"Is that everything? That's it?"
Brodie looks around the apartment, cataloging boxes and furniture in his mind and where they will go. "I think so?"
"Yes!" Jamie's grin is infectious as he also looks around at the mess. "Group hug then we can start unpacking."
He barely has time to protest (not that he would) before being pulled into a four-way hug with Kellen, Mason, and Jamie.
"Officially roommates!" Kellen cheers directly in his ear.
Ever the realistic one, Mason says, "Technically we've been roommates since we signed the lease."
"Shuddup. No one asked for your technicalities." He laughs and Mason rolls his eyes with a smile and Brodie knows this is going to go well.
He and Kellen had stayed in Boise to attend university while Mason and Jamie had gone to school five and a half hours away. Now they are (mostly) all graduates and back in Boise with a three-bed, two-bath apartment for the four of them. The master bedroom with an attached bathroom is Jamie and Mason's, while he and Kellen have their own bedrooms.
"Okay, let's start putting things away. I'd like to sleep in a bed tonight."
For the next few hours, Brodie sets up his room and helps move boxes and dressers, bed frames and shelves, before going to the kitchen to help Mason. Apparently, he did a lot of cooking while up in Pullman and he's probably going to end up being their resident cook. Brodie, meanwhile, has picked up baking and spends a decent amount of time in the kitchen, and the two of them get a say of how it'll be organized.
By the time they called it a day, the majority of the apartment had been set up. There are still a few boxes of things to be put away, but they're smaller things that can be done the next day.
Brodie orders pizza and the four of them squish onto the couch, ready to relax with some video games. It's a fun, easy evening, just like when the four of them hung out during high school- with the difference that Jamie and Mason are now dating and have been for the past four years. Even though they all have matured while at university, the excitement of living together takes them right back to their younger selves as they race around the pixellated track.
There's just one, tiny little thing that is keeping Brodie from fully relaxing, though. A bundle of nerves in his stomach. Slightly sweaty palms.
He looks at his friends, at Kellen leaning forward over his remote as he focuses on the game the four of them are playing. He watches the way Mason talks in a low voice to Jamie, their sides pressed together from shoulders to knees. He doesn't want this to change.
"You okay, dude?"
He looks back to the TV to see that while he was distracted, his character has driven directly into a corner and he's fallen down two places. Answering Kellen's question, he says, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just zoned out for a second."
Kellen bumps his knee into his as he curses out one of the computer-generated characters.
This is it. He's going to do it. He knows they won't care, that they'll still accept him, but once it's out there, he can't take the words back. Just a few simple words that'll bring the game to a halt, but he wants to say them. He wants them to know.
"Watch out on your left, there's- Kellen!"
Having just crashed into Mason while he was helping Jamie, Kellen laughs evilly as he speeds past him into second. "You snooze, you lose."
"I didn't snooze! You're just evil!"
"You should have been paying more attention!"
"I'm helping Jamie! Just cause you- oh, no. You don't want to go there, darling."
"I have a boyfriend."
"Going left is a shortcut and can get you up a few places."
It takes a second for his words to register with any of the others, but then Kellen's character careens off the side, dying instantly, as he abruptly turns to face Brodie. Mason keeps talking to Jamie- giving pointers because, even after all this time playing together, Jamie is still terrible.
"What'd you say?"
Picking up that Kellen abandoned the game, Mason pauses and turns toward them.
"Wait, what's happening?"
"Um," Brodie looks down, rubbing the back of his neck. "I, uh, recently realized I'm bi? And, um. I have a boyfriend."
"Really? That's great!" Jamie says. He reaches over the other two to put his hand on Brodie's. "I'm glad you told us."
"Dude! Tell me everything!" Kellen adds. "What's he like? What's his name? Do I know him? How long have you known him? When did you start dating? How-"
"Kellen," Mason interrupts. "Let him breathe. He won't be able to tell you anything if you're non-stop asking questions. Besides, he might not want to tell us everything right away."
"No, it's okay. Thank you, though. It's Oliver," he says, referring to the first friend he made at the University of Idaho in Boise. They'd been in the same orientation group and department, sharing multiple classes together throughout their four years.
"Oh! Really?"
Brodie grins, remembering how well Kellen and Oliver got along when the three of them hung out. "Yeah."
"Wait, does this make me the Token Straight Friend?"
Jamie, in the middle of having a drink, snorts and chokes on his water. He's rubbed on the back by Mason, who also takes his cup and puts it on the coffee table.
Brodie can't help but wonder if he and Oliver will ever get to the domestic easiness that those two have fallen into. He's seen the effortless way they move with the other without having to talk. They just know what the other wants and needs and it makes Brodie jealous. He wants someone to know him so completely- inside and out- that he doesn't even have to say anything.
"Sorry, Jamie," Kellen says, bringing Brodie back to the conversation. "You good?"
"Fine," he coughs. "Just don't make me laugh while I'm drinking, please."
"No promises-" He stops when both Mason and Jamie give him a deadpanned look in unison. They've always seemed to be similar, and since they started dating, they've sometimes seemed like the same person in two bodies. "Okay, okay. I promise I won't."
Mason wraps his arm around Jamie and pulls him into his side, looking at Brodie as he absentmindedly runs his fingers over his boyfriend's shoulder. "When did you realize?"
"That I'm bi? Um, there was a party a few months ago and we were both drunk. He kissed me, I freaked out the next day, then…" He trails off with a shrug. "We started dating almost a month ago."
"Aww, you're blushing," Kellen teases, poking his cheek. "What was it like? It must've been an epic kiss if it made you question your sexuality."
"I don't kiss and tell."
"Bullshit! You've always told me everything!"
"What do you want me to say, man? I was drunk, I don't remember much- we made out in his room for an hour and-" he breaks off when he sees the shit-eating grin and suggestively raised eyebrows Kellen's wearing. With the heat behind his cheeks instead of behind his words, he says, "Oh, shut up."
Truthfully, he doesn't mind the teasing. It's reassuring, in a way. With Kellen treating him like he always has, Brodie feels more comfortable at being himself around them. Not that he held himself back before- he genuinely thought he was straight until Oliver kissed him and Brodie didn't stop him. And now that he does know, he can talk about his boyfriend just as he easily could with his past girlfriends.
He thinks about that first kiss with Oliver and, yeah, how epic it was. Oliver's roommate was throwing an end-of-the-year party and after getting drunk, the two of them snuck away to Oliver's room to have their own mini-party to celebrate the completion of a stressful and tedious project the day before. Brodie doesn't remember what they talked about, just that they ended up laughing so hard their stomachs hurt.
When Oliver was suddenly leaning into him, Brodie's world swirled around, and thinking back, he's not sure if it was because of the alcohol or Oliver's close proximity. Either way, he was pleasantly comfortable and the next thing he knew, Oliver's lips were on his. Pulling away didn't even occur to him- until he needed air. It felt so right to kiss him. As right as when he kissed Ashley back during his high school days, except better, because Oliver was there and so real.
His muscles were firm against Brodie's and his hair was soft between his fingers. Oliver's hands ran up and down his body, leaving a trail of fire everywhere he touched. Brodie hadn't felt exhilarated like that in a long time and he pressed in, deepening the kiss to get more. He couldn't get enough and it seemed like Oliver couldn't either, by the way he was pulled Brodie closer and closer. There wasn't any space between them.
Brodie remembered the way their clothed erections deliciously pressed together and how he moaned "Oli" into the kiss. How Oliver ground into him in response…
"I didn't say anythmmph!" He's cut off by Mason covering his mouth.
"Dude, I know you're excited and want to support Brodie- we all do- but please stop yelling in my ear. I'd rather not get a headache our first night living here."
"Sorry, but he's blushing! That's so cute!"
Brodie blushes harder when he realizes he was daydreaming about him and Oliver cumming in their pants like teenagers while he's sitting next to the three best friends he's had for forever.
After 'spilling the deets,' they got back to the game with Kellen complaining about being put in last. It's to no one's surprise that Mason wins, though it is the first time Jamie finishes ahead of Kellen and he has no sympathy when Kellen complains it as unfair.
Hours later, the pizza is all gone and they're flopped on the couch, trying to find the energy to pull themselves to bed.
"So, do I now have to give Oliver the 'if you hurt my best friend' speech?"
This time, it's Brodie who chokes on his drink.