"Are they gay?" Matt Sohinki asked the young Asian ballerina and Smosh Pit Weekly host standing next to him in the Smosh Games computer room.
Mari looked up from her cell phone. "Who?"
Sohinki glanced between the two men standing in the lounge, one with a nicely styled bowl haircut, a stylishly hip flannel shirt and a bit of scruff on his face and the other with a more emo-like hairstyle that slung partially over his eye and a red leather jacket then looked back to Mari. "Who do you think?"
Mari laughed. "Ian and Anthony? Oh no. They have girlfriends," she smiled turning her attention back to her phone. "They're just really close friends so they sometimes seem like they're a couple. They get that a lot, though. It's pretty funny if you ask me."
Sohinki nodded and stared for a bit longer. Anthony was laughing and shaking his head at something Ian had said and Ian seemed to be asking him something and was leaning in very close to his face, almost to the point where Sohinki thought he was going in for a kiss. He saw Anthony blush and playfully push him away and Ian laughed again.
He thought it wouldn't hurt to ask someone who knew them longer than he has, which is why he came to Mari. He had just met them a week ago after all when Clevver Games was bought out and became Smosh Games, something he didn't really have any control over at all but it wasn't too bad. It was still all about video gaming thankfully but with a slightly different crew now.
When he first met Ian and Anthony they were absolutely thrilled to have him on the team along with Jovenshire and Lasercorn. They had all spent a considerable amount of time working out the schedule of shows and discussing the channel but then he noticed certain little things about them here and there that made them seem... close? Maybe he was just imagining it but they seemed more than just a little chummy with one another. He didn't even know why he was thinking about it either. It really didn't matter if they were a couple or not. They were pretty cool and funny guys after all.
Granted he'd never watched their channel before in the past besides some of the few scattered video game parodies they'd made so he didn't have any real say on the matter. He decided to shrug it off and continue with his computer game. It was no less than ten minutes later that Anthony walked into the room Sohinki and Jovenshire were in with Ian following closely behind.
"Hey guys, we're gonna head out now," he smiled as he leaned in the doorway.
"Alright, later dudes. We still have a bit more to finish up here," Sohinki explained looking across the room to Jovenshire, who nodded. "Catch you guys next week?"
"Actually," Ian piped in as he leaned more into the room, "Anthony and I were talking about filming an episode of Lunchtime with everyone if you're interested. You know, just so we could all get to know each other. Maybe tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Sohinki asked, thinking through what he needed to get done. He could push back the reviews he had about some of the upcoming games. "Sounds great!"
Jovenshire piped up from the back with "Yeah, I'm totally down to hang with you guys more."
"Sweet," Ian grinned. "So we'll meet up here and head out tomorrow at noon. Sound good?"
Both Sohinki and Jovenshire agreed. "We'll let David know too," Sohinki replied. Anthony gave Ian a questioning glance and Ian whispered "That's Lasercorn."
"Oh!" Anthony laughed. "Sorry! I suck at remembering people's names when I first meet them."
"Just remember if you see a guy who's shirtless with a unicorn with a laser beam tattoo you'll know it's him," Sohinki laughed.
He almost swore he saw Ian blush when he laughed and Anthony give him a sideways glance but it was instantly gone when their laughter subsided. "Alright dudes, catch ya later!"
They walked out side by side and were mumbling and giggling as they left. When they had reached the end of the hall Sohinki heard Anthony loudly tell Ian to "shut-up" and shove him as they walked out the door.
Sohinki sat in thought for a moment then walked over to Jovenshire. "Hey dude."
"What's up, Matt?" He asked pausing his game.
"So... What do you think of Ian and Anthony?"
"Hmm..." He said aloud. "They're pretty awesome. I didn't think they'd be so chill about everything being internet celebs and all so that's always a perk. Why?"
Sohinki nodded. "No reason. They're pretty cool." He paused for a moment "Tomorrow should be interesting though," he mumbled, though more to himself. He'd only had the chance to hang out with them a handful of times before but he'd certainly get to the bottom of this.
"Why's that?" Jovenshire asked as he resumed his game.
Sohinki realized he mumbled out loud. "Oh, you know. We'll get to know them more. Find out more about who they are and stuff."
"David's seen a lot of Smosh videos before. You should go ask him about if you wanna learn more about them before tomorrow," Jovenshire suggested.
"That's actually not a bad idea." He would definitely ask Lasercorn about them and find out if he knew anything about his suspicions.
He had no idea why he was suddenly so obsessed with finding out if they were gay all of a sudden but he felt it would be best to not let Jovenshire in on his suspicions.
Later, Lasercorn met up with Sohinki after getting some new games from GameStop.
"Okay dude, so I was thinking about starting off the first review with Borderlands 2," he began.
"That's what I was thinking," Sohinki said then decided to bring it up. "Hey, so you've watched a lot of Smosh videos before, haven't you?" He said changing the subject.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I've seen some of their main ones and the ones on their other channels before."
"Cool, cool. So uh, what do you think of Ian and Anthony then?"
"They're pretty fucking hilarious I can give you that much," Lasercorn answered.
"Right. So..." He thought about whether he should ask but went ahead and did anyway. "...do you think they're... gay?"
"What, seriously dude?" Lasercorn asked. "Don't they have, like, girlfriends?"
The more he thought about it the more ridiculous it started sounding.
"Yeah," he laughed. "Nah, I was just messing with you. I know they have girlfriends."
Was he the only person who noticed it or was he just seeing things that weren't there?
The next day at lunch they were standing in line at Taco Bell, randomly chatting about anything that came to mind. Everyone else had ordered their food but him and the two Smosh stars were in front of him ordering. The others were off to the side filling their sodas when Sohinki heard Ian say to Anthony "Do you mind getting this, babe? I paid last time."
Sohinki's eyes instantly grew wide.
Did he hear that right?
"Yeah, no prob," he heard Anthony reply as he gave his card to the cashier. They both grabbed their cups and went to join the others.
"Sir? Can I help you?"
Sohinki snapped out of his shock and realized the cashier was talking to him. "Oh, uh yeah..."
He ordered and when everyone got their food he quickly pulled Lasercorn aside as they began walking out.
"Dude! Did you hear them?" He hissed to Lasercorn.
"Hear what?" His longtime Clevver Games costar and friend asked.
"Ian called Anthony 'babe' when they were ordering!"
"What?" Lasercorn asked in disbelief. "He probably said 'hey' or something. Dude, what's with you lately?"
They were interrupted by Ian holding the camera in front of them and asking them questions.
Now he really knew something was going on between them but he couldn't get anyone to believe him.
When they got back to the Smosh Games HQ they ate and chatted some more while filming. They didn't seem to be getting close anymore Sohinki noticed, but they were still all having a good time cracking jokes and answering Twitter questions. Maybe having everyone together in the same room discouraged them from showing affection. That certainly would make sense, especially if they weren't out about some kind of relationship.
After filming the episode someone brought up the idea of playing everyone for the extra bean burrito they accidentally added to their order so they popped in a game and began racing.
Ian was winning the race so far but Lasercorn was closing in at second place.
"Oh you fucker!" He yelled out when Lasercorn came up behind his car and attacked him from behind with a red shell.
"Bet you didn't see that one coming, did ya?" Lasercorn flaunted as he moved into first place.
"What's wrong Ian? Normally you like it from behind," Anthony laughed, causing everyone else to burst into laughter.
"Shut-up, that's totally you!" Ian shot back as his car finally caught back up to Lasercorn's but he was one second too late as Lasercorn past the finish line.
"Oh yeah! I totally kicked all your asses! That burrito is mine!" Lasercorn cheered as he jumped out of his seat.
"Damn, you guys are competitive," Mari remarked. "There's so much testosterone in the air I think I might grow a penis!"
"Trust me Mari, they're not as fun as you think," Anthony cut in and all the guys laughed.
He threw a quick glance over to Ian who was smirking widely and added "Okay, sometimes they are."
Sohinki looked around to see if anyone else noticed that look he gave Ian but Lasercorn was too busy devouring his burrito, Mari was gathering the pieces of the paper robot she got in her kids meal, and Jovenshire was spacing out and looking at his phone.
Oh my god, are you kidding me? He thought to himself. Surely they must have noticed the gay innuendo from earlier at least.
Then again they all probably took it as a joke and not some hint to their actual stance as a couple.
No one believed him and he needed more proof.
And he was going to do whatever it takes find out.