Aggressively Straight

Really Gay

Mr. Price ran his fingers through his thinning hair. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive," Mrs. Price and her husband were standing in the hallway of the apartment building.

"But he has dated so many girls!" He laughed. "Remember when that one practically forced Kevin to take her to his end of eighth grade dance?"

She smiled. "He could like both girls and boys."

Mr. Price scratched his chin, pondering on that thought. Both of them always knew there was something special about their little Kevin. He never showed interest in the stuff his brothers did and always hid small things from his family. They knew not to invade his space though, no matter how curious they were. If Kevin had a secret it was nothing harmful, he learned the hard way not to do wrong things.

Kevin wasn't really ever "girly", which is what Mr. Price expected a gay man to be like. Growing up, Kevin was involved in many different sports and acted like a teenage boy was expected to act.

At the age of 14, Kevin stopped playing football because he didn't like having the helmet mess up his hair. His parents thought nothing of it and signed him up for soccer. They didn't know that Kevin was grossly uncomfortable. It was Kevin's freshmen year of high school, and naturally he tried out for the sport he loved and made it to varsity. Playing on a team with mostly upperclassman was challenging, but that wasn't the reason he stopped. Yes, a major part of the problem was the helmet hair, but he noticed whenever anyone made a certain joke in the locker rooms it stabbed him like a knife.

"I hope none of us are gay, I would rather not have someone hit on me while I'm naked, especially a guy."

"Stop being so gay, Kevin. You have to wear the helmet. The only people I see ever complain about their hair getting messed up are my girlfriend and that weird drama kid. Ya know, the one who recently came out as gay. Come on, Kev, we all know you're not a freak like that."

He would laugh off the jokes, still not fully aware of what made it feel like he was being offended. Kevin didn't understand why he forced his eyes down whenever a guy was shirtless. He never knew why hearing the word "bisexual" for the first time made him feel at ease. It was just a subject he never wanted to explore, so he shoved it into the far corner of his brain. Going untouched for years, Kevin forgot it was even there. Until he got to Uganda.

All Connor had said was: "Welcome! Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, I am Elder McKinley, current district leader of this area of the Ugandan mission!" He shook their hands and smiled as the other Elders introduced themselves.

Yet, when Connor had grabbed his hand he felt a spark shoot up his spine and he ignored it, blaming it on the weird Ugandan heat. When Connor sang about Steve Blade and tap danced his gay thoughts out, Kevin joined in too, unaware of why he did. Uneasy that first night, mainly because of Arnold sleeping too close to him and snoring loudly, Kevin's locked cabinet of memories flooded his mind. Thoughts about when he learned about gay people in his church's classes, when he walked in on two guys making out in the bathroom during homecoming and felt a tad jealous (given his date ran off to party with her friends), and most importantly when he spent a whole weekend without sleeping and burned his eyes with research on gay and bisexual people flashed. His first few weeks in Uganda were overall confusing. And even though they were only a day or two into the mission, it all started to crumble when Kevin had that hell dream.

When he awoke and found Connor, the man who haunted him that night, it raised his hair on end. His brain changed the image of the missionary outfit to the bright red and sparkly one he had imagined him in. Connor was smiling, helping Kevin to his feet. And most importantly, Connor's breath slowed down and his voice got deep when he asked "Was I in it?" referring to his hell dream.

Why yes, yes you were. Also, to be completely honest you looked really nice and you were really gay. And now I feel really strange about you, Kevin had thought. However, he just scowled, unsettled by the motive Connor had for asking such a question.

Soon after the boys had decided to stay in Uganda, Connor officially came out of the closet in a mess of tears. Connor left the room following his speech about his sexuality in a hast. Kevin ran after him, and found him outside crying. All Kevin could remember was Connor sobbing, letting all the emotions he had bottled up pour out at once. Kevin held Connor in his arms until he cried himself to sleep that night, but the tears had turned into a mixture of comfort and content.

About four months into the mission, Kevin woke up searching for a quick midnight snack. He was (pleasantly) surprised to see Connor sitting on the couch reading an old book. Kevin sat next to him and at some point found him focusing more on Connor's eyes rather than words. Without a thought in his head, Kevin leaned in and was met with Connor's lips. It was an astonishment to both of them. Connor was speechless and Kevin just laughing, because at that moment a light when on in his head. The only similar feeling Kevin could use for explaining it would be like when someone is stuck on a math problem for the longest time, until they realize the answer was very simple all along. That night was filled with them talking about their lives and Connor listening intently to Kevin's story.

Years later, Mrs. Price and Mr. Price were stuck in the same predicament Kevin was at the age of fourteen. Both of them were extremely confused. Mrs. Price finally realized how long her and her husband had been outside. She forced Mr. Price not to say anything to Kevin about the topic and to be completely accepting before returning inside.

"Is anything wrong, mom?" Kevin asked when they walked through the door.

"No! I just had to talk to your father about a little surprise," She smiled, finding a way not to lie.

"Well, I'm glad you two came back because dinner is ready!" Connor carried a pork roast to the dining table. "And thank you, Kevin and Darius for setting out the plates."

"No problem," Darius took his seat next to his father at the table. Connor and Kevin sat on the other side and Mrs. Price sat at the head.

"I heard Darius likes football. Is Jack flipping out because the Price legacy has continued?" Kevin grabbed the passing bowl of mashed potatoes from Connor.

"Jack was certainly happy," Mr. Price chuckled.

"My dad and older brother were football stars at my old high school," Kevin explained to Connor. "And you know I never took to it."

"He's too obsessed with his perfect hair for his own good," Connor laughed.

Mrs. Price joined in but glanced to her husband at the word "perfect", given Connor didn't even try to say it in a sarcastic tone.

The rest of the dinner conversation was vaguely normal without too many awkward silences. Then, with full stomachs, they all forced themselves to shove the pie into their mouths.

"I have something I would like to confess," Kevin said in between bites of apple.

"You're gay?" Darius blurted out.

Connor's eyes widened and he quickly tuned to Kevin.

"No, I was going to say that Connor's baking isn't nearly as good as this," Kevin furrowed his brow. "I like girls, Darius." And with that he wasn't really lying.

A/N: I know I have been using "gay" this whole story for Kevin and I know gay and bisexual are two different things. It's just bisexual people can call themselves gay, given it's often referred to as "the gay community". Plus bisexual Kevin is amazing.