Ramé

Heartworm

(n.) relationship or friendship that you can't get out of your head, which you thought had faded long ago but is still somehow alive and unfinished

He'd asked Otto out. His first boyfriend, he meant. He absolutely hated using his name. Gage. It made it harder to forget and move on and just pretend the whole thing had never happened. Which is all he really wanted, if he was being honest. And it wasn't that Otto hated him. Quite the opposite actually. Otto fucking loved him. More than he should have considering they only dated for about four months.

Otto and Gage had been sitting on Otto's bed, the door wide open, as per his one of parents new Our Son is Gay and We Don't Really Know How to Handle It rules, playing on Otto's game boy. "Your parents are kinda uptight about, uh," he trailed off.

"Me existing as a homosexual?"

"Yeah, that."

Otto just scoffed. "They're just afraid that I'm gonna make out with every guy I come into contact with."

He hummed in response. Otto looked at him. Holding his game boy. Sitting on his bed. Brushing his knee with his own. God, he was so gay for him. "Wouldn't be so bad in certain cases. Well, in our case, I mean," Gage had muttered, looking up carefully at Otto. "Unless it would be?"

Otto shook his head, shocked. "It wouldn't be." They exchanged soft smiles before Otto cleared his throat. "But you could at least take me to dinner first."

So he did. He took Otto out to dinner. A small Mexican restaurant on the outskirts of town where no one would bother them. Otto had only been joking, but in all honesty, this is what he'd wanted since eighth grade: to go out on a date with a cute boy.

"So, Otto Wood. Tell me about yourself."

Otto rolled his eyes. "Shut the fuck up."

Gage smiled wide at him, sending his stomach into a fit of butterflies. "No really. Tell me anything."

So they talked. It was easier than Otto figured it would be. He didn't know what to expect. He'd only ever been on dates with Grace and those were anything but easy. "I think that's everything," Otto said, picking at his plate.

"I don't think I caught how much you weighed when you were born."

He just pulled a face. "Your turn. I want to know everything."

"Everything?"

"As much as you'll let me know, at least."

Gage made a noise in the back of his throat. "I'll just catch you up on the important stuff."

Otto nodded. "Fair enough."

"Okay," he said. "It's just one thing." Otto looked at him expectantly. "Alright, here it goes. I've been trying to figure out how to take you out since I saw you from across English class."

Blushing, Otto shook his head. "A simple, 'Hey, Otto, wanna go out?' would have sufficed."

"Nope. Couldn't take any chances. Had to be in your house with the door wide open so there was the possibility of your parents catching my every word."

"Well then," Otto said softly, "thank God for that English project, huh?"

He groaned. "I fucking hated the Canturberry Tales."

Otto laughed. "I know," he agreed. "You never let me forget."

"The Wife of Bath was-."

"'The only interesting character.' We get it. You're a feminist," Otto teased him.