"You remembered to book the reservation, right?" called a short, brunette teen that went by the name Tyson Kidd. He poked his head through the door with a wide grin on his face as he spoke. This moment was a moment he'd been waiting for for months and he couldn't hide his excitement.
"Yes, of course I did," called Cesaro, a tall, short haired Swiss boy that was commonly known as Tyson's best friend. "How could I forget after the three calls, the Facebook message, the whole DM on Twitter and the dozens of times you've asked me today?" Cesaro gave Tyson a loving half smile through the mirror as he adjusted his tie. He always admired how dedicated his friend was with simple outings so never complained at his persistence for everything to be perfect.
As Cesaro redirected his focus on continuing to iron his outfit, Tyson walked in to proudly show off his. The small man walked in front of his friend as he examined his flashy yellow shirt that left only the two top buttons undone, his faded grey jeans that were neatly fitted with a single crease down the side, and his subtle yet sleek black shoes that made him feel more sophisticated just by putting them on. The smug boy looked up at his friend, waiting to hear his amazement.
"…So, whatcha' think?" Tyson's smile was so wide that Cesaro felt it without taking his eyes away from his ironing. As the teen turned his focus, the outfit his friend was wearing made his half smile quickly transform into a full, toothy grin. Tyson looked absolutely awful but he didn't have the heart to tell him.
"Is this your first time doing something like this?" Cesaro kept smiling at Tyson, hoping not to hurt his feelings.
"What? What makes you say that?"
"I - I just..." though Cesaro prided himself on being an honest person, the look of hidden disappointment in Tyson made him hold back his comments. Instead, he kindly replied with "you look superb! You mustn't be new to this. Surely?!" He couldn't even convince himself, but somehow those last lines convinced his friend.
Tyson's immediate response was a quiet but proud cackle, followed by a pat on his buddy's shoulder. "Well, if you ever need tips, you know who to call. I'll be in the other room." As Tyson walked away with his head held high, Cesaro looked over at him, shaking his head in quiet awe.
A short while later Cesaro walked into the living room and witnessed Tyson with his feet crossed, aggressively playing a shooting game on his Playstation. Cesaro leaned on the side of the doorway with his arms crossed, waiting for his friend to notice he'd entered the room. It didn't work out so well. Cesaro remained in the same position for a few minutes before he grew tired and playfully threw a cushion at Tyson's head.
"Hey! What the hell!?" the younger boy waved his hand in Cesaro's direction whilst his eyes remained focused on the screen in front of him. "I'm trying to play here, man!"
"Oh, really? Well, if you don't want to go any more that's fine by me..." Cesaro slowly walked away before being stopped by Tyson's sudden voice.
"Wait! I'm just trying to defeat this noob and then I'll be right over!"
"Fine," the Swiss boy sighed. "Defeat the noob and let's go." As Cesaro made his way to the sofa, he took a quiet yet deep sigh as he smiled at an unresponsive Tyson. He knew how much this day meant to him, yet he couldn't help but laugh at his passion for gaming and how nothing could ever get between it.
Cesaro shifted his head to the screen and his attention was swiftly moved to the sounds of his friend yelling "yes! Die! Die! Die!" every few seconds. He then sat back and waited patiently for the scenario to change. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long.
"Okay!" the short boy proclaimed after a few minutes. "I whooped his ass so bad he logged off before I could really beat him." Tyson stood up and beamed at Cesaro with his grin so wide you could probably see all of his teeth. "Now, let's go!" Tyson quickly hurried to the front door with a head-shaking and somewhat bewildered Cesaro not far behind as the duo headed to the train station.
As the pair sat down on the fairly empty train, Tyson scurried his eyes around the carriage to bring up any topic he could think of. But before he could think of something his trail of thought was joined by Cesaro's husky voice.
"Hey, look over there," his brawny finger pointed towards a poster ahead of them that advertised a professional wrestling event. "WWE? You ever heard of that?"
"Of course I have! Used to watch it all the time with my parents. You?" Tyson turned his head to look directly at his friend's side
"Eh. I've heard of it, just never really cared for it. Do you still watch it?"
"Nah, I wouldn't be caught dead associating with something like that." Tyson then turned his head as the two boys tutted and scoffed before glaring at the poster ahead. "I just don't understand why anyone above the age of ten would pay to watch something so silly."
"Beats me. But to be fair, you can't really talk about being silly when you just screamed 'DIE! DIE! DIE!' at a computer screen for five minutes -"
"There's a difference! That's a video game and that dumbass on the other line was pissing me off! He deserved to be shot - three dimensionalised, of course."
"'Three dimensionalised?' Really, Tyson? Is that even a word?"
"Um, well, it is now! And you know what I mean even if it isn't!"
Cesaro rolled his eyes playfully before standing up as the train came to a stop. "Come on, Kidd, let's go!"
"Did you just call me 'kid?' You do realise I'm older than you, right?"
"Yes, by a week. And I called you by your last name, idiot." Tyson gritted his teeth awkwardly before walking out of the train with his friend.
"Whatever, I'm still older and if anyone is the 'kid' - with one 'd' - it's you, buddy!" Tyson ended his statement with a patronizing pat on Cesaro's back before playfully running a few steps forward. Tyson then turned around to wait for his friend to catch up, but was greeted with a smug grin in return. "What's so funny?"
"Slow your roll, Kidd. The restaurant's this way!" Cesaro quickly dashed to the left as Tyson was forced to catch up to him. As the boys finally met they then began to walk under the well-lit street towards the restaurant as they playfully nudged one another along the way. Whilst they made their way to the fancy building, Tyson imagined how posh the experience would be. He envisioned the well-dressed staff taking their coats whilst calling them "sir," offering them free beverages before gently placing napkins under their chins. He then pictured being delivered a carriage of meals and delicately eating the rich meats and tender vegetables whilst sipping on the carbonated water, even though he'd hated that beverage.
Upon arrival however, they were greeted in the complete opposite fashion.
After a scrawny waiter asked them for their names, a formidable security guard dressed in all black quickly stood in front of them without saying a word.
"Uh... Is there a problem... sir?" Tyson looked up, trying to conceal his apparent fear.
A voice from the side of the bodyguard answered the teen's query. "Uh, yes, sorry, there is," came the voice. It was from the scrawny waiter with glasses that were so low down that they looked as though they were about to fall off of his nose. "Firstly, not only did you book your table for an hour ago, you're both ever so clearly - though I could be mistaken... underage." The man's sarcasm and overly minty breath was difficult to ignore, and left the pair quiet for a short while. "We may have been able to let you in as an exception, but your unfortunate timing has given us no other choice either."
"Maybe there's a mistake… sir. We booked this restaurant a very long time ago, and we received confirmation about it too, through an email and the telephone."
"Yes, well, clearly there's been a mistake," the scrawny and evidently frustrated man responded. "Let's not waste anymore of each other's time now…"
"But we booked this ourselves! We have the confirmation right here on our phones and -"
Before Tyson could continue his gradually increasing anger, Cesaro placed his shoulder on his friend's arm and continued his speech.
"It's fine, we'll go," he began. "But maybe next time you should do your job right and actually inform us of some sort of age restriction for eating food before we book something."
Tyson responded to Cesaro's through an exaggeratedly pointed up chin. "Have a good evening, though, sir," Tyson mimicked before turning on his heels and walking off.
"Assholes!" Tyson yelled when he was out of earshot. "There was no age limit on that site! They just didn't wanna let us in because we'd be ruining their 'fine five star establishment' with our sweaty boy germs! Screw them!" Tyson wiped his brow as his face became apparently cross. He'd waited so long for a day like this to occur and the moment it did, everything fell apart.
Tyson continued walking to the station but didn't wait for Cesaro to catch up. He could feel tears of disappointment building up and didn't want to be caught with them. Cesaro however, slowly walked a few meters behind him as he tried to think of ways to calm down his evidently upset friend.
"Hey, Tyson, stop! What's up? Come on, man. Stop for a sec!" Tyson's fast paced walking slowly came to a cease, but no words exited the frustrated youth's mouth.
With Tyson's head firmly facing the ground, Cesaro gently placed his hand on his shoulder to request for him to turn around. Though Tyson remained facing away, Cesaro still spoke.
"Listen, I know that this was something you were really looking forward to, I get it. And I know that it didn't turn out exactly how you planned but hey, there are plenty of other places, man. We've got so many other options for places to go we can -"
"I know," Tyson interrupted. "I know, I get it. But you don't understand."
"What do you mean?" Cesaro's brow furrowed as he tried to decipher what was going on. "What don't I get?"
Tyson closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and shook his head. No response.
"Come on, man. Is everything OK?"
"Yes, it is. Of course it is," Tyson spoke as he shook his head quickly. "Nothing's wrong," he added. "I just don't feel like hanging out anymore." As the brunette turned to face his friend, he looked up at him with a weak smile, before nodding his head to indicate the direction to walk.
As the pair headed back home in a semi awkward silence, Tyson couldn't help but feel angry at himself. Had he turned off the video game earlier he could have caught an earlier train and arrived on time. Had he read the website properly, he would have realised the age restriction and changed his plans beforehand. Had he not gotten his hopes up to hang out with Cesaro like this, he wouldn't feel so bad after something so small. And the latter is what frustrated him the most. It was so small. The two were simply not going to eat at a restaurant, yet he felt like he'd just lost his chance at his dream career and wouldn't get it back. But he was walking right by the guy he'd desired to be around for so long as he thought this anyway, yet he couldn't shake the huge feeling of disappointment.
"You know," Cesaro calmly inserted into Tyson's trail of thought. "That game you were playing earlier, what was it?" Tyson, with a sudden change in reaction, looked up at Cesaro with clear disgust.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, what was it?" Cesaro's charming smile appeared as he said this.
"Call. Of. Duty? Have you really never heard of that?!" Tyson's focus was purely on Cesaro as he genuinely couldn't believe what he'd just been told. "You're telling me that throughout all seventeen years of your life, you have never heard of or seen Call of Duty before? Ever!?"
"Uh, well, no. In case you didn't know, I'm not as much of a nerd as you -"
"- In a good way!" Tyson pointed. His face became stern, but as Cesaro looked at him his short figure and overly serious nature made it hard to take seriously, so he smirked in return.
"Of course that's what I meant, kid." Before he could even look at Tyson's face, the predictable anger was radiating off of him instantly.
"I am not a kid. I may be Kidd, but not kid! There are two d's!" Cesaro giggled to himself as Tyson said this.
"Ah, Tyson. You're so funny," Cesaro's voice was playful and patronising and lead to Tyson rolling his eyes.
After a while, the two boys headed back to Tyson's house and Tyson headed straight to the sofa.
"Hey, C," he called. "Go grab the snacks from the cupboard next to the fridge. Lemme teach you about the most iconic game in the history of games. Even more iconic than Snakes & Ladders - you ever heard of that?"
"Okay, first of all," Cesaro walked up to a sat-down Tyson, creating an even bigger height divide than they usually had. "Don't ever call me 'C' again in your entire lifetime and after-lifetime, ever," he teased. "And second of all, you can make fun of me for my lack of knowledge on whatever is in that black box of stupidity over there, but that's only because I spend my time doing valuable things, like learning new languages and doing my homework -"
"- or wasting an entire evening dressing up for a restaurant that won't even let you in?"
Cesaro pursed his lips, ready to answer, but he just put two fingers on his friend's forehead and pushed him, causing his head to fall on the sofa and a goofy smile to appear on his face.
"Since you wanna get sassy with me," the taller teen said as he walked away, "I'll be picking the snacks, and I'll purposely take everything you hate."
"You realise this is my house, right? And I'm an only child? So I like all the snacks in this house." Following this Tyson undid his tie and let out an overly patronising laugh as Cesaro rolled his eyes and set for the snack cupboard. As the packets of crisps, sweets and chocolate were purposely being thrown to hit Tyson, the smaller boy tried to avoid them whilst setting up the game, with a grin on his face the entire time.
Cesaro soon placed a bowl of crisps on the table before sitting on the sofa and patting his friend on the back. "So! Where do we start?" The Swiss boy took ahold of Tyson's control and pressed a few buttons aimlessly.
"Hey! No! That is my controller, yours is over there!" Tyson snatched his controller out of Cesaro's hands and continued setting up the game. "Now, get comfy and let's play!" Tyson enthusiastically shouted as he shoved a few crisps down his throat.
As Cesaro took off his blazer, undid the top buttons of his shirt and loosened his tie, Tyson began to explain the rules of the game.
"So basically, all you gotta do is try to kill as many people as you possibly can without getting killed yourself. We're all on one of two teams and whichever team gets the most points from killing the others, wins. Now, even if you die, you still get as many lives as possible, BUT, you gotta avoid death as you'll let the team down. Okay?!" Tyson then showed Cesaro what each button on the controller did and gave him a few tips on how to play. As he explained the game to his friend, Cesaro nodded after every word, allowing Tyson to discuss something he clearly felt passionate about. "Right. You got it?"
"Um, I think so. Let's play and see how good of a teacher you are."
Once the game started Tyson went on a huge killing rampage and constantly yelled out things like "YES!", "DIE, ASSHOLE!" and "DIE! DIE! DIE!". As the game continued, Tyson's focus quickly moved onto Cesaro, who seemed more into the game than he was. He'd noticed that Cesaro wasn't doing nearly as bad as he'd expected. In fact, his friend had more than he did!
"Wait a minute," Tyson said as he gripped his controller even tighter. "Why do you have more points than me!? What the -"
"Well, looks like you may be a better teacher than you thought?" Cesaro side-eyed his pal and smiled enthusiastically.
"Woah, woah, hold up," Tyson threw his controller onto the space on the sofa next to him. "You've played this before haven't you?"
"What? Of course not." Cesaro's adorable grin that always made Tyson smile grew wide as he tried to keep his focus on the television screen.
"Don't lie to me!" Tyson slapped the controller out of Cesaro's hands and let out a slight giggle.
"Don't lie to you about what?"
"Admit it!"
"Admit what?"
"Admit that you lied to me and have played this game before." Tyson placed his knees on the sofa and pumped his chest in the air. As he stared at Cesaro, waiting for an answer, his friend quickly grabbed a bottle of fizzy cola, shook it and opened it in front of Tyson, leaving him immediately soaking in the beverage. "What the -"
"Oops!" Cesaro replied in a mockingly high pitch tone of voice that made Tyson shake his head in playful anger. Cesaro pursed his lips and placed the bottle down, egging his friend on.
"Okay… So you wanna play it that way? Well how about this!?" As soon as Tyson finished his sentence he poured the entire bowl of crisps over Cesaro's head and tipped the same bottle of fizzy cola over his lap. "Somebody have an accident?"
"Right. Well looks like two can play at that game." Cesaro stood up, brushed the crisps off of his body and walked over to the kitchen counter, looking through the cupboards.
"What are you doing?" Tyson said as he slowly stood up, waiting for a response he wasn't getting. "Cesaro! What are you doing?"
"Nothing. Don't worry, enjoy your game. I'll be right back." As Tyson slowly walked up to his friend, before he knew it, the entire contents of chocolate powder was tossed over his head, leaving him gobsmacked whilst Cesaro burst out in laughter.
The pair then managed to toss water, crisps and even unopened bars of chocolate at one another before they reached the sofa area again. However, before Tyson could reach for more things to throw at his friend, he tripped over the table and fell on the sofa, stomach down. Cesaro then quickly pounced on top and immediately tickled Tyson's sensitive ribs until he was forced to turn on his back and yell "uncle! Uncle!" in a fit of laughter.
And once Cesaro had let go, the two boys were left ever so close to one another. The taller teen was bent forwards, whilst Tyson's head remained only a few feet apart from Cesaro's. The aura of laughter and playfulness suddenly turned into an atmosphere of silence and awkward tension. The two stood still in silence for a few moments, until Tyson managed to speak.
"Uh, I, I… I can't do this." He quickly pushed a very obedient Cesaro off of his torso and then sat facing the television with his head in his hands. Cesaro didn't know whether to place his hand on Tyson's shoulder or ask him a question, so he allowed his friend to have a few seconds to himself before he said anything.
"Is everything okay, Ty -"
"No." Before Cesaro could finish, Tyson interrupted and looked at the table in front of him. "No, I'm not okay." His eyes still didn't meet his friend's.
"Why? What's the matter?"
"It's… It's nothing, man. I'm sorry, I got out of control and, uh, I - I - I'm sorry. Let's just, let's forget about it and continue playi-"
"Forget about what? What's the matter?" After Cesaro spoke, there were a few more seconds of silence before Tyson broke it.
"Okay, fine. And if I tell you, please don't get mad at me. And if you are, you can just leave, if that's what you want. I won't be mad, you can just -
"Just tell me, man." A longer pause took place this time. And the end of it had to come from Tyson.
"Okay, fine," he sighed, taking a few more seconds to think. "...I like you, Cesaro. I… I like you."
The Swiss teen slowly looked across at his friend whose sitting position he was now mirroring, and then let out a small smile that Tyson refused to look at.
"I really, really, like you. And not in the friend way that you may think. Not in the 'brothers' way that we always proclaim. But in a different way. In... that way." Tyson couldn't bear the embarrassment of looking at Cesaro, but as he slowly did, his eyes were met with the gentle half smile that he was always used to seeing. The smile that always comforted him when he knew it shouldn't. He then moved his focus up to his friend's eyes and saw that his adorable half wink that always occurred during a big smile was there. As Tyson quickly looked away his attention was soon grabbed back by Cesaro's response.
"I know," the Swiss boy said. "I know, Tyson. I pretty much always did," Cesaro gently smirked as he spoke to his friend. "I mean, I was never gonna rush you to say it, but, I did always know. I mean, kinda always, but... yeah."
"What? How? Did I say anything in my sleep once? Was it at camp last summer? Did I accidentally call you late at night when I sleep walked? Did I -"
"No, no, no," Cesaro laughed. "I always knew. I mean, nothing was ever confirmed but I could always guess." Tyson's face was so confused that it looked as though he'd just been asked to explain the process of building a rocket ship. "Like, whenever we'd hug goodbye, you'd place your head on my chest and hold me really tight - not that that was wrong. I mean, you give great hugs, but, I did think about it a little bit. And the fact that you take a lot of pride in organising all of these days out."
"Oh, crap! I messed it all up… Crap!" Tyson said, though more to himself than his friend. He quickly stood up and placed his hand on his head in frustration. "Listen, Cesaro, I'm so so sorry I'll make it all up to you, I-"
"Make what up to me, man?" He quickly got to his feet and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "What's the problem?"
"Ugh. I'm sorry for hugging you all weird I really didn't mean to make it awkward I just really -"
"No, no, no, hold up, man. Nothing's weird. Nothing's wrong at all! Everything's fine." Cesaro's genuine smile remained intact whilst Tyson looked at him confusedly. "Listen, if I had a problem with any of this, do you really think I'd still be here? Why would I agree to hang out with you if I knew about this beforehand?" Tyson stared at his friend. "I don't have a problem with this. I don't at all! Tyson, listen… I know it won't be possible for us to share the same feelings, but I do love you. You're my best friend. You're my partner in crime, the one that's always been there for me no matter what. I know that I'll never be the one for you, but just know that I will be there when you find the actual one. You know, when you find a douchebag I'll be there to sort him out. And when you go from guy to guy, or whoever, I'll be there. I'll be there for you to talk to, I'll be there for you to cry to. I'll be your best man at your wedding, and you'll be mine. I love you, Tyson. You're my best friend and I want you to be happy."
As Cesaro spoke he noticed tears slowly filling in his friend's eyes. But before he could add anything more to the conversation, Tyson hugged him tightly, allowing the tears to fall on his chest.
"Thank you. I'm so sorry for never telling you earlier. I'm so sorry."
"Hey, don't be sorry, man." Cesaro held onto the hug and rubbed his friend's back. Everything is fine. I know you love me right now in a way I can't share back, but everything is fine. I'm here, you're here… We have each other, okay?"
Tyson didn't know what to say. He simply held onto his friend's torso and let the tears slowly fade away. Although Cesaro could never love him back in the same way, the comfort of his choice of words and reaction was something Tyson never thought he would receive.
As Tyson then pulled away and wiped his tears, Cesaro proclaimed: "So, how about that game that I'm ever so awful at?" Tyson quickly nudged his friend before they both sat down unanimously. And though the pair continued playing the video game as if nothing happened, Tyson felt a closer bond to Cesaro than he'd ever expected, and he couldn't be happier.