Chapter Text
Zach had this weird feeling about Lyle. Not a bad one, at least he didn't think it was. It was a feeling that made him feel like Lyle should be 100% focused on him and yet completely ignore him at the same time. A feeling he'd certainly experienced before, but he couldn't quite name it.
He really first noticed it when he said that he liked Zach's voice, thought it was funny. Of course that's what everyone said, but it seemed special when Lyle told him. He liked the taller man's voice, too, he thought that it sounded cool. If that made sense.
Lyle seemed pretty cool in general. Dark clothes. Leather jackets. Chains. Tattoos. Seemed like a womanizer. Maybe Zach just wanted all of that to rub off on him.
Lyle looked over at him for a couple of seconds, smiling, before returning his focus to the rest of the group. It made Zach want to explode, in a good way. What was this damn feeling?
The brown-haired man was hardly paying attention to anyone anymore, other than Lyle. He scooted himself closer to his friend.
"What're you doin', shorty?" The black-haired man asked in a whisper.
"I'm average height! I'm just short compared to you!" Zach retorted. Lyle chuckled in response.
"Yeah, sure, whatever makes you happy,"
"Shut the fuck up!"
"What are you two faggots doing?" Chris asked.
Lyle let out that familiar loud laugh and put on a stupid grin that drove Zach crazy. But not in the way that he wanted to rip his head off, more in the way that, that...he didn't know. But he didn't actually hate it or anything like that. "I think Zach is the faggot here..."
Everybody else laughed at him. "Hey!"
They wrapped up the podcast, and Chris, Cory, and Jeff wanted to go to a restaurant for dinner. A restaurant that both Lyle and Zach agreed tasted like shit. So they stayed at the office.
Nothing special happened at first, just two dudes sitting on opposite ends of a couch watching old Simpsons reruns.
Zach noticed that Lyle seemed to be shivering. A light snow had started to fall outside, to be fair. But, the black-haired man was from California. He probably wasn't used to anything under 60°, if even. The brown-haired man grabbed an old blanket and threw it over the other man. Sure, it was shitty and probably could barely even be considered a blanket, but it did an okay job.
15 minutes later, Lyle grabbed a couple of beers, handing one to Zach. Once they finished, Lyle got out some more. And more. And more. Until the floor was covered in empties.
Their cheeks were red, and the smaller man was cheekily moving closer to his friend. Right until he was literally on top of him. But the taller man didn't seem to mind. Or even notice. He eventually muttered something to himself, wrapping his arms around the shorter man. "Are y' tired...?" He asked.
"Mhm..." Zach responded, laying his head up against his friend's. "I am too, I guess..." He replied, laying a hand on the other man's thigh.
That feeling ran through Zach again. More severe than ever. Yet his drunkenness made him sort of figure out what it meant. He thought he was...hot? Was that it? Maybe it was. He definitely felt like kissing him, at least.
So, he did. He pecked him on the lips for a hot second. Lyle blinked slowly. He was clearly confused, but didn't fight against it or anything. He returned a kiss eventually, just on the other's lips. Zach took this as an invitation to let his toungue slide into the Californian's mouth. Their toungues fought with each other until they had to catch their breath.
The brown-haired man rubbed his hand across his friend's inner thighs and crotch. "I, uh, I love you, uh, ha..."
"Mmph, I guess I do, too, Zachie~" The black-haired man moaned out. "K-keep goin' dude~" He continued, guiding the other man's hand across his body. He pulled him in for another deep kiss.
Zach took the time to fully bask in Lyle's perfect features. He had a handsome face, cute smile, soft skin, fluffy hair, darkness under his eyes, and so much more that the shorter man had secretly fallen in love with.
"Y'know, the ladies say I'm pretty good at...y'know..."
"Nah, w-we're not doing that here," Zach may have been incredibly drunk, but he still had a bit of sanity left. If they had another escapade like this, not at the office? Sure, that'd be fine. Actually, he wanted that to happen. Right now. He took that first part back, if they were silent...no. He was smarter than this. "Y-you can come over to my place tomorrow, alright? Then we can fool around..."
"You're so borin', man," Lyle sighed, his words slurred together. Was he really boring? He probably was, to his friend. He was like a dog chasing a car, once he had Lyle, he didn't know what to do with him.
Zach cupped his hands around the black-haired man's face. The taller man smiled and seemingly purred. He then kissed his neck and collarbone, the Californian running his hand through the shorter's hair.
It was nearing 11:30 PM. They were both completely hammered, and the guys still weren't back yet, there was no way that they could go back home safely. They could crash at the office for the night, it wouldn't hurt.
Zach covered himself and Lyle with the shitty blanket, preparing to fall asleep. They ignored the dogs barking outside. The cars driving past, and the occasional honk of a horn. What sounded like a car pulling up to the building. The door opening. Footsteps. Chatter.
---
"Would you two shut up? God!" Jeff groaned. Chris and Cory laughed. "Where are Zach and Lyle?"
"They've probably left by now," Chris said.
Cory headed towards the couch. "There's so much beer on the floor-oh! Lookit these two fags!" He shouted.
Cory laughed his ass off as Chris and Jeff walked over, seeing two forms slowly move around on the couch.
Jeff looked shocked. "How...how drunk are you two?" He asked, kicking some cans away.
"Oh! Uh, eh, y-you guys are back, finally...uh..."
"Yeah, we know. Why are you n' Lyle sleeping together?"
"Uh, uh, well, you see...we uh, sort of, um..."
"We had a fun time together while you were gone!"
"Lyle, shut up!"
"WHAT?!?" The other three shouted at the same time.
"Listen, listen! We didn't fuck or anything-"
"'Cause Zach's fuckin' lame!"
"-okay, yeah, sure," Zach was trying to hide the fact that he was tearing up. Lyle got up to leave the room and awkward conversation.
"You guys...are idiots..." Jeff stated bluntly.
Zach's voice became quiet. "I-I'm sorry, we're sorry, I'll buy some more beer, and I promise that this won't happen again, I'm sorry..." His nervousness made his body realize that oh shit you had way too much alcohol you should throw up. He quickly made his way to the bathroom, feeling the bile creep up his throat. The other 3 followed, for some reason.
The brown-haired man heaved into the toilet. This, apparently, called Lyle over as well. He stood between Zach and the other guys, the look in his eyes signifying that he wasn't afraid to kill them with his bare hands.
Chris sighed. "We're heading back home, do you want to come with us?"
"We're fine." Lyle answered immediately.
"...Alright, we'll just grab our stuff and go, okay? See you guys later,"
Cory mumbled something as they left, the door slamming on their way out.
"Fuck, I'm so retarded, damnit, damnit, damnit,"
The black-haired man hugged him from behind, kissing the top of his head. "Hush, no you aren't," He whispered. Zach wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to push Lyle away, yet he also loved the affection. He wanted more of it. Much more. He wanted this all the time.
But Zach still needed time to wallow in his sadness. He did stupid shit just about every time he got drunk, no matter how much he'd had. Then, he'd realize that he was an idiot and get all sad, like now. In this case, he'd kissed another man, a good friend, no less. Zach was straight! Well, he thought he was, at least. He had a crush on Lyle, apparently, as he was able to figure out. Before tonight, he just thought that those feelings were...well, he wasn't sure, but he definitely didn't think that it was a crush.
That was the thing, Zach got emotional when he was drunk. He would cry because of the slightest inconvenience. Lyle was the opposite. Sure, he would get pissed off easily, but other than that, he became more carefree. And, apparently, more clingy as well. And, uh, horny.
The taller man squeezed the shorter, so much so that all Zach could smell was Lyle's cologne. And the alcohol on his breath.
The Californian whispered something that the brown-haired man didn't hear, carefully taking Zach's hand. The shorter man tried to pull away, but Lyle tugged him close. He kept a tight grip on his hand, sensually using his open hand to rub his friend's back. His hand got lower and lower, before reaching his ass. Zach was incredibly embarrassed, and tried to pull away again. The taller man hugged him instead, keeping a hand...uh, y'know. Down there. On his rear.
The shorter man finally managed to push the black-haired man away, down onto the couch. "Oh, are we finally gonna-"
"No." Zach insisted. God, drunk Lyle was unbearable. "We're gonna sleep." The Californian rolled his eyes.
Zach laid down next to Lyle, closing his eyes. The black-haired man felt around the shorter man, his hand placement very deliberate. He tried to feel every nook and cranny of the other man's body.
"I love you, Zach," He whispered, hugging his friend like a child would with a teddy bear. He was seemingly trying to squeeze the life out of him, on top of that.
It made Zach's heart race. "I know, I love you, too." But, was he telling the truth? Sure, it was all that he wanted to hear from the taller man for, what, over a year now? Yet, he knew that he was drunk. They both were. Lyle could've just been saying "I love you" as a sort of heat of the moment thing.
Whatever, they could figure this relationship out in the morning. It was a little past 1 AM now. He needed to get some sleep. As much as Lyle was willing to give him, at least.