Ray let out a happy sigh as he sat down in front of a fire Tyson's grandpa had made for him and the others to dry off by. They were all wrapped in large blankets, having had to take off their clothing and put on new underwear to dry, and were drinking steaming cups of hot chocolate. The room was quieter than it usually would be with the four boys together. They were all thinking about the past two days, and didn't really know what to say to each other.
The silence lasted a long time, while everyone enjoyed their drinks, and it wasn't until Tyson broke the silence, having fished his drink first, that things got a little back to normal. "This is so boring!" Tyson yelled, standing up and letting the blanket fall off him to reveal his boxers. He didn't seem to care though, because he didn't pick the blanket up. Instead he kicked it aside and walked back towards the kitchen to put his glass away. Ray watched Tyson for a few seconds, noticing Max staring at Tyson. A smirk crossed Ray's face, and he saw Kai nudge him, making him look away from Tyson quickly and stare down into his cup.
Tyson came back a few minutes later. The room was still strangely quiet, but the other three boys had finished their drinks and were now just looking at the fire. They looked up at Tyson when he came back in, still in only boxers. He was holding a bowl of chips which had four cans of pop on top of it. Kai and Ray looked up at him with questioning expressions as Max looked back at the fire quickly. "I'm bored, so we're going to go do something fun now. We're warmed up enough," Tyson told them.
"What could there possibly be to do at your house?" Ray asked him.
"Play video games in my room obviously," he told him. "So hurry up! Get up and let's go!"
Kai and Ray stayed where they were staring at Tyson, Max looking up at him too now. Tyson let out a slightly angry sigh and looked down at Max, grabbing at his arm. "You like video games right? You do have some back at your mom's house, don't you my Maxie?" he asked.
"Yeah...?" Max told him, not able to say much to the boy who was now standing in front of him.
"Well then come on, get up!" Tyson demanded, yanking on his arm. Max got up, holding the blanket around him tightly, and followed Tyson. He looked behind him at Kia and Ray, giving them pleading looks, and Ray couldn't help up stand up and go to follow them gripping his blanket tightly too.
"Are you coming?" Ray asked Kai, who was still sitting and staring at the fire.
"Do you want me to come?" he asked.
"Of course I do," Ray told him a little shocked that Kai would even ask a question like that, or be concerned with what he wanted. Kai sat still for a few more seconds before looking up at Ray.
"Fine," he said standing up, letting his blanket hang loosely around him. Ray stared at him for a few more seconds than needed, and then turned around quickly, running slightly to catch up to Tyson and Max.
The four boys got to Tyson's room, and Tyson put the snacks down on his bed before going over to where his games were. Max sat down on the bed and slid back to the wall, taking the chips and a can of pop with him as he concentrated on looking at the blank TV screen. Ray raised an eyebrow at him as he reached across the bed and pulled the chips back to the middle of it so he could reach from where he'd chosen to sit on the floor. Tyson looked back at his friends once he'd turned the gaming console on. "I only have two controllers, and since me and Max got here first we get to play first," he told them, tossing a controller to Max. Ray just shrugged, and Kai didn't even respond as he sat down beside Ray on the floor.
"Can we play a racing game?" Max asked Tyson as he picked the controller up, causing his blanket to slide down.
"Only if you promise not to get mad when I beat you," Tyson told him, laughing and putting a game in before sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I don't have to make that promise because I'll be the one beating you," Max laughed.
"You can't beat me! I've played the tracks on this game over a hundred times!" Tyson told him.
"That's what you think," Max told him, smiling. "I bet I can beat you on the hardest track."
"Oh, it's on now Maxie!" Tyson said happily, flipping through the list of tracks and choosing the hardest one in the game, that he could think of. Tyson and Max then chose their cars and they were off.
The mood in the room changed drastically when the race between the two was done. Tyson was slightly upset, but still in a way better mood than by the fire, when Max ended up beating him, although the win wasn't by much. Max was extremely happy and challenging Ray and Kai to a race each, saying he'd go easy on them. Ray was determined to beat Max in at least one race, and even Kai wanted to test his skill by playing the winner of Ray and Max's match. It was almost like when they were having the water fight. All having fun and fooling around, like nothing at all was wrong. Although, Max and Kai did give Ray and Tyson strange looks or go quiet when they started to say things that weren't like them.
The time pasted and Max kept winning his matches, in four the different racing games that Tyson owned. The matches kept going around in a circle, Tyson, Ray, and Kai taking turns racing Max, and soon Kai was on his fifth try. They were closer in this race than the other four, Kai having gotten better in every match, and it looked like Kai had a chance to win. Ray looked away from the screen, thinking of a way to finally have someone else win. And then it came to him. "Hey Maxie?" he asked.
"Yeah Ray?" Max replied as he concentrated on the game.
"Are those bunnies on your boxers?" he asked, causing Tyson to look over at Max.
Max instantly turned pink and looked down. "Ray!" he yelled dropping his controller and pulling the blanket that had slid off him over top his legs. There was a noise from the racing game, and Max, Tyson, and Ray looked up to see that Kai had won. "That was cheating!" Max yelled accusingly.
"No it wasn't!" Ray yelled. "You didn't have to freak out, I was just asking. It's not like we care." Max turned redder.
"I'd be quiet if I was you Ray, someone might mention the kitties on your boxers," said Kai almost teasingly. Now it was Ray's turn to go pink and hide his boxers with a blanket. Tyson laughed.
"Some men you two are," he said reaching for the controller from Kai.
"I won Tyson, it's time for Max to give up his controller," Kai told him.
"Oh right," Tyson grinned leaning over to Max. "Give it over bunny boy." Max glared slightly at Tyson and passed him the controller. "Alright Kai, let see how good you really are," he said. Kai let out a little chuckle, and the racing started up again.
When the race was over Kai had won, making Max and Ray turn and laugh at Tyson. His boasting about how good he was, but losing to Max and Kai, was just too good a chance to tease him to pass up. "I thought you said you were good at this game," Ray said as Tyson crossed his arms and glared at them.
"I am good!" he yelled. "I'm just having an off day! I could so beat you Ray!"
"I'd like to see you try," Ray told him smirking. Tyson glared at him before picking up his controller and looking at Kia.
"Give the controller to Ray, Kai, I want to prove that I can beat him!" he yelled. Kai handed the controller to Ray without looking at him.
"Well of course you can beat him. He grew up in a place with no technology. It's surprising he's as good as he is," Kai told Tyson.
"Hey! Are you doubting my ability to beat you guys?" Ray asked, not actually looking for an answer. "Because if you are I'd be more than happy to beat you after I beat Tyson." Kai smirked at Ray.
"You sound a little over confident," Kai told him, giving a chuckle as Ray and Tyson started picking cars and a track. "But I'll accept that challenge, if you do actually beat Tyson."
"I will beat him," Ray told him.
"Fat chance of that happening, nature boy," Tyson said starting the race.
It turned out that Tyson, even with all his confidence in winning, was the worst at playing racing games out of the four boys. He lost to Ray by a lot, almost as much as when he was racing Max. With an angry sigh he got up off the bed, took the empty chip bowl and pop cans, and left the room handing Kai the controller on the way out. Now it was Kai and Ray's turn to race.
The race ended with Kai winning. Ray somehow knew Kai would beat him. When they started the race it had felt like something was telling him to lose, and even though he didn't want to lose something was making him mess up on turns and more than he usually would. When the race was over, and Kai had won, he asked Max if he wanted to play again to see who was better now that he was warmed up. Max laughed at Kai's excuse for losing to him the first few times, but accepted and Ray reached across the bed handing over the controller.
Max reached over for the controller, but stopped staring at Ray's upper arm. "What's that from?" he asked moving his hand from the controller and pointing at a weird looking line on Ray's upper arm.
"Nothing," Ray said quickly looking away from Max over to his arm, and then let go of the controller moving the blanket in his lap so it covered his arm too.
Kai looked over to Max and Ray quickly when Max spoke to Ray. He caught a glimpse of what Ray was trying to hide as the blanket went over his arm. He looked back at Max raising an eyebrow slightly, and Max shrugged his shoulders grabbing the controller and leaning back against the wall. Kai turned back to Ray, who was now fidgeting with the blanket and acting like he was avoiding eye contact. "Ray?" he asked in a neutral tone. Ray looked up at him with a question look. "What's on your arm?"
"A scar," he told him, looking away again.
There was a short pause between everyone before Max slid down the wall a little, kicking Kai lightly on the upper shoulder. Kai looked over at him, and he motioned to Ray. Kai gave Max a slight glare, but looked back at Ray and pulled the blanket down his arm a little to see the weird shaped line better. "Where'd you get it from?" he asked. Ray looked up at him and moved away slightly pulling the blanket back up.
"My match against Bryan," he told him sounding a little nervous. Kai didn't say anything as he got a sad look on his face and glanced at Max while on his way to looking back at the TV.
"Come on, let's get this race started!" Max said a little over enthusiastically. Ray gave him a look. He grinned at him, choosing a car and track quickly to get the race started before anything else happened.
Half way through the race Ray couldn't take the new sadder mood in the room. He stood up, holding his blanket tightly around himself, and left. On his way down the hall he met Tyson carrying some more pop and snacks. "Where are you going?" Tyson asked him.
"I'm going to the bathroom, and then I'm going to go back to the fire," Ray told him, trying to push past. Tyson stopped him.
"Why, what happened?" he asked sounding concerned for the first time since their bet started.
"Max pointed out a scar on my arm and Kai asked about it, so I told him where I got it and the mood in the room just went down," Ray told him, getting past Tyson successfully this time. "I hate this stupid bet." Tyson heard him mumble as he headed down the hall.
Tyson entered his bedroom to see an angry looking Kai, and an extremely happy looking Max. He handed them both their drinks, and put the snacks down on the bed where the chips had been before. "So I guess that means Max beat you again?" Tyson asked Kai. He didn't answer, so Max did from him.
"Yeah I did! It was an awesome race though! He almost had me this time! That was the closest race I've had in forever!" he told Tyson as he dived for the snacks.
"What about Ray, did you beat him?" Tyson asked, still addressing Kai.
"Hn," Kai answered opening his pop and drinking it.
"Yeah, he beat Ray too! Once he gets a little more practise I won't be the best racer anymore," Max told Tyson, sounding a little worried on the last few words.
Kai stood up, draping his blanket around himself, and handing Tyson his controller. "Where are you going, Mr. Sour puss?" Tyson asked him.
"Walk," Kai told him heading for the door.
"I wouldn't go outside for a walk if I were you, unless you're planning to walk around out there in your underwear! The clothes aren't dry yet, I checked!" Tyson yelled at him quickly as he started to close the door.
"I'll keep that in mind," he mumbled, closing the door.
"Come on Maxie! Let's play a shooting game now!" Tyson said quickly, to avoid having to race Max again, as he went over to his game shelf.
"But I suck at those ones!" Max complained, getting up and going over to look at the games too.
"That's a good thing for my than, you can't be winning everything we play!" Tyson told him, pushing him a little and grabbing a game to put in the machine.