Chapter Text
Ze’s POV:
It was supposed to be a fun trip. Just the six of us. Shubble was the one coming up with the idea to go on vacation together. We all had been friends on Twitch and we would play video games together. But it would actually be the first time that we would be in the same room. Well, I had met some of the people before. I mean, Chilled and I had been best of friends for ages. I lost count of the times we had shared a room, be it at somebody’s place or at a hotel for a convention. Chilled always joked about how we were totally a couple. I would then either chuckle and play along, or tell him jokingly to fuck off. Not that I really minded these jokes, I thought to myself.
As we were deciding where to go, I came up with the idea to go to British Columbia, Canada. People always believed that I was born in Canada, but the truth was that I only had Canadian citizenship. I totally grew up in sunny California. But Canada stuck out to me because it was a place we could easily travel to and yet be so removed from civilization. Most of us were actually pretty burned out from keeping up with streaming, social media, the whole internet personality business. If we went to a place without any access to the cyberworld, we could focus on getting to know eachother better, while also being able to relax. And besides, winter sports were totally in my blood.
And so it was decided. About a month later, the six of us sat in the truck dropping us off at a cozy cabin in the middle of nowhere. Tay had fallen asleep during the trip and had to be woken up.
“Gruhh… where are we?” her groggy voice muttered. Toast pointed at the wooden cabin from through the window, reminding her of where they were going to in the first place. I smiled at Chilled sitting in the seat next to me, happy that we finally arrived. We all got out of the truck to pack our bags and luggage from the back. The landscape was completely covered in untouched fluffy snow. Our warm winter boots leaving footprints, disturbing the blanket of snow.
“Brr… it’s so cold, I cannot wait to warm up at the fireplace!” Shubble said with an excited tone in her voice. Her nose and cheeks were getting red from the cold already. As we stepped inside of the cabin, we were greeted by a large fireplace in the middle of couches. It was not burning yet, as we figured. Next was a stove with a dining table just enough to fit six chairs and the staircase that would lead to the three bedrooms upstairs. Rugs on the floor and on the wall made of deer and moose pelts gave the cabin a jägerhütte-like feel. With a plop, Toast dropped his bag on the couch, not wanting to carry it for longer than necessary. I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention.
“So, we have three bedrooms. I thought of me bunking with Chilled, and have Tay and Shubble share a room. Which leaves Toa-“
“Why do I get Cheesy?” Toast interrupted unamused. The younger blond with frizzy hair started laughing.
“What’s wrong with me?”
“You always fuck me over in video games, like hell I trust you!” It sounded more like a deprecating joke than an actual insult.
“Well, I agree with this arrangement, right ladies?” Chilled said while looking over at Tay and Shubble nodding. That settled it then. I rubbed my hands together.
“Alright, let’s pack out guys and heat up this place.” Chopped wood for the fireplace was neatly stacked in rows in a nook in the wall. This would get us through a few days. A few minutes later, the soft crackling of the fire and a warm flow of air started to fill up the cabin. Soon, everybody had forgotten the cold of the outside world and started to settle in. The bedrooms upstairs were not particularly big. The gabled roof made the ceiling uneven. I sat down on the bed that seemed too small to be a queen size, throwing my bag with spare clothes behind the night stand. The plane flight had made my head a bit wobbly. Damn turbulence. I rubbed my eyes, my hand going through my curly brown hair. I felt another hand on my shoulder.
“Hey, you okay buddy?” Chilled asked, sitting down next to me. I gave him a smile.
“Yeah I’m fine. Thanks for asking though.” I looked over at the other side of the bed where Chilled would have to sleep. “Are you even going to fit in here?” Chilled then held up my hand and interlocked his fingers with mine.
“Ofcourse I will, Ze! I fit perfectly on top, like we always do,” the Italian said with a fake seductive look.
“The fans can’t even hear us, you silly.” I freed my hand and pushed him. He did not put up any resistance at all and let himself fall with his back now on his bed.
“You know what we should totally do tomorrow?” Chilled asked, still on his back.
“Well?”
“Operation Old Yeller snowball fight with Cheesy. That sicko will come up with something, I tell you. It’s payback time after he shanked me like that in Among Us last week.” I just gave a chuckle and answered with a “sure”. Yep, this was our ChilledChaos. Either a complete paranoid or pulling the strings when it came to video games. But mostly a paranoid. And I either fully got his back… or sussed him to no end. But in real life, he knew that I would never drop him. He knew that I would take the bullet for him. And I knew that he would do the same. I just knew it. I lay down on my back too, us both now staring at the wooden ceiling. I could just unpack later, as I was exhausted anyways. It had been a while since Chilled and I got to share a room, as PAX was cancelled last time. It just brought happy memories of our shared past. We didn’t say anything to eachother, as we didn’t really need to. This trip was to relax and have fun after all. I scooted over a bit so that my legs were at the footboard. Chilled’s broad shoulders slowly brushed against mine. I didn’t mind that at all. The touch was actually pretty warming…
“Hey lovebirds, care to join the rest of us for dinner? We’re all waiting on you.” my eyes shot open from the sudden voice coming from the door opening. I quickly sat up and looked Toast in the eyes. Did I just fall asleep?
“Is it that late already?” I looked at the window past Chilled, who was already sitting up. The sun had indeed set already.
“Oh yeah you totally fell asleep Ze. Pretty cute I must say,” Chilled laughed. I scratched the back of my head as I got up, my head a little wobbly still. The dinner table was already occupied by Cheesy, Shubble and Tay. The latter blond had her plate already filled up with food. The three of us placed ourselves in the empty chairs. I sat in between Chilled and Toast and reached for the spoon to scoop up the pasta. We knew there was no eating place or supermarket nearby, and with the heavy snow they for sure wouldn’t deliver food, so we had packed enough food with us so survive the trip. Sure, it was mostly canned but convenient to make. Chilled made the expected remark on how the food was not true Italian pasta and that he would take everybody to the best restaurant he knew the next time they were together.
“Honestly I feel honored I was invited to go with you guys…” Toast began as he put down his fork with a smile. “You guys are all amazing friends.” Shubble, who was sitting next to him, ruffled through his short dark hair.
“Let this trip be a celebration on how much we’ve all grown together,” she chirped. Yeah, despite everything… this year was still very successful for all of us. We held up our glasses.
“Cheers!”
I felt like nothing could stand this week in the way.