Chapter 9 - Sudden Discovery
-------------
Author's Note: What! An update! Crazy! No, I know, crazy! Hey guys. Sorry this took so long, but as I said, I really don't have many ideas. I hope to finish this if I can, but there might be more long waiting in store, just to warn you.
-------------
Cody checked his school stuff for at least the seventh time, making sure he had everything for the next day. He wasn't quite sure why exactly he was so nervous. Everything had been explained to the principal, after all; Calvin was a new foreign student, staying with Cody's family. Though they weren't sure how long he would be in the country, Cal's parents wanted him to attend school if he could while he was there.
'Kel will be fine,' Cody reassured himself, another thing which he had done at least seven times. There was no reason to think that anything would go wrong, never mind him bringing his boyfriend to school, never mind the fact that Kel wasn't even human and barely understood how the human world worked. Well... maybe they could pass off his eccentricities as some quirk of being "foreign." Maybe.
"Cody?" Kel asked softly. Cody looked up; he hadn't heard Kel enter the room. The young triton closed the door softly behind him and came to sit next to Cody on the bed. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Cody assured him, putting a hand on Kel's shoulder and giving him his best reassuring smile. It wouldn't do to let Kel know how nervous he was. The visiting triton must have had his own anxieties to worry about. After all, he was the one attending a school in a world he barely knew.
"I do not have to go to school with you if it will be awkward," said Kelhan.
Cody was slightly surprised at the offer; he knew Kel was dying to try this new aspect of Cody's life, the one that had made him come back to the Overland in the first place. Kel never backed down from a challenge, so his offer to curb his own curiosity was touching.
"It's fine," Cody said again. "We just have to keep kind of a low profile. And I still have to come up with some kind of good excuse for where I was all summer."
"You could say you came to my country," Kel suggested. "It's more or less true, after all."
"Yeah, but then people would start asking me what it was like, and we could get into trouble like that. No, don't worry. I'm sure I'll think of something."
"Well," Kel stood, non-chalantly shucking off his shirt and then starting on his pants, "I am excited to see this school of yours. Tell me, must we also hide our relationship there as well, or can I kiss you if I wish?"
Cody nearly jumped off the bed in panic. "No! Kel, school, more than anywhere else, is where we have to knock off the affectionate stuff. Try to not even touch me too much if you can help it. If people even think that we're gay at school... well, let's just say that bad things could happen."
Kel, now nude, frowned at him. "I thought you said that humans didn't really mind about touching?"
"Well, they don't, er," Cody faltered, trying to think of a good way to explain. "They don't care as much. I mean, human friends sometimes hug, not just lovers or family members. But you still don't hug strangers, and even guy friends tend not to get too physical, especially in public."
"You were plenty physical with that human boy of yours." Kel threw him the pouty lip, and Cody sighed; sometimes, Kel could be very difficult, and stubborn to a ridiculous degree.
"Jess is not my boyfriend. He and I are close friends, but I wouldn't even hug him in public the way that we hugged when you saw us. People might start to say weird things."
Kel sighed, then flopped down onto the bed next to Cody. After a second though, he sat up and pulled Cody to him for a long, lingering kiss. "I guess we'll have to have extra physical contact now to tide us over," he murmured against Cody's lips.
"No objections here," Cody said with a grin.
Cody had his shirt off, and things were just beginning to pass beyond basic foreplay, when Cody's bedroom door opened. It took Cody a few seconds to realize what the sound meant, remembering that he hadn't locked the door, and a few more seconds of shocked horror. By then, it was too late to pretend that they hadn't been doing anything.
"Cody, are you-" His mother had stopped abruptly when she saw the two of them, and stood simply staring.
Cody rolled off of Kelhan, the small part of his brain that wasn't panicking having enough sense to grab his discarded shirt and tossing it at Kelhan, who placed it strategically to maintain his modesty. "Mom," said Cody, "this isn't what it looks like. I can explain."
She gave him a serious look.
"Ummm..." Cody looked back and forth between her and Kelhan. With a sinking feeling, he realized that there was no way he was going to explain his way out of this one. "Okay, so it's exactly what it looks like. But I- we were going to tell you. I swear."
His mother looked strangely calm, and Cody got the feeling that she was concentrating on taking deep breaths. "Honey, I think we should talk about this with your father. Would you come downstairs please? After you get dressed, of course." And she shut the door behind her.
"Shit," muttered Cody under his breath after she had gone. "Shit shit shit shit shit. This is NOT what I needed the night before school starts."
Kel looked at him curiously. "Is it really so bad?" he asked.
"It is if they kick me out of the house!" Cody could hear the panic in his own voice.
Kel continued to look at Cody for a moment, then turned to stare at the door. "They are your parents," he said, he voice calm and logical. "If they love you as they should, they will not care. And if they do desert you, we can simply return to Undersea. Everything will be alright."
Cody turned to look at him, surprised.
"What?" asked Kelhan. "Am I missing something?"
Cody shook his head, trying to get his brain started again. "No, no. I just... that's very logical. Which is weird, considering how little you know about this world."
Kel shrugged. "It is simply common sense. Would you like me to come down to speak with your parents?"
Cody nodded. "I think they'd want you to."
"Very well." Kel nodded and stood, heading towards the door.
"Wait!" Cody called from the bed. Kel stopped and turned to him with a questioning look.
"You should probably put some pants on first."
- Previous Chapter I Next Chapter -