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Getting home Mackie takes a breath in the car before going in. The house is quiet as he shuts the door looking around, he knows Harley is here because his car is parked next to his parents, "Mackenzie can you come in the kitchen?" His mom uses his full name

Walking into the kitchen he finds his brother standing staring at him clearly pissed, and his parents sitting at the table. "Sit down" his dad says.

Sitting down Mackie starts, "I don't know what Harley told you guys but-"

"I told them you're a freaking homo!" Harley moves to the table "you're a fag Mack, what the fuck?"

"Harley calm down and don't call your brother that," his mom tries.

"Ma he's gay that's fucking weird! Y'all got nothing to say?" Harley argues

"Ok and maybe you should try to understand that before you completely freak out."

"No thanks y'all fucked him up somehow, dad back me up here please because what the fuck?"

Mackie looks over at his dad who's staring at him, "I just don't understand how that's something you'd want to be" his father shrugs.

"It's not something anyone just wants to be, dad."

"Ok, so that means we raised you to be one then huh? Who do you know that's like that?" Mackie stays quiet "you never said anything because you knew we wouldn't agree, it's fucking unnatural Mackie you get that, right?"

"Why are y'all being so chill about this? IT'S FUCKING WEIRD AND HE NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!"

"Harley shut the fuck up! No one cares what you think all right!" Mackie gets up getting mad, "why are you so against this?" He turns to his dad "nothing about me is gonna change-"

"Except for the fact that you're fucking dudes now," Harley retorts.

"Seriously why is he here?!"

"Bitch this is my house too."

"Call me a bitch again" they stand in front of each other, "I'm so fucking sick of your shit this is none of your business, and you don't live here so get the fuck out!" Harley pushes him and Mackie pushes back, "don't put your fucking hands on me!"

"Boys stop!" Their mom rushes between them

"Were you ever going to tell us?" His dad stands up asking

"No, I didn't plan on it anytime soon because I knew you guys would act like this."

"So we were just supposed to accept this?" His dad asks confused

"WHY NOT?!" Mackie barks, "you guys haven't given me one valid reason as to why you can't accept this!"

"Yeah, guys lets accept the fag."

Done with the conversation "fuck you, Harley" Mackie walks out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" His father calls out

"I'm leaving!" He takes his keys slamming the door behind him.

"That was fucking nuts!" Ali comments as Ben sits on video chat with his friends that same night

"Ali you should feel a little bad you basically outed the guy to his brother," Brooke comments.

"How exactly was I supposed to know he wasn't out to him? Ben, did you know?"

He shakes his head "no I didn't."

"None of that matters honestly, do you think Mackie would give me his brother's number?" Ali asks

"Wait let me get this straight, you don't like Mackie but his shady brother is fine?"

"Yes, Brooke are you blind he was fucking hot!"

Ben's phone rings as he sits on the computer with his friends, getting up he grabs it from his bed "guys shut up it's Mackie!" He quickly shuts them and answers the phone, "hey"

"Hi, are you home?"

"Yeah... how'd everything go?"

"Shitty, Harley outed me to my dad and they basically gave me shit until I couldn't take it anymore, so I left."

"Where are you now?" Ben walks around talking as his friends listen

"Just driving around, I don't know what I'm going to do but I don't want to go back home."

"You can come back here if you want" Ben suggests,

"Are you sure? Aren't your parents home by now?"

"Yeah but they're old so they go to bed almost immediately, I can sneak you in."

"Ok" Mackie agrees, "I'll be there soon."

"All right" they hang up. "Oh my god I have to go" he rushes back to his computer

"Tell us how it goes!" Brooke says as he hangs up.

Cleaning his room up, Ben showers, then wait on his bed until Mackie gets here.

Getting to Ben's Mackie gets out of the car texting him that he's outside, sneaking out of his room Ben heads for the door quietly opening it. "Hey" he whispers to Mackie standing there

"Hi" Mackie walks in,

"Come on but be super quiet" he shuts the door and they head for Ben's room. As they're walking Ben and Mackie hears footsteps approaching, "shit it's my dad!"

"How do you know?"

"Footsteps, stand right here," he hides Mackie behind a wall.

"Ben? Is that you?" His dad asks from up the stairs

"Yeah dad it's me"

"Was that the front door I heard?"

"No I was just in the kitchen,"

"Ok, I'm going back to bed."

"Good night" he walks away and Mackie moves from behind the wall. Sneaking Mackie into his room Ben locks the door then sighs, "I've done that way too many times to get caught."

"You snuck Jeremy in here a lot huh?"

"Uhh, let's change the subject" Ben avoids the question, "how are you?"

"Not good" Mackie sits on his bed "Harley kept calling me a freak and a fag, my dad refused to accept the idea, it was a freaking mess." Sighing he runs his hand through his hair stressed, "I just had to get out of there."

"Did you think they'd act like that?" Ben sits in his computer chair turning it to face Mackie on his bed,

"I knew Harley would and I don't know why but I thought maybe my dad would be more open-minded, I was wrong." Mackie's worried about how bad things were going to get, it was hard to get back to a good place with his family after going to juvie and now this, there's no way he'll be cool with his dad or Harley after this. "I'm sorry I came here so late" he apologizes to Ben who just stares at him.

"Mackie you're always there for me this is the least I could do for you I just feel awful about all of this, if I hadn't invited Ali here she wouldn't have outed you to your brother."

"Yeah" Mackie scoffs, "but this was bound to happen so I can't blame anyone but myself for trying to hide it."

"What'd your mom have to say?"

"She just acted like she didn't know, if she admitted she knew that would piss my dad off even more."

"At least she's cool with it,"

"Yeah, she's great." They're quiet and Mackie takes a few minutes to breathe before standing up, "thanks for the talk but I should let you get to bed."

Ben stands too, "where are you gonna go?"

He shrugs "my friend JP lets me crash on his couch sometimes, I'll just go see if he's up... he's always up." Mackie tries to brush off the whole ordeal with a smile.

"Or..." Ben thinks of a better idea he's afraid to suggest, "if you want you can spend the night here."

"No Ben I can't" Mackie shakes his head,

"Why not? My bed's big enough for the both of us."

"That's it," Mackie says taking steps closer to Ben, "even though all this shit is happening I still can't stop thinking about our kiss earlier. I like you Ben and I want to control myself around you, but that's not easy."

"Why isn't it?"

"Because of those eyes, Benjamin Quinn" Ben smiles, "and that" he points moving even closer. "You smile and I have to stop myself from staring at your lips until it happens again." Moving in they stand very close, face even closer. Ben moves his lips towards Mackie's and the 2 gently begin to kiss staying as quiet as possible. Pulling him closer Mackie rests his hands on Ben's back and Ben's hands Are caressing Mackie's face and hair.

"Stay" Ben whispers staring deep into Mackie's eyes, Mackie nods and Ben pulls on his jacket taking it off.

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