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It had been an hour of pure drinking. Or two. Three? Coop lost count of how many hours went past and how many drinks he had. He hooked up once or twice for pure make-out sessions with girls in the bathroom.
Coop was now sitting at the bar, savouring every sip of his beer that he slowly chugged, trying to drag out the time before he had to go home.
A wrench was thrown into that plan as soon as he heard a specific someone call his name.
"Coop?” He poked the latter’s shoulder. “It’s getting pretty late, man. I told Yvette I’d be there by 23:00.”
Coop groaned at the mention of Yvette. “Then leave. I don’t need to be attached at your hip all the time, Remer!"
“Woah, what crawled up your ass and died?” Remer remarked, now frowning.
"I told you, you don’t need to drop me off at home before another dumb bitch blows you!" He interrupted, slurring. “I’m a responsible adult. You aren’t my fucking babysitter.”
"Fine. Have fun finding your way back." Remer storms out of the bar. Coop sat in silence; although the bar was still bustling and lively it felt quiet now that Remer had left.
He staggered out of the doors after a few more drinks, leaning into a trash-encrusted alley to throw up his mistakes of this night.
He trudged home, tears beading up in his eyelashes threatening to spill all over his face. He’s always prepared himself for it, but now that it’s here he was struggling to accept it— The man he was in love with has gotten a girlfriend.
"Fuck…" Coop sniffed, the scent of vomit lingering in his mouth.
He picks up his pace and rushes back home. He struggles unlocking the door, his key slipping in his clammy hands. Before he could even fit it inside the lock, the door was swung open.
Remer was standing there. Coop could see Yvette on the couch, her thin form and large cleavage obscured by a skimpy red dress. Her lust wasn’t visible but he could feel himself interrupting the erotic atmosphere.
“What are you still doing here?” Coop scoffed, looking at the other blonde in the room.
“I just— I wanted to make sure you made it home safe.” Remer replied.
He stared for a few seconds from stunned embarrassment before regaining himself. "Sorry, do you want me to stay out longer? You can use my bed since it's bigger…"
Remer shook his head. "It's fine. We're gonna go to a hotel." He informed him, looking down.
"Okay…" Coop bit out, similarly finding himself avoiding his best friend’s eyes.
Coop wedges himself in between Remer and the doorway, stalking off to his room. He sits in silence, waiting to hear the car leave the driveway before he lets himself go.
He sobs and he cries; curled up in a ball under the dirty sheets of his bed like a little kid.
Coop was always told he never really did grow up.
The next week was a blur, Coop losing his sense of time from the grief. He’d finally stopped crying, numbing his depression with frequent trips to the bar.
He found a type for his women. Bouncy curly hair, brown eyes, and a slight gap between their front teeth that made his heart flutter.
Coop was barely at his own house anymore, and that’s how he liked it.Up until a muggy, rainy day.
Coop’s libido had settled down over time, and by now the sex had finally begun to lose its effect; So he drank. And drank. He drank alcohol like water until the only thing that came out of his mouth was vomit.
The rain pouring down didn't deter Coop. In fact, it encouraged him. Maybe he'd sober up before he arrived at the house.
"Shit— fuck!"
The rain got heavier as he left. He couldn't turn back now, he'd be shooed away because of the state he's in.
So he made a run for it. He didn't stop. Maybe he took a wrong turn once. Or twice. Or maybe a couple times. He can't remember the last time he even went to the house anyway.
Eventually, he made it there, soaking wet with mildly blood-soaked knees & grazed hands from drunkenly stumbling onto the ground.
He rapped his reddened hands onto the door, nearly rigid from the cold.
"Tina, I just told you, we’re over—”
Remer opened the door, and Coop instantly recognized the girl behind him. It was the girl he hooked up with last night… Sarah? Samantha? He couldn’t remember. All he could recall was that she was great.
"Can I come in? I'm a bit cold?" His words were slurred. From the beer or that he was nearly frozen in place, only God knows.
"Yeah. Just, uh…” Remer gestures for Coop to enter. Coop hesitantly walks in, taking off most of the ineffective wear and his shoes, before sitting down on the couch.
"Call me tomorrow, uh..” he paused, his mind still falling short on whatever her name was.“Sss...Sandra?”
She scoffed, looking at his musty face in disgust.
By the look on her face he’d guessed wrong. Coop had forgotten if she had ever told him her name in the first place or if he was drunk off his ass.
"Coop! What the fuck!"
"Ugh! What are you gonna go on about now?!"
"You! Ever since I got with Yvette, you got more into drinking! Then, you're never home! And that's not even the worst part!"
Coop stood up, he doesn't like sitting down when he's being yelled at, makes him feel like a kid.
"What's the worst part then? What?!"
"The worst part is, you've just… I don't even recognise you anymore!” Remer spat.
“What happened to the my best friend?"
Coop deliriously giggles, sounding horribly cold and empty for how happy he sounded.
"Wanna know why? I finally found somebody who made me happy. It was always you. You always got the girls, all the attention— and all you can think about is how you’re losing me? Fuck you.”
"Stop blaming me for all the shit you do!" Remer’s fists began to shake from anger. “When will you just admit you messed up!” He was yelling, but so was Coop.
"Because it was always your fault! It was always you and your stupid hair and stupid smile and pretty eyes! And you'll never love me because I'm not what you want!”
"Coop-"
"Go fuck yourself, I never wanna see your sorry ass again. You can have the team and everything else. I'm sure you'll sleep more soundly knowing that a faggot isn’t living with you anymore.”
"Coop! Please-" Remer was begging, he didn't know what to do.
"No— I know what's been stopping me now. You. Always YOU!”
“All you’ve ever done is hold me back. It’s time for a change.”
Coop shoved himself past Remer, the latter still as stone as Coop stalked away, middle finger raised behind him.
Everything went by in a blur for the next few minutes, maybe it was an hour. Remer moved from where he was standing the the couch, hunched over and not looking at Coop.
Coop came in, almost as if he was asking for Remer to beg him to stay, to show that Coop was being an idiot, but Remer just sat there.
So Coop left. And he slammed the door hard behind him.
Remer broke up with Yvette an hour earlier, so this must've been his breaking point. But if he was being honest, he wasn't sad over Yvette.
Remer cried. As soon as Coop slammed the door and took his car, Remer cried. He couldn't stop. The only reason he stopped was because he was tired, and his eyes were sore, and he can't remember the last time he ate.
Remer quit the team the next day. Squeak remained, doing his best to comfort the heart-stricken Remer for the following week.
The first year was excruciating. Remer didn't know what to do without his best friend. Without Coop, Remer was just Doug. And Doug was a nobody.
The second year was a blur of both of them.
Squeak was having a party to celebrate another win for the team, and Remer was invited. He doesn't know why either.
He arrives early to the party so that he may congratulate everyone while he (and all the teammates) were still sober.
"Hey man," Squeak was quiet, and he never fought back, but something was apologetic about his tone. "I forgot to tell you, I invited Coop as well…"
Remer was already two beers down, and the party had started to fill up before he even started his first, so he was very happy to leave early and continue his drinking at a bar.
"Remer! Don't leave. Stay." Squeak holding Remers wrist, his small hands holding onto Remer’s arms as
"What’s the point, Squeak?" Remer spat out, trying to deter Squeak from even trying to help him.
“All I’ve ever done is make Coop upset and my head was too far up my own ass to tell.”
"You love Coop, Remer. You just didn't know when he did. And I know he still doesn't because I met his girlfriend, and she might as well be your reflection. He still loves you- And if you don’t tell him, nobody will."
"Fine! I'll talk to him tonight." He responded, his words half true. On one hand, he just said it to satisfy Squeak and get him off his ass, but at the same time his heart ached for Coop.
He knew his ex-friend would spit in his face if he tried to talk to him anyway.
Two hours passed before Remer saw Coop. And who’s to say if Remer had a few drinks.
"Co- uh Joe? We need to talk…"
Remer was in the bathroom talking to himself. He knew Coop would drive him insane, but not this way.
Remer laughed to himself. He couldn’t remember feeling anything that wasn’t love for Coop, romantic or not. But hell, is he good at driving Remer to his last straw.
Remer inhaled deeply, preparing himself. He has to talk to Coop. For Squeak's sake.
Finding Coop was fairly easy. He was sitting alone on the wet concrete.
"Hey?"
Coop’s head snapped to the direction of Remer’s voice, his taut face tensing even further at the sight of his face.
A wave of nostalgia struck him, the first day he and Coop met flickering into his mind.
They were just the same as when they were little kids; lonely, awkward
The only difference was that after this, they wouldn’t go frolicking off kicking wasps nests and trying to climb trees that were too tall.
Coop breathed through his lips, a poor attempt to fill the silence in between
"Talking with some friends inside. Sit down, we need to talk."
Shit. Now Coop has the upper hand.
Remer sits on the wooden step leading out to Squeak's backyard.
"Yeah?"
"We should talk about what happened. I'm… I'm sorry, I should've explained it to you more, or told you how I felt or let you explain! I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologise, man.” Remer chuckled. "I did this to myself. I-" he paused, stuttering. “I was so confused, I couldn’t recognise my feelings towards you. I didn’t understand what I felt so I barricaded them up and shut them out. I shouldn't have held that from you."
Coop was dumbfoundedly staring at Remer now, shock silencing him.
"So- You’re saying you like me?"
"I love you. If you took me on a trip through the mountains and got us lost, I'd still stay and slowly freeze to death with you.” Remer paused. “I hope that can explain how much I like you.”
Coop smiled, looking up into the taller man’s eyes."Yeah… what do we do now?"
"I’m tempted to kiss you, but you’ve got a girl that’s probably in the room beside us."
"She broke up with me. Said this party would be good so I could get 'support'." Coop puts heavy quotation marks with his fingers when he says support. "What about you and Yvette?"
Remer chuckled, "Funny thing about that… we broke up half an hour before we had our argument."
"Oh shit man… I, I didn't know. Sorry I had drop that bomb on you-"
Remer grinned. "Don’t worry about it, man."
Coop lightly pressed his hands atop of Remers, and Remer leaned in.
Their lips locked in together, like any girl they've kissed before. But there was a difference neither of them could quite describe.
Girls' lips were soft and fleshy, like a peach.
Remer’s lips were soft and warm, the latter tasting the beer lingering on Coop’s lips. The two entwined their lips until they were out of breath, both men panting as they released themselves from each other.
"Hey, Remer?"
"Hmm?"
"Why don't we take this back to our place?"
"Oh fuck yeah."
Coop and Remer stood up, and Remer grabbed Coop's hand and rushed them through the house.
"Squeak!? Me and Coop are leaving!"
Remer then slammed the door behind him.
"Who's car?"
"I took a taxi here so that I wouldn't be tempted to drive drunk."
"Shit, you're right. Call a taxi. Squeak can look after my car."
"Alright."
In the cab, they held hands and couldn't keep away from each other.
When they got home, they went straight to kissing each other.
They seriously couldn't stop touching each other. And it led right to the bedroom.
(Don't know how to write.)