Keeping Secrets
Eli had his face in his locker,
incoherently growling. He wasn't sure what they had tipped through
the slots at the top, but it didn't smell pretty. Smelled like rancid
meat. He lit a spark on his finger, lighting up the dark recesses of
his locker with red light. He jumped a little as he felt something
grab his shoulder. There was a crash as Eli's forehead smashed into
the top of his locker. "Jesus, that hurt. What's up, Artur?" "Just wondering if you needed a hand
today," said the Flareon. "You normally take your portfolio home
on Fridays, so I thought I'd stop by. You feeling OK?"Artur
gestured towards the smelly locker Eli nodded, massaging his scalp a
little. "Did you see the outside?"Artur leaned against the neighboring
lockers, frowning. "Why don't you go talk to someone about this?
This is serious hate they're spewing at you." Eli rolled his eyes. "You think I
haven't done that already. They cough out some bullshit that I don't
have enough evidence to point a finger and they don''t care enough to
look themselves. It's just some paint, really." He shut his locker
with a clatter. "Pink triangles aren't just paint,
dude. What if they had painted a swastika on an ice type's locker?
The admins would do something about that." "You're right," said Eli, his mouth
a black slash around his muzzle. "But I'm not an ice type. I'm just
some faggot to them.""Don't call yourself that," said
Artur, a hand on Eli's shoulder. "It's what I am, Artur," growled
Eli. "It's not like they don;t know who's doing it. Victor and his
cronies are just getting a free pass because they're winning the
championships.""You think that's why they aren't
doing anything?""Yes," said Eli, fishing something
out of his backpack. "All the alumni coming back to buy game
tickets is making the school money. They tripled the price of tickets
and no one noticed anything. But I don't want to talk about it."Artur frowned, crossing his arms.
"That's beyond sketchy." "Hold this, will you," asked Eli,
holding up an umbrella. "I can use my jacket to protect my
paintings if I put you on umbrella duty.""Sure," shrugged Artur. "It's not
like I got much to carry myself." "Do you ever do homework, man? How do
you keep your A's?""You keep forgetting I've got a study
hall," chuckled Artur. "And since none of my friends share a
lunch hour with me I just work there too. Most of my classes don't
require that much homework. Calc isn't that hard if you just buckle
down and get it done." "If that's the case you can help me
tonight," smiled Eli, punching Artur in the arm. "All that
stuff's Greek to me." "Well of course it's Greek," smiled
Artur. "High level math often uses Greek letters." "Smart ass," chuckled Eli, punching
the other arm. "What's your weekend looking like? Think you've got
time for Star Wars Sunday?""Yeah," said Artur releasing the
umbrella with a click. "How are your paintings?" "Dry, tight, and wrapped in leather,"
said Eli. " Just how I like my guys."Artur snorted into his water bottle.
"TMI, man. Your house?" "Sure. Armored Core?" "Always." The walk home was short, and, thanks to
Artur, dry. "What do you think next quarter's play is?" asked
Artur. "Mr Blazek mentioned something about
Oscar Wilde," said Eli, fiddling with the house key. "Mom must be
on errands or something. C'mon, I've got a build I've been wanting to
break in.""Your parents don't mind me coming in
while they're gone?" Said Artur, slowly crossing the threshold. "It's fine," said Eli, meandering
to the kitchen. "They don't care if it's only for a few hours.
Elly's got practice today too, so it's just us for a bit.""Fine by me," shrugged Artur. "I
doubt your sister's too into mechas anyway." "Spot on," chuckled Eli. "You
want something to drink?" "Coke if you've got it."Eli produced two cans from the fridge.
"Upstairs, or should I move the console?""Your room's fine," said Artur.
They trumped up the stairs, Eli leaving his jacket on the railing.
"Before we get started, Eli, can we, uh, chat for a bit?""Sure," said Eli, cracking his coke
open. "What's on your mind."Artur slowly sat down on Eli's bed,
absently twirling his fluffed up tail. "Can you keep a secret?" Eli raised an eyebrow. "Yes. I'll
always be a safe person to talk to, Artur. What's up?"There was a pause. "Well... this
might be a bit out of the blue, but... Well, lately I've really
admired how well you've taken all the hate lately. Ever since you
came out, you haven't really let anything get to you." "Thanks, I guess," said Eli,
blushing a bit. "It's just stupid bullying. They'd have to try
harder if they want to get to me." "That's what I mean," said Artur,
picking at his wrist tufts now. "You're just taking it so
stoically... And I sort of started to realize watching you... well...
I like guys too." Eli pulled up his office chair,
bringing his legs up so that his muzzle rested on his knees. "Well,
you know that's fine by me. You can tell me to shut up if you want,
but can you tell me more about your thought process?""You're thinking about my exes,
right," said Artur with a grin. "Yeah, I've dated three girls.
And yeah I liked all of them. Hell, I've laid two of them. But I
always noticed guys too. I just sorta told myself that I could ignore
guys and be OK. But seeing how brave you were when you came out... I
figured I could tell you of all people. There's not too much else
beyond that." Eli shrugged. "Well, you know it's no
big deal for me. Sounds like you're into both males and females, and
that's fine. Like who you like, I don't care." Artur's blush was visible even through
his -red-orange fur. "Would you care if I told you I've kinda been
crushing on you lately?" Eli wobbled in his chair. "Really?
Me? " "Sorry I mentioned it," mumbled
Artur. "I understand if you wanna just stay friends." "No, no," said Eli, waving his
hands. "I'm just, well, surprised. I never thought you'd like me.
Cause I kinda like you too. But I gave up on you cause I thought you
were into girls. Well, exclusively into girls, I mean." Artur looked up, his eyes brighter.
"So, uh... In that case, you wanna go out to lunch tomorrow?" "Are you asking me on a date,"
asked Eli, his eyebrows raised. "Do you wanna call it that?""Yes. I'd like to call it that,"
said Eli, smiling now. He leapt from his chair to the bed. Sitting on
the heels of his paws, he picked up a controller. "Still wanna
play?" "Sure. Show me the build you were
bragging about," grinned Artur, pressing the center X. "Then you're about to get fisted,"
smiled Eli, selecting a blue and silver biped mech, hiding the weapon
selection from Artur. Artur ribbed Eli with a fluffy elbow.
"I'd make a gay joke after that remark, butt fuck it." He
selected his favorite mech, the Crimson Zweihandler. "Parabolic
Grove?" "I''m feeling Old Peace," said Eli,
tapping his muzzle. They selected the map, waiting for their game to
load. "You're scrap, buddy." "Dream on, fox boy." They boosted head on at each other,
Artur lit up his moonlight blade, rushing down Eli's silver mech.
Completely unfazed, Eli pressed a single button. THUMP! A blast on
Eli's right arm discharged, propelling it into Artur's crimson mecha."Dead," cackled Eli. "Wh-wh-what?!?!" "You just got fisted," cheered Eli,
punching the air with his controller. "How'd you do that?" asked Artur.
"You one-shot me! What's on that arm?!" "I''ll tell you after I kick your
butt," said Eli, his eyes glowing with the imminent challenge.. "Don't get ahead of yourself," said
Artur, toggling his triggers to boost shuffle away from a missile
barrage. "You're gonna get shredded." The red mech rushed forward
again, laser blade raised high."All talk, no walk," taunted Eli,
discharging his right arm unit again. "Crunch! Whose ass is
grass now, huh?!""Two points is piss and vinegar.,"
grumbled Artur. "I'm not done yet." He circled in, peppering
Eli's silver bot with machine gun fire before closing with his blade
again. "Backstabbing? How crude." Eli
toggled the triggers, clicking the left stick and flicking it by a
ninety degree angle. "Behind you!" THUMP! "Crunch! Your
ass is more than grass. You just got plowed!""I give up," groaned Artur,
plopping his controller on Eli's bed. "What's on your arms?" "Well, fur," said Eli. This
response elicited a punch on the arm. "Jeez, violent urges much?
It's the Kiku. It turns my whole arm into a hurtbox. It also deals
bonus damage to people in the middle of attack animations. And if you
so much as touch me while I'm swinging, you get crunched." Artur frowned. "Oh, you're a dirty
whore. That's just mean. It makes my blade next to useless." "It's not without weaknesses," said
Eli, gesturing back to the screen. "It doesn't really hit things
unless they stand still or rush me down... which was what you were
doing all match. Artur nodded. "Rematch?" "Done." The next two matches went to Eli as The
Fist. He trounced both Wavebuster and Sting. But the tides soon
shifted as Artur began to learn Eli's play style. Five matches in and
Eli was eating dirt. "Whose ass is grass now, huh?"
jeered Artur. "Well you can declare my ass
thoroughly plowed," sighed Eli. "Good game. You wanna stay for
dinner?" "Hrmm... Maybe," shrugged Artur,
slowly getting off the bed. "Mom generally doesn't like me staying
over for dinner unless she knows ahead of time. I should probably be
going soon." Eli "Heya, Artur... How do you wanna
tell your parents? Or, do you want to tell your parents?"Artur sat down again, rubbing his arms.
"I don't know what to say to them. I have no idea what they'll
think of me." Eli placed a hand on Artur's shoulder,
squeezing his slightly pudgy arm. "I'll be there with you if you
like." "You mean it?" "Yes. You stood by me when I came
out. Why wouldn't I do the same?" "I'm sorry... I didn't want to imply
that-" Eli took one of Artur's hands. "It's
not a big deal. Do you wanna stay and talk for a bit more?""I should go," muttered Artur.
"I... Eli, I know this is kind of fast.... but, uh, could I, uh...
kiss you?" Eli looked away for a moment, looking
back at Artur with a smile. "Yes." Slowly, Eli leaned in, placing
hands on Artur's shoulders. He stopped an inch from Artur's thin,
pink lips. Artur hesitated for only a moment before pressing their
muzzles together. The kiss could only be described as
sweet. All he could see was black-green eyes and beige hair as his
bangs drooped over his eyes. The scent of autumn rain drifted into
his nose as he tasted the cherry coke on their lips. Gently, Eli
closed his eyes as a hand brushed against his cheek. They broke apart
slowly. Eli felt the color of his face rising a
bit. "That.... that was a good kiss. Thank you." Artur gave a rather uncharacteristic
giggle. "hehehehe.... Really? Nicole always said I was bad. I'm
glad you enjoyed it." Eli looked down at his bedspread before
meeting Artur's green eyes again. "Artur... can I kiss you back?"Artur reached forward, grabbing Eli''s
shoulders. They bumped together clumsily, Eli feeling their teeth
clack together as they kissed again, much more vigorously this time.
They were jolted away from their passions as a wooden slam echoed
through the house. They scooted away from each other, hastily. "Mom must be home now. I won't say a
word unless you say it's OK," whispered Eli, absently picking up a
controller. Artur did the same. "Thank you, Eli.
You're an amazing friend.""Hopefully I'll be a good boyfriend,
too," smiled Eli."I don't have any doubts," said
Artur. Quickly, he snuck a quick kiss on Eli's cheek before picking
up the controller again. "I do need to go soon though.""You sure you don't wanna stay for
dinner?" "Maybe I'll stick around tonight,"
said Artur, tapping his muzzle. "I must admit I have a soft spot
for your mom's cooking." "Can you help me with calc tonight?
It's embarrassing to have to ask my younger sister for help on
homework?"Do you have any of those brownies
leftover from Monday?" "Deal."