Choke on Your Misery

Alex

On Saturday, a few days after I had asked Zack to be my boyfriend, I decided to invite some of my friends to sleep over at my house. My mom agreed to let us take over the living room for the night, and around eight o'clock my friends began to show up. Jack was the first to show up, as usual. He ran straight to the kitchen to get some chips and pop. Rian and Zack were the next to show up, a few minutes after Jack.

"Hey!" I greeted, hugging Zack after he set his stuff down. Rian, Jack, my mom, and Zack's parents were the only ones who knew Zack and I were dating; Zack was afraid to come out of the closet at school just yet, because of the teasing he knew he would endure. Our parents, fortunately, had taken the news well because they already knew we were both bisexual.

"Hey," Zack said softly.

"You're nervous about meeting my other friends, aren't you?" I asked, looking at him. He nodded, and I reached out to squeeze his hand reassuringly. "Don't worry, they'll love you."

"What about me?" Rian joked, sitting down on my couch.

"They'll hate you," I teased, and he tossed the remote at me. I chuckled, picking it up as Zack walked over to sit by Rian. The doorbell rang, and I opened the door to see my friend Matt Flyzik. He was nineteen, and I had become friends with him about a year ago. He lived an hour away with his mom, but I had met him last year when he moved into an apartment in Baltimore. He was pretty cool; he was in a band called Underscore. He was two or three inches shorter than me, despite being two years older. He had spiky black hair, pierced ears, and a lip ring. I hadn't seen that before. "Matt! When did you get your lip pierced?" I asked, stepping back to let him in.

"About two weeks ago. I had snakebites but took out the one on the right," Matt shrugged, tossing his bag onto the floor.

Jack came out of my kitchen with a sandwich, and I frowned. "Jack! I thought you were getting the chips!" I said.

Jack shrugged, swallowing his sandwich, "I got distracted." He noticed Matt and dropped his sandwich on the side table as he ran to hug him, "MATT!"

"Gah! Jack, you're crushing me!" Matt squeaked out from under Jack.

"Sorry," Jack pouted, stepping away from him.

Matt scowled, fixing his shirt. He noticed Rian and Zack sitting on the couch and smiled, "Hey! You're Rian, right?" Matt asked, pointing at Rian.

"Yup," Rian nodded. “How did you know?”

"I saw your foot tapping; I figured you were the drummer. That means you're Zack," Matt said, turning to Zack with a smile. "Alex has told me a lot about you."

I blushed, "Matt, you don't tell people that!" I complained, and Zack chuckled nervously. "I'm going to go grab the food, since Jack's too much of a dumbass to do it," I said, heading into the kitchen as Jack flipped me off. I heard the doorbell once again as I was grabbing the bags of chips.

"I'll get it!" Jack yelled, and I heard my front door open. "Evan! Grieco!"

I went back into the living room to set the food and cans of pop on the table. "Hey guys," I greeted. Evan Kirkendall was my age; he went to Dulaney with us. He was an intern at the local music venue as a sound guy. Alex Grieco - Grieco, because our first names are the same - was about a year younger, and he was a nut like the rest of us. He was a bit quieter at times, but not nearly as quiet as Zack. He played the drums, like Rian, so I figured they'd get along.

"I brought movies!" Evan announced, holding up a few movies.

"Good, because I think we've seen all of mine," I chuckled, sitting down beside Zack. "By the way, this is Zack and that's Rian," I said, pointing at each boy respectively.

"Oh, I know Rian. He's in a few of my classes," Evan shrugged, sitting down on the other couch.

"I recognize you; aren't you in my English class, Rian?" Grieco asked, sitting down next to Evan.

"Yeah, I think so," Rian chuckled.

"Thought so. Oh, and nice to finally meet you, Zack," Grieco added.

"Yeah, God knows we've heard enough about you from Alex," Evan said, rolling his eyes.

"Seems like you talk about me a lot; all three of your friends have said that now," Zack chuckled, looking at me.

"So? It's not a bad thing," I defended, my cheeks reddening. Zack shrugged, and the other guys laughed. "Oh, shut the hell up."

"Do you talk about him for fun, or because you like him?" Evan teased. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Zack. Should I tell them?

My mind was made up for me as Jack blurted out, "They're dating!"

"Jack, you fucking dick!" I exclaimed, chucking the remote at him; the same one Rian had thrown at me earlier.

"Really? Alex you haven't had a boyfriend in forever!" Grieco said excitedly.

"Since when?!" Evan exclaimed.

"A few days ago," I replied.

"I didn't know Zack was gay. Or bi," Matt mused.

"Bi," Zack told him in a quiet tone. He had tensed up at the sudden attention and his face was flushed. I put an arm around him, bringing him against my side.

"Aww," Evan grinned at us.

"Shut up," I said, rolling my eyes. "Just put in a video game or something."

••••••••••

By midnight, the living room looked like a war zone. There were food crumbs and cans on the ground, along with pillows that had been thrown. My dog, Baz, kept trotting over to eat crumbs every once in a while. Stuff was lying everywhere. We were all either shirtless or in boxers or pajama pants. The coffee table had been pushed out of the way to make room for people to sit on the ground; we had been playing video games for the last few hours. When we took breaks between games, it was usually to wrestle or make jokes about each other. Zack was beginning to be a little less nervous around Matt, Grieco, and Evan, which was good. Around midnight, my mom walked into the living room. Matt, Jack, Grieco, and I were playing a video game.

"Alex!" my mom said over the noise. I jumped, pausing the game.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You boys need to quiet down a bit so I can get some sleep. Why don't you watch a movie?" she suggested.

"Alright, mom," I sighed, standing up to turn off my PS2. The other boys groaned.

"Thank you. Goodnight, boys," my mom said, heading back upstairs.

"What movie do you want to watch?" I asked, stretching as I stood up.

"HOME ALONE!" Jack yelled, grabbing my leg.

"NO! Dammit Jack, if I watch that one more time, I might break the movie in half," Matt exclaimed.

"Fine," Jack pouted, and I tugged my leg away from him. We finally decided to watch The School of Rock, settling down in the living room. Evan and Rian were sitting on one couch and Matt, Grieco, and Jack were lying on pillows and blankets on the floor. Baz was lying at Jack's feet; probably a bad idea, because Jack kicks in his sleep. Zack, however, was alone on the other couch, looking tired and slightly bored. I sat down next to him, kissing him on the forehead as I did so.

"You're looking a little lonely," I said softly, not wanting to disrupt the movie or draw attention from the other guys.

"No more than usual," Zack said with a shrug.

"Next time just tell me you're bored, and I'll come sit with you," I said, holding an arm out as an invitation for him to come closer. Zack scooted closer so our legs were touching, and I slid an arm around him. We watched the movie quietly for a little bit, before Zack spoke up.

"Alex?" he said softly, looking up at me.

"Hmm?" I looked over at him.

"Thanks."

"For what?" I asked, confused.

Zack shrugged, intertwining our fingers, "Everything."

"That's pretty vague," I chuckled.

"You know what I mean," he said, pushing his knee against mine. "Being my friend, helping me out, being my boyfriend..."

"I know," I smiled, leaning over to press my lips against his. We had only kissed a few times in the past few days. Every time felt just as amazing as the last, though. Zack surprised me by putting a hand behind my neck, deepening the kiss. Our lips moved together softly. Zack let out a soft little moan, and I felt my dick stir at the sound. Fuck, that's not good; I'm wearing sweatpants.

I suddenly heard a low whistle and Jack called out, "Yeah buddy; get some!"

Zack and I jumped apart, and the guys laughed. "Fuckers," I complained, my grip tightening on Zack's hand as he tried to scoot away from me.

"Having some fun over there?" Rian teased, smirking at us. "I was wondering why Alex got so quiet."

"Shut it," Zack said, flipping Rian off.

"Just don't have too much fun," Matt teased, tossing a couch pillow at us. It landed on my lap and I grunted, feeling it hit my erection. The grunt must have been obvious, because the boys roared with laughter. Even Zack was smirking, despite the blush on his face.

"Too late," Jack laughed, winking at me. I flushed in embarrassment, leaning over to bury my face in Zack's chest.

Zack laughed, putting his arms around me, "For your sake, I won't comment."

"Good," I mumbled into his chest. He chuckled and rubbed my back gently.