Then Came the Darkness
~A Romantic Comedy~

Anthony didn't know what he was going to say. His parents, Tom and Sue, were quite liberal, but this. not even Roger, his best friend, knew. 'Well,' thought Anthony, 'they're waiting for me to say something.' The clock in the hallway seemed to mock him with its constant tick-tock, tick- tock. His body trembled, palms growing slick with sweat as he opened his mouth.

"Mom, Dad? Um... I know I seem really normal and everything, and I really hope you don't hate me or anything, cause that'd really suck, and I don't know how to tell you this but here goes: I'm gay." Immediately following the rushed coming-out, he cowered, expecting a violent reaction, but when he peeked up at his parents, both were sitting placidly on the yellow striped sofa with loving smiles on their faces.

"Of course, honey, we figured it out long ago," said his mother. His father patted him on the back.

"It's about time you came out with it, Tony-boy... No pun intended, of course."

Anthony could have died on the spot with the shock of their approval. He was mystified as to how his parents could have possibly known before he told them. Then again, having a psychologist and a psychotherapist for parents might have been conducive to their frighteningly accurate deduction.

"Well, uh, thanks for being so understanding. Just... well, how did you know?" Anthony asked, brows knitted in confusion.

"You were staring at Roger's brother's rear end, love, that's how. It's no surprise. We're just glad you told us on your own." Sue said with an amused little smirk. Tom grinned, then grew serious.

"Now, Anthony, I think it's time we had a little talk."

Anthony groaned. "Aw, Dad!"

The next day, Roger came bounding up to Anthony in the hallway before class. Roger was a grade higher than Anthony, making Roger a junior, and quite popular as quarterback of the varsity football team. Anthony was deathly afraid of coming out to Roger, and for rather good reason.

"Dude, Anthony, listen to this, man. Ok, last night, my little bro, you know, Cody? You have science with him, right? Anyway, he asked to talk to Dad, like, alone, right? So I left, but I was listening, and oh, dude, I couldn't believe it, man. Get this, it's so sick- Cody's a fag! I can't believe I've been living in the same house with him, ugh!" Roger pulled a disgusted face. Anthony felt as if he might have cried if he weren't so furious.

"You know Roger, that doesn't change who he is. He's still your brother. But I guess since I'm also gay, you're too good to be my friend, right? Screw you." And with that, the younger teen stormed off.

Anthony couldn't bear to go to class so upset. It would be the ultimate embarrassment to be seen crying in class. It wasn't like he was some mincy queen, or anything. He didn't wear tacky designer clothes, talk with a lisp, or gesture with a limp wrist. He didn't use words like 'fabulous' unless quoting someone, and would never call someone 'girlfriend' in a conversation. Not that 'mincy queens' were bad- Anthony thought them rather cute; just to make the point that in fact, Anthony was a pretty normal guy. He was the kind you see walking to your sixth period class, laughing with the guys and teasing the girls. Converse shoes, blue jeans, and a t-shirt for some band or another were daily wear. His shaggy brown hair failed to attract attention. A bit on the tall side, Anthony was by all appearances your standard, though slightly too skinny, Italian boy.

He arrived at his spot, a tall tree behind the school. It had thick branches curved just as though they were meant for sitting, and loads of foliage towards the bottom hid anyone sitting up there from the casual observer. In fact, the man who checked the grounds for truant students never checked the tree because its excellent coverage of seated folks led him to the conclusion that no one ever went there. There was a worn-away spot on the limb where Anthony always sat when he had some serious thinking to do.

Finally, Anthony could cry. He had always kept a tight reign on such impulses he considered weak, and kept what was often an overly happy face, but the clash between himself and Roger had been too much to hold inside. Now, with hiccupping sobs and hot tears on his cheeks, Anthony wished nothing more than for some strong boy to come and wrap his arms around him. 'God, I sound like a girl. Next thing I know, I'll be pining after some hero of a romance novel and crying at soap operas.' He thought.

Harshly wiping at the salty wet tracks down his face, Anthony wished he had never told anyone that he was gay. He wished he were just some straight guy, dating a cute blonde from his homeroom, not worrying about whether or not his friends would hate him, or if he would get jumped walking home from school. Of course, Anthony realized that no one would bash him if no one knew he was gay, but he was a firm believer in honesty as the best policy. Omitting certain truths counted as lying in Anthony's eyes, so staying in the closet would just not do. On occasions, he had been what he liked to call 'creatively honest' but it really had been for the best, such as when Candy, a girl in his art class, had asked him if her stiletto faux Converse shoes looked good. Anthony had told her that they were certainly interesting, but that she shouldn't wear them because she might fall. What he didn't say was that the shoes looked like crap, and the putrid green color was really making him a bit queasy.

Finally, a burst of fresh golden optimism hit the downcast boy like a gust of springtime wind. He realized what had started the conflict with Roger- Cody was gay. And Cody, well, Cody was the one who had made Anthony realize he was gay. That's right: Anthony's crush, his one love, the apple of his eye, was Roger's younger brother. Cody was a sophomore as well, but Anthony hadn't talked to him much until Roger invited him to a party at their house. When Anthony had first seen the tiny blonde boy, it seemed that time had stopped. At the time, he'd blamed that funny feeling in his tummy on indigestion, but later, much later, he realized the truth. In the beginning, Anthony was a little resentful towards Cody. He felt that if it weren't for Cody, he'd still be that plain old straight guy, but he later realized that with or without Cody, he would still be gay.

Now that this new information about Cody had come to light, Anthony felt much better. There was still some hope; he wouldn't be moping for the rest of his high school career over a case of unrequited love. There was still the question of whether or not Cody would return his feelings, but it was worth a chance. After all, Cody would be willing to at least try a relationship, right? Anthony might even be considered a bit of a prize. If truth be told, he had earned compliments for his looks on several occasions. So, he'd have to at least ask Cody out. If he never tried, he could blame no one but himself for being lonely. Valentine's day that year was on a Saturday, so if Anthony asked Cody out that evening, the two could go out all of the next day with Cupid on their side.

School was over. Anthony had dozed off in the tree after having decided to ask Cody out. The tears had still been damp on his cheeks when he had drifted off, but a smile rested on his cherub's mouth. Now the late evening, twilight clouds poured rain into the blue-tinted world, and Anthony slid out of the tree, shirt already translucent with the wet. As he walked, the puddles soaked into his jeans, making them heavier and heavier with every passing moment, yet he couldn't have felt lighter, even as his sopping hair dripped into his salt-swollen eyes and beads of rainwater ran down his rapidly numbing nose.

The rain seemed to Anthony as nothing more than a mist of floating bubbles, carrying him effortlessly to his home. Even the numbness seeping into his body was a pleasant tingling; nothing could be bad, not the sloshing water and mud in his shoes nor the leaves down the back of his shirt. As long as he knew Cody would be around, nothing bothered him. Now Anthony's feet were completely numb. A thin layer of ice coated the bottoms of his pant legs. Somewhere along the line, he had stopped moving, and now he lay against a hill. It had been turned into a shallow run of mud by the rain, with clumps of slicked-down grass sticking out here and there. A happy smile spread across Anthony's face, and the yellow glow-beam of love passed through his vision, illuminating raindrops before Cody finally appeared in front of him. Then came the darkness.

"Anthony..." Anthony stirred. What was this fire that consumed him? "Anthony, please wake up." The voice, though soft, shot through his head like a self-intended bullet. He knew this voice. It made his stomach twist into knots, his head clear and once again become cluttered with thoughts of blue city lights and red neon fog. The voice made his heart feel like it would implode at the same time as it fluttered up his throat. It was that very voice...

"Anthony, it's me, Cody. You know, if you don't wake up I'm gonna throw you back out in the rain to die."

Anthony was jolted back to consciousness to find the wide-eyed face of his one love peering at him, half-concerned and half-startled.

"Oh, Cody! I was in the rain and I was freezing but I was so happy that it was all so lovely because I was in the tree because Roger hates me because we had a fight because he hates you and I found out that I love you so much and CRAP!" Anthony slapped a hand over his mouth. "I uh. I wasn't going to tell you that. But I was going to ask you out anyway, so... You know."

Cody gave Anthony a strange look. "Anthony, I don't know why you want to go out with me. I'm straight."

"Yeah, straight as a candy cane on the sun! I know because Roger told me this morning that he heard you tell your dad that you're gay, and then I yelled at Roger because he thought it was gross and I'm gay too -so there. And I love you." Anthony clung to Cody's fluffy hooded sweatshirt determinedly. "And I'm not letting go until you admit that you're gay and agree to go out with me on Saturday because I won't stop being an obsessive freak until you do."

"A candy cane would burn before it reached the sun. And I would greatly enjoy a Valentine's date with you, Anthony. I'll pick you up at noon." Cody calmly said as he peeled Anthony from his arm. "You have to go home now, though. I'll give you a ride in my mom's minivan, but only because you'd freeze again if I didn't."

When Anthony fell into bed that night, he couldn't believe his evening. First he nearly died of hypothermia, then his most darling Cody agreed to take him out on a date on Saturday! There was no way anything could have turned out better, according to Anthony's mind. Anthony's mind may not have been entirely reliable at the time, though- it was, at the moment, filled with sugary pink fluff and heart-shaped doilies.

Saturday morning, a gargantuan yawn nearly dislocated Anthony's jaw. He rolled out of bed and peered at his clock, which read 11:45 in blinking green numerals. Anthony yawned once more, rolling back into bed and pulling the covers up before a sledgehammer reading DATE WITH CODY slammed into his brain and swung him into the closet where he began to frantically pull out all his clothes in a frenzy to wear just the right thing. Finally deciding on a pair of very tight, very shiny black trousers and an even tighter pink- and-yellow striped shirt, Anthony dashed into the bathroom for a quick clean-up. The doorbell rang just as he was gargling for the third time. He nearly choked on the Listerine as he tried to yell to the person to wait for a moment with the minty liquid still in his mouth. Spitting out the green foam and leaping down the stair in two bounds, Anthony flung open the door and attached himself to Cody. Only he wasn't Cody. He was the nice young Jehovah's Witness who came around every couple months or so.

"GAAH!" Anthony quickly detached himself, swung the door shut in the man's face, and dashed back up the stairs, locking himself in the bathroom. Once sure the caller was gone, he set about brushing his teeth for the fourth time. After a quick brush of clear mascara he'd swiped from his mom, Anthony figured he was ready to go. He glanced at the bathroom's giant roman-numeral analogue clock and noticed that it read 7:30. 7:30?! Anthony raced back into his bedroom and saw the clock blinking up at him with the time of 12:13 am. Finally, he checked his cell phone, which always had the accurate time- Yes, 7:30 in the morning it indeed was. The blinking of the clock should have alerted Anthony to its momentary loss of power, resulting in loss of set time. He groaned.

Anthony had decided to find a new outfit and take a shower after eating breakfast, since he had so much time on his hands. Going back to sleep would do no good- he was far too excited about his date to even sit still. Instead, he grabbed a sewing kit and some old clothes to make his outfit for the date. He took a paisley sleeve from a ragged shirt his father had owned in the seventies and attached it to a vivid lime green t-shirt reading 'FEAR THE ÜBER-PEA!' across the front. The other sleeve, including most of the shoulder area, was replaced with hot pink fishnet which had a fingerless black glove stuck at the bottom. Anthony decided to tie his oldest, most ragged jeans shut at the bottom, then fill them with rocks and bang them on the ground before running them through the wash for natural- looking rips that he could later safety pin. Not that the safety pins would hold the gaps closed- they were just for effect.

Just as the doorbell rang, Anthony had smeared some Carmex on his mouth to enhance his lovely lips. This time, it really was Cody, who stood on the doorstep holding a bouquet of red roses and a tiny four-piece box of chocolates. Anthony stood gaping at Cody's tight orange trousers and frayed pinstriped button-up shirt for just a moment before grinning widely and stepping out into the cool, crisp day. Everything was good.

Effervescent joy and flashes of brilliant white love-lights filled the day. Falling was the evening curtain studded with angel-diamonds, and the lonely buzzing radiance of the city streaked past the eyes of two lovers. When silence had come into their space, it had been pushed away time and time again, but now it stood like a crystal window, offering each a clear view into the other. Anthony and Cody, gazing over the cream and lace of a dinner table, now knew each other as well as their own selves, as though they had never been apart and neither had a fired electron that the other did not. One would speak not for gaining information, but for the sound of his love's voice.

Suddenly, a large penguin smashed into the crystal window, shattering it into thousands of fragments. The fragments could be pieced back together, but for now it was lost. The penguin looked at each boy, and with a snooty accent, requested their orders.

"Um... I'd like the, um... that one." Anthony pointed to a dish he couldn't pronounce. The waiter pronounced the name in that horrid condescending tone of his before scribbling it down and turning to Cody, who pronounced his even more complex choice with near-perfect accent and sent the waiter off with a commanding sweep of the hand. The blonde boy's small stature hid his assertive character until he began to speak. Where Cody spoke and moved as necessary and only with great poise and confidence, Anthony was a chattering bumblebee, full of movement and emotion and never mind what people think as long feeling never stops. Maybe in other circumstances the two would have been at each other's throat's, but the careful balancing act that made up Cody and the precarious whirl that was Anthony created a sort of tilted perfection, like the illusion of a ball rolling up a slope set downhill.

When the moon's sparkle finally went in search of another young couple's eyes, Anthony and Cody rested at Anthony's house. They watched a sappy romance movie and had a popcorn fight. Upstairs, in Anthony's room, they listened to the radio and when 'No Sleep 'til Brooklyn' by the Beastie Boys came on, they took to jumping on the bed and playing air guitar. It faded out and one jump, two jumps later, Anthony lost his balance and fell down to the mattress, bringing Cody down with him. It was one in the morning. Staring into Cody's eyes, Anthony could hardly believe his day. No one could have possibly felt this emotion before, for if they had, surely they would have spread this joy into the entire world. He drew a hand down the side Cody's face.

"Cody, do you love me?" asked Anthony. Cody gave Anthony a /look./

"I didn't stay out this late for the conversation, I'll tell you that." He replied in a lovingly sharp tone.

"I love you too." Murmured Anthony. Then came the darkness.

- e n d .