Anthony doesn't ship Iancorn (Ianthony story)

Chapter 2

As he watched Ian walk further away into distance, Anthony's anger subsided and was replaced with a feeling of loneliness. Now I've just made Ian mad at me and I can't even tell him why. I'm sorry Ian.

When Ian made it back to Smosh Games HQ, he repeated the failed conversation back to Lasercorn. He found the whole thing hard to believe. He'd only known Anthony for about six months and he always seemed so professional and relaxed, completely the opposite of how he had acted today.

"This doesn't even make any sense! I obviously don't know Anthony like you do but this doesn't seem anything like him!" Lasercorn exclaimed. As he was saying this, Ian suddenly remembered something from about ten years ago, back when he and Anthony were fifteen.

"Well… there was this one time when Anthony completely lost it and wouldn't talk to me for about two weeks," Ian started, thinking back to their high school years.

"And what happened?" Lasercorn asked, interested in what had happened to make Anthony behave that way.

"Um.." Ian hesitated, not sure whether he should say it or not. "It happened when I got my first girlfriend. Anthony accused me of being a bad friend and said he wouldn't talk to me until I broke up with her." Lasercorn didn't know what to say to that. It seemed pretty obvious that Anthony had been jealous at the time, but jealous of who exactly? Ian or his girlfriend? And why was he replicating his behaviour now? Then it hit him. Anthony must have got jealous when he was dancing with Ian! Lasercorn tried explaining this to Ian who brushed it off immediately.

"There's several problems with that. Number one: he's straight. Number two: it was just a joke, he couldn't have taken our dancing seriously! And number three: he's straight!" Ian argued, trying desperately to think of another reason why Anthony had stormed out of GameBang after shouting at them. It didn't make any sense. He and Anthony had been best friends since 6th grade, if he was gay or bi then he would have told him, surely? And why would he be jealous of him and Lasercorn dancing together when it was just a forfeit? Lasercorn was still convinced with his theory though.

"When he accused you of being a bad friend, did he give you a reason why?" Lasercorn asked.

"He said that we were growing apart and that I-I…" Ian trailed off, looking down at his feet.

"Cmon just tell me," Lasercorn encouraged, desperate for that last piece of information.

"He said that I didn't care about him as much as I cared about my girlfriend," Ian mumbled, not wanting to look at Lasercorn's face because he knew his theory could be right. He just didn't want to admit it. All these years that he had been friends with Anthony, and Ian had never picked up on the signs that Anthony may have had feelings for him. The staring contests. The constant touching when filming their videos. His clinginess and insecurity back when they were in high school. All this time he had just put it down to them being really close friends, but maybe there was more after all. Ian was deep in thought and completely forgot about Lasercorn's presence until he waved his hand in front of Ian's face.

"Ian, you've been staring at the ground for ages," Lasercorn said, slightly concerned about Ian's current emotional state.

"I'm fine," he replied, not wanting Lasercorn to worry about it. "But that doesn't excuse Anthony's behaviour. We were doing a stupid forfeit. I mean, yeah I obviously had fun, but it's not something we did out of choice! There's no feelings between us whatsoever. You have a fiancee for crying out loud! "

"That's true," Lasercorn replied, thinking about what Ian had just said. "But I guess it's understandable if you consider what he had to go through as a kid. His dad left him when he was young, didn't he?"

"Yeah he was pretty messed up for a while," Ian said, recalling the first time they met and how long it took him to gain Anthony's trust. "It took him a while before he was willing to start making friends…" Ian trailed off again, deep in thought. Lasercorn just sighed and wished him good luck before exiting the room, leaving Ian to figure things out on his own. Ian didn't even notice Lasercorn leaving until he heard the door shut. He sat down on one of the nearby comfy chairs and continued thinking.

So was he jealous or was it something else? He can't possibly like me. But he does act like it sometimes. And he was really mad when I got a girlfriend, and whenever I make fun of his emo flap. Well, I'm not gonna talk to him until he tells me what's going on. I'm sick of trying to be psychic. And with that final thought, Ian left the building and got into his car for the long journey home.