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“Oh God,” Thomas groaned, pulling his scarf over his face as he blushed. He had known Sean had texted Thomas’s aunts to tell them about what he had come home to Friday night because Thomas had come home before curfew to a well-meaning but mortifying “talk” about safe sex practices between men from his extremely lesbian aunts. “What did he say?”
“Right, so,” Mark said, turning to face Thomas and grimacing. “Kevin is in my room and we’re playing video games together like we usually do on the weekends. When Marcus knocks then opens the door with a weird look on his face and just says ‘hey, are you two having sex yet?’ Those were his exact words. Now my dumb ass makes the mistake of looking at Marcus then looking at Kevin next to me on the bed. Kevin’s just as confused as I am about why the fuck Marcus is suddenly asking us that because I know I haven’t mentioned being interested in anyone and I was pretty sure Kevin hadn’t. But before I can say a damn thing Kevin opens his mouth and says ‘with each other?’”
Thomas’s jaw fell open and Mark threw up his hands and waved them towards Thomas’s face.
“THAT’S WHAT I DID! Then I realized what he just implied and I seriously considered trying to crawl under the bed but I haven’t been able to fit under there since I was fifteen.”
“What did Marcus say,” Thomas managed to ask, not sure how it could get any worse.
“God, I think I blocked out his exact reaction because I did not want to look at him, but I’m pretty sure he said something about meaning with ‘other people’ but if we were having sex with each other, the three of us had to have a serious conversation.”
Thomas grimaced. If talking to his aunts about sex was bad, he couldn’t imagine what it must be like to talk to your godfather and best friend/foster brother. He paused, frowning as he continued to think about Kevin and Mark. “Are you two-”
“NO,” Mark shouted then lowered his voice quickly when people looked around. “No. God no! We are not doing anything like that.”
“Okay, okay,” Thomas said quickly, also keeping his voice low. “I’m sorry. I’m not very good at this stuff, Mark. I had to ask Danny if Friday night was a date like an idiot, for God sakes.”
Mark sighed, the sound ending in a low growl. “You aren’t an idiot,” he said. “Don’t call yourself that. You’re smarter than all of the rest of us combined, you’re just… You’re wired different is all. Danny’s not that good at saying what he wants unless you ask him directly or he’s pissed off about something. Don’t call yourself an idiot.”
Thomas swallowed, not sure what to say to that; but Mark had glanced away, towards where Kevin and Danny were still running around throngs of other students trying to catch each other.
“Can… can you keep something just between us,” he asked very softly as he glanced at Thomas.
Thomas nodded immediately. “I’m very good at those sorts of things. Unless you are going to hurt yourself or others. I promised too many people that I’d not keep those to myself anymore.”
A smile tugged at Mark’s lips. “I promise it’s not that sort of thing,” he said, glancing again towards the commotion the other two were causing. “I… I’ve thought about it… About me and Kev… About being more than friends.” He swallowed thickly, his face going red. “I mean, we’ve known each other practically since birth. His mom, my dad, and Marcus were the best of friends. We’ve always been together and when I think of the what’s next, of our futures… He’s always there. I’m always with him and he’s always with me. When we were kids I didn’t think anything of it because of course we would be together. We’re best friends so we’d be together. But… I’ve been wondering lately… what if… what if we weren’t just friends.” He looked at Thomas, his eyes wide as they seemed to search Thomas’s face. “You said you asked Danny about it being a date. How did you get the nerve to ask?”
Thomas shook his head. “I don’t think you can compare my situation with yours, Mark. I mean… Danny and I have only really known each other for a few months and only started talking to each other in the last month. Friday night was the first time we’d actually been completely alone together and…” He paused, thinking again at how little they had been able to talk about during their date before Thomas knew it was a date. He shook his head again. “It’s not the same. Like you said, you’ve been friends for as long as you can remember. Potentially messing up a friendship that’s less than a month old is way different than asking the person you’ve gone through every life event with if they are interested in being more—”
Mark sighed, looking down at the ground with a twisting of his lips, like he expected it.
“—but,” Thomas continued slowly, pausing to wait as Mark looked up at him. “You could… you could just talk to him about it? Someone just reminded me last week that communication is important in all relationships regardless of what kind they are. If you have… questions, I guess, on what your relationship looks like during and after college, then you should talk to him.” He glanced towards the crowds of people, other students whose biggest worry was something like this. “You two have been friends for a long time. Don’t damage it by bottling it up.”
He could feel Mark looking at him, the weight of his eyes on the side of Thomas’s face. “Thomas,” he said quietly. “Are you okay?”
Thomas swallowed, his heart racing in his throat. “…A-all th-three of you are g-going to be leaving the city in August,” he said finally, wincing at the stammer and taking a breath to try to get it under control, “and I’m… not. I knew that, obviously, but… I-it’s such a normal problem to have. T-to know your friends and- and b-boyfriend aren’t going to be right here to hang out in a few months. I-I’m n-not s-sure wh-what t-to do w-with i-it.” He glanced at Mark, still staring at him. “S-s-”
Mark hugged him, not one of the one armed hugs he had given Thomas before, but a proper one. “Don’t say you’re sorry,” he said in Thomas’s ear, tightening his grip. “Don’t ever say you’re sorry for something like that.” He leaned back, holding Thomas’s shoulders, smirking at him. “And we’ll figure it out. After all, we managed to figure it out while locked down over break. What’s a few thousand miles?”
Thomas smiled back at him. “Yeah. We’ll figure it out.” He glanced towards the grass. “Should… we do something about them?”
“Nah, let them run,” Mark said, looking around as well. “It’s good for them to get all the energy out now. Their first period teachers will thank us for it.” He paused and glanced at Thomas. “So, can I ask you a personal question?”
“Go on,” he said, shrugging.
“Did you guys actually have sex or-”
A laugh escaped Thomas, turning into a full cackle that made people look around, only to look away again when Mark glared at them. “No,” he gasped after a moment. “No, we did not.” He laughed again, remembering the video call with Danny Saturday after Sean made him watch an “educational” video of anal sex. The baseball player looked as if he had seen ghosts. “And neither one of us is in any hurry the change that.” He huffed. “It’s way more involved than anyone talks about. Did you know some people change their entire diets to ‘prepare’ for that stuff?”
“Ho- Nope,” Mark shook his head quickly. “Nope, I don’t think I want to know. I’ll look it up when I’m curious enough but no, no way.”
“Smart man,” Thomas chuckled, looking back out over the other students and realizing that they had all parted to create a path that Danny and Kevin were running through. “…Thanks, Mark. It- It means a lot, having someone to talk to about- well, normal things.”
Mark chuckled softly. “Any time, Thomas. Any time.”
* * *
Seong walked into Felinus’s office above the warehouse and immediately rolled onto the couch.
