Joe Do You Think I'm Cool

A Beautiful Trainwreck

TW: severe homophobia

After a few weeks, everything with Joe was amazing, I really couldn't wish for someone better; he left little letters in my locker, he would sit with me at lunch, and we'd talk to each other a lot, he was always over, luckily dad didn't think much of it and thought I had just made a new friend. We weren't out yet; we were still a closeted couple; Jack was the only one who knew, and he'd tease me about it sometimes, but he knew not to go too far. I was gonna tell the rest of my family soon, I wasn't scared, I knew everyone would support us, it's the school that I was scared of, and I didn't wanna come out without Joe; but soon enough, I did, I came out to the school first with a pride flag pin on a jacket that Joe gave me.

I walked into school with my pride pin on, I wore it proudly, I was nervous, but I wasn't scared, I knew that this is who I am, and I didn't care if somebody has shit to say about it.

But, when I got back from fourth period, I went to my locker to grab some books, and on the locker, in black spray paint, read the words "Ryan Metzger is a faggot, he's going to hell". I swallowed a lump in my throat as people stopped and stared. A few kids laughed and moved on and I heard someone yell "FAG". Joe approached the small crowd.

"What's going on," he said, pushing past people to see my locker. He froze and stared. I started tearing up and my lips shivered.

"Come on," Joe quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the group and took me to the bathrooms. A group of guys were in there and they were laughing and talking... a few of them were Joe's friends. They turned around and looked at us.

"Hey fag," one of them said and the others burst out laughing.

"Did you spray paint his locker?" Joe said with an angry tone.

"I don't know, maybe," one of them laughed. Joe let go of my hand and approached them and swung at the guy. He stumbled back and covered his lip with his hand, he slowly removed it and saw blood.

"News flash, I'm his fucking boyfriend! Stay away from him and if you even breathe in his direction, I'll make sure all of you get away with something bloody!" Joe yelled. A few of them broke from the group and quickly left the bathroom, three of them stayed.

"So being gay really is a disease," one of them scoffed.

"I'm leaving before I get it," another laughed and left.

"Joe can we just leave-" I whispered.

"What? Are you afraid of being made fun of for being gay?" One of them laughed. I knew who he was, he hung out with Joe a lot, his name was Adrien. I teared up and my throat started to hurt. They started laughing.

"Are you gonna cry?" Adrien looked at me. Joe quickly looked back at me.

"Hey, let's go get some pizza from Domino's or something, ok?" He held my hands. I slowly nodded, looking down.

"You're going on a date in the middle of a school day? You'll really do anything to spread the mental illness," one of them said.

"Come on," Joe said with a calm tone and walked out with me. They continued to yell the f slur at us and some other swears as we exited the bathroom.

He took me out to his car, and we sat there for a bit. We cuddled in the back seat for a really long time. He stroked my hair and talked to me in a soft, comforting tone.

"Let's just skip the rest of the day, there's only two periods left, we'll go to my apartment and watch some Disney movies, does that sound good?" He gently smiled. I nodded and sniffed. "Come on love," he sat up, making me sit up. I looked at him for a bit. He reached for my face and wiped off some tears. "You're so pretty, you know that? And you're so cuddly and nice, so tall yet so small," he smiled, making me stifle a laugh.

"Thank you Jo Jo," I smiled and hugged him.

"Jo Jo, I love that," he said softly.

"I hope so, I wanna make you as happy as I possibly can."

"Well, Ryan Metzger, just being here with you is overwhelming me with joy."

"I thought you didn't like my last named, you always made fun of me for it," I slightly laughed.

"Ryan, that was eighth grade," he chuckled, "and it was not always, I did it once because Metzger made me laugh."

"Yet your last name is Garwood," I laughed.

"Well, now I can shorten it to Gar, and it'll sound even more dumb."

"Ryan Garwood... I like that though."

"Oh, but Joe Metzger sounds nicer," he winked. I turned a slight red and smiled at him. "What? Why are you blushing?" He chuckled.

"I- just your wink- it's attractive."

"You think everything about me is attractive," he jokingly rolled his eyes.

"It is! I love everything about you, you're so sweet and so aggressively loving, you're hilarious, you give the best cuddles and hugs and kisses."

"Is that so?" He asked. I quickly nodded. "You just wanna make out, don't you?" He slightly smirked. I paused for a second and nodded again. He jokingly rolled his eyes. "Come on you horny bastard." I laughed and climbed into the passenger's seat; he went into the drivers.

We got to his apartment and went up to his room and cuddled in his bed and watched The Lion King. He passed out while I was laying on him when we were only half an hour into the movie. I started to play with his stubby black beard and then I saw him smile.

"You faker," I smiled, and he laughed.

"To be fair, I woke like five minutes ago," he smiled at me.

"Why didn't you tell me! I could've kissed you sooner," I softly smiled down at him. He playfully rolled his eyes.

"Come here," he let out a fake annoyed sigh and put his hand on the back of my neck. I leaned down and softly kissed him. "You taste like lemonade," he chuckled.

"I couldn't stop drinking the lemonade we made last night; we make a great team," I pulled away and looked at him.

"Yes, we do," he smiled up at me.

"What do you wanna do? I'm a little bored," I admitted.

"Bored of cuddling me? You are so mean," he joked.

"Ugh, I know, I'm so sorry," I said, playing along.

"At least you're cute and soft," he placed his hand on my cheek and kissed my forehead.

"And your forehead kisses will forever tickle me," I giggled.

"You have the sweetest giggles and laughs, god I am so in love with you-" he sighed.

"I still can't believe that the Joe Garwood is in love with me, a gay loser in the corner," I softly chuckled and closed my eyes as I rested my forehead on his.

"You better believe it Ryan Metzger, I am all yours, no one can take me away from you, I don't care if I lose all of my friends, I don't need them as long as I have my little Ry Bee," he placed his hands on either side of my head and held me close.

"Awww! I have a severe fear of any bug, but I love that name so much, it's so adorable."

"Ry Bee and Jo Jo, gay lovers in crime," he chuckled.

"Be gay do crime I guess," I laughed.