"Matthew, get your ass down here, or you're staying home,"

Matthew huffed and got up from his bed. He was going out for a soccer game and a swim with his brother, Devan, before he had to go back to college in Vancouver.

"You take a long time. What do you do up there?"

"I get ready, that's what I do,"

"In 40 minutes? What are you, a girl?" Devan tried to ruffle Matthew's hair, but Matthew smacked his hand away.

"I'm not a girl!" Devan laughed.

"Come on, dude,"

Devan opened the front door, letting Matthew walk out first. He grabbed their swimming-shorts and soccer ball and went outside. The brothers headed out to Devan's car and got in. Devan started the car and Matthew turned the radio on. "E.T" was playing.

"Mm, nice. You gonna sing?" Devan said.

"Only if you do," Matthew smiled.

'Ok, I'll sing the first verse, then you sing the pre-chorus, then we both sing the chorus," Devan started singing with the amazing voice he had, as he pulled out of the parking space he was in.

Devan drove down to the biggest park of the city to play soccer. He lead Matthew to an area of the field with a group of people.

"Um, who are they?" he asked.

"Friends and teammates," Devan responded. He smiled. "Hey, boys. Here's my little brother, Matthew,"

"Aww, cut him some slack! He's not that little..." one boy said.

"He's never had a girlfriend for more than 3 days," Devan teased.

"Ha, maybe it's his dick that's small, then," another boy laughed. Matthew frowned. Devan wrapped an arm around hm.

"Oh, come on, we're just playing with you. Anyway, this is Seth, Denis, Mike, Ben and Kris,"

"Yoooo," Seth said.

"Whoa, hey, man," Denis said.

"Dude, you're Devan's twin! Hi," Mike said.

"Little or not little, you seem a'ight," Ben said. All Kris said was a low and quiet "hello". He'd caught Matthew's attention.

'I wonder why he's so quiet... Does he not want me here?' he thought, watching him.

"Come on, freaks, let's play," Devan said.

After 15 minutes of playing, Matthew ran into Kris and they both tried to kick the ball at the same time. Kris gave Matthew a dirty look and kicked the ball again, getting a goal.

"Wow. Nice shot," Matthew said, almost sarcastically. Walking away, Kris held up his middle finger to Matthew. Matthew shook his head and continued playing.

Later on, Matthew was about to get a goal himself when Kris tripped him.

"You aren't good enough to play soccer, give it up," This only pissed off Matthew, which may have been Kris' intention. He got up and tackled Kris, punching him.

"Whoa! Hey, hey, hey, stop it!" Devan yelled.

"Fucking ass can't take that he's a loser," Kris said, dodging punches.

"I haven't lost anything, you tripped me!" Matthew said, sitting on Kris. He punched him in the nose before he was pulled off of him. Kris stood and put the back of his hand to his nose. It was bleeding.

"I hope you're happy, asshole," he said. Devan pulled Matthew away from Kris.

"What was that?"

"He gave me the finger and said I'm not good enough to play soccer and tripped me,"

"Ohh, I see,"

"Why's he so friggin' quiet and immature?"

"Kris is like that. Quiet. And he acts immature when he meets someone new he likes, but denies to say so, so he insults instead,"

"Wow... Lame?"

"Not really, he just has his own ways. Like you. You practically kill a person by staring at them when you meet someone new who catches your attention,"

"Whatever," Matthew turned away and watched Kris as his nose bled.

"There you go now, see? Killer stare," Kris and the others came back over to Devan and Matthew.

"That was sick, man," Seth said. Kris gave Matthew and 'evil stare'.

"You're a real smartass, aren't you?" he said.

"Why? Because I attacked you 'cause I'm better than you at soccer?"

"Everybody shut up," Devan said. Everyone was silent now. "Good! Now apologize..."

"What are you, a grade 2 teacher?"

"Just do it!"

Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, Kris. I overreacted,"

Kris didn't respond.

"Kris?" Devan said.

"Sorry... for being a dishonest about saying you weren't good enough for soccer," he finally said. Matthew held out his hand. Kris shook it and put his hands back in his pockets.

"How's your nose...?"

"Not broken. It's fine,"

"Hey, let's head back," Devan said.

"Thought we were going swimming?" Matthew said.

"Oh yeah! 'k, let's go then,"

"...Can I come with you?" Kris asked Matthew.

"Oh.. yeah, sure?" Matthew replied. They both followed Devan to the car.

"You're right. You're better than me at soccer. I was jealous... You're cool,"

"Oh... Um, thanks. You're cool, too... Kris," Kris smiled. He opened the passenger-seat door for Matthew. Matthew got in, Kris closed the door and sat behind him in the backseat.

Devan and the others drove to the beach and quickly got changed. They all ran down to the shore. Matthew stepped a foot into the cold water, while Kris climbed the rocks next to him. He sat down and watched Matthew step deeper into the water. Matthew crouched down and picked up something.

"What is that?" Kris asked. He was leaning forwards too far and fell off the rock, but Matthew grabbed his arms to him up so he didn't fall into the water completely.

"U-uh... thanks, man," Matthew nodded and let go of Kris. He showed him what he was holding. It was a tiny, perfectly-shaped shell.

"Take it," he said.

"What? Me? Why?" Kris questioned, surprised.

"I want you to have it. Another way to say sorry, and thanks for forgiving me," Kris took the shell from Matthew's hand and smiled slightly.

"Thanks, Matt... Friends?"

"Friends," They both did props and laughed. Kris set the shell into a rock in a divot so he wouldn't lose it. Matthew walked out farther in the water so it was up to his chest.

"Whoaaa, that's cold," he said, shivering. Kris followed him.

"Ah, you're right!" Kris winced. "I want back out,"

"No! Go underwater, it won't feel so bad,"

"Wha-?" before Kris could finish, Matthew pulled him underwater. Kris held his breath and kept his eyes shut. Meanwhile, Kris opened his eyes and smiled and Kris. He'd put his hands on Kris' waist gently and let him go up to the surface of the water.

"See?"

"...Yeah," Kris stared at Matthew, blue eyes shining. "I-it's still kinda cold, though!"

"Your body will adjust," Matthew assured Kris, slowly jumping up and down. After a minute of hugging himself in the cold water, Kris said,

"Too...cold... need more ... body heat," he started to rub his arms furiously. The statement Kris had made confused Matthew somewhat. He needed more body heat. Only way to do that was to sit in a sauna, hug someone.. or through sex. None were appealing to Matthew, so he just ignored it and swam around a bit. Kris watched Matthew glide through the water as if he were some sort of fish. Kris imagined it so, for Matthew to swim so smoothly through the water with a green tail to match his eyes. Kris felt something move beneath his foot. He looked down through the water, panicking. He fell in the water and swallowed a lot of it, trying to reach the surface. Matthew stopped swimming and looked in Kris' direction, seeing him flailing beneath the water. He quickly moved over to him and pulled him up from the water. Kris was choking, coughing out water and gasping for air.

"Are you ok? What happened?" through coughing, Kris managed to say,

"You'll laugh!" and started to cry slightly, water still being coughed out.

"No, I won't. Tell me, you're worrying me,"

"...Snake... tri- ... bite me- ... " Matthew hugged Kris, feeling it was the best thing to do at the time.

"Its ok, calm down," he said softly, then pat his back to get more water out. Matthew walked Kris back to shore.

"What the hell happened?" Devan asked and everyone stared.

"Something bit him and he fell in the water, swallowing it," Matthew explained as Kris was still coughing.

"I'm gonna take him back to the car,"

Matthew set up a big towel along the back of the seats and wrapped a towel around Kris, then himself. Both got into the car. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Kris' eyes began to slowly open and close. Matthew looked over at him.

"Tired?" Kris nodded his head. "Must be from all the struggling. Wanna sleep?"

"..Mhmm..."

"Ok, I'll go tell Devan-" Matthew opened the door and was about to get out when Kris grabbed his arm.

"Noo..." Kris' eyes were now closed and he started to lean over onto Matthew helplessly. Matthew shut the door and watched nervously as Kris rested his head on Matthew's shoulder.

"..Stay here..." he said.

"..O-ok,"

Kris had fallen asleep, so Matthew sat still, staring out the window. For some reason, he couldn't resist looking at Kris. He felt weird, having a boy be so close to him, let alone sleeping on him. Devan came by a minute later and knocked on the window. Matthew pushed the button to open it and pressed a finger to his lips, saying, 'Shhh'.

"What's goin' on? I thought you guys would come back," Devan looked at Kris. "..Told you he likes you," Devan winked at Matthew.

"Shut up, he's tired from struggling underwater!"

"Oh... you wanna.. go home?" Matthew nodded.

"Ok... One minute," Devan left for a minute then returned, getting into the driver's seat.

Devan had driven back to his house, all his friends following behind. Matthew shook Kris slightly.

"..Mm...what...?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"We're at my house. Come on, I'll walk you in," Matthew got up and helped Kris out of the car. Their shorts were now just damp. Kris put his arm around Matthew's neck as Matthew rested his arm around Kris' waist. He didn't realize how low Kris' shorts actually were, but he did realize how skinny he was. He could feel bones. He walked Kris into the house and sat down with him on the couch. Kris said quietly,

"..I wanna lay down..."

"Um- ok?" Before Matthew could move, Kris lay down with his head on Matthew's lap, and his legs pulled up to himself. As everyone entered the living room, they stared at Matt and Kris.

"Aww," they all said in unison, then laughed. Two went to go get food and drinks. Denis sat at the end of the couch that Matt and Kris were on.

"He must really like you, because Kris never lets anyone get more than five feet close to him," he said, resting a hand on Kris' leg, and patting it.

"My god! You two look like a cute couple," Ben said, laughing. Matthew rolled his eyes.

"No, seriously! If you two were dating... you'd be so cute... Consider it," Ben winked at Matt.