(Pete)

The initial awkwardness of everything still hadn't worn off. Patrick was driving us to the hospital. I was sitting shotgun. Brendon and Ryan were sitting in the back. Patrick moved his car cover but I knew that back seat was still.... Dirty. And my brother and his boyfriend looked and smelled like sex. So we were just four dudes driving to a hospital, after we all just had gay sex. See, awkward, right?

Patrick parked the car and looked over at me. "Do you want me to go in with you?"

"I don't know." I did know it was a bad idea. What if we saw someone from the school? People would ask questions.

But my father just had a fucking heart attack. And a little moral support would be nice. Especially from my boyfriend.

"We're just going to go in."

Brendon opened the door and jumped out of the car. Ryan nodded towards us and followed him. He seemed like a man of few words. I don't think he spoke once since I showed up. We watched the two walk through the automatic doors.

"Give me an answer." Patrick placed his hand over mine. I'll do whatever you say."

I took a deep breath "Let's go in."

Patrick smiled. As if that was the answer he wanted. I jumped from the tall car and closed the door. Patrick was instantly by my side. We didn't hold hands or touch. He kept a strick two inches of space between us as we walked in. Ryan was sitting down in one of the chairs alone.

"He's in room 506." He finally spoke.

"Thanks." I turned to Patrick. "I guess you can sit with him.

He didn't argue. He just nodded and took his seat. I squared my shoulders and headed in the direction of the room. I wasn't sure what to expect. Maybe my father attached to a couple of machines and my mother crying. Or maybe him lying unconscious and my mother holding his hands and speaking to him.

What I didn't expect was to walk in the room and see him fully awake, sitting up in the bed as if nothing happened. No machines except the one monitoring his heart. No hand holding. No tears. My mother was standing at the foot of his bed, glaring at me. Brendon looked just as confused as I felt.

"Come on in, Peter." My father's deep voice commanded. I stepped fully into the room. "You look confused."

"I feel it too, pops." I walked to stand beside Brendon. "I thought you were dying or something."

"Pete." Brendon elbowed me.

"I thought I was too." He stared down at the cold, tile floor as he spoke. "In fact, I was sure I was."

"His heart stopped for almost a minute." My mother added. Like we didn't believe what he was saying. "The doctors said the heart attack was brought on by stress." Her glare on us became accusing. Brendon looked down guilty. I glared back.

"And when I was on the brink of death, I saw God." My mother's eyes snapped towards him. So this was news for her too.

"What'd the big guy tell you?" I asked. Since everyone else in the room seemed too shocked to.

"He told me I was living a life of blind hate. And that if I didn't change, heaven wasn't going to be my final destination. He told me he was giving me another chance to right my wrongs. To save my family."

"Peter," The worry was clear in my mother's voice. "What are you saying?"

He looked over at my mother now. "Love is love, sweetheart. We shouldn't be sending our boys away because of who they love. We should be embracing it."

"Holy shit." I heard Brendon whisper.

I laughed. His first swear word. And Holy shit was right.

****

(Brendon.)

"Love is love, sweetheart. We shouldn't be sending our boys away because of who they love. We should be embracing it." My father sighed slightly after saying the words.

"Holy shit." I whispered too low for anyone to hear. Well, at least I thought I did until Pete laughed.

My initial reaction was shock. Hours ago he was going to force us to move to a conversion camp. And now he was willing to embrace it. Thank you God. Literally. Whether it really was a message from our creator, or even if my dad was suffering from some post heart attack illusion of his guilty subconscious, I was thankful.

I liked to think it was the former. Because that gave me hope. If God really did come to my father, if he really did tell him all of those things, then that meant God didn't hate me after all. I wasn't going to be punished just for falling for someone as wonderful as Ryan. I could love God and I could love Ryan and it would all be okay.

The thought made my chest warm. I could feel the warmth of it spread throughout my body. All that heat must have burned my eyes because pretty soon I was crying. Not sobbing like a baby but quiet tears were running down my face.

"Are you okay, son?" My father asked.

"Yeah." I smiled, wiping my face with the back of my hands. But there was no need to. New tears were already staining my cheeks again. "I just feel really happy."

He smiled. My father hardly ever smiled. "Me too. And if you're okay with it. I'd like to meet the person who helped you find yourself. And I'd like to meet him soon."

"You can meet him now!" I suggested.

"Now?" He didn't look as confident as he did a few seconds ago.

"Unless that's too soon." I retracted.

"No. No." He shook his head. Smiling again. "Now is fine."

I didn't wait to hear anything else. I rushed from the room and back to the waiting area. Ryan and Mr. Stump both looked up when I came in.

"What's going on? Is Pete okay?"

"He's fine. My dad wants to meet Ryan."

"He wants to meet me?" He stood.

"Yes!" I grabbed his hand. "He almost died and he saw God and he's okay with gay now."

"What?" Mr. Stump frowned, confused.

I didn't give Ryan time to speak before I was dragging him back to the room. Excitement and pride bubbling in my stomach. Like I was about to show off my first place prize from the science fair. And Ryan was definitely a first place prize. I walked through the door and pulled Ryan in behind me.

"Hello." My father sat up more.

"Dad, this is my boyfriend Ryan. Ryan, this is my father."

"It's nice to meet you, Ryan."

"Y-You too, sir."

"I hope you're treating my boy right."

"I-I am, sir. I love him a lot. Like you have no idea."

"Good." He nodded. "Pete, is your boyfriend here as well?"

"No." He looked away. "I don't- I don't have one."

Sure he did. But just because they were okay with is being homosexuals, didn't mean they were going to be okay with us dating a teacher. Poor Pete.

"Don't you worry. I'm sure you'll find one in-"

"Peter, this is wrong." My mother almost yelled. "You're sending our boys straight to hell with your nonsense."

"We all go to hell." Ryan muttered. Everyone looked at him.

"What Ryan is trying to say is that we all sin." I squeezed his hand. Signaling for him to shut up. "Your sins are no more accepted than ours. So if we're destined to hell for that then so are you."

"He's right, love." My father agreed. My mother scoffed indignantly. Leaning over to snatch her jacket up. "Where are you going?"

"Home." She slipped it over her shoulders. "We'll talk later." We all watched her storm from the room.

"I think I'm sleeping on the couch for the rest of my life." Dad laughed.