The Captain and The Professor

Greg Imperato left through the front door of Edison High and was immediately set upon by the Knights of Morality. Led by Larry Morganson, they were all fellow Sports jocks, those who didn't take his coming-out as an act of bravery. No, these guys were sons of old-boy network fathers who's own 'I-was-so-drunk-last-night' post-game excuses for horseplay were seen as normal boys-will-be-boys behavior. His kissing his boyfriend, head of the Science Club, after a game-winning touchdown was not to be tolerated.

In the few months since then, he'd been jumped and beaten up by the KoM at least 5 times. His boyfriend James was also head of the Edison Atlases, weightlifters who defied the stereotype of all brawn & no brains. James had been in the hallway when Greg had been jumped.

Greg had been about to punch Larry's lights out when he stopped and noticed two things. First, something was straining to break out of his gym shorts. Second was the look he was giving Greg. There was a single tear that could have been from the pain of him being held down or from something else – shame, perhaps, at having a woody? He spoke to his parents that night.

"Something I learned when I was your age," said his mom, "is that the angrier people are with themselves, the more they take that anger out on the people they love, but especially on people that they can see themselves in."

"What do you mean?" Greg asked.

"I mean that maybe Larry bullies you because he sees himself reflected in you. Maybe the part of himself that he hates the most?"

"You mean Larry might be gay? I don't think so." But Greg wasn't 100% sure.

"You know, son," his father commented, "It might be less about your being gay, but more about the fact that when you came out, most of the kids at school were okay with it."

The image of that tear haunted him that night.

Greg timed their entrance into the weightlifting room carefully. He and James walked in to see Larry placing some weights on either side of a bar. "Hello, girls," Larry said mockingly, "Aerobics class is in the other gym, I'm afraid."

"Ha!" answered James. "If your lifting is as pathetic as that joke, I hear they've got a gym at Edison Elementary. The poundage would be less, but your sets would at least be manageable."

"F*** off, f****t."

"C'mon, guys, quit it. Here, Larry - if you're going to be pressing that much, you'll need a spotter."

"Spotters are for fairies, Imperato."

"Call me Tinkerbell, I'm spotting you anyway."

"Suit yourself." By the end of his third set, he's sweating profusely, and standing at attention. Rather than rest for a minute, he stands abruptly, laughing. "You want a piece of Larry Morganson?"

"Man, you need to either pull yourself together, or pull one off. James and I are a couple, understand?" Greg stated firmly.

"You're a couple of fa......!" Larry would have finished if James hadn't come up behind him and put him in a half-nelson. "You are DONE saying that word like it's a weapon. It isn't. Get that through your thick skull."

Greg remembered what his parents said and decided to go with their advice. "Let him go, Jimmy. Sit down, please," he asked Larry. "Larry, do you see yourself in me?'

"What the f*** do you mean? Me – see myself in you?"

"I mean – have you ever thought that maybe you might be gay?"

"Oh, hell no!"

"It's just the three of us in here, Larry" observed James, "We won't tell anyone. Heck, we know they wouldn't believe us even if we did spill those beans."

Larry walked down the aisle of lockers, and his fist plowed into a locker, denting the door so far inwards that it bowed half of the entire row. "F***," he said quietly, almost in a whisper. "Jesus H., man!" Greg said, finding a towel for the guy to wrap his bleeding knuckles in. I'm an idiot, Larry thought. A f***in' idiot.

Greg and James watched as he raised his face. The guy's terrified, Greg thought. What, or who, is he afraid of?

"You can't tell anyone. Please, don't tell anyone. It'll be different for me than it was for you. My dad 'll kill me. He thinks guys like you..." and he paused for a moment. "If I'm gonna do this," Larry thought, "I have to start somewhere. It's okay to be gay. I gotta be out to myself before I'm out to other people."

Larry took a deep breath and began again. "He thinks guys like us should be shot. If he finds out, he'll take it out on my mother. I won't let that happen." And Larry started to shake.

Greg whispered to his beloved: "There's more to this story than he's telling us."

"I know, and I can guess. But let's start this friendship on a promising note. Larry, you have our word that this is our secret. You come out on your own terms, and when you want to, not before."

Greg added, "We won't expect you to start hanging out with us, because that would be suspicious to the KoM. But you're welcome to join the Edison Atlases, because no one messes with us. We'll have your back. But man, please – the bullying has got to stop. Got it?"

"Okay, Captain Rainbow," said Larry. "The Knights were right about you."

"How so?" Alarm bells began ringing in his head – needlessly, as it turned out.

"They say you and Professor Muscles are out to 'Free the LGBT' in Edison High. I know I feel a little better now. See you around, Cap!"

"Captain Rainbow?" said James, eyebrow raised.

"Professor Muscles?" echoes Greg.

"Does that mean we're superheroes?" James slyly asks

"Hell Yeah!" shouts Greg as they high-five, leaving Edison High to free the LGBT in a town near you.