#taddies

Ransom grinned. It had been a concern that less people would want to worry about the travel back from Boston after a party, or even that his Samwell contacts might not be as strong now that he was no longer a student, but the apartment was bursting at the seams. The cheer at the beer pong table when Lardo got another win competed with the sound system blasting house music. Ex-SMH and current SMH caught up in loud voices which carried through the room, and other Samwell athletes danced and drank.

“Hey.” Ransom rested his hand on Holster’s chest as he leaned in close enough to be heard without raising his voice. “There’s a girl checking out your menorah.”

“Is that a euphemism?”

Without bothering to reply, Ransom pushed Holster in the direction of the den’s window, where a junior (he was fairly sure - at least, she had been chatting to Nursey earlier as if they knew each other) was running a finger along the base of the menorah that Holster had found at a flea market the week before. Even from across the dim room, Ransom could see the startle on her face when Holster started talking to her, followed soon by a coy smile.

Ransom worked the room slowly until he came across somebody he’d yet to socialize with. “Peters, right? Soccer team?”

“Yeah. Captain this year, for my senior year. I’m Mike.”

“Congrats!”

“Thanks. God, this is embarrassing, to be honest.”

Ransom took a sip of his beer. “How so?”

Mike chuckled dryly, but wore a slightly pained expression. “I had the biggest crush on you last year. And, fuck, if I’d known you were gay...”

Ransom squinted into his beer, then around the room. He wondered which hockey team member had retold the story of his coming out without mentioning that he was bi, not gay. He narrowed his eyes at the back of Tango’s head. “I’m bi, actually.”

“Oh. Well, either way. And Birkholtz-”

Well, obviously they had come out together, so bringing up Holster made sense. “Also bi. Do you want to-”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

Ransom’s eyebrows flew up. He suddenly found himself staring at two girls dancing backward into the spot Mike had just been standing.

“What just happened?” he asked, but nobody paid him any attention.

Normally, Ransom found it easy to make conversation, but Mike had left him confused and in want of his actual friends - not just Facebook friends. Tango, Whiskey and Ford were in the middle of the dance floor, but the three of them were entangled with each other in such a way that Ransom didn’t want to interrupt. Shitty had Lardo on his shoulders, heralding her as beer pong champion five years in a row, despite the line of potential opponents. Ransom spent every day with Shitty and Lardo. The only one of his flatmates he was that fussed about making sure he spent some time with during the party was Holster.

Bitty leaned against the wall, his nose buried in his phone, no doubt texting Jack. It was a shame they hadn’t been able to find a suitable night when everyone was still at Samwell and the Falcs weren’t on a roadie, but Bitty looked happy enough on his own at the edge of the room, that Ransom went in search of the Frogs.

He passed Ollie and Wicky, curled on the couch together, their hands clasped for once, rather than bumping fists, and found Chowder and Farmer blocking the doorway to the kitchen.

“Bros,” Ransom said, then cleared his throat, but they didn’t seem to hear him. Their bodies turned slightly, and Ransom saw more of their tongues than he ever wanted to, so he grabbed Chowder’s elbow and pulled him out of the door.

“Fuck off,” Chowder grumbled, but he was kissing Farmer again before he had even worked out who had moved them, and certainly before Ransom had a chance to reply.

A look into the kitchen was enough to tell Ransom that Chowder and Farmer had probably taken up their place in the doorway to keep other people out. Unfortunately for Dex and Nursey, those two only needed a few beers in them to get distracted from any task. Ransom watched as Dex held a glass of water to Nursey’s lips. The water sloshed over the floor.

“You’re doing this on purpose now,” Dex said.

Nursey giggled. “I was trying to get your jeans.”

“Asshole. Let’s get some food in you.”

Nursey let out a loud grunt and face planted Dex’s shoulder. “Everything’s dairy. Why is there so much dairy?”

Dex twisted his head and gave Nursey a nudge with his nose so that he could kiss his temple. “Holster likes cheese. The latkes don’t have any dairy in. Or the chips. Come on, gorgeous.”

Ransom turned away. He was hit, suddenly, by how all his friends were matched up. Even Johnson and his fiancee had made an appearance earlier, to show off the ring and make cryptic comments about who might be next to get engaged. Ransom’s money was on Bitty and Jack, while Holster suspected Ollie and Wicky. Now, all of them were talking to their significant others, or in some cases less of the talking, but still with them, and Ransom had pushed the only other person he might want to hang out with towards a girl. He regretted that now, even if he felt selfish for not wanting Holster to wheel someone.

More because he was thinking of Holster, than because he actually wanted to interrupt him, Ransom’s eyes picked him out of the crowd. Holster looked up and their eyes crossed.

Oh.

Ransom felt so blind, and he wasn’t sure what had caused the realization just then, except that they were separated by a body of people, and getting to Holster felt more urgent by the second. Holster’s eyes widened, and started moving across the room.

“I’m sorry,” Ransom just about heard over the music. Holster was shouting over his shoulder, though his eyes never left Ransom’s. “I’m sorry, but I just realized I’m in love with my best friend.”

Laughter carried Ransom through the last yard to bring him crashing into Holster’s chest.

“I-” Holster started and stopped. His hands gripped Ransom’s biceps.

“You’re so fucking dramatic,” Ransom told him. “But I love you, too.”

He leaned up and interlocked his fingers at the nape of Holster’s neck. Holster’s thumb brushed Ransom’s cheek and he pressed their foreheads together.

“Fuck, Rans. It’s always you.”

It wasn’t the first time Ransom had kissed Holster, but it was the first time they had both been mostly sober, and free from any lustful sex haze. Their lips tingled, and every breath held a laugh, but neither of them had to think about which way to tilt their head, or how much pressure to apply. All that had been learnt in the past. It didn’t last long, either, because Shitty was hooting at them, and Nursey slapped Ransom’s back a little too hard. There was no hurry to keep kissing, however, when they had all the time in the world to do that later. As Dex taunted them that they should be glad they don’t apply to fines any more, Ransom grinned into Holster’s neck and they held each other like letting go would make the moment disappear.