Binary Boyfriends

22 ~ Past, Present, and Future Relations

*5 years ago, Eli's room*

[ Narrator's POV ]

"I'm crushing you right now!" Demetri said, shoving Eli's arm a little bit.

Eli laughed and looked over to Demetri. He got a little distracted by how happy Demetri looked and wound up losing the game that they were playing.

"HAH! I won again! Take that Eli!"

Both the boys were laughing and they fell back onto Eli's bed. Demetri turned his head to look over at Eli and Eli did the same. They were staring at each other now while laying down and smiling.

Eli sat up abruptly and Demetri followed his lead, looking at his friend with concern in his eyes.

"Are you ok?"

Eli looked down and fiddled with his fingers like he always did when he was anxious. His nose twitched a little and Demetri placed his hand on his thigh to comfort him. He rubbed his thumb back and forth until Eli calmed down a little bit.

"Is there something you want to talk about?"

Eli didn't respond, but a tear ran down his cheek. Demetri was even more concerned now and took Eli's hand in his.

"Look, I'm not all that good with the emotions thing, but if you want to talk I'm here for you," there was a brief pause, but then Eli gave in.

"Sometimes I- I just... I look at y- you and, I see this guy with s- so much ahead of him."

Eli stopped and turned to Demetri.

"And then I think about m-myself and... I just know that I'll never have th- that."

"Hey, look at me. Don't say that about yourself."

"But it's true!" Eli angrily stood up and threw his arms up in the air.

"I'm not as smart as you, not as outgoing, not as talkative, and- and no ones ever gonna want to be with me when I have this th- thing on my face!"

"Eli, I know you think that, bu-"

"Just shut up Demetri! You don't know what it's like to be stared at your wh- whole life cause you're a freak! You don't know what it's like to have girls cringe when they look at you because they think you're gr- gross! You just don't get it and you never will!"

Demetri stood up and walked up behind Eli who had been screaming and pacing around his room. He put his hand on his shoulder and Eli just pushed it off.

"Eli I-"

"Didn't you hear me! I said shut up! You never listen! You just talk and talk and talk and you never take one se- second to listen to ANYONE!"

Eli was still shouting and Demetri was panicking trying to calm him down. He knew Eli's mom was home and didn't want her thinking something was wrong, but nothing would make Eli shut up, so Demetri had to resort to the only option he had left.

Eli took a step closer to Demetri screaming and Demetri grabbed his face and kissed him. For a couple of seconds the two boys stood there completely still with their lips pressed together.

Demetri took a step back first and Eli was in shock. His eyes opened wide. He was speechless.

"W- W- Why? Why did you...?"

"I- I didn't know what to do. You wouldn't calm down and I had to- I had to stop you."

Eli was still in shock and he slowly walked back over to his bed and sat down. This had been both of the boy's first kisses and they didn't know what to do now.

That sat in silence for at least 5 minutes, but then Demetri blurted out the first thing he could think of.

"I mean... it's not like it meant anything, right? I just... didn't want your mom to-"

"Yeah I get it," Eli snapped back, hurt by what Demetri had said, but understanding nonetheless.

"So... are we cool?"

"Yeah, we're cool."

"Good, good, we can just... never... mention this again."

Eli's heart broke even more with every sentence Demetri spit out. It did mean something to him. It had changed everything. Clearly Demetri didn't care though, so he was just gonna have to move on.

"Yeah," he said coldly.

"Never again."