Thomas:
Thomas dumped his bag on his bed and sunk into it. "And you're sure Newt is okay with this?" Teresa asked for fiftieth time since he'd told her that he had a date with Aris tonight. Thomas had been confused at first, but then he remembered that according to the rumors Thomas had made out with Newt a couple weeks ago.
"Newt isn't gay Teresa" he said. "I asked him to kiss me because I was curious and we were drunk. It's nothing. He's straight." Thomas had repeated this probably fifty times for Newt's sake considering Newt had been pining after Teresa for months now and he would be so pissed if Teresa thought he was gay. "And it's just one date, okay? The kid asked me and I said yes. It's not a big deal."
"It's kind of a big deal Tom" she said. He rolled his eyes and pulled his shirt off as he dug through his clothes to find something semi-decent. "Aris is kind of an awkward dude, so him asking you out is a big deal for him."
Thomas picked up a plain black t-shirt from the ground and a familiar smell immediately flooded his body. Minho. He'd forgotten that Minho had worn his shirt the other day. It took him a second to come back to himself and realize what Teresa had said. "It can't mean that much to him" he said, but he wasn't sure he believed it.
"Look Tom all I'm saying is not to hurt him, okay?" she said. "Don't lead him on if you have feelings for Newt."
Thomas let out a long breath and pulled on the Minho-smelling t-shirt. "Trust me" he said "I don't have feelings for Newt."
Thomas could feel Aris's eyes on him. He'd been staring at him practically the entire movie. A couple hours ago he and Thomas had met up at the local movie theater. Aris had been incredibly awkward and nervous the entire time, which Thomas found a little cute. He figured a movie was the best bet because it didn't require a lot of talking.
It had all been going well until about five minutes ago when Aris had laid his hand out on the armrest in between them and starting looking at Thomas expectantly. He knew Aris wanted him to hold his hand, but he wasn't willing to make the move himself. When Thomas could take the staring no longer he reached over and interlaced his fingers with Aris's. He glanced at Aris and gave him his best half-smile.
Aris promptly blushed, bit his lip, and stared back at the movie screen.
There was only about twenty minutes left in the movie and when they walked out of the theater Aris had refused to let go of Thomas's hand. He let it slide. There was no reason not to, right? Aris had suggested they get icecream at the shop down the street so they ended up sitting across from each other in a booth and working on their icecream cones.
Thomas's cone started to drip along the edge so he used his tongue to encircle it and then licked his lips. Only then when he glanced over at Aris did he see that he was staring at Thomas like he was a piece of meat. He cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "Enjoy the view?" he said. It just slipped out, somehow flirting with Aris was a lot easier than when he'd tried to flirt with Brenda, or any girl for that matter.
Aris blushed. "Um, I-" he said awkwardly, and Thomas decided to save him.
"Did you like the movie?" he asked.
Aris nodded and licked his icecream. "Yea" he said "yea, I liked it, it was... Fun. Tonight has been fun."
Thomas gave him a small smile. "Yea it was" he said "but curfew is quickly approaching so we should get going. I'll walk you home."
Aris nodded, and together they walked outside and strolled through the night together. There wasn't a lot of conversation, and to be honest it was a little awkward. Thomas just didn't know what to say to him, what did they have in common other than being gay? Well that's something, he thought. "So.." he said "have you come out to your parents?"
Aris glanced up at him, looking surprised by the question. "Yea" he said "I came out to them last year."
"How'd they react?" Thomas asked, curious.
"They kind of ignored it" Aris said. "I don't think they'll really believe it until I bring an actual guy home."
Thomas smiled weakly. "Denial is key" he said.
Aris laughed. They had reached the front of his house and now they were awkwardly hovering by his mailbox. "How'd your parents take it?" he asked. He was staring at his hands and awkwardly shifting towards Thomas.
"My mom took it really well actually" Thomas said.
"That's good."
Aris finally looked up at him, his eyes wide and expectant. It was obvious that this was the part in the date where Thomas should kiss him, and he should... Right? What was stopping him? Minho. No. Minho told him to go on this date. Minho didn't care. Aris was cute and nice and out. Thomas shoved thoughts of Minho aside and stepped closer to Aris. He placed a hand on his cheek. "You know I had a really good time tonight" he said quietly.
"M-me too" Aris stuttered. Thomas threw rational thought- and thoughts of Minho- out the window and leaned in. Just as his lips met Aris's he heard Aris suck in a breath. He froze for a moment, but then he seemed to melt into the kiss. He only waited a few seconds longer before breaking the kiss and pulling away. He let his hand drop from Aris's cheek. He smiled up at Thomas. "Can I tell you something embarrassing?" he asked.
Thomas smiled. "I'm always up for embarrassing facts."
Aris laughed awkwardly. "That, um, that was my first kiss." Thomas's eyebrows shot up and he realized he probably looked just as shocked as he felt. "I-it's just that I wasn't out at school and I've never really known any guys that are out, so-"
"Is that why you asked me out?" Thomas asked before he could stop himself. "Because I'm out and you know me?"
"No!" Aris blurted out. "N-no, as long as I'm saying embarrassing things I might as well tell you that I've actually had a crush on you since like 6th grade."
Thomas looked at him and let out a long breath. Aris had a look of pure innocence. He was looking at Thomas like he was the only person in the world, and while it was nice for someone to look at him like that he couldn't help but think that Aris wasn't the person who should be looking at him like that.
No. He needed to stop thinking about Minho. He's on a date with Aris. He'd just taken the kid's first kiss, and yet he was thinking about Minho? "That's actually really adorable" Thomas said, making his voice smooth. Only after the fact did he realize he'd been using the voice he used when he lied in bed with Minho late at night. He leaned in and kissed Aris on the lips once again. He lingered longer than he should have, but he had to. He almost felt like he had to prove something to himself. Eventually he pulled away. "I'll see you at school on Monday" he said, and turned to walk away without looking back.
Minho:
It was almost midnight when Minho heard Thomas walking up the stairs. He lied down in Thomas's bed and pulled the comforter up over him and pretended to be asleep. A minute later the door to Thomas's room flew open and he stepped into the room. He heard Thomas's footsteps stop at the end of the bed and could feel his stare on him. "What're you doing here?"
Minho rolled onto his back and met Thomas's eyes. "It's Friday" he said plainly. "I always sleep here."
Thomas opened his mouth to say something, but then he just closed it and shook his head. Minho watched him as he threw off his t-shirt and jeans. A second later Thomas flicked off the light and crawled into bed next to him. He was close, but not quite touching. "How was your date?" Minho asked. He couldn't help it. He needed to know.
Thomas paused. "It was fine."
"So you had fun?"
"Yes."
"And you're going to go out again?"
"Maybe."
"Did you kiss him?"
There was another pause. He heard Thomas let out a long breath. "Minho" he said in a cautioned voice.
"Did you?" he insisted.
"Minho I just want to go to sleep" Thomas complained. Minho rolled onto his side so he was facing away from Thomas. Silence hung in the air for a while and Minho was starting to think that Thomas really was going to ignore the question, but then finally Thomas said the one word he did not want to hear. "Yes."
Minho took a deep breath. "Did you like it?"
"Minho-"
"How far'd you take it?"
"I-"
"Did you touch him like you touched me the other night?"
"Minho!" Thomas practically yelled. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at Minho. "Look it was one date, okay? And we just kissed. It's not a big deal. Don't act like you haven't been sucking face with other girls."
"Not since that night" he mumbled.
He felt Thomas shift and lean closer to him. "What?"
Minho rolled over to face Thomas. "I haven't even looked at a girl or a boy since that night you almost hooked up with Brenda."
Thomas swallowed. "Well that's shucking dandy, Minho" he said, in a low hissed voice. Minho was surprised by how angry he sounded. "But don't act like we're in a relationship, or like you have the right to be jealous. I'm sick of hiding and being ashamed of what we do. Of denying myself. Aris took me on a real date. He held my hand in public and didn't give a flying shuck. Now until you're ready to do that I'm done with our midnight makeout sessions. Now either stay on your side of the bed or get out."
Thomas rolled over onto his side to face away from Minho. Minho slowly sunk into the bed. He felt like someone had grabbed his heart and squeezed it. He rolled onto his side so his back was to Thomas and squeezed his eyes tight so the tears wouldn't fall over.
This chapter went a little long but I hope you liked it! Please review!
