Ace let go of Matt and looked at the clock. "The bell will be ringing any second now. We'd better go get changed."
Matt nodded in agreement and returned to his locker. While he got back into his school clothes, his question kept repeating itself in his mind: "What about Dan?"
Now that he had come out and admitted his feelings for Ace were real, what about those he had for Dan? After all, he'd had sex with Dan twice in his dreams (though in the second one he figured Ace would have shown up, too). Did he feel the same for the eevee? Would Dan accept it? Would Ace?
His mind was a swirling cyclone of confusion, he knew he had to sort it out.
Lunch B arrived quickly. Matt hadn't even paid attention to most of his classes, being too worried about what would happen. When the time came, he rushed to the cafeteria and found Ace waiting outside the doors.
"Are you ready for this?" Ace asked him. "Don't worry, I'm sure everyone will be fine with it!"
"How are we even gonna bring up a topic like that?"
"I dunno, we'll wing it!"
They waited a moment for Sean to pass them and take his seat before they walked in. Matt nervously rubbed his arm, dreading what would happen if one of them took it the wrong way.
"Everyone," Ace began, waiting for his friends to look up from their meals. Only Otto looked up from the younger group. "Matt and I have an announcement to make."
"You beat Shade to a pulp?" Luke asked eagerly.
"We should have."
"You're going to give us money?" Riley guessed.
"You're a little greedy, aren't you?"
"You're gay?" Graham joked. Everyone laughed, except Ace and Matt. Matt got even more nervous.
"Is that a problem?" Ace asked truthfully. They immediately stopped laughing and became deathly silent. "Yes, we're together now. If that bothers anyone, feel free to leave."
More silence, until: "Why would that bother us? Now I only have to go to one wedding."
Sean broke the suspense and the table was full of laughter again. Ace and Matt sat down, grinning despite the fact that they were the joke. It was friendly kidding, no one thought any less of them for being a couple.
"Hey, less competition," Luke said. "Once all the girls find out you're off the market, the rest of us might get lucky!"
"Just remember," Graham added, "If you change your mind, keep pretending for our sake."
"I'm pretty sure that won't be a problem," Ace said.
Mat felt something twirl around one of his tails and realized it was Ace's. He returned the favor and felt happy knowing that he had such a loyal boyfriend.
By the end of lunch, news had made its way around the cafeteria: Matt and Ace were officially boyfriends. Most everyone was alright with the new knowledge; considering his Dad's beliefs, it was almost like they would have been more shocked if Ace weren't gay. There were, of course, the usual rumors and bigotry, but these were few and baseless. The only thing that surprised anyone was that it had only been a week since Matt had been here. The girls were calling it "love at first sight". The guys just said, "It's not like he could just fall in love with an old friend that suddenly".
For the most part, everyone was supportive of them coming out. As Matt walked into Herbology, he was greeted by an applause.
"What's that for?" he asked.
"Why, Matt, darling child," Ms. Sun must have heard, too, "we're so proud that you had the courage to be an individual! You don't worry about what anyone says, just be yourself!"
Once that was settled, she told the class to return to the labs and check to see if their mixtures from the day before were ready. Matt went back to the lab and found Dan looking at the container vacantly.
"Are you alright, Dan? You don't look so good."
"It's nothing. Just thinking about something, but I guess I'll never know the answer. The drink's ready. Do you want to try it?"
Dan pushed the glass over and looked up at Matt. The buizel saw tears forming before the eevee turned away again. He went to put his hand on Dan's shoulder, but the eevee jerked away and asked Ms. Sun to go to the nurse.
Matt watched the pokeboy go in confusion and sadness. He wondered what had so affected Dan. Could it be possible that Dan had a crush on him? He felt terrible for his friend and wanted to comfort him, to ask him if it was true. He knew he couldn't leave it like that. He asked to follow Dan, but he didn't even hear Ms. Sun answer "yes", he was going anyway.
