Oneshot time, kiddo.
So this is my first ever Otto/Wing thing. I was inspired by a mistake, and of course a ball of sorts.
A MISTAKE.
A mistake which inspired a masochistic graduating student to write a fanfiction. I warn you, this shall end sadly.
I'm not going to say anything anymore.
I'm not going to start this with the whole 'how I became gay' story. I'm going to start it like any other one.
I'm not the type of guy who just randomly decides I'm a homosexual. It just… happened.
It started in high school.
I didn't join the lacrosse team, whereas every other guy in my year wanted a spot there. Only because they'd get hugely popular and get all the good dates without really trying. I found that cause shallow.
Instead, I joined some AP Biology thing for the extra credit. I found a friend there. Her name was Laura Brand, and she understood my dislike for the lacrosse team. She was really nice, and not to mention she was best friends with a girl on the cheerleading team.
One day, Laura said she'd like me to meet Shelby, her best friend. Now let me tell you that Shelby Trinity isn't hard to miss. She's the captain of the cheerleading team, and she's pretty kick-ass too.
Laura told me they'd be practicing on the field, along with the lacrosse team. We walked to the field, two nerds with book bags slung over our shoulders. I saw Shelby, her blond hair tied up in a ponytail, ordering her team around and slowly loosing her voice from screaming. Laura called her.
"Shel, this is Otto, from the AP Bio crop. Otto, Shel. Shel, Otto," said Laura brightly. Shelby shook my hand. "Oh, you're Otto! Laura says you're the smartest in the whole crop. Cool hair!" she said, after shaking my hand.
I'm an albino, I failed to mention. No one ever called my hair 'cool.' They always called it freaky, the way it was white from birth.
"Erm, not really. She's really the smartest one," I managed to say after the remark on my hair. Laura chuckled. "Yeah right, Otto."
"Guys, really sorry I have to leave so soon, but I really have to practice, it's championships tomorrow," Shelby said with a longing smile. "It's alright, just go. We'll watch the lacrosse people," Laura smiled back.
We watched the lacrosse players, each carrying a stick. All of them had their surnames printed on their jerseys, and they all wore the same Bermuda shorts. There was a Thomas, a Darkdoom, and a Kahn, among others.
After the game, me and Laura went back to class. AP Chemistry was another class we had together. When we both went in, a few of the lacrosse players still wore their jerseys. A girl came up to me and Laura's table. She had platinum blond hair in a pixie cut, a heart shaped face, and grey eyes. I knew her.
She was Kent Thomas, the lacrosse player. She was one of the two female lacrosse players on the whole team. True enough, she wore her jersey, with the big number seven on it, along with her last name on the back.
"Otto, right? Hi, I'm Kent, sorry to bother you, but I forgot my chem book at home. Could I borrow yours?"
"Yeah, sure," was all I could mumble while handing her the book. She smiled her thanks, and then moved back to her seat beside a tall boy. The boy had a number 6 on his jersey, and his last name, Fanchu, was emblazoned on his back. His raven black hair was slung in a low ponytail at his nape.
Thomas and Fanchu weren't together, from what Laura told me. Rumor was that Thomas was gay, and she was dating a girl from Spain or something.
Anyway, after a few days, Shelby proved to be my friend. She introduced me formally to Kent, and she seemed the same.
Once, I was introduced to Fanchu. He was adored by everyone, being the star of the lacrosse team. He said nothing, and all his face did was stay straight.
Common rule of status quo: do not anger the popular boy who can kill you socially.
And so I didn't. Even if I was hurt that he didn't talk to me, I had to deal with it.
And after a few days, weeks, and months, I knew it was true.
I was gay, and I loved Wing Fanchu.
I didn't openly talk about him with my friends. I watched lacrosse games, and did as best as I could not to stare at him.
At the end of each game, I pondered how I'd ever be able to see him again, without anyone knowing that I indeed loved him.
After the last game of the season, all the players left, except for the rumored-lezzie Kent. She sat beside me when I didn't leave.
I realized that this was the last time I could inconspicuously look at him without ridicule. She looked straight ahead, as though she was pondering something serious too. She carried her lacrosse stuff in one hand, a water bottle in the other.
"You wanna come to my Sweet Seventeen party tonight?" was what she blurted out. "Um, sorry? Did you say Sweet Seventeen?" I asked, a bit curious why someone would celebrate her seventeenth birthday when she'd already celebrated her sixteenth. "Yeah, my mom doesn't believe in the whole sixteen thing. I just want you to come. Wing will be there," she added with a wink.
I controlled my cheeks from reddening. But I couldn't help but smile at the mention of his name. "What's in me that's so important that you're inviting me to your little party?"
She stopped grinning. "I'm doing you a favor, Malpense, so you can be with Wing without anyone gawking at you."
"But they'll still see!" I said a little frantically. "It's a masquerade, Malpense, no one will care. They won't recognize you. Just put on a hat and you're fine," she sighed, unscrewing the lid on her water bottle. "But I don't have a mask!" I was just making up excuses so I wouldn't attend.
I didn't want to be in a room full of popular people who don't care for other people below their status, drinking and talking as if we were best friends.
She unzipped her lacrosse bag, and took out a white half-mask. It covered my face, and it was simple, with no fuss or frills whatsoever. It was perfect.
"Stop making excuses. I just need someone to sympathize with me. I-I'm going to tell my mother, my father, and everyone else something," her voice shook a little.
"That you're a lesbian?" I asked a little unconsciously. "Yeah. I don't want to hide from my parents. It makes me sick to my stomach when I even imagine my mother asking who Colette is, and me telling her that she's just a friend," she replied, drinking her water.
"Colette? As in, Colette from Paris? Colette the bohemian artist chick who lived in Europe? Colette's your girlfriend?" I asked incredulously. Colette Desrosier was a foreign exchange student from France, in exchange for our annoying classmate Gwendolyn Hardy, since Colette studied in some really prestigious etiquette and art school. I could hardly believe poised, almost completely hetero, grace-filled, and elegant Colette was with Kent, the rough-and-tumble lacrosse hero.
She raised her eyebrows as if it was something weird. "Yeah; jealous, are we, boy?" I shook my head. "Good. Cause if you make a move on Colette, I'm going to hit you with my lacrosse stick straight in the dick."
I looked at the mask in my hands. "I heard there was a war going on. And that the army is recruiting anyone who wants to go into it," I said, not looking up. "Yeah. After graduation, I'm enlisting. Colette wants to go too, but I can't bear with the thought of her getting hurt."
Huh, the army. Seemed like a pretty good idea.
"I'll come," I croaked finally, after thinking of what possibly could be the harm of a simple party. "Cool, be at Shatterday 7-ish. Wear a proper shirt and jeans. And the mask, of course, that's your entry ticket. Don't leave till I say, okay? In case my mom burns the club down, I need at least a little sympathy," she smiled, patting me on the back.
Shatterday is this huge, famous night club that never ceases to amuse. They had the best shots ever, along with the cool atmosphere it had. Rumor was that the lights were always dim, and that you could just hook up with absolutely anyone in the whole club and the throng wouldn't care.
I haven't been there. Ever. I was always at home on Friday and Saturday nights, studying.
I arrived at the time Kent told me to come, and as I entered, wearing a black fedora and my mask, people didn't look at me like I was some freak.
They looked at me like I was actually cool.
Mind you, that never happens.
The Kahn person (Tahir, I think that was his name) handed me a drink, and told me that he'd be getting married next summer. I grinned politely, hoping as hell that Wing or Kent was here.
Kent was easy to spot, with her blond hair, pale skin, and pretty girl on arm. The girl wore a nice blue mask, and her flaming red hair sparkled in the dim light.
As far as I could tell, her eyes were green, and she adored talking to all the people. Colette Desrosier, enamored by millions, possessed by one.
Kent wore a simple black dress with a V-neckline and a silver ribbon at her waist. Colette was wearing white, maybe to complement her beloved's dress. Kent's mask was silver.
I looked around, trying to recognize Wing in the throng.
After 6 shots of a cocktail Kent told me to try (it was called 'the executioner'), I finally recognized the boy I loved.
He stood there in the corner, his masked face devoid of emotion. He was still the same attractive lacrosse player who did a good center, not to mention whom I loved to death.
I went over to him, braver than I was the whole season.
"Hi," I said through gulps of the executioner. "Hey. You shouldn't drink much of that stuff. A friend told me that he got drunk on two and woke up with a son to look after," he replied, looking at the shot glass in my hand.
I dropped it upon seeing his eyes through his vertical half-mask. It was like the one from The Phantom of the Opera. They were blue.
We talked for a while, about how untrue everything was in our school, how the war affected everyone, and how we were going to deal with it.
The more I talked with him, the more I loved him.
And for the last few moments of our masked confession, I heard some words I've always wanted to hear.
"My father recently found out something…unusual about me. About the way I love."
"What, are you gay or something?"
"How'd you know?"
"Picked it up."
"Oh."
"So who's the guy?"
"He probably hates me for not talking to him."
"I wouldn't think so."
"He's below me in the food chain."
Food chain, being a metaphor for the status quo, just to clear it up. He wouldn't dare eat people! Would he?
"How low?"
"A geek. A nerd. Goes to AP Biology, Chemistry, and English."
"So you're forbidden, huh?"
"Pretty much."
"Write him a note. I bet he'll like it."
"What do I say? 'Hi Otto, it's me Wing, I've never really told you, but I'm gay and I love you'? Like he'll ever believe that."
"I'm sure he will."
"Aren't you freaked out that some boy attending a lezzie's party just told you he was gay and was in love with a nerd?"
Personally, it hurt me that he addressed me as a nerd. But of course, one can't be picky when you fall in love, can you?
"Nope. If that's what you are, that's what you are. I can't do anything to change that."
"True. Got a girlfriend?"
Otto's cheeks reddened slightly, but the light was too dim to see.
"No."
Wing smirked.
"A boyfriend?"
"No."
"Sure?"
"Absolutely."
"Crush on someone?"
"Maybe."
"Ha. He studies with us?"
"Yeah."
Then a light went on, directed on the stage of the club.
A blond woman went up, clearly not Kent from the state of her hair, which was long and straight. "Congrats, Kent, you made it to seventeen! What do you want to say to all your friends who came?"
"Umm, thanks for coming, and I'm a lesbian. I've got a girlfriend, mom, she's here. Colette is not my best friend."
Her mother slapped her in the face, and she went out of the club with Colette.
I was unnerved. Wing talked to me, admitted he loved me, and told me to lay off the drinks all in one night! This was the best night ever.
We talked, and he offered to take me to the tube station, since I didn't own a car. I consented, just wanting to spend more time with him.
We walked to the station, even though a few gunshots sounded far away. I thought it was just fireworks.
BANG!
Wing was hurt, and blood soaked his shirt. It hit him squarely in the chest. My mask fell off, but I didn't care less.
He was trying to talk, his voice all raspy and his breathing shallow.
"You're Otto! All this time… you've been listening… and everything."
"Yes, I have, Wing. It's alright."
His breathing lessened with every word.
"I love you, Otto. I always have, always will. No matter what."
BANG!
I felt a sharp pain in my chest, like a stake was being driven right through my lungs.
"I love you too."
I told you it would be sad.
R&R, no flames.
