Chapter One
Author: Keishi
BIG FAT WARNING:
Contains m/m relationships
ONLY read if you are of age and open-minded!!
It was made quite clear that Drayne _really_ hated the color white.
Smiling faintly down at the blood-red comforter he was perched atop of, Gade cleared his throat. He looked up as the door opened, admitting said noncolor-prejudiced friend.
"Hey, D," Gade said weakly.
"Gade, man!" Drayne practically bounded to the bed, falling dead-weight onto it, making Gade bounce. "What do you think?" he asked, lowering the stereo volume a bit.
Gade scrunched his eyebrows together, surveying the room for the twentieth time. "It's uh... nice?" His voice lilted up at the end, as if unsure.
Drayne grinned, showing off his abnormally-long canines. "Nice? It's fucking wonderful! I finally feel like I have a place that reflects who I really am!"
"Yeah, okay," Gade said, picking at the lint covering the comforter. His dark brown bangs flopped down in his eyes, and he quickly smoothed them back, to no avail. He silently cursed Drayne's parents' rule of not wearing hats in the house.
Drayne, meanwhile, was slowly bouncing up and down on the double bed, eyes still roaming across his newly-transformed room. "I tell ya, Gade, I was a fucking genius when I made that pact with my parents at twelve to act like their little golden boy until sixteen, when I'd be 'old enough and responsible enough to make decisions for myself.'" Drayne's voice took on the low timber of his father's in an almost-perfect imitation. He sighed happily, finger absently playing with his lip ring. "Finally, I feel like _me_."
"So..." Gade said slowly, "piercing your lip, dying your hair clown red, and papering your room in half-naked men is how you define yourself?"
Drayne hopped up, did a 360 around the room, and rested his eyes on his best friend. His grey eyes crinkled up as he smiled wide. "Pretty much, yeah."
Gade sighed, and rolled his eyes. "Whatever, dude."
"Aww, come on, Gade-dude, don't tell me part of you doesn't want to be me? Huh?" He crawled across the bed, sticking his face in his friend's. "Wanna look like me? Wanna act like me?" He raised an eyebrow, face getting nearer Gade's own. "Wanna... fuck like me?"
"W-what?!" Gade squeaked, backing up until he was against the headboard. He tried to get off the bed by swinging his legs over, but ended up just bumping his socked foot into the nightstand and knocking his soda over. "Fuck!"
Both boys lunged to pick up the soda can at the same time, and ended up braining each other. They both saw stars.
"Ow, fuck, I'm sorry, D," Gade managed, clutching his head. Drayne laughed, still a bit out of it, and ended up being the one picking up the can. He patted his friend's shoulder as he stood up, wobbly, and mumbled something about it being 'no big thing,' before he went to throw the can away.
Gade shook his head, and looked down at the slowly-spreading puddle of soda as it seeped into the carpet. That was the only thing that hadn't changed, Gade realized. The carpet was still that generic off-white most houses had. 'D probably won't mind the stain, because then it means it's not white,' Gade thought absently.
Stretching out on his friend's bed, Gade reflected back to when he had first met Drayne, then known simply as David. He'd been a small mouse of a kid, with fair blond hair and a complexion to match. He also had a 160 IQ and an allergic reaction to almost anything organic. Gade was convinced he had made friends with the world's next 'Bubble Boy.'
It wasn't until they'd been friends for six months did Gade find out how much David hated being who he was. With Gade's reluctant help, David soon died and in his place, Drayne was born.
It had started subtly enough. Gade would go out to the nearby department store and buy little things, like eyeliner and hair gel, for Drayne. He'd let the smaller boy borrow all his dark clothing, because it was baggy and 'cool' on him, according to Drayne. His parents were strict, meaning Drayne (still David at home) couldn't go out and buy these items himself. Every day, he'd leave the house as 'David,' dressed properly in button-up shirts and slacks, and every morning when he arrived at school, Gade would be waiting for him and 'Drayne' would appear. The Drayne persona got wilder as the years went on.
Finally, David's sixteenth birthday came, the magical day where David would be lost to the world and he'd be known, forever, as Drayne. As a birthday present to himself, he got the lip piercing, using a fake ID to get it done without parental consent. His mother's present to him was a stern lecture about how, now that he was sixteen and officially able to make decisions for himself, he should still remember that both she and his father expected him to behave like the gentleman they'd raised. Drayne'd had a good laugh with Gade over that one.
Still, Drayne wasn't all bad, Gade thought. He was smart enough to know that the only way to get away from his 'stifling' parents was to get into a good college, preferably on the opposing seaboard. He was a good student overall, but especially in English and Foreign Studies. His father saw this as a sign that Drayne would someday be an ambassador or foreign correspondent. He saw it as a good way to become a traveling monk.
In the early years of Drayne and Gade's friendship, Drayne had spent a lot of time over at Gade's house, so he was pretty much part of the family. Gade's mom loved Drayne like the second child she never had, and Gade's father treated Drayne about the same way he treated Gade; with barely- concealed tolerance. Neither boy minded much; they were too involved with themselves and each other to care what a forty-something factory worker thought of them. Gade was silently convinced the man wasn't his real father, anyway. They looked nothing alike. Gade had thick, dark-brown hair that hung low in his eyes, with jade eyes that constantly looked haunted. Gade's dad was a redheaded fellow, his own green eyes a dirtier, bottle-glass color.
While Gade had questions about his lineage, there was no doubt whose son Drayne was. His natural hair color was the same as both his parents, a white-blond so fine and soft, it could have been feathers. Drayne's last name was Sigvasson, indicating a strong Swedish background. His pale grey eyes and nearly translucent skin had made him appear almost angelic when Gade had first met him, at twelve. Now, everything about him was colorful, down to the way he'd pinch his cheeks just to make them rosy.
Gade supposed he hated the color white because it reminded him too much of how, for so long, he was forced to pretend a life he didn't want to live.
"Hey, man, you alright? Helloooo," Drayne said, waving a hand in front of Gade's face. Gade blinked, focusing his eyes, and looked up apologetically at his friend.
"Sorry, daydreaming."
Drayne grinned his wide, fangy grin again. "Dreaming about my hot body again, weren't you?"
Gade froze up, violently shaking his head no. Drayne knew exactly what buttons to push to make him uncomfortable. "No way, dude," he managed out.
"Pffft, sure," Drayne said, sitting next to Gade, then promptly forgot the conversation, switching to another. "Want to go to the mall with me? Dad said I could borrow the car." He bounced a little on the bed.
"Or," Gade said, face still a little red, "we could take my car since it's already here and you don't have to bum money off me for gas."
"Would I do that?" Drayne blinked innocently up at him.
"Faster than I'd fuck Carly Thistleburg, and you _know_ how bad I want to get in her pants," Gade said matter-of-factly.
"Ew, your obsession with girls is distasteful, man," Drayne scoffed.
"And your non-obsession with them is questionable. Seriously, dude, isn't there anyone you like?" Gade stared hard at the red-headed boy.
Drayne's usual bubbly manner dropped almost instantly. Turning his gaze away, he said flatly, "No, man, there's no one. I'm just not... into stuff like that right now."
Gade picked his jaw up from the floor. "'Not into that right now?' You're sixteen! _Every_ sixteen-year-old is into that right now!"
Drayne's mouth twisted. "Fuck, just leave me alone, alright?"
Gade shook his head. "Naw, dude, there has to be someone you're at least remotely into."
Drayne rolled his eyes. "Would you shut up if I said there was?"
"Is there?"
"...Maybe."
Gade smiled, triumphant. "Who?"
"Definitely not you!"
Gade drew back, confused. "What the fuck? Why did you say that?"
Drayne shrugged, then grinned goofily. "Don't want you thinking my sexy ass would ever let you tap it, that's all."
Gade rolled his eyes, pushing his friend away. "Dude, that's just gross." But his refute was half-hearted. "Let's just go."
Drayne nodded, and the pair left to go to the mall. On the way, Gade tried hard not to think about why his heart had partially sunk when Drayne had claimed his crush wasn't him.
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