The soft sound of clicking filled the air. A mouse moving rapidly along a well-used mouse pad, cursor moving over multiple screens. Very soft music sounded from slightly ajar headphones, sometimes accompanied by a hum.

Soft sighs left parted lips, limps heavy as the body turned, fingers stroking soft sheets. Heavy eyelids opened slowly, vision blurry, blinking. Details became more visible as vision cleared. Zoning in on the figure on the other side of the room, illuminated by a screen.

A soft chuckle filled the quiet air. Then the chuckle changed into supressed laughter. A smile appeared on Smitty's face. Appreciative of the other, who tried his best to stay as quiet as possible. And yet, a laugh escaped, before lips clammed shut.

A snort sounded from the bed, making John stop what he was doing and turned around. Seeing Smitty awake, he let the suppressed laughter escape. What a sight to awake to, Smitty thought. John rolled his slightly squeaky chair towards the bed. Smitty, although still tired from his nap, raised an eyebrow at the platinum blonde.

"Did the tired baby have a nice little nappie?"

Smitty gave him a deadpanned look. "Do you want your blanky?" John asked, dragging the blankets over Smitty's head. The deadpanned look disappeared under the blanket, before John pulled it back. He didn't want to actually choke his friend to death.

"What if all I wanted was my daddy~?"

John choked on his own spit. Then he started coughing harshly, before his coughs turned into laughs. Meanwhile, Smitty was dying of laughter. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he wished that he could've captured that exact moment.

"Y-you should-should've seen your f-face," he gasped. His stomach was staring to hurt from the laughing. John, also still laughing, picked up a pillow and playfully smacked it on top of Smitty's face. Smitty pulled the pillow, that John still had a hold of, abruptly away, causing John to fly out of his chair with force and land half on Smitty.

As their renowned laughter died down, John closed his eyes. His head was on top of Smitty's belly, softly rising with every breath he took. It would've lulled him straight to sleep if the other hadn't started talking. "What was so funny anyways?" John hummed.

"Oh, I was editing stick fight, the one with Mini and Panda." Smitty chuckled. "The one with the Lava3 map? The one we completely dominated?" he asked. "Yup," John said with a laugh. "We're assholes," Smitty said laughing. He had started patting John's head absentmindedly. John moved his chin up, so he could look at Smitty's face and opened his mouth to speak. Apparently Smitty did as well and of course the next thing out of their mouths simultaneously was:

"You have bear fists?"

Instead of starting to laugh again, they just smiled contently at each other. John laid his head back down and pushed himself up a bit. His arms wrapped around Smitty's torso and his head on top of the other's chest. He could vaguely make out a heartbeat. This was the definition of relaxation.

Smitty revelled in John's warmth and his arms around him. He let his thoughts wander as he kept playing with platinum blonde hair. He thought about the stick fight moments where he and John had the same idea, throwing guns or taking out the others first. Then about other games where they did something together without talking about it first, immediately understanding what the other was up to. Sometimes it seemed to be just him and John, even if other friends had joined them.

His thoughts led him down a path that seemed yet to be discovered, into the depths of their friendship. When it seemed he had gotten to a new point, he was shaking from his thoughts when he heard a soft snore. As he looked down at the man on top of him, a smile appeared on his face.

John just looked too cute like that. He almost didn't want to wake the other, but he didn't want him to get a sore back either, so he did it anyway. "C'mon, big boy," he said softly, shaking John," You can't stay like that, it's bad for your back."

John mumbled tiredly his disappointment. "I know," Smitty said, tugging on John's arms," But you've gotta." John gave him a pout and Smitty chuckled. The other finally cooperating and stood up, sort of. They maneuvered a bit, so John could lie flat on his back on the bed, a pillow beneath his head.

Smitty moved away a bit, but didn't get to far as a pair of arms tugged him close. Now he lay with his head on John's chest, snuggled nice and warm against him. The arm on his side grew heavy as breathing slowed down, eyes closed already. Smitty hummed contently, before joining his friend in blissful sleep. Only after did Smitty realise that his bad dreams stayed away, when wrapped in warm arms.

He felt safe.

/

It was almost halfway through September, but it was still pretty warm outside. But it couldn't be because of global warming… unless?

John and Smitty excited a generic snack bar like café, milkshakes in hand. They walked to the nearby park, while chatting aimlessly. The sun was beating down on them as it slowly descended in the sky, giving everything a beautiful glow.

Fall was trying it's best to cool the planet down and paint everything in pretty colours. Leaves already all kinds of red and brown, as they fell from the trees. Soon everything would be barren and cold, dark.

John stared at the leaves that got crushed beneath his feet. There was probably some weird symbolism behind it, but he couldn't care to think about one. They sat down on the park bench, close by the playground. John looked around.

A mother and probably her son at the sandbox, another mother and her two kids on the monkey bars, some couples walking the paths of the park and an elderly man reading his book on the other bench. They all seemed to want to soak in the last rays of summer sun.

Beside him Smitty leaned to the trash bin beside the park bench to throw his now empty milkshake away. The other looked at him questioning. John started obscenely slurping on the straw, sucking out the last bit of his milkshake with a lot of unnecessary noise.

Smitty rolled his eyes as he took the cup from his hands and threw it away as well. John chuckled and leaned back, arms over the backrest. Smitty leaned back as well, eyes roaming over the playground. A soft chuckle escaped his lips and John followed his gaze to the monkey bars.

The, presumed, older brother was swinging from bar to bar, almost making it to the end, but falling to the sand below. The girl, his sister, wanted to try, but the boy pushed her away. She seemed angry with him and loudly exclaimed that she wanted to try.

The two on the park bench were close enough to be able to follow their conversation. "No, you cannot try it," the boy said. "And why not?" she asked, arms crossed. "Because girls can't do it, you're not strong enough," he said, sticking his tongue out and climbing back up. He proceeded to swing from bar to bar again, before his hand slipped from the bar and he ended up falling to the ground again.

The girl huffed loudly, and quickly climbed up the ladder part. "Whatever," the boy said angrily," It's to hard anyways." The girl stayed at the beginning, seemingly doubting her choice. But then she reached for the first bar, her face full of determination. As the girl swiftly swung from bar to bar, John could see from the corners of his eyes, that Smitty leaned forward in anticipation. She continued, almost slipped and Smitty let out a soft gasp. John found it funny how invested Smitty seemed, looking ready to jump up at any given moment, sitting at the edge of the bench.

Almost without difficulty, the little girl made it. She jumped off of the contraption, turning around to face her brother, whose mouth was hanging open. "You should close your mouth, before you catch flies," she said, with a wide grin. Her brother snapped his mouth shut.

"Woohoo!"

A loud yell sounded suddenly and only then did John notice that Smitty had sprung up, cheering loudly for the girl. "You go girl!" The girl whirled around to look surprised at him. Smitty laughed and gave her a bow and applause. She gave him a toothy grin and thumbs up, before turning back to her brother and began to give him hell for trash-talking her. At some point the mother came in between the two, before they got physical. Not before giving Smitty a disapproving look.

John noticed the elderly man had looked up from his book, not expecting the easy silence to be so rudely broken. He looked a bit startled at the two men. Their eyes met and John gave an apologetic smile and a wave, pulling Smitty back onto the bench besides him. The man gave a nod, before going back to his book.

John laughed as he could practically feel the energy radiating off of Smitty as he pulled him close. "I don't know who she is," Smitty said and laughed breathlessly," But she's my hero." John chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Smitty's waist. He did not miss the look the woman gave him, but he couldn't care less.

Smitty snuggled comfortably into his side, laying his legs on top of John's lap and soaking up his warmth. It had gotten colder, as well as darker, seeing how the sun had started descending through the sky. They sat in silence, watching people walk by. John was humming a soft melody as he absentmindedly ran his hand up and down Smitty's leg. He thought Smitty might have fallen asleep, he was so silent. It wouldn't be the first time.

"That woman keeps watching us."

Ah, so he hadn't fallen asleep. "I wonder what her problem is," Smitty said. John took a moment to look at Smitty, who was on top of him, all over him. Yeah, he had a hunch why the woman kept staring. "Seriously… she looked this way again," Smitty said clearly aggravated. "Who cares?" John said, tightening his grip on the other. He wanted Smitty to stop paying attention to the woman and instead pay attention to him.

"Is it because I was cheering for her daughter?" Smitty pondered out loud," Was that weird?" John let out a snort. "A 20-something man cheering for a 6-year old girl? Naaaaaaaaah, totally not weird." Smitty slapped his arm, but laughed. John pulled him closer again and blew into his neck, making the other squirm and giggle. "Ok, ok!" Smitty yelped," Stop it!" John laughed and stopped tormenting his friend. Smitty looked him in the eyes and tuck his tongue out.

"Jerk."

"Whiny bitch."

"Asshole."

"Sour milk."

A gasp.

"Cock sucker."

"You wish!"

"Well, what if I do?"

"What if I don't? …Unless?"

They laughed at their stupid jokes. They secretly loved their stupid jokes. John looked at Smitty with a smile on his face. Smitty looked at John and how the last rays of the sun caught in bleached hair.

All of a sudden, they heard someone clear their throat. They looked up to see the aforementioned woman. "Do you two mind?" she said with a stern expression on her face. Smitty felt confused. "No," John said, staring her down. "It's not healthy to have such a …relationship," she continued," And you shouldn't publically display it. It gives my children a bad example." The poor children looked from their mother to the two men in question.

Smitty finally seemed to grasp what she was talking about as John could feel him tense up. How dare she. "Excuse me?" John said, giving her an angry look. "You see, my children shouldn't be exposed to such unnatural behaviour. It's bad for their development." John felt sick. There stood a homophobic woman, berating two friends who aren't even in a relationship in front of her two young kids.

"Are you fucking joking?"

It was a good thing that Smitty's legs were still over his, or he would have stood up to get into the woman's face. "I wonder who is giving them a bad example. Two loving and caring people showing affection? Or a demon spawned woman who is a homophobic bitch, who can't seem to grasp the idea of love."

The woman looked furious and opened her mouth to retaliate, but John continued. "I have great pity on your children and your husband, if you have one. No one should be raised with the idea that being gay is wrong. 'Cause guess what lady? There's absolutely nothing wrong with it! Love. Is. Love."

The woman tried to stare down John, but he wasn't intimated in the least. "Now get out of my sight, you wretched woman. And educate your kids better, before they end up like you." The woman couldn't seem to form words, so instead she grabbed both her children by the hand and dragged them away with her. "Let's go, before they rub their sins off on us."

John gave her the finger. The little girl tried as best as she could to turn and wave at the two boys. Smitty send her a smile and a wave back, before exhaling and sagging in. He tried to let out all the tension that had build up in his body during the conversation. John's strong arms pulled him further on top of his lap.

"You okay?" Smitty shrugged. "Some people…" he said, shaking his head. "Yeah." They sighed simultaneously. "You got pretty passionate there," Smitty said. "Yeah. I don't like people talking shit about such a thing. It's up to people themselves who they love," John said. "Soooo, it wasn't because of… personal reasons?" Smitty asked curiously. "I didn't say that," John said, shrugging. "Huh."

They left it at that. As silence once again fell upon them, John pondered the things that just occurred. Why did he lose his cool like that? That normally didn't happen so easily. Normally, he couldn't care about such people, let alone give a shit about them or tell them off. Was it because she did it in front of her children? Or was it because she did it in front of him and Smitty?

Probably because of Smitty. How dare she speak so ill of non-straight people, right in front of him and his friend. He knew Smitty was bisexual, for he had told him about a boy way back he liked and he knew he had a girlfriend. He doubted if Smitty knew he was totally and completely gay, he had no interest in girls, except for maybe their fashion sense. It shouldn't matter anyway. People shouldn't get treated with hatred for who they choose to love. Especially not by such bitches-.

"Oh my fucking god, I was swearing in front of those children."

Smitty had slightly dozed off, due to being relaxed now that he was snuggled in the warmth that John provided. Now he was wide-awake, looking slightly shocked at John. He then started laughing. "Oh really?" he laughed," Were you swearing?" John looked slightly ashamed. "You swear like a fucking sailor, borther."

John shrugged. "My bad." Smitty huffed a laugh. "Next time, maybe turn the swearing down a bit when there are kids around."

"Turn down for what?"

"Nooooooo, Joooooohn…"

As John laughed, he noticed another woman walking towards them. He recognised her and the toddler she was holding in her arms. They had been playing in the sandbox the entire time. He could feel Smitty tensing up again as he noticed the woman too. "It's okay," he said softly into Smitty's ears," She's good."

There was no visible ill intent in the woman's body language and there was a kind smile on her smile. "Hey," she greeted them as she was close," Are you two okay?" John smiled up at her. "We're fine," he said. "Good," the woman sighed," She had no right to bother you two like that." John shrugged. "Some people are like that, sadly." She nodded. Her little boy, who had been intently staring at the two men, spoke up.

"Awe you two mawwied?"

It caught them off guard. "Jack! You can't just ask that," the woman said, trying to hold in her laughter. The boy protested. "But he has wings!" They were only slightly confused to what the adorable boy meant, until they noticed him pointing at John's hands. John chuckled.

"But I don't," Smitty said, showing him his hands. Jack stared at Smitty's hands then looked affronted at John. "Why didn't you giwe one to him? That's so unfaiw!" His mother couldn't stifle her laughter, trying to get him to stop talking. Smitty was laughing as well, until John took his right hand.

"You know what, little man?" John said, removing the ring from his pinkie," You're right, that is unfair." He slid the ring on Smitty's ring finger and gave the hand a kiss. The little boy clapped happily in his hands. "Now you two awe mawwied!" He was ecstatic, a smile on his face. The grown ups laughed.

"I think it's time to go, young man," the mother said as she adjusted him in her arms, his hands finding their grip in her shirt. "Aww, but I was having fun," he complained. "I know, sweetie, but it's getting late and daddy's waiting for us with dinner," she said, softly bouncing him," Say goodbye to these kind men." He waved his little hand and shouted a goodbye as they walked away.

It was silent for a moment, both thinking about how strange the world sometimes is. "So… we're married now?" Smitty asked, twiddling with the ring on his finger. "Yup." Smitty smiled. "Nice." He untangled himself from John and stretched his limps. Something in his back popped and he let out a groan. John stood up from the bench, only now realising he had a hurting flat butt from sitting on the steel bench. "Oof."

John looked at the man on the other bench, wondering if his behind didn't hurt and how he was still able to read while it was getting darker and darker. The man looked up, gave him a nod then continued to read his book. John smiled and joined Smitty at his side.

As they walked out of the park, Smitty spoke up. "There are two kinds of people in this world." John hummed. "Nah, I'd say there's three." Smitty gave him a look. "The homophobes, the homo-supporters, who are most of the time not gay themselves," he explained," And then there's the actual homos."

"Huh," Smitty said," Yeah, I guess you're right." John made an tsk sound as he linked his arm with Smitty's. "I'm always right." Smitty laughed, walking just a bit closer to John as they made their way home. "Sure you are." He let out a yawn," Man, I'm exhausted." John bumped his shoulder to Smitty's. "C'mon lets go to your place and order pizza and beers," he said. Smitty smiled up at him as he bumped their shoulders together. "And spend my evening in your company?" he said with a coy smile. He then chuckled and said:

"That would be fantastic."