Things had been awkward for the past week, to say the least.

Wicked and Billy did get by, still having fun, still watching movies, playing video games, eating pizza, stealing – the old routines. Billy smiled the whole time, but he still had the tension holding him back from getting the full enjoyment out of the time he spent with the pale boy. He said he had to think about his feelings for Wicked. And he did. Constantly. It seemed to consume his mind, much as he wanted to just occasionally occupy himself with thoughts of BBQ, monster trucks, and why duckbilled platypuses were so funny looking. Even when he did managed to step away from the subject of 'Wicked likes me', it stayed around, somewhere in the back of his head, turning and grinding, just waiting to get back into the center stage.

Wicked, on the other hand, was free from burning thoughts, genuinely enjoying and focusing on the dumb, fun things he and Billy did together. Sometimes Mammoth would join in, often wrecking the area – but it was okay, so long as they were wrecking someone else's building. But for the most part, it was just Billy and Wicked.

This time, they had broken into the local mall, closed after hours, moving inside of the arcade. Kid Wicked flipped everything on with a childish grin, delighting in seeing all the lights and sound of the arcade come to life. The two of them disabled the security system before they went in, allowing them to enjoy it in peace. For hours, they shot zombies in house of the dead, watch Billy flail and fall over in Dance Dance Revolution, stole quarters from the counter, and just waste time in digital escapes.

When they had run out of energy, they lay down in the LAN area, surrounded by computers and black rolling chairs. Billy panted, sweating, having once again failed to clear a single song on DDR. Wicked grinned at him, his face laughing, but with no noise coming out. Billy pulled back on his mask to reduce the heat, showing his sweat stained, messy, short brown hair. He blinked a few times, readjusting the world and getting his bearings.

He attempted to speak in his thick southern accent. Billy found that he still needed a lot more air before he could form words. So, he breathed in the thick air what felt like a few hundred more times, and tried to speak.

"Mmf." He managed to spit out, then taking two more breaths to recover from the energy expense it took to open his mouth and twang his vocal cords to produce the sound.

Kid Wicked crawled forward, pulling his bat-like mask off to let his head cool down as well. Long black hair that couldn't seem to stay straight fell out, being brushed to the side so it didn't cover his eyes. He slowly grabbed a pen from one of the desks holding the computers up, slapping his hand around, searching for paper until finally grabbing hold of some sheets.

'That was fun!' Wicked etched in with black ink.

Billy simply nodded, starting to get his wind back.

'I'm glad you still like to do this stuff, Billy.'

Billy nodded again, smiling a bit.

A long pause entered, Billy and Wicked just lying flat. Wicked felt his skin tense up, hesitating to write down what he wanted to say. He knew Billy was having difficulty with just thinking about it.

Still, he forced himself to do it.

'Have you thought about it, Billy?'

Billy nodded again, slower this time, minus the smile.

'Do you have an answer?'

Billy shook his head side to side gently. He didn't.

Wicked swallowed a lump in his throat. He was more patient than Billy, but he didn't want to wait too long. Otherwise, Billy might never make up his mind, or just try to move on and act like nothing had happened – which is at least what Wicked feared.

"Uhm. Wicked."

Wicked perked up. Yes? He expressed with his face.

"Ah don't know cuz… cuz ah'm kinda nervous jus' thinkin' 'bout it. Ah'm a lil scared."

Wicked listened intently, moving a little closer to Billy.

"So…so ah know yer mah friend… but ah can't just, y'know, think past that. There's a, a… a block. An' ah need somethin' ta force me past it."

Wicked's eyes were curious and wide. Where was he going with this?

"So, uhm, ah jus' need ya ta kiss me again. An' even though ah'm kinda scared of it, ya need ta kiss me on th' lips. It'll make me figger things out way faster." Billy squirmed. A large part of him regretted that right after saying it. "Jus' lemme close mah eyes, an'…an' don't surprise me too much, okay?"

Wicked nodded. Billy bit his lips once, released, and then shut his eyes close. Wicked glided over to Billy, placing one hand on his chest, and his head inches above Billy's. He leaned gently down, silently eager, but wanted to make things easy on Billy.

Then there was the kiss.

Billy did not make the revelation of 'I like guys', or 'I like Wicked', or 'I like' anything. The first revelation that came to him was this.

'I don't mind this.'

Then, the natural conclusion 'I don't mind Wicked doing this.'

From there on came a series of 'I don't mind's, and it clicked for Billy. Wicked could be more than a friend to him. The block wasn't there anymore. There was opportunity.

And he would take it.

Billy kissed back quickly, softly, still a little nervous. Wicked smiled ear to ear, and hugged Billy close. He could like Billy and Billy could like him. He wouldn't have to feel guilty about liking him.

Billy then shattered the moment with "Yer face is really sweaty an' warm, Wicked."

Wicked considered this.

He then laughed silently, glad to have Billy.