Chapter Thirteen

Fern looked in the mirror again, moving around the bowtie that Ani had insisted on him wearing. It was blue, lacy, and took him several billion tries to get it on right.

"Fernando you look so handsome!" His mother said as she approached him from behind. She fiddled with one of the creases on his dark black suit. Fern saw her reflection in the mirror and saw the tears in her eyes.

"Mama this isn't even prom, why are you so excited?" He turned around and put his hand on her arm. She sniffled and wiped the edge of her her eyes with her shirt sleeve. Somehow not disrupting the eyeliner on her eyes.

"We were both positive that you'd never go to a school dance, and we'd never get this opportunity," Sebastian said, coming from the kitchen as well. He was holding a piece of chicken strip.

"We're just both very proud of you. And we want you to have so much fun and take as many pictures as you can. Especially with Ani. Oh, I'm sure she's going to look beautiful." Maria let her son go and pressed his hair one more time before pulling back. "I'll go check the chicken in the oven. Especially since your father has already decided to sample it." She shot Sebastian a look before entering the kitchen.

"Undercooked or not, it's delicious." Sebastian murmured and followed her back. As they left Fern wondered what exact gender his parents thought Ani was. There was a buzz from his pocket. He let out a tension-filled sigh and took it out.

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Ok so change of plans. Some shit went down and now I want to know if Carson and I can join u, Ani, & Dillan for before homecoming dinner>

Fern had to read the text twice, he couldn't remember a social situation besides soccer that he and Carson had been together for. He quickly texted back.

<Me: I'm gonna need more context than that>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Fine, so basically we were on our way 2 a pre-party for homecoming>

<Me: What the hell is a pre-party? You know u can't have any alcohol in your system to enter a school dance?

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Yeah I know but it isn't one of those parties. It's basically at someone's house and they have a shit ton of food & u eat a ton before u pile up into limousines and head to homecoming>

<Me: Oh ok so what happened?>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Ok so I'll admit I had like some sort of mental lapse. Idk what was wrong with me but u know my gf Jess>

<Me: Yeah you're like the couple of the year so far>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Yeah well I'm saying goodbye to that title. We broke up.>

<Me: Wait seriously?>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Yeah, it was just ugh so I'll explain. Strap in, this is embarrassing. I'd call you but Carson is here and I don't wanna have to repeat this verabally>

<Me: Go ahead, Ani still isn't here>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Ok so, Carson, me, and Jess were supposed to head to the party together. Carson wanted to pick up this girl he's seeing. So he gets out of the car and I and Jess are waiting. Of course, she decided to get frisky and she's kissing me and touching and all that healthy teens in a relationship stuff. Well, I'm not into it, like seriously not. Usually, I'm able to just go through with it bc she's crazy hot and really nice and we are able to carry on a pretty good conversation.>

<Me: Doesn't sound like a great reason to have sex. Really hot, nice, and able to carry on conversations>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Give me an earful later. Anyway, of course, Carson walks in on the makeout section and he and the girl he's talking to (Mally or something) see us and I snap. I have no idea why just the way he looked at me, and not being into kissing Jess. I was sick of it. So I said, and I quote; "I'm sick of everyone fucking pretending to be happy just so that they can be in the most convenient relationship they can be. Jess, I'm not in love with you. I've tried for so long and it's not working, you're hot, sweet, and actually really cool to talk to. But I hate kissing you because I'm not in love with you.">

<Me: Quinn u have some pretty crappy timing skills, it's homecoming>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): IK I'm a douchebag. Then I said this to Carson; "Carson buddy I'm sorry but I am so fucking sick of seeing you with every girl that flutters her eyes at you. All you do is sleep with them awhile, get mopey and distant then leave. You've done it a thousand times and it's not worth it. Everyone thinks you're a douchebag even when I know you're not so cut it out.">

Fern whistled quietly, Quinn was so level-headed and calm all of the time he didn't even think he had the ability to freak out like this. He kind of wished he had heard it come from Quinn's mouth rather than over text.

<Me: Then what happened?>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Jess slapped me, tried to punch my dick. Mally glared at Carson got out of the car and stormed right back to her door. Jess stormed out of the car and went to call someone to pick her up, or kill me idk at this point.>

<Me: What did Carson do?>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Out of all the reactions he was the shittiest. All he said to me is that we don't have to go to the party. I didn't say anything so he told me that if I had another place in mind we can go catch dinner there>

<Me: Damn>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): Yeah I know. So can we tag along?>

<Me: Yeah totally, just send Ani and Dillan a screenshot of this>

<Guy who touched my ass(Quinn): I will thanks, dude you're the best>

Fern took a deep breath and placed his phone on the table. He checked the clock. To be fair Ani wasn't late, they still had plenty of time before homecoming. Fern's nerves and hunger were the only things making him impatient.

He took his phone and went to sit on the couch. He made sure his seat had a great view of the window. The scent of the chicken cooking in the oven was starting to drive him insane. He placed a pillow in front of his face to block out the beautiful aroma and opened up his phone.

A message popped up on his home screen just as the page loaded. Instead of sending Ani a text he pulled up Dillian's and his previous chat.

<The Asian Dill Pickle: Hey I just read Quinns thing>

<Me: Yeah I was pretty surprised I doubted he'd ever blow up like that>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: I wish I was there to see honestly, not that I want our bro to suffer but like...>

<Me: I get it, it would have been an experience to see it with our own two eyes>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: I'm lowkey shook that he and Jess weren't actually that great together>

<Me: Same, it was weird though bc it sounded like he wanted to like her>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: Maybe he's in love with someone else?>

<Me: Like who?>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: You.>

<Me: Wait what?>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: Lmao not really, probably not. Quinn just works in mysterious ways. Besides he wouldn't start crushing on you when he knows you're going to get your dick wet tonight ;)))))>

<Me: Fuck off, I told you I'm not going to fuck Ani. I'll just tell him that I like him>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: Ah so we're waiting for the next installment to see some action. But you never know, Ani sent me a picture of a part of him in his dress and he looked pretty thicc>

<Me: Shut up>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: Thick ten c's. And I figured out why you're so reluctant to fuck him. It's bc your wee wee would get lost in all that thickness>

<Me: I will block you so hard>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: I think you meant cock Ani so hard?>

<Me: No.>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: Yes.>

<Me: No. But I have a legitimate question.>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: If this is actually about sex ask Quinn I don't know shit>

<Me: No it's not about that. I'm not sure if I should tell my parents that Ani is a guy who just likes wearing dresses and stuff>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: What do they think he is rn?>

<Me: A trans woman I'm pretty sure>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: How do they know that a trans woman is but not a bisexual???>

<Me: Bc Rodo has a friend who's trans>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: So they're more accepting of a trans woman than a man wearing feminine shit?>

<Me: I honestly have no idea, I don't even know if they'd be okay with me not being straight>

<The Asian Dill Pickle: I'd just be completely clean with them. And worse case scenario, tell them Ani was a woman transitioning to be a man all along lol>

<Me: Idk Ani is pretty sensitive to that stuff>

The doorbell rang, Fern looked up from his phone and glanced out the window. Dakota's car was patiently waiting outside. Fern immediately felt a thousand feelings floating around his stomach.

<Me: Ani is here see you when you get here>

Fern didn't wait for a response and stood. "Mama! Papa! Ani is here!' He got to the door first, he closed his eyes and swung the door open.

"Hey Fern, don't you look handsome." Fern's eyes opened and he nearly took a step back. He heart constricted and every part of his body was functioning independently from his mind.

There were very few things that Fern could say where anywhere close to how beautiful Anakin was. He was wearing a midnight blue dress. From his waist down was a long deep blue fabric that touched the ground. It was translucent and looked like Ani was floating as he moved. The top was by far the best part.

On his top was an almost completely transparent fabric, that blended in so well with his skin it looked like he was wearing nothing. On the fabric were shimmery blue flowers that connected to each other and branched out making a loosely connected heart where the breasts would traditionally be. The flowers spread out all over his upper half. It covered most of the exposed skin between Ani's stomach and his upper chest. The rest of the flowers covered parts of his shoulders and moved down his arm all the way to the tip of his wrist.

As beautiful as the dress was it only amplified Ani's face. Despite what he said previously, his makeup look was subtle. Most likely to compensate for the extravagance of the dress. He wore a nude pinkish lipstick color, that made his lips look prettier than usual. His eyelashes were full and thick, and he wore a perfectly executed black eyeliner wing. The top of the wing was accentuated with a thin sparkly blue line. The blue brought out the green in Ani's eyes almost hypnotizing Fern. He could tell that he had used some sort of golden highlighter on his cheeks because his entire face glowed. Even the strands of hair that were in Ani's face looked intentionally placed.

Ani's hair was simple as well. It was more feminine with a bang sweeping across his forehead, falling mostly to the side. His hair was tied together by a blue flower barret that sat just above his ear.

"So...are you going to say anything?" Ani asked, still just outside of the doorway.

"U-Uh yeah, come right in." He stepped back allowing Ani to step through. "You look amazing by the way." He managed out, cursing himself for his incredible understatement.

"Thanks, it took forever to get this highlighter on. Dakota let me borrow her expensive stuff tonight, so this shit's staying on until the day I die." I chuckled and Fern smiled.

"Ani? Is that you? Oh my goodness, you look so beautiful!" Maria said as she sped walk to them a phone waving in the air. Ani smiled before he got to say anything he was embraced in a tight hug by Fern's mother.

"Hello Mrs. Oliverz, thank you very much. It took so long to get this look down completely."

"Well you made it work, and now pictures!" She moved away and backed up. Sebastian had another piece of chicken in his hand when he came out of the kitchen. He waved to the two boys.

"Ah Ani, you look lovely mija." He said taking another bite of chicken.

"Oh thank you! I did the best I could," Ani shrugged and got closer to Fern. "Smile for the picture," Ani whispered, Fern blinked a few times and finally turned.

Maria had the camera close to her face and took several pictures. "Get your arms around her Fernando! Act like you like her!" Fern blushed but complied, he put his hands around Ani's and pressed their bodies together. Ani head on Fern's shoulder and Maria took more pictures.

"Are we done with the pictures Mama?" Fern asked, with a sigh. Maria snapped one more picture and took the phone down.

"You are no fun, Fernando." She almost pouted as she pocketed the phone. Ani giggled a bit and punched Fern lightly on the shoulder.

"Let your mother have her fun." Fern teasingly stuck his tongue out. He suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, hold on a second." He moved away from Ani's side, immediately missing the warmth of his body. He made his way to his room grabbed a box and came back downstairs. "Here, I got you a corsage. It's the wrong color though."

He handed over a box with a deep purple carnation corsage in the center. Despite it being the completely wrong color Ani smiled happily.

"Fern that's so sweet." He wrapped his arms around Fern tightly and moved away. Fern felt his cheeks grow warm, and a smile grow on his face. He watched as Anakin opened up the box and took out the corsage fitting it over his wrist. There was a honking from outside. Fern went to the window and just as he thought there was a white limo outside.

"Ani, Dillian is here!" He moved away from the window and walked back to Anakin.

"Thank you for not calling him Big D, makes him sound like a pimp."

"Don't worry, he's been trying to get me to say it but I'm not budging." He extended his arm towards Ani. He wrapped his arm around Fern's standing closer to him. Ani looked Fern's parents.

"I'll keep Fern safe, don't worry about a thing."

"I'm not a child Ani," Fern mumbled. "I won't do anything dumb or dangerous."

"Oh, we don't worry about that. We know dangerous isn't really your cup of tea." Maria said with a smile.

"Just have fun." Sebastian continued. "Ani, make sure he isn't by the wall the entire time."

Anakin saluted him, "You can count on me. I'll have him dancing until his feet fall off." Fern had a sick feeling that it was a promise.

"Let's go now. Don't want to keep Big D waiting." A slight smirk placed itself on Fern's lips, earning an annoyed look from Ani.

"Pimp," He murmured. Fern chuckled and opened the door leading Ani down the walkway and towards the limousine. 

 "So that's why zucchini is used more in Asian meals than cucumbers are." Dillian finished, he leaned against the limousine seat. Each of their parents had split the bill for it.

"So are pickled zucchini still pickles though?" Fern asked. The limousine stopped at the curb in front of the local Duckies Restaurant.

"I would assume not, I think they're just pickled zucchini." Dillian shrugged, he looked at Ani form confirmation who shrugged as well.

"Does the limousine know when to come back?" Ani asked Dillian nodded. He adjusted the surgeons mask that had been on his face since Fern and Anakin got into the car. Fern's eyes would occasionally drift to it, but Ani's questions on it had already been denied.

"Yeah, they'll come back when we call. That's if he doesn't just stay in the parking lot anyway." Dillian finished and slide some money through a slot in the window dividing the driver's area versus the passenger's area. "Let's head out." He opened the limousine door up and climbed out. Fern followed him, followed by Anakin. Dillian held the door open for them and slammed it shut when they all exited.

"Quinn texted me, he said he and Carson are already inside," Dillan said, he waved his phone and gestured to the building inside. Ani smiled and hooked his arm with mine.

"This is going to get interesting," He said, excitement very evident in his voice. Fern raised his eyebrow waiting for clarification from Anakin. When he got none he looked at Dillan and shrugged.

"Let's head in." Dillian pushed the door open and headed inside. He held the door open for the other two boys and when they were all inside let the door go.

Fern always compared the inside of Duckies to the inside of a retro style kitchen. The food choice and decor matched. It looked like the waiters and waitresses should be serving them on roller blades. It had red booths and tables, with a black and white checkered tiled wall. A waitress approached the three of them, she had bright red lipstick and wore a simple red dress with an apron tied in the front.

"Can I help you three?"

"Yeah we already have reservations, our friends are already here," Dillian said without any further elaboration. She looked at him for a beat then looked around the restaurant. It was homecoming night, most of the tables were filled. There were plenty of people who were waiting for a friend.

"I'm going to need a name here sweetheart."

"Oh! Yeah, it's Tanaka." His cheeks darkened slightly, and she looked at a notebook in her hands.

"Follow me," She turned around and sauntered past the front door and walked towards the back. They looked at each other and followed closely behind the waitress. Dillian sticking the closest, he was directly behind her.

"So uh, what's your name?" He asked, she glanced over her shoulder and looked back forward.

"Too old for you," She said casually before stopping in front of a booth. Fern immediately saw Quinn and Carson. Quinn had his head leaning against Carson's shoulder as he looked downward at his phone.

"Oh, no no sorry I wasn't hitting on you. You just seemed stressed," Dillian said his hands were raised in front of him defensively, and his cheeks were red. The waitress blinked and bashfully looked towards the ground.

"Oh, my bad sorry. I've just been hit on so many times by these damn high schoolers..." She glanced back up at him giving Dillian an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry about it," Dillian gave her a warm smile and moved past her to slip into the booth. Ani smiled at her as well and pushed into the booth leaving Fern to sit on the outside.

Carson followed everyone with his eyes but didn't say anything until the waitress left with promises to be back. Quinn shifted slightly, and eventually lifted his head.

"Sorry, I was writing the biggest apology text of my life. Honestly, Carson, being a douche is so exhausting how do you do it every day?"

Fern finally got a good look at his suit. It was thin and fit against his body perfectly, accentuating the sharpness of figure. While also showing off the muscles he had gotten from soccer. He was wearing a skinny tie and his dark hair was blown to the side effortless. Fern ignored how incredibly sexy his friend looked at the moment and glanced at Carson.

Carson shrugged and looked at Quinn, "I only have to do it periodically. They forgive me pretty quickly because they at least felt like I liked them." Carson, despite playing the same sport looked more built than Quinn. Probably from the season of football he played during the Spring. He was wearing a similar suit but his was black, it looked like they had gone to the same store. His dirty blonde was slicked back making him look classy. They both looked like 10/10 separately to Fern, but when they were next to each, they complimented each others pushing them to a 10.5/10.

"Are you telling me that Jess could tell that I wasn't in love with her?"

"I mean it wasn't hard to tell, you just treated her like one of your friends. Not even one of your closest friends." Carson shrugged, Quinn groaned loudly and opened his phone again.

"More shit to apologize for. I must be the worst human on this Earth." He mumbled, he looked upset with himself. Carson put a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen dude calm down. With all my ex-girlfriends they were super pissed at first, but they realized it was better than me wasting their time or worse cheating on them."

"But haven't you always been kind of cheating on them?" Anakin asked Fern turned to him confused. Carson frowned, a guarded look on his face.

"I don't know what you mean, I have standards. I don't mess around with other people when I'm in a relationship."

"Not in that way. But I think falling in love with someone else while being in a relationship has to be some sort of emotional cheating."

Carson's eyes widened for a moment then narrowed. "I don't know what you mean." Quinn looked vaguely uncomfortable and put down his phone. He leaned against the booth seat in a way that bent Carson's hand in an awkward position.

"On that pleasant note, Carson this is Anakin. You obviously already know Dillian and Fern." Ani waved politely. Fern looked at his hands, noticing blue gel nail polish.

"Yeah, I follow his Instagram." Carson looked Ani over. "You look hot, not sure if it's a compliment but you'd pass as a girl."

"Depends on the day, but right now it's a welcome compliment." Fern gripped onto the edge of his pants tightly. Carson's compliment blew his, 'you look nice', compliment out of the water.

"Yeah the hair looks amazing too," Quinn said, it looked like he had eased some of his nerves. "I saw your post on Instagram, but it looks even better in real life."

Anakin blushed a bit and touched his hair unconsciously. "Thanks, Fern's mom did it."

"Your parents didn't freak out or anything?" Dillian asked. Anakin shook his head and pushed a strand away from his face.

"No we were going to do it anyway, they just didn't expect me to do it without them." He shrugged. "My dad didn't really say anything, my mom touched it a bit, and Junior was out with her friends."

"Did you show your Edudu?" Fern asked.

"Actually yeah, he follows me on my Instagram," Anakin said proudly, Quinn's eyebrows shot all the way up. Ani scoffed and nudged his foot under the table. "Don't give me that look, it's not like I post nudes."

"Yeah, but there is that one..."

"It was just a bathing suit! I felt hot so I took it." Anakin blushed and Quinn began laughing.

"Does Fern follow your Instagram?"

"I don't have an Instagram." Fern replied quickly, he didn't like the look in Quinn's eye.

"Oh that's probably for the best," Dillian said with a snort. Ani turned to look at him, giving Quinn an opportunity to make a jerking off motion with his hand. Fern scowled and picked up a fork ready to throw. Quinn began laughing harder, Carson looked at Quinn and smiled.

"I think he should get one just for me, be my second biggest supporter next to my Edudu. Edudu likes all my posts, he's very supportive. He even called me right after and we talked for awhile. He told me about the time that my dad tried to go blonde. He texted me a picture, it was hilarious."

"Your dad? Blonde?" Fern scoffed, to a certain degree he could see possibly lighter brown but blonde with his complexion it would look comical.

"For my Dad's dignity I won't show you, but just know it was atrocious." The waitress came back to them and they ordered drinks to wait on.

At some point, during the order, Caron's hand had moved from Quinn's shoulder to somewhere next to him. When the drinks arrived Ani insisted on using a straw to keep his lipstick intact.

"Oh, by the way, Quinn you and Carson look sexy, did you go suit shopping together?" Ani asked.

"Yeah, Carson and I shopped together. It took forever, he wanted us to match."

"Hey, I made up for it by paying for yours." Carson looked at Quinn with a smile. Quinn playfully rolled his eyes.

"Yeah but the only problem would have been if I had actually gone with Jess. I didn't match with her at all, and you didn't even ask what Mall was going to wear."

"It was Molly, and I didn't need to. I'm a senior this is my last homecoming and I wanted to match with my best friend, not some Junior that I've been talking to for a few weeks."

"Well if you didn't care why did you buy her a corsage?" Quinn almost sounded accusatory.

"Well I don't know, I thought it would be nice. Did you want me to get you one?"

Quinn's cheeks changed color very slightly. "Nah, just joshing you." He turned away and took a sip from his cup. The soda bubbles fizzing right underneath his nose.

"Oh. Okay." Carson folded a piece of his clean napkin. Looking everywhere but where Quinn was.

"So, how long have you two been friends?"

"Thirteen years," Carson said immediately. Quinn rolled his eyes and put his cup down.

"No. Untrue, it's only been seven years."

"But we met when you were four and I was five." Carson retorted back.

"Yeah, but we just went to the same daycare. I hardly imagine either of us played with the other or were friends. We only started hanging out when we were on the same youth soccer team."

"How would you remember if we were friends back in daycare or not, we were three."

"I don't know, we don't have any pictures together."

"Pictures mean jack shit, I'm always going to say thirteen. Until next year when it will be fourteen. And when I'm 25 and celebrating our 20th anniversary you better show up."

"Show up to what? How many people have 20th friend anniversaries?"

"I don't know, more people should. We'll go out drinking and get wasted."

"Ah, sounds appealing. But you know I hate getting solo drunk with you weird stuff always happens."

"It's not weird."

"It's incredibly weird. And I regret it in the morning."

"I don't," Carson said seriously. Quinn and Carson looked each other dead in the eyes and awkward sort of tension developed between them. Fern looked at Ani cringing, Ani nodded in full agreement.

"So! I'll clear up the elephant in the booth. Why I am wearing a face mask." Dillian gestured to his face.

"I thought it was part of your look. I mean your suit is white." Carson shrugged, he finished his drink and reached for Quinns. Quinn put his hand around the cup not budging it. Fern looked over at Dillian, getting a better look at his suit in restaurant light. It was a deep creamy white, that admittedly did match with the surgeons mask. It was slightly baggier, especially in the front for obvious reasons. He also had a red handkerchief tucked in the pocket that matched with a red bowtie.

"Well no, it isn't. But I will give you this mass unveiling. You are the first nonfamily that will see this milestone in my life." He put his hand on one edge of the mask. "Are you all ready?"

The four other boys nodded, Anakin scooted back a bit so he had a better view of Dillian. Fern tapped his fingers on the table as a mini drumroll.

Dillian ripped off the mask and threw it to the side, he was beaming incredibly wide. There was a pause of complete silence as the other boys inspected his face.

"Dude...that's..." Quinn leaned in closer trying to get a better look. On the top of Dillian's lip was very clear, very prominent, dark peach fuzz.

"That is a caterpillar on your lip if I've ever seen one," Carson said, getting the gist of what was happening. Anakin scooted closer to Dillian and hugged him tightly.

"God it looks hideous, but it's beautiful," Anakin said as he let him go. Dillian patted Ani's arm and touched his upper lip.

"My pride and joy right here, but don't think this is any plain jane Testosterone. I've been on T for a few months now and it definitely hasn't given me facial hair."

"So what? Did you borrow Testerone from Superman or something?" Quinn asked a proud smile still on his face.

"Nah, my sister asked my doctor and basically they prescribed this cream for me. You put it in places you want hair on every day and the testosterone-infused in it lets the hair grow in those areas. But it was kinda tedious because I had to wear gloves and I couldn't touch any females or I'd be accidentally dosing them with T."

"Now you can finally join all our intense conversations about facial hair," Quinn said seriously.

"Can we add him to the dudes with facial hair group chat now?" Fern asked Quinn.

"Is it a group chat if you two are the only ones in it?" Ani asked he had put down his menu, already chosen food.

"You're in it too, but you have facial hair so little of the time your phone doesn't let you see it." Quinn shrugged. "It's just a dude thing."

"Oh, I see. Well, I guess we can induct Dillian in now." Anakin chuckled, Dillian didn't seem to care that they were teasing him. He continued to feel the fuzz on his top lip.

"You should probably shave it, so better hair can grow," Carson suggested.

"Um, keep all sharp objects away from my baby." Dillian covered his top lip. "Until my jawline comes in this is the most masculine thing about me."

"Jawline?" Fern asked slowly.

"Well yeah! I'm not dumb I know T doesn't realign your bones. But I have seen some guys go from regular female jawline to cutting steel. I know that's going to be me."

"So you're going to keep the fuzz until you get a new jawline?" Ani asked he put down his menu the last one to decide on what to eat.

"Basically yeah," Dillian looked over the side of the booth and gestured for the waitress to come their way.

The waitress came their way and took their orders. She smiled and collected the menus.

"Can I get you a refill?" She asked gesturing to Dillan's cup. Dillina looked at the half empty cup.

"I think I'll wait until I drank more of my soda."

"Free of charge." She smiled a bit, Dillian picked up on her silent apology and nodded.

"Well then, sure." He handed her the cup holding onto it for a moment longer.

"Hey, can I have a refill too?" Ani asked he held up his cup and popped his last cherry in his mouth. She looked a bit off guard and took the cup.

"Another Shirley Temple?"

"Non-Alcoholic," Ani said sweetly, she nodded and walked off. Dillian leaned on the table giving Ani a look.

"Way to ruin a moment," Dillian grumbled, not looking nearly as annoyed as he sounded.

Anakin shrugged casually and took out a compact mirror. "Only thing I'm ruining is an underage relationship, and getting a free drink."

"Wait, so you're not gay?" Carson asked, catching all of the boy's attention.

"Me?" Dillian asked. "I'm straight."

Carson looked at Quinn a silent accusation in his eyes. "I thought you said all of your friends were gay?"

"I was joking," Quinn shrugged, "But sometimes Dillian makes me wonder."

Dillian scoffed, "Okay I'm just dumb and socially inept. Fern is the one we should be curious about,"

"But he can't be gay, he's perved on plenty of the girls in our grade." Quinn stuck out his tongue as Fern blushed.

"He doesn't have to be gay, he could be Bi or something," Dillian suggested.

"To be honest Fern could be so many things. Like Demi or Pan, maybe he's ace." Ani wiped away a stray smudge of lipstick and put his mirror away. "His high sex drive might just be a cover."

"I don't have a sex drive!" Fern protested, feeling awkward with everyone talking about him.

"Yeah, you do. Sweetie don't confuse having a high sex drive as sleeping with a lot of people." Quinn snorted, earning a laugh from Dillian.

"Yeah, Quinn learned that lesson pretty early on. High sex count, low sex drive." Carson poked Quinn's side making him flinch away.

"I can't tell if that's an insult or not."

"It's just a fact," Carson replied.

"Okay real talk, I don't know how you people even have sex counts. We are only like seventeen."

Quinn and Carson looked at each other. Quinn looked at Anakin who shrugged and looked at Carson. "To be fair I'm eighteen." Carson shrugged, he took a sip of chocolate milk.

"Also, you and Fern literally go nowhere. Not even any parties." Anakin shrugged.

"You go to parties?" Carson asked, "I never see you at any of Brian's parties."

"Yeah, I mostly go to College parties," Ani mumbled, Fern knew Ani wasn't as braggy as he might have sounded. His voice had quieted a bit.

"You must have more balls than me, I could never go to one of those. Well at least not before I turned 18. I'm hardcore, but they're hardcore."

"Yeah, they go pretty hard. I just hang out with whoever my sister hangs out with. They don't really care about age, which is pretty sketchy but....you know." Ani shrugged.

"Maybe I'll see you at one of the parties, I'm going to the state college next year. At least I hope so." Quinn elbowed Carson in the side.

"You're not as dumb as you think you are." Quinn reminded him, earning a smile from Carson.

"You think I'm smart?"

"Well I wouldn't go that far, but I wouldn't say you're dumb. Besides you're a genius when it comes to plays."

"Nah, I can only think them up. You actually add actual players and make it work."

"I just pay attention to people, I'm just more social," Quinn said casually.

"Well, you're great at paying attention to people. You remember everyone you meet name. Except for the people you don't like."

"I dislike too many people." Quinn chuckled.

"No you don't, you like dislike five. If you don't like them, then they probably don't deserve their name to be remembered."

"Then explain why I couldn't remember Senator Stephen Douglas on that history test."

"You remember him now don't you?" Carson raised his eyebrow, Quinn thought for a moment then shrugged.

"I guess you're right but y-"

"Okay!" Ani interrupted loudly. "I think we're all set watching how well Quinn and Carson can suck each others dicks."

"It was pretty entertaining," Dillian clapped mockingly with his hands then paused. "In a very not gay way."

"What's pansexuality again?" Fern asked the entire table looked at him.

"That's pretty out of the blue," Dillian mumbled, he looked up as the waitress came back with their drinks. She set a root beer back in front of DIllian, and a Shirley Temple with extra cherries in front of Ani. She mumbled something about being back and left again.

"No it's not, Ani mentioned something about me possibly being Pan and I couldn't remember what that meant."

"But that was like a whole two conversations ago," Quinn said, he took his hand off his drink letting Carson drink it.

"I know, but I'm still curious." Fern defended.

"Seriously, keep up with the flow of the conversation my man." Dillian shook his head in disappointment.

"It's fine Fern, ignore them let me explain." Ani cleared his throat. "It's basically like a person who wants to have sex with someone regardless of gender."

"So they're bisexual?" Fern narrowed his eyes, confused.

"Not really. I'm bisexual, and I like strictly men or women. And people who look strictly male or female. That includes people like Dillian who transition to one gender, and look like one gender or the other."

"Ah, so my peach fuzz turns you on?" Dillian wiggled his eyebrows and rubbed his upper lip.

"All the way on, 360 degrees Fahrenheit." Ani chuckled, Fern nodded thoughtfully processing.

"Give me an example."

"I guess the best example you would understand is me. I'm not gender fluid, or non-binary or anything but I look really androgynous. So, if you were ever in a situation where you honestly didn't know my gender. You'd still think I'd be fuckable based on how I look regardless."

"Oh?" Fern pushed down any heat on his cheek. Carson gave him an odd look.

"You seemed confused. I think I know what he's saying. It just means your dick doesn't give a shit and wants to be in anyone who's hot." Carson explained, Quinn laughed airly and gave him a small clap.

"Look at you, being knowledgeable." Quinn pats his back.

"So, you can fall in love with anyone?" Fern asked.

"I mean sort of, falling in love is different than sexual urges. But usually, your sexual feelings and romantics feelings line up."

"What do you mean?" Quinn frowned, he didn't look as certain as he had before.

"Well like, romanticism can be different than sexuality. Like an asexual person can be panromantic. They don't want to sleep with anyone, but they fall in love with everyone."

"Can a straight person be something romantic?" Quinn asked, his voice hushed a bit.

"I mean yeah they can. Like I guess a heterosexual could be pan or biromantic. But they'd usually fall in love with someone of the opposite gender because it's easier."

The only person at the table who didn't look confused was Dillian. "That would suck though," Fern began. "If someone falls in love with a gender they don't want to have sex with."

"I mean I guess." Ani shrugged, "But sex isn't everything. I think it's probably harder for teenagers with libido and stuff. But if they love their partner they usually make arrangements."

"It's not exactly the same but my sister is ace," Dillian said. "So basically for her, she has an arrangement with her boyfriend. They still kiss and hug and stuff. None of that is a problem. But when it comes down to doing it, her boyfriend requests and if she's up for it then it happens."

"Why do you know about your sister's sex life?" Carson asked.

"It was a trade-off. She wanted to know about what my sexual plans because I'm straight and in need of a penis. So in exchange, she told me about hers."

"I'm heading to the bathroom," Quinn said, he stood up quickly he looked stiff.

"Oh thank God, let's use the unisex bathroom." Anakin stood up in the booth gathering his dress.

"I thought only girls went to the bathroom in packs," Fern said as he scooted out of the booth, making room for Anakin to leave.

"Girls and guys who need help undressing to piss." He scooted out of the booth and flattened his dress. Quinn managed a small smile and slipped one of his hands in his pockets.

"So I get the honor of stripping you naked?"

"Basically, how's your dick feeling right now?"

"Pretty dead but you never know, maybe I secretly love men in dresses." Ani hooked his arm with Quinn's.

"Maybe, it doesn't have to be a secret anymore. Fern, give us 10 minutes any more than that and you know what we're doing." He began pulling Quinn towards the restrooms. Quinn looked over his shoulder and winked back at Fern who scowled.

Fern grumbled under his breath and looked forward again, his eyes landing on Carson. Carson, surprisingly enough to Fern, looked equally as annoyed.

Dillian pulled out his phone and began quickly texting. A few minutes after Quinn and Ani had left for the bathroom the waitress had come back serving everyone's foods.

Carson had made sure Quinn's food was plated next to him. They had ordered similar platters. Carson had barbecue chicken tenders and fries, with a side order of mashed potatoes. Quinn had honey roasted chicken tenders and onion rings with a side order of coleslaw.

Fern didn't wait to begin eating his steak fry, instead of watching Dillian hungrily bite into his hamburger. Carson took out three of his barbecue chicken tenders and replaced them with three of Quinn's Chicken tenders. He then began trading fries and onion rings, until their plates were almost identical.

"What are you doing?" Fern asked he pushed the rice on his plate until it was at the center of his plate.

"Fixing the dishes," Carson said simply, he put a fry in his mouth and began chewing.

"Have you been here before?" Fern assumed it was some sort of secret friendship tradition.

"No." Carson took out vinegar and salt from a pouch of condiments. He lightly spritzed Quinn's plate of fries and onion rings with vinegar and sprinkled salt on top.

"How do you know he wants that?" DIllian asked, his mouth filled with cheese and hamburger.

"I just know what he likes." Carson placed the condiments back and took out ketchup. Ani and Quinn returned and Fern slipped out of the booth again. Quinn had a thoughtful look in his eyes like he was processing information.

"What took you guys so long?" Dillian asked he put his sandwich down half of it already gone.

"We had to put on that thing five times," Quinn playfully grumbled, he sat back in his seat and picked up a fry. "You already added the salt and vinegar."

"Yeah, I had time to kill," Carson said coolly, but when Quinn smiled at him he looked about to blush.

"You're the best," Quinn slipped the fry in his mouth. He looked over at Carson's plate and pointed to the mashed potatoes. "I didn't know they had mashed as a side."

Carson looked down at his plate then back to Quinn. "Do you want some?"

"Yeah, kinda. But I don't want to reorder." He put another fry in his mouth and leaned against the booth.

"Here just have mine," Carson added his little plate of mashed potatoes to Quinn's tray.

"You sure?" Quinn looked towards him his eyebrow raised. "You don't even want to share?"

"Nah, you like the stuff more than I do." Carson casually picked up one of his chicken tenders.

"You're even better than the best." Quinn smiled, picked up a spoon and went back to glaring at Anakin.

"Because you put it on wrong, and it was rumpled. Do I want a rumpled ass or a rounded ass." Anakin defended.

"I don't think anyone cares."

"Fern would care, I have to impress someone!" Anakin said dramatically, he picked his fork.

"Can't we just assume your next boyfriend has some sort of fetish for rumpled asses?"

"He won't," Anakin said stubbornly, he stabbed some of his pasta with a fork. Fern began eating as soon as Anakin lifted his utensil.

"Oh, you already have your sights on a lucky guy?" Quinn picked up one of the barbecue chicken tenders.

"Yeah, I do actually." Fern picked his head up from his plate and tilted his head making panicked eye contact with Dillian. Who in turn widened his eyes and looked at Quinn, who ignored them both. "Well at least I want them to be, but if they like me back they'd probably want to go on a few dates first."

"Dates are fine," Quinn, took a large bite of the honey chicken tender.

"Just never been on one." Ani shrugged, Fern blinked a few time.

"That's surprising." He blurted out, not meaning to be as accusatory as he sounded.

"Not really, to a lot of people I guess I'm more of a freak show act then boyfriend material." Anakin cut a sausage piece in half. "Shame, I'm a pretty decent cook too."

"Oh yeah, wasn't there that whole thing with the swim team in your freshman year?" Carson said.

"Yeah, you remember that?" Anakin paused mid-bite.

Carson nodded, "The guys that were involved had wanted to try out for football that Spring. But the coach said no, didn't want perverts on her field."

"What happened?" Fern asked Dillian looked towards Ani too obviously not up on the information either.

"In my freshman year, some of the juniors on the swim team were teasing me because of the way I looked. And they said shit like I was putting a packer in my speeder to make it look different."

"I would have taken my packer out and just beat them with it," Dillian grumbled, his hamburger now finished he began to pick at his fries.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't detach my dick. So they were smart enough to understand if they tried to force my pants down, they could actually go to jail. So instead they spent the longest time trying to catch me with my pants down. If I went to the bathroom, they went to the bathroom. When I changed, they tried to change at the same time in the same place."

"How'd they not get you?"

"Well, I got paranoid so I started wearing a speedo under my pants. Which really chaffed, but it was better than getting a dick pic of me. At one point one of the guys took me out on a quote on quote dates. Then at the end, he'd send me dick pics, and tried to get me to show him mine."

"Was it at least a good dick?" Dillian asked.

"See, that sounds pretty none straight." Quinn pointed out quickly.

"Hey, not gay. I'm a dick admirer, you love the things you don't have the most." Dillian said defensively, a teasing tone his voice. Quinn mumbled a whatever repressing a chuckle from bubbling up.

"I guess the dick was okay. It wasn't enough to leave me a puddle on the floor." Anakin answered honestly. "And I was also sort of seeing people..."

"People? Didn't take you for much of a player." Carson said, the smallest amount of respect in his voice.

"It wasn't like that, it was complicated..." Anakin got that misty look in his eyes that Fern hated. Fern pressed his leg against Anakin's knees touching him. Ani flashed him a small smile and continued. "Basically I wasn't interested, and I wasn't falling for it."

"So how did it stop?" Dillian asked.

"I basically had a mental breakdown after the coach asked why I had so many red marks near my spandex area. It was big, dramatic and filled with a ton of tears,"

"So basically the most you moment of your life?" Quinn said, with a hint of a smile.

"Yeah basically. But I ratted on them, and they were almost immediately kicked off the team. I was already a better swimmer then them, and if I started getting too self-conscious it would have affected my time."

"Douchebags, they should have gotten expelled." Fern said lowly, he moved his hand so that it was touching Anakin's under the table.

"They almost did, but Anakin graciously pardoned them." Caron's said.

"But why?"

Anakin thought for a moment. "Because as douchey as they were, they kinda helped me with my identity. I realized I was upset about them accusing me of having a vagina was because I liked having a dick. And I didn't want to be a woman. I just like putting feminine shit on my body. And here I am now, a proud beautiful, bisexual, in the most extra dress I could find."

"And thank God for that." Quinn laughed, Dillian agreed, and Fern nodded. Fern honestly wouldn't have cared whatever form Anakin had chosen to identify himself with. He was just glad that all the awful men and Dakota in Ani's life hadn't ruined Ani's personality.

They all continued to eat, eventually ordering matching desserts of caramel apple pie. Dillian checked the time and urged the group on. He called the waitress over and she left the bill at the corner of their table. Asking them to pay at their soonest convenience.

"Well, are we done eating yet? Ready to put this show on the road?" Dillian asked. Carson broke off the end of a chicken tender that was in Quinn's mouth and popped into his.

"We're ready." He stuck his thumb up. Fern looked at Ani who had just finished his pasta.

"Ani will probably want to apply his makeup before we go." Fern said, he looked at Ani for confirmation.

"I'll just do it in the car, it's only the lipstick that I need to reapply. But first, we need to take a group selfie." Ani took out his phone, he had a new clear case that protected stickers that were stuck to the back of his phone.

"Should I not be in it?" Carson asked Dillian waved his hand.

"Nah dude, you're cool. And you'll probably make us all look five times hotter just by association." Dillian assured him. Quinn bumped Carson in the side with his elbow.

"See not everyone thinks you're a douche." Quinn stood up from his side of the booth and smashed into the one with Ani and Fern. Carson stood and went behind the booth so that he still would be in frame. Dillian smushed closely next to Fern.

Ani extended his arm with the phone in it and traced the camera to them. Ani smiled brightly, and Fern got closer to him. He slipped his arm around Anakin and smiled with him, Quinn looked slightly behind him towards Carson and made a comforting sort of smile. Carson looked back at Quinn his eyes speaking a thousand different words, then he smiled cutely. Dillian stuck out his tongue and threw up a rock and roll sign. Ani snapped the picture and put his phone down.

"I'll print that out, it'll be better than those cheesy homecoming pictures that the school takes."

"You know you'll end up buying some anyway." Fern pointed out. Anakin shrugged not denying it.

Quinn took out his wallet. "Guess it's time to pay before we head out."

"Hey, I got it." Carson took out his wallet pushing back Quinn's.

Quinn paused his eyebrow raised. "You sure? I mean I have the money."

"Yeah I know, we got basically the same thing." Carson took out an amount and set it on the table. Quinn shrugged and pocketed his wallet. Fern glanced over at Ani, feeling obligated to do the same.

"I'll pay for yours." He said to Ani before he could even pull out a wallet.

"I know," Anakin flattened out his dress before looking at Fern's confused face. "We literally had a whole discussion about this three days ago. You insisted on paying, and I said okay because I wouldn't have pockets anyway."

"Oh. Well...just reminding you." Anakin took out his wallet and checked the bill wincing a bit. He made sure to add a tip before putting the money down.

"Hey Dillian, I'll pay for you if you want," Dillian said to himself. He pulled out his wallet and put down money. "Thanks, Dillian, you're the best. And your peach fuzz is awesome." He gave himself a high five and crossed his arms looking pointedly at the rest of the boys.

"Hey, Dillian you are a strong independent man and you need no other man paying for you," Ani said firmly.

"Dillian is so independent he appreciates his own peach fuzz," Quinn added on. The waitress came by, collecting the money and counting it.

"Dillian is so independent he scores on his own team," Carson said hiding a snicker.

"Dillian is so independent that he picked his own gender," Fern added confidently, proud of his input for once.

"Damn straight." Dillian chuckled. The waitress left a receipt on the table and gave them all a very pleasant smile.

"Thank you for eating at Duckies, we'd love to see you back again. Bye Dillian, and thanks again." She smiled once more and left their table.

"Well, who's ready to get down?" Quinn asked a moment after she was gone.

"It better be all of us, because none of us will be wallflowers tonight. I will personally drag your asses to the center of the dance floor and grind on you until you dance." Anakin promised, to Fern, it didn't sound like much of a punishment.

"On that note, the limo is outside. Let's roll out Autobots." Dillian pointed towards the door and lead the way outside.

"At least he didn't' say Big D and his hoes," Quinn mumbled to Carson, who in turn looked concerned as he followed Dillian out. At the last minute, Fern took Anakin's hand and intertwined their fingers.

"Let's have fun. okay?" Fern's heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. Before they stepped out in the cooler air, Anakin smiled cutely at him.

"I already am," They both stepped outside and waited to head into the limousine. 


Author's Note

I'm super sorry about the late update, but here it is! Have no fear the next chapter will be a very descriptive one that'll take you through their homecoming experience. Also, tell me how you all are enjoying the story! Who are your favorite characters? Do you like my writing? And what are things that I can improve on?

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