Jamie dropped onto the couch next to Kev. “Oof, I’m full! I bet I’ll need to double my gym hours for the rest of the year just to make up for today!”

The smaller man chuckled and gave Jamie a one-armed hug. “Or you could just double your efforts in bed, hon…”

An annoyed groan came from the kitchen. “Aw, come on, you guys! Keep it for the bedroom!”

Jamie and Kev snickered. Andy, Kev’s roommate, worked in a flower store and often complained about all the lovey-dovey couples he had to deal with. He generally didn’t complain about Jamie and Kev themselves, though he tended to roll his eyes a lot around them.

Jamie stretched, making his joints pop. “Aaaaaall right. I’m not quite ready for bed yet…”

Kev pouted. “Aww.”

Jamie winked at him and continued speaking. “… so, anyone up for a flick?”

“I’m all for that,” Andy called out. “Just as long as it’s not yet another rom-com.”

“What’s wrong with rom-coms?”

Jamie chuckled. “Be nice with the man, hon.” He grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. “Let’s see what we have here…”

The screen came alive, displaying what looked like a superhero movie with a group of them flying through space above Earth, racing towards an alien fleet in the distance.

Jamie frowned. “Uh, what movie is this again?”

Kev shook his head. “I have no idea… Hey, Andy!”

“What?”

“You’re the geek here, can you tell us which recent movie involves superheroes fighting aliens in space?”

Andy walked into the living room with the three drinks he had been preparing. “The only one I remember off the top of my head is [i]Avengers[/i].”

“Nah, we saw it together and I’d remember a scene like this.”

“Well, I dunno, then.” Andy gave his friends their drinks, then sat down in the bean chair next to the couch they were occupying.

On the TV, one of the characters started giving orders to the others, mostly directing them to protect the Earth from fire.

“Oh great,” Andy remarked, “another movie about heroic do-gooders. Why won’t they just rush that alien fleet?”

Kev took a sip, then put his drink down. “Well, you heard the man. They want to minimize collateral damage.”

Andy snickered. “You mean, the filmmakers don’t have the budget to show a good destruction scene.”

“You already had your [i]Man of Steel[/i] and your [i]Star Trek Into Darkness[/i], man. Let us idealistic types have our hero-saves-entire-city moment.”

Jamie chuckled. “You guys still going on about that, eh?”

Kev sighed theatrically. “Well, yeah. If I want scenes of wanton destruction and meaningless massacre, I’ll just watch a news channel. Why do people insist on having that in their movies lately?”

“Because we want movies, not morale lessons.”

“Or maybe because you cynical types are ruining it for the rest of us.” Kev turned to his boyfriend. “C’m’on, back me up, here…”

Jamie smiled. “Sorry hon, not in the mood for debate today. I do want to see this movie, too.”

Kev frowned and crossed his arms. “You’re not helping your chances of getting any tonight, you big lug.”

Andy let out another of his trademark snickers. “That’s a great idea, you know. I get to sleep better if you guys don’t spend the night waking up the whole neighborhood.”

“Hey!” Kev said. “We’re not [i]that[/i] noisy!”

“Boy, I could open my own porn site with everything I’ve heard coming from your room.”

“Shut up!” Kev elbowed Jamie’s ribs. “You really are no help today, you know?”

The larger man shrugged. “Give it up, guys. We agreed to a movie, not an argument…”

On the TV, the alien fleet opened fire, lobbing what looked like hundreds of missiles at Earth. The heroes split up, shooting many missiles out of the sky using their wrist weapons.

“I bet they miss some of those and we get a scene of them losing morale over that.”

“Andy, just shut up, please?”

“Aw, you guys are no fun.”

As if on cue, one of the movie’s heroes cried out in distress and the screen showed one missile racing past the group and into Earth’s atmosphere.

“[i]Ha![/i] Knew it!”

Kev grabbed a cushion off the couch and launched it at his roommate, who dodged it with a smug grin on his face.

Jamie just sighed and returned his attention to the movie. The heroes were doing just fine, but another missile got past their defense. The screen showed the projectile racing down towards Earth’s surface, leaving a thin, bright streak behind it…

[i]“Holy shit!”[/i]

Andy’s exclamation made Kev and Jamie jump. They followed his gaze towards the window…

… where a fiery trail streaked down from the skies near the horizon, painting the whole neighborhood in orange. The object quickly disappeared behind the city’s skyline, and then there was a bright flash of light where it hit.

Andy pretty much jumped out of his seat and rushed towards the window to get a better view. “Jesus, what the hell was that?”

Jamie struggled to find his words. No… that could not be… And yet, his eyes went back and forth between the screen showing a point of impact near their home city, and the window where a majestic mushroom of fire and smoke rose from the horizon.

“Jamie? Hon?” Kev’s voice was worried now, his hands grabbing Jamie’s arm in a fearful grip.

Jamie said nothing. On the TV, the alien fleet let out another volley. The view shifted to show one missile getting past Earth’s defenses, and one of the heroes racing after it, trying to destroy it before it hits.

Below them, Jamie recognized his home city.