"I'm going to Starbucks, do you want anything?" Evie asks, poking her head into Carlos's room. He's curled up in the corner of his bed with his laptop in his lap, large headphones over his ears, and his dog burrowed into his side. Evie rolls her eyes and walks into the room. She stands in front of Carlos's bed with her hands on her hips until Carlos finally notices her and tugs off his headphones.
"I'm going to Starbucks, do you want anything?" Evie asks again.
"A boyfriend." Carlos mutters in reply. Evie sighs. Carlos has been in a funk since his boyfriend Anthony Tremaine broke up with him, and with Christmas fast approaching and him all alone, she doubts his mood is going to improve.
"Something chocolatey and full of sugar. Gotcha. Mal's in the living room if you want to sulk with company." Evie says, and leaves Carlos's room.
Evie grabs her coat and scarf from the couch that Mal is lying on, and then gets held up for a few minutes by Mal's kisses. But eventually Mal pushes her away and tells her to go get the coffee. Evie chuckles, because Mal acts like it wasn't her fault that Evie isn't in the Starbucks already, but obeys her girlfriend's wishes.
Evie can't stop thinking about what Carlos said as she walks down the street to the nearest Starbucks. She knows that he meant it as a joke, but there was an undertone of bitterness to his words. She knows that he misses Anthony more than he lets on, and he already lets on a lot. Evie sighs as she turns the corner. She just hopes that he'll be feeling better by the time the holidays roll around.
The second she steps into the Starbucks, she sees him. He's sitting alone at a little table with a perfectly pristine laptop open in front of him, his fingers flying across the keys. There are two empty coffee cups strewn behind his work station, and a third that's still half full sitting next to his laptop. And he's gorgeous. Long brown hair tucked into a winter hat even though they're inside, dark skin that almost seems to shine, and his jawline… damn.
"A boyfriend." Carlos's voice seems to echo in her mind. Even though he's sitting down, Evie can tell that the boy is tall. Adorable height difference scenarios flash through her mind. She also notices the sweatshirt he's wearing. He goes to their college. And he plays some sport she's never heard of called Tourney. She imagines Carlos dragging her and Mal to a sports game to watch his boyfriend play, and she nearly squeals aloud. The final straw is the single sticker she spots on the back of his laptop. It's advertising Until Dawn, one of Carlos and Evie's favourite video games. This boy is perfect for Carlos, Evie decides.
"Hi." The Starbucks employee says.
"Hi!" Evie says cheerfully. She quickly orders for herself, Mal and Carlos.
"Is that all?" The man, Doug according to his nametag, asks.
"Uh," Evie glances over at the boy, quickly assesses his appearance again, and says, "Another peppermint mocha, please. Same size as the other one. Evie for the name again." Doug scans her gold card and then sends her to wait behind another bunch of people at the drinks counter. Evie keeps glancing at the boy while she waits. One time, she catches him checking out the other Starbucks employee, Chad's ass and nearly jumps for joy, because even if he and Carlos would be a perfect match, she can't force the boy to be gay. But if he's checking out other guys, then he really is perfect. Evie couldn't be happier, and nearly skips up to the drinks counter when Chad calls out, "Evie, Carlos, Mal, and another Evie!"
"Thank you." Evie says, smiling sweetly as she scoops up all four drinks.
"Happy holidays." Chad says distantly, eyes trained on Doug. Evie chuckles.
"You too. And your boyfriend." She waits for him to get mad at her or tell her she's wrong, but he just laughs.
"That obvious, huh?" Evie lets out a breath. Her queer senses haven't betrayed her with this one, so if she's wrong about the boy she's picked out for Carlos, she'll be annoyed.
"Yep." She says, smiling at Chad one last time before taking her drinks and approaching the boy's table.
She silently sets the coffee down in front of the boy. He looks up at her and then back down at the coffee warily.
"Hi," She says, and holds out a hand, "I'm Evie."
"Jay." He says, shaking her hand. Jay. Evie turns the name over a few times in her mind. His grip is strong. And his voice. Deep, rough, and oh so sexy. Carlos will be all over this one.
"Sorry if this is kind of sudden, but I saw your-" Evie gets cut off by a gasp that fills the entire room. She glances over at the Starbucks counter to see Chad down on one knee in front of Doug. She gasps and raises a hand to her mouth.
Chad's voice sounds rough, like he's trying not to cry, as he makes a whole speech about finding Doug during a very dark point in his life and Doug helping him out of it, about how Doug is the kindest person he's ever known, and about he can't remember ever being happier than he is with Doug. And even though it's clear what's happening, Doug seems surprised when Chad pulls out a little box from his pocket. Evie can tell that both boys are crying, and she might be crying too. When Doug says yes the whole café bursts into applause, including, Evie notices, Jay.
"Oh, that was so cute! I love proposals." Evie says in Jay's general direction as they watch Chad pick up Doug and spin him around.
"Yeah. They're nice." Jay says quietly. Almost sadly.
"Are you okay?" Evie asks. He turns to her.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just… I broke up with my boyfriend recently, and this kind of stuff still kind of makes me sad. And with the holidays coming up and all… I just don't want to be alone on Christmas, you know?" Jay says. Evie tries to feel bad for him, she really really does. But all she wants to do is squeal in excitement. HE'S GAY, she wants to shout.
"Yeah. That sucks. Do you think you could help me bring these coffees back to my apartment?" Evie asks quickly. Jay seems surprised, but after a moment, he shrugs.
"Sure. Nothing better to do." Jay says. He shuts down his laptop and carefully closes it up and puts it in his backpack, shrugs on his coat, and then grabs Carlos and Mal's drinks. Evie takes her own coffee and the one she had wanted to give him.
"Here. This was for you." She says, holding one of the peppermint mochas out to Jay. He sets down Carlos's hot chocolate and takes the coffee.
"Who's Carlos?" He asks her as she puts on her coat, which she had slung over her arm while waiting in line.
"My roommate." She tells him.
"And Mal?" He asks.
"My girlfriend." His eyes widen at that.
"Your girlfriend?" He asks.
"Yeah. Why, you have a problem with that?" She asks, hand ready to grab for Mal's coffee and run. She's met some gay guys who think that lesbians are weird, and frankly, she finds them worse than straight people who think lesbians are weird.
"No I just… I thought you were hitting on me." He says, and almost sounds disappointed.
"Nope, sorry. You're out of luck in the female department. Although I know of a guy who might be interested in hitting on you. Hold on a second." Before Jay can even react to what she said, Evie hurries toward the counter.
"Congratulations!" She calls to Chad and Doug. They both smile at her, and Chad shouts a "Thanks!" Doug still seems transfixed by the ring on his finger.
"So, uh, this guy who might be interested on hitting on me…" Jay says when Evie returns.
"I have a feeling the two of you will be a perfect match." Evie informs Jay, grinning at him and taking a sip of her mocha.
"And I just miss him a lot." Carlos laments.
"Look, I feel for you Carlos. I really do. But I couldn't give two shits about this Antonio guy."
"Anthony."
"Whatever. So please, just shut up." Mal finishes. Carlos burrows further down into the cocoon of blankets he'd dragged out of his room with him. He'd just been following Evie's advice, really. Sulking with company. But Mal isn't exactly the best company to be sulking with.
When the door opens, Mal sighs in relief.
"What took you so long E?" She asks. Carlos is about to ask the same thing when he catches a glimpse of the guy standing behind her. His breath catches. He's gorgeous. They make eye contact. The hot boy's eyes are so pretty Carlos wants to die.
"I had to get the orders right. A black coffee for Mal," She says, handing her girlfriend her cup, "And a boyfriend for Carlos. Oh, and a hot chocolate." Carlos blushes at Evie's words, and he's pretty sure the hot boy is blushing too. Carlos shrugs out of his blankets and stands to accept his hot chocolate, and then he realizes that all he's wearing is a bright red T-shirt advertising his mother's clothing company and a pair of boxers that are probably tighter than they could be. The hot boy gives Carlos a once-over, gaze lingering over Carlos's bare legs and boxers.
"Mal, come on, let's go drink our coffee in my room." Evie says, grabbing Mal's hand. Mal groans.
"But I want to watch awkward Carlos talk to the hot guy." She complains. Evie leans down to where Mal is lying on the couch and whispers something in her ear. Mal immediately gets up.
"Let's go then." She says, pulling Evie to her room. Carlos steps forward, holding out a hand.
"I'm Carlos." He says.
"Hey Carlos. I'm Jay." The hot boy replies, shaking Carlos's hand. His voice. Jay's voice is literally sex.
"Evie said you would probably be interested in me but I didn't realize how interested." He says, cracking a smile. Carlos is almost too overwhelmed to wonder what Jay means. Then he realizes that his boxers are maybe a bit tighter than they were a few seconds ago and... shit.
"Um… I uh… well…" Carlos stammers. Jay grins at him.
"If you want to go get some pants, I won't run away, Mr. de Vil." Something flashes in Carlos's stomach when Jay says Mr. de Vil, and he bolts for his room. Carlos grabs the first pair of pants he sees on the floor, a pair of white skinny jeans. Evie had once described these particular jeans as Carlos's "gay pants", but Carlos figured that Jay might have already guessed his sexuality without the help of his coloured jeans. Then he tugs off the red De Vil Fashion T-shirt and finds a plain black one, just for good measure. Before he leaves his room, he stops and runs his fingers through his hair, attempting to make it look semi-good. It kind of almost works.
He returns to find Jay inspecting his and Evie's rather extensive video game collection.
"Dude! You have Until Dawn! I'm obsessed with this game!" Jay says, holding up the game excitedly.
"Oh, yeah Evie and I play that all the time." Carlos says, glad that Jay seems to have forgotten about what had happened a few minutes ago.
"Oh my god you have a dog." Jay says suddenly. Carlos turns to see that Dude has run into the living room, probably having heard Jay's exclamation of his name.
"Oh, yeah. Jay this is Dude. Dude, Jay." Jay kneels on the ground to pet the little dog. Dude gives him a few wary sniffs, and then rubs his head into the palm of Jay's hand. Carlos's heart melts as he watches bulky Jay gently pet Dude.
"I think he likes me." Jay whispers in awe. And fuck, if that doesn't make Carlos want to kiss this guy.
"Did I hear wrong or did you just say that you want to kiss me?" Jay asks, turning to face Carlos. Carlos feels himself turn beet red. Oh fuck.
"Um… well… I think you… uh…" Jay cuts off Carlos's ramblings by standing and pressing his lips to Carlos's. Carlos reaches up to wrap his arms around Jay's neck, and Jay's hands find a home on Carlos's waist. Carlos can't help but think that this guy is a much better kisser than Anthony was. Anthony.
And suddenly Carlos drops down from his toes. Jay seems surprised.
"Y- you okay?" Jay stumbles over the words, like that kiss made him feel as off balance as it made Carlos feel. Just the thought of that makes Carlos's heart beat faster. Because with Anthony, oftentimes it would seem to Carlos like Anthony wasn't even affected at all.
"Yeah. Just… just haven't kissed anyone since my ex." Carlos says quietly.
"Me either." Jay replies, in the same tone Carlos had just spoken in. Jay steps forward, and for a second Carlos thinks that he's going to kiss him again. He realizes that he hopes he's going to kiss him again.
"You want to play Until Dawn with me?" Jay asks. Carlos lets out a shaky breath and then he laughs.
"Yeah. I'd love to."
AN: I realized after watching Markiplier play Until Dawn that it's not really a two-person game but maybe Jay and Carlos will huddle in Carlos's blanket cocoon and bicker over the decisions or something.