Loveland High 16/25 - Close Our Eyes, Pretend to Fly for hs_bingo
Title: Close Our Eyes, Pretend to Fly
Author: anyothergirl415
Prompt: coming out
Rating: R
Pairing/Characters: Jared/Jensen, Mike/Misha, Chad/Christian
Words: ~6,900
Warnings: AU - homophobic slurs, language
Summary: Most people already know about the relationships of Jared and Jensen, Mike and Misha, they really haven’t bothered hiding much. But there are people who previously didn’t know, and some about to find out.
Notes: For hs_bingo. All stories are linked; go to my card here to find the correct order. Thanks to cha for being her epically awesome self and helping along/making art.
After a weekend in which Jensen felt like a million things happened, Monday morning seemed like an extreme non-event. Besides the fact that they only had four days of school that week and Christmas was the week following - which was always exciting - Jensen couldn’t find much to be excited about. Monday’s before finals sucked worse than any other day of school.
Most teachers didn’t feel like doing actual work so the classes were assigned study sessions and unless the teacher was awesome, it usually meant silent time too. All in all, there was nothing about this particular Monday that Jensen was looking forward too.
Jared, Mike, Misha and waited just inside the front doors - not quite brave enough to face the snow falling outside - for Chad to arrive with Christian. Their town was small but not quite that small so though people knew of Chad’s father’s death - the obit had been in the paper that morning - hardly anyone knew any of the details. The funeral was that afternoon, as far as Jensen knew Chad wasn’t going.
They were a little unsure how the dynamics with Christian and Chad would be. Jensen had spent the better part of the morning reminding himself that he had to call the English and Drama teacher Mr. Kane at school because he’d gotten sort of used to the relaxed atmosphere of his house.
“I’m still a little wigged out over the fact that my best friend is dating my teacher but no one else knows about it and we might spend time there on the weekends but we can’t talk about it.” Jared mumbled, glancing over at Jensen then back at Mike and Misha.
“I have a kid.” Misha shrugged and leaned against Mike’s chest. “I’m adjusted to weird.”
“I’m a gay teenager dating a guy with a kid.” Mike muttered, grinning over at Misha and wrapping an arm around him. “Also, the distance between L.A. and Tokyo is 5451 miles.”
“Why would anyone need to know that?” Jensen glanced his way for a moment before looking back out the front doors. “That fact does not apply.”
“Do they ever really?” Jared mumbled the question, grabbing Jensen’s arm. “Look, Christian’s truck.”
“Mr. Kane.” Mike half hissed the name, shifting back from the door and forward again. “We don’t want to get them in trouble.”
“Just so I’m on the same page, we’re going along with this yeah?” Misha hooked his arm through Mike’s, biting down on his lip. “I mean, we think Chad’s best with Mr. Kane and all?”
Jensen looked out the door again, knowing his friends were doing likewise. There was a smile on Chad’s lips that he’d never seen before. He was walking with Christian but they were a couple feet away, a respectable distance. And Chad’s smile was aimed at the ground, just the edge of a bruise there on his face. Still, there was no use denying how happy Chad looked.
“Yeah.” Jared nodded and smiled over at Mike and Misha then back at Jensen. “Seems like we’re going along with it.”
Maybe it was a little insane, Jensen didn’t have the absolute best feeling about it but he agreed with his boyfriend. At this point in time, going along with it seemed like the best option. Chad was happy and that was something he could really use, Jensen knew that much. So they would go out of their way to make sure no one found out about the relationship.
“Hey guys,” Chad grinned at them as he stepped inside the school, looking between them a little uncertainly, his smile fading. “Something up?”
“We were just waiting for you.” Jared shrugged and grinned back at Chad then looked toward their teacher. “Morning Mr. Kane.”
“Morning boys.” Mr. Kane nodded and smiled at them all before stepping forward for the second door into the building. “Hope you’ve all been studying.”
Chad huffed and rolled his eyes. “He’s so bossy, like he thinks he’s in charge or something.”
Jensen and Jared shared a look and a smile as Mr. Kane dipped down and whispered something in Chad’s ear that made him blush and grin down at the ground. It was a little weird, the way the chemistry between them was so evident and strong but nearly invisible the moment they walked into the main hall. Mr. Kane headed off for his classroom with a half wave and he didn’t even look back. Even Chad turned toward them and didn’t look upset by being supposedly brushed off.
“Won’t it bug you?” Jensen asked, stepping up to Chad’s side.
They kind of flanked around him, Jared on one side, Jensen on the other, Mike and Misha walking just behind, like Chad was the President and they were acting as his bodyguards. They were all pretty aware how easy it was for the gossip to grow and for kids to be unnecessarily mean. Even if Chad would probably hate being looked after like that, Jensen thought part of him might be able to appreciate it.
“What? Being ignored by him at school?” Chad looked over his way and laughed. “Nah, it’s probably good for us. I think we’d get on each other’s nerves otherwise.”
“Hey fags.”
The group drew to a collective stop as one, face to face with a pack of jocks that Jensen thought would look fitting in loincloths with clubs, grunting and scratching their privates, much more fitting then the letter jackets they were currently wearing. Neanderthals at their absolute worse.
Jensen’s shoulders tensed and he stepped a little forward, taking official charge as impromptu leader of the group. “Back off Carver.”
“Aw Jenny, do you represent the fag squad?” Carver, Harry Carver really but all the jocks seemed to think being addressed by last name made them more bad ass or something, was probably the most annoying asshole in the school. He walked around with this air of self importance because he was the Quarterback of the football team and apparently that made him superior. Whatever.
“Wow, you know what the word represent means? Does that mean you’ve graduated to a third grade reading level now?” Jensen shot back, rolling his eyes at the boy. They were about the same height after all, Jensen couldn’t be that intimidated by him. Even if he did have more muscles.
“Fuck you,” Carver growled in all his unintelligent glory. His eyes scanned over the group and the boys at his side - Peters on the right and Rodriquez on the left - continued to glare at them. “We don’t need you cock suckers in our school, fucking disgusting.”
Jensen had long since figured out that most people knew about him and Jared. They had never made any official statement but they had shared a few kisses in the hall and their lingering touches and looks were pretty obvious. Most people had known about Mike and Misha from the very beginning, it was kind of hard not to notice with the way they were attached at the hip and all. Which left Chad, who Jensen had previously thought stayed off everyone’s gossip radar because he had this way of being unnaturally scary.
Like now, when he was stepping up beside Jensen and smirking at Carver. “Hey aren’t you dating Becky? Has she given you head yet? Man watch out, she does this thing with her teeth…” Chad winced, as if someone was really using their teeth in the wrong way on his dick right then.
Apparently Carver didn’t appreciate the advice. His shoulders tensed as he stepped forward and grabbed Chad by the shirt collar, lifting him up off the ground. “Don’t you dare talk about my girl that way.”
Jensen was ready to step forward and shove the boy off but Mike moved before he had the chance to. He shoved between them and pushed hard at Carver, sending him stumbling back a step. Mike stood as a protective wall in front of Chad, jaw clenched together. Jensen thought he looked surprisingly freaky, even though he was wearing a black shirt with a big red button on the front that said don’t you wanna touch my button? And well, green and blue plaid pants.
Carver laughed, head tipping back as he looked back at his friends at each shoulder. “What’s this? Seriously little queer boy, you think you can take me? You and your fuckin’ girlfriend think you’re so badass bein’ all weird and fuckin’ disgusting. I should just-“
Whatever Carver thought about doing they didn’t get to hear because Mike had pulled his fist back and sent it straight into the boy’s nose. Jensen could hear the crunch of bone and flesh even as the boy called out in pain and ducked forward.
“Jesus,” Chad hissed, his eyes as wide as Jensen and Jared’s.
“Mike!” Misha stepped quickly forward, obviously prepared for some sort of backlash to hit his boyfriend hard.
“Mr. Rosenbaum.” The echoing alarming of Mrs. Maples’ voice rang through the hall and Jensen hadn’t even realized how quiet it had gotten when Mike punched Carver. Looking tentatively around, Jensen could see that nearly everyone was watching them with wide eyes, Misha was gripping Mike’s arm to keep him back and Carver looked like he was about to cry.
At least there was that.
“Come with me.” Mrs. Maples approached them, scowling in clear disapproval at Mike. “Mr. Carver why don’t you head to the nurse.”
She turned to head down the hall and Mike shot a slightly self satisfied smirk over his shoulder at Jensen before shrugging and following the teacher.
“Should we go to class?” Jared asked after a moment, looking uncertainly between them.
They all exchanged looks ranging between shocked and amazed and completely amused, before Misha shrugged and headed in the direction Mike had gone. “I’m following.”
It seemed like the most natural thing to do so Jensen, Jared, and Chad tagged along.
“Jesus Christ.” Chad laughed loudly, stepping back from the Principal’s door and shaking his head. “Did he really punch someone? Did that fucking happen?”
Jensen looked over at Jared whose lip was twitching; clearly the amusement was beginning to trump the shock. Really though, Jensen had known Mike for his entire life and he’d never seen him act like this, so maybe he was the only one who had any shock left in him. Or well, Misha still looked pretty surprised but it was understandably unnerving to see your boyfriend resort to violence he supposed.
“Mike is awesome.” Jared nodded and bounced on his toes for a second before laughing. “We’re gonna get in so much trouble missing class.”
“Nah, Kane’ll forgive me.” Chad smirked at that and stepped toward the door of the main office once more, peering in through the small window. “He’s still sitting in front of the Principal’s office, wonder what they’re waiting for.”
“Shh, you gotta be quiet or else they’ll catch us out here,” Jensen warned, glancing down at his watch. It had been almost forty minutes since the punch; they’d missed a good deal of the first class and for some reason the Principal still hadn’t talked to Mike. The nurse had come out and gave him ice for his hand though, and they’d seen Carver whose nose was swollen and purpling, so that was worth the wait.
“You don’t think they’ll suspend him do you?” Misha asked nervously, tugging at the sleeves of his rainbow colored sweater. In hindsight, Jensen figured that sweater might have been some of the cause for the jock interruption. He wasn’t going to say anything about it though because Mike had stuck up for them all, Jensen figured they all should be so strong if they weren’t going to deny this being gay thing.
“Not right before school finishes for the semester.” Jared curled his hand over Misha’s shoulder, squeezing softly. “He’s never done anything bad before. I’m pretty sure they’ll just give him detention or something.”
“What are they waiting for then?” Misha frowned, stepping toward the office window to peer into the room again.
Jensen frowned as well, watching Misha then looking down the hall. That was when he realized what they had been waiting for and his heart sank. It wasn’t very often that he saw Mike’s parents, over the years he could probably count the times on two hands which was saying a lot considering how often he stayed the night at Mike’s before. But there were pictures up of them, and they actually looked a lot like Mike so it was impossible to mistake them.
“Is that…” Misha whispered, somehow beside Jensen now and following his gaze.
“Mike’s parents,” Jensen whispered in return and glanced over, eyes moving from Jared to Chad. It wasn’t going to be a good thing if they called Mike’s parents, especially since the two hated being pulled away from their work for any reason at all.
The two adults looked at them oddly for a moment but if they recognized any of them they didn’t say anything. Instead, they turned to the Principal’s office and pushed the door open, revealing Mike’s whose face visibly paled at the sight of them.
“Do Mike’s parents know about you two?” Chad asked Misha as the door clicked closed, leaning over to peer at Misha.
Misha was just as pale as Mike had been and he slowly shook his head, stepping forward uncertainly. “Pretty sure no.”
“Oh, shit,” Jared mumbled, eyes growing impossibly wider.
Jensen felt like it was a scene out of some movie, the way they all shared looks and stepped forward as one. There was no way to hear through the door but judging from the way Mike was starting to look a little green, Jensen had a pretty bad feeling about the thing.
There wasn’t any way to really describe what was going through Mike’s mind when he hit Carver. He was protecting Chad - kind of, though he figured Chad could hold his own, but after the weekend he’d had, Mike wasn’t going to let him deal with any more shit. Plus then Carver was kind of insulting all of them and Misha and Mike wasn’t going to put up with that.
So there he was in the Principal’s office and the only thing keeping him from freaking out was the fact that he could see his friend’s faces randomly peering in through the window in the door. It was kind of amusing, they were going to get in trouble if they stayed out in the hall much longer but Mike felt warmth growing in his heart. It was good to know all his friend’s had his back when he needed it.
Then it all got worse because after what felt like a lifetime, the door opened and in came his parents. He hadn’t even realized they’d been called, no one was telling him anything. They shouldn’t be here, they should be at the restaurant or the laundry mat or somewhere that wouldn’t involve Mike’s day to day life. They never cared before.
“Michael, what have you done?” His mom looked annoyed, clearly she already knew exactly what he’d done but maybe she didn’t believe it.
Chances were, she didn’t know what Mike was capable of. After all, it’s not like she really knew him at all. “I uh…”
“Mike had a little incident with a student today, Harry Carver.” Principal Johnson stepped out of his back office with all his superior glory and Mike’s stomach did a little flip. He’d never been in trouble like this before, it felt pretty bad and Mike had a feeling it was going to get worse. “Why don’t you all step into my office and we can talk about it.”
Mike caught a final flash of his boyfriend’s worried blue eyes in the window before he led the way into the Principal’s office and took the far seat, automatically slouching over to try and make himself look smaller. If he could make it through this conversation without specific details of the fight being confessed, he’d be okay.
“Michael, why would you hurt another student?” His mom continued her disapproving frown, taking the seat beside him.
Mike glanced over and noticed his dad fiddling with his iPhone, clearly his mind was elsewhere. The fact that Mike managed to resist the roll of his eyes was a miracle. “He was being an as- he deserved it.” Mike muttered, picking at the plaid covering his thigh.
“From what I understand Mr. Carver was using inappropriate slurs toward your son’s… um, preferences. Now Mike, you understand we are very tolerant at this school and I will have a conversation with Harry about his behavior toward you but any issues you have with other students need to be brought to my attention, not acted out on your own.”
The room was quiet for a long moment after the Principal’s speech and Mike stared up at him, blinking a few times as he waited for the bomb to go off. Unless his parents really were as oblivious as Mike had always assumed. Considering the way his father was still staring down at his iPhone, Mike was beginning to think he hadn’t been too far off on his assumptions.
Then of course, his mother seemed to realize something wasn’t quite right. “Preferences? I don’t understand Michael, were those boys teasing you for being Jewish?”
Mike couldn’t help snorting at that. For someone so smart, Mike couldn’t believe how idiotic his parents could be. “Uh…”
“No, I was referring to his sexual preference.” Principal Johnson provided, ever so helpfully. Mike shot him a look but the man seemed to put the pieces together a little too late and even his flustered half apology didn’t seem to help it, certainly too little too late.
“Sexual preference?” Of course now his father would look up, finally taking his attention off the phone and turning his gaze to Mike. “What is he talking about?”
Mike had always tried to picture when he would come out to his parents. He thought it might be after he graduated, moved out, maybe when Misha finally got annoyed of not being introduced to his family or something. In the Principal’s office after he punched the guy for mocking the fact that all his friend’s were gay - though he didn’t really know about Chad but whatever - yeah, it hadn’t been like this.
And Mike could deny it; he could say he was just sticking up for his friends because he was nice like that. Only, he’d just punched one of the most popular guys in the school - who also happened to be like, twice the size of Mike - and it felt like he’d be betraying himself and his boyfriend if he hid the truth now. So, Mike sighed and nodded and braced himself for what was to come.
“Carver was making fun of me and my friends and… my boyfriend.” Mike swallowed thickly and slowly looked up, pursing his lips at his parents. He could do this, it was just words, the truth, and they didn’t know him at all but maybe they could still try.
Of course, the deathly silence that followed didn’t bode too well for him. Mike looked from his mom to his dad, trying to gauge their reactions. That was the thing though; Mike knew them about as well they knew him. He’d been living in this house with his parents and his brother for his entire life but it might as well be a house of strangers.
“How long has this been going on?” His mom finally asked, her voice a little tight like she had to push it out her throat.
“How long have I been gay? Or how long have I had a boyfriend?” Mike asked with just the slightest bite. That couldn’t be held against him, the signs had been there a long time, and it was his parents fault for not knowing it.
His dad sputtered, face turning red as he looked away. “Michael, don’t play games with us.”
“Could you not?” Mike snapped before he could help it, narrowing his eyes at his dad and feeding into the pulse of righteous indignation he felt. “Don’t call me Michael. You call me Mike. Because only Misha gets to call me Michael.”
“Misha?” Mike’s mom repeated slowly, like she was sounding out the name or something and it left a funny taste on her tongue. “Your…”
“Yeah mom, my boyfriend. We’ve been together for almost four months now. He’s been over to the house dozens of times and I’ve stayed the night at his house most weekends for a long time. You should know this.” Mike was panting softly, anger heating up his cheeks and making his skin flush. “In the Caribbean there are oysters that can climb trees.”
There was silence after the outburst but Mike couldn’t help it. He’d spouted the fact out because he needed something to ground him, to keep him from being too out of control. It was all these little things building up in him though; thinking about Craver insulting his friends and his boyfriend, his parent’s clear lack of caring until they found out Mike was a little more than different, and - weirdly enough - knowing what Chad had been living with for years without no one knowing.
Mike knew his parents weren’t abusing him but there were different kinds of abuse and maybe what they did fit into one. Maybe neglect was just as bad in its own way. After all, normal kids probably didn’t have to remind themselves that they really belonged in this world by saying stupid things like oysters climb trees in the Caribbean.
“Are you alright, Michael- Mike.” His mom fumbled with the name, her lips pursed in a delicate, thin frown.
“Do you care?” Mike asked quiet and even and didn’t look away from them. His parents shared similar scoffs of disbelief but Mike shook his head and laughed weakly. “Seriously. Does it really matter to you that I like guys? That I’m in love with the most amazing guy in the world? All I am to you is another expense to be budgeted into your books, fifty dollars a week for Mike, fifty for Eric, just a couple of boys hanging out in your house until we finish school.”
“Now Mike, many kids feel this way. It doesn’t mean-“
Mike interrupted his Principal with a laugh, looking toward him with wide eyes. “No, sir, forgive me but that’s not the case here. It’s easier now though because we’re both old enough to be off on our own without a sitter but Jesus; you don’t know anything about us. So before you get all pissy because I happen to like guys, you better think about whether you have that right or not.”
The moment Mike finished he could hear the clock on the wall ticking, a strange background staccato to the rush of words that had fallen from his lips. Mike wasn’t expecting some big moment of revelation, no matter what he said his parents still had their businesses and they couldn’t just turn their lives around. Actually, Mike wasn’t sure he wanted that any more. His real family, the people that really mattered, were waiting out in the hall for him even if it meant they got in trouble too.
“We care,” his mom finally whispered but Mike thought she was trying to convince herself more than anything else. “Of course we do. We care about you, and your life, and that boy, um, Misk-“
“Misha.” Mike cut her off before she could get the name wrong and smiled wryly down at his lap. “Right, you care. Principal Johnson, can I step out into the hall for a second?”
Principal Johnson clearly wasn’t expecting all of this when he’d call Mike’s parents but he nodded, folded his hands on the desk. Mike was relieved, not only did he need a moment but he needed support from the people who really did matter the most to him. He headed out the door and across the main office, tugging the door open and smiling at his friends there.
They all looked at him with wide eyes then comically stepped forward as one. “Michael?” Misha grabbed his hand, squeezing softly. “Is everything okay?”
Mike loved the tone Misha used when he was really concerned, the way his eyes softened and his smile was comforting. He couldn’t help it; he pushed forward and gently kissed Misha, smiling against the boy’s lips before he pulled back. “I want you guys to meet my parents, come on.”
The boys exchanged looks but they followed Mike back through the office and in to where the Principal was waiting. Mike didn’t let go of Misha’s hand, tugging him against his side the moment they were in the room. It was a tight fit and his parents turned in the seats to stare curiously at them, but all Mike could feel was the flutter of his heart.
“Mom, Dad, these are my friends. These are the most important people in my life. That’s Chad, and Jared, and Jensen. I’ve known them my whole life and I think you’ve met them all before but you probably don’t remember.”
Mike smiled over at his friends who were nervously smiling at his parents. Except Chad, who simply looked unimpressed by Mike’s parents. Mike couldn’t really blame him for feeling that way, knowing the details about Chad’s own life now. “And, this is Misha. He’s my boyfriend and I’m in love with him. He also has a kid so I’m kind of like a pseudo Daddy.”
“Mike,” Jared whispered urgently, his eyes widening as he looked down at Mike’s parents. Chances were, Jared was worried about his parents being a bit overloaded by all the information but Mike honestly couldn’t care less at this point. They’d probably forget about most of it by the end of the day anyway.
“Hi, nice to meet you.” Misha smiled in all his bright charming glory down at them. His parent’s exchanged a look then stood almost as one as if their brains were somehow synced up.
“Uh, nice to meet you, Misha.” Mike’s dad offered his hand, his lips lifting in an obviously forced smile.
Because Misha was, well, Misha, and completely incapable of not snatching up a good opportunity when it was right in front of him, he stepped forward and extended his opposite arm until his elbow could bump against the man’s. Mike slapped his hand over his mouth and had to look away, knowing if he caught any of their friend’s gazes he’d totally lose it. He could hear them hiding their snickers, as they struggled with their control.
Mike reached out and grabbed Misha’s sleeve, tugging him back to his side. “Misha’s unique.” He explained and grinned at his boyfriend before looking back at his parents. “Anyway, they’re the reason I punched Carver, because he was talking crap about them and I’m used to being the freak but no one gets to trash my friends.”
“And you know, we could totally sue the school,” Chad said after a couple of silent beats. Principal Johnson stared wide eyed at Chad and he shrugged. “Discrimination, that’s like, violating our rights. Also, it damaged me, psychologically.”
Once more Mike was forced to smother his laugh and this was turning out so much weirder than he expected. That was really saying something for Mike who prided himself in being a bit weird.
“Let’s not have any talk about suing the school.” Principal Johnson frowned and sighed when the secretary stepped up to the door and said his name. “What now?”
“Mr. Kane is here, he was wondering about a missing student from his class.” She took a step back, obviously sensing the stress in the Principal’s tone.
Chad’s eyes got wide and he looked around at them before laughing. “Uh, guess I forgot about class. We should go.”
“We definitely should.” Jensen nodded and followed Chad. “We’ll catch you later Mike.”
“Don’t do anything else insane,” Jared muttered before turning and quickly following Chad and Jensen out of the room.
It seemed that Misha had no intentions of leaving the room. Instead he took Mike’s hand, smiling at him and threading their fingers together. “Think I’ll just stay here.”
“Well, obviously this has been a very um, interesting morning.” Principal Johnson cleared his throat and sighed. “How about this, Mike, I can’t just gloss over the fact that you punched a student today. Given the circumstances however, I’ll allow you to have only a half hour detention that you can serve today after school. And um, I will have a conversation with Mr. Carver about his choice of words used against you.”
“Sounds fair.” Mike’s dad nodded crisply, already heading for the door and pulling his phone out again.
Like Mike hadn’t just come out to his parents. Really? Was he seriously that easy to ignore?
“Mike, we’ll discuss this later.” His mom was following her husband and before Mike could even process what was happening they were gone from the office.
“Um,” Mike hummed softly and his shoulders slumped, eyes drifting down along the ground. “Alright, well. Thanks Principal Johnson, sorry about punching the guy. And uh, all that.”
Misha was amazing and thankfully tugged him from the office before Mike could get any more upset. He didn’t stop once they got out of the main office, just kept pulling until they were disappearing inside a janitor’s closet and Mike was falling against Misha’s chest. Strong arms wrapped around him, a hand stroking soothingly down his back and Mike’s heart clenched painfully.
“At least they don’t hate me.” Mike mumbled into Misha’s shoulder, sighing softly as he closed his eyes. “I was worried they would. Turns out, they just don’t care at all.”
“They care,” Misha whispered and pulled back, their noses sliding together as he moved. “I know it Mike. I have a kid; I know that feeling in your heart. Even if they’re busy, and it seems like they don’t have time for you, they care. I’d bet they even work so hard because they want to provide for you, give you the best. All parents came in some way.”
Mike wet his lips slowly and nodded, looking up at Misha and sighing. “Except Chad’s parents.”
Misha’s face scrunched up in obvious disgust and he shook his head. “Chad’s parents are an exception, yeah. But your parents aren’t like that. And, I bet they’ll want to talk to you tonight. I’ll even be there if you want.”
“Probably better to do it alone.” Mike half smiled at Misha and cupped his neck, drawing him in for a soft kiss. “Thank you though.”
“Anything for you.” Misha murmured before dipping in to deepen the kiss.
Tapping at his cell phone, Jensen scowled down at the schedule, a pained whimper leaving his lips. The noise repeated a moment later after several more clicks of the keys and Jared finally looked up from his book, eyeing his boyfriend curiously. “Something wrong, Jen?”
“Looking at the final schedule. You know I have English and Chemistry back to back? How lame is that? Then after lunch it’s math and art. Fucking art. Who has a final for art? Then we have play rehearsal, come on. Kane should give us a break this week.”
Jared’s lips twitched in a smile but he swallowed it, forcing them to thin out instead. “Considering we’re only doing one practice a week over break, I think we lucked out. ‘Sides, do you have even have your lines memorized?”
“Um.” Jensen grinned sheepishly up at him and shrugged before tucking his phone back into his pocket and scooting a little closer. “Does Misha know we’re waiting in here?”
“Yeah, he said as soon as Mike gets out of detention they’ll come and meet us.” Jared grinned back, eyes shooting around the library. It was basically empty, they both knew the librarian pretty well and she didn’t mind leaving them to their own devices while she worked in the back room. Most everyone had gone home for the day - including Chad who’d seemed a little reluctant but Mr. Kane’s smile had pulled him in - so they were alone.
Jensen seemed to realize the fact about the same time as Jared and his grin grew, his body shifting closer along the table. “I’m really looking forward to this break. You know, when both our parents are working all day and our sister’s are hanging out and you and I can spend some serious quality time together.”
“Got some ideas how to spend that quality time?” Jared’s cheeks were heating up with a blush but he shifted forward to get closer to Jensen. He was kind of madly in love with his boyfriend; it was pretty much the best thing ever.
“I’ve got some pretty good ideas.” Jensen grinned and slid forward, slanting his lips over Jared’s to kiss him deeply.
A soft moan fell from Jared’s lips and he inched closer, his stomach rolling with the surge of we’re gonna get caught. Before he could get too caught up in the thrill of it though, his phone was chiming and Jared was kind of waiting for a text so he pulled away with an apologetic smile. “Sandy was going to a clinic after school today, you know, for an official test.”
“Oh man.” Jensen frowned and looked down at the phone as Jared grabbed it. He didn’t try to read the text and Jared kind of loved that about Jensen too. At least since they’d almost fought over the mysterious texts from Sandy, Jared thought the trust between them was stronger and that was nice.
Test came back negative!!
Some of the tension Jared had been carrying around the last few days eased when he read the words and he grinned up at his boyfriend, relieved for his friend’s sake. After all, a part of him would always care for Sandy in some way. “She’s not pregnant.”
“Oh thank god. She must be so relieved.” Jensen gripped his thigh and squeezed softly, smiling up at Jared. “Do you want to call her?”
“Nah, I will later but I’m sure she needs to breathe in a little of the relief. Plus I’d just say something like, I hope you learned you lesson and she doesn’t need to hear that.” Jared laughed and typed up a reply quickly, letting his friend know how glad he was for her. When he set the phone back down, his eyes lifted to Jensen once more and his smile softened. “We’re so lucky we don’t have to worry about that kind of crap.”
“No, we only have to worry about stupid jocks kicking our asses for liking guys.” Jensen laughed softly and shifted forward once more.
Jared was addicted to kissing Jensen, he was fairly certain his entire life would be complete if he could just keep kissing Jensen forever. Of course it didn’t work that way and Jared’s lips barely had time to part before the door was opening and Misha was calling out for them. Jensen groaned as he pulled back from the kiss, dipping down for a moment to press his lips to Jared’s jaw before straightening up.
“I love you,” Jensen whispered, squeezing his thigh a final time before pushing out of his chair.
Mike and Misha were heading their way now and Jensen crossed to them, clapping Mike on the shoulder and laughing. Jared watched them, the smile on his lips diming to something fond and soft. These were his best friends - these two and Chad - and this guy he was in love with and Jared had to take a moment to consider how very different his Senior year was then he thought it would be.
Jared had this thought that maybe he was the luckiest guy ever.
“Hey,” Jensen turned toward him, bright grin on his face. “C’mon Jared, we’re gonna ditch studying for awhile and go get ice cream. Let’s get separate flavors so we can share.”
Pushing out of his chair, Jared headed for Jensen’s outstretched hand and grinned. Yup, definitely luckiest.
It was after seven by the time Mike got home but he didn’t think it mattered because the last time he remembered his parents being home at a reasonable time was sometime back when he was in pull-ups. And Mike was pretty sure he couldn’t actually remember that far back.
Only this time, Mike pushed the front door open and headed down the hall and there his parents were, sitting at the kitchen table with mugs resting in front of them. There was a third mug in front of one of the extra chairs and Mike glanced at it before looking over his shoulder, wondering if Eric had just left the room or something.
The light at the stairs was off though so Mike dropped his bag under the coat rack and slowly scratched along his jaw, stepping forward uncertainly. “Uh, hey.”
“Where have you been?” His dad asked sternly, the words clipped and harsh.
Mike wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of his father’s anger. Sure, he’d heard the man mad at people before but it was usually workers or managers or delivery people. Mike wasn’t sure how to handle his father actually attempting parenting. “Uh, studying with my friends. Finals are tomorrow and the next day. We got ice cream too. Have you guys been here long?”
“Not too long.” His mom pursed her lips, curling her fingers over the coffee mug. “Why don’t you sit down? We have some stuff to discuss.”
“Is this the part where you tell me about safe sex and stuff and how challenging a life being gay is?” Mike dropped down into the extra chair and looked down at the mug in front of him. There were half dissolved marshmallows floating on the top and Mike was taken back to a time when he was five and his pet gerbil accidentally got flushed down the toilet. That didn’t bode well for their conversation.
Looking up slowly, Mike swallowed and wet his lips nervously. “Or… is this the part where you tell me I’m wrong for loving a guy?”
“You should have come to us sooner about this Mike,” his mom whispered, clearly trying to recite words they’d likely been practicing. “You’re so young and…”
“I’m not really that young.” Mike spoke up over her trailed off words and sighed when both his parents looked up. “Come on, Eric and I have been looking after ourselves for years. I don’t know if you guys are trying to be helpful, or lecturing, or whatever, but I don’t really want to hear it. And I’m going to be eighteen pretty soon. So it’d be a lot easier on all of us if you didn’t decide to hate me suddenly for being gay when I’m only going to live here a few more months.”
Apparently Mike had been preparing a speech for what was to happen if his parents really did confront him without realizing it. They seemed shocked that he said anything about it all, let alone so passionately. But then, Mike thought his parents might be shocked to learn he was colorblind.
“Mike, we don’t hate you,” his dad finally said, clearing his throat and looking down at his mug. “We just want to see where you stand on this, how serious you were, make sure you understood everything.”
Slipping a hand over his mouth, Mike swallowed a laugh and dipped his head to hide the amusement. He really couldn’t go into this with his parents because he would never, ever, be ready for a sex talk with them. “I’m very serious. I understand everything. And I’ve known I liked guys since I was twelve and saw Josh Ackles coming out of the show-“ Mike cut off and flushed, looking away. “Can we be done with this conversation now?”
“Just uh, know you can talk to us honey, whenever you want.” His mom stood and nodded, patting Mike’s shoulder as she stepped back.
Mike could feel the lingering heat of embarrassment as his parents left the room but he shook it off and headed for his own room to call Misha. All in all, it went a lot better than he’d expected and Mike wasn’t foolish enough to take advantage of the potential badness he’d escaped.
When he was finally safely in his room Mike pulled out his cell phone and smiled at the text message there.
I heart you.
Flopping back on the bed, Mike hit the first speed dial and waited for his boyfriend to answer. It felt surprisingly amazing to be currently content with his life and Mike couldn’t help grinning up at his ceiling, a happy sigh falling from his lips as Misha’s voice filled the line.
Meant to Speak with Logic
Master Post