I sat on Ray's couch, eating his snacks as I watched him play with his daughter.

"So then, like, we're just cuddling on his couch," I said. "And he's the one who stated in the first place that he wanted an only physical relationship. But yet, here he is making it so much more than that. I think this making amends thing will go a lot better than I thought. I don't think I'll be here for much longer and if I don't get a chance to say it, I just wanna say thank you for believing in me and helping me with everything."

"Of course," Ray said. "Don't worry about it, you're my friend and I will help you with anything."

I smiled, watching Valentina paint Ray's nails purple.

"When are you seeing Frank again?" He asked.

I shrugged, glancing through my phone. I opened Frank's story and found out he was at some party. It was some video at a rager, he was dancing in a crowd, making out with some girl.

"Fuck," I muttered, jealousy boiling up inside me before I looked at Valentina. "Sorry, but how am I supposed to get Frank when he won't even admit his sexuality? He's always out here sleeping with other girls. How am I supposed to get him all to myself?"

"It's going to take time, Gerard," Ray said. "Admitting your sexuality is really hard, especially for someone who has as much internalized homophobia as Frank. You just have to wait until he's ready to admit it and accept it."

"It's really hard, though," I said. "He's at some party getting felt up by all these girls. He's so much more different alone when I just have him in my arms. I don't get how he can sleep with girls, too. He's gay."

"In this world he might not be gay, he may only be bisexual," Ray said. "You never know."

"I guess you're right," I muttered. "It's just weird seeing him look and act so different. It's just not the Frank that I'm used to. I'm sorry, I feel like I'm being dramatic but I miss him a lot. I miss having him as only mine, not sharing him with other girls. Especially not Jamia. In my world, Jamia is this sweet little closeted bi girl and a close friend. She would never hit on Frank, though."

I laid down on the couch with a heavy sigh.

"I could never really imagine you being a teen dad in my world," I said. "You just never had that much of an interest in kids. Or girls, for that matter. You liked comic books more than girls, you're a huge nerd."

"I couldn't imagine life without my daughter, she's the greatest thing to ever happen to me," he said.

I went home when it got late, going up to my bedroom. I laid there for a while, looking at my feed when there was a knock on my door. Frank came in, locking the door behind him before straddling my hips.

"How many girls did you sleep with tonight?" I asked.

"What?" Frank asked, his smile dropping.

"You heard me," I said.

Frank shrugged. "There were just these two girls I slept with."

"Let me guess, you had a threesome with them," I said.

"What does it matter?" Frank asked, running his hands over my chest. "I'm here with you now and I've been wanting you all day, been wanting to ride you until my legs hurt."

"I don't like sharing you, Frank," I said. "I want you, I want to make us official."

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," he denied. "That's not part of our deal."

"You also said emotions weren't part of it but you seemed to have redacted that," I said.

"I actually enjoy being your friend," he said. "But that's it. We're only friends with benefits. We can't have a romantic relationship. I don't even like you romantically."

"Fine, maybe I'll just go to Ray's," I said. "He's been asking me out for a while now."

I got up and he seemed to panic.

"He's not even gay," Frank said.

"He is, he's pretty into me, too," I lied. "And if you won't commit then I know that he will."

I went to open the door and Frank came over, grabbing my wrist.

"Why do you care?" I asked. "You don't even like me."

Frank didn't say anything, just let go of my wrist.

"I..." Frank trailed off.

"It's okay, I get it," I said. "You don't want to be with me, that's fine. But I'm not going to just sit around for you. I'll settle with my own man."

Frank looked at me sadly before looking down. I cupped his cheek and he glanced up.

"Just say the words," I whispered.

"Don't go," Frank whimpered.

I grabbed him, hugging him tight.

"Then we need to make more rules to our relationship," I said.

We sat on the bed and I held both his hands.

"First thing is that I need monogamy from both of us," I said.

"People are going to question why I stopped sleeping with girls, especially Jamia," he said.

"Tell them you got an STD," I said.

Frank chuckled softly, shaking his head.

"That's the baseline deal, monogamy," I said.

"Okay, I can handle that," he said. "But we have to keep it a secret."

"I know you're not ready to come out yet and that's okay," I said. "We can be a secret until you're ready?"

"I don't need to come out when I'm straight," he said.

I stared at him and he looked down.

"I-I am," he said quietly.

"Can you just admit it to me, or maybe yourself?" I asked.

"How am I supposed to even know my sexuality?" He asked. "It's too hard nowadays. Before there was just gay, straight, bi. There was she, he, them. Now there's pan and poly and ace. There's pronouns like xem, per, hir. It's all too confusing. How did you know that you were gay?"

"I've always known, I've never been interested in girls like I have been boys," I said. "It could be anything, maybe even something simple as having a crush on a boy from a cartoon."

Frank looked up at me with wide eyes. It was a story I remember him from the other world telling me. The other Frank used to have a crush on a boy from a cartoon character.

"I think I might be gay," Frank whispered.

His eyes began to water as he looked away.

"It is okay to be gay, Frank," I said. "People are a lot more accepting nowadays. We can get married now, it's legal. There's nothing wrong with being gay, it's who you are."

Frank nodded, wiping his eyes.

"You can't tell anyone, Gerard," he said. "Seriously, you can't. If my dad were to ever find out then I would be dead. Like, literally beaten to death. I told you what happened last time when I was just a little kid innocently kissing another boy. He wouldn't stand it if I were actually full on gay."

I rubbed his back gently.

"Maybe we can be in a real relationship," I said. "A secret but real relationship. We can be actual boyfriends for the first time ever, we can go on dates in New York where no one will see us."

"That actually sounds kind of nice," he said. "I think that would actually be a lot of fun."

"It will be," I said. "You've never been in a steady relationship before and I can show you what it's like and how amazing monogamy can be. I want to make things right this time."

"Why do you keep speaking like that?" Frank asked. "Like we used to be together or something?"

"It's really complicated," I said. "You wouldn't believe me if I even tried to tell the truth. I wouldn't even know where to really start with the entire story."

"Try me," He said.

"Tell you what, you give us a real shot at being a couple and then I will tell you the entire story behind all of the crazy shit that I tend to do," I said. "There is a reasoning for all my senseless shit, I can promise you that."

Frank nodded with a smile.

"So, am I really going to have to fight for you with Ray fucking Toro?" He asked.

"No, no," I said with a small smile. "He's just a friend of mine, he's also totally straight."

"Is it true he was expelled because they found bombs in his house?" Frank asked.

"What? No," I denied. "It's because he had a child, he just raises and takes care of his daughter now, that's why he left school."

"Oh, that makes more sense," he said. "There are so many different rumors about him that it's kind of crazy."

"No, he's a normal, sweet guy," I said.

Frank smiled, laying down on the bed. I laid beside him, wrapping my arms around him.

"Are you the jealous type?" I asked. "Is that why you didn't want me going to Ray?"

"A little," he said. "But also, I just didn't want to lose you. You helped me through a lot. We haven't been seeing each other for a long time or anything but I really feel like a different person because of you. I didn't want to risk never being able to see you again."

"You're my soulmate, Frank," I said. "I love you."

Frank looked a little taken aback. "I'm sorry but I don't know if I'm ready to say the L word back to you. I'm not even sure what my sexuality is, I don't think I'm able to say something like that out loud just yet."

"That's okay, I know it's a lot and you don't have to say anything back until you are absolutely ready," I said.

Frank smiled, giving me a kiss. I laid in his arms that night until I fell asleep, surrounded by the smell of his cologne.