his eyes at that. Eddie could eat to his hearts content and not show any signs of the feast. What an asshole.

"Whatever, dude. What are we gonna do now? It's 2 in the morning and I'm fucking hungry"

A normal person would have responded with an 'I don't know, Aleks, why don't you just go fuck yourself' and, to be honest, Aleks should have remembered that Eddie isn't (by any stretch of the imagination) 'normal'.

"Stay here, I'll go get my keys"

Before Aleks could protest, Eddie had sped past him.

Goddammit.

Should have just gone back to bed.


"What the fuck"

"Aleks"

"What the fuck, dude"

"Aleks"

"What-"

"Aleks you've been saying the same thing for the past 5 minutes. Are we gonna eat here or not?"

"Are we going to eat here? Are you fucking kidding me? This place isn't a place with food."

"Don't be silly. It's the only thing open, thought. Plus I heard a lot of good things about this place"

"Good things? Like what? It's the only ice cream shop open 24/7 for idiots like us to waste money on?" Aleks' fit went mostly unnoticed by Eddie who was already climbing out of the car.

"Come on man, don't be a baby. It's all you can eat!"

Of course it fucking was. Eddie was the only person he could imagine who would drive to an 'all-you-can-eat-ice-cream-parlor' when they were hungry at 2 in the morning. What the hell is an ice cream parlor and who keeps them open all day long?

Eddie closed the door shut with his hip, jostling the car and bringing Aleks out of his thoughts. He was really going to do this, wasn't he? Taking a deep breath, Aleks shook his head and climbed out of the car. Eddie gave him a wide smile (something Aleks liked a little too much) and opened the door with too much gusto for someone who had been up all day. Aleks rolled his eyes and brushed past him, into the chilly air of the ice cream parlor.

The cashier, who seemed as though she found nothing wrong with the fact that it was fucking 2 in the morning, brightened and smiled widely at the pair. Eddie bounded ahead of Aleks, grabbing his hand to pull him along faster.

"Good evenin', boys! What can I do for you, today?"

She was too cheery for someone who was up the late and it made Aleks uneasy. Aleks was determined, at this point, to have the worst possible time and he was doing a pretty good job of it until he looked down to where Eddies hand was still firmly grasping his.

"And for you, sir?", the cashiers voice rang out, scattering his thoughts. Blood rushed to Aleks' ears and he helplessly looked at Eddie who grinned back (there was that smile is again).

"He'll just have what I'm having, please"

"Alrighty! I'll get that out to you two in a jiffy!" the cashier sang cheerfully and Aleks could swear he saw her wink at him from the corner of his eye.

Eddie pulled Aleks to a small booth and let his hand linger on his for a moment before letting go. Aleks raised an eyebrow in questioning. Eddie just shrugged and smiled at him again.

"Stop that"

"Stop what?"

"Stop smiling like that"

"Stop smiling like what"

"Stop smiling like a fucking idiot, thats what"

"Wow, rude. How about you try smiling sometime, Mr. Grumpy Pants?"

"It's too early"

Eddie laughed, a loud, ringing giggle that sounded quite nice to Aleks' ears. Something about being sleep deprived and about to eat ice cream for food made everything Eddie did appear attractive. Or at least that was what Aleks had chosen to tell himself. This had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that everyday living with Eddie had brought them closer together and that sometimes Aleks felt painful tugs at his heart when his voice rang happily through the halls.

Nope absolutely nothing at all.

"Aaaaaand here we go!~", the cashier sang loudly and placed a single tall glass filled with ice cream and piled high with toppings right in front of them. Two spoons had been placed on top, sticking out of the ice cream.

Aleks' eyebrows shot upward and he looked from the cashier to Eddie in questioning.

"It's big enough to share! C'mon man don't give me that look." Eddie said picking up the spoon as the cashier nodded encouragingly, walking back to her post.

"What the hell is this, though? Fucking sharing ice cream, who does that?"

"I'm sorry okay? Jeeze. I just thought this would be a good idea for a date"

Aleks almost fell out of his chair, spoon half way in his mouth.

A date?

At 2 in the morning?

Is that what this was?

Eddie reached across the table and squeezed his hand, then pulled his hand away.

"I mean, unless you don't want it to be a date. Just bros being bros, right?"

Aleks paused, eyebrows furrowed in thought. Well not really. His mind was pulling a blank and all he could really focus on were the fact that the ice cream from his spoon had fallen and landed somewhere on the floor and the fact that he wanted Eddies hand to join his again. He was clearly thinking about the important things and the only response he could come up with was:

"So it's all you can eat, huh?"

Eddie laughed (there it is again) and nodded, his smile brightening. He reached for Aleks hand again and rubbed his thumb across his knuckles.

"Love you too, dude"

"Just keep the ice cream coming"