The time had come, now, to let our friends in on our little secret. It had been nearly two weeks since Ian and I had shared a bed, and though we hadn't gone any further yet, there was no going back. We were a couple. And it was time to let our friends know about it.

I told Ian to let me handle it. He's not exactly known for his subtlety, and I didn't want him blurting it out at the breakfast table or whatever. That would be awkward, wouldn't it? "Pass the sugar, and by the way, Chance and I are gay." Yeah, not happening.

The best way to do it, I figured, would be one at a time. So I waited for an opportunity to get someone alone and confess to them. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

Finally, one day after a workout, Kit and I were the only ones left in the locker room. I decided to go ahead and get it over with.

"Can I talk to you a minute?" I said, once we were both fully dressed.

"Sure," he said. We both sat down on the bench. "What's up?"

I took a deep breath and tried to organize my thoughts. "It's about . . . Ian and me. The two of us. Together."

He nodded but said nothing. I pressed on. "You see, we've sort of . . . come together, I mean as a couple. It was something neither of us expected, but once we got together, it just . . . felt so right. We haven't actually done anything yet, but I just wanted you to know, to - to understand what's going on with us. You're the first one I've told, so far. But we're going to tell everyone, eventually. Everyone should know about this, don't you think?"

I waited to see his reaction. He just smiled and touched me on the arm in a friendly way. "It's okay, dude. I know."

"Oh, that's good, I thought you - wait, you know? What do you mean, you know?"

"I kind of figured something like that. Don't worry, I'm cool with it."

"How did you know? We were very discreet!"

He gave me a look. "The other night, when we were all watching TV? He had his head in your lap."

"He did?" I thought back. Come to think of it, he had been a little . . . snuggly that night. "I guess he did. Does everyone know?"

"I don't know. I think most of them probably suspect. No one's said anything, though. I think they'll be okay with it."

"Well, that's a load off my mind." It would make things so much easier if everyone was good with us being together. "You didn't seem surprised or anything. Why is that?"

"It's not a big deal for me. What two consenting adults do in private is their own business. That means I don't wanna know what you're up to." He grinned, and I knew everything would be okay between us.

"Who do you suggest I talk to next?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "It's up to you. Whoever you feel needs to know. If they don't already."

"Ian's talking about knocking down the wall between our rooms and putting in a bigger bed."

"Sounds like a big job. Kase and Len just put in a door."

"Yeah, well, they can get away with smaller beds. They don't roll all over the place in their sleep."

"See, that's the kind of thing I really didn't need to know. TMI, dude, TMI!"

We were laughing about that as we went up to the dormitory level. As we got closer to my room, I could hear something that sounded like . . . oh boy.

"I thought you said he was just talking about it, not actually doing it," Kit said, peering through the open door at the activity within.

"What is he doing?" I had a look for myself.

Ian was supervising a bunch of our friends as they smashed the wall down with sledgehammers. There were drop cloths over all the furniture, and another crew was working on repainting the walls of what was formerly a separate room.

"What the fraz are you doing, Ian?" I demanded at the top of my lungs. "We were going to talk about this! You don't just go and knock down my walls behind my back! Where's all my stuff? Where's the stand with my action figures? Why didn't you tell me before you went and did this?"

The guys stopped working and stood there staring at us. Ian tried to look nonchalant, but failed miserably. "I didn't mean to do it behind your back! But after I told the guys all about us, they insisted on helping out! I think we should do green walls with a gold trim right along the top, how's that?"

"What are you talking about? You told them? I told you I would handle that! Don't you listen to a word I say?"

"I just wanted to help," he said, looking very unhappy. "It was going to be a surprise!"

"Oh, I'm surprised, all right? Now where. Is. My. Stuff?"

"Chance, don't be so hard on him," Kit said. "So he was a little . . . eager to get things done. It's only because he cares about you and he wants things to be perfect for you."

"Your stuff is in the closet for now," said Len, who was part of the work crew. "We're going to put shelves on the far wall for you. After we move the bed in, that is."

"You already bought the bed?" I looked at Ian.

"I found the perfect one, online. We pick it up tonight. What color sheets do you want? I was thinking gold and white, to go with the whole color scheme . . ."

Kit was shaking his head and chuckling. "You thought no one would buy you two as a couple?" he said to me. "You already sound like you're married!"

"Oh, be quiet," I said, "and get that wall down."