Let's Start A Riot

.:Chapter Five:.

     Zacky let a sigh escape his perfectly pouting lips, gazing at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror. He had already told Brian that he was gay, and now.. He was going to come out to his own mother. He knew that she was extremely open-minded and accepting, but he was afraid of the outcome. With another sigh, he left the bathroom and padded down the staircase, finding that his mother was sitting on the couch, absentmindedly watching a show on the television. "M-mom, can I talk to you?" He only stuttered on the first word, but even though his voice grew more confident, he could feel himself shaking with sheer terror.
     "Sure, sweetheart, what's wrong?" She asked, muting the T.V. so that she could pay better attention to her son. She turned towards him as he sat on the couch next to her, pressing his hands together in his lap. As she took a closer look at her child, she saw that he was practically trembling and his skin was paler than she'd ever seen it before. "Zack, what's wrong with you? What happened?"
     "N-nothing happened, momma.. I-I just.. Um.. Well, I have something to tell you.." He stuttered softly, not looking his mother in the eyes. She scooted forwards, grabbing his hands and holding them tightly; in that moment, Zacky knew that whatever he told his mother, everything would be fine. "Mom.." He looked up into her eyes. "I-I'm.. I'm gay, momma."
     "Oh, honey, I already knew that." She smiled, patting his hands. In shock, the hazel-eyed boy raised his brows and sat backwards a bit. "It's not hard to tell, sweetheart. You've always been extremely feminine, and I could see the way you looked at Brian when the two of you were still friends." She chuckled softly. At the mention of his old friend's name, the hazel-eyed boy looked down at the couch. He could see his mother frown in the corner of his vision. "He still hasn't come around from that, has he..?"
     "No.." Zacky sighed. His mother patted his shoulder, pursing her lips together.
     "He will someday, sweetie.. I promise."

     The first thing that woke Zacky up was a frantic knocking on his bedroom door. He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as the door was flung open. There in the doorway stood Jimmy, his chest heaving and his eyes wide. "Jim, what's-"
     "There's a protest, down on 18th, Johnny's already there," He panted, leaning on the door frame. "We gotta go, right now." By this time, Zacky was already out of bed and throwing on a pair of sweatpants. He tugged on his AC/DC hoodie, pulling on his sneakers without even putting on any socks first. He then followed Jimmy out of the room, down the staircase, and out of the house. Jimmy lead him towards the protest, and as they grew closer, the sounds of voices and feet stomping against the pavement could be heard. The blue-eyed boy lead him to the very front of the group of people, finding that Johnny was at the very front, fury in his golden-brown eyes.
     "Johnny! What's going on?" Zacky cried, his hazel eyes wide with shock. Johnny turned to him, and the hazel-eyed boy could see fury in his friend's face like he'd never witnessed before.
     "These people are protesting against gay rights, and we're here protesting against them." He snarled. Zacky nodded, looking towards the crowd that they were facing. They looked nearly as angry as Johnny was.. Nearly. Johnny was furious.
     "Being gay is an abomination against God!" One of them on the other side yelled.
     "If your God was so loving, he wouldn't care if people were gay or not!" Zacky yelled back, furrowing his eyebrows. He'd never been this angry in his entire life. How could any of these people call themselves good people?
     "It specifically states in the Bible that being gay is a sin punishable by death!" The same one snapped back, and just as Zacky was about to return with another stunning quip, a deep, distinguishable voice spoke out from the crowd.
     "It also says a woman must marry her rapist, doesn't it?" Both crowds went quiet, and suddenly, the last person Zacky expected to see stepped forward. It was Brian, his jaw clenched and his brown eyes alight with rage. "That doesn't make sense, does it? Being murdered for being in love with someone? Why don't you all go home to your sad little lives with no meaning to it?" The hazel-eyed boy looked on in shock, his heart thumping wildly against his ribcage so hard he was sure that Brian could hear it. Before the brown-eyed boy could say anything else, the sound of sirens grew extremely close. Zacky gasped, whirling around to see hundreds of police officers in full riot gear breaking through the crowds, coming straight for the four teenagers that stood together.
     "Brian, move!" Zacky cried, grabbing his friend by the arms and pulling him to the side. Jimmy and Johnny scattered to the other side, disappearing into the crowd of people that were being pushed aside by the police. The hazel-eyed boy stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet and then landing flat on his back on the concrete. Since Zacky had a hold on Brian's arms, he came tumbling down with him, landing right on top of his hazel-eyed friend. "U-um.." Zacky blushed wildly, his eyes widening up at his best friend.
     "U-uh.. Um.." Brian stuttered, his own eyes growing wide as a blush began to bloom across his cheeks. He suddenly realized, there, as he practically straddled Zacky's lap.. He knew the reason he was so homophobic; he was afraid of the truth, the truth about himself. Brian finally knew.. He was gay. "Z-Zacky, um.. There's something I should tell you.." He whispered, barely paying attention to their surroundings.
     "Yeah, Bri..?" The hazel-eyed boy murmured back, blinking slowly as he stared up at his gorgeous friend. Just before Brian could say anything, a pair of hands wrapped around his biceps and he was tugged off of the ground. "B-Brian!" Zacky gasped, and suddenly, he was lifted from the ground as well.
     "You're under arrest," A firm voice said in his ear. When he looked up, he could see Brian getting his hands cuffed behind his back by another police officer. "For assaulting an officer."
     "A-assaulting an officer?! I-I never touched you!" Zacky cried, his eyes welling up with tears as he looked to Brian for support. Brian was struggling against the cuffs, obviously not a good decision, as the officer arresting him added on a charge of resisting arrest. "Brian, just calm down! Stop struggling!"
     "I'm gonna get us out of this, Zacky!" Brian called as he was pushed into the back of a police car. The hazel-eyed boy sniffled softly as he was also put in the back of a squad car; he watched out the window, the tears spilling over his lower eyelids as he watched both Johnny and Jimmy be put into the same police car. What would happen now..? He wondered as the police officer climbed into the driver's seat, started the car and then drove away. Countless people were being stuffed into cop cars and hauled away from the protest, even though nobody had done anything wrong. Zacky sighed deeply, looking down at his lap as he awaited his fate, preparing himself to spend the night in a jail cell with God only knew how many other people.
     I wonder what Brian was about to tell me.. Hell, he was practically sitting on my lap. Could he possibly be.. Gay? Is that why he showed up to the protest, and not just to support me? Zacky's heart pounded in his chest with a sudden realization. Brian had been gay all along.