While the Sun Shines

42.

Blake stared at Nick, his shock clear as day in his expression, and Nick immediately regretted blurting out his plan. He had assumed Blake would be on board with letting everyone back at home know that they were sort of together now, but maybe he wasn't at all. On second thought: Nick had a feeling some of Blake's friends from high school didn't like him very much. He wouldn't have liked himself much either if he were them.

"I, uh, I thought taking a picture and posting it would be a good explanation for why I left the football chat. They won't have questions after that. They won't even want to be friends with me either," Nick stammered through an explanation. "But it's okay if you don't want to do it."

Blake's eyes spread wide open and then he started laughing. "Hell no, are you kidding? Of course I'm up for any plan that causes this much chaos. It's I just that I can't follow your thought process at all. You go quiet and stare off in the distance with a frown and then come with a brand new wild idea. You keep surprising me left and right." Blake reached up and gently touched Nick's cheek. "But keep doing it. I enjoy it."

Nick could only smile sheepishly. "Okay, I will. I was thinking that maybe you didn't want to do it because your friends from high school would see it and yell at you?" 

"Well..." Blake paused to think about it, and then he visibly cringed. "Shit, Karen will yell. I should probably make some phone calls beforehand." He ran a hand through his hair. "What about your parents? I understand you don't give a crap about your ex-friends because nobody should, but what about them? You're not out yet at home, are you?" 

Nick wasn't out at home. 

There hadn't exactly been a chance to be out, considering he didn't even know he was bi before the exchange. Nick didn't think his parents would care. They didn't with Sem. Mom had even tried to pull Nick aside and have 'the talk' about how they would accept anyone Nick came home with when Sem came out. Still, they wouldn't be happy if Nick announced his partner to the world without telling them about having a partner first. 

 "Yeah, you're right," Nick said. "I need to tell my parents something first before posting a gay picture everywhere." 

"And let's not forget Sem either," Blake added. 

Oh God, Blake was right. There was Sem, too. Nick grimaced at even the thought of Sem's rage if he had to find out through Instagram with everyone else. It wasn't that he would care that Nick and Blake had a relationship, but he would get pissed if neither Blake nor Nick bothered to tell him. 

 "Good point, I'll send Sem a text too," Nick said. 

"So, a break to make all the necessary calls first?" Blake chuckled and shook his head. "This is insane. Here I was, thinking I'd already, like, seen and done it all when I came out. You're just going hit them all out of left field and I'm living for it." 

"I wasn't planning on doing that or anything," Nick weakly defended himself, which only made Blake laugh harder.

"I know, that makes this even better," Blake said. He leaned in to press a kiss to Nick's lips. "Let's go do this." 

Blake threw on a pair of pyjamas and went into the living room, while Nick stayed in Blake's bedroom. Nick heard Blake's voice in the living room, but Nick didn't feel like calling anyone. Despite Blake saying he was going to drop a bomb, Nick didn't want to make it a bigger deal than it was. After a brief thought, Nick decided he'd bring Blake home to his parents the same way he'd done with Emma and everyone would have to accept it. And they would. 

Nick sent his parents a simple text saying that he'd bring home someone for dinner after the exchange semester ended and he flew back. He'd send the picture to his parents in another text later.