Chapter 29

Pressure and Confidence Issues: Part 2

Fox's head lowered while Lucy was giving the announcement to everybody that's present, thinking about the one thing that he's definitely afraid of: Pride Month.

This got him really anxious and afraid. He never felt that about it when he was away in space for many years, but now that he's on vacation and is around when the event is coming, he's definitely becoming worried.

On one hand, he's afraid of having to participate in fear of what other people would think if he came out as gay. They'd call him a disgrace and question why he became the leader of his father's team. On the other hand, he's afraid of NOT going as he doesn't want any single women to try and make a move to get him involved in a relationship that he doesn't want. That would make him frustrated; having to deal with people who probably wouldn't let him alone.

He wasn't paying much attention to what some of the others were saying and Lucy noticed it.

"Hey Fox," she said, getting the vulpine to snap out of it. "You seem quiet about the news. Is something wrong?"

"Well, it's just…" he began to say before feeling hesitant to continue. "I'm not really looking forward to Pride Month."

"What do you mean?" Krystal asked.

"I…well, the thing is…I never thought about…um…"

He kept trailing off when he tried to explain himself. Krystal could see how nervous he was, and then a realization clicked.

"You're afraid of what other people would say if you revealed your sexuality to them, aren't you?" she asked immediately. That question shot into his nerves, correcting the vixen's question. Krystal placed her hand on his shoulder. "Look, it's ok. I don't need to read your mind to know how you feel about something, I can just tell by how people react."

"You wouldn't understand," he said defensively.

"Maybe not," she replied. "But I do know that you'll be ok, as long as you've got us by your side."

"She's right, Fox," Peppy said as he turned his head towards his leader. "You don't have to worry. You don't have to go if you don'-"

"That's it right there!" Fox said with a bit of panic. He took a few deep breaths before continuing. "Sorry, it's just…I would like to go, but like Krystal said; I'm afraid of people hating me and questioning why I stood up to take my father's place as leader. And I'm afraid that if I don't go, that I don't reveal my sexuality to everybody, I'll end up getting these fangirls coming after me to try and hook up with me. And it'll be my own fault for not saying anything earlier when they'd find out the truth or if I do say something and they'd go around acting like some stuck-up Karen and claim themselves to be a victim and-."

"FOX!" Falco shouted to snap the vulpine out of his digressing. "You're worrying too much! Plus, 'Karen'?! How many of those videos about those types of people have you watched in your free time?"

Fox was catching his breath and trying to calm his nerves before he could reply. "Sorry. It's just…a lot on my mind. I never felt like this when I was away from Corneria or any other planet with civilizations." He looked back to Falco with an expression of nervous guilt. "A few times I did."

"Dude…" the pheasant said, grumbling under his breath as he placed his hand over his head.

"Karen videos aside," Slippy said to join the conversation. "You shouldn't let your fears of being judged get to you. And no matter what happens, we'll always be there for you."

"Really?" he asked.

"He is right," Wolf said as he came from behind. "If anyone has a problem with you for being you, it's their problem. Not yours. So it's best that you stick up for yourself, and we'll be here for you if you need us."

"That's easy for you guys to say," Fox said with a whine. "You all seemed to be braver and more proud of yourselves than I am…"

"Not easy for us either," Panther said. "Some of us might still feel insecure about that fact, but it'll be okay."

"I don't know…"

Most of the group gave off worried expressions on their faces until Krystal came up with an idea.

"Why don't we all come out and tell each other about our sexualities and how we found out about it?"

"What good would that do, Girl?" Wolf asked with a rude tone.

"Well, for your information, Boy," she retorted back before continuing. "What Fox needs is a confidence booster. And what better way to boost confidence and morale than to show him what it's like to be proud of himself for who he is."

A few of the others, aside from Fox and Krystal, put in a little bit of thought and lightened up. It was actually a good idea. Helping Fox to be confident in his sexuality could work and give him the strength he needs to be okay with himself and help him with his issues.

"That could work," Peppy said before turning back to Fox. "Would it be ok with you if we did?"

Fox was just silent at that moment. He looked around the room and saw that everybody present was looking at him. His teammates, friends, and his former enemies were indicating that they were insisting that they'd help him. Even Leon seemed interested, though that's probably because he might want to have some fun later. He couldn't believe that everyone was willing to give up their privacy just for him. He didn't want to pry anyone with his dilemma, but the way they were looking at him with concern and wanting to help him made him feel that safety again like he felt before with Wolf.

After what felt like a while, he finally gave in and nodded to agreement. Everybody, except Leon, smiled and Falco led everyone to the dining table for "the talk".

…

In the dining area, everyone was at the table, as there wasn't enough room for everyone to actually sit at the table Fox, Falco and Peppy grabbed a few extra chairs for Sabre, Dash, Lucy, Leon, and Panther as Wolf, Fox, Falco, Peppy, Slippy, and Krystal were already in the chairs at the table, was getting prepared to tell their coming out stories in hopes to give Fox his confidence boost.

Fox was the first to tell about how he found out he was gay and his breakup with Fara, to everyone, minus Peppy, Slippy, Falco, Krystal, and Wolf as they already knew his secret.

"That must've been hard," said Dash. "And around the time your Dad was killed.

"Such a sad tale," Panther said with a sorrowful attitude. "Seems that there was a reason as to why you and Miss Fara have some kind of baggage with each other."

"Yeah, I still haven't told her the whole story," he said in regret. "I didn't want to get her father involved in some way. That would've ruined my chances of avenging my father."

"That probably wasn't an honest thing to do, but you had to do what you had to do I guess," Leon said with an unsatisfied look on his face.

"Ok," Fox said. "Who wants to go next?"

"I will," said Falco, getting everyone's attention. "Do most of you guys remember how I was the biggest womanizer in high school and the academy, dating every hot chick there was in sight?"

"How could we?" Fox, Slippy, and Lucy said with annoyed expressions. Peppy sat there unimpressed while everyone else felt disturbed.

"Well, one day back at the academy…" he began to explain as a flashback came up.

Flashback

Back in his days at the Corneria Flight Academy, Falco was in the hallway with his friend Katt. He was quite upset at the time and kept complaining as he wasn't invited to a party that was going to be hosted by one of the rich guys at the academy. The party would only be this weekend and will be taking place in the nearest neighborhood, and most of the students in the academy were invited to go there.

His friends got invited too, however they refused to go unless Falco came too. They said 'it's either all of us, or none of us!'. It wouldn't be worth going to that party unless they all could go, and although Falco told them to go without him they still didn't accept. Falco couldn't admit it, in public at least, but he's very grateful to have friends like Fox, Slippy, Bill, and Lucy.

Katt, who was listening to him about his complaints about the whole thing, just got an idea.A mischievous and womanizing karma-like idea. She told him that she could pull a few strings to get him an invitation to the party, however, in exchange, he would have to do a challenge she'll propose to him. Falco was a bit suspicious about the challenge, but since he really wanted to go to the party and time was running short he accepted.

Disappointment hit Falco really hard like a bullet train when Katt told him that she will only get an invite for him if he agreed to have a make-out session with another male. Falco adamantly refused to accept the challenge as he has a reputation to uphold and he didn't want there to be rumors about him being gay as he's only interested in girls, but Katt told him that if he didn't accept then she couldn't get him the invitation like she said she would.

After some thought, Falco reluctantly agreed. But on one condition; Katt has to make sure that no one would ever find out about it. EVER. To which she agreed.

...

That same night, at the dormitory building, Falco was in his bedroom waiting for the guy that Katt knew who was supposed to come over. At that time, all his friends were either out for a private evening or hanging out in their own rooms as well, so there wasn't any danger of them finding out what he was going to do.

After waiting for what felt like minutes, someone knocked on the door, which was Falco's cue to get up from his chair and open it. Upon opening it, he was being greeted by a red and brown himbo doberman. He introduced himself as 'Rhino' and Falco let him in.

The pheasant closed the door behind him, doing it quickly in case nobody wouldn't see the two of them in there just in case someone was coming by. Rhino assured him that nobody was following him on his way there, which helped the pheasant to calm down for a little bit.

Rhino grabbed his bag and took out what looked like a video camera. He then explained to Falco that Katt wanted the kiss to be recorded. The bird became shocked and upset as to why his friend would want this, as the doberman continued to explain that she would have her doubts that you actually succeeded at the challenge and lied to her in case you didn't. So, she wants proof if she's going to believe him.

Falco was beginning to regret accepting this challenge, but he had no choice as it seemed like he's gone too far to turn back now.

Rhino turned on the camera and adjusted it to point at the bed where they were going to do their make-out session. As soon as the camera was on, they both proceeded to the bed and moved close to each other. Falco hesitantly placed his beak towards the dog's mouth and made a few small pecks before going in for a bit of a deeper kiss. At first, the kiss felt a bit forced on Falco's behalf, as he was notorious for doing it for something he wanted, but after a few minutes between his beak and Rhino's mouth kissing, Falco was actually beginning to like this. He couldn't really explain as to why he was feeling good with this now, but the situation wasn't feeling so unpleasant like he was feeling before he started kissing the dog.

Without realizing it, Falco was even stroking Rhino's chest and arms, fondling the muscular body that a himbo worked so hard to build up. Rhino then returned the gesture of placing his hands behind Falco's head to make a deeper kiss, making the pheasant feel hungry for more.

After what felt like an eternity or so, the two finally parted ways and Rhino gave Falco one last kiss on the cheek before congratulating him for liking dudes. Falco was taken aback for the comment stating that he liked girls, however Rhino said that his growing 'tent' says so otherwise. When the falcon asked what 'tent' he was talking about, the dog pointed in-between his legs and what Falco saw made him dumbfounded. Sticking from the inside of his pants was his penis, growing long and hard from the kissing that the two just did for the challenge.

Rhino then got up from the bed, turned the camera off, took out the recording and gave it to Falco to give to Katt. Rhino gave him a bit of advice before saying goodbye and leaving the room; "When life kisses you, you kiss it back and kiss back HARD." As soon as the himbo left, Falco looked down at the video tape and thought hard about what was going on with him tonight.

'Do I really like guys?', he asked himself in his head. 'I'm usually into girls, but…what's happening to me?'

...

The next day, Falco gave the tape to Katt and when she saw that he had definite proof that he completed the challenge, she finally pulled an invitation from her pocket and gave it to him. As she handed it over to him, she asked him if he surely wanted more than just the invitation, hinting that he might have wanted to kiss other boys at that party.

Falco bristled at Katt's implication, but she could be right. Although he didn't say so to her, this experience made him realize that he didn't like just girls. He likes both girls and boys at the same time.

...

When the day of the party arrived, Falco arrived with his friends Fox, Slippy, Bill, and Lucy, who, after seeing that Falco got an invite, agreed to attend. Fara Phoenix was with them too, as she and Fox were dating and she was invited as well, though he could somehow see that there was a little tension between the lovers but didn't get much importance.

Although everybody asked him how he got an invite, he refused to answer, saying that he's got a friend on the inside. So as of this moment, what Katt made him go through was being kept secret and he won't tell anyone.

Falco spotted Katt and Rhino at the party. When he saw Rhino holding someone else in his arms, the pheasant assumed that he was the doberman's lover or something. He discreetly glanced at the three of them as they were having a good time at the party, as his companions couldn't make out who he was staring at.

End of flashback

"And that's how I found out I was bisexual," Falco said, finishing his story.

Everybody present was really shocked when they heard that story. Falco never showed signs of him liking boys as well as girls, though Wolf seemed suspicious of that for the past few days, and his friends were the most shocked out of hearing about what he had to go through to get that invite as he always went for girls back then. Even Leon was surprised to hear what had happened and he doesn't really like Falco.

"Well, what are your thoughts?" Falco asked.

"I think you must've had a good time when you were kissing Rhino~," said Fox with a teasing tone in his voice.

Many of the others began to chuckle by that remark while Falco just gave an unsatisfied look.

"Very funny," he said sarcastically. "Though, to be honest, looking back, I think I did have a good time. Though, it was kind of a big impact on my life, even if it was due to a dare."

"Dare or not," Wolf said, "You obviously seemed to have enjoyed it."

"Yeah. Rhino and his boyfriend must be having a good life together since the last time we saw them." Falco felt good to get that off of his chest, even though he promised himself that he wouldn't tell anyone a long time ago. "Anyway, who wants to go next?"

"I'd like to!" Slippy said, raising his hand.

"By all means…"