Chapter 1

Jo was the first person to find out about Gabe, under the bleachers, tongue shoved down Bobby Baker's throat. He wasn't even sure if Bobby knew, really, because Bobby wasn't gay, just wanted to shove his tongue down someone's throat, and Gabe was a warm mouth. And it didn't hurt that Gabe was really fucking easy. Like, hand-job-after-15-minutes-of-conversation easy. Blow job if he was really hot.

Of course, Jo's vision wasn't clouded by teenage-boy hormones, and she'd always been quicker on the uptake than most of their classmates. It was why they got along so well. Neither of them were all that book-smart, but, damn, were they street-smart. That was how it was when they were 11 and building a fake volcano, how it was when they were 13 and pulling pranks on every kid in their grade and the one above them, and how it sure as hell was when they were 16 and Jo was looking at him like that. A little betrayed, a little amused, and a lot like he'd be getting an ear-full of this later.

Eventually Bobby spotted her, too (although it took forever, and, really, what had Gabe ever seen if Bobby Baker? Except for the muscles, and, well, swim team. So, yeah.), and then it was all, "Shit, shit, shit! I have to go. Shit. Don't tell anyone. Not that this was- I mean, I'm not- Just, keep your mouth shut. And keep her-" and there was an emphatic pointing at Jo here that made Bobby's muscles stretch and Gabe stared shamelessly "-mouth shut." And then Bobby was storming off, wiping at his mouth and adjusting his close, and Gabe didn't even get the chance to enjoy Bobby walking away because suddenly Jo was there, raised eyebrow looming over (well, under, technically, since Gabe had hit that growth spurt and gotten as tall as PJ) him.

"Bobby Baker?" She sounded unimpressed. "Seriously, I'm judging you for this."

So Gabe knew they'd be alright.

There was, of course, the "why didn't you tell me"s and the "you know we'll always be friend, dick-wad"s, but, truth be told, Gabe had always suspected that Jo had always suspected. Their relationship wasn't talking-based. They just got each other, two peas and all that. She'd been Gabe's first crush, and he'd been hers. That was, of course, before Gabe discovered the wonders of cock, but that was beside the point. Jo still meant a hell of a lot more to him than Bobby Baker.

Bobby Baker, who Gabe didn't see after that day. He heard a rumor that he'd switched schools. Jo teased him about scaring boys off with a single kiss, to which Gabe countered that there'd been a hell of a lot more than "a single kiss" and Jo stuck her fingers in her ears and screeched, "TMI, Gabe. Seriously, dude. T. M. I."

Jo once asked him, when they were hanging out at his house, killing something undead with blasters that looked suspiciously like lollypops on Jo's latest catch from whatever shady source sold her games, if he was ever going to tell his family. Gabe had shot another undead whatchamacallit and pointedly avoided the question. Jo didn't ask again, but she did beat him mercilessly in the game (Gabe hadn't even known they were playing against each other and presumed that Jo had withheld that knowledge on purpose).

It wasn't that Gabe thought his family would hate him or something, kick him out like all those horror stories or send him off to some camp to "cure" him. His family was pretty kick-ass, although he would never tell them to their faces, but Gabe had always been the different one. He was the brown-haired one; he was the trouble-making one. He just didn't, on top of everything, want to be the gay one, so Gabe was avoiding the issue.

If he never told them, it could never be weird. They would never have that awkward first "Is this your boyfriend?" moment or that infinitely more awkward "No, this is just a boy friend" moment. They would never have that awkward "You can always adopt" moment when Gabe was way too young to be thinking about future life partners and possible children. They would never have that awkward "You're - gay?" moment where their whole world had to readjust and Gabe felt like a failure of a son for being even more trouble.

So, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them.

Of course, shit was bound to go down eventually. Merry fucking Christmas