let's play: how to write awkward nerds being awkward without using the word awkward more than once.
Benny landed on the roof of Bad Cop's apartment building, setting down the car and then parking the spaceship next to it. Bad Cop got out of the ship and looked around. "I'm surprised the roof supports the weight."
"It's okay!" Benny said, strolling for the stairs. "I reinforced it."
"Oh," Bad Cop said. Then it sank in. "Wait, what?" he asked, hurrying after Benny.
"I reinforced the roof to support extra weight," Benny repeated, floating down the steps.
Bad Cop had to take two at a time to keep up with him. "When?"
Benny stopped to consider this and Bad Cop nearly ran right into him. "I dunno. Right after T.A.K.O.S. Tuesday? Just before you moved in, I think. It was pretty simple."
"Huh," was all Bad Cop could think to say.
They reached the fourth floor and walked down the hallway, stopping in front of Bad Cop's door. Bad Cop took out his keys and unlocked it, then pushed his way inside. "You know," he said as Benny followed him. "I think this is actually the first time you've come in through the door."
Benny snorted. "Oh man, you're right! Speaking of which," he added. "I wanna get into something more comfortable. Brb."
While Bad Cop was still trying to figure out what 'burb' meant, Benny floated across the living room and opened the window.
"Hang on-" Bad Cop began, but Benny had already hopped out the window. He crossed the room and looked out. There was no sign of the spaceman. Putting a hand to his head, he wandered over to the couch and flopped down. A minute or two went past.
"Hey!" said a voice behind him, and Bad Cop nearly fell off the couch. He whipped around to look at Benny.
"What was that?" Bad Cop asked, gesturing at the window. Then he noticed that Benny was in his pajamas again. "How're you…"
"I live right under you, man," Benny laughed.
"Oh," Bad Cop said. A lot of stuff suddenly made sense, and he kicked himself. He was a cop, he was supposed to be able to put clues together.
Benny held up a stack of VHS tapes. "I dunno what your movie library's like-"
"I'm shocked," Bad Cop interrupted dryly.
"Shut up, dude," Benny said, shoving playfully at his shoulder. "So I brought a few of my own." He looked down at the movies in his hand and then back at Bad Cop. "I hope you like sci-fi."
"I'll watch anything," Bad Cop replied.
"Sweet!" Benny hopped over the back of the couch and settled down next to Bad Cop. "Here, take a look."
Bad Cop sorted through the cases. "Do you have a favorite?"
Benny considered this, then pointed at one of them. "That one's really good. Also hilarious. I figure you could use a good laugh right now."
Bad Cop checked the summary on the back. It was about a group of actors who get mistaken for their characters by aliens. "Yeah," he said. "Let's do that."
"Awesome!" Benny drifted up off the couch, floating towards the kitchen. "You get it set up, I'll make the popcorn."
Bad Cop heaved himself off the couch, leaving the other tapes on the coffee table. The kid was lucky that Bad Cop was probably one of the only few people left in the city who still owned a functioning VCR.
A whirring came from the kitchen, and Bad Cop realized that was not the sound of a microwave. He slid the tape into the player and went to check out what was happening.
There was an ancient-looking air-popper on his kitchen table, with a large bowl set out in front of it to catch the popcorn. Benny sat and watched the kernels bounce around, entranced.
"Where did that come from?" Bad Cop asked.
Benny glanced up and grinned. "It's mine. I like eating non-packaged stuff as much as I can. Living on freeze-dried food in space can really make you appreciate the little things."
"Huh," Bad Cop said. He pulled out a chair and sat down across from Benny. It was strangely hypnotic. He hadn't seen one of these since he was a kid. Come to think of it, he didn't think he'd even eaten popcorn since… since at least a decade ago.
The first kernel snapped, and they both jumped in surprise. Benny laughed. Bad Cop smiled at him. He was just starting to realize how much he liked Benny's laugh.
"What's up, dude?" Benny asked.
Bad Cop realized he was staring and turned bright red. "Oh! Er. Nothing." Then he blurted, "You have a nice laugh."
It was Benny's turn to go red. He buried his face in his hands, but Bad Cop could practically hear his grin as he said, "No way, man, it's so stupid."
Oh, darn, darn, darny darn. Now it was awkward. He struggled to think of what Good Cop would do. "I mean it," he said. Inspiration struck. "Especially considering I've been listening to Business' villainous cackle for the past eight years," he added, putting air quotes around 'villainous cackle.'
Benny peeked through his fingers. "Did you just," he said. "Did you just make a joke?"
"Maybe," Bad Cop replied, unable to suppress a twitch of a smile.
Benny clapped his hands delightedly. "You do have a sense of humor!"
"Of course I do," Bad Cop said indignantly.
"You're so serious all the time!" Benny said, leaning forward. "I was starting to wonder. You know," he added, glancing away. "You've got a good laugh, too."
A silence stretched between them, and Bad Cop suddenly became very interested in the tabletop. "Thank you," he said after what felt like an eternity. "No one's ever told me that before. Good Cop's always been the friendly one."
"Oh," Benny said, just as clumsily. "Well. It's true."
Silence again. Bad Cop slowly became aware of the sound of the popcorn machine, and the lack of the sound of popping. He looked over. The bowl was full, and there were only a few hard kernels left bouncing around in the machine.
"It, uh." Bad Cop cleared his throat. "Looks like the popcorn's ready."
Benny snapped out of whatever thoughts he'd been having. "Awesome!" he said, standing up a little too quickly. "Is the movie ready?"
"Yeah," Bad Cop replied, pushing himself to his feet as well. "Shall we?"
Benny grinned. "We shall!"