Interludes are few episodes that never made it to the main story, which are mostly filler episodes. This should occurred after the Christmas break during Joe's first year of college. There was a mentioned of them playing video naked, but I never really touched on it much. This is supposed to be what lead into it.
Blissful Paradise (Interlude)
Video Game by Max Millan
On one of the round tables that sat four, Reed was staying quiet on his seat just watching what was going around. Shawn sat right next to him who was still pestering Daisuke about how they celebrate Christmas in Japan. Mike was leaning over to the next next table chatting with me. Matt was having his own conversation with Ashley, Tim and his girlfriend. I remembered vividly, the smile on everyone faces seeing each other after the break. We still had two or three days to kill before classes start. I was hoping for it to last forever.
We stayed in the student lounge 'til closing time around eleven catching on what happened during the break. Reed and Shawn were anxious to know if the bars were already open. Mike gave them the bad news. Although, he didn't miss to plug his coming gig next week. Everyone was curious to know who were playing in his ever changing band. Just before the break, his drummer left for another band, and the bassist just quit all of a sudden. Daisuke, in his still broken English, cracked a joke. He told everyone that Mike was going to play all the instruments and sing at the same time.
"That will be awesome like that guy who carries every instrument with him," Shawn said.
"Who's that?" I asked.
"You know, that comedian, he wears a lederhosen."
Everyone looked at each other perplexed even Reed. "Who?" I asked again.
"Never mind," Shawn waved his hand.
The lights inside the student lounge turned off signaling everyone inside to head to the door. The group walked out bundled for up for the cool winter night. Matt, Shawn and Reed were wearing their matching varsity jacket. The only lighted part of the campus were the brick walkway leading to the dormitories. The campus that was already deserted came to life briefly when we made the trek back to our resting places, shouting at unknown thing and laughing at nothing. With the cold wind blowing outside, the inhabitant of the small college continued their hibernation. Ashley, Daisuke and Mike played tag crisscrossing the road, circling around us. Reed, Shawn and Matt had to put up with them when the three big guys were used as shields away from the chasing it. Naturally, the three helped out by blocking the way for the person being chased to get away. Then one by one, the group said their goodbyes for the night. By the time we reached the front of our dorm, there were only me, Matt, Shawn and Reed. Shawn and Reed went inside with us to warm up a little before continuing on to their apartment, a good ten minute walk from the dorm. Shawn shouted, on their way out to the back entrance by the parking lot, to make sure to give them a call next week to see Mike's gig. The couple of months they had before Spring training starts was something they looked forward to. This was the only time in the year when the three can be just like any other students.
The dorm was also quiet with most of the students still out waiting at the last minute to show up. In the break room, Asian looking students were boiling some noodle on the stove. Matt recognized some of them and said hi. They replied with muffled his with some of them covering their smiles. I waved at them to acknowledge their response.
I slumped on the couch when we got in to our room. Matt went directly to his backpack looking for something. When he came back into my view, he was gnawing on the plastic wrapper of his video game.
"What's that?" I asked.
His replied was garbled by the piece of plastic stuck on his tongue. He spit it out and repeated what he said, "new game."
"Let me see." After some trouble taking off the wrapper, he handed it to me.
"What's new on this one?"
"You can create your own team then scout players to play for your school."
"Cool"
Matt was no longer paying attention to me by the time I replied. He immediately jumped to hooking up the console to our television. He couldn't wait to start playing the game. Then when he was finished, he walked to the couch.
"Move," I heard him said and would have sat on me if I didn't quickly get out of the way.
"Jeez," I just sighed.
"What should I call my team?" he asked when he was presented the option.
"Boners," I said.
"Badgers," he said then put in our high school team name.
"Feeling nostalgic?"
Then he was disappointed when he was given a team with so-so stats. "When can I scout?"
I looked at the video game inset, "it says here you need to earn fame by winning games."
"Not with this terrible stats."
"Computer is normally dumb, you can still win with that team. Oh look, you had to train them to increase their stats."
Matt looked for the option to train his team and found it. He picked the most obvious position to train first. He had the defensive end do the training, but was again frustrated when the game told him that he had to rest the player before more training. He went through several players before the game flashed that the season was about to start. Like the previous version, the game had an internal timer to keep the game moving forward.
"So I had to start my school in lower division."
I watched him play his first game. The controls seemed to be the same from the last version that he was able to get the hang of it quickly.
"I told you. You can win with that team."
After the game, he checked on his players to see if something changed. He was disappointed that nothing seemed to be different except his school had earned few reputation points. A new option was presented about scouting tutorial.
"Cool, it gave me a better kicker," Matt showed some elation. It's a consolation price for being disappointed in every turn of the game that he just started. It's not unusual for games now to have a slow start because of added content and new play experience. Gone were the days when you just popped in a cartridge and off you go playing. He browsed through the available players to scout. Each of them the showed the points he needed before they will consider joining his team. "So I just need to keep playing to get these guys then."
"That's the point," I told him.
Matt was starting another match-up with his team when I left to turned up the thermostat a little inside the room to get ready for the night. Matt swatted me out of the way when I walked between him and the television to get to my dresser. He was completely engrossed with his new game. I hanged my coat on my chair and looked through my dresser for something to wear for bed, a white shirt with a faded logo should suffice and my flannel blue striped cargo shorts that I wore yesterday should do. After a while, the temperature in the room rose that Matt, who had his eyes still trained on the television showing his video game, started to feel the effect. He paused the game and took off his jacket and set it on the side then on with his game. I laid on my bed on my side and watched the game he was playing.
"Oh shit, these guys are faster than the last one," I heard him complained.
He paused the game to take of his shoes. The temperature had settled to a more comfortable level inside the room and buzzing sound of the old vent under the window faded into a monotonous murmur. From my bed, I saw him stood up. Now that he got the hang of it, he won't be separated from his game. Matt showed an unbelievable dexterity in multitasking when was able to unbuckle his belt and unbutton his jeans without missing a beat. His pants would not easily just slip of him. He had no choice but to pause the game again. With his back on me, he just slipped his pants down to his knees and sat down to completely take them off. He was already slinging his pants on the couch when he asked me to get his basketball shorts hanging on the back of his study chair.
"Hey bud, can you toss me my shorts?" he requested.
But I was being lazy, "I can't reach it," I told him pretending not to able to get up.
He looked back and saw what I was doing. He had already the controller back in his hand and too eager to continue with the video game, "C'mon now," he complained.
I showed him the same thing with me trying to get up with stretched arm pointing towards his shorts. He knew I won't be doing what he asked for. I heard him said, "oh well" then resumed his game.
Matt wouldn't wear an undergarment even on winter, so he was there on the couch half-naked. Matt and I, by this time, were no longer shy being naked around each other. I would catch a glimpse of him when he stood up to celebrate a good play. I saw him doing his end zone dance once or twice.
It was about nine in the morning when I woke him up the next day. I didn't know how long he stayed up last night playing his game. The school cafeteria would be opening that day, and the first breakfast of the year would be served. They always had the best selection of appetizers and desserts every time school resumed from breaks. But they stopped serving breakfast by ten.
"Wake up sleepy head," I shook him.
"What time is it?" Matt asked while rubbing his eyes with his fingers.
"Nine fifteen. C'mon, let's get breakfast."
Many of our mornings in college proceeded in auto-pilot. Still in my flannel cargo shorts and Matt in his basketball shorts, we both just grabbed our coat. A quick trip to the restroom to wash the sleep out of our eyes, then we were off dashing to the cafeteria in front of our dorm.
"Damn, it's cold as hell," Matt said.
"Brrrr, it's freaking cold," I agreed.
We know what was going to happen wearing shorts and flip-flops on cold winter morning. Doing something stupid together was one of those moments that build memories. We heard some students asking the obvious, "aren't you cold in those?" The good thing was, with Matt who was in a varsity team, we never had to wait in line. Soon enough we were inside the comfort of the cafeteria. Just that morning the college exploded in population. We had some trouble getting the spot where we sat most of the time. A group of students beat us to our spot. Matt looked around and saw the Asian students seating on their usual spot. They became our neighbor in the cafeteria. Two seats where still unoccupied, so Matt walked to their spot and asked if we can joined them. They were kind enough to let join them. When it came to meeting people, Matt was a natural. Even with his towering presence, he easily put anyone at ease.
Chinese and Japanese students attend an American university, in part, to learn how to speak English. They welcomed Matt's friendly gestured. They could practice their English on him who had no problem parsing through what they were saying. Even I sometimes would pull my brows together with a "huh!" looked on my face when they said something to me that was too far away from normal English language construct, but Matt could easily figure out the gist. He would repeat what they were trying to say the proper way without being obvious that he was correcting them before giving his answer. I'd seen and heard other people around them, who even by good intention, would correct them blatantly, which just caused the person they were trying to help to be embarrassed and stopped speaking. Not Matt. He could expertly keep them talking. But our current company had to leave. They were there early and already finishing their meal when we joined them.
"How long you stayed up last night?" I asked him about his video game.
"Not long. I went to bed after another match."
"How's is your team doing?"
"Lost the last match, I forgot to train my team in between games."
"Does it have a mode for team match up?"
"Yes, you get the standard NCAA teams."
"Cool. You better get some practice. Once I get the hold of that game, you won't be able to beat me," I warned him.
"Are you challenging me? Oh, it's on," he shot back.
"I'm ahead with our match ups on the previous version," I told him.
"No, you're not. I'm ahead," he protested. No one was really keeping score, so we really didn't know who's ahead.
"Anything going on today?" I changed the topic figuring out how to kill our time that day.
"They're showing a movie at the student auditorium."
"Which one?"
"That computer animated movie about aliens attacking Earth."
"Cool, I'm wanting to see that."
"I've seen it plenty of times. I could go with you if wanna see it. It's funny."
"How much it cost?"
"It's free for students just bring your ID."
"Shoot, we need to get there early to get a good seat."
"No rush, it's an old movie."
"When does it start?"
"I don't know."
We finished our meal and dashed back to our dorm. In a more suitable attire, we went to the student center to pass time. Just yesterday there were hardly anyone in there. That day, it was bustling. The youthful energy filled the center. The arcade was busy. All the pool tables were occupied. A line had already formed by the newly installed arcade game. We checked it out. It was a fighting game, a bloody one. Guts spilled all over the place when a player successfully executed his finishing move. After the arcade, we checked the two TV areas. Both were being fully utilized with many students, probably like us, killing time. We made it to the auditorium entrance, our reason for going. Several students were also checking out the poster with the showtime hand written on it. The first showing was at 1PM then another at 4PM with the last showing at 8PM. We don't want to rush our dinner, so it was a choice between one and four.
"1PM might be packed," I said.
"I'm thinking it will be the 4PM one. Just enough time before the cafeteria starts serving dinner," Matt surmise.
"You have a point. Well, it's free. Let's just see how the 1PM is like then come back later if it is packed," I suggested. Matt agreed.
After lunch, we headed back to the student center. True to my prediction, the auditorium was already filling up. I guess the movie was popular after all. With only the first five rows in front of the auditorium left unoccupied, we decided to just catch the 4 o'clock showing. It would be hard to watch the movie too close the screen.
"What do you wanna do now?" I asked Matt.
"I guess go back to the dorm and play my game. How about you?"
"I hanging out here for a bit. Mike and Daisuke might show up."
"They called you?"
"No, but they are normally here."
"Well, I'm headed back."
"Ok, see you later."
The game had Matt attention for the meantime. I went back to the arcade and watched the line of people trying to take each out of the new fighting game. It's quite interesting the competition level among some of them. The current king of the hill had been on the roll. He's been defeating challenger one after the other, but with someone on top of the hill everyone wanted a piece him. Everyone was ready to take him on. There were about five sets on quarters already on deck. He was unbeatable until a new arrival showed up who was even better. Then the chase continued on. I lost interest after a while. I looked around to see if Mike and Daisuke were around. Hanging by the student center went old quickly with no one to talk to. Matt might had a better idea to pass some time. I ended up watching a soccer in one of TV surrounded by the students from South America and a few Europeans. I don't get the game really, but they were thrilled watching players run around non-stop. I was about to doze off when my phone rung. It was Matt he was probably in the same boat as me, getting bored with no one around to talk to.
"How's the student center? Anything good?" he asked.
"Not much," I answered.
"So Mike and Dai showed up?"
"No."
"What are you doing now?"
"Just watching TV."
"I'm closed to moving up to the next division," he said very excitedly.
"Cool," I said somewhat a little uninterested.
"If I win my match, my school will be promoted to Division II."
"Good luck."
Matt hanged up. The room was too noisy for me to snooze. I got out and roamed around hoping to bump into someone I knew. No luck. I decided to go back to dorm to join Matt.
"You're back," he greeted me when I walked in. "I have better guys now," he shared the status of his game.
I didn't answer. He was sitting on the floor crossed legs. I sat behind him on the couch and watched what he was doing.
"Damn, I'm so bored right now," I sighed. "Can we just play a match up?"
"Hold on a sec, I'm almost done. I think I'm leveling up after this game," he said.
So I waited for him to finish the game. His anticipation was quickly shuttered when the game showed that he needed more wins. I heard him said the f-word a couple of times. He stood up to release some of his frustrations. It had given me a brief entertainment watching him fuzzed about the game.
"C'mon, let me play," I beg him knowing that he would likely continue on to get what he wanted. He sat on the couch and made himself comfortable. It's a small couch, so I had to put up with him putting one of his legs behind me. I had to wait again. He wasn't willing to let go that he was so close to his goal.
"After this game, I promise," he said.
"You better," I warned him.
"OK, OK."
"You are really into this game."
"I can have a dream team to match up with the good teams later."
"What should I be doing?" I asked.
"Dunno, play with your joystick," he joked as a passing remark to get me off his back.
"Are you sure?" I replied with a question.
He was already back on his game and wasn't paying attention to me. I, on the other hand, was now plotting on how to distract him. He was mashing on the controller trying to maneuver his receiver but came up nothing. He opted to try a long field goal.
"I don't think you can make that," I told him.
"You can bet your pants off I can make it," Matt bragged.
I knew it was a joke but he probably wasn't aware I was going to mean it literally when I said, "it's on."
Matt lined up for the kick, and the ball landed below the goal posts. "That's bullshit! I kicked it right on," he complained.
He was getting ready for the next play when I reminded him, "give it up."
"Give up what?" he asked puzzled.
"You lost the bet."
"What bet?"
"Pants off. You lost," I told him.
He smiled at me. "Well, take it off. I don't care," he said. I pulled on the legs of his baggies. He wasn't willing to give it up, so he kept his legs apart, so I changed my approach to a more direct one. I pulled the waist done as far I could. Depending on one's perspective, it could have been fortunate or unfortunate that his shorts made his position uncomfortable with the garter tightly bounding his upper thighs.
"LOL, just give it up." I stood up and put his legs together. From there, he didn't show anymore resistance. He raised his feet up in the air, and I slipped his shorts off of him.
"It seemed like you always end up half naked playing that game," I teased him.
He answered with his middle finger. "Don't you worry. I'm gonna get you next time," he warned.
I was so bored that day. And now that I found a willing victim to relieve my boredom, I had to come up with something better. Matt showed no sign of giving up on the gaming console. I look for my duffle bag and threw his shorts in their. I had already taken out all his pants and shorts from his dresser when he noticed what I was doing.
"Where are you going with those?" he asked.
"They're my hostage now," I said.
Matt tried to reach for his things when he saw me putting them in my bag, but he couldn't be plied from his game. He had to give up on one of them, and he chose to let go of his pants for now. He was probably thinking he could retrieve them easily later. Well, he was wrong. Before he could say anything, I was already out of the room with my duffle bag. I threw it inside my car and locked it. I was feeling the keys in my pocket naughtily smiling on what I just did.
When I got back, he was sitting on the couch still mashing on his controller. I climbed to my bunk bed and lay for a bit.
"Where did you take them?"
"Don't worry. They're safe."
"Oh well, you'll have to give back later, anyways, unless you wanna see the movie on your own."
"I might."
"Well, dinner time."
"Nope, there's probably some left over in the mini-fridge."
"I don't care," he said defeated.
After a while his eyes started straining for staring at the TV for two hours straight. "You wanna play? I'm done for now," he offered.
"No I'm good," I said.
"What much time before the movie starts?" he asked.
I looked at my alarm clock. "You still have about an hour and half to strut around buck naked," I answered.
The room went silent, and my eyes were shutting down. I could finally have some snooze time. I opened my eyes slightly when the bunk bed started moving. Matt's familiar thighs covered with his thin blonde hair, only this time, with his manhood dangling in between were on display as he got ready to jump up his bed. The springs creaked to the weight of the man settling on it.
"Don't sleep, we might miss the movie," I told him.
"I'm not," he replied.
He knew by now that the big mirror at the back of his study desk gave me a good view of him. He slipped under the cover. His cover draped on him. I could see his arms run down his body meeting between his legs forming a mound. It might had triggered something that he eventually pulled down his covers enough to expose himself. Like many times before when we chatted before bed, he would just look at his erect penis. Hold the base then swing it back and forth, and the slapping sound of skin to skin briefly cut into the buzzing noise of the heater. Then he would touch the tip with his finger to check for any fluid forming on it. The only time I took my dick that way was when I was ready to rub one out. I guess, every man had their own ways of admiring their erection.
"Are you jerking off?"
"Nope, just admiring my big dick," he bragged.
"Good. I'm gonna take a nap. Don't even think about making the bed move."
"I'm not," he promised.
Matt shook my shoulder to wake me up. "Wake up. Movie time," he said.
I staggered out of my bed and looked at my alarm clock. It was about three forty five in the afternoon just enough time to get to the student center.
"Can I have my pants back? Please," he pretended to beg. He already had his varsity jacket on but still naked from the waist down.
"You can go that way," I joked.
"And have the great Matt parade," he replied.
"Not when it's cold outside. The worst case of shrinkage is what you are going to show."
Well, he put up with my own game, so a quick trip to my pickup to fetch my duffle bag was the right thing to do. Matt rummaged through it and found a pair of jeans. He left the rest in my bag. Maybe, he was being lazy too.
The auditorium was only half-filled when we arrived. Being an old movie, most students had probably seen it. It was a rare treat. Getting the approval to show one was not the cheapest even for old movies. After the movie, we met up with Shawn and Reed in the cafeteria. They saw the movie too. It had already started when they got there. Finding to kill time before classes start when nothing was going on around the campus was the preoccupation of most students. We talked about the movie that we just all saw. It's a funny thing if you think about it. You and your friends saw the same movie, and you were talking about it as if you were the only one who saw it.
In no time, the three went for seconds. Matt, Shawn and Reed were monsters when it came to food. They were like bottomless pit, storing and saving up energy for when once again had to enter the greenfield and force their strength on their opponents.
"That was one good dinner," Shawn said as he patted down his stomach.
"Are you sure you had enough," I told him.
"No, I'm full," he responded.
"LOL, you will need to work that shit out," I teased him.
"Are you saying I'm fat? Matt better shut him up, or he's going to meet end of my knuckle," he warned me.
"Aren't you the sensitive one?"
"These are all muscles, baby." Shawn flashed his bicep and punch it with other hand. Then he grimaced. "Ouch!" he said.
"What's wrong?" Reed asked already knowing what happened.
Matt and I were laughing. Shawn massaged his bicep in pain. He must had hit it at the wrong time.
"What I am going to do with you?" Reed complained. "You keep doing stupid thing to yourself," he added.
"Welcome to my world," I told Reed.
"Don't put me in the mix," Matt was the one complaining this time.
"Are you guys glutton for punishment? I reckon, you guys like pain."
"There is pleasure after the pain," Shawn said. He heard giggles from everyone in the table, which gave him a pause. "That did not come out right," he tried to retract his comment.
"Too late," I said.
It turned bitter cold by the time we all stepped out of the cafeteria. The streets were deserted once again, and the neon lights across the road that divided the campus and the town were still dark. The bars were still sleeping and would only wake up at the very last moment just like the young population they served. Like last night, Shawn and Reed made a detour to the dorm to get away from the cold night. Once again, Shawn made sure to remind us to give them a call about Mike's gig next week on their way out to the back entrance.
The room buzzed when I adjusted the thermostat. If I'm the cynical one, I would probably think that the school was cutting down on gas bill. I just couldn't figure out the proper setting of this damn old heater slash air conditioning unit. It was fine when we left this afternoon, now it's cold again. Must be the sudden influx of temporary residents. While wondering about few mundane tidbits of my college life, Matt went straight to his game.
"I thought we are going to play match-up." I told him when he started continuing his game where he left off.
"Just one game, I promised," he said.
"That's what you said last time," I told him.
"Just one game. I'm close to the next level. I just wanna see what happens," he begged.
I let him be and sat on my chair by the door. I unlaced my boots to relieve my aching feet. Matt pointed out that the room smelled like something died when I took off my work boots. "Why the hell your feet smell so bad?" he said.
"I don't know. Maybe my feet sweat a lot."
"Are you doubling down on your socks?"
I didn't answer. I might had before, once, twice, three times. I was laughing inside.
"Now I know what get you for your birthday," he said.
"Shut it, just play your game then get ready for some ass whooping."
"Dream on. I got this game memorized now."
"As if that will help," I warned him.
I didn't take when Matt was rejoicing. He finally got what he wanted. His school had moved up to the next division. He browsed through other colleges listed in the division hoping to see a mention of our school. "This sucks. They didn't include our school." The ones listed were the slightly more famous schools by name recognition. He wasn't happy that some of them were the teams that we had been beating for the last three years.
"C'mon, c'mon, game time," I told as I grabbed the other controller.
Matt had his own plan of getting back at me, though. When I sat on the couch, he said, "not so fast there buddy. It's going to cost you."
"What do you mean?" I asked puzzled.
"Pants off. You had my pants hostage. I own the game so my rules."
"But I already gave them back to you."
"So you wanna play the game or not?"
I stood up and undid the button of me plaid cargo pants and dropped it on the floor. "Everything?" I asked him.
"Everything," he replied.
I slipped out of my boxers, and I'm standing with only my white t-shirts on.
"Cool. Now we can start the game," he giggled.
I sat right next to him on the small two seater couch. The game ensued. The controls remained the same from the previous, so I was able to get the hang of it quickly. The first game went to Matt. I was rusty. I would get him next time. The second was the same. He clobbered even the team that was rated the best in the game.
"Stop cheating Matt," I complained.
"I'm not cheating."
"How did you do the last move? Is that new?"
"The game had a few additional moves."
"So what is the combination for that?"
"I'm not telling you," he replied then celebrated when he scored a touchdown. "Who's the boss? Who's your daddy now?" I didn't answer. "And the correct answer is Matt," he continued.
The extra edge he had, knowing new set of moves, had me cursing every after the game. I couldn't beat him. I dropped the controller on the floor. "I'm done. You win this time," I conceded. Matt savored every minute of my defeat.
"You want another match?" he teased.
"No, I'm done. Or else I might break that shit."
"Are you sure?" he mockingly prodded me.
I ignored him. I peaked into our mini-fridge looking for some soda. I tossed him a can when he asked for one. He was already back at his regular game when I joined him again on the couch. Now that I've relinquished my turned to play the game. I ended up watching what he was doing. That became old quickly.
"I think I'm gonna to the lobby to see what's happening." I told him. "Where is my pants?"
"I dunno," he replied. I looked around.
"You're sitting on it." I said. He looked down to see but never moved an inch when he saw it. He would not move. Matt was more than a few pounds heavier than me and making him move against his will would be close to impossible, so I opened the drawer to fetch another pair of pants. When he saw what I was going to do, my pants sailed through the air hitting my face.
Except for the two or three students watching TV, the lobby was empty. Not having anything good to do, I went closer to see that they were watching. The bad reception was not enough to stop them from following what looked like a sci-fi show with aliens and spaceships. I said hi to the other occupants of the viewing room and sat on one of the chairs. From the back, I was able to have a crash course on what I was watching from the conversation of the original occupants. They must be following the show because they seemed to know every characters, their names, alien races and name of the planetary systems they came from. I heard a collective sigh from the three when the ending credits started scrolling. I might had caught the tail end of the show. I looked around for sign of life inside the dorm but the night was dead. This place should have been bustling with the returning students meeting and greeting their friends to catch up on things that happened last Christmas break. I slowly opened the door to our room, Matt was laying on the couch already changed to his shirt and basketball shorts still playing his video game. I looked around. He had his pants back hanging in his dresser and my duffle bag was left empty on my bed.
"Anything good?" he asked.
"This place is dead," I told him.
"No one's around?"
"Even your foreign friends are staying away. Still playing the game?"
"Yeah, it's getting harder. I need to recruit better players. I was able to scout two star players from other schools. I'm thinking of building a dream to take to the big league."
Matt didn't move when I slumped on couch. He just moved his right leg out of the way and left his left leg between me and the back of the couch. It's no big deal.
"I'm not yet read for bed, and there is nothing going on." My boredom was getting the best of me.
"You wanna place another match-up?" he suggested.
"Nope! I'll practice sometimes so I can erase that smug off your face."
"Not gonna happen," he bragged.
"Can we watch TV? The reception is bad in the lobby."
"I'm not yet done playing," he said. Must one of those times when you got hooked into something and didn't want to stop.
"I go nothing to do. Matt. I'm so bored," I said in exaggerated intonation.
"Well, you don't want to place match up."
"I guess I'll give it another try." So I picked up the other controller on the floor where I dropped it.
"Pants off," he said.
"Not again. You already got me back," I complained.
"This one from yesterday," he said.
"How about we play this game pants off tonight?" I suggested.
"Don't get too touchy though," he said. "Or else you have to finish it," he added.
All our matches ended up like the previous ones. I couldn't beat him without knowing the new moves. After three matches I was ready to give up in frustration. Matt was, on the other hand, found some more elation to my tore down ego. Every game he won he would do his celebration dance with his exposed manhood dangling freely between his legs.
"I give up," I told him.
"And the winner is Matt," he replied.
So from that day it became unofficial rule that every time we picked up and played that specific video game we had to do it half-naked. I remember several times when I joked about him removing his shorts because he was playing the game. His shorts or whatever he was wearing would flew the air towards my direction. He had no problem showing off what was hidden beneath. And in some instances, we had caused each other unnecessary eruptions in the middle of the game most specially with Matt when was wearing the same blue shirt that was left hanging in his hamper with ample amount of bodily fluid on it. I just had to do it. Or maybe, I was the one lead on. That bastard really liked it when I stroked him while he played his video game.