I think I have one more chapter after this. So read on, dearies! I luff you all. x3

Jake woke to silence, except for a breeze shuffling papers across his room. He still felt strange, like he’d slept through a day. His mother would have woken him if that were the case, so he knew it wasn’t that. He sat up and looked around, taking in the aftermath. There was a lot of mess, but damage wasn’t catastrophic. All the things he’d wanted especially to save were unharmed. He hadn’t even thought about the stash of Lee’s things under his bed, but they were undisturbed. There was a little debris, but other than that, he could clean up and his room would at least look neat. He groaned, regretting the rampage already. He flopped back onto his bead, staring at the ceiling. All in all, he was still only friends with Lee. There wasn’t anything else there. Right? That dream had to be wrong, it was wrong. He didn’t like Lee, and Lee had promised to keep his affection as a non-factor. And Jake had to trust him, because if he couldn’t trust his best friend, then he was completely fucked.

“Jake?” Someone was in his house. Someone who knew him. It was maybe one of five people who knew where the key was. Whoever it was, they were in his living room, and coming closer “Jake, are you here, man?”

“Kyle?” Jake got up, but Kyle was in his room before he could herd him away.

“Dude, what the hell happened in here? It looks like a tornado hit.”

“You haven’t talked to Lee recently, have you?” Jake slumped over at the thought of having to explain everything that had happened to Kyle. It would be hard explaining exactly how and why things had occurred.

“Actually, I have. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. He loves you, Jake. Like hardcore, throw himself in front of a bullet for you, donate his organs to have you live, kill himself if you died kind of love.”

“Yeah, I know, I would do that for him too. He’s my best friend, but I don’t love him, Kyle. I’m not gay, and I won’t ever be gay, and I definitely don’t want to be ‘that guy’!”

“What guy? You’re already a guy.”

“No, ‘that guy’. You know, the one who starts dating his best friend, and when they break up, he keeps clinging to their relationship like a masochistic stalker. Lee’s my only friend, Kyle. I don’t want to date my only friend. If we fight, if we break up, then I’m left out in the cold, with no friends. He’s got all his buddies on the football team he can re-prove his manly non-gayness to. I don’t have anyone but him.”

“I know that. But you have to cut him a little slack too. I know that you don’t want to be that guy, he doesn’t either. I don’t want either of you to be that guy. But I think you’re giving him no chance because you’re acting like a homophobe, and I think he’s acting like a retard for not telling you before now. Also, he’s hitting on his best friend, which is always a bad idea.”

“No kidding.”

“But I think you should at least spend more time together. And I told him that too.”

“Like go out on dates.”

“No, like go places as friends. Like the city, or the movies. Or you could just hang out at each other’s houses.”

“Are you trying to set me up with him for real? I don’t want to date Lee. I want everything to go back to how it was.”

“You mean you want to be blissfully ignorant and oblivious, while he cries about you when you’re not looking?”

“How long have you known about this?”

“A while. He told pretty much everyone but you because he was afraid you’d freak out and not be friends with him at all. He hoped it would go away, but it didn’t. So he’s come clean to 

me about all the stuff he’s been holding back about you, and I don’t want to turn into counselor matchmaker friend that people only come to with relationship issues. I want you two to either get along nicely or crash and burn, but get it over with so I can stop being your middleman.”

“I’m not asking you to do shit about this, Kyle. Personally, I just want to be chill about this, without all the drama and crazy shit going on.”

“Well, Lee doesn’t have the same opinion, and so he’s brought the drama to you. How about that? You just have to stop whining about it, get it over with, and deal with the situation you’re in.”

“But what if I don’t feel like it? Maybe I like it like this.”

“Then you are one sick son of a bitch. If you like letting Lee fuck with his own head, then I don’t know if I want to talk to you about this.”

“I seriously just want him to be happy, but I don’t want him humping me, man. I’m not wired that way.”

“Well, judging by the fight you’re putting up against Lee, I can already tell.” Jake noticed that Kyle wasn’t looking at him. He wondered why, as his older friend kept talking, but he couldn’t concentrate. He was thinking about Lee, about Kyle, and about himself.

“Do I seriously act like I like Lee that much?” Kyle stopped in the middle of what he’d been saying about Jake being stubborn.

“What?”

“Why does he like me like that? I don’t really act different than other people do with him. I act like me, and I don’t do anything like super long hugs or put my head on his shoulder or anything.”

“Well, even if you start punching him in the face, I think he’d still love you.” Jake scuffed his foot back and forth on the carpet, thinking “I’m going home, okay? I don’t want Lee messing around in my room or something.”

“He’s over at your place? What for?”

“He came over to talk to me about you. I left him there so I could get this over with. Now I’m going back home so I can make sure he didn’t freak out or erase my game data or anything.”

“Oh.” Jake sat on the edge of his bed as Kyle headed for the door “Wait, I’m coming with you.” Kyle stopped as Jake shoved on his shoes, the pair of sneakers that hadn’t broken the light bulb. They left, Kyle hiding the key in its usual place, before they went straight to Kyle’s house.

Thank you all soooo much for reading. I really appreciate it. :D