Pistachio #25, Chocolate Custard #29
Author: Bella
Rating: PG-13
Challenge: Pistachio #25 (the morning after), Chocolate Custard #29 (Happy Now - Bon Jovi)
Toppings/Extras: None
Word Count: 1012
Story Arc: Missing Melodies [ Characters/ Index]
Timeline: January 18, 2011
Title: Morning After
Summary: Ryan and Jasper check messages the next morning.
Notes: Follows Waiting. The lyrics are from Happy Now by Bon Jovi.
What would you say to me
If I told you I had a dream
If I told you everything
Would you tell me to go back to sleep
Take a look in these tired eyes
They're coming back to life
I know I can change
Got hope in my veins
I'm telling you I ain't going back to the pain
Ryan wakes up with the sun in his eyes and he dives under the covers and pillows, pulling a fluffy pillow over his head. A few minutes later Ryan pokes his head out from under the pillow, moving his head completely after deciding the sunlight isn't that bad. He reaches for his phone on the bedside table, turning it on, while looking at Jasper who is still asleep on the other side of the bed.
Ryan puts his phone back on the bedside table while rising from the bed. As the bed springs squeaks he hears Jasper groan from behind him. Ryan froze before slowly turning around to see that Jasper had rolled on to his back and was blinking his eyes in a desperate attempt to get used to the sunlight. Ryan whispers an apology that he's sure Jasper can't hear before heading to the bathroom.
When Ryan gets back to the bedroom he sees Jasper sitting up holding his cell phone and looking at it like it’s a bomb. It's then that Ryan remembers what happened the night before, with Jasper's coming out special on national television. The look of death that Jasper is currently giving his phone makes sense because god only knows what kind of messages will be on it.
"Morning," Ryan says, leaning down to kiss Jasper.
"Morning," Jasper replies after Ryan pulls away slightly and Ryan can hear his phone vibrating like crazy on the other side of the room. He rests his forehead against Jasper's for a moment before pulling away to walk back to his side of the room. He picked up the phone, ready to face the inevitable , before falling back onto the bed.
"Go ahead," Jasper said at Ryan's questioning look and Ryan looked down at the screen of the phone. It glowed and vibrated as each missed alert came through. Ryan looked at Jasper one more time, noticing that he had put his phone down and was looking at him expectantly.
Ryan started through the text messages, reading some of the good ones out loud to Jasper. Most were from friends, tour-mates and Alex's friends, the people that knew Jasper and him were dating or, at the very least, friends. There were also a few messages from Jasper's teammates (Ryan didn't want to know how they got his number) that threatened bodily harm if he ever hurt Jasper.
"Denise and Russ say that you have to come to a family get-together this year, no exceptions," Ryan said, smiling at Jasper.
"Ok," Jasper replies, nervously playing with his phone. Ryan's messages weren't bad but they both knew it was because all his friends were fine with being gay. Jasper's friends weren't going to be as accepting.
Jasper's phone screen lights up as Jasper pushes the power button and his eyes are glued to the phone. It takes a minute or two before the missed alerts cause it to light up again and Ryan watches as Jasper takes a deep breath to steel himself before going through the messages.
"Dad said he's proud of me. Says mom would be proud of me too," Jasper speaks after a few seconds, his voice choked with tears. Ryan shifts closer to Jasper but still not close enough to read the messages.
Jasper goes through the messages in relative silence, reading a few out loud here and there but mostly keeping them to himself.
"It wasn't too bad, everyone was pretty supportive. Kinda expected that," Jasper said ten minutes later to a dozing Ryan.
"You mean no homophobic comments?" Ryan said dubiously.
"They won't be stupid enough say things like that through text. I could show the press the messages then. The worst will be at camp in February," Jasper says with a sigh, knowing the upcoming season will not be fun.
****
Jasper sat across from the interviewer, fidgeting nervously, with a knot in his stomach. The lights blinded him as they were adjusted and the makeup ladies attacked him, muttering something about athletes unable to not wipe away the makeup. He could hear them counting down for the cameras to start rolling but didn’t realize what was happening till the interviewer started talking.
"We are here with the first baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, Jasper Bennet. Nice to have you here."
"Its nice to be here."
"Now you're here to make an announcement Jasper. Mind telling us what the announcement is?"
"I'm here to- I mean I'm- I'm gay."
"You're gay?"
"Yeah I'm here to come out of the closet."
"Jasper, what made you want to do this? I mean now rather then later."
"A lot of things. Is it too cliché to say that I want to stop living a lie? Its been stressful and I felt like I was living with a huge weight on my shoulders. I just to want to be myself."
"Did anybody else know before this?"
"Most of my teammates did and my family."
"You've just become the first MLB player to come out as gay. Does that mean anything to you?"
"I just hope that I've opened the door for other people. I'm sure I was not the only closeted professional sports player in any sport and I hope that by me doing this others can come out as well. Maybe it will also make it easier for young, gay athletes to continue playing the sport they love. But I didn't do this to become a role model, I just want to be able to live my life on my terms."
"Is there anything that you want to say to the fans Jasper?"
"Just that this changes nothing. I'm still the same person I was last season and the season before that. I was gay then too, you just didn’t know it. I don’t think this should change anything but I know it will for some people. I just hope you realize that this won’t affect me as a player in anyway."
"Thank you Jasper and we wish you the best of luck."
Rating: PG-13
Challenge: Pistachio #25 (the morning after), Chocolate Custard #29 (Happy Now - Bon Jovi)
Toppings/Extras: None
Word Count: 1012
Story Arc: Missing Melodies [ Characters/ Index]
Timeline: January 18, 2011
Title: Morning After
Summary: Ryan and Jasper check messages the next morning.
Notes: Follows Waiting. The lyrics are from Happy Now by Bon Jovi.
What would you say to me
If I told you I had a dream
If I told you everything
Would you tell me to go back to sleep
Take a look in these tired eyes
They're coming back to life
I know I can change
Got hope in my veins
I'm telling you I ain't going back to the pain
Ryan wakes up with the sun in his eyes and he dives under the covers and pillows, pulling a fluffy pillow over his head. A few minutes later Ryan pokes his head out from under the pillow, moving his head completely after deciding the sunlight isn't that bad. He reaches for his phone on the bedside table, turning it on, while looking at Jasper who is still asleep on the other side of the bed.
Ryan puts his phone back on the bedside table while rising from the bed. As the bed springs squeaks he hears Jasper groan from behind him. Ryan froze before slowly turning around to see that Jasper had rolled on to his back and was blinking his eyes in a desperate attempt to get used to the sunlight. Ryan whispers an apology that he's sure Jasper can't hear before heading to the bathroom.
When Ryan gets back to the bedroom he sees Jasper sitting up holding his cell phone and looking at it like it’s a bomb. It's then that Ryan remembers what happened the night before, with Jasper's coming out special on national television. The look of death that Jasper is currently giving his phone makes sense because god only knows what kind of messages will be on it.
"Morning," Ryan says, leaning down to kiss Jasper.
"Morning," Jasper replies after Ryan pulls away slightly and Ryan can hear his phone vibrating like crazy on the other side of the room. He rests his forehead against Jasper's for a moment before pulling away to walk back to his side of the room. He picked up the phone, ready to face the inevitable , before falling back onto the bed.
"Go ahead," Jasper said at Ryan's questioning look and Ryan looked down at the screen of the phone. It glowed and vibrated as each missed alert came through. Ryan looked at Jasper one more time, noticing that he had put his phone down and was looking at him expectantly.
Ryan started through the text messages, reading some of the good ones out loud to Jasper. Most were from friends, tour-mates and Alex's friends, the people that knew Jasper and him were dating or, at the very least, friends. There were also a few messages from Jasper's teammates (Ryan didn't want to know how they got his number) that threatened bodily harm if he ever hurt Jasper.
"Denise and Russ say that you have to come to a family get-together this year, no exceptions," Ryan said, smiling at Jasper.
"Ok," Jasper replies, nervously playing with his phone. Ryan's messages weren't bad but they both knew it was because all his friends were fine with being gay. Jasper's friends weren't going to be as accepting.
Jasper's phone screen lights up as Jasper pushes the power button and his eyes are glued to the phone. It takes a minute or two before the missed alerts cause it to light up again and Ryan watches as Jasper takes a deep breath to steel himself before going through the messages.
"Dad said he's proud of me. Says mom would be proud of me too," Jasper speaks after a few seconds, his voice choked with tears. Ryan shifts closer to Jasper but still not close enough to read the messages.
Jasper goes through the messages in relative silence, reading a few out loud here and there but mostly keeping them to himself.
"It wasn't too bad, everyone was pretty supportive. Kinda expected that," Jasper said ten minutes later to a dozing Ryan.
"You mean no homophobic comments?" Ryan said dubiously.
"They won't be stupid enough say things like that through text. I could show the press the messages then. The worst will be at camp in February," Jasper says with a sigh, knowing the upcoming season will not be fun.
****
Jasper sat across from the interviewer, fidgeting nervously, with a knot in his stomach. The lights blinded him as they were adjusted and the makeup ladies attacked him, muttering something about athletes unable to not wipe away the makeup. He could hear them counting down for the cameras to start rolling but didn’t realize what was happening till the interviewer started talking.
"We are here with the first baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, Jasper Bennet. Nice to have you here."
"Its nice to be here."
"Now you're here to make an announcement Jasper. Mind telling us what the announcement is?"
"I'm here to- I mean I'm- I'm gay."
"You're gay?"
"Yeah I'm here to come out of the closet."
"Jasper, what made you want to do this? I mean now rather then later."
"A lot of things. Is it too cliché to say that I want to stop living a lie? Its been stressful and I felt like I was living with a huge weight on my shoulders. I just to want to be myself."
"Did anybody else know before this?"
"Most of my teammates did and my family."
"You've just become the first MLB player to come out as gay. Does that mean anything to you?"
"I just hope that I've opened the door for other people. I'm sure I was not the only closeted professional sports player in any sport and I hope that by me doing this others can come out as well. Maybe it will also make it easier for young, gay athletes to continue playing the sport they love. But I didn't do this to become a role model, I just want to be able to live my life on my terms."
"Is there anything that you want to say to the fans Jasper?"
"Just that this changes nothing. I'm still the same person I was last season and the season before that. I was gay then too, you just didn’t know it. I don’t think this should change anything but I know it will for some people. I just hope you realize that this won’t affect me as a player in anyway."
"Thank you Jasper and we wish you the best of luck."