I'm Gay, He's Straight -SERIES- [boyxboy]

*Kiss Me Like You Did* IGHS Sequel {07} Slash

I laughed. ‘She’s not looking for anything serious this year,’ I said, shrugging.

‘Does she have a shitty ex story as well?’ he asked, then turned to Johnny and signed but spoke at the same time, ‘Is it a twin thing or something?’

‘Why, what’s your shitty ex story?’ I asked, not feeling nosy given that their whole reason for calling me over was to poke into my life.

‘Not me,’ he said, then jerked his head at Johnny. ‘This poor bastard has been fucked over more times than Laura Bell,’ he snickered, signing as he spoke for Johnny’s benefit.

Johnny elbowed him, looking embarrassed.

‘Laura Bell?’ I asked, trying to subtly change the subject for his sake.

‘ “The Queen of London Whoredom”,’ Jacob said grandly, then added, ‘Noah and I are studying history.’

‘Dude, I don’t think you’ll be learning about prostitutes in class,’ I said, pretending to break it to him gently.

‘Don’t go breakin’ my heart,’ he said absently, patting his pockets and pulling out his phone. ‘Shit man,’ he said, looking at Noah. ‘We’d better go register, it started a half hour ago.’

Noah groaned. ‘Are you serious?’

Jacob nodded, standing up and gathering his things; seconds later Johnny and I were left sitting in a slightly awkward silence. Then again, it wasn’t likely to be noisy.

Do you know much sign language? Johnny signed at me slowly and carefully, grinning a little at how I had to concentrate to catch what he was saying.

A little, I replied. Did it for a term in school. I paused. What are you studying?

I’m pre-med, he replied. You?

Engineering, I answered, with vague wonderment that I could remember learning how to tell people what college course I wanted to do in ISL. I paused, then added tentatively, I think Ryan is pre-med as well...

Johnny nodded, his face becoming sympathetic. No, empathetic. He knew what I was going through.

Can I ask what happened? I signed cautiously, not wanting to push it.

Johnny shrugged. Used and abused, he signed quickly. Guys are dickheads. I didn’t know there was a sign for “dickheads”, but when he motioned jerking off from his forehead, I got the picture.

You’re gay? I asked, surprised. I don’t know why I had assumed he and Jacob would be the same in every way when Kelly and I weren’t the same sexuality – she was bi and I’m gay – but for some reason I was surprised.

Johnny nodded, not bothering to reply properly. What happened with you and Taylor?

I hesitated; I hadn’t even thought about it for myself for fourteen months, how could I come out and tell a complete stranger all about it? But there was something so comforting about Johnny’s silence. I had barely spoken myself for so long that my voice was gravelly and scratchy; speaking felt a little unnatural after all that time. Perverse as it sounded, I could already identify with Johnny. I knew what it was like to be surrounded by people talking and not join in because of some personal affliction. His was physical and mine was mental, but I got the feeling that Johnny would have been pretty quiet even if he could talk.

It’s a long story, I warned him tentatively, half hoping he’d shrug and change the subject, but he just nodded expectantly, his large brown eyes blinking innocently. Taylor and I... We were in love, I started awkwardly, cringing at how dumb that sounded. Then he had to move to California with his parents, and he got- I cut myself off. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone what had happened to him in Cali. He wasn’t allowed to speak to me anymore, I amended.