D.O. being Daniel feels right because they both have the same sass and the same cuteness level. 

I have yet to decide if my visual for J and K will be Kai because Kai gives me himbo energy but by all means, you imagine who's face you want to see for your own liking. 

[Daniel's P.O.V]     

"I give up. I don't really know. Why can't you just tell me?"

Jesus fuck, he made me nervous there.

"Leave me alone! I'll tell you when I tell you." He seemed to notice the seriousness in my face and dropped it. But something about his expression told me that he'll surely bug me about it again later like a kid asking for candy.

"Ugh, asshole." He sneered and rolled his eyes, clearly getting annoyed. Jayden's always been like a kid. He mopes when he doesn't get what he want from me and I'm always gonna be that one person who gets swayed by his stupid tantrums. I'd rather have him that lollipop than him bugging me all day.

Lollipop is a metaphor okay?

"Stupid." I responded as I opened my duffel bag and pulled out my jersey and shoes for training. I don't feel like training today actually, but when was even the last time I was motivated to train? My motivation for basketball disappeared when I discovered my team picks up on smaller boys and closeted gay guys.

I'm doing such a horrible job as a captain ball and disciplining my squad but a big chunk of me was also afraid to speak up.

Jayden should have been the captain ball from the very beginning. I remembered ever since we were twelve that he had been dreaming for this.

Unfortunately, I was the chosen one.

I used to love basketball. I remember not being able to fall asleep from the excitement I had so that I could play again the next day. But now, it seems like I have outgrew it. I don't think it has something to do with my sexuality or whatever. I just think that I was burned out. And the people in my team don't help either.

They're toxic and very restricting.

Which is why today... things will definitely change. I'm not gonna spend the rest of my senior year hiding in vain.

I will be free.

The team warmed up by doing some stretching followed by hoops until it became a real game. Tune ups usually divide the team in two, with me being the captain ball of my team and Jayden being the vice captain ball of the opposite team. By doing this, we usually get to read each other's moves and how our brains work whenever we're in the game. This will help us work together when playing as one and facing actual teams from other schools.

It's easier when you know how your teammate's mind works, you can have that mental communication going on.

Unfortunately, some people here think that they're better than the rest. Arrogance is the sole reason why you start to suck.

Luckily, I'm never boastful. I just focus on the game.

The training went smoothly and it lasted almost three hours or so. It felt good to release sweat as it releases stress as well. It distracted from the inevitable for a little while, and for that I'm grateful.

"Nice play, Danny!" Rafael gave me a high five. But I wasn't convinced. I know Rafael had been talking shit behind my back, together with Kim, I'm not dumb. But since I don't have the time to dabble on petty dramas, I just decided to keep my mouth shut and let them do their business.

As long as it doesn't affect mine, we're all good.

"Thanks!" I grinned, saluting all of my teammates."Nice play guys. Ramsay, work on your defenses more. In time you'll be invincible. Alex, don't get distracted, head in the game! And Mike, offense, okay?" I said, mentioning the junior team what they lack.

"Thanks Cap!" They all vowed and went to the showers.

"Aye, doing Coach's job now eh?" Denver walked towards me, nudging me with his elbows.

"Not really... I'm just a good senior, that's all." I smiled. "Unlike some of you here who picks up on them."

Denver raised his hands, shifting to a defensive stance. "Hey, it ain't me boss. It's those idiots." He said, pointing towards Rafael and Kim's group.

"I know." I muttered.

A pair of hands shocked me from my thoughts, causing me to flinch. When I looked at the person who did it, I saw sweaty Jayden grinning like a stupid idiot, a warm and blinding radiance of happiness surrounding him.

Ah! All that positivity.

At least he's here, out of all this madness.

"Why are you so good at this?!" He said, playfully yanking me and putting a fist on my forehead.

I laughed, pulling myself away from his tight grip. As agile as I was, Jayden had always been brute. I may be the fastest but he's definitely the strongest in our team. Those meaty arms don't sit there for nothing.

Heh. Meaty.

"I don't know but... I try." I laughed.

"Don't play humble with me you stupid ass, I'm not your mother." He teased and laughed.

I laughed back but what I'm about to say next will probably make him mad.

"I'm quitting the team."

~

Unfortunately, the inevitable is coming closer as we get closer on the way home. This has been a routine as well. Now you can see how Jayden and I are together almost all day, seven times a week. I'm glad he's not tired of me yet.

Well... he's about to be.

"What are you talking about?!" He asked, following me inside our living room as he continued nagging me about how the team needs me now more than ever and how irresponsible I was to decide on my own behalf. "Are you thinking? Uhm, hello? Where is Daniel? Is he there?" He asked, half yelling and half confused, shaking my whole body with his hands.

"What about nationals? What about regionals? What about those assholes from Atchison beating our asses last championship? What abou-"

"Oh my god! Shut up!" I blurted, pinching the bridge of my nose.

To my surprise, he definitely did.

When I told him I'm quitting the team, he freaked out so much that he skipped dinner at In and Out. And this is news to me because a hungry Jayden is a frantic Jayden and I usually don't like frantic Jayden.

But I have to admit, his expression right now is so funny and it's making me laugh. Watching him fumble with himself and finding answers to my sudden announcement with his own thoughts is making me giggle. He looks so lost and confused. I swear teasing him will be the end of me.

Okay that's just very psycho of me to treat him like that for my own amusement.

But look at him.

He's so cute.

The next thing I'm about to tell him will probably blow his mind.

I sighed and sat at the nearest chair in my vicinity just in case I lose my balance from what I'm about to say.

"What made you think of quitting? Was it because of someone in our team? Was it Rafael? Did he pissed you off? I'll punch that dude in the face the next time I see him. Was it coa-"

"Jayden shut up!"

"Shutting up."

I rolled my eyes. God, so annoying.

And yet amusing and adorable...

Jayden is just so different.

"Jayden, I have to tell you something... but promise me not to freak out okay?" I said, but I feel like this advice is more for myself and not for him. I should be the one who should keep calm if things go south. "Jayden... I'm..." I breathed...

Fuck, just say it!

Here goes nothing... If Jayden decides to break up with me I should be able to understand that. I only have myself to blame.

But damn it will sting like a bee.

"I'm what?" He asked, anticipating every move I made and probably annoyed from the suspense. Well can you blame me? This is nerve wracking as hell!

"I'm gay."

And there it was... the shocked expression that I was expecting from him. We both fell silent for a moment but my heart was screaming from the anxiety and nervousness.

His shocked expressions turned into a blank stare and that's what I'm most afraid of. This was the horror that I was anticipating and this certainly made me snap from reality.

Shit, this is really happening.

We finally reached the moment where I couldn't even read his face anymore. I looked down on my shoe as I saw my sweat dripping from my forehead towards the ground. It's so quiet you can even hear the crickets making babies.

I looked at him, trying to search for an emotion. I don't know exactly what I'm searching for but anything is better than nothing. He's my best friend and I can't lose him but I also can't lie to him about my sexuality, now if he can't accept that then I guess there's the end of the friendship.

"Since when?" Was all he can ask.

"Since forever. Jayden." He cringed when I said his name. This is it. It's over. At least I did my job and became honest with him. It took me a lot of energy to muster my courage and tell him the truth.

He nodded and walked straight out of my house.

And there goes the tears. Yep. I lost him. I lost my best friend.

Way to go Daniel.

~

I was awakened by the sound of my alarm clock. My alarm clock is usually set on an earlier time just so I can stop by Jayden's house and wake him up as well... but I guess this is actually the first time that I'll be going to school without bugging him. Just the thought of it made my heart sink. Did I really just lose my best friend?

Well, from the things that happened yesterday, it seems like I did. He just walked away and never said a word. Not even a text or a call. I tried to contact him but he wasn't answering so I took the hint and left him alone in his space.

Sigh.

I wish I didn't wake up at all, I don't feel like being human today. I want to be a bed. I wish I was a bed. Damn, I'd do anything just to be born a bed and not gay.

Just kidding, I love myself and I accept myself. I love me. Sorry bed.

I rubbed my forehead. I guess I also fell asleep crying. My pillows are literally still soaked in tears goddammit.

Or saliva, it could be saliva.

God, it is saliva!

Damn, how am I even going to start my day now? I kept revisiting Jayden's reaction yesterday night. It broke my heart to see Jayden looked so... confused and speechless. It isn't normal for him to react to something like that. He always has an opinion about something, whether it be the pettiest things or not. But this one shook me like a cyclone. It was definitely unexpected.

I stared at my ceiling, contemplating my next move and whether I should go to school today. My heart's too heavy right now to take care of anything... Maybe going to school isn't the brightest idea after all.

Thing is, I already know where this is going. I have read so many books about what happens when you come out to your straight best friend and more often than not their friendship starts to get a little weird and different. I was hoping for something different from Jayden because I have known him my whole life...

But I guess I'm wrong. Damn. I forced myself not to cry but tears just fell freely on my cheek.

I'm taking the saying tears for breakfast way too literally.

But it's alright I guess. At least I finally know the truth and that I'm finally free of guilt. One step closer to that freedom, I guess. I closed my eyes to drift off again, hoping that when I wake up, everything's back to normal.

~

[Jayden's P.O.V]

Oh shit. I'm late aren't I? Damn. Where the heck is that fool? Shitter didn't wake me up again.

That butt.

I checked my phone. Then I remembered... Ohh yeah. Shit! That thing again. I scratched the back of my head and lay down on my bed again and breathed.

I can't seem to really process his out-of-the-blue confession. It'll take time to sink in. Truth is, I'm scared and guilty at the same time. I definitely did not see that coming.

He doesn't look gay.

I don't believe he's gay.

If he's gay I bet his religion is like Lorde or Lana or something. Those sad ass music.

Maybe he's just sick.

We can treat him right? Pretend that nothing happened yeah?

I checked through my phone and googled 'how to cure gayness' and I sighed. Damn it. There's too many and too long explanations. I'm not up for reading it.

But for Daniel. Let's do it.

A part of me says this is completely absurd but another part of me says that it's not true. Daniel is not gay. He never flirted with anyone else. He's just very... focused on his academics.

I read some articles about curing gayness but it's too religious for my liking and dear God I'm the last person to ever be religious. KFC is my religion. So I looked for another. Maybe he's not having that much of a jerk off lately.

Jerking off about girls of course.

Or maybe he has never watched some porn lately.

Fuck that was definitely it!

I should give him the most awesome porn I have at my disposal.

I'm so smart I know.

I downloaded awesome porn from my torrent. Yea that's it. He's not having that man time lately. I'll just ignore school today, I'm late anyway and my best friend won't probably be in there too I bet, so everything is pointless.

Now to go to his house.

[Daniel's P.O.V]

I was awakened again by a sudden vigorous shake from my shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw Jayden with a cockish grin plastered on his face. And the first thing that was on my mind is that could it be?

He's okay with it?

"Let's watch porn."

I gave him a flat look and blinked.

And all of my hopes and dreams had been sucked away.

Stupid.

"What the hell Jayden? What are you doing here?!"

"What the hell Daniel? Yeah yeah shut up." He mimicked me. "Let's cure you. Your... homo thing or whatever. It's bad for you."

I gasped. Am I hearing him right? "What? It's not a curable thing, douchebag. Being gay is not a disease. Wait a minute, how dare you?" I smacked him in the arm but he didn't flinch at all. "Ow!"

Remind me not to smack the arms and just go for the face next time.

"We can try!"

I breathed, composing myself but failing miserably. "Okay that's it. Get out Jayden! Get the hell out of my room." What was I thinking? I cried for this douchebag? Unbelievable.

I should have known that he's too dumb as a rock to even absrob half of the things that I was saying yesterday!

"Hey wait!"

"No. Get out." I yelled, shoving him out but he resisted, causing me to fall back. I persisted on shoving him until he had enough and pinned me to the bed.

"Listen!" He yelled through my protest.

But I don't know if I can listen to him. If he can't accept me, that's fine but to try and cure me as if something's wrong with me? I might as well cut the friendship.

Those ten years of rooting for him and this is what I receive? Stupid ass. I gave him a blank stare, curling my fist into a ball so that I could punch him in the face once he let me go. "I don't want to listen. I'm gay Jayden. There's nothing you can do!"

"No! Stop saying that."

"Gay. Gay. Gay gay gay ga-" And I received a blow in the face.

Okay this shit is on.

I kicked him in the stomach, making him fall on the ground. I took this opportunity to get back on my feet so that I could grab his collar and pinned him to the wall. "Did you just punch me?" I gasped.

He shoved my wrist, causing our positions to get reversed. He caged me on the wall and pinned my hands with his arms. "Calm down!" He hissed.

"You calm down!"

"Stubborn!" He said.

"Douche bag!"

"Butt hole!"

"Stupid!"

"Shut up Daniel! Will you just listen?!"

"No!" I screamed, squirming at his grip as he successfully trapped me with his arms and legs. "I wish I didn't tell you. If I had known this is what you'll do, I shouldn't have told you." I said, my voice croaking from all that yelling.

My knees started to get weak all of the sudden. All these repressed emotions inside of me are starting to get out. I was even surprised myself that it existed in the first place.

"I wish I didn't tell you..." I repeated, but not for him, but for myself.

"Why not?" He said, a surprised expression plastered on his face as he released me. I kind of wish he didn't though 'cause my knees gave in and it made me fall right in front of him.

"Hey, hey, hey Daniel... are you alright?" He asked but I evaded his grip and went straight to my bed to cover myself with my bedsheet.

Fuck. I hate crying in front of someone else.

"Go home, Jayden." I said but my voice croaked and this gave the hint that I was, indeed, crying.

"Hey. Don't cry."

"Just get out Jayden. Please. I'm not in the mood." I whispered.

"Shit, this is the first time I saw you cry."

"Whatever." I answered back.

"Okay... I'm sorry. Now please, hear me out." He tried to remove my covers but my grip was too tight for him to see my face. "Daniel, get out of there and let me see your face, dammit!" He whined but I ignored him in return. I don't want anybody seeing me cry.

I never liked it. I hate people seeing me weak or at least see me in my short moment of weakness. I have always been the Mr. Perfect and a know-it-all type of person which is definitely not always the best trait to have especially at times like this.

"Daniel! Look at me. I'm sorry. I was just trying to help."

"You're not sorry and you're definitely not trying to help." I mumbled under my sheets.

"I'm sorry okay... Can we talk about this without hurting each other? I meant physically?"

I raised my head and glared at him. "You're the one who walked in my room without my permission and punched me in the face!" I blurted, my nose fuming.

"Well you were being a stubborn ass and I didn't have much of a choice, did I?"

"Don't gaslight me! You're still a douchebag. Go find a new friend. Curing me is not the equivalent of accepting me, Jayden. I don't need a cure, I need acceptance." That seemed to baffle him a little and made him quiet.

Good. Because he was being stupid and he's not thinking.

"Is that what you really want? For me to find someone else?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. Did he not listen to a word I just said?

But his questions did make me think though. Is that what I really want? I can't answer that question.

"I don't want to lose you as a best friend Daniel. We've been together for too long. We're inseparable."

"If you don't accept me as I am Jayden then I guess that'll put a halt in our friendship."

"You say my name a lot." He chuckled, getting distracted.

I rolled my eyes even though he can't see me. "Who said I didn't accept you? I was shocked. But I didn't say I loathed you. It's just... too much to absorb. Yea."

I understood