It's not like the movie is more interesting to him. Far from it- but it's easier to deal with. In his his 26? 27 years of living he never would've said, ever, that onyx straub of all people would ever give him a massage for his imaginary cramp. He's waiting for it, feeling like he had a similar experience. Darkness, skin on skin, warm breaths, and then the phrase "NO HOMO-" uttered before he's roughly shoved backwards, head spinning. Socks were still on so no duh, but- [break][break]

He's too old for that shit. So why did he feel so nervous? Was it that he expected some sort of shoe to drop every time Onyx moved without his notice? Or was he just enjoying this too much? Was he maybe just overthinking favor for favor? You scratch my back, I scratch yours. Except instead of a back scratch its 'invite the vampire into a home in exchange for a calf rub.'  [break][break]

Onyx wouldn't- There's a horrible pause, eyes glued to the screen as he forced himself to focus on the eeriness of the cabin and their fucked up little god and cult. Past performance is not a predictor of future results. His mind is lulled between a mix of the horror, and Onyx's fingers working. Any other person and he might think this was some kind of set up. Maybe this is just how Onyx does nice, as foreign a phrase as that is. He feels bad he was scared. He feels bad he was jumpy. [break][break]

"What...the fuck...?" he murmured finally, really paying attention to the movie and the music, and "Ah-" as Onyx hit something that twinges in his leg. "SHIT-!" he doesn't jump this time, creeped out but more so on the edge of how this was going on.

[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The men startle awake to discover they’ve all had nightmares, all been stripped naked in their sleep. They panic, forgoing gear and all but the basic necessities of clothing, tearing out into the woods. Fear makes them blunder into one another until they’ve run their adrenaline out and pause to catch their breath.

Andres jumps. Onyx stills his hands, a flicker of fear warming within him, worried he’d hurt Andres, somehow. Anger, then, at how he always manages to injure him when all he wants to do is… he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what he wants to do. Therein lies the problem.

“Should I stop?” he asks, quiet, hating himself for asking something so obviously fucking stupid-- of course he should stop, what the fuck kind of question was that?!

There’s a burst of noise as one of the man screams and swears he saw a figure in the trees. The rest of the group scream back at him for taking the piss. A fight breaks out. They all gang up on the main character and call him a coward for letting their friend die in the robbery.

andres buenaventura
fellas is it gay

☉

The scene is fucking chaos and Andres isn't quite sure how to better proceed. He just kind of hopes nobody forgets about the injured guy and they all make it out mostly. Onyx speaks up in the lull as the men gather their thoughts. "What- no." he replied, sitting up and shifting his legs further onto his guest. Propped by his hands, his knees rest comfortably over Onyx's leg. "It feels nice- the pain I mean. It's a knot-" he explained blundering over his own justifications. [break][break]

Which were normal. That was entirely normal. That's how it usually felt. Why was he acting suspicious about it. He reached down pressing a finger into where Onyx had pressed and rolling it over skin for a moment. "Yeah, just a knot..." he confirmed hoping to seem engrossed and not embarrassed. [break][break]

He flinched at the action on screen, eyes moving back but not his body as he waited for what would happen next. Would they kill him? It was possible in this horror movie. A self fulfilling prophecy?
[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Onyx raised one eyebrow at the pain feels good, files that away for... some other time, probably. Hands lifted, he waits for Andres to settle more of his long legs over his lap.

With the lightest touch, he continued where he left off, working gently at the spot that seemed to cause so much pain.

The men disperse after their argument and travel as far as they can before pitching camp and going to sleep. They all suffer horrible nightmares, and are awoken by screaming. One of the tents in the campsite has been destroyed, crushed in, and the compatriot within is missing. In a panic, they run screaming into the woods to find him, and end up lost.

andres buenaventura
fellas is it gay

☉

Andres stared back at Onyx waiting for the excuse to take hold. He's a little tense, but relaxed as Onyx continued his massage. He let out a small breath he didn't know he was holding. "Y-yeah...right there is nice..." he said with a small sigh. Though, now he's so close he can't comfortably lean back onto his side so he settled for leaning onto the back of the couch and turning his head towards the screen. [break][break]

At this point he just wondered why nobody in their party set up look outs. They were all frazzled, sure, but they could do with some kind of security. Then again, they're crazed and injured. Whatever the case, the suspense was building and Andres really hoped they'd just get out of the forest. [break][break]

It felt almost like another chase scene, and the disjointed shots make him feel crazed, body tensing for the oncoming horror.

[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Onyx doesn’t even begin to understand that maybe Andres has Reasons(™) for being untrustful or discomforted by their physical contact. They have a history. But it’s easy to forget in places like this, where everything is so bizarre in its domesticity, normalcy, that Onyx feels wholly unbalanced and out of whack.

He can feel Andres tensing as the movie progresses. Predictably, the men find their companion dead-- disembowled and impaled on a tree branch, the camera reveals, entrails hung like Christmas lights. They waste precious time dragging him down and burying him in a shallow grave.

Onyx doesn’t try anything fresh, this time, just keeps up the gentle push-and-pull pressure of his fingers.

There’s a scream and scene whiplash as one of the men is snatched away by an unseen force. Something low and primal bellows offscreen, branches cracking and breaking, as the remaining two men run screaming.

They find, as if by magic, a torch-lit, tree-lined path, that leads to a small village. They run into a cottage to hide, hopefuly that salvation is at hand.

Something knocks them unconscious.

andres buenaventura
fellas is it gay

☉

Pain and soreness ebbs and flowed out of his leg. The knot's been dealt with, but he won't say its gone, allowing Onyx to keep going. He'd offered after all. Andres had a lie to push till the end. Unfortunately, this lulled his sense and he's not quite ready for the disembowled companion in the trees. "SHIT-" he he hissed, pressing further into the couch and away from the TV. [break][break]

Right- the horrible cult night the characters had been going through for the past hour now. And it only gets worse. Whatever is tracking them, definitely found them. Andres knows something is coming, but even when they're hit behind the heads he can't help but shout a curse trying to jump further away form the movie. He popped up into Onyx's lap as if going for the other end of the couch would save him. Hazel eyes are locked on the movie, one hand gripping Onyx's shoulder. His breathing is a little short, spooked successfully. This is why he didn't watch horror.

[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

As he settles in to watch the movie, stilling for the first time since his arrival-- really, truly quieting, and not just a predatory state of frozen, the illusion of relaxation as a defense mechanism-- his palms come to rest on the top of Andres’ shin, content to let the man’s legs stay sprawled over his lap as they lapse into a true companionship: just two fucking bros, watching a scary movie.

The flashes of gore on the TV have Andres yelping and flailing, the heel of his hand digging into the couch cushion and pushing him away from the TV screen. Onyx thinks it’s funny, unable to stop the soft, nose-wrinkling laughter that escapes him, until Andres all but vaults off the couch and into his lap-- and then all the happenings in the movie are forgotten. Andres has one hand on his shoulder, ass wedged between his thighs, one foot on the ground, and one kicked over the edge of the couch.

He’s watching the screen, but Onyx is watching him, once more keyed up into a pre-action type of frozen, breathing light, hands hovering, like any moment something could happen and he would need to be ready.

When the men in the movie awake a young woman explains to them that preparations are being made for a sacrifice to an ancient god. As one man is taken away to be sacrificed, the remaining one-- the main character, who was the survivor of the liquor store robbery, breaks his hand to free himself from his binds. It is too late for him to save his friend, but not too late for him to save himself.

He sets the cabin and the village on fire and flees as his remaining friend is murdered.

andres buenaventura
spoilers for the 2017 horror film The Ritual
if you havent seen it i recommend its very good

☉

Andres is frozen, intent on following through with this wild ride but also grossed out and scare of what's to come. He barely registers he's right in his friend's personal space, only really focused on how hard he's gripping them. [break][break]

"Gods, not this shit again-" he murmured as he watched the men learn their fate. He cringed watching a wrist snap, and something doesn't sit right with what's next. "Why is it always him?!" He protested, as he learned further into Onyx. He brought his in, perching feet on the shorter man's thigh as if keeping all his limbs as close to him would save him from the TV. [break][break]

He's tense, pressing his friend against the couch. He doesn't relebr until he sees credits, and even then Andres is wary of a post credits scene. Finally, he relaxes, relieving Onyx of pressure and sighing in quiet relief. "He got out good for him." He stated, clearing his throat as if he hadn't been absolutely terrified moments ago. His legs unfurl, slowly pushing outwards and eventually resting on the couch arm. "It was…better than I expected." He said as he pulled back his hand. Stiff from digging itself into his friend's shoulder.

[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Andres is poised in his lap like a baby bird about to leap from the nest. Onyx is struck by this image and wonders how, at that moment, someone so obviously built can seem simultaneously so fragile. It’s a terrifying thing he now holds in the palm of his hand-- er, lap-- and this close he can see, in the low light from the tv, a scar peeking out of Andres’ hairline where he’d--

The pain of Andres’ fingers gripping his shoulder fade away and Onyx can do nothing but sit, frozen, as if one motion would make everything crash down around him and shatter into hairline fracture’s like he’d done with Andres’ skull so many years ago.

Why did he suddenly feel so horrible?

Better than I expected.

“Yeah,” he says, intelligently, because-- this all kind of is, isn’t it? Better than expected. Better than deserved. He’s fucking lucky Andres didn’t murder him the moment they saw each other again. Instead, he’s invited him into his home. His life. He’s sitting in his fucking lap for god’s sake.

So foolish. So fragile.

“It’s one of my favorites,” he says, then remembers he said it already so he chooses to elaborate: “He’s painted as a coward the entire movie and then in the end he has to save himself. It’s a horrible choice to make.”

He swallows, too aware of how close they are right now. He hasn’t moved a centimeter except to speak. Hasn’t even breathed.

“I also like the monster.”

As though Andres gives a fuck. God, this boy made him such a moron.

andres buenaventura
local disaster feels too much

☉

He turns, still riding high off the end of the movie. His face a little too close to Onyx's, but he doesn't seem bothered. He doesn't even clock it. "Yeah, its awful for him. Now that shit's just going to follow him too." One couldn't blame a robbery or accidentally stumbling into a weird monster cult village on themselves. [break][break]

He smiled through his grimace, before relaxing once again and letting out an easy laugh, "Well, I guess, the design was pretty cool. It did it's job...well." Andres didn't really know how to compliment a horror movie. His eyes dip down, his hand drops. He looks back at Onyx. "I may have gotten scared...a bit." he said. He'd been entirely joking about jumping into Onyx's arms but...there was a reason he didn't take dates out to the movies. Shit like this. [break][break]

"Sorry- am I heavy?" he began to grin, relaxed despite acknowledging their position. He looks back at the TV, checking the time. Good as time as any to order food. He doesn't feel like cooking. "I'm thinkin' pizza. You in?" he said as he finally, finally got his ass out of Onyx's lap and stretched his arms over his head. His spine straightens up, emitting a little pop before he relaxed again. "Hope you're not a pinap guy. I have the juice in the fridge, just don't put it on my pie."

[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

He was right there. On god, he was right there. He could just lean in and—

“Unbearably,” he says, and there’s a weight in his voice that’s half a joke and half real, half a real, physical, undeniable weight, but it isn’t in his lap, it’s in his chest, and as languid and slow as his smile is he is also incredibly reticent for this evening, this moment, to end.

Then Andres is standing and the spell is broken. He is invited to stay for pizza. And part of him knows he should get out now while the getting was good. He’d done enough damage to his own psyche, sent enough mixed signals to his own exploded bomb-shelter of a brain, to last a lifetime.

But he’s caught in the light of the shadow of Andres’ body as he stands and stretches, and feels every pop of his vertebra in the thrum of his own pulse; he’s hollowed out a little place here, on this couch, in these clothes, a little comfy hole to crawl into and die.

“Sure. Pizza sounds fine,” he says, shooting himself in the head. “Get whatever you want. I’m not picky.”

andres buenaventura
local disaster feels too much

☉