Summary: The amigos' game night in Mateo's room turns sentimental as he admits something he was never sure he'd say out loud. Prompt: Anything Goes. Post-series.

In Mateo's defense, the sudden shift from a harmless game of cards into an all-out pillow war was not entirely his fault. Sure, he'd technically fired the first shot, but he really hadn't been aiming at Elena, and Gabe had definitely been egging him on. Besides, he'd had zero say in the way Naomi had cackled at Elena's bewildered expression and pitched another pillow into the fray, or the way Elena had grabbed a pillow in each fist and circled the table to finally enact her fluffy revenge on Mateo, and at that point, well, he was just acting in self-defense.

Half a minute later, the four of them had armed themselves with every pillow off of Mateo's couch, cards scattered and the original game completely forgotten. Barely half a minute after that, Mateo found himself caught at the center of the pillow storm after accidentally whacking Elena again because Gabe had ducked out of the way.

He had to be doing it on purpose, or something.

Either way, it was all Mateo could do to squeeze his way past his friends and escape from the center of his room, retreating up the stairs to his bed. "Okay, okay, you guys win," he gasped, flopping backward onto the sheets. "I'm out."

He lay there, catching his breath and taking in the sound of the others still playing, with laughter and the sounds of pillows filling the cavernous space of his room.

"Ah hah!" Elena cried, accompanied by the dull thump of another pillow collision. "And that's what you get when you challenge the Queen of Avalor!"

"Mateo's bed is the 'out' zone," Naomi declared, "so get over there!" A decisive thud followed, and then another, as the girls chucked a barrage of pillows after Gabe to make absolutely sure he left the makeshift arena.

"I'm going! I'm going!" Gabe managed through a bout of laughter, and before Mateo could sit up to confirm what that meant, Gabe had leapt up the floating steps and tossed himself onto the bed, landing right on Mateo's outstretched arm.

"Ow! Gabe!" Mateo rolled halfway over to swat at him with his free arm, falling back as it turned out to be futile.

Gabe laughed again, still sounding breathless. "Sorry, sorry," he said, showing no signs of actually getting up, and before Mateo could protest again, Elena let out another victorious whoop from the center of the room.

"Yet another victory for Queen Elena! Just what will she accomplish next?"

"Make room!" The defeated Naomi called, climbing up to the bed, and Mateo quickly tucked his free arm in to avoid getting that one pinned, too, as she dropped onto his other side.

"One more!" Elena chimed in, discarding her pillow arsenal and running up the steps herself. She squeezed herself in on Naomi's opposite side, to a chorus of "scooch in" and "move over" and "ow, that was my stomach," and somehow, they managed to get all four of them crammed together in Mateo's bed, all giggly and flushed.

And somehow, Mateo's arm was still trapped underneath Gabe's body.

But somehow, it wasn't as uncomfortable as it should have been. His arm was falling asleep, and Naomi was pressed against his other side so tightly that he could barely even wiggle the rest of himself, and then Elena was curled around her in such a way that her own outstretched hand brushed against Mateo's hair, bumping a curl into his face. By all accounts, this should have been miserable. He couldn't move, his hair was tickling him, he could feel every rustle and shift of the bed as his friends squirmed around, trying to get comfortable themselves, and he—

He was really warm. It was actually kinda nice. Cozy. Just him and the people he cared about most, all together, just like he thought they were meant to be. Mateo settled in with a sigh, letting his eyes flutter closed and allowing himself to feel content.

"I love you guys."

It slipped out, unbidden, and Mateo snapped his eyes open to stare up at his ceiling, a cold knot of dread tightening in his stomach. Had he said that out loud? He'd said that out loud. Maybe they hadn't heard him?

The sick, icy feeling worsened, though, as Naomi snorted, confirming the worst. They heard. They heard him. He might have just ruined everything. Over four years of close-knit friendship made forever awkward because he had to go and admit his feelings ran deeper than that. He swallowed, bracing for more laughter, scorn, rejection, for them all to leave because he'd made things weird.

What happened instead, though, was nothing of the sort. "Gee, I sure hope so," Naomi said, with a playful poke between his ribs.

"We are all best friends," Elena added, and Gabe hummed in confirmation beside him.

They—they'd misheard? No, they heard him, they just didn't understand what he'd meant. To be fair, he hadn't really understood at first either—he'd just assumed that the type of relationship he wanted to have with them was a normal next step for friends. That if it was "love" the way it was in fairytales, it would be reserved for one and only one of them. He didn't exactly have much prior experience to draw from, but he could at least recognize that the way they had all reached out to him made him feel special in a way he didn't when he was alone. It was somewhere in the midst of trying to make them feel that same way that he realized his feelings weren't quite platonic.

But this was… good, right? What he had with them already was more than he could've ever asked for. He could accept the misunderstanding, act like that was all he intended, and the status quo would remain, without having to risk their already wonderful friendship for his own selfish sake. But something felt wrong about not clarifying, like he was somehow lying to them, and, well, he'd never been a very good liar.

"That's not what I meant," he finally said, his mouth dry and his heart pounding in his ears. "I mean, that too—you guys are my best friends, and I wouldn't trade that for the world, which is why I—I don't quite know how to explain—"

The bed shifted beneath him as Elena sat halfway up at the far end, and Mateo squeezed his eyes shut rather than face her confused expression. Maybe he should just stop, take the out he'd been offered, try and pretend this whole thing hadn't happened.

He kept talking despite himself, and with his eyes closed he could almost pretend he was just announcing this to his empty bedroom. "But it's not just that. There's something—" more wasn't the right word. It implied that his love for them as his friends was somehow less, and that seemed neither fair nor accurate. "—else," was what he settled with, despite how inadequate it felt. How could that possibly encompass everything about how important they all were to him?

The pressure suddenly lifted off his arm, the bed lurching in time, and a prickling sensation rushed through the limb as he drew it back across his stomach and tried not to think of how cold that side of him felt without Gabe there.

Stupid. Should've kept his mouth shut.

"Wait," Gabe started, his voice quiet and unsure, lacking any of the bravado Mateo had come to expect from him. "You, too?"

...What?

Mateo blinked his eyes open and dared looking over at Gabe, who was gazing down at him, eyes brimming with wonder and hope. He gasped softly as Mateo made eye contact and snapped his attention upward, looking over him at the others with a sheepish grin that Mateo felt he would've been more likely to see in a mirror than on Gabe's face.

"I've actually felt that same way for a while, now," he went on, "about all of you, but—" He paused to huff out a laugh, looking down at the sheets. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do about it. I hated the idea that I'd have to choose, but I didn't know what other options I had. How are you supposed to tell three other people that you love them?"

"Apparently, do what Mateo just did," Naomi said. "And, for the record," fingers brushed against Mateo's elbow and he twisted his neck around to watch as Naomi hooked one arm through his and the other through Elena's, "I'm in the same boat as you guys."

"What?" Mateo asked. Had his voice always been so small?

Naomi smiled at him, cheeks red, and then suddenly jolted and turned toward Elena, trying to pull her arm back. "Sorry, I should've made sure you were on the same page first—"

"I am," Elena said, clasping Naomi's hand in hers. "I definitely am. I'm—" she looked away, biting her lip as if that could do anything to conceal her growing smile. "I am so, so happy that I got to meet all of you, and that I get to be here with you now." When she looked back across her friends—no, her partners—meeting each of their eyes in turn, her own eyes were shining above her unguarded smile. "We're all at our best when we're together, and I want us to stay that way, for as long as we can."

Breathless, relieved laughter from Gabe and Naomi seemed to be enough of an acceptance to her, and she lay back down, curling even more tightly against Naomi than she had before and threading her fingers much more deliberately through Mateo's hair. Gabe seemed to take that as his cue to lie down again, as well, smushing up against Mateo's side.

Mateo, for his part, returned to just staring up at his ceiling, trying to sort through everything that had just happened and willing his heart to stop racing. "Well. Uh. That's good?" he finally said.

"Oh, don't act so surprised," Naomi said. "You're the one that started all this."

"I wasn't exactly expecting this result," he admitted.

Gabe snorted. "Were any of us?"

"You're happy with how things turned out, though, right?" Elena asked.

Naomi had freed her arm from Mateo's to lock her fingers with Gabe's, their entwined hands resting on Mateo's chest. Gabe's other arm was curled around Mateo's head, where he was gently running his thumb across the back of Elena's hand, which was still stroking Mateo's hair, and Elena's other arm was wrapped around Naomi. Mateo couldn't move, as tightly sandwiched as he was, and his arm was still tingling from earlier, and every so often, Elena's fingers would snag on a tangle in his hair. It was undoubtedly uncomfortable, and they were all going to end up with cramps in weird places if they actually fell asleep.

But it was also warm, and cozy, and it felt like they were meant to be just like that.

"Yeah," Mateo answered. "I am."

You guys knew I had to do a polyamigos one, right? Like, I'd be a sham if I didn't do a polyamigos one. Also I just *clenches fist* really hecking love cuddle puddles.

And that brings this Ship Week contribution to an end! I had a lot of fun working on this project, and I'm honestly kinda proud of myself for seeing it through to the end, especially considering I fell so far behind on the prompts and romantic stuff isn't normally in my wheelhouse. I also want to thank everyone that read through - your comments have been a delight to read, and it makes me really happy to know you've been enjoying it. With all that said, though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as well, and I look forward to sharing more of my work with you all in the future!