Chapter Text
It only took one moment in one fight for Gray Yeon to develop a new interest. He found himself pinned to an alley wall, his chest and face on cold, grating brick and the pressure of a firm body against his back. His heart started pumping in a way he hadn’t felt since the first time he realized how much he loved the adrenaline of a good fight. He buried an elbow in the side of the guy behind him and been almost disappointed at how easily that freed him. For a split second he considered letting himself be pinned again, but a fist flying toward his face brought his focus back to the present danger.
He fought even more than usual in the weeks following, chasing that feeling again. Every time he failed to find it he grew more restless, more agitated. This unidentifiable desire was becoming a distraction. He’d taken hits he should’ve dodged, preoccupied by a want for something he didn’t know how to find. He found himself daydreaming during cram school as he tried to reach the end of the thread constantly pulling on his thoughts.
This new tension rolling in his gut had him on edge. After he snapped at a concerned Eugene, he knew that he couldn’t continue like this. He distanced himself from his friends. He had no right to hurt them just because he wasn’t in control of himself. It was easy to slip away from cram school without Rowan and Eugene following him. Days when he didn’t have cram school and would’ve usually gone to the pool hall with everyone were a little trickier. He spent more time in study halls and told lies about having difficulty understanding new material. He lied about not having enough money to play pool or buy snacks, and feigned discomfort at his friend’s offers to pay for him.
After nearly a month of Gray lying, sneaking around, and fighting on his own, enough was enough. Eugene was on his way to the roof to tell Ben his concerns about Gray when Alex and Gerard intercepted him on a staircase landing.
“I was just going to talk to Ben, you guys should come too. It concerns all of us.” Eugene said. He moved to walk past them when Gerard took one long step and blocked his way, looming over Eugene in a way no one had since he joined Ben Park’s crew. A familiar feeling, uncomfortable and certainly not missed, prickled at the back of his neck.
“Does it concern Gray?” Alex asked, his arms crossed and his voice flat.
Eugene opened his mouth, but his voice caught in his throat as he stood in Gerard’s shadow. He clicked his teeth back together and nodded.
“Ben doesn’t need to know yet,” Alex said. His voice softened, and his hand landed gently on Eugene’s shoulder as Gerard stepped back. “We’re worried, too. Let’s go talk somewhere else.”
Alex led the trio to the rarely used bathroom by the teacher’s lounge. He checked the stalls while Gerard jammed a doorstop under the closed door from the inside. Eugene stood in the middle of the room, fiddling with his tie. Gerard leaned against the wall and Alex hopped up to sit on the sink counter.
“Gray is avoiding us,” Gerard prompted, looking at Eugene.
“It started about a month ago. Before he started skipping out on pool days, he was already ditching Rowan and I after cram school. Sometimes we’d catch him on the way out. He would say he was going to a study hall for a while and wanted to be alone so he didn’t get distracted—”
“When has Gray ever let us distract him?” Alex scoffed.
“Exactly!” Eugene agreed. “But most days he was gone before we could find him, or he slipped past us when his class got out after ours. At first I thought he was preparing for another academic competition and didn’t want to draw attention to it, but then he started ditching us after school. Even when we had cram school, he wouldn’t walk with us anymore, then showed up late on his own. Sometimes he was dirty, or his clothes were scuffed, and one day he was even holding bloody tissues to his nose when he came in!”
Alex crossed his arms again. He glared at the stalls across the room like they could somehow be hiding Gray from him.
“Now he’s doing the same thing on pool days and weekends,” Gerard added.
“I’m worried about him,” Eugene admitted, staring sadly at his two friends. “I don’t know what to do.”
Alex looked at Gerard and raised an eyebrow. He pointed out, “You don’t seem too upset.”
Gerard huffed out a small sigh and nodded slowly.
“Alright, then. Go on, Eugene,” Alex hopped down to pat him on the back. “You just keep an eye on Gray, but don’t follow him into trouble. We’ll take care of this.” Gerard unjammed the door and waved Eugene out, turning back to Alex once they were alone again.
“Spill, broccoli head. You know something.” Alex said.
“Gray’s pretty sheltered, right? He never had much exposure to adrenaline or excitement before he became the White Mamba.”
“Well, yeah. He’s studious. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Alex snapped.
Gerard smirked, “I didn’t say there’s anything wrong with it. No need to be so defensive.”
“Just tell me!” Alex demanded.
“I think Gray is craving a different kind of thrill. He doesn’t know where to find it, so he’s trying to, well, satisfy the need the only way he knows how.”
“What the fuck are you…” Alex trailed off, his eyes growing wide as the realization sunk in. He turned around, paced across the room and back twice before stopping in front of Gerard again. “What are we supposed to do, set him up on a date? We don’t know girls!”
“Don’t you think he would’ve figured it out if all he wanted was to go out with a girl?” Gerard asked, holding back a laugh at Alex’s increasingly shocked expression.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Rowan and Teddy have tried to set him up on group dates before. That girl from his cram school has flirted with him before. He just doesn’t seem interested in that sort of thing,” Gerard shrugged.
“So, he’s gay?” Alex asked, quietly, as if someone might overhear. Gerard shrugged again.
“I’m saying it’s a possibility. It’s my best theory at the moment.”
“So… we set him up with a guy?”
Gerard’s expression turned cold as he stepped toward Alex, looming over him just like he’d done to Eugene earlier.
“No. That would require outing him. Which we wouldn’t do even if we were certain that he’s gay. You wouldn’t do that, right, Alex?”
Alex shook his head violently. He was far more shaken by the sound of his real name coming from Gerard’s lips than any attempted physical intimidation. “I wouldn’t,” he hissed. Gerard smiled softly and stepped back.
“Then, it’s simple. One of us has to take care of it.”
They stared at each other in silence until the warning bell rang out in the hallway and Gerard glanced toward the door.
“Class is starting soon,” he commented.
“Are, um,” Alex shifted where he stood, fingers twitching at his sides, though his eyes were still fixed on Gerard’s face. “Are you gay?”
“We both are,” Gerard said, immediately picking up on the unspoken too at the end of the question.
“And, one of us should… take care, of Gray?”
“We should offer, at least. Attempt.”
“We don’t know what he wants.”
“He’s obviously wanting something. We can help him figure it out.”
“Which one?”
“That’s the more difficult question. I know you like him, too. We’re both more than willing.”
“I—I don’t! You just,” Alex fumbled over his words until another bell interrupted him.
“We’re late,” Gerard pointed out. He turned to leave, calling back to Alex before the door closed between them. “Think about it tonight. Pool hall tomorrow!”