After Theo comes out as gay to his best friend, his life becomes a living hell. Ruthlessly bullied, Theo falls deep into his depression, and is ready to give up on life. But then an unlikely ally steps in...
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-Theo-
My heart was still aching after finding out about Deon's weak one. I could now see past his tattoo unlike before. The surgical scar was visible, but it was so well hidden between the lines of his carp tattoo I hadn't noticed it before. I could even see the slight lump, the pacemaker, under his skin when I looked at it so close.
"Did you get the tattoo to hide it?" I asked.
"Yeah... I didn't want people to know about it," Deon said.
"Why not? You don't have to be ashamed of it," I told him.
"What if I told you I want to go rock climbing or skydiving right now?" Deon asked instead of answering.
"Uh, are you sure? I don't think you should, if your..." I trailed off in the middle of my sentence, realizing why Deon didn't want people to know about his heart. "Oh..."
"Everyone who knows about it treats me like I'll drop dead any minute. They all treat me like I'm something fragile and break easily. I might break easily, but I still hate it when they treat me like that," Deon spoke with a sad voice.
I decided to never treat him like that.
"If you really want to go skydiving–"
"Hell no! That shit is dangerous!" Deon said and burst into laughter. "I'm afraid of high places..." he chuckled.
"Me too," I said reassuringly.
"Look at me, spilling my secrets to you," Deon sighed, and I felt his hand moving on my side. "I wonder why..."
I didn't know what to say. I wasn't anything special, and I really couldn't understand why Deon even bothered. Why would anyone want to have anything to do with me?
Like Sean and his friends – why were they so willing to waste so much time with me? I was sure the posters were Sean's idea. I felt silly getting so upset about his prank. There were more devastating things in this life than some mean jokes. Like having a best friend who could die any moment.
Then I remembered something Deon had said back in school. "What did you mean by the youth club? What was Sean doing there?" I asked out of curiosity.
Deon started laughing again. "He was in a ballet class, and he was actually really good too..."
I frowned a little. "I don't think that's funny. Guys can be ballet dancers too."
"It's funny because I thought he was gay. Have you seen how he looks at that buddy of his? Drake?" Deon smirked.
"No, I haven't," I said truthfully.
"Maybe it's only in my head. But he sure as hell is not someone who should be bullying you for being gay. No one should bully anyone, but he's gayer than you are. I don't even understand why it's their problem who you are in love with," Deon said with a serious voice. "That shit is just fucked up..."
