Trick or Treat Chapter 4 (Patreon)

All characters engaged in sexual activity are 18 or older.

Trigger warning: homophobic language.

Percy

You know that feeling when the one thing you were afraid of happening ends up happening? Hi. Yeah. That’s me right now. And even though this isn’t the first time I’ve watched my life fall apart in front of me, there’s one huge difference this time around. Asher isn’t here to help me get through it. 

I had always hoped that when I did come out to the world, he would be there for me, but seeing him walk away from me while I’m surrounded by a bunch of narrow-minded bigots is like the proverbial silver bullet. Honestly, I can’t even blame him for not sticking around this time. If I hadn’t fucked things up between us, he’d probably be here with me. At least I think he would be. Despite him being super into church and stuff, Asher has never said a bad word about gay people—though the same can’t be said about his father or some of his teammates. Unfortunately, that’s the standard when you live in a small town in Florida. 

“Are you okay?” Cassie’s voice cuts through the scandalized whispers and looks of contempt. When I shake my head, she puts her hand on the small of my back and gently pushes me forward, guiding me through the throng of students. 

Each step feels heavier than the last, and we almost make it out of the courtyard without anyone stopping us. But just as we get to the door of the building Asher went into, a voice yells out, “Hey! Faggot!” Seeing red, I spin to look for the source of the bigotry and find Luke standing there with a smug look on his face. He steps closer to me and Cassie, and a small semi-circle of people forms around us. “How did you like my present? You should be more careful about what you like online, cocksucker,” he says loudly.  

“You did this?” I ask weakly. “You’re the one who went stalking through my profile?” 

He doesn’t get a chance to respond because the door behind me flies open and a blur of blond hair and lean muscle lunges at Luke, shoving him hard enough to knock him to the ground. 

Luke looks up in shock at Asher, who’s standing there with fists balled up, hair disheveled, glaring at him with the heat of a thousand suns. “You did this? Fuck you, Luke.” 

Luke scrambles to his feet and shoves Asher back, causing him to stumble. “So what if I did? You pissed that your little boyfriend got caught? I wonder what I would find if I went looking through your Instagram. Would I find some pics you liked of guys sucking cock?” Luke laughs ugly. “Or maybe you’re the type of fag who likes to take it up the ass.” 

I must have blanked out for a moment, because I don’t remember throwing the first punch, except now my hand hurts like hell and the next thing I know, Asher and I are both dodging Luke’s fists. I lean back just in time for Luke’s right hand to narrowly miss my stomach, but Asher isn’t so lucky and Luke’s left hand connects with Asher’s face. 

Students are screaming, Fight! Fight! Fight! all around us in absolute pandemonium. Matt pushes his way through the crowd and tries to pull Luke back, who shrugs him off and goes after Asher again, swinging wildly. 

Here’s the thing, I’m not someone who gets into fights, and neither is Asher—but I’ll be damned if anyone tries to hurt the man I love. So instead of backing away or trying to stop it all, I throw myself at Luke in a tackle I’ve seen on the field hundreds of times, knocking him flat on his back. I straddle Luke with my legs on either side of his torso and land a punch to his face. But just as my fist connects with his nose, sharp pain shoots down my spine from him kneeing me in the back. My vision blurs, and suddenly I’m being pulled off Luke by firm hands. Mr. Gutierrez, one of the school security guards, is glaring at me, his fist holding the back of my shirt tight while some teacher is holding Asher back. 

“What the hell is going on here? Explain yourselves!” Mr. Gutierrez demands. 

Luke groans and gets up, holding a bloody nose. “This fag attacked me,” his voice muffled and strained. 

I glare at him, then turn my attention to the six-foot-five man holding onto me. “Only because he stalked my profile and outed me to the entire school. He wrote horrible things about me and called me slurs.” 

Mr. Gutierrez’s face softens for a second, then shakes his head. “Alright, all three of you are going to the principal’s office so we can sort this out.” He waves at everyone else. “The rest of you, get to class!” 

###

I don’t think I’ve ever been sent to the principal’s office because I got into trouble. Picking up a perfect attendance certificate, sure. Getting to pick out candy as a reward for turning in a lost phone, also yes. But fighting? Well, I guess there’s a first for everything. 

We’ve been sitting here for hours now, and after being grilled by several administrators and letting them conduct an “investigation,” they finally decided to call our parents. Which, honestly, is total bullshit. What’s the point of being eighteen if the principal can still call your parents on you? Not to mention that they’ll find out this all started because I’m gay. But I honestly don’t care anymore. They can find out I’m gay—they’ll probably ignore that part of my life like they’ve ignored everything else—I’m more concerned about what’s going through Asher’s mind. 

Asher’s cheek is turning a nasty shade of purple, though the ice pack does seem to be helping him with the pain. “I’m really sorry about all this, Ash. About everything…” 

He winces as he moves the ice pack away from his face. “Percy—”

“I’m serious, Asher. This is all my fault. And… I’m sorry about last night.” I take his hand into mine, and a spark of electricity surges from his hand to mine. 

Asher’s eyes widen, and his already bruised face reddens even more. He jerks his hand back, looking over to the receptionist who’s pretending not to eavesdrop on us. “I… uh,” he lowers his voice to a whisper, “Percy, I can’t do this. I can’t give you what you want…” Tears prick at my eyes, but he keeps going. “I don’t care if you’re gay, Percy. You’re my best friend and I’ll always be there for you, but I can’t give you anything… more than that.”

It hurts to hear it, and I know it was stupid, but some part of me held on to the tiniest sliver of hope that he might feel the same way. I nod and try to talk around the golf ball stuck in my throat, shoving all my feelings deep inside while keeping my voice light. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I don’t like you like that.” Liar. “I just don’t want to lose you as my best friend.” 

Asher smiles, relieved, and pulls me in for a hug. He whispers against my ear, “I don’t want to lose you either, Percy. You mean more to me than you know.” 

My heart feels like it’s breaking with each word, but at least I still have him as my best friend. We pull apart, and his blue eyes shine brightly despite everything we’ve been through. 

“Ahem.” 

Asher freezes, his arms becoming dead weight on my forearms. We both turn to see Asher’s dad, Pastor Michael Hawthorne, standing there with a disapproving look on his face.