Request from

You groaned, rolling your eyes with annoyance. You and your boyfriend, Vance, had been at the pinball machine for hours. It was around the three hour mark, and you were supposed to just stand there. As a gay couple in the '70's, you guys couldn't show much PDA, or really anything lovey except in your guys rooms.

It bothered you, mostly because everybody else got to kiss their s/o in public, and you weren't even allowed to touch yours. He could tell it bothered you, but he didn't want to lose his "bad boy" reputation.

As you overthink everything, the game 'ping', the same ping of when the player loses. You sighed, asking him "Can we leave now? We've been here for hours."

"But my record!"

"We come here everyday! I promise you, your record is fine"

"But I need to beat it!"

"Please!"

"fine"

You smiled, before almost grabbing his hand to walk out. Key words, almost. Until you remember, you could hardly associate with him in public. Sighing, you just walked out, hoping he was behind you.

"You good?" he asks you, running his fingers through his curly, matted hair. "I'm fine" you say, snapping at him. "woah okay, jeez."

You rolled your eyes, and he just started walking again, assuming he should just leave you alone with your thoughts. "so..mine or yours?" he asked, looking back at you. "I don't even care" you mumbled, this PDA thing was obviously getting to you.

"Dude whats up with you"

"Nothing! And don't call me dude, I'm your freaking boyfriend"

"Shut up! You can't say that in public!"

"WHY NOT?"

"MY REPUTATION"

"I thought you liked me"

"I do!"

He then whispered in your ear, "I love you", and you shoved him off. "I don't want to hear it." As you walked away, to your best friend, Robin's, house. He was the only one who knew, despite Vance not being thrilled about that.

As you knocked on his door, you noticed a small girl answered, she looked to be around ten. You realized that was his little sister, Suzie. "hey Suz, is Robin here?" you asked, on the verge of tears. "Yeah he is. ROBIN YOUR FRIENDS HERE!!!" she screamed, and you were about to cover your ears.

Robin came flashing down the stairs at practically the speed of light, smiling at you. "Hey bro, wassup?" he said, nodding his head at Suzie, probably asking her to leave. "Hey...you good?" Robin asked, noticing you looked upset.

"No"

"come on! my room, now."

"ok.."

"So..what's wrong?' Robin asked, jumping onto his bed. "It's Vance! It's like he's ashamed of me!" you said, almost crying now. "what do you mean?" Robin asked, propping himself up by his elbows. "He won't touch me, he won't call me his boyfriend, he calls me DUDE!" you said, tears now dripping down your face, racing towards your neck.

"I just wish I wasn't gay. I wish I could like women, like you do! I wish I could kiss a girl, and get fireworks and butterflies! I just want to be normal! It doesn't help that everybody treats me like a monster! I hate it! I wish I was born like you, like paperboy, like Bruce, like Griffin! Just somebody who likes women! But I can't! I just can't!" you sobbed, and Robin sat next to you, hugging you a bit.

"Well, you're not a monster. Don't hate yourself, you love who you want to. Vance just doesn't understand you or himself yet" Robin said, still hugging you. "Thanks, Rob" you said, sniffling.

"Now come on, lets get that boyfriend of yours" Robin said, grasping your hand. "Okay" you said, wiping your tears. Robin was one of the only people, besides the other four boys, that treated you like a human.

Robin walked you home, sending rude glares to any homophobe who gave you a wrong glance. Robin was like that, protective, and he gave rude glares with no hesitation. You guys finally reached your door, when you saw him.

It was Vance, shifting his feet, holding your favorite snack, standing there. He hadn't seen you yet, and he hadn't bothered to turn around. Robin rolled his eyes, and walked up, wacking his shoulder. "dude, your boyfriends here" Robin grimaced, as he walked back, patted your shoulder, and started to walk home.

"There you are!" Vance smiled, giving you the stuff. You kind of smiled, yet stared at him. "I didn't ask for you to buy me stuff, I just don't want you to be ashamed to date me." You said, looking down now.

"About that" he said, smirking his infamous smirk. "Go put your presents in your room, we're getting ice cream." Vance said, gnawing nervously at his lip. "Okay I guess" you said, rolling your eyes.

Back to acting like "just friends" yet again. Every time you thought it was going to get better, it happened again. Back to the closet, like always. The deep, dark, miserable closet. You sighed, set your gifts down, sat down, and let the tears drip again.

You hated this, being seen as such a terrible person by everyone else, the people who have never spoken to you except the occasional f slur, judging you, because you enjoyed kissing men. It was so stupid, such a small "flaw" that the entire town focused on.

Finally, you pulled yourself together, wiped your tears, and went downstairs. Hanging out with him and acting like just friends was better than not hanging out with him at all.

"hey, you took forever" Vance said, playing with the silver bands laced around his fingers. He set his arm around your shoulders, smiled, and walked with you towards the ice cream shop.

When you finally arrive at your destination, he opens the door, holding it so you could get into the shop. Some customers sent you two a quick gaze, but immediately went back to what they were doing.

"what would you like to order, love?" he asked, at the ordering stand. The worker looked confused, as you two ordered both your favorite flavors.

After eating, Vance smiled and walked you towards the middle of the shop. "Vance, what the hell are you doing?" you asked, confused.

The entire crowd was staring at you two now, not even bothering to pretend they weren't.

Vance smiled, and said "I've been waiting for awhile to do this"

Just before kissing you on the lips, the crowd confused behind you two.

Once the kiss stopped, you looked at him, asking "what about your reputation?"

He kissed you again, and smiled, just before saying

"Screw my reputation"

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