[thepac]

Adam changes the match options so it’s a night game then presses play match and the games loads up to St James Park. Man City are a top team so Adam is expecting a tough game but he knows he has the FIFA skills to beat Josh and win his naked pictures. Newcastle kick off and Adam almost instantly breaks away down the wing and launches the ball into the box. Newcastle’s French striker Riviere gets his head to the ball but he sends it sailing over the bar.

“Ah so close,” Adam moans annoyed with himself for letting an early chance go begging.

Josh lets out a sigh of relief too, that was too close to being a goal and even though he has on paper the better side Josh knows he can’t let his concentration slip for a second. The next 10 minutes of gameplay are tight and tense as both teens go close to scoring the opening goal. Adam tries a shot from outside the box that deflects off the defender straight into the keeper’s hands while at the other end Josh hits a piledriver of a shot that Tim Krul athletically tips round the post. Because of the stakes of this game every missed tackle or bad touch is met with grunts of anger from either Adam or Josh. They know how important a win is and individual know how vital it is to win control of that camera. Neither man wants to make a mistake and give away a goal because of how important the result is and because of that little action happens.

The game is quickly turning into a dull 0 vs 0 but thanks to the stakes it feels like a Champions League to Adam and Josh. Right on 45 minutes Aguero manages to break through the Newcastle defence and charge towards the goal. Josh tries to flick the ball around the onrushing keeper but the ball bounces off Krul’s flaying arm and away to safety. Josh slaps the bed in frustration as the referee blows for half time. The two teens take a second to reflect on a half that had little in goal mouth action but is so tense that both of them are visibly sweating.

“Kinda hard to get a good game going with so much on the line,” Josh says wisely.

“Yeah that was easily the most tense half of FIFA I’ve ever played,” The blonde replies.

“Well we are not just playing for our clothes, we are playing for that too,” Josh says nodding over to the small digital camera.

“Trying to save our nude pics from the other,” Adam says laughing.

Josh laughs too then silence descends once again, neither man really wants to talk. The first half was almost played in silence because both men were fully focused on the game. It has made the room uneasy to be in and Adam is starting to get worried that all this added tension is taking the fun out of strip FIFA. If the fun goes then Josh might go and no matter how much he hates being embarrassed Adam doesn’t want to lose out on playing strip FIFA with him.

The second half kicks off and already the pace of the game is much faster. Both Adam and Josh are playing with less caution and if you are willing to take more risks then the game becomes better to play. Adam fashions another break for Newcastle down the right hand side but this time he passes the ball into Riviere’s feet. The striker dances past Kompany and fires a shot across the box but it only cannons off the far post then bounces wide.

“Fuck,” Adam yells slapping his own leg in anger.

“Yeah man I thought that was in too,” Josh says wide eyed as he watches the reply.

The game presses on and both teams trade possession and corner kicks but there are still no real clear cut chances. Adam looks at the game clock to see that there are only 20 minutes left and he is shocked. He can’t honestly remember playing a game of FIFA that went 0 vs 0 for this long. Josh’s FIFA skills have certainly improved and picking the random teams also seems to have evened out the skill gap between them. Adam chances a look across at Josh while he is lining up a goal kick and the blonde can see the concentration on his face. Josh is chewing on his bottom lip and staring at the screen in a trance leaving Adam to wonder if it was such a good idea to raise the stakes before the match even started.

72 minutes in and Josh enjoys a long passing move with City working the ball from left to right until finally the ball is knocked forward to Aguero. The skilful Argentinean quickly turns and charges into the box but Newcastle defenders are quick to swarm around him. Josh moves Aguero to the left then pushes right to the by-line half hoping Adam will be forced to tackle him and bring him down for a penalty. Looking up Josh suddenly whips the ball in with a sudden low cross sending the ball flashing across the face of the goal. Adam’s keeper and defenders are nowhere nearby as City’s other striker Edin Dzeko gets on the end of the cross and smashes it into the net.

“GOALLLLLLLLLLLLL,” Josh screams jumping off the bed in sheer delight.

“Shit,” Adam moans dropping his head into his hands as Dzeko wheels away in celebration.

“What a great finish right into the roof of the net,” Josh says as the replay shows Dzeko was standing in the right place for that low cross before powering the ball into the net.

“Those naked pictures are mine,” Josh continues still delighted at having scored the first goal, “The first thing I’m gonna do is delete all of mine.”

“You gonna do that with mine too?” Adam asks curiously.

“Hell no you came up with this dare so you are the one who is gonna have to sweat it out and worry about me owning your naked pics,” Josh laughs at his friend’s very real predicament.

Adam knows Josh is right and it’s now clear making the dare before the match only motivated the skinny teen. Adam was overeager in wanting get a naked picture of Josh that he didn’t think about losing. That could cost him dearly Adam thinks as he tries to refocus but first the blonde reaches down and pulls off his dark grey socks. Adam throws his socks away ready to restart the game when he notices Josh looking at him in surprise.

“What?” Adam asks.

“You went with socks first,” Josh answers, “Normally you are all brave and macho and take off your shirt first.”

“I take my shirt off when it’s a game and this is not a game anymore,” Adam says firmly, “You are not having my naked pics.”

Adam has his best game face on and Josh quickly grabs his controller expecting a footballing onslaught from the blonde. The second the match restarts Adam adjusts his tactics to make Newcastle more attacking. He knows he needs a goal and Adam is desperate to get it as he kicks off and charges straight towards the City goal.

“Foul,” The blonde yells as Colback falls down but his yells are for nothing.

Josh wants to tell Adam to relax but he knows the blonde won’t listen to him. Adam is going all out to win this game but Josh knows all he has to do is stay calm and hold onto his slender one goal lead. Adam has a lot riding on this and it shows as he becomes more manic as the game clock runs down. He wins a free kick wide on the right hand side of the pitch but his cross in goes harmlessly into the hands of Joe Hart.

“Come on,” Adam yells to himself and his virtual team trying to motivate them to win.

Adam tries to break down the right again but Josh cleanly wins the ball in a tackle then moves forward for a counter attack. The ball is quickly passed to just outside the Newcastle box where Dzeko picks it up. He dribbles forward then goes to shoot when Adam out of desperation launches his defender forward. The sliding tackle from Coloccini misses the ball and clatters into an off balance Dzeko. The whistle goes almost before Dzeko has hit the ground and the referee moves quickly towards the Newcastle defender.

“A RED CARD?” Adam cries out, “What the fuck was that for?”

“He was last man,” Josh tries to point out but Adam is too upset to listen.

“That’s fucking bullshit, no way in hell was that a straight red,” The blonde rages as Coloccini slowly leaves the field.

Josh just shrugs at Adam because he sees his chance of winning improve drastically as Adam now only has 10 men left on the pitch.

“Your guys have been hacking me down all game and yet it’s me that gets the red,” Adam snarls upset at the feeling of bias from his own video game.

“Rules are rules,” Josh says then he stops for a second, “Hey what are the strip FIFA rules on red cards?”

“Huh?” Adam says suddenly swinging his head round at Josh.

“Well if a penalty kick is worth two items then what’s a red worth?” The skinny teen wonders aloud.

“Oh fuck off Josh,” Adam replies angrily, “I am not stripping off cause of that, it was never a red card.”

“Fine,” Josh says stiffly turning away from the blonde knowing better than to argue with Adam when he is pissed off.

The shaven haired teen starts to line up his free kick and Adam feels his anger die away. Now he feels like a piece of shit for yelling at Josh, if the roles were reversed he knows he would be doing the same thing. His ultra-competitive nature has once again boiled over and poor Josh has taken the brunt of it. Adam knows he is a hot head and it’s not the first time he has yelled about a red card then yelled at Josh afterwards. Josh always seems to get the brunt of his anger and Adam feels like a crappy best friend right now. Adam knows trying to get a naked picture of Josh clouded his thoughts and put him the wrong mind set for this game which he is now losing.

“Josh I’m sorry,” Adam says hitting the pause button, “I didn’t mean that.”

“I know,” Josh responds with a shrug, “I agree it was a harsh FIFA red and I shouldn’t have told you to strip off anyway.”

“No man I think stripping for a red is a good idea you know to help keep assholes like me playing the game fairly,” Adam says with a grin.

Josh smirks back, “Hey you yelling like that is nothing remember that time you got sent off in high school and when I tried to get you off the pitch you punched me in the face?”

Adam blushes, “Oh yeah I remember, that was awful I got dumped cause of that you know.”

“Oh yeah damn I forgot, Lindsey really hated you after that didn’t she,” Josh says with a smile.

“She totally had it for you that’s why,” Adam teases, “I’m sure she only dated me to get close to you.”

Now Josh blushes, “How many times do I need to tell you that Lindsey is just a friend, she’s never wanted me as a boyfriend.”

“That’s true,” Adam grins, “She didn’t want you as a boyfriend more like a fuck buddy.”

“Dude no don’t say shit like that, Lindsey is still my friend,” Josh replies.

“I’m just saying if you offered she would be all over you like a rash,” Adam says then he grins, “Hell I bet she likes a shaved smooth guy too.”

“Adam I am warning you drop it,” Josh threatens but Adam just laughs.

“Ok, ok I’ll stop now so I have to lose two items right?” Adam says bringing the attention back to their paused strip FIFA game.

“You really gonna take off two things?” Josh asks.

“Yeah I will might teach me to time my tackles better,” Adam jokes before standing up.

Josh laughs at the joke then watches as his best friend peels off his t shirt. Adam tosses his shirt away into a pile of dirty clothing lying near his bedroom door before he grabs the waistband of his pants. He pulls them down slightly until the black waistband of the boxers is revealed and then strangely Adam blushes. Before Josh can ask what’s wrong Adam pulls his tracksuit bottoms all the way down to his ankles in one swift motion.

“Heh nice undies,” Josh teases, “Did you forget to change before I came over?”

Adam carries on blushing as he stands in front of his best friend in a pair of bright green boxers. The boxers are the tight body hugging kind of underwear but the bright green is what really makes them stand out. Adam knows the colour clashes violently not only with his hair but his pale skin too. They came in a set of boxers he bought and honestly had forgotten he was wearing them until just now.

“Those are awesome,” Josh teases, “You could walk out late at night and still safely cross the road.”

“Yeah, yeah ok very funny Josh can we continue playing now?” Adam asks taking a seat still a little self-conscious about his slightly florescent boxers.

“Ok but I guess you better I hope that I don’t score this free kick,” Josh says and Adam has to take in a deep breath.

The blonde’s stomach twists into a knot because as embarrassing as his green boxers are it would be much worse to end up naked. Adam knows he is well on his way to losing this match making it his third strip FIFA loss in as many games. The losing streak is worrying but not as worrying as the fact that Josh might score again. Josh lines up the free kick on the edge of the D and plays a cheeky pass to the side allowing Toure to shoot but the ball flies well over the bar much to Josh’s annoyance.

Adam keeps fighting hard even though he down to ten men and only has a few minutes of game time left. He throws everyone forward and after a flick down from a long ball Adam is able to make some space just outside the Man City area. Jack Colback lets fly with a massive left footed shot that is going right for the top corner until Hart jumps to his left and tips the ball over the bar.

“Holy shit,” Adam wails, “It’s so not my day today,” He mutters.

“No it’s not,” Josh says almost feeling bad for Adam.

The final few minutes of the game play out but Adam can’t fashion another shooting chance when the final whistle blows. Adam lets out a long deep sigh before looking over at a fully clothed Josh. It’s the first time someone has kept a clean sheet in strip FIFA and that only makes Adam feel worse. Sitting in his underwear while Josh is fully clothed really is humiliating yet Adam knows that isn’t the worst part. The final score is Newcastle 0 Manchester City 1 meaning Adam has not only lost the match but he has lost his camera aswell.