The New KISS High School

Ch 31: Friends With Benefits (Bruce)

I walked over to the benches Monday morning, taking a sip of coffee while carrying one for Eric, sitting next to Gene and looking at Singer in shock. "Oh my gosh what happened to your hair?" I asked. He shrugged, cheeks going pink. "Uh, I dyed it back to my natural color and cut it," he said. "Wanna tell him why you did?" Gene muttered, and Eric scowled. I looked between the two of them in confusion. "Um...everything okay?" I asked. Eric's scowl deepened and he crossed his arms. "It'd be fine if Gene would just be happy for me and stop treating me like a child," he said. "Tell Bruce what Tommy said to you yesterday," Gene snapped. "Oh, Tommy?" I asked, looking at Eric in surprise. 

"Yeah! I had him over last night and-and we were talking and like...I kinda told him how I felt, like I asked him what he wanted us to be, and he said he wanted to be together!" Eric said with a wide smile. "No. That's not what he said. Tell Bruce exactly what he said," Gene said, looking up from his phone and giving Eric a cold look. "Alright fine! He said he wasn't able or really willing to date anyone right now but he said we'd be able to uh...we'd be able to together as like fuck buddies," he said, smile wavering a bit. 

"He said what?!" I asked in disbelief. "He asked if we could be like friends with benefits, you know? It's whatever, it's a good step toward actually dating him!" he said defensively, and Gene's scowl deepened. "No! It's not whatever! It's a terrible idea, that's what it is, and you're just letting him use you!" "No I'm not!" Eric protested, cheeks going from pink to red. "I told you, I'm almost 18, I can take care of myself!" 

"Well I am 18 and I'm begging you to think this through! You just told me on Saturday you were going to wait until at least college to have sex and now you're willing to be fuck buddies with Tommy?!" Gene cried. "You're not standing up for yourself!" "Well I love him! I don't care if the arrangement isn't exactly what I want it to be right now, I love him and-and it's a start!" Eric snapped back. "No! You need to stand up for yourself, if he actually cares about you he won't do something you're not okay with!" Gene said, face an angry red. 

"Bruce, what do you think?" Eric asked, turning toward me. I jumped, squirming under their gazes. "Oh, uh...I-I mean I think you should be careful, you know? Like...like don't do stuff you're not comfortable with I guess is what I'd say," I said, trying to gently tell him I absolutely agreed with Gene. "I mean come on Eric! You do everything for Tommy! You buy him lunch, you give him homework answers, you write essays for him, it's insane! Hell, you cut and dyed your hair just because he's never dated a blond!" Gene said, slamming his hand down on the table. 

I looked at Eric in surprise, watching as his eyes narrowed to furious slits. "And he liked my new hair! He even told me!" Eric shouted back. "You're letting him use you! I'm worried about you! I'm worried about you getting hurt because you're not standing up for yourself at all!" Gene cried, jumping to his feet. "Well if you won't be happy for me then fine! I don't care! I'm going to go find Tommy and sit with him!" Eric said, storming off. "Whatever," Gene said. "I'm going to go see if Paul's done making up his test." 

I watched, stunned, as he stormed off too, unsure what I was even supposed to say. My Eric walked over, plopping onto the bench next to me and giving me a kiss. "How come you look so upset?" he asked, taking the coffee from my hand. "Uh...Gene and Eric are...I don't even know. Tommy asked Eric to be friends with benefits instead of dating him and Gene's saying that it's a horrible idea and Eric's saying he's fine and...yeah, they're not happy with each other," I said. 

He blinked, giving me a startled look. "I...huh. I see," he said, and I nodded. "Yeah. That's about how I reacted," I said. Eric snuggled up against me, kissing me on the cheek. "At least you said you wanted to actually date me." "Well of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" I teased, kissing him on the lips. Ace interrupted the moment as he stumbled over to the table, sitting down and letting out a long sigh, burying his face in his hands. "What's up?" Eric asked, pulling away from the kiss.

"I came out to my parents on Friday without really meaning to and Peter is upset at me I think and it's just all a mess," he said. I stared at him in shock. "You...you told your parents you were gay?" I asked, and he nodded. "Yeah. I was trying to prove a point and was so pissed at him I called my mom and told her I was gay to prove that they wouldn't hate me." "And...did...they?" I asked slowly, and his face went red. "They uh...my mom was surprised and a bit upset at first but she got over it and my dad said he wasn't surprised and was just waiting for me to tell them at this point," he mumbled.

"Oh! Well that's good!" Eric said cheerfully, and Ace smiled. "Yeah, I was really relieved. Well, my mom...might still not like me. She was really weird about it," he said, smile wavering a bit. "Yeah, that can happen, just give her time. My dad was a little awkward about it at first too," Eric said. "I will. I just hope that Peter isn't mad at me or anything 'cause--" "Aw babe I could never be mad at you," Peter said, slipping his arms around Ace's neck and giving him a kiss. Eric and I stared at them in shock as Ace went red. 

"Peter what--" he started. "I was thinking about what you said! And you're right, we should at least tell our friends," Peter said, giving him a soft smile. "I'm sorry, can we get an explanation?" Eric asked, interrupting their sweet moment. "Oh! Hahah yeah, we've been dating since eighth grade, we just haven't told anyone since I don't want my parents to find out," Peter said, resting his chin on the top of Ace's head. 

"You've been what?!" Eric shouted.