Twenty-Three

Isaac woke up after a short nap to warmth. He blinked up at the sleeping boy he was using as a pillow. He observed Jess's features.

He's so pretty.

Isaac reached for his phone and stayed where he was while clicking it on. He made sure to turn it on vibrate and then mute the volume before he went on any apps. The last thing he wanted was to wake up Jess.

The boy's deep breathing was insanely relaxing as Isaac played on his phone. He had only been awake thirty minutes when his peacefulness was disturbed by a noise. It sounded like knocking.

At first, Isaac thought he was just imagining it. That thought didn't last long because soon enough he heard it again. With a sigh he stood up, getting off Jess very carefully as to not disturb him.

He covered up the boy with a blanket before leaving his room. He heard the knocking once more as he walked down the hall. When he finally reached the living room he went over and opened the door without checking who it was first.

Andrew was standing there.

"What are you doing here?" When he spoke Isaac realized he sounded sleepy. Andrew looked more guilty then, that's when Isaac also noticed he looked guilty.

"Sorry, I was going to text you but then I thought you might not answer. So, here I am. Can I come in? I really need to talk to you."

Isaac gave him a skeptical look before stepping aside to let the boy in. Andrew slipped off his shoes and then went into the living room.

"New chair?"

"Uh, yeah." Isaac nodded as he sat on the couch. "My dad wanted a recliner and that one was kinda cheap so he just bought it."

"Oh." Andrew nodded before sitting in the chair. He shifted around uncomfortable for a minute. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't say anything to apologize for." Zack pointed out. It was true. Andrew hadn't even given him a nasty look.

"I'm still sorry."

He then shifted his seating again. He looked thoughtful and Isaac didn't say anything. Instead, he waited because he knew something was coming. Andrew had something to say.

"Hey uh... how'd you know? I mean about being, er well like-" He paused and took a breath while Isaac sat patiently, waiting for him to gather his thoughts enough to speak. "How'd you know you were into guys?"

That definitely wasn't what he was expecting but he'd answer. A small smile made its way on to his face. "I hadn't really for a while. It's not like I ever really thought about it, it was just never something I noticed about myself. Then I got closer to Jess and started seeing the signs. I caught myself just watching him, like admiring him, and even thinking about how attractive he was. I wanted to spend time with him, talk to him, and just be around him. Then I realized I wanted to be more. I wanted to hold his hand, hug him, kiss him, all that mushy shit. After that it just became obvious, then when thinking about it I realized the signs were there for awhile I was just oblivious to them."

He nodded solemnly and looked downward at the floor. Isaac could tell he was zoning but didn't say anything. After a question like that he knew Andrew probably had some thinking to do.

"Hey," Isaac started. Andrew looked up, looking a bit like a deer in headlights. "Don't stress yourself out about it. Just go with whatever's comfortable to you."

He looked a little sick and nodded. "Can I ask you another question?"

"'Course you can. What's up?"

"How'd you like, start getting closer with Jess?"

"He almost accidentally hit me with a door and we just started talking."

"That was no help. I can't accidentally hit Marco with a door. What if I actually hurt him?" He mumbled but Isaac heard it all and smiled widely.

"Isn't Marco that sophomore kid that's the newbie on the baseball team?"

Andrew blushed. "Don't say anything, okay man?"

"Hey, your secrets are safe with me. Won't tell a soul, except for maybe Jess but he won't tell anyone either." Andrew looked slightly more pale as Isaac went on so the brunette boy paused. "I mean, unless you don't want me to tell Jess. I can keep it a secret if it's really that important to you."

"No its okay. You can tell Jess if he won't tell anyone. I'm just... not sure on what's going on with me. I don't really want it getting out until I'm sure."

"Ay, I understand. Don't sweat it, man. Just take your time. That stuff's confusing so don't worry too much about figuring it all out right away."

Andrew seemed to calm down a bit. He nodded. "Sorry I didn't have your back when Jace started tearing into you like that. I was scared because I was kinda hating myself at the moment. I think it was like- what's it called?"

"Internalized homophobia?" Zack offered and Andrew nodded.

"Yeah that. So I just couldn't bring myself to help you. Too scared of ending up in that position myself I guess. I know it's not much of a reason but I really am sorry."

"Nah, man, really don't worry about it. You came back and apologized. That's what counts. I'm not mad at you. At least you weren't the one saying that shit."

Andrew decided not to say that he wasn't doing anything about it either. Isaac was too kind for his own good sometimes. Although right now, he was grateful for it.

"Now, cute newbie? How'd that happen?" Zack's face held a cheeky grin and Andrew felt himself go a little red.

"Nothing serious has happened yet, don't get your hopes up." Andrew mumbled and Isaac laughed. "I've just noticed him and kinda admire him. I mean because of the way he's taking the bullying. Wyatt's been giving him shit and he hands it right back every time."

"Yeah? He sounds badass." Isaac said and Andrew silently agreed.

They were quiet for some time. Andrew looking at his feet like there was more he wanted to say. Zack waited patiently for him to say something in case whatever he was thinking about was important.

They didn't get to that though because a boy emerging sleepily out of the hallway caught Isaac's attention. He hobbled over towards the couch and Isaac smiled softly. "Hey, Baby."

Jess didn't say anything, just walked up to Isaac who opened his arms up for him. Jess crawled in his lap, sitting side ways so he could rest his head on his chest and stretch out his legs. Isaac chuckled and wrapped his arms around the sleepy boy.

It was then, Jess finally noticed Andrew. He tensed up a little bit and his head moved so he could look back and forth between the two with ease.

"Uh, what's happening?" His voice was quiet, both from having just woke up and because he was only asking Zack.

"Andrew was apologizing."

Jess's face screwed up and he furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"Yeah. He wanted to tell me he was sorry about not sticking up for me when Jace was being an ass."

Jess hummed. "Good. He better be sorry."

Andrew let the guilty look came back but Isaac just chuckled. He gave Jess a soft look and defended his friend, "He didn't do anything wrong."

"He let it happen."

"He was dealing with internalized homophobia at the time. I can't blame him." Isaac said, a little quieter but loud enough Andrew could hear too.

Jess's eyes widened and his head snapped over to Andrew. "You- you were... You're gay?"

"Uh." Andrew shifted uncomfortable under the boy's watchful gaze. "I'm- I'm not sure what I am. I just know there's a distinct possibility I like guys."

"He's got a little crush on Marco." Isaac whispered in Jess's ear. At the feeling of Isaac's breath on his ear he blushed. Isaac loved the way the tips of his ears turned red when he blushed.

Jess took a moment to process what Isaac said and then he burst out laughing. Isaac watched with a smile of content even if he had no idea what was so funny. Jess just had a pretty laugh so he smiled. Andrew was confused.

"Oh my God, that's perfect!"

"Wha-what?" Andrew finally managed to say something and Jess looked at him with half closed eyes and a goofy smile.

"A while back, before Wyatt really started fucking with Marco, I overheard him talking to Ki in Algebra. They were talking about a scrawny kid that wanted to join the baseball team, Marco, and were basically just picking fun. Well, Wyatt said the guy's gotta be a fag because he watched him check you out and then proceeded to say you were the lease likely to turn. Apparently you fucking a dude was never gonna happen. Hence why this situation is so cemdic to me."

Andrew's face showed that he realized the joke now. Zack chuckled quietly to himself. He briefly remembered Jess mentioning something about that conversation he had overheard.

"Damn. You think he was actually checking me out or were they exaggerating?" Andrew's cheeks were tinted slightly as he asked. Isaac chuckled at the hopefulness in his tone.

"I wouldn't know." Jess said with a shrug. Afterwards he must've decided he was done with the conversation because he leaned his head back against Isaac's shoulder.

Zack slid one of his hands up to rub Jess's side and smiled when the boy let out a little sigh of content. His other arm stayed securely around the boy's waist. When Isasc finally averted his eyes back to Andrew, the boy was giving them both a small smile.

"You guys are cute."

Jess hummed and Isaac smiled. "Thanks."

Isaac and Andrew fell into easy conversation then. Jess didn't contribute but he was resting his head on Isaac and listening. On occasion Isaac would whisper in his ear to make sure he was okay and he would hum in response.

After a little pause Andrew said something that seemed to be floating in the back of his mind the whole time. "Has anyone really given you a lot of shit about it?"

Jess seemed interested suddenly, looking up the best he could without moving from his comfortable spot. Isaac just shrugged one shoulder, careful not to move the one Jess was using as a pillow. He didn’t want to disturb Jess too much. "Not really. Just whispers and some glares. You know how they are, don't want to outright say anything."

"Yeah." Andrew nodded.

"Mason said people will probably calm down after a couple days. He said that not very many people actually care they just like to talk about the new drama." Jess cut in for the first time.

Andrew looked a little surprised. "You talk to Mason?"

"I did today. Ethan shouldered me in class and he called him out for being a dick and then sat by me. I've talked to Tally lots of times but never Mason until today."

"Wait Ethan did what?" Isaac cut in at the same time as Andrew said:

"You talk to Tally?"

Jess addressed Zack first, "I'm fine, he's just being an ass." Then he turned to Andrew. "Yeah, we talk sometimes. We were friends I'm freshman year because we sat by each other in art."

"Oh." Andrew nodded but Zack still looked annoyed.

"If Ethan pulls anything else, tell me." He said down at Jess. He wasn't afraid to confront someone if he had to. Jess was more important to him than getting in trouble.

"I will, but seriously don't worry about it." Jess said, sitting up a little so he could make eye contact with Zack. "I'm perfectly fine, a boy in a bad mood bumping into me isn't going to hurt me."

"Still."

"Okay." Jess rolled his eyes. "I will tell you if he causes me any more problems. Happy, now?"

"Yes." Zack nodded. Jess hummed and laid his head back down on Isaac's shoulder.

"Can we get back on topic? I was interested." Jess said in a voice that didn't make him sound interested at all.

"Right, people giving me shit." Zack looked back at Andrew. "Has anyone said anything?"

"Jace bitched about it this morning and Ki was mad. He didn't say anything though. Then Ethan heard and started telling people. I stopped talking to them when some of the stuff Jace was saying got too uncomfortable. At some point Ki stopped talking to them too but he still looked pissed. He's been going around and bitching at everyone for stupid things. People are saying he's just taking his anger out on them because he's too pussy to say shit to you but I don't know."

Isaac nodded. He pushed the hurt feeling down. They chose to cast him away and now he would just have to be okay without their friendship. He had Andrew, Dagger, and Mason, with the possibility of Tally as well in the future. He'd be okay.

I just gotta work my way there.

"Was Marco the first sign you were into men?" Jess asked. Then there was a pause before he added, "Shit, I'm sorry. I have a bit of a problem with asking personal questions. You don't have to answer that if you're uncomfortable."

Andrew had originally seemed like a deer in headlights at the question. However, after Jess's rant he let out a small chuckle. Isaac chuckled too at his boyfriend before slipping a hand under Jess's shirt and rubbing circles into the skin there with his thumb.

"Marco was the first I admitted, both to myself and out loud, to being attracted to. However, there were some other guys that I just didn't admit to liking before that."

This caught Zack's attention as well. "Really? Like who?"

Andrew suddenly got a little smirk on his face. He seemed a lot more comfortable talking about this now than he had before. "I'll tell if you tell who you found attractive before Jess."

"Oooh, yes please." Jess hummed. "I wanna know too."

Isaac groaned but he couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Fine. You have to go first."

"Alright, fair enough." Andrew nodded in agreement before his expression drifted to in thought. "Uh... I definitely had a crush on Danny Phantom as a kid so that's a start."

"As you should." Jess piped up. He leaned forward off Isaac's shoulder so the brunette boy could see his face again. He was smiling playfully. "He was my gay awakening, not even kidding."

Zack laughed at his boyfriend and Andrew chuckled too.

"Alright, alright, back on topic." Isaac looked over at Andrew.

"Right. Cole Sprouse is hot as hell, Robert Downing Jr, Thor, and that's just the tip of the ice berg when it comes to celebrities."

"Wait so does that mean there were other people? Like, people that weren't celebrities?" Jess sounded completely interested in the current conversation.

Isaac turned to Andrew, now also interested. Andrew turned his head down with a slight blush to his face. "Thinking about it... yeah. I definitely had a crush on a few people in the past and just couldn't own up to it."

"Wait, wait, wait. Who?" Isaac's eyes were a little wide as he asked.

Andrew gave him a sheepish smile. "Do you remember Chase Arbos?"

Isaac racked his brain for any memory of that name. Suddenly realization struck him. "The senior baseball guy from when we were frashman?"

"He was the first of the upperclassmen to ever talk to me like I was an equal. I used to just think that I really looked up to him but now.. I'm pretty sure that was definitely the equivalent of a school girl crush."

Jess and Isaac chuckled at that. Isaac finally spoke. "I do remember he had very blue eyes."

"Yeah, they were very pretty."

"Any more senior players you had a crush on?" Jess said with a curious smile.

Isaac couldn't help the way his chest filled with happiness. His boyfriend and one of the boys he had been friends with since childhood were talking and getting along. They were joking and smiling together. It made him happy in a way he couldn't describe.

"No but I am pretty sure I had a crush on Mason's older brother. He's way too old for me but he came to a few of our games and talked to us since we're friends with Mase. Remember him, Zack?"

"Hey, yeah. He was nice. Although he looks exactly like Mason but older. Does that mean you think Mason's cute?" Isaac flashed his cheeky smile. Neither of the boys on the couch missed the pink tint on Andrew's cheeks.

"Shut the fuck up." Isaac laughed loudly at the grumpy reaction. "You know what? It's your turn."

Jess turned towards Zack then. His eyes held a spark. Whether it was curiosity, interest, or mischief, Isaac couldn't tell.

"Fine, fine." Isaac slowly stopped laughing but the smile remained. "Well if we're starting with celebrities I guess when I was a kid I did really appreciate how nice Andrew Garfield looked in the Spiderman suit. Tom Holland is cute too."

"Of course." Jess was nodding in approval.

"Let's see... both the guys from Supernatural are hot."

"Which one comes first though?" Jess drew the attention to him and tilted his head a little. "This is valuable information."

"Um, the one that plays Sam."

Jess shook his head. "I must disagree there. Jensen Ackles is a living God."

Zack laughed. "If you say so, Baby."

Jess's ears turned pink again. Isaac loved the way they did that when he blushed. The brunette boy smiled wide at the reaction before continuing on with his list.

"Oh! What's that one guy's name? Uh..." Zack looked deep in thought. "Shit, I know he was in One Direction."

"Harry Styles?" Jess threw out the guess but Zack shook his head.

"No he's cute but not the best out of them. Which one was the one with the tan skin and dark hair?"

"Zayn Malik?!" Jess's eyes widened in realization.

Isaac grinned. "Yeah, him. He's really hot."

"Which one was he? I haven't seen very many things about One Direction." Andrew looked confused.

"I gotchu." Jess went to reach in his jean pockets but then paused. "Oh shit, my phone's in your room. Hold up, don't continue the list, I'll be right back."

Jess crawled out of Isaac's lap and did a little skip as he started down the hallway. Zack watched with a little smile as the boy walked away.

"You really like him, eh?"

Isaac turned over to look at Andrew who was grinning at him. He chuckled softly. "That obvious?"

"Painfully." Andrew answered. "It's cute though. You look happy."

"I am. I really am, man. The happiest I've been in awhile."

"That's good." Andrew said and they both smiled at each other. Jess came bounding back in then.

"I've got it." He ran over and showed his phone to Andrew.

"Oh, yeah he is cute."

Jess then returned to his previous seat on Isaac. The boy smiled and wrapped his arms around Jess's waist again. The boy showed his phone to Zack just to ease the boy's curiosity. It was a picture of Zayn in his One Direction days.

"Okay, you may continue." Jess said while turning off his phone. He turned his attention back to Isaac who smiled.

"The guy from Maze Runner."

"If you're not talking about Newt, I will dump you." Jess said turning to look at him. Isaac laughed.

"Newt was cute, I'll give him that. I hqowever was talking about Thomas. Minho too now that I think about it." Isaac admitted.

Jess shook his head in mock disappointment. "Newt should've been number one on your list."

Isaac chuckled. "But he was on my list. Does that mean I don't have to be single again?"

Jess sighed. "I suppose I'll be kind."

"Thank you." Isaac leaned over to land a kiss on Jess's temple. The boy blushed again. "Moving on now. That's all the celebrities I can really think of now."

"Does that mean we're getting your embarrassing real life crushes now?" Andrew asked just a bit too eager.

"Well.. I'm not sure if I had any." Isaac tried to think about it.

"You can't back out by saying that, there's gotta be someone you used to like." Andrew said, skeptical.

"Shut up, I'm thinking." Isaac ignored him. Someone did end up popping up in his mind. "Oh! Mr. Hendricks."

Andrew looked confused before his eyes widened. "The English teacher from seventh grade?"

"He was always my favorite. Thinking about it now, I realize there might've been more to it than just 'he was nice'." Isaac admitted, not feeling all that embarrassed by the realization.

He looked over at Jess who was staring back at him with deep interest. He smiled. "He was young and handsome."

"Yeah." Isaac agreed. He didn't know Jess in middle school but apparently they did go to the same one.

"That's just weird, dude."

Isaac flipped him off. "Fuck off." There was obvious no malice behind it though because they both laughed.

"Anybody else?" Jess asked with a soft voice. It made Isaac's heartbeat pick up.

"Uh... I really don't know." Isaac tried to think a little more. "I don't think so, but I hadn't realized I liked guys then."

"I hadn't either." Andrew defended.

"Had you not realized or had you just not accepted it?" Jess asked with a deadpan voice but a sly smile.

"I-" Andrew stopped himself. "I'm not answering that."

The pouty look on his face was answer enough. Jess chuckled quietly and Isaac smiled sweetly at the sound.

Andrew stayed for a bit longer. They talked about casual things, Jess only chiming in on occasion. Eventually he did get tired of thirdwheeling and left.

Jess stayed and watched movies with Isaac on the couch until nine. Zack then took him home, holding his hand the whole drive.

"I'll be back tomorrow to pick you up." Zack grinned when they parked at the curb by Jess's house.

"Will you?" Jess looked amused.

"I will." Isaac then leaned over the dash and they kissed goodbye.

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So... Andrew is kinda ✨️💅✨️. Was anyone expecting that?

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!

Love you ♡

- Z