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After nearly half an hour of deranged, degenerate partying, we had reached the tail-end of homecoming, where the wild hedonistic romping began to finally settle down to a calmer whoop whooping. Taking some time to relax by the suspended glow-in-the-dark hallelulahoop hula hoop seats, Daren, Marty, Pesto and I decided to play a wholesome drinking game around the almost toxically alcoholic punch bowl: Never Have I Ever. 'Course I was taking baby sips because 1) it was my first drinking game and 2) I was already waaaaay more plastered than I had any legal right to be.

It started off fun and innocent enough, but before long we started getting really petty and specific with who we targeted in the game...

"Never have I ever been on Student Council," Daren said casually on his turn.

"Well that's clearly only gonna be only me." Pesto said dryly before taking a drink. She then eyed me with a wicked glint in her eye. "Never have I ever had a name that starts with R, and rhymes with 'bobert'"

"Goddammit!" I took a drink and then contemplated between getting revenge on Pesto or continuing my nefarious plan to get Daren more drunk. Who was I kidding, I was gonna get Daren more drunk! "Never have I ever been born as a Rottweiler!"

"The fuck? Racist!" Daren retorted with a comedic snort as he took another drink. "Marty you up."

"Uhh," the Bull said uncertainly, wavering in his decision-making process as per usual. "Never have I ever worn high heels."

"Oh, targeting me now, boo? We'll see how far that gets you," Pesto cooed with an undercurrent of playful spite after she took another drink, rubbing her date's back.

Yeah, let's just let this one slide and pretend that I never wore my Mom's heels when I was six...

Back to Daren, who was maliciously grinning in my direction. "Never have I ever visitedwww.musclemustiliddaddies.com"

"DAREN. I. WILL. FUCK. YOU. UP!" I bellowed in my fake bro voice at Daren's snickering face, puffing my chest up and tromping around angrily like things were about to go DOWN.

Pesto spent a good minute reeling from laughter at Daren's dick move. Then, the Badger turned her attention to Marty as if she was ready to launch seeker missiles straight out of her tits at him to blow him up into the fifteenth dimension. "Never have I ever eaten a wadded-up tissue that somebody else came in."

Daren and I exchanged glances, wondering if we heard that right. Our maws slowly began panning open when we saw Marty's mortified facepalm.

"Fuck me..." he moaned, taking a big gulp of spiked punch.

Shit-eating grins began curling up on the corners of Daren and my mouths, and before long we started snort-laughing uncontrollably to the point that my sides started to hurt.

"lolmygod, I forgot about that! You totally did that at a party a few months ago!" I exclaimed, standing up because my convulsive laughter + general drunkenness was about to knock me off my hula hoop seat and my drink all over my tux.

"HAH, Why the fuck would you ever do that?" Daren asked, keeled forward as he asked.

"I-It was dare at a party!" Marty protested, as if all of this was going to be put on his permanent record. "Specifically hers!" he said pointing to Pesto as if that made laughing at his expense any less hilarious.

"What can I say? It was one crazy Yom Kippur!" she quipped, playfully sticking out her tongue.

"Yom Kippur? I think you're mixing it up with a different party. I ate the cum wad tissue at the party where we vandalized that graveya-rmrmrmrg"

"-Rob you're up," Pesto casually interjected, clamping Marty's muzzle down shut with her paw as if I didn't already know what horrors took place on that stormy fateful night... oh wait, did she say it was my turn? Fuck yeah!

Still, that last 'I never' was going to be hard to beat... But either way, that Rottweiler was going to get his comeuppance: I smirked at my date with a vengeance, "Never have I ever taken Toru out to homecoming just to make me jealo..." I stopped midsentence as an off-kilter feeling of having forgotten something important washed over me.

...Wait.

Daren was playfully meanmugging me as me sentence tapered off. My devilish smile began slipping, and Daren's began dropping in tandem as realization started tickling our taints.

"Oh shit we forgot about Toru!"

"Oh, snap, I forgot about Toru..." we said in unison, me nearly spilling my drink in the process.

"Hey yeah, wasn't he with you early today?" Marty asked frivolously. "And right when I thought he was getting more screen time, too."

Screen time? Oh fuck, I didn't just snatch Daren from Toru, but I've been hogging his screen time too? F u c k

"Shit, Do you think he's gonna be mad? You think he's gonna think I'm a no-good boyfriend stealer?!" I said in a panic-struck tone, reflexively drinking from my cup to calm my nerves (calling it right now: I was an alcoholic in my past life).

Evidently, Daren's nerves were nowhere near as racked as mine, "Nah, Toru's chill. We just gotta explain the..."

"What about me?" suddenly asked a light voice that seemed like it should belong to a living teddy bear.

I nearly did a messy spittake right into Daren's face at the sudden appearance of the Akita, staring at us with those innocent amber eyes of his. Evidently, the din of the party provided him the perfect cover to pop right the fuck up out of nowhere. "Oh, HEY, Toru! Good timing! We were just talking about you!" I spat out with a few uneven chuckles, choking down the sudden nerves.

"Hey dog, you was out there for a while. Everything good?" Daren asked Toru with a pleasant but concerned smile.

"Yeah it uh... kinda took longer than I expected," the Akita sheepishly responded, gently twisting his cheek-fur.

"Scott ain't with you?"

Toru shrugged with a hint of disappointment, his next comment nearly making me forget how much I was dreading the inevitable 'lol soz famsquad, Daren's actually my bae whoops forgot 2 tell U but that's just the T sis' conversation with him. "Scott's not really feeling it after his conversation with Katie so... he went on home."

Oh? Is that hints of an inevitable breakup that's pleasuring my ears? I think it is!

The others put on their 'thoughts and prayers' sympathy frowns while I fake-coughed while suppressing my urge to grin sadistically. "Ah, that sucks. We usually hang out at a diner after big parties like this, so it's weird for him to leave this soon... musta been a rough conversation," I said doing my best attempt to sound empathetic while subconsciously cackling gleefully while doing a very mean-spirited schadenfreude dance.

Fuck yeah, Scott's breaking up with JezebelKatie! No more dealing with that doomed catastrophe of a relationship anymore! I bet Scott's gonna be all desperate and emotionally vulnerable and I could probably even-

Wait, wait no. Nipping that train of thought right there. Nononono, I literally just got back together with Daren. Bad thoughts!

"...But, he'll probably just go through a one week emo-phase like he did in middle school the first time he got dumped, and then be right back to his happy normal self!" I added on, inviting a few smiles with my unsuspected Scott factoid, and an "Oh, isn't 'emo' like the national bird of Austria?" from Marty, followed up by a "you're thinking of 'emu', and it's the national bird of Saudi-Australia, not Austria" from Pesto.

"Hey Rob, wasn't Francesca your date? Why isn't she with you?" Toru suddenly asked.

"Oh, about that..." I trailed off to save time, wondering if there was any way to explain this shit without coming out and not disappointing Daren: there wasn't.

But real talk? I actually... didn't care as much this time around. Maybe it was finally hitting me that getting worked up about coming out to every person at an LGBT event was maybe not the most productive emotional labor.

This probably wouldn't be that hard... I mean, look at this pupper in his tye-dye shirt and vermillion slacks: he was way gayer than I was. This'll be a walk in a park while eating a piece of cake!

"Hey Marty, we should totally go dancing," Pesto suddenly said in an excellent feat of reading the room, pushing Marty toward the dance floor to give us gays some much-appreciated space.

"Oh okay, just let me finish my 'age appropriate' drink first."

As the two loveable side characters exited the perimeter, I looked at Daren with an open frown that spelled out 'hey this might get messy should I go ahead?'. The big Rottie shrugged hopefully at me as if to say 'now's a good a time as any to do it', looking annoyingly assumed as he did it.

But before I get to the big moment, let's just take a moment to commemorate how far I've come in my quest to come out. By giving movie titles to all my previous coming out moments!

Coming out Zero: How dare you read my browsing history! I hate you Mom and Dad!

Coming out zero point five: I didn't even mean to do that: Sexy Rottweiler edition

Coming out 1: the Frenchening

Coming out 2: Electric Moogaloo

And now, get ready for Coming out 3: Tokyo Drift

"Tokyo -I mean- Toru, there's something awkward I need to confess to you," I said in tone similar to the intro to one of those shitty UTube joke videos where the person confessions to something completely benign.

"Okay..." Toru said with a blank expression, clearly having no idea what I was about to say.

Alright... just ease into it. Have fun with it, even... Don't even bother with all the G-word stuttering. Toru's gay so he'll pick up on it quickly enough...

I sighed with resigned eyes that spelled out 'yep we're doing this'. "I... enjoy watching Roopaul's Drag Race."

"I JUST FINISHED BINGING SEASON 4 WE HAVE SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT!" Toru responded like cannonfire, bouncing up and down like a goddamn pogo stick, his exciting shout ripping past the din of the party.

"We absolutely do! But... that's not exactly the point I was trying to make," I replied with a half pleased, half irritated smile. I clapped my paws together with the next idea that struck me. "Maybe a demonstration would work better," I said, making my way to the testicle-cream puff tower at the desert station, Toru and Daren uncertain as what to expect as the followed. Plucking a pair of hairy-looking testicle pastries, I started suggestively licking the balls up and down, bit into it and started lapping the cream up as if it were semen. "Eh? Eh? Get it now?"

Toru continued to stare at me vacantly. "You're trying to tell me that you... have a really bad sweet tooth?"

God this kid is too freaking pure and wholesome, nothing I'm trying to say is getting across!

"I'm trying to say that..." I began with hints of frustration surfacing.

What do I associate Toru with... Sesame street? Alright, that works, it's a pretty gay show...

"I'm kinda like Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. You know? The relationships I have are slightly different from most people?"

More unenlightened blinking on the Akita's part. "...You have a roommate?"

God he's almost as clueless as I am!

"Agh, no that's not what I'm trying to say at all!" I huffed in sudden irritation, contrary to my self-pep talk just a few paragraphs ago.

"Well, I dunno, can't you just tell me straightforward?" Toru asked, awkwardly playing with the brim of his Dizney cap.

"See that's just it, I'm trying to tell you that I'm not straight...forward, ah dammit!" I cursed my own instinctual wasting of a perfect opportunity.

With that brilliant moment of mine, Daren strolled on over to my side, jauntily placing his massive arm around my shoulders. "Need a little help?" he asked with a few suggestive wiggles of his cacao-brown eyebrows.

You smooth bastard...

"Yeah," I relented and closed my eyes shyly when my handsome Rottie pressed his muzzle against mine, cupping my cheek as our lips fleetingly held on to each other. We grinned at each other before rounding over to a dumbstruck Toru.

"Oh!" Toru squeaked out, the final piece of the mental jigsaw puzzle finally slammed into place.

"Yep, and this is the first night I decided to come out and actually tell people, so..." I admitted with a shy sigh.

"S-So you and him," the Akita stuttered excitedly, continuously pointing at us while crossing and uncrossing his index fingers.

"Yup," Daren responded simply.

"And that's why... the homecoming dance date situation..." Toru continued, excitement and realization playing a dancing game in his slack-jaw expression.

"Yuuup," we both responded.

Toru's index fingers started darting around every this way and that in front of him, like he was drawing a freaking mind map in the air. "And what you both were getting so catty about at lunch that one day... and the... and the... that's why... everything... and why Daren was so vague... and why he was so cool with going as just friends with me... and it all..."

Wow, it was cute at first, but that got annoying real fast.

"Yes Toru, whatever you're thinking about is probably very gay, probably involves me, and is probably true," I huffed, neatly wrapping up the summary of the situation. But on the inside, I was beyond relieved because it seemed like this doggo didn't harbor any bad thoughts toward me, nor any romantic ones toward Daren. Thank ye lordie.

With evidently no bad thoughts directed toward me, Toru began mirthfully laughing at the situation. "Are you two boyfriends?" the eager Akita finally asked, tail wagging back and forth in excitement, as that terrible yet amazing Kim Petraz love song started playing next.

...It was a good question.

I slowly directed my gaze toward Daren, who was smirking at Toru's little happy display. "Are we?" I said with a hoping half-smile.

Daren looked at me with his dreamy eyes, a bit of smugness mixed in with the hotness, "Mm, ask me again once you done coming out the rest of your friends. I might just say 'yes'."

It wasn't quite the answer I was hoping for, but it still sent a jolt of warmth through my person. "Fair enough," I agreed with a self-effacing smile before turning back to the Akita. "But yeah, I was only going out with Francesca as a beard... which is kind of the reason why Daren and I got into that bitch-off at lunch a few weeks ago. But I stood up to her and it was great!"

"Ooooooh, yeah that... that explains the next thing I was going to ask," Toru muttered with a droopy smile.

There was still the aftermath of me ditching her for Daren to deal with, but right now I felt as victorious and blessed as could be. "You should have seen her when she wasn't crowned homecoming queen though, it was amazing! She had been driving me crazy for so long, and then when Ellie got nominated instead of her, her dreams got shattered in front of half the school: it's like karma double-fisted her up the butt! She's probably on the first flight back to Paris at this point."

Toru smiled back at me with an open smile half amused, half turned off by my lewd metaphor, "Really? She seems like she's having a great time to me though," he said pointing behind me.

I turned around to look at the dancefloor and my jaw practically hit the floor.

Adorned in a full set of glowstick ring armor, was a tall Husky in the center of the dancefloor, seeming to have an illogically good time. She was doing ballerina twirls as if fairies guided her steps, springing and glissading around a surprisingly not terrified Iguana who courageously danced with her to the best of his ability.

Francesca Buchannan... was yeeting. Yeeting like it was her last day on earth.

"Look at me Jayce, I'm an African princess!" she exclaimed after putting a stack of like ten glowstick rings around her neck as she continued to do multiple twirls in high heels.

"I feel like that might be a bit culturally offens-" Jayce started, only to be interrupted by the Husky making undulating "WOUWOUWOUWOUWOUWOUW" noises as she twirled the multitude of glowstick rings on her arms and neck, like she was opening her mouth right next to a fan.

"-never mind," the Iguana concluded the thought.

"What the actual fuck?" I asked as I watched the dancing shapeshifter that had impersonated the Husky's body because there was no way that was Francesca.

Daren seemed to share my sentiment. "Shit... I ain't even know her that well and I know that be fucked up. That really the same bitch that went Chernobyl on stage?"

"I mean, that's definitely her..." Toru explained and Daren and I watched Francesca in morbid fascination similar to how you might feel when watching 'My 600 pound life'.

All of a fucking sudden Francesca stopped with a loud strut of her right heel. "I'm experiencing hunger at this moment!" she cried out as if somebody would magically Tweet that statement for her. "To the reliquary of bonbons!" she announced as she charged toward the food tables. Jayce followed with an amused, if concerned smile.

Swiping several cookies off the table, the Husky kneeled down as if she were accepting blessed tributary. "Satiate me, peasant delicacies!" the Husky roared before cramming of food into her muzzle in a scandalously undignified manner, Jayce watching with... impressed? eyes. "AHM NOM ULLULULUL, this is so good! It's like the flavor is taking over my soul!" she said before moving on to messily cram testicle-designed creampuffs down her gullet. "Soinge... like... Swan lake! AHAHAHAHAH!"

Who knew that seeing somebody have good time could be so... unsettling.

"Okay, I know we were having a moment here, but I gotta... lemme just talk to Jayce real fast. I can't not get an explanation of this. BRB."

"K. I'll be here... watchin'... I guess," Daren said droopily as he and Toru continued to stare at the terrifyingly glorious train wreck that was Francesca(?).

I wasn't even halfway over to the table when Francesca launched on over with Jayce to the suspended Hula Hoop seats, the crowd in the area slowly thinning out when they realized who was in the area. At least I was getting some extra cardio in...

As I powerwalked over, I got to witness the uneasing scene of a crumb-covered Francesca's high heels falling off after she sprint-jumped onto one of the Hula Hoops' suspension rope, the momentum causing her body to swing around like an unhinged pendulum. "I will reach the highest peak!" the Husky announced before almost immediately slipping and falling to the ground, bursting into a fit of laughter as Jayce began helping her back up to her feet. "It's not about how many times you fall, it's about how many times you get back up!" she preached to the world as if the sensation of her ass slapping the floor brought her to nirvana, then proceeding to ignore Jayce's advice to not scramble back up the rope.

I nodded to myself for no particular reason as I casually inched my way toward my concerned forward-passer Iguana friend, coincidentally at a moment where Francesca was too distracted with her suicide climbing mission. "Hey, Jayce um, what's um, what uh... what?" I articulately asked, pointing at the alternate universe version of Francesca that took over the original's body.

"Oh, Rob, salutations. Francesca's just had a bit too much... something," Jayce said lightly to me before, to my dismay, cupping his muzzle to carry his shout, "Alright Francesca, you've impressed us all with your climbing aptitude. You may descend now."

It was then that Francesca turned to Jayce and I... was noticed.

The husky slid down like... 6 feet of rope fireman style (did her paws not experience pain?), before gracefully jumping off right to my side. And talking to her, while historically had never pleasant, right now it was just... a lot.

"BoNsOiR RoB hOw ArE yOu DOinG?" the Husky asked, hypnotic rainbow whorls consuming her eyes. I got that uncomfortable feeling of closeness to somebody I didn't particularly like, like I was being forced to hug my racist grandmother after one too many drinks.

At that unsettling moment of close proximity, I became very aware of my cotton mouth, and how tightly my sweaty boxers were clinging to my ass. "Hi! ...Francesca. Have you gotten so mad at me that your emotions completely one eightied?" I theorized out loud, hoping she wouldn't... anything right now.

"MAd aT yOu? Oh ForGet tHat, I dOn'T rEmEmbEr anYthinG riGht nOw!" she said, waving her entire arm at me as if it were all gone with the wind.

I blinked rapidly in disbelief. After a good ten seconds of her twirling around and giggle-humming instead of trying to obliterate me, I continued, "So... you're not upset with me for getting in the way of your plans?"

For whatever reason, Francesca began doing sideways-splits as she responded. "wATeR UnDEr The BRidGe! We'Re LiKe sTaN fOr LiFe, HaHa I uSeD SlAnG!" she laughed to my mild unease, before going into a handstand and jumping back onto her hindpaws. Her attention suddenly snapped toward the Hula hoops.

"My ArChNeMeSiS, GrAviTy!" She announced before jumping up, singing "Tell them how I am~ Defying gravity~ I'm flying high~ Defying gravity~ And soon I'll match them in renown~" as she climbed higher and higher. I bet Toru was getting a kick out of Francesca defiling one of his favorite musical songs...

Drunk, and all around baffled, I turned to Jayce who was diligently preparing to catch Francesca if she fell again, while also trying to convince her to safely come down. That's when it hit me that I owed a fucking immense debt to this live-safer of an Iguana. "Dude... I'm so fuckin sorry you got stuck with Francesca. You saved my ass tonight, I can't tell you how much I owe you."

His attention taken away from the daredevil Husky for a moment, Jayce turned to me with a pleasant smile. "Actually I'm... rather enjoying myself. I'm concerned for her safety of course, but I'd be lying to say tonight isn't one of the funnest, more unpredictable night's I've had in a long time."

I smooshed my brows together dubiously at Jayce, like he had just declared he was giving up tabletop RPGS and Quiz bowl in favor of Cars and becoming a pimpdaddy thot-slayer.

His slightly disgruntled expression read 'what, you think I'm a boring person?'

"Dude, still, I can't thank you enough for taking her off my paws. You are a lifesaver. And after I blew up at you and everyone after the game today..." I said with a muddied sigh of regret. "I'm sorry I made fun of the way you speak. That wasn't cool of me."

Jayce shrugged understandingly. "It was all innocuousto me, really. It's not like I haven't heard it before. It's fine," he responded coolly.

I let out a groan. Part of me was relieved, but part of me knew that it was just too easy to end it there. "No, it's not... you didn't speak English when your family moved here and now you speak it better than anyone else at the school and... you don't need me harping on the way you talk. I'm sorry really. You're an amazing guy Jayce, you're really fucking smart, and I guess I'm probably jealous of that, so I'm sorry for trying to put you down for something that makes you special."

Jayce's eyes lit up in a moment of astonishment, and before soon his expression resolved into a warm smile, "Well, in that case I accept your apology, Rob. Thank you," he said earnestly, before a crack of seriousness surfaced on his face. "You might want to apologize to Scott though. He's the one who seemed to take what you said to him really hard."

I did a double take. Wasn't Scott the only one I didn't rake across the coals? Why would he be upset? What did I even say to him? Shit... too drunk to remember...

"Oh... alright," I said noncommittally, suddenly very eager to shift the topic. "I know Chris and Scott aren't here tonight, but... Do you wanna go to Greasy Burger or Bigboi after this and just chill like we always do? I have like SO much to talk to you about."

Namely how I'm a huge proponent of dicks inside my orifices.

Jayce contemplated the notion with a 'hmmm' as he turned back to a very energetic Francesca. "I'd normally love to, but... at this juncture I'm at least ninety nine percent certain that Francesca is under the influence of something illegal. Somebody needs to watch over her and make sure she gets home safe... a safe, hehe, homecoming if you will," Jayce chuckled at his own bad joke before Francesca shifted to singing 'My heart will go on' from Titanic by Deline Cion.

I shrugged with acceptance. "Alright, no problem. Still, thanks a ton dude!" I said as I waved goodbye to my friend, turning over to the dancefloor where Toru and Daren eagerly beckoned me over.

But then I stopped.

"Oh right Jayce, one last thing!" I called back to the Iguana who momentarily diverted his attention away from Francesca's daredevil antics to ask me 'What?'.

A sudden burst of confidence from I don't even know where enabled me to say it without hesitation: "I'm extremely gay."

After a slight delay, Jayce put on his most self-satisfied smirk, undoubtedly recalling his sleek observation last month about who I might have been secretly texting.

"Good for you," he responded like the sassy-ass bitch I knew he secretly was. I stuck my tongue out at him and ran back to boogie with Daren and Toru to the sick party anthem that was playing.

After a night of intense partying, debauchery, intoxication and gay kiki's, Daren, Pesto, Marty, Toru and I decided to unwind at a BigBoi. The one we had in Grovedale had an unfashionable brown interior with tables flanked by red leather booths, and fugly red and white checker floor that probably wouldn't even look good in a fifty's diner. The food could be described as 'yeah, American I guess'. Not usually my first choice, but hey, where else were you going to go at midnight?

(After annoying the shit out of our elderly Possum waitress for chatting nonstop while she was trying to take out orders) Pesto ordered the cheesy fries, while Marty got the unlimited pasta plates and was already working on his fourth plate. Toru was nursing a chocolate peanut butter milkshake while Daren and I split a chocolate cherry one. Daren would also constantly remind me to drink from the big ol' pitcher of water we ordered because apparently dehydration was the biggest factor in hangover intensity (I wasn't looking forward to my first hangover).

With all the wild energy finally dying down, we had a good opportunity to ask Pesto a question that was itching the back of my mind for the night: just how the heck did student council manage such a wild, awesome concept under Francesca's taskmaster oversight and stiff aesthetic?

Between clawfuls of cheesy steak fries, and with Marty's arm draped over her shoulder, Pesto told us how she teamed up with Allie to convince an overworked Ellie to relinquish control of the overly-abundant funding for homecoming preparations. She then used that power to reorder all the food and the change hired staff and entertainment. After that, Pesto convinced that crazy non-conformist girl from art club Angie to overtake art club and have them go doubletime, working on both tonight's designs and Francesca's original design ideas as a smokescreen for whenever she checked on progress (apparently, Angie was the type of person who would gladly spend tens of hours of extra work if it was for 'the gay agenda'). And that was how it all lead to the wildest, craziest fucking night we'd ever seen. Francesca getting high on whatever the fuck she was on came completely out of left field though, or as Pesto explained it, "Francesca acting like a coked-up Peter Pan with tits? Yeah, I had nothing to do with that. That was really fucked up."

"I gotta say, Pesto. That Homecoming was fucking epic," I complimented her after a large gulp of chocolatey milkshake.

"Yeah Pesto, you blew this homecoming out of the water," Toru said in a bubbly voice.

"Was fucking lit," Daren agreed with an approving nod.

Pesto couldn't help but smile at that. "You're welcome... I do my best work when I'm feeling spiteful," the Badger said humorously.

"Thank you so much for doing an LGBT themed homecoming. It really made a lot of people happy..." Toru said with a dreamy twinkle in his eyes as if contemplating all the hopes and dreams of all the gay ladyboys in the world. Not that I was one to judge, but I cocked an eyebrow at Toru as I slurped down my milkshake, wondering what sort of Katy Perry-esque fantasy world that Akita lived in...

At that, Marty's bushy black brows perked up with an idea. "Oh! Toru and Rob, you know what? You should come out to Chris next. He's gay too!" the Bull shared excitedly.

"Chris is gay?!" Toru and I asked in tandem and then looked at each other.

Daren snorted at our confused faced, before being entirely overtaken by a hurricane of laughter. "I was practically making a game out of how long it was going to take Rob to figure it out."

"You knew? Why didn't you tell me," I demanded of Daren with my best pouty face.

The Rottie just shrugged, challengingly gazing back at me. "Well I was going to tell you, but then we got into that fight and I just forgot. Plus, it's pretty fucking obvious."

"Yeah, even I knew that." Marty commented, making me feel real smart.

"Ah man, I can't believe Marty figured it out before I did," I pouted, dramatically slumping forward with ears flipped back. Maybe there was a prize somewhere for 'exceptionally subpar gaydar'...

"Well, yeah, it wasn't really secret.... You've been friends with him for two years, you mean you didn't notice?"

"I mean I suspected, but I guess I just never picked up on it," I shrugged back.

"But he made us watch Mean Girlz that one time."

"It was a funny movie!" I asserted.

Pesto joined in, double teaming me with an annoying detail that of course would seem obvious in retrospect. "He's a real cutie so I've definitely Muzzlebook stalked him before, and he has 'interested in men' checked on his account."

"I never looked into his Muzzlebook that closely," I posited, waving my paw dismissively.

Enter one loud suck of the straw as Daren gave me his famous 'this fucking guy' stare. "He also a member of the LGBT alliance club during summer," the Rottie mentioned dryly.

"I thought he was just an ally," I insisted.

"Oh, I thought of a good one! We had an entire, unironic conversation with him last year about who he thought the hottest guy in school was."

"Yeah but I thought somebody said 'no homo' at some point," I claimed with a nervous smile.

Daren was having none of it. "You fucking delusional, Panther," he said wryly, scooping up a dollop of our milkshake's whip cream on his fingertip and wiping it on my nose.

"I'm working on it!" I laughed as I wiped the cream off my nose and into my mouth. Good stuff.

Daren's cocked eyebrow soon lowered. "Yeah... yeah you is," he finally relented, staring at me proudly and giving me a playful nudge. I giggled like a total fruit.

But speaking of 'working on it' and my whole coming out situation, Scott popped into my head, which made me slump down a bit on the booth. I hope he was doing alright tonight... poor guy. He hated staying at his home, so he was almost always out doing something. So he must have really been going through a lot for him to skip out on homecoming... And evidently I was part of that problem. Shit, I really needed to think of a way to make things right...

Pesto had just finished talking about how fun bounce houses were when high on marijuana, when I decided to speak up on the conclusion of my thoughts. "Hey sorry to ask this, but can everybody here maybe not spread the word about me being gay at school yet? I think I owe it to Scott and Chris to tell them in person that I'm gay, rather than them hearing it from someone else. Especially Scott," I said with a deep sigh.

While the rest of my friends nodded casual while saying 'yeah sure', Daren looked at with in astonishment. "Shit, you're really serious about this. I think I'm really proud of you," he said with an earnest, growing smile.

"Yeah?" I asked hopefully as I stared back into his gemlike hazel eyes, the insides of my ears growing hotter.

"Yeah..." he answered in a breathy voice as our muzzled inched together, meeting each other in a delicate kiss as my paw gently caressed his massive chest.

You could practically see stars twinkling in Toru's eyes as he watched us break apart from the kiss. "Aww, I gotta say, I love a happy ending," he nearly squealed in a high cadence, genuinely happy for me and Daren.

"Yeah, I feel like this arc was really good!" I responded excitedly.

"Totz, I feel like the audience got to meet a lot of colorful characters, with varied personalities and quirks, even if the updates were slow as fuck," Pesto added in insightfully. We all started nodding in agreement at that, well, except for Marty.

Distress surfaced on the Bull's face, who clearly had no idea what the hell we were talking about. "Arc? Updates? What are you guys talking about?"

"I like how all the side plots sort of came together by the end."

"And there was a decent amount of character development too!"

"I'm excited for the epilogue!"

"Is this some sort of new TV show we're talking about?"

"Who was everyone's favorite new character?"

"I feel like Francesca made for a really fun villain!"

"I'm sure Marty would say me if he had any idea what we were talking about."

"Huh?"

"Oh, Alistair was hilarious too!"

"Yeah, he really needs a spin off buddy cop show to star in. *snort* Imagine being a writer for that."

"Why are we talking about Francesca and Alistair now? I'm so confused!"

Haha, oh Marty... you're so slow...

"What about everyone's favorite part?" Daren asked eagerly. "I liked when I got to hint at my tragic backstory," the Rottie stated proudly. "That shit gonna be so fucking tight when we get there... except it's going to take until 2030 at the pace the author's going, goddamn..." the Rottie mumbled saltily.

"Yeah, that part was great," Pesto agreed through a mouthful of fries. "I personally liked when the author abandoned all semblance of logic and canonized black magic and interdimensional beings as part of the universe."

"I think the dick jokes and obscure pop culture references were my favorite part," I said unironically. "Also when I got to suck Daren's dick, that was pretty good." Darren nodded in agreement.

"My favorite part was when... was when..." Toru began before tearing up and sniffling. "was when... awahwhaioooh," The Akita started in all I can describe as a fucking Fibonacci sequence of incomprehensible syllables streaming out of his mouth.

"Toru, why are you crying? You didn't take any of the drugs that Francesca was on, did you?" I asked worriedly.

Toru shook his head, and teary as he was, looked over all of us with a beaming smile. "My favorite part was... when I realized I finally found my gay family... and I'm just so happy! I Love you guys!"

It was like tacking an uppercut right to the heart.

"Aww..." everyone except a confused Marty cooed.

Jumping out of the booth, the Akita suggested with arms open "Group hug?"

Overtaken by the flow of emotion, we all poured out of our booths and piled onto Toru in one big warm, family hug. Expect Marty, who, still not understanding what was going on, awkwardly joined the group hug last with eyes still desperate to make sense of the situation.

"I think this might literally be the first time I've interacted with you, Toru, but know that you are loved, appreciated and valid," Pesto said in a voice that was somehow half-sardonic, half-heartfelt. Toru broke out into a waterfall of tears at that. It was cheesy, but we couldn't help hug him just a bit tighter for the vulnerable display.

With no other customers in at the time, the idle Possum waitress at the register peeled her eyes away from her newspaper to roll them at us, bitterly mumbling "Okay Zoomers..."

A eureka moment must have struck Marty, because suddenly his confused eyes resolved into relaxed satisfaction. Let it be known that the Bull had finally figured out what we were talking about earlier, "Oh, I get it! We were breaking the fourth wall! My favorite part of this arc was... was..."

"C'mon Marty, you better hurry up," I insisted in a high pitched lilt from within the now awkwardly long group hug. "Chapter's almost over."

"Wait, it is?" the Bull asked with sudden alarm. "How can you tell?!"

"You can tell if you look at the Scroll bar." Pesto mentioned, casually pointing to the righthand side of your screen. "See? We're almost to the SoFurry comment section."

"Fudge cakes! Okay, okay, uh..." Marty started in panic, racking his mind for an appropriate answer. Finally, a wave a sweet satisfaction hit his expression, a fully realized answer now radiating in the forefront of his mind.

"I got it! My favorite part was-" The ill-timed Bull started before being interrupted by the end of the chapter.

Homecoming Out: FIN