Hidden in MacDonald Hall

Accepting things

"Hey Boots, where have you been buddy?"

Bruno slung his arm around the approaching Boots and pulled him into a half hug as they walked down the quad.

"Where have I been? I've just been cornered by George Wexford-Smyth the third for an hour, reprimanding me on my horrible uniform and how I should get my tie pressed professionally. Where were you to save me from that torture?"

"Talking to the Fish," Bruno spit out casually the first thing that came to mind.

Boots stopped in his tracks and stared at Bruno; his blue eyes wide as Bruno giggled lightly watching him,
"What have you done?"

"It wasn't for a prank or anything," he nudged Boots to continue walking back to their dorm with him, "you know I wouldn't scheme without my partner in crime!"

Boots' glanced at Bruno out of the corner of his eye with a small smirk, "of course not. So, what did Fish want then?"

Bruno paused and shrugged, pulling his arm away as he jogged up the dormitory staircase. Boots' shoulder starting to feel cold from the lack of Bruno's warmth.

"Nothing special, just talking to me about my amazing grades."

"Now I know you're definitely lying."

"Am not,"

"Sure Bruno," Boots gave him a look once they reached the third floor.

"Hey, I know that look. It's your 'almost-disappointed-in-my-actions-but-not-completely-shutting-me-out-or-turning-down-a-suggestion' look."

Boots laughed, "how do you know me so well?"

"Because you're my best friend!"

"Right," Boots replied with a smile as Bruno then turned to unlock their dorm door. He then frowned and mumbled 'friends' to himself in distaste.

"What?"

Boots' eyes shot up from the ground and connected with a questioning Bruno,
"I, uh, I'm still annoyed you're not being honest with me."

"All in due time, dude. Plus, if I were keeping a huge secret from you, I'd tell you. That's what we do, I'm not changing that."

Boots felt a lump in his throat as he started getting ready for bed. He simply nodded to Bruno and shed his shirt to replace it with his gray pajama top.
Right, in their friendship they don't hide things from each other. At least that's what they try not to do. It's just a bit hard for Boots to just blurt out to his best friend that he has liked him since their first year together. This secret isn't anything compared to a prank idea or a rumor about one of their fellow classmates. Boots' secret is serious and he plans on keeping it hidden from Bruno until completely necessary.

Boots' cares for Bruno on a emotional level, romantic feelings aside. He knows his best friend in and out; he knows what gives him that twinkle in his green eyes and what makes him tick, which also happens to give him a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Boots is fortunate to really like his best friend but he fears he may not know everything about Bruno. Mainly, around the idea of Boots' being gay. Especially for Bruno, they've never had a remotely similar conversation to the topic so Boots has no idea what his reaction would be.
Not negative, right? They deeply care for each other. Bruno would never throw that away because of a new, unidentified character trait for Boots, right?