Boys Don't Cry

"Do you know his password?" Xander whispered to Noah, standing at the other end of the ajar door. Dressed in a tee-shirt and shorts, Xander peeked inside the room.

"Dude!!! It's like what.." Noah looked at the watch kept above the mahogany bedside desk beside him.

"Why the hell didn't you wake me up?" Noah was gonna spring on his feet when he realized that Xander was still looking at him.

"A little privacy?" He raised his eyebrows which made Xander chuckle.

"No offense, I ain't into guys. You can walk all naked in front of me," He almost turned around when he looked back, "but well don't do that"

Noah quickly grabbed his shorts and pulled on a tee-shirt, as he followed Xander out.

"And if I was, I would probably pick Ace"

Xander felt a strong hand over his arm which made me forcefully turn to face Noah.

"What. what's wrong with me?" As Xander's eyes pierced Noah, Noah took a step back and raised both his hands in defeat.

"Nevermind, and I don't know his password" he walked towards the fridge and pulled out two soda cans for them.

"And even if I knew, I won't tell you. Coz you know what, you picked Ace" Noah snickered, grabbing one of the controllers.

"Pick me? Pick me for what?" Ace looked at both of them one by one and then shook his head.

The water dripping from his hair was making his fresh shirt wet. He brushed his hair a little, which made the hair, stick to the back, making him look like a ramp model. His torso was visible from the thin shirt which was almost transparent now.

"Your lover wanted to know your password" Noah looked at Xander and winked, meanwhile dodging the pillow thrown at him, which landed on the floor.

"Dude, you almost knocked the plant" Noah was on his feet, inspecting the new plant that was kept near the bed.

"Grandma?" Ace asked, picking up the plant and tracing his fingers on the fresh leaves.

"Yeah..uh...I told her what my grandmother used to say" Xander tried to tackle Noah for the controller but Noah was as strong as him.

"And that was?" Ace walked towards the monitor, turning on the screen.

"And no, this isn't the game I play" he turned to look at Xander who was almost close to pouting.

As Ace turned on the screen, a female Avatar popped up on his screen.

"Well...this looks interesting too" Xander mumbled to himself.

"Take turns and don't cheat" Ace stared at Noah, while Noah pointed at Xander.

Xander exhaled as his face turned red, but then a second later, a cunning smile crossed his face.

"No wonder, you close the door while playing"

"That's not...get your mind out of the gutter"

"Welcome to stage 15" the voice of a female got all three pairs of eyes back on the screen.

The pale female Avatar wore a shiny blue blouse and skirt and stood with her hands on her hips. The breasts looked like 'A cups' while her waist was almost zero.

"Let's start" Noah spoke as he pressed the play button.

A new screen opened up. On the left displayed the buttons for 'Play/Pause, Options and Quit' and on the right displayed the energy bar, which was full at the start, displayed by color green.

The background was dark blue, with flickering lights on both upper ends of the screen.

In front stood another female Avatar, looking almost the same as the player, the only difference was the color of her clothes, which were red.

"So they will just fight?" Ace and Noah both looked at Xander, whose eyes looked like they were glued to the screen.

"Why don't we make them make out too, right?" Ace said still looking at Xander

"I mean. if we.." Xander's face turned sharply towards Ace and he growled.

"You..you bloody"

"Sushi. I am starting" Noah yelled and pressed forward, minimizing the distance between both

*Punch by Player*

"Dodge, she throws sandals" Ace mumbled picking up his phone

*Hit by sandal*

*Energy remaining: 80*

"Thanks" Noah growled

*Punch by opponent*

*Energy remaining: 60*

*Kick by opponent*

*Energy remaining: 20*

"What are you doing, give it to me" Xander yelled from behind Noah, almost tackling him to take the controller

*Punch by Player*

*Dodge by opponent*

*Punch by Opponent*

*ROUND ONE WON BY OPPONENT*

"What happened?" Ace looked up and saw the score on the screen.

"0:1"

"Buddy. I thought you were good at this" before Xander could take the controller, Ace took it from his hand and hit play.

"That's not fair" Xander complained, his eyes still on the screen.

*Punch by Player*

"Don't give her time to fight back" Ace spoke, not taking his eyes off the screen.

*Punch by Player*

*Dodge by Player*

*Opponent tackled to the ground by the Player*

*One punch*

*Second punch*

*Round kick by player*

"ROUND TWO WON BY PLAYER"

"1:1"

Ace looked at Noah while passing the controller to Xander.

"Make me proud kid" Ace mumbled, picking up his phone again.

"So yeah. I told your grandma, that plants ward off evil spirits. So like when you see some plants dying even after you take care of them.it happens coz they are taking each curse thrown at you, at themselves"

Both Ace and Noah looked at Xander.

"You have a lot of time on your hands." Ace took a sip of soda kept on the bed beside Xander.

"Damm time...what the hell man, why didn't you say something" Noah punched Xander on his arm and got up to get dressed for work.

While Ace and Xander were still studying, Noah had taken up looking after the business, following the steps of his Dad. Noah and Ace were not just childhood friends, but their parents also worked together. After the sudden death of Ace's parents, he got overburdened with work, making him work on even weekends.

Since he knew that Ace was still mourning the loss, even while he never spoke about it, Noah would often take Ace out, trying to keep his mind occupied. Another reason why he won't mind, when Ace took part in illegal underground fights or asked him to get information about a girl he was preying on.

Noah knew that Ace needed him, even if he would never say it. Like Ace knew when Noah needed him.

When Noah lost his mother, Ace was miles apart. But he ditched his guards, took a flight, and came home to Noah, which might have caused Ace to be grounded for several weeks but he didn't care about it at all. After that, Noah had put all his time and attention into the business, his only source of distraction. And he knew what Ace needed right now, he needed a light, he needed something or someone who would pull him out of the darkness he was going through.

No one could see it, but Noah could. Ace would put a brave face, smile that won't reach his eyes, hiding the tears that threatened to fall, Coz boys don't cry.