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They're sitting together on Tbh's couch giggling at the old pictures of themselves from their high school days. Their friends are playing in the backyard, laughing and yelling for them to join the fun. They just want some time alone to enjoy the old memories.

It's been a while since they've spent so much time together as friends, just hanging out with each other. This is one of those moments.

The room is filled with laughter, but there's something missing. He glances over at his friend, who seems to have stopped paying attention. His mind is miles away, somewhere else.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

Laff's head snaps up. It only takes a second for him to register that he wasn't expecting anyone to be around.

"Oh! Oh... nothing." He smiles shyly, looking back down at the picture of himself and Tbh.

"Look at this one! Pfft this is the time that you got scared at the zoo." He holds the photo up for Laff to see. Laff looks it over, shaking his head in amusement. He knows exactly which one he was talking about.

"Yeah I remember that. What about the one after that? When we got all sweaty dancing at a party?"

That's when the two remember why they had gone to the party in the first place. The memory sends shivers down their spines, but the feeling quickly passes.

"Well that one's a little weird..." Laff chuckles under his breath.

Tbh turns towards Laff with an annoyed look on his face. "What do you mean 'weird'? It was great! It made us really close!" He tries to defend himself.

But Laff isn't listening, because he's already looking at another picture on the wall. It was taken just before Tbh graduated from university.

In that picture, Laff is laying down in bed, reading a book. It must have taken Tbh forever to get the frame just right, because the light coming through the window hits him just right. His long hair falls onto his pillow, covering half his face. His expression is serious as he reads. He still isn't sure why Tbh took that picture, framed it even.

All he knew was it had become one of his favorites ever since.

"Why did you take that anyway? It makes me seem a bit too serious..."

Laff laughs again. Of course Tbh would remember that. But he'd also remember why he took it.

"You know, you're not very good at hiding your emotions sometimes. And I could tell you were upset that day."

Laff can't lie. That day was horrible. All he wanted was to forget about the stupid thing they did to get kicked out of the house.

He feels a tap on his shoulder, snapping him from his thoughts.

"This one's wayy cuter!" Tbh exclaims, pointing at another photo, a black and white photograph.

It was taken during their junior year of high school. It shows Tbh, Socks, and Blaza on the swings at school. It was supposed to be just some stupid photo, taken by Laff of their school newspaper. They didn't think anything of it. They were happy enough doing stupid things like that all the time, and that's exactly what happened.

Socks was the first to fall off the swing and break his arm. It hurt badly, but nobody was too concerned. They both chuckle at the memory of Socks crying his poor eyes out.

The next picture is slightly blurry, but they recognize Tbh and Blaza behind Socks. They seem to be holding hands, smiling happily at whoever took the picture. It makes Laff smile, remembering how they used to make such goofy expressions.

Next is a candid shot of Tbh standing behind Socks, his hand on his shoulders. He looks like he wants to scold Socks, but doesn't dare move lest he scares the poor boy. He's giving him that usual serious look, but a small smile plays on his lips.

Finally, the most recent picture is of them, lying in Tbh's dorm bed, watching bad reality TV. Neither remembers exactly what channel they're watching; they were probably talking about something boring and irrelevant. But they both loved it. The room was filled with loud laughter and soft music. That night, when the lights were turned out and everyone went to sleep, Tbh fell asleep almost instantly, resting his body against Laff's back.

Laff had never felt happier than he had that night.

There was another reason he liked that picture though. Something about the way Tbh was leaning over, making Laff turn slightly to face him.

Laff finally broke his gaze from the picture finally looking up at Tbh, the brunette had a small grin plastered on his face. The smile makes Laff blush.

"Dude you don't even realize how amazing you look in that picture right now," Tbh whispers, making Laff laugh quietly as he lays down on the couch.

Tbh continues to talk, ignoring Laff's obvious blushing, "...And that picture is one of my favorites!"

At this point, Tbh has moved over to sit beside Laff, laying an arm across his chest. Laff lays there awkwardly unsure of how to respond to this sudden closeness, so he just lays there staring blankly. He's afraid if he moves, Tbh will leave.

Instead of letting go though, Tbh keeps his arm propped up, and instead of moving his hand over, Laff brings up his own hand to hold Tbh's, intertwining their fingers.

Laff notices Tbh freeze at first, clearly surprised by the contact.

"Hey lovebirds what'cha up to?" Socks calls out .

Both boys shoot up immediately, removing the hand that Tbh had placed on top of Laff's. They look between Socks and Blaza.

"Nothing! Nothing at all." Laff manages to say.

Blaza rolls his eyes, "Yeah, sure." He responds skeptically.

As if sensing Laff's need to escape, Tbh starts to stand up slowly, and offers his hand to help Laff up.

"I'm gonna go change into some shorts." Tbh announces walking over to where their bags are, "I'll meet you guys out back."

As soon as the door shuts behind him, Laff is bombarded with questions.

"So did Tbh confess to you or something?"

"Did you guys kiss or something?"

"Do you like him like that?"

"No no no, stop with the dumb question lads." Laff cuts in.

"Come on man. There's gotta be more to it than that." Socks insists.

Laff pauses for a moment, not saying anything, he just stares at his friends with a frown. Blaza raises an eyebrow waiting for a reply, but he gets none. He decides to ask again.

"So, do you like Tbh?"

Laff's mouth opens and closes. He doesn't even know if he does like Tbh. He hasn't even had a chance to process everything that's going on in his life recently. He's not exactly sure what he thinks about any of it.

"Can we just play a game or something?" Laff asks tiredly. The two just nod sheepishly in response. Laff sighs.

After a moment of silence, he sits up straight and grabs one of the controllers.

"Alright fine! Let's Minecraft."

_________________________________________

"Wow, that was a lot longer than expected."

"Yeah well I didn't think we'd spend so much time just sitting here." Tbh replies sassily, as he walks alongside his best friend.

Laff sighs heavily, as if tired of having to repeat this conversation multiple times.

"I know, but I'm not the one who kept interrupting us. At least try to give me some warning before you decide to randomly pop up outta nowhere." He glares at the ground as he speaks.

Tbh sighs exasperatedly, "Sorry." He apologizes sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

The two walk in comfortable silence for a while. It was starting to feel like they've been walking forever to Laff. After the longest few minutes he's been able to stand being quiet for he started getting anxious.

"... So, where are we going?"

Tbh stops and turns to look at Laff. He tilts his head and lets out a small laugh.

"We're heading over to Socks' house to pick up his stuff. He's staying with us this weekend." Tbh answers simply.

"Oh okay, cool...." Laff mutters.

Once more, Tbh just smirks at Laff and starts walking again.

"Well you seem a bit nervous, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Tbh chuckles lightly and shakes his head in amusement.

"You're really bad at lying, Laff."

"Don't worry about it, alright? Seriously, its nothing."

For once, Laff is serious. Tbh nods and shrugs his shoulders, deciding not to press further, not wanting to annoy Laff further after the events of earlier. Still, Tbh is definitely curious. It seemed like the more time he spent around Laff, the more curious Tbh got about him.

They're about halfway there when Tbh starts speaking again.

"Socks just texted he's staying the whole week." He says nonchalantly.

"Really... Well I guess it's better than spending the whole summer without him..." Laff mumbles thoughtfully as they continue walking. And soon they reach their destination Socks waiting for them in the front yard.

"Oh hey Tbh! Laff! Come in guys, come in." Socks greets the boys cheerfully from inside his house.

The two follow Socks into the house and find themselves in the living room.

"Do you really need this much stuff?" Laff asks him inspecting the pile of boxes Socks is planing to carry.

"What can I say, I'm a packrat." Socks states with a shrug.

"That's true.." Tbh agrees.

Laff snorts and laughs at the same time, he finds the situation amusing. Tbh smiles at him in return, and then puts a hand on top of Laffs shoulder gently, "What's so funny?"

"This is your fault." Laff tells him with a smirk, "you made me laugh."

Tbh rolls his eyes, "Whatever you say."

Tbh walks away from Laff towards a stack of boxes and picks one up, Laff immediately following after.

While Laff is carrying a large box Tbh suddenly stops walking, Laff bumps into his back, causing him to lose balance and fall forward. The boxes topple onto each other and send pieces of paper flying everywhere.

"Oops sorry." Laff quickly apologized picking the fallen boxes back up and placing them neatly before pulling Tbh up by the arm.

Tbh smiles at Laffs apologizing. "Thanks for helping me, I'll clean those later." He said while brushing off a leaf stuck to Laff's hair.

Then, taking another box he adds, "But you also should have seen yourself! You looked pretty funny falling on your ass."

Laff scoffs playfully punching Tbh in the arm lightly "Okay now you're laughing!"

The rest of the afternoon consists of Tbh playing video games, Laff watching YouTube videos and helping Sock pack all his stuff for the week.

By the time Tbh has finished unpacking he and Laff are both exhausted, but they're happy they can spend more time together. They lie down on the floor, resting their backs on the sofa.

Laff is leaning against Tbh's chest as they lazily scroll through Youtube.

It's silent for a second and then Tbh hesitantly reaches under the sofa. As he's trying to move the box under the sofa, Laff sees this as an opportunity and grabs the remote from Tbh's hands, turning down the volume of the tv so they don't bother others.

Without thinking, Tbh places a soft kiss on top of Laffs head, sending goosebumps all over Laffs arms.

He then looks back at the TV, and they begin chatting quietly about random shit.

About half way through the show, Tbh's stomach growls, loud and needy. He can't believe he hasn't eaten since breakfast this morning.

"Hey do you want to order pizza or something?" Laff asks Tbh, not even looking away from the TV as he speaks.

Tbh hums softly in agreement, "Sounds good to me." Laff gets up picking his phone up and dialing the number.

"You ain't gonna ask what toppings I like?" Tbh asks jokingly. Laff looks back at him eyebrows furrowed. "I ain't gonna ask because I know what it is. You love pepperoni, don't ya?" Tbh looks back at him and nods smiling gently.

Laff goes to put in the pizza order on the phone.

While he was doing this, he heard Tbh let out a small groan from underneath the couch, which caught Laffs attention.

Turning his head slightly he looks directly at Tbh, his expression turning from confused to shocked.

"Uh... H... Hey whatcha doing under there?"

Tbh lets out another groan as he tries to push himself free from beneath the sofa, still trying not to make too much noise. When he finally succeeds, he pulls himself up off the ground and turns around so he's facing Laff.

"Dude, where's the pizza?" Tbh questions looking extremely frustrated and worried.

Laff blinks a couple of times and rubs his temples.

"Uhhhhhhhhh… I think the pizzas coming in." He responds vaguely trying to ignore how concerned he sounded. Tbh gives him a look, "Laff." He whispers.

"Pizza."

Laff pauses momentarily and then nods frantically. He starts searching around the couch for a blanket and then tosses it behind him on Tbh, who catches it.

Laff gets up and rushes over to the kitchen table and takes out some plates and utensils. By the time he returns Tbh is seated on the couch watching something with interest.

Once the pizza arrives, Tbh digs in enthusiastically. Laff watches him eat for a moment, then sits down beside him on the couch.

He starts eating as well, enjoying the taste of the food.

After awhile they finish eating and sit back down comfortably on the couch.

Eventually Laff looks at Tbh and notices how he keeps stealing glances at his face.

"Uh... You alright?" He asks, his voice slightly laced with concern.

Tbh just leans closer to Laff placing his head on Laff's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" Tbh replies with a slight smile.

Laff raises his eyebrow in confusion and turns his head to look at Tbh properly.

"Cause you keep staring at my face for the past five minutes." Laff replies calmly, "I mean I appreciate the gesture and everything but-"

"-Shut up." Tbh interrupts and puts his fingers against Laff's lips making him shut up instantly. Laff lets out a small chuckle at that. Tbh then removes his finger and rests it against the side of his mouth, staring straight ahead as if he was lost in his thoughts,

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Laff asks carefully. He was starting to get worried when he saw how distracted Tbh had been.

"Hmm?"

"Like, are you sure everything's alright?" Laff repeats.

Tbh sighs and turns his head to look at Laff fully.

Tbh closes his eyes lazily and drifts to sleep leaning on Laff.

_________________________________________

Laff smiles as he stares at the boy sleeping next to him. Even though they were sharing a bed, Tbh hadn’t slept properly all night. In the last hours, he kept tossing and turning and waking up randomly. So he decided to just stay up until he fell asleep again. Laff had woken up to Tbh moving around restlessly and asking him to turn the lights on, it made sense that it might be late already.

However, when Tbh didn’t fall asleep right away he started getting worried again. So he decided to talk to him.

Laf shakes Tbh gently.

"Hey dude, you ok?" He asks Tbh.

Tbh slowly opens his eyes, and when he does he notices Laff staring at him. He yawns and stretches. Then he turns towards Laff and nods, “yeah, im fine thanks.” He says rubbing his eyes and smiling a little bit.

They fall into silence for a couple of minutes, before Tbh groans and stretches a small smile dancing on his lips. "You stayed." Tbh mentions .

Laff nods, looking down at Tbh who was lying on his side facing him. He could tell something was bothering him and Laff wanted him to talk about whatever it was that bothered him.

"Why did you stay?" Tbh asks his voice quieter than before.

"It seemed like you needed me here." Laff says truthfully. Tbh nods slowly before shifting slightly, so he's laying more on his back facing Laff. "And you know how much of a klutz you are. How would you even carry that many boxes and not collapse?" Laff scolds him and Tbh stays quiet, looking away from Laff.

"Tbh? Why are you acting so weird?" Laff asked again, placing his hand on top of Tbh's, "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Tbh shakes his head no, but doesn't try to remove Laffs hand. Instead he turns to look at Laff once again and continues staring at him.

"Why?" Laff asked again in confusion and worry, tightening his grip on Tbh’s hand.

Tbh sighs and looks down at their intertwined hands before slowly reaching up his free hand to tuck a loose strand of Laff’s hair behind his ear. The action causes both men to blush heavily.

"Sorry." Tbh mumbles averting his gaze as he brings his other hand up to cover his own red cheeks.

"What happened Tbh?" Laff asks softly, trying to catch his eyes. Tbh just lowers his gaze.

"Nothin' happened. It's just… you were really warm and cosy under the blanket and I was really tired after packing all the boxes and all my stuff and I couldn't stop thinking about you being so close and you were just so pretty and beautiful…" Tbh rambles on and Laff just listens to him, unable to take his eyes off of Tbh.

Laff lets out a tiny laugh. His cheeks are now completely pink with embarrassment.

Tbh's eyes widen as realization hits him. "Oh my god." Tbh mumbles in surprise and then covers his face with both hands.

"Yup." Laff confirms nodding his head with a smug smile.

Tbh removes his hands from his face slowly and looks over at Laff. "You are the absolute worst." He says rolling his eyes.

Laff lets out an amused scoff. "Yeah I am." He answers sarcastically.

Tbh scoffs at him, and rolls his eyes again.

Then he turns to Laff and looks at him with wide eyes.

"You wanna cuddle again?" He asks. Laff feels his heartbeat quickening.

‘Cuddle… oh god what if Tbh thinks Im weird? What if he just wants someone to hold him or hug him and that isn’t cool?! But then what am I supposed to do? Should I let him stay? Am I allowed? What if he thinks its weird? I don’t want to do anything he doesn’t want or doesn’t feel comfortable with!’ Laff panics internally. He doesn’t know what to do.

Before he can decide on something to say Tbh has already moved closer towards him and pulls Laff close to his chest.

Tbh wraps his arms tight around him and holds him tightly. As soon as their bodies touch Tbh feels his body begin to relax.

Laff begins to relax himself, and eventually he finds himself putting his hands against Tbh’s chest and resting his chin against his shoulder. They both stay wrapped in each other’s embrace, not saying anything, not saying anything at all.

Laff closes his eyes as they sit there together quietly. And for the first time since he woke up this morning, it feels good to be able to just enjoy himself and forget about all the crazy things that were going on in the outside world.

“Can we stay like this forever?” Laff murmurs into the crook of Tbh’s neck.

Tbh chuckles, "No." He states simply, and then pauses for a second. After a few seconds he speaks again, "We need to film a video." He adds.

Laff lets out a sigh. "I know." He says reluctantly pulling himself away from Tbh, who immediately misses the warmth of the other man and lets go of him as well.

Tbh stands up and offers his hand to help Laff stand up. Laff takes his hand and pulls himself up onto his feet.