Coming Out
So I'm going back to an old prompt ^ ^ I felt like writing a drabble, so I looked at the old prompts hoping for some inspiration. This struck. ^__^
Title: The Personal Ad
Author: Rappleart3
Rating: pg
Fandom: Original
Pairing: Eh, Tom and Chris? Kinda?
Word count: 944
Warnings: Fluffy, as most of my stuff is XD
Tom’s hands almost shook as he clicked the reply link and opened his email in another tab. Personal ads were such a risky business. What if you and the person just crashed and burned at the first meeting? That would be totally embarrassing. What if he got more than one response to his ad? Tom always wondered what would happen then. How could you choose without feeling guilty about the people you didn’t pick? He really didn’t know. But worst of all was actually finding someone you were compatible with. You’d spend a lot of time with them, get close, share secrets and personalities, live in happiness for a time. But then when it ended, you were left more broken than before.
Though Tom supposed that that was a big risk in any relationship. He didn’t like risks and he didn’t want to be hurt. But he didn’t want to be lonely anymore. So he was searching the personal ads on Craigslist, hoping for a gem. Of course that meant wading through all the booty call requests. Tom had seen far too many unwanted pictures of male genitalia and boy had his face flamed. That was another issue: he was looking in the ‘m4m’ category. He was comfortable with his own sexuality. Why should he be ashamed of liking men instead of women? Love was love was love, no matter what gender you preferred. What made him uncomfortable was how other people would react. Especially his family, seeing as how they still didn’t know of his preferences. The thought of hitting on a straight man mortified Tom, or what if he hit on a gay man but the guy didn’t return it? At least the personals guaranteed that the respondent was gay.
A quick greeting and description later, he hit the send button. The little ‘undo’ option appeared at the top of the message, tempting Tom to click it and avoid the humiliation he knew would come from this. If the guy responded, then it was surely a rejection. Tom’s confidence in himself had grown a lot in college, but there were still many times when he had absolutely no faith in himself. And if the guy didn’t respond, well, that was the same as a dismissal. As Gmail processed the letter and the undo button disappeared, Tom drew a heavy breath and hoped that this didn’t end too badly.
The next day saw an unfamiliar email in his Gmail. A click opened the email and Tom was floored to see the short paragraph it contained. He took his time to read the whole letter carefully. Chris thought he sounded nice. He thought that they had similar interests. That they might get a long quite well. And Tom’s shyness was cute. Chris bet that Tom was even cuter in person. Why didn’t they meet at a local café and see how well they hit it off? At that point, Tom’s jaw hit the floor, or at least the keyboard. Chris wanted to meet him. He hadn’t just scoffed at Tom’s timid reply.
Wow. Tom was flying. He felt wonderful and amazing and elated. Of course things could still go horribly wrong, but what a boost for confidence this was. He wasn’t completely hopeless. The phone rang, going on for a few seconds before Tom came down enough to pick up the phone. When his brother’s voice flowed through the receiver, Tom didn’t feel too concerned. It had been a few days since the two had talked, so it wasn’t unusual for Zack to check in on him.
“So how are you, Tom? Anything new happen?” Zach asked rather surreptitiously. For some strange reason, Tom felt that was a loaded question.
“No, nothing really.” Nonchalant was definitely the way to go here. “And you?”
His brother sighed on the other end before speaking up. “Alright, Tom, let me cut to the chase. Chris called me this morning.”
“Chris?” Tom was sure that his confusion showed in his voice.
“Chris Bront, my friend.” A pregnant pause. And Tom wasn’t sure he wanted Zach to continue. “My gay friend.”
“Oh?” The word came out a little strangled. Oh no. Please no.
“Yeah, he told me something interesting. Turns out that he put out a personal ad on Craigslist. And that you answered it. Is this true?”
Tom gulped, the words sticking a little in his throat. “I might have, yes.” This definitely was not the way he wanted his family to find out about his sexuality.
“Well then. Why didn’t you tell me?” Zach sounded a little hurt and that, in turn, hurt Tom. He hadn’t meant to hurt his brother’s feeling or keep it a secret. He just hadn’t gotten around to actually telling his family.
“I was going to tell you. Just, you know, when I had a boyfriend and it became relevant. I swear I was. I’m sorry.”
A sigh came from the other end. “Tom, you sound so scared. Relax. You should know that I don’t care. Plus, I think you and Chris would be really good for each other.”
Wait. “What?”
“Yeah, Chris is really excited to meet you. So reply quickly, okay? And don’t worry about me spilling to Mom and Dad. I’ll leave that for you. But don’t just put it off indefinitely, ‘kay?”
“Yeah, okay.” Tom said, answering both of his brother’s questions. Numbly, but quickly gaining feeling again, a deep excitement, Tom cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear, continuing the conversation and hitting the reply button on Chris’ message. As he typed and talked, a smile formed on his lips, small but growing stronger every minute.
Title: The Personal Ad
Author: Rappleart3
Rating: pg
Fandom: Original
Pairing: Eh, Tom and Chris? Kinda?
Word count: 944
Warnings: Fluffy, as most of my stuff is XD
Tom’s hands almost shook as he clicked the reply link and opened his email in another tab. Personal ads were such a risky business. What if you and the person just crashed and burned at the first meeting? That would be totally embarrassing. What if he got more than one response to his ad? Tom always wondered what would happen then. How could you choose without feeling guilty about the people you didn’t pick? He really didn’t know. But worst of all was actually finding someone you were compatible with. You’d spend a lot of time with them, get close, share secrets and personalities, live in happiness for a time. But then when it ended, you were left more broken than before.
Though Tom supposed that that was a big risk in any relationship. He didn’t like risks and he didn’t want to be hurt. But he didn’t want to be lonely anymore. So he was searching the personal ads on Craigslist, hoping for a gem. Of course that meant wading through all the booty call requests. Tom had seen far too many unwanted pictures of male genitalia and boy had his face flamed. That was another issue: he was looking in the ‘m4m’ category. He was comfortable with his own sexuality. Why should he be ashamed of liking men instead of women? Love was love was love, no matter what gender you preferred. What made him uncomfortable was how other people would react. Especially his family, seeing as how they still didn’t know of his preferences. The thought of hitting on a straight man mortified Tom, or what if he hit on a gay man but the guy didn’t return it? At least the personals guaranteed that the respondent was gay.
A quick greeting and description later, he hit the send button. The little ‘undo’ option appeared at the top of the message, tempting Tom to click it and avoid the humiliation he knew would come from this. If the guy responded, then it was surely a rejection. Tom’s confidence in himself had grown a lot in college, but there were still many times when he had absolutely no faith in himself. And if the guy didn’t respond, well, that was the same as a dismissal. As Gmail processed the letter and the undo button disappeared, Tom drew a heavy breath and hoped that this didn’t end too badly.
The next day saw an unfamiliar email in his Gmail. A click opened the email and Tom was floored to see the short paragraph it contained. He took his time to read the whole letter carefully. Chris thought he sounded nice. He thought that they had similar interests. That they might get a long quite well. And Tom’s shyness was cute. Chris bet that Tom was even cuter in person. Why didn’t they meet at a local café and see how well they hit it off? At that point, Tom’s jaw hit the floor, or at least the keyboard. Chris wanted to meet him. He hadn’t just scoffed at Tom’s timid reply.
Wow. Tom was flying. He felt wonderful and amazing and elated. Of course things could still go horribly wrong, but what a boost for confidence this was. He wasn’t completely hopeless. The phone rang, going on for a few seconds before Tom came down enough to pick up the phone. When his brother’s voice flowed through the receiver, Tom didn’t feel too concerned. It had been a few days since the two had talked, so it wasn’t unusual for Zack to check in on him.
“So how are you, Tom? Anything new happen?” Zach asked rather surreptitiously. For some strange reason, Tom felt that was a loaded question.
“No, nothing really.” Nonchalant was definitely the way to go here. “And you?”
His brother sighed on the other end before speaking up. “Alright, Tom, let me cut to the chase. Chris called me this morning.”
“Chris?” Tom was sure that his confusion showed in his voice.
“Chris Bront, my friend.” A pregnant pause. And Tom wasn’t sure he wanted Zach to continue. “My gay friend.”
“Oh?” The word came out a little strangled. Oh no. Please no.
“Yeah, he told me something interesting. Turns out that he put out a personal ad on Craigslist. And that you answered it. Is this true?”
Tom gulped, the words sticking a little in his throat. “I might have, yes.” This definitely was not the way he wanted his family to find out about his sexuality.
“Well then. Why didn’t you tell me?” Zach sounded a little hurt and that, in turn, hurt Tom. He hadn’t meant to hurt his brother’s feeling or keep it a secret. He just hadn’t gotten around to actually telling his family.
“I was going to tell you. Just, you know, when I had a boyfriend and it became relevant. I swear I was. I’m sorry.”
A sigh came from the other end. “Tom, you sound so scared. Relax. You should know that I don’t care. Plus, I think you and Chris would be really good for each other.”
Wait. “What?”
“Yeah, Chris is really excited to meet you. So reply quickly, okay? And don’t worry about me spilling to Mom and Dad. I’ll leave that for you. But don’t just put it off indefinitely, ‘kay?”
“Yeah, okay.” Tom said, answering both of his brother’s questions. Numbly, but quickly gaining feeling again, a deep excitement, Tom cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear, continuing the conversation and hitting the reply button on Chris’ message. As he typed and talked, a smile formed on his lips, small but growing stronger every minute.