A/N: This chapter contains lots of fragments and consists of mostly dialogue.

Riley was completely out of it. Peter could tell. He was staring off into the distance, not listening to a word the teacher was saying. Not that Riley listened that much in school anyways. He was really smart, but jocks weren't supposed to be smart. Jocks were supposed to be STRONG, and you obviously can't be both strong and smart at the same time.

Peter bit his lip and pretended to be jotting down notes.

are you okay?

Peter than coughed and discreetly tossed the note to Riley's desk, which was right next to his. (There were many instances where the teacher threatened to separate them for being disruptive, but that had luckily yet to happen.) Riley looked down and read the note.

ya i'm fine…why?

You looked weird

o…well i'm fine. swear

well do you want to hang out later? come over and play some video games?

Peter hesitated before passing the note back. It was always weird mentioning video games because. Well. You know.

sure. meet u out front after school

"Have I ever told you your car is insane?" Riley ran his hands up and down the seat.

"Yes, about a million times!" Peter laughed. "The perks of having a guilty rich dad."

"How is that, by the way?" Riley asked. "Your dad, I mean."

"He bought me a bass for watching Angel." Riley snorted.

"Wow. Sucks."

"Way to be sympathetic!" Peter grinned.

"Well sorry!" Riley smiled back. "Angel. That's a cool name."

"Right? She seriously is the sweetest thing now. Mia has given me some great advice." Riley's smile fell.

"Well. That's cool." Peter awkwardly turned away.

"Home sweet home…" He said as he parked. Just then, a car alarm started going off, and the boys burst out laughing. "Lets go inside." Peter chuckled.

"You swear you've never played this game before?" Peter moaned, throwing his head back.

"Promise! You just really suck, I guess."

"Not cool!"

"Up for another round?"

"Sure but uh. Can I ask you something first?" Riley's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"O….kay…?"

"It's just…if something was wrong, you would tell me, right?" Peter asked. "Like, if something was on your mind?"

"I told you, I'm fine! What is this about?"

"You just seem really…deep in thought all the time. How are…you know…things?"

"Things?"

"Yeah, you know…THINGS."

"Oh…damn it Peter!" Riley huffed. "I don't want to talk about the gay thing!"

"I never SAID anything about the gay thing!" Peter retaliated.

"You were thinking it."

"I…you're right. I was. So…how's the gay thing?"

"Screw you." Riley sighed. "I don't know. Same old same old."

"So have you like…accepted yourself?"

"Shut up, Tyra Banks."

"Tyra Banks? Wow, you really ARE gay!"

"SHUT UP!" Riley smacked his shoulder. "Why do you care so much?"

"Just curious I guess?" Peter hesitated. "So dish. Any…homosexual updates?" Riley blushed.

"Not really…"he muttered.

"You're hiding something."

"Look, I thought we made a deal not to talk about that kind of stuff."

"Well you obviously have a secret and I, as your best friend, want to know!" Peter gave a cheeky grin.

"I don't want to weird you out." Riley became even redder.

"Hey. You won't. Promise. I just want to know what's going on inside your head."

"Okay. Its like this…" Riley started. "I've sort of…been meeting up with this guy." Peter froze.

"Oh."

"It's nothing big it's just…I've been thinking about it a lot. And I'm more scared than ever."

"So what, you have a boyfriend?"

"Oh my god, no! No no no!"

"Chill out, I was kidding."

"Sorry. Really it's…its nothing. We're just…fooling around." Peter froze again.

"Oh."

"I just…"Riley started to say but then abruptly stopped. "You know what, never mind. There. I told you what was on my mind. Are you happy now?" Peter gulped.

"Yeah…yeah. I'm glad you can trust me with stuff."

Riley threw his head back and closed his eyes. "I just…don't know if it feels how it's supposed to feel."

"Well like, what do you feel? When you're with him?"

"Awkward question there, don't you think?"

"I'm TRYING to help you."

"Okay well it feels like… I don't know, good?"

"So…I'm not understanding the problem."

"Well its like, I'm attracted to him, but I want to be able to have a conversation with him, you know? And whenever I try to talk to him he relates it back to sex, or like, soccer or something."

"Sounds to me like you want a boyfriend and not just a friend with benefits."

"God, a boyfriend? That sounds so…gay."

"Well you are gay, aren't you?" Long silence.

"Yeah. I am."