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HE STARES at his father from the hallway. He was watching some game on the tv, laughing as he sipped a beer can. It's barley been a day since the whole fight about the planned date. His dad was even sitting in the same place when it happened.
Zhen still hasn't texted Charlie back. He was up all night, no way to get any sleep as thoughts accoutered in his mind. What if he does confess to Charlie and it goes well, what's gonna happen now? What if he does find a way to talk to Charlie.
But, how? His father is with him now all the time. He doesn't check his phone, but he tries to look over at who Zhen's texting.
What he ended with was, he could never escape from his own father. He can never do the things he wants do without it being a sin. Sure, Zhen loves his father, he's been there for him when everything crashed down and they were homeless. He put himself first to make sure Zhen was taken care of as a child.
Zhen just wished he cared about his feelings rather than his protection and well-being.
He takes a blank full seat next to him, looking at the tv and at the football players. Do any of them have understandable dad's? Or have a mother? What if one has none?
Zhen looks at his dad, he looked so happy. Why? How could someone so cruel laugh and act like everything was okay. He wanted to punch him in the face so hard.
A small gulp comes out from him as he pulls his fathers shirt to get his attention. The eye contact and the way his laughter, his smile dropped felt like watching a horror movie in the theaters.
"I'm.." He gestures first. Zhen closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I love you." He signs instead as the water under his eyes began to form already. "I'm grateful for all you've done for me, all the times you taken care of me as a baby till now." Zhen signs slowly, seeing the mood change again.
"I just want you to accept me. I like Charlie. And now he's been mad at me because of you. All you can do is sit and laugh, smile, knowing you tore your son's friendship." He didn't even let his father sign back yet. "Charlie was the first person at school to actually try and talk to me, the first person my age who knows how to communicate with people like me..and you ruined that."
Zhen was now crying. He couldn't help any of this. From the way he didn't answer Charlie and the fact his thoughts took over him like a drug and consumed him just made it worse.
He expected a hug from him, but he didn't feel anything. No arms were wrapped around him in comfort. All he felt was a hand on his shoulder, making him look up as he sniffled.
"I'm not use to this kind of stuff." He began to gesture. "But I wouldn't hurt someone, and I do believe it's a horrible sin...But the point is, people out there are not going to like it and they do much worse. You got it?" Zhen glares at him, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"If you go to this..Charlie. You will hide this from people. Including the church."
Zhen didn't know if his dad was being nice or not. Zhen sighs, looking down. "Do you hate me?"
All he saw was a nod, "you're my son. I love you. Nothing could ever happen that'll make me not. Unless you kill someone." The two laugh a little, Zhen looking down.
He shouldn't be laughing with him. He shouldn't even trust any of this. "Rising star is tonight. Can you take me?"
Zhen rushed his way to the back, knowing he was extremely late. He was having trouble trying to explain to the security guard that he was part of Lemonade Mouth. "Band!" He exclaimed, "sir, go to the back." He said. Zhen's had enough of this.
He shoves of guard, running up towards the stage. Getting stopped again—by Ray. "Where you going?" He can see the band not even playing, just standing. All Zhen could do was kick him in the groin, seeing him fall down in pain.
Zhen finally makes it to the stage. Seeing the audience dancing, Stella and Mo's ex boyfriend, guitaring. The group looks at him, smiles on their faces. Charlie looked...like he had met Zhen all over again.
He joins in with Lee, grabbing her hand as they looked at the audience. He could tell they were singing, having fun, even if he was late...he still came at a good time.
Even after, Zhen thinks he's never hugged so many people. He was happy. This made him feel good. Even if shitty things have happened these last few days. "Uhh..Zhen." Lee whispers, they look to see the security guard getting up. This was Zhen's excuse to fucking leave.
"Get out. Now." He tries to grab Zhen. "Hey." Charlie spoke up, the audience watching this happen. "He's in the band." The man scoffs, "he just ran late, asshat." Lee says to the guard.
Charlie looks over to at Zhen. "You walking home?"
He sees Charlie excuse himself, walking over to Zhen. "You walking home?"
He nods slowly, as the two discovered silence that lasted a while. They just walked, and walked, and walked. This was until Charlie tapped his shoulder, earning the other male's attention.
"Zhen, I need to explain something." He knew immediately. "Is it about what happened?"
"Yeah..I'm sorry. I know that you were lying to your dad about me, and I don't blame you for it. But it hurt when he called me Wen and treated me like I was nothing to you. I felt like I was being used, like I wasn't worth being honest with."
Zhen's eyes filled with tears as he realized how much he had hurt Charlie. "I'm sorry, Charlie. I was just so afraid of losing you. I care about you so much, but I didn't know how to tell you the truth."
Charlie put his hand on Zhen's shoulder, "I understand. It's not your fault." He then takes a double take. "Wait." Zhen just knew what he led out to Charlie. "You care about me?"
Zhen nodded, too nervous to move his hands. "Like..a lot?" He nods once again. Charlie's face lit up with a smile.
They both stood there, looking at each other for a moment, before Zhen leaned in and kissed Charlie. His eyes widen in surprise, but they slowly closed as he realizes. It was a soft, gentle kiss, but it was filled with all the love and longing that they had been holding back for so long.
When they finally pulled away, they looked at each other with a sense of hope and happiness. "Alright, let's go home now."
...
Hope was laying down on his bed, reading a book as he tried to calm his mind. He and Felix haven't talked and Hope doesn't even know if he texted him. He hasn't picked his phone up. Hope hasn't even gone back to school. He doesn't want to deal with any of this.
But oh how much he missed Felix..
He missed the bright eyes that lit up when he talked about the ocean, or how nervous he would get when they'd spot a dog. He wasn't going to get any of that anymore.
