Winging It

"Hey, move your laptop."

Tyler sat down at the table with two coffees in hand, one of them black and the other a caramel frappucino with extra sauce, which immediately had Matt wary because he knew his best friend and a coffee like that was either an apology or a trap. And, since he couldn't think of anything that would have him owed his favourite drink, he knew it was the latter. The fact that Tyler was looking at him with big puppy dog eyes was another indicator that things were going to go badly for him because Matt had never been able to say no, not even to the stupidest of his plans.

"If this is going to get me arrested, I swear you're going to be sitting in that jail cell right next to me."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, his eyes wide and innocent, "Can't a guy buy his best friend a drink and not have his motives questioned?"

"I can count the number of times you've bought me a caramel frappucino and not asked me to do something for you. The total's still at four and, the last time you did, it was because you gave me that scar on my leg."

"It's a cute scar," he said encouragingly, "it adds character and, you know, it's a story to tell people."

"No, because then they'd ask to see it, and it's way too close to my groin for comfort."

Tyler nodded sympathetically. "Yeah but, point is, this time there's no fear of you getting hurt. I promise."

He looked at him doubtfully. "Does that include the possibility of the very likely emotional pain I might get?"

"There's not going to be any emotional pain."

"Right," he drawled, "because the aftermath of me asking Lisa Dobrev out for prom for you wasn't complete humiliating?"

"But you're my best friend."

That was a point.

Tyler and Matt had met in year five, when their classes had been mixed and they'd been placed in the same group for introductions because nine year olds were just getting back to shy and they weren't going to mingle without some sort of incentive. Playing games and getting sweets as a reward was probably the best idea that the teachers had come up with and, still, Tyler had ruined it by lying. Because the post it note stuck on Matt's head had been King Henry VIII and there was no universe in which he was a female. Tyler had still said 'yes' when Matt asked if Matt's person was a girl and that was a terrible, terrible thing. It shouldn't have made them friends but, somehow, they'd fallen in with each other and it was both the best and worst decision of his life.

But best friends didn't ditch each other so he sighed. "Alright, what are we doing in order to make Allison notice you?"

"What? How'd you get the name Allison?"

"Definitely not because I listened to you wax lyrical about her for three hours yesterday, something about how her hair's the colour of spun gold and angels wept when they saw her?"

Tyler got a dreamy look on his face, smiling goofily. "Yeah, they did, didn't they?"

Matt couldn't help the grin tugging at his lips because Tyler was a lot of things but he wasn't ever cruel, he was just a hopeless romantic who dragged Matt into his crazy schemes. It was honestly so endearing and the fact Tyler was just as committed was what had him sticking around and joining in.

"So, again, what are we doing?"

"There's this party tonight," Tyler began, "and I overheard her saying that she'd be there and I thought it might be cool if we were there, too. It's a fancy dress party but there'll be alcohol and no one will care if we have terrible costumes."

"Okay," Matt said, not hearing the problem in this, "so why the coffee?"

"No reason, I just felt like getting it for you," he said earnestly, adding as an afterthought, "and it's an Alpha Theta Xi party."

Matt stopped mid-sip and stared at him. "You mean the fraternity that's our sworn enemy?"

"Oh, is it?" he asked, trying for surprise and failing miserably, "I didn't know."

He sighed, looking down at his coffee made out of lies and pain and drank it anyway. "This is such a bad idea but, fuck it, I'm down."

"Yes, I knew I could get you on my side!"

Matt refrained from pointing out he was never not on his side but only because he was busy going over his wardrobe in his mind, wondering if they'd need to hit the shops before the party tonight. "You feel like dressing like Agent 47?"

Tyler's hands immediately went to his hair, long brown strands that curled at the ends. "I couldn't be bald. I can't."

Matt laughed. "I was messing with you, Tyler. We're not going to shave our heads for a costume, or a girl."

Tyler hesitated at that, like he was actually considering losing his locks for a girl, and Matt couldn't help but be impressed over how much he was willing to sacrifice for her. He hoped she was worth it.

In the end, Matt lent Tyler his Superman top and he wore it under his suit, the buttons of his shirt undone to expose the red S. They managed to find some fake glasses from one of their flatmates and, with a little gel, they mussed his hair into a style that was vaguely reminiscent of Clark Kent. He looked damn good, and Matt hoped Allison would appreciate their efforts.

"She's going to notice you." Matt said, with more certainty than he felt. "She'd be a fool not to."

"It's an Alpha Theta party." Tyler said, having lost some of his earlier enthusiasm. "There's going to be a hundred more attractive men there."

"No one's more attractive than my best friend." Matt said loyally but this he was sure of. "I believe in you. You know it's true, or else I wouldn't be going to our enemy frat dressed like Waldo."

In the end, they hadn't had the time to get to the fancy dress shops before they'd closed for the day and, as fun as traipsing around the charity shops were, they couldn't be certain they'd find a costume. Instead, they'd gone back to their flat and tried to use what they and their flatmates had. Unfortunately, Matt and Tyler lived with three girls and the costumes they had were not okay for either of them to wear. The striped jumper was a stroke of luck, something left over from another party, and the hat was one of the girls'.

Matt thought it looked stupid. It was kind of the point, though, because Tyler could only look more attractive when Matt was stood next to him. Men in suits were infinitely hotter than men in stripy shirts and jeans, and the comparison would be obvious.

"You don't have to stick by me all the time." Tyler said, a little later in the night. "You can go and enjoy yourself, if you want."

"I'm your wingman, Tyler."

"But Allison isn't here."

That was a point. Matt wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing, to be honest, that she hadn't shown up so far. It gave them the time to ease into Alpha Theta without worrying about having to impress her and they'd slowly relaxed about being in the enemy's house. It was a joking rivalry, sure, but it felt real enough now without the rest of their frat brothers by their side.

"I think I feel safest next to you."

Tyler laughed, but Matt wasn't kidding.

"Go eat some party snacks, talk to a girl," he waved him off, "it'll be fun."

Clearly, Tyler had been drinking a lot more than Matt had, which explained his relaxed mood. There was no way he wouldn't be a bundle of nerves when it came to Allison if he didn't have some liquid courage on his side.

Still, Matt supposed he could go for a couple of slices of pizza.

He was on his second pepperoni slice when he became aware of someone sidling over to this side. He moved to the side, giving Wolverine the space he needed to manoeuvre his plastic claws around the various pizza boxes and bottles of alcohol and mixer.

"You need some help there?"

Wolverine looked up at him in surprise and then he smiled. "Yeah, it's hell trying to unscrew bottle caps like this."

Matt made him a vodka coke, a little too liberal with the vodka maybe, and the guy laughed when he saw how much he poured in but took a sip of it anyway. He coughed afterwards but gamely kept drinking until he'd downed it all.

"What do you think?" Matt asked. "Do I have a career as a bartender?"

Wolverine very generously gave him a seven out of ten. "If bartenders made them as strong as you do, I'd save a lot of money in clubs. Then again, it's probably a good thing they don't."

Wolverine, whose real name was Scotty, was a first year who'd successfully pledged Alpha Theta. He was surprisingly less of a douchebag than Matt had been led to believe, funny and smart, too, and it was weird that he found himself actually liking the guy.

"Why would you pledge Alpha Theta?" he asked. "They're not the kind of frat I'd expect a guy like you to be in."

Scotty shrugged, sipping on the next drink they'd mixed. "My dad works for the uni so me and my older sister can get free tuition here. She's already pledged herself to Alpha Theta's sister sorority so it made sense for me to join them. Of course, if we didn't get on as well as we did, I might not have."

Matt had two younger brothers, fifteen and thirteen, and he liked them well enough but he couldn't imagine going out drinking with them. It seemed weird. "You don't go to the same events as her, do you?"

"I do." Scotty said, laughing at Matt's surprise. "In fact, she said she'd come here after she's finished at her predrinks."

"So so weird."

Scotty shoved him lightly. "Wait till you meet her. Everyone loves Allison."

"Allison." Matt said consideringly, rolling her name over his tongue, and coming up with a picture of a girl Scotty had shown him. "Hair the colour of spun gold and the type that makes angels weep when they see her?"

"I wouldn't go that far but I suppose, yeah, she's got mom's good looks."

Scotty did, too, but Matt wasn't quite drunk enough to tell him that now.

Instead, he was focussed fully on his role as a wingman. It wouldn't be the first time he'd had to flirt with the friend in order to let Tyler get someone alone and, well, flirting with Scotty certainly wasn't a hardship. If it was the only way to convince a third year girl who knew exactly how hot and popular she was, he'd take one for the team.

"So, Scotty," Matt drawled, moving closer to him, "have you done shots?"

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