Slash Work - 11. Finale/How Do I Tie Up All These Loose Ends?!

Chapter 11: Finale/How Do I Tie Up All These Loose Ends?!

Mitchell lied unconscious in the back seat of my car. His hideous, evil mole of doom staring directly at me. It was through the miracle of last minute thinking that I suggested to Chad that he buckle Mitchell in, instead of having him lying limp in the backseat. THAT would look a little suspicious to any passerby. Chad, reluctantly, agreed. The reason why Mitchell was unconscious was, of course, because Chad had, upon yanking off the mask, decided to ignore my advice about the whole “not killing” thing and decked him straight across the head. Mitchell hasn’t said a word since.

Upon hearing me confirm that this guy who tried to attack me was called Mitchell, Chad went postal and demanded that I tell him how I knew that. About ready to clock out Chad myself, I told him that he was in one of my classes, and that the only reason why I knew his name was through the roll call the professor took every class session.

As to why Mitchell was currently in my car, well, that was the end result of ANOTHER one of Chad’s actions. After successfully rendering him speechless via physical assault, it was Chad’s idea to immediately take him to the nearest police station. It was MY idea to grab socks, shoes, jackets, and the keys to my car. It was HIS idea to not wait for such trivial things, pick the unconscious dude up, and rush down into the parking lot whilst I gathered things. It was, of course, my idea to jingle the keys to said car in front of him when I made it down there myself. Chad was not amused.

“Dude, I still can’t believed some guy really tried to rape you...TWICE,” he said, driving like a speed demon across town.

“I guess I’m just that good looking,” I said back. No response.

“Still say I should’ve beaten his face in back at the apartment,” he said gruffly.

“And then we’d have no way of identifying him,” I replied. “He wasn’t carrying any ID on him. Plus, the police might charge YOU with aggravated assault or something for needlessly imploding his face.”

“He deserved it, dude. The police would side with me.”

“I don’t know.”

We eventually arrived at the police station. I was the one who thought about what it would look like if we had dragged an unconscious and lightly bruised college student into a police station. Making us both stop and think about how to proceed, we came up with nothing. So, we went along with Plan A, which basically involved Chad picking the guy up and having us walk calmly into the building. Chad managed to bang Mitchell’s head against the side of the door, claiming that it was an “accident.” Yeah right. The first officer to catch a glimpse of us, understandably, went wide-eyed and rushed over to see what was wrong.

“This dude’s a rapist!” Chad exclaimed strongly.

‘Gee, thanks for the subtlety there, Chad. Why not just burn my closet door around me while you’re at it?’

I immediately corrected him, saying that the guy did not actually commit any rape, but Chad rebuffed that quickly by saying that he had ATTEMPTED to rape, twice. The whole scene must’ve looked like a bad soap opera scene to the poor officer woman.

Chad dumped the body onto a nearby couch while I tried to explain the situation a little more clearly to the officer. I tried not to include myself in any of the explanations, but Chad was quick to add me in regardless. Eventually I just gave up and started telling the whole truth. Chad was more agreeable after that. Fucking idiot. I’ll have to tell him after we get out of here that he just purposely caused my second coming out to someone, the first being him, of course. AND it was the first forcible outing as well.

The police woman insisted on interviewing me and all that extensive crap. I tried to say no. She wanted documentation so that they have something to go by when they file charges against Mitchell. I tried to get them to interview Chad instead, since he was clearly more into this than I was. But, I was the one nearly raped, so I had to be the one scrutinized. Stupid legal system. I demanded that everything be kept confidential and that none of this be leaked out “as a warning” to the students on campus. Actually, I demanded this several times throughout the night. I’m sure that everybody got tired of hearing it after the fiftieth time, but it’s the only way their sleep-deprived brains will remember it!

We stayed there for well over two hours. Mitchell, thankfully, stayed unconscious the entire time. I requested that nobody attempt to wake him up while we were still there. Thankfully, they at least complied to that. By the time we left, it was around six in the morning. The friggin’ sun would be up soon. And I know that I, at least, had class in about two hours. Needless to say, I would be skipping THAT class. Hope Matt doesn’t miss me TOO much (sarcasm again).

Chad and I went back to his dorm room (it was closer), and slept until our shared class was about to begin. We groggily made our way to class. We came in, sat next to each other, and proceeded to sleep the entire time. Nothing covered in class today better be on the exam, or we’re screwed.

~~~

The rest of the day went unusually smoothly. Simon didn’t seem to realize that anything out of the ordinary had happened, and acted as if it was just another day on the job with me. He asked about the story. I told him that I killed everybody off in a fit of rage. His face going into one of shock told me that he believed me. I got a chuckle out of that and told him I was fibbing. He seemed to relax some.

“But your character died in a gruesome fashion,” I added.

“What?! I had a character? Why’d you kill him off?!” he yelled.

“‘Cause he was a wuss,” I answered.

“He is NOT a wuss!” Simon defended.

“And he got herpes,” I added again.

“Why’d he get herpes?! You’re so mean to my character! What’d he ever do to you?”

I laughed again and explained that he really didn’t have a character. I had been lying (again) the entire time. Now he was just getting angry with me. I quickly explained what was actually happening in the story. Of course, omitting all the “gay” things. He said that he was starting to get interested in the story.

“I’d like to read it sometime, man,” he said.

“Um...” I stalled, not quite knowing how to tell him no. “It’s not finished yet. I’ll show it to you once it’s finished. That way, it’ll read more like a book than a TV series.”

“Okay. Cool. That works. I’m sure it’s awesome,” he responded.

Okay then. Now I have to figure out how to make “Shooting Stars Collide” last FOREVER.

“Okay, cool then. Now go wash those windows,” I replied.

“Fuck you,” he shot back, then laughed.

I hope he gets fired. Good excuse not to show him anything.

~~~

That Sunday, Chad showed up at my apartment. I was pleasantly surprised. One could tell, since I answered the door in only my boxers. I opened the door, he said “hi,” and before he was even done saying that, his gaze went down to my crotch. He instantly blushed.

“That’s hot,” was his reply, as I let him in, closing the door behind me.

“Well, you caught me off-guard. I wasn’t expecting anybody today.”

“Do you always answer the door in your boxers?”

“Only on Sunday mornings.”

“Damn. I’m going to have to visit on Sunday mornings more often.”

I laughed. “So what brings you here, anyway?”

He reverted his gaze, opting to look for something on the floor.

“Well, I know you got angry at me when we were at the station on Thursday,” he said. It was more like REALLY early Friday morning though. “And I pretty much outed you to that police woman without your consent.”

“Yes, and I’m still pretty ticked about that.”

“I know,” he said, looking chastised. “So do you mind if I out myself to other people?”

“I thought you didn’t consider yourself gay?” I speculated.

“Yeah, I don’t. But it’s really hard to explain to other people how I think of things. Not a lot of people think beyond labels. Anyway, yesterday my roommate was actually staying in our room for the day, and I figured that then would be a good time to come clean to him, you know?”

“You told the Sex God that you live with that you’re gay?” I queried.

“He’s not that hot,” he argued.

“DUDE!” I yelled. “I would totally fuck him until I was raping his uvula, IN FRONT OF THE STUDENT UNION BUILDING!!! I would gleefully go to jail for that crime. It’d be considered a crime NOT to do it!”

“Dude, maybe you should think before saying things like that in front of the person you happen to be going out with,” he warned.

“I’m sorry, but he’s like the one exception to that rule,” I defended.

“Well, anyways, back to my point. I didn’t really tell him that I was gay. I said that I wanted to talk to him about something personal, and that it would really mean a lot to me if he listened. Obviously, he was intrigued.”

“Of course. You jocks are intrigued by anything unusual, especially if it’s shiny or has boobs, or both.”

“True. But back to the story. I told him that I feel like I’m attracted to a guy I know, but I don’t think that makes me gay. If it’s just one guy, then so what? All guys have a mancrush at some point or another.”

“And how did he take that?”

“He seemed cool about it. He asked me if he was the one I was talking about. I laughed it off and said no, of course.”

“I would’ve said yes.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, with a hint of anger in his voice.

“Go on,” I said, trying to get him to forget his anger.

“Well, after I figured him to be somewhat okay with that, I decided to go to the next step. I told him then that I had already talked to the guy, and we might be going out soon.”

“And how’d he take that?”

“He was a little more uncomfortable this time around. It took him awhile to answer this time. It took me telling him that I wasn’t going to start flirting with him, or start acting ‘gay,’ or change my personality at all in order to get him to at least say something.”

“And what did he say?”

“He said that he has to think about it. I think he thought I was kidding at first. Then he kinda saw that I wasn’t, so now he doesn’t know what to think. He probably thinks I’m full-on gay.”

“I think you’re full-on gay, but that’s just me.”

“Yeah, you and everyone else,” he said, looking dejected. “I don’t know what I am. Gay? Bi? Something else? I don’t know.”

He was seated on the couch. I came up behind him and wrapped my arms around him.

“It’s okay,” I said softly into his ear. “As long as your feelings for me are legit, I don’t really care.”

I lightly flicked his outer ear with my tongue. I could feel him smile. He tilted his head upwards and kissed me.

“Aren’t you getting cold?” he asked.

“A little. My bed and its very warm blankets sound good right now, though,” I said with a grin and raised eyebrow.

He got the hint and smiled as well, untangling himself from me, standing up, and heading towards my room, shucking his shirt in the process. I followed suit.

No, we did NOT have sex. It’s still too soon for that.

~~~

On Monday, we got our projects back. I got an ‘A’. Chad got a ‘B+’.

“Sorry you didn’t get your ‘A’,” I said.

“Are you kidding?” he replied. “I was hoping for a ‘C’ at the most. This is awesome! The guys on the team are TOTALLY gonna think of me as a genius now!”

The smile that displayed itself clear across his face made me feel all the prouder for him. It was like he had gotten a golden star sticker on his hand turkey drawing from his kindergarten teacher. He looked that proud.

Here’s something interesting I found after my Biology class that day as well. I was walking back to my car when I spotted something moving behind one of the trees. So, being unwisely curious as I am, I walked to a point where I could see what was going on. What I saw shocked and confused me. There was Matt, making out with...a girl! And the girl looked familiar, too. It then suddenly hit me. She was the girl that sat behind me in Geology. So wait. Does that mean that Matt was always looking at her whenever he looked my way? Then why did he ask for MY help with the notes? And what was with that wink that one time? What’s going on here?! Did I fall into an alternate dimension? I’m so confused.

~~~

The following week, the police called my house. Apparently, they weren’t through with me just yet. I still had even more papers to sign, and more interviewing to do. But they did manage to expel Mitchell from the university. They also confiscated his cell phone and it showed that he had, indeed, made those threatening calls to me over the past several weeks. Apparently though, Mitchell wasn’t saying how he had managed to get my cell phone number in the first place. I wouldn’t know how he could do that. I, apparently, can’t even delete my own messages twice. Whatever happened to the good ole days of phone booths?

I don’t know if they gave him a jail sentence. The cop on the phone asked if I wanted to press any charges against him. Either way, I would wind up going to court to legally settle matters. I didn’t initially want to charge Mitchell with anything, not because I forgave him or whatnot, but because I didn’t want this to blow up into something more public. I DEFINITELY did not want to show up to court and tell every person in that room, “Yes! That’s the mean man who raped my quivering bottom like the pansy that I am!” Yeah...that would be a big NO. But...I didn’t want to see him walk away scot-free, or with a minimal fee, so I sued his ass with as many charges as I could get. It was like last call at a buffet line. I’m due in court in a week.

It’s interesting to note that Mitchell’s friends kept showing up to class. They didn’t look too overly concerned with their friend’s lack of presence. Maybe they’re used to this sort of thing? Do they even know what happened? What did Mitchell tell them? Did he have the opportunity to tell them anything?

~~~

It was three days after I had gotten that call that I was sitting at my desk in my apartment, staring as always at the half-completed document that was the latest chapter to “Shooting Stars Collide.” I, of course, could not come up with what to write. It was nearing the end. I had to wrap up plot points. I had to give the story some finality aspect to it. Guy A and Guy B were together at last. I don’t know HOW I managed to pull that one off. Most of the plot points HAVE been resolved, but there just a few left over that I needed to fix. How to end it? How to give them a not-so-cheesy happily ever after? I pulled up the document that which I kept all my reviews in, and looked at the latest batch.

Snarkingprince still can’t figure out who orchestrated the attack and wants more consensual sex to go around. Phlegm thinks Guy B is awesome, mainly for not immediately accusing Guy A of cheating whenever Guy A so much as glances at another male. “Rick Jamie” (bitch!) congratulated me on doing the impossible- finding the right combination of sexy and funny. “Areola de Negrolobo” (freetranslation dot com…what the f***?! What sort of sick person are you?!) tried to seduce me in French (didn’t work), trying to get spoilers out of me. Comedian questioned my knowledge of cars. F*** him; do I look like someone who spends his free time under a jacked up car? Cut me some slack!

J. Caesar left a biggie. He liked how well I captured Guy A’s paranoia with his new gay relationship that he’s dealing with. Always watching, always suspicious of everyone. Good stuff. Caesar also thought that Guy B’s moving way too fast if he’s already trying to snog Guy A out in public so soon after they decided to get into a relationship together. However, he continues, they do fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Their stint as football players helps further solidify the notion that these two work as a team towards one goal. They bicker much less than he had anticipated. Once again, however, Caesar was upset by the total lack of Guy D. Who cares about him?! So I’m getting good reviews.

Of course...

FutbolRocks: “Dude, I talked to my one friend. About me being gay. He thinks I’m in love with him! What do I do?"

HeWhoLovesDraco: “My girlfriend found out about me reading this. I guess you can say that she’s my “ex” girlfriend now. I don’t want her to say anything to other people. How to go about this?”

Jock_Boi_88: “I don’t know what to do, bro. I’m obviously in love with this one guy, but I grew up in a Southern Catholic household. I’ve beentrained to hate who I am. I don’t want to freak this guy out, or have my family find out who I am. They want a girl over by Christmas!”

All in all, it seemed like people have been liking the past couple of chapters. Not like that steaming pile of crap that was Chapter 3. Although the last three reviews said nothing about the story itself. Though I did get ONE review from a guy that seemed positive.

Teh Dude: “Dude! I was TOTALLY not expecting that! And I’m so glad that Guy A and Guy B got together. And in a realistic way as well. It wasn’t like one of those sappy romance novels where the author simply says “Okay, I feel like they should be together now” and forcibly makes it happen. Awesome, dude! And don’t worry. I won’t bother you with MY problems anymore. I’ll take charge of things myself and see how it goes. Update soon!"

So at least SOMEBODY with a penis is reading this story! Did the others even bother to read? Or did they just skip to the review button and complained about stuff they need to see a professional for? Thinking about it, I decided right then and there, before the chapter was even finished, to write out my Author’s Note to the masses.

Author’s Note: Thank you all for reading and reviewing. I have a very important announcement for several of you reviewers out there. You know who you are. I am not a psychologist. Nor will I ever be one. I cannot answer your questions concerning your gay-related issues. I am not certified, nor do I have the experience and expertise to handle any of these cases. If you REALLY want help, then please seek out professional help instead of emailing some random stranger on the Internet who happens to write realistic fiction. Please stop sending your woes unto me, expecting me to solve them in three easy steps. It will not happen. I am sorry if this seems rude, but I cannot carry this burden any longer. To the rest of you, thank you for reading this story. And now, the finale.

There. I hope that covers everything. My cell phone rang. I answered it, now no longer afraid to see what was displaying itself on my screen. The number belonged to Chad.

“Yo, what up bro?” he said before I got a word in.

“Hey. Nothing much. Just sitting here, typing away on my laptop.”

“Cool. Mind if I come over? My roommate, your ‘Sex God,’ is bringing back some chick from the bar, and I don’t want to have to listen to their wild sex marathon for the next couple of hours.”

Biting back a retort, I instead said, “Yeah, that’s cool. Ain’t nobody over here anyways.”

“Cool, dude. I’ll be over in a bit.”

He hung up. Man, I would’ve wanted to hear Sex God’s sex cries for hours on end! I’m telling you, he and I could’ve made some freaking hot babies together! Nobody would be able to resist them!

Soon enough, Chad came in. We had a spare key made from my key so that he’d have his own copy, so that he wouldn’t have to knock every time he comes over. Which is a lot, by the way. It’s like he’s practically moved in with me. He even has a spare set of clothes over here now.

“Hey, babe. What’re you working on?” he said, leaning over me.

Luckily, shortly before he arrived, I had put an actual academic paper I was working on up on the monitor.

“Another paper for my Lit. class. Why Macbeth behaved like he did in the Third Act.”

“God knows that I don’t know. I never read that.”

“I didn’t expect you to. What DO they have you jocks reading now? ‘Curious George Rides a Bike’? That’s some pretty hardcore stuff.”

He slapped me upside the head.

“Fuck you, asshole,” he said as I laughed. “One of these days, you’re going to mess with the wrong guy, and he won’t be as kind and gentle to you as I am.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, brushing off his ominous threat.

I had previously decided that the next time I see Chad, and I had my laptop with me, that I would tell him about my sort-of career as a writer. Well, now seemed like as good of a time as any.

“So anyway. I’d like to tell you a secret,” I started out. “Something I haven’t told any of my other friends about.”

“You have other friends?” he said, before getting an elbow to the waist. “Ooof. And I think I know what secret you’re talking about.”

“Oh yeah? What is it then?”

“You’re gay.”

“Yes, it’s true. However did you know?” I said in the most sarcastic voice I could put on.

“Well, what is it then?” he asked.

“Well, I kinda have this hobby. Actually, one of my co-workers knows a little about this, but not all of it. You see, I kinda like to write. Stories, I mean. And...well...some of them might be a little ‘homoerotic’ in nature...”

“Dude! You write slash fiction!? That’s awesome!” he burst. He then extended his fingers to the keyboard. “Move over. I want to show you something.”

“I didn’t know you liked reading those kinds of things,” I said as I complied.

“Yeah, well, some of them are interesting. Especially if they hit close to home. Like this one story I’m reading right now. You could probably learn a thing or two from him. I mean, I don’t know how good you are, but this guy’s like a pro!” he explained, fingers rapidly typing or clicking something.

Finally, he found what he was looking for.

“Here. Read this story. It’s so cool, man!” he said, excitedly.

I looked at the screen. Oh. My. God.

“Shooting Stars Collide: Guy A and Guy B are on the same football team and have been best buds forever. However, one day Guy A’s feelings for Guy B cross over from being simple admiration to flat-out romance. See how two jocks resolve this complicated love matter in the most realistic manner this site’s ever seen!”

I just kept staring at the screen, looking over my own catchline for my own story. And thinking, “Gee, I really gotta update that soon.” Chad was reading this?

“It’s a really good read, Nick. You get to review the story as well. I’ve done it a couple times myself. I just reviewed earlier today.”

“Chad, what’s your reviewer name?” I asked, eyes still on the screen.

Chad didn’t answer for a second, and I looked over at him. He seemed to be blushing.

“Well, it’s kinda embarrassing,” he mumbled.

“I can always just look at the reviews themselves,” I said, hovering the arrow over the review link.

“Fine. It’s ‘Teh Dude.’ You happy now? I know it’s lame, but it was the only thing I could come up with at the time.”

HE was Teh Dude?! Well, there’s a shocker! I might as well perform one for him, too.

“Well, it seems like a good story...” I taunted, going back to my documents in my laptop.

“It is! The guys are TOTALLY believable, dude! And they ACT like guys, too! None of that queer stuff you see in a lot of gay fiction. These guys seem like you would already know them in your everyday life.”

“Chad, look at the screen,” I instructed him.

“What is it, dude?”

I had pulled up several of my chapters onscreen. Chad’s eyes widened.

“Dude! You’re a fan too?!” he yelled, shaking me by the shoulders. “That’s awesome! We can BOTH read it and talk about it at length! Though I didn’t go through such length as to copy paste them all onto documents.”

I just stared at his dumb jock stupidity.

“Wow, you say that you jocks aren’t all dumb, but here you are. A living ‘Exhibit A’.”

“What? What the hell are you talking about?”

I didn’t want to do this, but I clicked on the chapter that I was currently working on. I made sure to minimize the screen as much as possible so that I didn’t give too much information away.

“What’s this?” he asked, confusion evident in his voice.

“Just read it.”

He did. After several minutes, he stared down at me, disbelief shining through his eyes. He kept looking down at me and back to the computer.

“Wait. Wait. What’s this? Are you trying to make a fanfiction out of this story, or are you...?”

“Do I HAVE to spell it out for you?” I said, amazed that he was seemingly forcing himself to not believe what he was seeing.

“Dude, no way. No way, dude.”

“Yes Chad. I am your father!”

“What?! Don’t be such a fucking douche. You’re saying that YOU’RE Juvenile Wizard?”

“The one and the same,” I said proudly.

“Dude, no way.”

“Chad, don’t be a broken record.”

“Dude...” he said. Then his eyes lit up. “Dude! I’m totally going out with Juvenile Wizard! I’m totally going to be having sex with the guy who made ‘Shooting Stars Collide’!”

He was shaking me again. Had I been a baby, I’d be dead now. He was laughing like he had lost his mind and soon started pacing the room.

“Dude, this is awesome! I mean, what are the odds?!”

I smiled at his antics. I guess sleeping with one of my reviewers wouldn’t be THAT bad.

“Dude, what happens at the end?” he said.

“Oh right. Like I would tell YOU. Boyfriend or not, you’re still just another reader and reviewer to Juvenile Wizard. I can’t go giving away plot twists and completely ruining things for you. That’d take out all the fun. You’ll just have to wait like the rest of the readers.”

“Dude, no fair! I’m practically sleeping with you already! What more do I have to do to get a sneak peek?”

“You had your sneak peek. Now if you quit shaking me like a martini being served, I might be able to focus long enough to write more of it.”

“Dude, I doubt you could do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” he said, lifting me right out of my chair, “at the moment, you’re too busy making out with your most devoted fan.”

Before I got a chance to reply, his lips were covering my own. I think we landed on the couch, though it could’ve been the floor. I don’t recall. We ended up joined at the hip for the rest of the day.

~~~

I suppose I should wrap everything up now. It’s nearing the end. Chad eventually moved in with me. I managed to meet Sex God again (in a civil manner) when Chad wanted to formerly introduce me to him as his boyfriend. From what Chad told me, the guys on the team didn’t seem to mind too much. Those that did kept their mouth shut. Matt, being on the team as well, hasn’t said a word to me since. After the semester was over, I didn’t really ever see him again. I suppose he got together with that girl.

Going to court was miserable. I was in stuffy clothes and didn’t want to be there. Also, Chad managed to drop by, even though I told him not to. He barely managed to pass Pre-Calculus; I don’t think he can take much more skipping classes. Mitchell was found guilty of multiple attempted rape and was sentenced to ten years in jail. Luckily he was old enough to be tried as an adult. I just wanted the whole thing to go away.

It was only when I decided to quit working at the bookstore that I decided to tell Simon about me and the story. I think he was more upset about me lying about the story for so long than he was about me lying about my sexuality for so long. I didn’t really see much of him after that, though several months later he did send me an email saying that he was morbidly curious about that story I wrote.

Speaking of the story, I finally managed to finish it. I thought it turned out rather well, as a whole. Who knows? Maybe I’ll make another...or a sequel. I can still see that last document on my laptop, right next to the recently significantly less amount of porn. I can see the last few sentences completing my first serial ever.

And while I would like to say that we both lived happily ever after, that would be a blatant lie. Nobody can ensure that ending. We could only try our best to see to it that the best possible outcome for us is attained. But, based on the way things are right now, I think that that bright future ahead of us won’t be too hard to grasp.

The End

Huh...I guess real life does write the script after all.

The End