The New KISS High School

Ch 29: Out (Ace)

A/N: Had major writer's block on top of being slammed w school but I came up w an idea for a chapter finally lol so here's this! Prob still gonna be p inactive tho, sorry abt that :/

After we had dropped off Eric and Paul, Gene turned to look at me and Peter. "So where am I taking you?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. We exchanged glances before I slipped an arm around Peter's waist, pulling him against my side. "You want to take us to the apartment? I know you know where it is," I said with a grin. He smiled, shaking his head. "Sure," he said, driving off. 

We sat in a not uncomfortable silence, me keeping Peter pulled against my side, playing with the ends of his hair as he rested his head on my shoulder. "Are you ever going to tell the rest of them?" Gene asked after a pause. "I'd like to," I said. "But it's Peter's call too, we just both have to be on the same page," I said, giving my boyfriend a squeeze. "Yeah. I told you, maybe. I just have to think about it, weigh the pros and cons and all," he said, looking out the window. "Yeah, makes sense," Gene said. "Even though none of us would mind, the more people that know, the more risk of people you don't want to know finding out." "Exactly," Peter said with a sigh.

We fell back into silence again before Peter perked up, smile spreading across his face. "Hey Gene you free tomorrow night? Like early in the evening, probably around 7?" he asked. "I mean, I should be! 7 on a Saturday is after my day shift and I don't have an evening one this week. Why?" "Do you wanna come with me tomorrow when I take my siblings trick or treating? All of them love you, especially my sisters, and it'd be nice to not have to be alone dealing with them! I'll pay you or something, whatever it takes to get you to come with me," he said eagerly.

I could see Gene smiling in the rearview mirror. "Sure! That'd be fun. You don't have to pay me, it's fine. Your siblings are cute," he said. "Yeah my sisters love you a lot especially, since apparently I never spend as much time with them as you do," Peter said with a laugh. "Well I'm happy to help out. And I mean I can't blame you, you've got six siblings, kind of hard to spend time with all of them." "Six here, a seventh on the way. And you're not wrong, it is hard to spend time with all of them, which kinda makes you wonder why my parents keep having more instead of being satisfied with the seven kids they have already," he muttered, and I opened my mouth to reassure him before Gene beat me to it.

"Yeah, sorry about that man. But hey, your parents love you and so do your siblings, even if it's not fair to you that they've sort of made you a third parent. You're a good older brother and a good friend," he said, and I felt a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach as Peter gave Gene a fond smile, the two of them falling into a conversation about how things had gone the last time Peter had asked Gene to come over to help with his siblings. 

I absentmindedly dropped my arm from Peter's waist, staring out the window, still feeling weird inside. We reached the apartment, with Peter saying goodbye to Gene, thanking him profusely in advance for tomorrow before walking up to the apartment. I trailed after him after mumbling a goodbye to Gene, following him into the apartment. Peter gave me a kiss on the cheek, smiling. "So you want a drink?" he asked. "Or wanna--" "Why didn't you ask me to go with you tomorrow?" I blurted out, cutting him off. 

He blinked, giving me a confused look. "What do you mean? Tomorrow? Like...like trick or treating?" he asked. "Yeah. Why didn't you ask me? Why'd you ask Gene?" I asked, still trying to push away the ugly feeling in me. "Well...my siblings haven't really met you," he said after a pause. "They're never going to meet me if you never introduce us," I snapped, feeling ugly and feeling even worse because of how I was acting toward him. "I mean I know, but I asked Gene over because he needs money and my parents were willing to pay him and I didn't want any of my siblings catching me doing anything with you that--" 

"No, it's fine, I get it," I muttered, crossing my arms as he looked at me in confusion. "Ace what on earth is wrong?" he asked, giving me a bewildered look. "Nothing! It's fine!" I snapped. "Are you still mad about the maze? I said I was sorry, I just--" "It's not that!" I cried. "Well then what is it?!" he asked in exasperation. "Just forget about it," I growled, pushing past him and walking to the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the fridge. "Babe, come on. What's got you so upset?" he asked, following after me and giving me a worried look as I cracked open my beer, taking a long sip. 

"I told you, it's fine," I said. "I'm sorry for upsetting you," he said quietly after a pause. "Peter, it's fine. Let's just move on to something else," I said, trying and failing to keep the anger out of my voice. "It's clearly not fine, seeing as how you still sound angry," he countered. "Well I just think it's weird that you've introduced Gene to your family and he's all close with your parents and siblings, a whole lot closer to them than I am, despite me being your boyfriend!" I cried finally. There was a long pause before he spoke again.

"Are you saying you're jealous of Gene?" he asked in disbelief. "I don't know! Maybe I am! Dammit I just wanna be open about dating you, I want to meet your family and just not have to keep it all so secret! Not-not to the point our parents know necessarily, but why are we still hiding it from our friends?! Haven't you enjoyed not having to hide it from Gene?" I cried, practically begging him to just let us tell people. 

"Ace you know how I feel about that," he said quietly. "Fine! Fine, fine, we'll keep being a secret, just like we have been for five fucking years!" I shouted, temper boiling over. "We'll just keep hiding from everyone until we either break up or get married!" "Look I just don't want my parents to know! I don't want them to hate me!" he cried. "They won't hate you! I'll prove it!" I cried, grabbing my phone and dialing my mom's number, putting it on speaker. "Ace what are you doing?" he asked, giving me a scared look. I scowled, flipping him off as my phone rang. "Ace, what are you doing?!" he cried, panic creeping into his voice as my mom picked up. "Hi Paul sweetie, how're you?" Mom asked. 

"I'm gay," I snapped, giving Peter a triumphant glare as he stared at me in horror, mouth dropping open, and it didn't really sink in what I had just done until the sound of my mom letting out a shocked gasp broke the silence.