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"Guys, please don't be viciously picky with Ryan when he get here," Will begged his best friends as they set up for their Friday night sleepover in his lounge room.

"Calm down, Will. What do you think we'll do, tie him to a chair and torture him?" Emmie said, rolling her eyes.

"With how much Liv loves Ryan, I wouldn't be surprised if we caught her doing that to him in the middle of the night," Kimi chimed in, laying the sarcasm on thick on the word 'loves' as she crashed on a beanbag chair.

"I won't, I promise," Liv added, walking into the room from the kitchen, crossing her heart with her pointer finger.

"Where's your other hand?" Will asked. Liv lifted it up with an innocent smile to show her fingers crossed. "Liv, seriously, please don't torture him." In the almost two and a half months they had been dating, Will had tried hard to keep his friends and boyfriend separate, mainly because his friends could be intense and he didn't want Ryan to be scared off. His boyfriend assured him that he would be fine but Will wasn't so sure.

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever," was Liv's only reply as she collapsed onto the other bean bag, munching on the chips she'd brought in from the kitchen. Will stared at her, trying to decipher whether she was actually going to lay off Ryan tonight or not. He hoped she would but sadly, he knew she wouldn't.

"Hey, uh, Kimi, can you come in here?" Cash piped up from the kitchen.

"Why?" Kimi whined, stomping her feet on the armrest of the couch like a child throwing a tantrum. "I'm comfy!"

"Just come in here!" Cash repeated urgently. The four in the lounge look at each other in confusion, unsure why she sounded like that. Kimi sighed, before pulling herself up and trudged into the kitchen.

"What is it?" she asked, walking in to find a nervous Cash intently looking at her phone.

"Umm, so, Oliver and Stacey may have just changed their relationship status of Facebook to 'in a relationship'..." Cash explained, showing the post to Kimi.

Kimi gasped, grabbing the phone off the blonde. "No fucking way, Stolly is real?!"

"That is such a bad relationship name, don't call them that!" Cash groaned, grabbing her phone back.

"Shut up, I came up with it, don't diss my work, thank you very much," Kimi countered, grabbing the phone again. Cash reached for her phone but Kimi slapped it away.

"Why did you come up with Stolly? It's crap," Cash scowled. "Why are you even the one coming up with it anyway?"

"Bitch please, I run the gossip mill at our school. It's pretty much like, my job to do this shiz. I don't know how I can fit school work around it all," Kimi sighed, handing Cash back her phone. "Should we tell Will about this though?"

"That's why I asked you in here. I think we should keep hush about it, at least until tomorrow," Cash suggested. Kimi nodded in agreement. "Besides, tonight is about us bonded with his boyfriend," the blonde added, not very excited about spending the night with Ryan. But Will was dating him so she had to make the effort.

"You're right, talking about Oliver wouldn't be a good idea tonight, especially with all the trouble he's been causing for them," Kimi agreed. Truthfully, Kimi and Emmie were the only ones who liked Ryan more than Oliver. Kimi herself had always gotten a bad vibe off the blonde guy, so she was happy when Ryan came along. She didn't get why Cash and Liv had such a problem with him. Or why they liked Oliver so much. "C'mon, let's get back out there," Kimi said, picking up the bowl of caramel popcorn Cash had been preparing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Seriously, be nice," Will warned to the girls standing behind him before turning to open the door for his boyfriend.

There stood Ryan, holding ten pizza boxes that reached up above his head. "Pizza delivery," he said, poking his head around the side of the boxes to see the others. "Meatlovers with extra sausage," he joked, winking at his boyfriend.

Liv's sarcastically forced laughter was heard behind Will, who sighed. Why did he have to say that... He moved to the side so Ryan could cautiously enter his home, who was struggling with all the pizza boxes. Ryan followed Will's lead, placing the boxes on the coffee table once they made it into the lounge room.

"How much do we owe you?" Will asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Nah, it's ok. It's on me," Ryan smiled, sitting next to his boyfriend. Will smiled back and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Liv coughed in the background but Will just ignored her.

"Oh my god, score!" Emmie exclaimed as she opened one of the boxes to find a pizza just covered in bacon. In a matter of seconds, Emmie had already finished a slice and was onto another. Bacon was Emmie's all-time favourite food, evidently, and would put it on anything. Will would never forget the questionable bacon ice-cream she'd once made. "Thanks, Ryan," she said around a mouth full of bacon pizza.

"No worries," he replied with a grin. He reached for a piece but had his hand slapped away by Emmie, who was guarding the box protectively. Ryan just nodded, not sure what else to do, before grabbing a piece of Hawaiian. "Want some?" he offered to his boyfriend.

"Nah, I don't eat pineapple," Will declined, reaching for his own favourite, jalapeno pizza.

"Why not? You know what they say about pineapples," Ry teased with a cheeky smirk. Will choked on his bite of pizza.

"That it hurts when you shove it up your ass?" Liv piped in, munching on her piece of margherita. It was Ryan's turn to choke as Will sent his best friend a death glare. Liv looked back at him innocently, as if she hadn't just said what she had.

"Behave," he warned her but she just rolled her eyes. Ryan asked what that was about but Will just ignored him, not wanting to get into it now. The group fell into awkward chit chat as Liv continued her (not always) subtle digs at the Ryan. Ryan did his best to answer what he could, not wanting to do anything wrong. He could sense the tension between his boyfriend and Liv but he didn't think it was best to ask. He was back in that bloody minefield again.

"So Cash, I heard you were dating Ivan now?" Ryan asked, remembering that Will had mentioned it at some point.

"I wouldn't say we're dating... More just seeing each other, if that makes sense?" Cash replied as she started packing up the now empty pizza boxes on the table.

"I getcha," Ryan nodded. "It's nice you're giving him a shot. Everyone in the year sees how much he likes you."

"Yeah, I guess," she muttered, picking up the boxes and rushing to the kitchen. Everyone watched her leave, not sure why she was acting like that. They had all thought her and Ivan were going well, but now they weren't so sure. Ryan glanced at Will with a frown. This was his first mine of the night and he wasn't even expecting it. Will took his hand and stroked it with his thumb in reassurance.

"So Ryan, why'd you break up with Mia?" Liv spoke up, causing Ryan to stiffen. To be honest, Liv was curious as much as she wanted to stir the pot. Will had kept tight-lipped about Ryan and Mia, and she wanted to know the truth.

"Liv," Will hissed.

He was about to scold her for her behaviour but Ryan interrupted him. "It's ok, Will," he whispered to his boyfriend. Will looked at him as if to say 'are you sure?' Ryan nodded, clearing his throat to give an explanation. "I broke up with Mia because she was cheating on me for over a year. To be honest, I'm glad I did because I'm with Will now and he really is the greatest thing to happen to me in a long time," he answered honestly, staring at the floor. He didn't want to look up. He didn't want to see what their faces looked like, especially Will's. He had a dreadful feeling that Will wasn't as invested in this relationship as he was.

That was quelled, however, when he felt Will's hand on his chin, turning his face to look at him. Ryan closed his eyes, still not ready to see Will's face just yet. But that didn't matter much for Will, who captured his boyfriend's lips in a meaningful kiss. He tried to show how much he appreciated Ryan and their relationship in that kiss. Ryan returned the kiss with just as much passion, feeling emotional over how passionate Will was being.

The two only stopped when Liv cleared her throat. Everyone was silent, even as Cash re-entered the room unsure what she was walking into. She sat down as everyone mulled over what Ryan had said.

Liv was the first to speak. "I apologise for the way I've been acting Ryan. I should not be treating you the way I have been all night. I'm sorry," she said, giving both Will and Ryan proper eye contact so that they knew she was being serious.

Ryan nodded, accepting the apology, but Will sat stoically, still deciding what to do. "Babe, can you go get some ice cream? I gotta talk to the girls for a minute," Will asked. The other boy scanned the faces in the room. All the girls seemed nervous but Will was calm. He nodded again, standing up and heading to the kitchen.

Once Ryan was gone, Will began. "Listen, you're all my best friends. I love you all and you'll be in my life forever. I would never leave any of you behind over a guy, but if you guys can't be around Ryan, talk to him nicely and treat him with respect, I'm gonna have to split my time between the two of you. Do you understand?" he explained. Will wasn't sure where he'd gotten this authoritarian attitude from, ordering people what to do and tell them how it is. He kind of liked it, to be honest.

The girls nodded in agreement, fully understanding what he meant. "I really like him, Will. I'm happy the two of you are together," Kimi expressed, telling everyone how she truly felt. Emmie echoed her statement, adding, "you found a good one there."

Cash and Liv stayed quiet, still not all that accepting of Ryan just yet, but Cash was the first to speak, "I'll be honest, Will. I never liked him, but after tonight and having a proper conversation with him, I'm starting to. I promise I'll try." Will sighed, not happy with her statement but knew that was the best he was going to get for now.

Will turned his attention to Liv, who was now staring at the table intently. She'd been quiet and Will was worried she was going to cause more trouble. Will was about to ask her what she thought but she beat him to it. "I'll try too," was all she said. Will knew that that was all he was gonna get from her that night, but he was happy she was going to try. She had been adamantly anti-Ryan for months, so the fact that she'd turned a new leaf on Ryan was promising.

Hopefully it works out...

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