Disclaimer: Kim Possible and American Dragon: Jake Long both belong to Disney Animation Studios and Buena Vista Television.

Warnings: This story will contain homosexual relationships and adult themes. No described sex.

Chapter 4
Jake's Secret

Christopher Street was in a completely different part of New York City than South Ferry. The South Ferry area around the Financial District is full of office buildings, historic landmarks like Trinity Church, the New York Stock Exchange, and at one point the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Greenwich Village on the other hand, looked as it sounded: a village. Tall skyscrapers were replaced with lo-rise buildings, cafes on every corner, and a park—with grass and trees.

"I've never been in this part of the City before," Jake admitted to the man.

"That's a shame," the blond man replied. "It's beautiful around here, especially at the end of June. Ah! Here we are," he announced upon crossing 7th Avenue and arriving at the entrance to Christopher Park. It wasn't a large park, nowhere near the size of Central Park. This was a small, irregular-shaped park with only a few benches. In the middle were white statues of men sitting on a bench and in the middle. They looked as if they were in mid conversation, and just stuck there, like they had been turned to stone by a Medusa. The short trees lined the perimeter of the park and a few birds sat in their tiny branches. The grass was near frozen and the trees looked dead. It hadn't snowed for days, but there was still some in existence in small piles near the entrance.

"Now, what did you say your name was?" the man asked of Jake. "I don't think I caught it."

"Well, that's mainly because I didn't throw it," Jake answered. The man chuckled.

"Well, yeah, good point. You've got me there. Well, why don't you tell me?" the man asked again. Jake chose not to.

"I thought you wanted to help me with my problems?" Jake asked, near the verge of annoyed.

"Aah, oooh---right," the man replied. "Well, what can I do ya for?"

"Ask about my problems perhaps?" Jake suggested.

"I believe I've already done that," the man answered.

Jake sat leaned back as far as he could along the bench, as if on a psychiatrist's couch. He inhaled and took a deep breath. Then he started his story, shivering a little in the air that had turned colder since he boarded the subway earlier that afternoon. "Well, it has to do with a relationship I was in," he started.

The man nodded. "Continue."

"We've been friends for so long-we know so much about each other. Then one day, it just got really complicated. I mean it felt right a little bit, but that's probably just because he—sorry, we—we were such good friends. Something changed, and well, I didn't really like that it changed," Jake admitted.

"Well, what changed?" the man asked.

"It's kind of embarrassing—not to mention private!" Jake retorted. He sat up on the bench a little bit.

"Come on, you've gotten this far with a total stranger. Chances are you're not getting to the Ferry Terminal today, and I know you need help. So come on, what changed?" The man was persistent.

Every bone in Jake's body was trembling. Most of it was from the cold, but he was also really nervous about telling this total stranger his deepest secret. Well, his deepest human secret anyway. But then again, there was a part of him that was excited about potentially opening up and trying something new. Siding with the logic that he would probably never see this person again, Jake decided to spill everything and tell the man what he'd been thinking since the day Spud broke up with him.

"Well," Jake began, "my friend's name is Spud—," Jake started, but was cut off.

"Like the potato?" the man asked, now intrigued even more.

"Yeah, weird name, right?" Jake asked hypothetically. "Anyway, Spud's a guy…he was my boyfriend." Jake stopped talking to judge the man's reaction. The man didn't move. He just sat there waiting for Jake to continue. Jake leaned back again.

"So, since Spud's a guy, and I'm a guy, that would make me…" he trailed off.

"Gay?" the man suggested. "Yeah, I know. Continue."

Jake was confused. 'Wait, has he known all along?' he thought to himself as he prepared for the next part of his story. "Right, so I'm gay. The thing that changed is, well, I didn't choose to be gay."

The man turned to face Jake. He motioned for him to sit up. "Are you saying that you've been worrying this whole time because you didn't choose to be gay?"

Jake nodded.

"And are you worried more because you don't want to be gay?"

Again, Jake nodded. "I've been trying so hard to fit into the gay personality…and I kind of think that's why Spud broke up with me, because we were moving too fast."

'Hmmm…' the man thought to himself.

* * *

In a bedroom covered with pictures of singers and skateboarding heroes, a phone rang. The owner of the room put down her senior math textbook and answered the phone. "Yeah?" she asked.

"Trix, it's Spud," Spud said into the phone. "Look, I gotta talk, like now."

Trixie was still a little disturbed after what happened between her and Jake a little earlier that afternoon. "Yeah—uh, Spud. I bet you do," she said.

"I'm really worried about Jake. I don't know like, how much longer I can go without him talking to me," he confessed.

"Well, I'd give it a few more days," Trixie said quietly not into the phone.

"What was that?" Spud asked from the other end of the line.

"Oh, uh, nothing," Trixie said nervously. "Why are you so concerned with Jake all of a sudden? I thought you weren't comfortable with how fast you two were moving?"

"As his boyfriend, yeah I was concerned. But just as his friend-friend, I'm more concerned about our friendship," Spud told Trixie. Spud may seem like a dimwit at times, but he had the biggest heart out of the small group. "So, what do you think about me giving Jake a call to try and see how he's doing?"

"Well, actually Spud. There's something you should know about Jake," Trixie admitted. She was getting nervous again. Spud picked up on this right away.

"Trix, you can tell me," Spud said. "What happened?"

Trixie stalled as much as she could. "Well," she began, "he was talking to me earlier like he usually does about why you two broke up, and well, I might have, kind uh, said something that made him a little angry." Trixie cringed in fear of Spud, even though he was in his own house.

"…how angry?" Spud asked fearfully.

"Angry enough to know that he missed the receiver when he slammed the phone down," Trixie said.

Spud was nervous for a change. He knew what Jake could be like when he got angry. He also knew Jake liked to go and think in a few places, but wasn't sure if he'd progressed that far yet.

* * *

Jake and the man had left the park and the stone figures behind and crossed 7th Avenue, walking along Christopher Street. The street was one-way, so cars were parked along both sides of it. There were lots of interesting specialty shops along the narrow street of Greenwich Village. Many of these shops had a colourful flag above their doors.

Jake couldn't help but look into the windows of the strange stores. Things that looked like dog collars were on many of the mannequins' necks. Undergarments with the same colourful design as the flags were on the same mannequins. Jake had never seen some of the leathery items in the store windows, and never would have imagined they were for a person to wear.

The people on the sidewalk were all dressed well, but not in business suits like those of the Financial District. They passed a video store. Jake didn't recognize any of the titles.

"Hey, uhm, Mister, could you tell me where we're going?" Jake asked, nervous about his surroundings.

"I think you need to see someone a little more experienced in this than I am, although I am pretty darn good if I say so myself."

"A little better at what?" Jake asked.

"Helping you with your situation," the man replied. "And secondly, don't call me 'Mister.' I'm only what, a year older than you? Name's Ronald…but everyone calls me Ron…Ron Stoppable," Ron said, pointing to himself.

2 chapters in the same week? I know, I am amazing. Thank you. (Oy.)

So I spent an hour or so coming up with the entire plot line for this story. It's gonna go places even I didn't see it going. Some changes to be aware of:

I officially changed this to a crossover fic between AD:JL and Kim Possible. From now on, you'll have to search for it in the crossover section under the first title of American Dragon.

Secondly, for safety, I changed the rating up to M. And if you noticed, the "Warnings" section got an update. (Think about that…) until next time,

Happy Reading!