Page 99 of Puck My Life

“Ew! His peeping penis touched me! Gettitoff, gettitoff!”

Mal continues to try to hit him, but only playfully.

Ares Wilde sticks his head in the locker room. “Evans! Get your dick out of the janitor’s mouth and stop fucking around in my locker room!”

“I’m not,” Mal wails.

Meanwhile, Henry is on his knees, his face red, mouth open in horror, and gets an absolute eyeful.

“Dude, how many kinks do you have? You get off on hitting people? Because little peeper is peeping.”

Mal snarls. “Jealous?”

Henry licks his lips. “I mean, yeah. If I were packing a peeper with kinks like that, I’d be brawling several times a day. All hail the Kinky Peeper!”

Mal sighs heavily. “There is something wrong with you, Henry.”

“Yeah, I know. But, seriously, nice cock, dude.”

“Shall I leave you two alone?” I ask.

Mal looks over his shoulder. “He likes my cock.”

“It’s a pretty cock,” I concede. I nod along with them. “Might be in invisible ink, but the cock is tattooed with Vae’s name.”

“Vae?” Henry yelps. “You finally did it? Seriously? You told her you have been in love with her since you were kids?”

He stands up, looks between us, expectantly waiting for something.

I stare at him, feeling the world tilt left and right. It swings horribly and then stops. And with an audible click…everything fits into place.

“What?”

I stumble and sit down heavily.

“What do you mean?” I manage to almost whisper.

His smile vanishes. “You didn’t realise you were always in love with her and only her, and you were just fucking around because you didn’t think you could have her or that you deserved her because she’s so perfect, and you’re just you. And the parents thing, and all your closet inadequacies, and all…” he trails off.

The locker room gets really, really quiet. There’s no sound but the hole I’m falling down.

“Deacon, please tell me you finally realised what she is?” Henry shouts. “Vae is the one, my brother. She’s the girl for you, how have you not seen that yet?”

I turn to look at Mal. “Is that what we were meant to have realised? But I’m not in love with Vae.”

My protest is weak, and it doesn’t ring true anymore. I stand up, yank my shorts up, and start pacing.

Mal is quiet, observing me with something in his eyes that tells me he’s holding back.

“Are you?” I snap the question.

Mal looks away. “Fact is, I do feel that way. I always have; I just didn’t know it. Exactly what Henry said. And, the fact is, Deacon, the bond and the things you feel towards her are love.”

I nod my head because it’s spinning. A thousand memories cascade one after the other. Our entire lives have been together. At every one of my triumphs and every one of my losses. She’s been at my games, my graduations. She knows what I like and what I hate.

“Let me ask you this, Katz. What does she love above everything?”

“Us and baking. Not cooking, but baking,” I say instantly.