Boy/Boy Problems

Text messages and Interviews

"So I have to ask, the conspiracy?" asked the reporter that insisted Teddy and Luke call him Troy, like they were friends. He looked the type that would think they were actually friends, and maybe he was friends with some of the people he wrote about, but he also had to be aware that it this was a sport to be won or lost.

"What conspiracy?" asked Luke, a mischievous glint in his tone as though this exact answer hadn't been rehearsed a thousand times.

"Some fans were convinced you were secretly dating for years and I gotta guess those fans feel vindicated now," prompted the reporter Troy.

"Well unfortunately we have not been dating for years," said Teddy.

"Not yet anyway," added Luke. "It's kind of nice that they saw the love there even when we didn't right?"

"They definitely over estimated our secret keeping ability though," said Teddy with a giggle.

"We did alright!" insisted Luke giving Teddy a playful push.

"Of course you did keep other secrets," Troy jumped in to steer the conversation. "Hiding your sexuality had to have been hard?"

"I wouldn't say I was hiding," said Luke taking a pause for contemplation making Teddy want to roll his eyes at how rehearsed the whole thing was. "My family and friends all knew I was bisexual. I never said I was straight, everyone assumed."

"You didn't correct them?" said the reporter named Troy.

"No," said Luke, genuinely ashamed for a moment.

"He shouldn't have to," said Teddy jumping to his defence without thinking. Teddy was supposed to stay out of this part. He could see 'call me Troy' itching to turn this conversation onto Teddy because Teddy was the one that had been hiding. He was the one that had lied. Maybe not directly, but was definitely deliberately misleading people. Except this profile wasn't about Teddy, it was about Luke, and Teddy's sexuality was off limits. Teddy was off limits, unless he joined the conversation himself. His one job was to keep his mouth shut and he'd apparently failed.

"I shouldn't have had to, you're right Teds," said Luke pulling focus back. "But I was definitely using that assumption as an excuse not to tell anyone. I was scared. So yeah it was hard to hide but in some ways not hiding seemed harder."

"Are you still scared?" asked the reporter called Troy.

"Terrified," Luke answered quickly. "But I always knew if I met I guy I liked, I wasn't going to hide it."

"Aww honey you like me?" joked Teddy trying to dampen some of the heaviness.

"You're alright I guess," said Luke throwing his arm around Teddy and pulling him in.

"He's such a sweet talker," Teddy said to Troy, trying to drag him back into the conversation.

Call me Troy took the bait and shifted the conversation, "So if not years, how long have you been dating?"

"It's definitely less than years," said Teddy. They were determined to keep the timeline vague, they wanted people to think that Luke's coming out had been the grand romantic gesture that brought them together but they also wanted to be able to deny that it was should the need arise.

"So it's recent?" promoted call me Troy.

"It's fairly recent," said Luke with a smug look that said he wanted call me Troy to know that he knew exactly how frustrating his answer was.

"Definitely more recent than not," agreed Teddy, joining Luke to laugh at their own evasiveness.

Realising he wasn't going to get anything more from that line of questioning call me Troy moved on to ask about Luke's character, signalling the end of Teddy's contribution. He looked over towards Rah who quickly jumped into make excuses for Teddy's departure, he had to get back to work. Teddy pretended to argue but Rah persevered, a perfect performance. As he left Teddy kissed Luke quickly on the lips and said he'd see him later, another lie on an ever increasing list.