Troy woke up the next morning feeling happier than he had in a good while. He'd finally come out to everybody he wanted to. Although… his Dad seemed a little freaked out and who knows what Chad was thinking.
He'd barely been awake 3 minutes when his phone rang. Ryan, he supposed. He sat up when he read 'Gabriella' on the display.
"Hey!" He enthused, rubbing his fingers over his eyes.
"Hey Troy. Did you tell your Dad?"
"Yeah… he's okay. Things will be fine over here."
"Great. Listen… can you come over later?"
Troy laughed. He rolled his eyes lovingly.
"I just left yesterday! But sure."
"Good. I've got something for you. How's noon?"
Troy glanced at his clock. 9.50am.
"Sure thing. See you then."
--------
As Troy approached the door, he reached in his pocket to get his key. Which… Was still there. He refrained from letting himself in, though, and politely knocked on the door.
"Hey!" Gabriella smiled. "You could've let yourself in, you know."
"Well… it's rude."
"Before you come up…" Gabriella whispered. "There's something here for you. Just… be nice."
Troy threw Gabriella a very confused expression, before walking up the stairs into the apartment. He stood awkwardly in the hall, before following Gabriella into the living room.
"Hey."
Troy raised his eyebrows at the man sitting on the couch in front of him.
"Hey."
"I, uh…" Gabriella fidgeted on the spot, then headed for the hall. "Get some drinks, or something."
Gabriella left the room, leaving Troy staring at Chad.
"I'm sorry, Troy." Chad mumbled.
Troy sat down on a chair at the other side of the room. He stayed silent, but put his hand over his mouth, in case his lip started quivering. The tears, those he could fight, but he didn't want his uncontrollable quivering lip to give him away.
"I am, I'm sorry Troy, really." Chad sat rigid in his seat, not really knowing what to do. "I'm a jerk, I know. You must think really low of me."
"Don't think low of you." Troy mumbled. "Cos I didn't know what was going through your mind."
"I don't even know. I just…" Chad looked at the ceiling and shook his head. "I guess I just thought that I knew you. Better than anyone, maybe. Then you tell me… that. And I had no idea."
"Not too long ago, neither did I."
"I know. I'm sorry, Troy." Chad blinked fast. "I know you need my support now. So just so you know, I'm… okay with it."
Troy shrugged and pulled at imaginary fluff on the chair he was sitting on.
"I figured you would be." He said. "Eventually. I know that you're okay with Ryan. Friends, in fact."
"Yeah." Chad managed a small laugh. "Thing about him is… I guess I've just always known."
The two sat in silence for a minute or two. There was the odd glance exchanged, but mostly the silence was heavy and awkward, both of them desperately looking for something to occupy their eyes, or words to say to the other that would work in this situation.
"I wish things would just go back to normal." Chad said quietly, just above a whisper.
"I know. Change sucks." Troy sighed. "Things will never be the same."
"One thing won't change. We'll always be best friends."
Troy looked up, and his and Chad's eyes met for the first time since the day of Troy's confession. Troy smiled warmly and Chad did the same.
"I understand a lot more than I did, though." Chad told Troy. "Had a long chat with Gabriella."
"That's my girl." Troy smiled.
Chad looked up at Troy, and moved himself to the edge of the couch.
"Hug it out?"
Troy looked up. His face broke into what eventually became a wide, relieved smile. He stood up, as did Chad, who approached him, and threw his arms around him. The men patted each other on the back, and broke apart.
"Just because I freaked out," Chad sighed to Troy, "doesn't mean I'm like those homophobes, all like, he's gay, he's gonna come on to me, don't touch me, blah blah…"
Troy let out a small laugh. It was so like Chad to try and say something helpful, but really not help at all.
"Thanks?" Troy laughed again.
"You know what I mean, man. We hug, I'm not suddenly gonna think you're getting sexual thrills out of it."
Troy ever so slightly blushed.
"Okay, okay… Chad…" Troy exhaled with a shy laugh. "I know you're not like that. No worries."
"Good." Chad sighed with a big grin. "Oh, I, uh… got you a present."
Chad pointed to the small package on the table in front of Troy. Troy looked down and smiled. He leaned forward, picked up the package, and opened it.
He pulled out a small, grey action figure. A wide grin spread across his face.
"Aw, thundercats." He sighed, happily. "I used to love them when I was a kid. Panthro was my favourite."
"I know." Chad smiled. "I thought it was perfect for you."
"Thanks Chad."
"You're kinda like a thundercat yourself." Chad grinned. "After all… you're half wildcat… half thunderbird."
"Ahh, thundercat." Troy grinned stupidly. He approached Chad and pulled him into a hug.
"Thanks. That was really thoughtful."
Chad smiled to himself.
---------
A week later, Troy and Chad were hanging out together, almost as if nothing had happened.
They were sat in Chad's dorm room. Chad was sat at his desk, half-heartedly trying to tap out an assignment on his laptop, while Troy was reclined back on Chad's bed.
"Can't believe you don't have a room mate. Sweet."
Chad turned round, and shrugged.
"It's part of the experience though, isn't it." Chad mused. "When I lived with Jake, he'd make me go out to parties, but now I'm too lazy, and no one's here to convince me."
"I guess." Troy laughed. "There are some serious advantages though."
"Yeah. I can walk around naked." Chad grinned.
"Dude." Troy threw Chad a look of disgust. "Anyway, what if you wanna bring a girl back?" Troy grinned and raised his eyebrows. "No one else to get in the way…"
"True, true." Chad smiled and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, what about you? You're single now. But living with your parents…"
Troy shrugged.
"I'm not exactly ready to put myself out there." Troy rubbed the back of his neck. "And when I am…" Troy drifted off, ending his sentence without completing it.
"What?!" Chad asked with great enthusiasm. "Is there a guy?!"
"Guess Gabi didn't tell you everything, then." Troy grinned to himself, but shaking his head.
"Unless it's… Oh my god, it's not Ryan is it?"
"No, no. He's just a good friend."
"So, tell me!"
Troy sighed, and laughed slightly.
"Fine! Well, I met him, I guess, just as I was coming to terms with being gay. In fact… meeting him made me realise I was for sure."
"He must be special." Chad grinned to his friend.
"I… guess…" Troy shrugged. "He's sweet. I spent all that day with him. He told me he was gay, and that he thought I was cute." Troy smiled to himself, remembering the day. "I went back to his apartment…"
Chad raised his eyebrows, an amused grin spreading across his face.
"And nothing happened!" Troy finished, noticing Chad's expression. "I told him I had a girlfriend and I left. He then sent me a note saying call him when I was ready, with his number below it."
"Well, he sounds very nice."
"He is." Troy said proudly. "He's… probably forgotten all about me."
"How did you guys even meet?"
"He spoke to me in Starbucks. He's a Thunderbirds fan."
"Does he come and watch?"
"Pretty regularly, yeah."
"Then he's not gonna forget, is he?" Chad grinned.
"I guess not. But JP could get any guy he wants. He's not gonna wait for a screwed up little boy."
"JP?" Chad grinned. "Trendy name."
Troy shrugged, grinned and rolled his eyes, all at the same time.
"His name is Jack. I asked him if I could call him JP, because otherwise it's a bit weird."
"Gotcha."
Troy smiled, and stared out the window for a second or two. He pulled out his phone and started to type a text.
"You couldn't resist, could you?" Chad laughed.
"I'm texting Ryan, actually."
'hey.' He typed. 'how are u? hanging out with chad in his dorm. Things feel like they did before. Awesome.'
Just a minute later, he received a reply.
'great! See, gay's not the end of the world. Call JP. x'
"Agh!" Troy mumbled.
"What?!" Chad threw his arms in the air dramatically.
"Ryan's telling me to call JP."
"That means it's the right thing to do." Chad said softly, in a slight mocking voice.
"Leave me alone."
-------
And two days later, Troy spotted JP in the crowd at a game. Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe it was… well, one thing was for sure, it was JP. He was here, where Troy was.
Troy observed JP. He probably wouldn't be accessible during half-time, not like last time. He was sitting right in the middle of a crowd. He'd have to try and escape pretty quickly after the game, and hope to catch him leaving. But at the same time… not seem needy.
He managed to escape pretty quickly, but he feared not quickly enough. Still dressed in his basketball uniform, he dashed out into the foyer and scanned the crowd.
He forgot, really, that he was still in his uniform and this crowd had just been to see him play. He was constantly being approached, being told he played well, and that they enjoyed the game. Which he appreciated, but he really needed to find JP.
As the foyer started to empty, Troy was getting increasingly annoyed. JP must have dashed out of there so fast…
"Troy?" A familiar voice came from behind.
"Hey!" Troy turned around, and beamed at the man in front of him.
"Great game."
"Thanks." Troy smiled. "Uh… I came to find you. Can we talk?"
"Sure."
Troy led JP back into the arena and the two sat down, courtside.
"I, uh…" Troy nervously rubbed the back of his neck and bit his lip. "Guess you should know. I… came out." Troy told JP, whispering.
"Oh…" JP nodded, with a smile. "Good for you, Troy."
Troy looked at JP, locking eyes, and he beamed.
"Thanks. I was gonna call you, but…" Troy shrugged as JP looked at the floor. "I guess I wasn't ready."
JP looked up, wringing his hands together.
"And… what about now?"
"I… I don't know." Troy sighed. "I don't know how to know if I'm ready."
"How about you go and get changed, and we go for coffee and try and figure it out."
"Sounds like a deal." Troy smiled.