Chapter Text
Isaac Gates.
Better known as: Felix. Class president and most likely to become Prom King with his current girlfriend as Prom Queen. There was just no way around it. Everyone loved him, so why wouldn't they win? Of course Felix had competition; Lavernius Tucker and David Washington, but they didn't seem to care who won. Although Felix sure made a fuss whenever someone said they were voting for the 'enemies,' it was just to keep image.
This isn't about Felix, however, this is about someone else. Someone so quiet that they were practically invisible to everyone and anyone. Well...except Mason and Megan. They considered themselves friends, but really, who would want to be his friend?
Who would want to socialize with Silent Sammy?
That's right.
This is about Samuel Ortez.
A shame that everyone has taken to labeling him as Silent Sammy, but it didn't matter. In four months time they will be out and in four months time he will have all the time in the world to pull all-nighters playing online with his gaming buddies and four years of pure high school hell would be but a flitting memory. It wasn't that he was socially awkward; okay that was a complete lie. Sam was quiet, hardly a speaker and very much awkward. He had his reasons.
A reason that he would very much prefer Silent Sammy over...Tranny.
And it couldn't end like this.
No.
Close the curtain, dammit.
"Please, close the curtain, Felix," Sam says, his voice giving a subtle break. He wanted to shout at Felix. Why the fuck...would he even open the curtain to a shower in use. Sam sends Felix a scowl and shoves him away before closing the curtain with some force. Felix was staring and there was no question to what he was staring at or lack thereof. He wasn't ashamed of his body, but he knew the consequences should everyone find out of his gender. Footsteps rush out of the locker rooms and Sam assumes he went to go tell his jock buddies what he discovered. He stayed an extra ten minutes under the spray, wondering what was to become of this.
It was okay.
He can deal with four months of name calling at best.
*
It was prom night. It was glitz and glamour: girls wearing high end dresses while the boys wore tuxedoes. The dance floor was crowded and the punch bowl refilled for the third time. Few sat at empty tables while teachers stood by the towering cake getting ready to cut it. The music lowered to a soft hum and the stage curtains rose. There, front and center stood a table with two heavily decorated boxes with silver crowns to the left of each one. The principal walks up, microphone in hand, large smile plastered on her face. The spotlight focuses on her as she begins.
"I hope you all are enjoying yourselves tonight, eager and buzzing to know your class King and Queen! Well wait no more!" She exclaims excitedly. Offstage, two volunteers walk up into the stage to help with the announcements. One of them stands behind the Prom King ballot while the other stands behind the Prom Queen ballot. "Hopefully all of you have casted your votes by now as it is time to reveal who has won. Winning by a landslide, our Prom King for the class of 2025 is...Isaac 'Felix' Gates! Class President of 2025 and star of our Varsity Soccer team!" The principal announces and the crowd goes wild. Felix walks up onto the stage, chest puffed out, head held high and smiles whilst waving to the crowd. The volunteers place the sash and crown over him when his eyes lock with Sam's, smile turning ever so slightly maliciously.
Sam frowned lightly; maybe he was just imagining it as Felix's smile is back to it's gleaming, glowing perfect smile that has everyone melting and kissing his shoes.
"Now, for your Prom Queen." The volunteer by the queen's ballot pulls out the envelope...opens it up...
Hold on, let's rewind it just a bit. Actually, let's rewind it to the beginning of the night. The moment that Sam walked in through that door, everyone was nice to him. They didn't ignore him. They complimented him. They made small talk with him. They smiled and greeted him and it was...weight lifting. Nobody really hated him. For the entire night, it was as such. He's been asked by both boys and girls to dance, but he declined; he wasn't the dancing type. Instead, he ate his meal and sat quietly by the table, watching everyone enjoy the party. The dance floor was lower than the stage or tables so Felix had a clear line of sight to him.
Now as we're all caught up, the Prom Queen of 2025-
"...is Samantha Ortez!" Everyone turned to look at Sam.
Sam freezes. He...his name is Samuel, not Samantha. Who found out? Suddenly, he's pulled through the crowed and shoved onstage. Looking down at himself he was no longer wearing his suit, but was now in a disgusting colored green dress with matching heels. His hair was down from his pony tail, frayed and damaged at the tips. As his eyes glanced up to the laughing crowd of his so called peers, he felt somthing warm drip onto his shoulder. He slowly raises his head and gasps as blood pours onto him. He didn't squeak. He simply stood there as gallons of blood drench him, becoming the night attraction for his class with Felix's laughter being the loudest.
*
Sam jerks up from his nightmare, panting heavily, eyes wide. With shaking hands, he searches for his anxiety pills, taking one once he finds them. It takes a while for the medication to take effect, but once it does he simply stares at his bedsheets. After a while, he wipes off his tears-since when was he crying?-and slides out of his bed. He glances at his clock and sighs. Two in the morning; he wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon. What better way to spend the time than grinding levels.
By the time he was to get ready for school, he had pretty much went from a level one to a level thirty class ranger, a great partner to the so called 'FoxKn1f3' he had befriended at the beginning of the game, even if he doesn't work with assassins very well.
It didn't take long for him to go through his morning routine, perhaps fifteen minutes tops and as such, he has ample time to make himself a breakfast that is not cereal. Once he was done, he grabs his bag and leaves; he had nobody to say goodbye to as his parents leave early in the morning for labor work. As he unlocks his car, he looks up when he hears his name called out. In the distance he could see Felix waving at him, jogging closer and closer until he was at his car.
"Hey, mind if I ride with you? My car is busted and my parents are out on a busniess trip for the month. The bus comes at the ass-crack of dawn and I don't feel like waking up so damn early." Sam's brows furrow in confusion, but he nods his head slowly. "Great! Thanks! Can you believe my girlfriend bitched about having to pick me up for school? For school," He scoffs and slides into the car. "Heeey, it's comfy for a piece of junk," He snickers.
Sam scowls and he slides in as well. "Not a piece of junk," he mumbles and drives out onto the street. The ride to the school was anything but quiet with Felix's ranting and random stories. Fortunately, all Sam had to do was ignore him. Of course Felix started bitching when he parked at the spot furthest from the school entrance, but once he locked the car, he practically ran to the entrance. There was no way he was going to let Felix be caught dead with him; it wouldn't be good for Felix's image and he sure as hell didn't want to be part of his circle. Sam ignored him as his name was shouted and he dove into his first period class.
As always, he was the first one there, but Megan soon came in and made a beeline for his desk. "Sam, Sam-I have to warn you. Mason and I might have let it slip to Felix that you were Samantha when you first came to this high school and-" Sam, however, cut her off with a blank stare.
"He already knows."
"...What?"
"As we have gym together last period he thought it would be great to open the curtain to the shower that I was using." He explains and gives a deep sigh. Megan was at a loss for words. She didn't know what to say and Sam was now reading the class textbook. She wouldn't be able to budge him for a conversation anymore.
Sam, on the other hand, was regretting to have ever confided in his two so-called friends.
Sam has been ignoring both Megan and Mason for a couple of weeks now. It wasn't anything new as he was quite used to the solitude. What he wasn't used to was the fact that everyday he gave Felix rides to and from school as well soccer practice. He got gas money from him, so he couldn't complain.
Much.
He also wasn't used to having a companion during lunch. Felix of course, since the day after the shower incident has taken to plopping himself in front of Sam and invading his quiet personal space. He wouldn't have cared if it didn't attract attention. The deadly glares and insults attention, not the 'oh, you must be Felix's new friend!' type of attention. Sam would think Felix would notice to hateful glares sent to him by his girlfriend, but he showed no signs of ever acknowledging her. Maybe this was Felix's form of bullying him. It wasn't working, by the way. He was used to the glares during Physical Education.
After three weeks, however, things had started to escalate. It started with simple shoves in the hallway, the type a person does when they have something against you, but doesn't want to cause to much of a commotion. Then it became hateful messages and slurs...written on his locker with permanent marker and big bold letters. Needless to say, it didn't work. He wasn't gay. Besides, as a constant user of a forest green nail polish-you can't fault him for liking nail polish-acetone was a great ink remover and he always had some on him. It didn't take long to wipe it off. He simply placed his books back inside the locker and left. There was no dpubt he'll come back tomorrow with something he couldn't remove as easily.
Sure enough, first thing he noticed when he walked to his locker, was a mess of feathers and pieces of paper stuck to what smelled like a strong type of paste. Pity. Whoever was doing these unnecessary pranks had some great artistic talent. He left the feather and paper stuck to his locker. It oddly reminded him of a dog and he had a soft spot for dogs-especially his long haired chihuahua, Princess. On the last day before spring break, it finally came.
The confrontation.
Seriously, you'd think these girls would choose a better place to rough him up than the school entrance, but no...literally shows how hollow of a head they had. He stayed quiet as he let her rant off her feelings of insecurity about Felix. How he was spending less money on her, less attention, less time fucking her-he did not need to know that-and less time helping her make sure she won the Prom Queen crown. Sam rolled his eyes as she ranted, catching some of her entourage doing the same, and tuned her out, so of course he was caught by surprise when his arms were held back as she delivered the first punch.
He wanted to laugh.
He barely felt anything, so he simply stood rock still as she continued to tap him. How did she become captain of the cheerleader squad? Perhaps she was as perverted as the school's cheerleader coach. He doesn't need to explain that, right? After she got tired and let him go, she walked off smugly, thinking she won. Jokes on her; she would be feelings the effects of punching multiple times an abdomen that has been trained for over four years. She might have a fractured finger. As he walked to the car, his mind flitted to the definition of bullying. Would her actions be counted as such if she didn't inflict bodily, mental, or emotional harm? Sam drove Felix to the house, not knowing or seeing Felix's perplexed and concerned look until he parked in the driveway.
"...What?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing. Nothing...just...did something happen? You're quiet today-more so than usual."
"I'm fine. Just a normal day," Sam answers and steps out of the car. He grabs his bag and heads into his house. Felix follows him inside and quite frankly, he was used to it now as it's been happening for the past two weeks. It's gotten to the point where he was now be preparing dinner for four people and Felix being almost like a second son to his parents. He's never seen them laugh and smile so brightly before. He knew it wouldn't continue like so after spring break was over. According to Felix, his parents would be back by next Sunday and they don't like him conversing with anyone lower than his social status. Felix's family wasn't rich, nor were they poor, but they had the mentality of rich snobs. Sam's family on the other hand, however...well, let's just say he works to buy his own personal items.
Felix had made himself comfortable on the couch surfing through channels while Sam toiled away in the kitchen preparing stuffed poblano peppers. A meal he and his parents hadn't eating since Christmas two years back and a Mexican meal Felix has yet to taste. A thought dashed through his mind to go over to Felix and cuddle him on the couch as the filling cooked. He shook his head and blinked owlishly as he stared at the crackling skin of the pepper over the bright blue flame. He couldn't be lik-
A crash sounded upstairs and before Sam could react, Felix was already sprinting up the stairs. Not a minute passed before Felix came back down with a frightened Princess in his arms and a brick covered in a envelope in his hand. He set it down on the bar's counter as he checked over Sam's dog. Sam grabbed the brick and pulled the enevelope out from under the rubber band. He opened it, and not to his surprise, it was a letter to him with much more hateful commentary. He didn't know what was more stupid: throwing a brick through his window on a home that was obviously fitted with surveillance cameras or the fact that they wrote their name on the letter. He stashed the letter away and went to toss the brick out onto his backyard.
When he came back in, he was once again greeted by his little Princess safe and sound. He flashes Felix a small smile before he went back to the food. He pulled the pepper out of the fire and turned it off. "Felix, would you mind cleaning up the glass from my room as I finish dinner?" He asks politely.
"No prob," Felix agrees and grabs the broom and dust pan. He turns back to clean the peppers when Felix disappears from sight. This was the last straw for him. Thise girls could bully him for as long as they could, but nobody was allowed to give his parents another thing to worry about. They had enough on their plates as it was.
*
His parents came home minutes after he was done sealing the last stuffed pepper and as he was setting the table, Felix did him the favor of feeding his chihuahua as per usual.
After sitting down to eat, the very first thing that popped up from his parents' mouths...was an invite for Felix to join them on their camping trip over spring break.
Felix said yes.
Saturday came around and Sam and Felix were at Felix's house scrambling to get his duffel bag ready. Felix didn't exactly make it easy as the only clothes he seemed to have were more for...lavish restaurants.
"Okay...so you don't have a lot of outfits you can use when in the forest, but I can lend you some," Sam suggests, "I'll try to find clothes that don't fit me great and a belt as well. Go put whatever you use for self cleaning in a bag." Felix snickers and went to pack his hygiene essentials in a bag.
"Okay, mom. What else to I need to pack?"
"So you have a tent or a sleeping bag?"
"..."
"Of course not. We'll have to share the tent then. I'm sure my mom has an extra sleeping bag lying around as well. I'll ask her when they pick us up. Other than that, we're good to go. Wait here as I go bring over extra clothes for you." Sam rushes out of the house and runs down the street to his house. His parents have already begun to pack the truck, so he didn't have much time. He simply snatched clothes from the furthest end of his closet, knowing that it was clothes he had outgrown. The only bad thing about it...it was feminine clothing he had back when he was a girl. T-shirts mostly, but bright colored T-shirts with cheesy quotes and pants a bit too curvy. "I do hope he doesn't kill me for it," he mutters and rushes back out of the house. He distinctly smelt eggs and chorizo as he ran by the kitchen, and he couldn't help but smile as he ran.
He loved choizo and egg. He hopes his mom made them into tacos with flour tortillas. Felix hasn't tasted that heaven yet. As he enters Felix's house, the thin boy greeted him at the living room. He smiles at him and holds out his arms to grab the clothes. Sam looks down at the clothes then back up at Felix. "Umm...they don't fit me but-"
"They're from Samantha. It's fine, Sam. You're talking to someone who cross-dresses in secret," Felix mutters with a light blush. Sam blinks at the information then shrugs. It wasn't his place to judge Felix. He helps him pack the clothes and zips up the suitcase and just in time as well. Outside, he heard his dad honk and Sam grabs Felix's bag.
"Let's go." Once Sam tossed in the bag into the back of the camper and buckled in along with Felix, they set off on their road trip to the mountain side. Sam took in a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Do we have an extra sleeping bag for Felix?" He asks. It wasn't that his wasn't big enough for two people, on the contrary, it could fit both of them quite well, but it was the fact that he is used to being alone.
His mother her head. "Sorry, Sammy. Guess you two will have to share. Is that okay with you?" She asks and Sam, against his better judgement, nods. "Okay. Anyways, we'll be stopping at a rest stop in two hours so we'll eat lunch then." She informs them.
Sam gives a sound of affirmation and leans back, eyes tired and drooping. He shouldn't have had been playing well into the night and by the looks of it, Felix was on the verge of slipping into slumber as well. He closed his eyes to rest them for a few minutes only.
Two hours later, his mother was waking both of them up with gentle shakes. Sam was confused as to where they were until the sleepiness was blinked away. He shook Felix once again and snorts when he sees him deep asleep, mouth open and drooling on his shoulder. He shakes him again and resists the urge to laugh when Felix whines.
"Fie moe minuss, Nana..." he mumbles and nuzzles Sam's shoulder. Sam rolls his eyes and lightly slaps him awake.
"Come on, Felix. Time to eat and maybe go to the restroom." Felix pulls away with a whine and stretches. Sam watches with an amused smile as he struggles to get out of the truck. Shaking his head, he does the same and joins them at the bench where his mom had set up their food. Each plate had at least four tacos, an plate full of extra tacos, a tupperware full of salsa, and a pitcher of flavored water. It always amazed him how his mother could pack so many items and not take up a lot of space. Felix yawned and drank some of the water at his mother's insistance. In a matter of minutes, Felix was his enegertic self and took his first bite of their lunch. He stares at Sam in amazement.
"This is delicious!" He exclaims and takes another bite. Sam rolls his eyes as he douses his tacos in salsa.
"You should try it with the salsa. Adds a kick to it." He suggests with a faint smirk. He takes a bite and shows Felix how unaffected he was by the spiciness of it. Determined to make Sam proud of him, he puts some on his taco and takes a bite out of it. All three spanish speaking individuals stare at Felix with varying degrees of interest: his mother worried yet amused, his father with a grin and pride, and Sam with mirth in his eyes. It didn't take long for it to take affect and Felix was soon panting, eyes watering, face red, and nose sniffling. Sam gave a small chuckles and resumed eating. His mother, always the preparred one, hands Felix an opened carton of milk.
"Here. Drink it slowly," she says with a light chuckle and sits down to finally start eating.
Felix takes two slow long gulps, and stares at Sam with wide eyes. "What...that wasn't serrano pepper."
Sam shakes his head. "That is habanero. Miles away from even remotely being the spiciest pepper," he says and finishes his third one. Felix nods and continues eating his spicy meal. Too bad he poured some on each one and Felix wasn't one to waste food. Sam watched him power through his lunch as he made his way to his eighth taco. They left some for Felix for him to enjoy later without the consequences of getting his senses burnt.
After they ate, they left Felix to go cool down and Sam helped his mother clean up, then doing their business before hitting the road for another three hours. Felix went back to sleep on his shoulder, but Sam wasn't able to do the same. He took out his 3DS and played the rest of the way.
*
As they came upon the tour guide office cabin for camping information-they do this every year, but it doesn't hurt to stay informed of what has changed-Sam slid away from a still sleeping Felix and out of the truck. Stretching his muscles, he walked around for a while before joining his dad inside the cabin. Inside, he looks down to the adjointed gift shop before setting his eyes upon a new face. A girl, no older than he is, and a face a whole lot like...it wasn't a new face.
It was Felix's cheerleader girlfriend.
And with male company.
He looks away from them; no need to cause a scene when his family came here to relax and enjoy the wilderness. Besides, the teen guy was probably her brother or something. Not a secret lover. He glanced over at them again out of curiousity and frowns when he sees her lean over the counter to kiss the boy on the lips.
"..." Sam quickly leaves the cabin and goes back into the truck. It wasn't his place to say anything. He doesn't want anymore problems with her anyways, but the nagging voice in the back of his mind tells him otherwise. He keeps it quiet and decides to distract himself with repainting his nails, very careful to not disturb Felix. He looks up when the driver's door opens and his dad gets back in.
"Alright. Samantha," his dad says quietly as he turns to his mom, "Ranger says there has been some black bear sightings near the camping site just two weeks ago as well as a pack of wolves that have expanded their territory." There was worry in his voice and his mom clearly looked somewhat distressed.
"...Is there another camping sight close to here?" She asks.
"The closes one is another three hours away, but the Ranger doesn't recommend it."
"How close were the sightings and how far are the wolves?"
"Bear was spotted about six miles away from our usual camping spot and the wolves territory expanded to at least five miles away from the spot."
Sam freezes a bit. That was way too close for his liking. Even if it they were going to just be here for the weekend plus Monday morning, there was no telling if either the bear or the wolves got curious.
"Well..." starts his mom, "let's stay. Three days and two nights is all were staying, remember? I'm sure the forest animals are quite used to humans anyway." There was a slight pause before Sam heard footsteps going away from the truck. He looks at his mom with worry and maybe fear.
"Mom?"
"Oh, Sammy. Don't worry about it. Bears and wolves are usually smart enough to leave humans alone." Sam nods, a little comforted and goes back to finishing his nails.
Another ten minutes fly by before his dad comes back with a black case. "Sammy, wake up Felix. He need to hear this as well." Sam nods and shakes Felix awake, which didn't take long as he was already rousing out of his slumber. "Okay. Because we are going to be in separate tents, the ranger gave us two radios. One for your mom and I, and one for you two boys. Always keep it with you and never go out alone. We'll still be continuing with our usual activities, but let's be more cautious this time. Ranger says they shouldn't be bothering us as we're not a threat, but if worse comes to worse, we radio in and signal them with a flare gun. We have two, as a just in case we get separated while hiking. Also, before going to sleep, leave no food outside on the ground. We place all the food back up onto the truck when it's time to sleep. Everyone got it?"
Felix nods, a serious look on his face. Sam nods as well, but he fidgets with his his nail polish. His dad nods, satisfied and gets in the truck to finally take them to their camping spot. As they came upon the camping site, Felix plasters his face against the window with awe. Sam assumes he's never seen this much green in his entire life. He smiles softly at the sight, but frowns when he remembers what he saw at the gift shop. He tries his damned hardest to forget it. Right now...right now it was time to relax and enjoy the outdoors.
Once everything was down from the truck, Sam lead Felix through the intructions of setting up their tent. Everytime Felix hammered down one side, the other side would pop out and everytime Sam would hide his face behind the intructions to laugh silently at his tent partner. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he gave him a helping hand. Felix huffed as he shoved in their sleeping bag into the tent.
"Sammy, whenever I decide to go camping, I'm calling you for tent backup."
"It'll be my pleasure to watch you fume over nothing."
"Hey, for your information, I wasn't pissed! I was simply annoyed at how complicated these instructions are!" He groans and crawls into the tent to set up the bag. "Woah, this is more than big enough for the both of us." Sam simply nods and zips up the tent behind Felix. "What the-hey! Asshole." The tall dark-skinned boy whistles as he goes over to his dad to get a rundown of the activities for the day.
*
"Fish trapping?" Felix scratches his head as he looks at the list. Sam nods and reads over the rest.
"Yes, then once the traps are set, we will head out to look for mushrooms, berries, and nuts."
"Heh. Nuts." Sam rolls his eyes and heads inside the tent to change into some shorts. He didn't want to get bitten by mosquitos, but he also didn't want to get his pants wet and smelling of fish. That was one sure way of attracting bears. He didn't notice when Felix crawled in to change into shorts as well, until a pat on his shoulder. "Nice back," Felix snickers as he crawls back out. All Sam could do was blush; for some reason, he took the tease as a compliment and not as a taunt to start a game of back and forth.
As soon as he got to the small group, they set out for the lake-a ten minute walk from their spot. Once they got there, Sam could spot a few other families on the pier sitting down on the edge with their lines cast out and children playing a good distance away from the water's edge. A couple of boats were out in the middle of the lake, leaving Sam wondering once again for the seventeenth year in his life how it would feel to be able to fish in one of them.
"Come on, Sammy. Help me set up the trap," his mom calls out, breaking him out of his reverie. He shakes his head to clear away the thoughts and slowly steps into the water. The traps weren't big, but they would at least guarantee a catch of two fish in each cage. Felix seemed to have caught on quick and quickly set up the third and last trap on his own.
"Alright. Great job, boys. Now it's time to look for the rest of the ingredients. Sam, you and Felix go look for the nuts while your mom and I look for the mushrooms and berries. They're trickier to find. We'll be checking on you every five minutes, got it?" The two senior boys nod and Sam leads Felix to the only place he knew to find them, grabbing a container from his mom. Felix sticks close to Sam, hand clenched around his t-shirt and not once letting go.
*
It hadn't taken long for Sam to lead Felix to the one spot he knew the edible nuts grew in abundance. He's taken to tuning out Felix's constant jokes about a male's genitals when the scene from the Ranger's cabin gift shop popped back into his mind. At this point he he was on automatic, bending over to collect ripe fallen nuts and then looking for the lowest branch to pick them off. The ripest and juiciest were at the very top, but although he wasn't afraid of heights, he was afraid of breaking a limb. Not because it would disfigure him, but because of the hospital bills it might rack up. He was snapped out of reverie when he feels Felix lean in close, warm breath brushing over his neck.
"You've been ignoring me for the past five minutes...what's on your mind?"
Sam blinks owlishly then stands up straight. He turns around to look down on Felix with worried frown.
"...I saw your significant other with another boy at the gift shop. She was kissing him." As soon as he said, Sam immedietely regretted it and turned away with an embarrassed flush. He steeled himself from the inevitable backlash from Felix that he actually flinched when he heard sharp laughter. "...Felix?" He settled gaze over to Felix and confused to see him leaning against a tree, laughing silently.
"Oh...oh...oh my god. Y-you're sure?"
Sam nods slowly, eyes wide still in confusion. "Are...are you okay?"
Felix takes in deep breaths to calm himself before nodding back. "Oh yeah. Better than ever!" He strode up to Sam and clasped his hand on the taller boy's face. "Do you know what this means?"
Sam shook his head.
"It means that I'm more than likely not the father of her unborn brat! She has no excuse to make me pop out the big question!" Felix grins excitedly. "Sammy. You...just saved my entire life."
"...Please don't call me Sammy," mutters Sam, mind still reeling in the information. "...Wait...she's pregnant?"
"Not my kid," Felix snorts as he pulls away from Sam. He grabs the container from Sam's hands and climbs to the lowest branch to gether more nuts.
"How do you know?" Sam walks towards Felix and stays under him-as a just in case of course. Wouldn't want Felix to damper the experience of the outdoors so quickly.
"One: I always use condoms. Don't care if she said she was clean. I don't take chances because I know she's been around the block. Two: because I am infertile. Or at the very least, have simply too low of a sperm count to even affect. Doc's says that there is that small, slim chance, but like I said. I use condoms." He climbs down and hands back the container to Sam.
Sam furrows his brows at the information. He's never really thought about fertility as he wasn't planning on having children at all in his life, but for some reason knowing that Felix was incapable of fathering child had his feelings in turmoil. Which then led him to become even more confused as he was, despite the lack of male genitals, a boy and simply having a child naturally would just be mocking nature and- Sam flinches harshly as he was brought back to reality by a small quick pain to his head. He looks down and sees a small rock rolling to a stop then looks at Felix.
"...Sorry, but you like...spaced the fuck out and were making all of these weird as faces. You...need to sit down?"
"...No. We should be heading back," he says sternly and swivels around on his heel, stifly heading back towards camp. Felix followed him, thankfully quiet on their trek back. As soon as they arrived, Sam gave the container to his mom and practically dove into his tent. He was exhausted-mentally-and didn't think he could have been of any use in helping his mom prepare the condiments for the hot dogs as was tradition in their small family. Felix could help her; he knows how to weild a knife.
*
Sam awoke with a groan and shoved away whatever hand was insitently shaking him. "Stop...I'm awake," he grunts out and sits up. As his eyes cleared, he could faintly make out Felix's face; once his mind registeres it was him, he scowls. "What do you want?" He growls out, surprising himself in the process.
"Woah...geez...the fuck did I do?" Felix eyed Sam warily.
"What do you want?"
"Your mom said that the hot dogs are ready and that you should come join us," he mutters and leaves the tent quickly. Sam sighs and fixes his ponytail before crawling out. He sat down in between his parents and started making his own food. Dinner was, as usual with Felix joining them, filled with chatter, yet there was a slight tension between he and Felix that he was even sure his father was picking up on it and his father wasn't a very observational man despite their annual camping trips.
Sam finished his usual two hot dogs before excusing himself.
"Aren't you going to want some roasted marshmallows?" His mom asks worridly.
Sam shakes his head and crawls into the tent and into the sleeping bag. He takes hugs his pillow close to himself and tries his hardest not to cry. It was bad to like Felix, even as a friend. He couldn't have a crush on him.
He shouldn't.
Felix crawled in a bit afterward and sat down next to Sam. "Hey...I brought you some marshmallows. I think I made them perfect this time: a perfect even golden crisp on all three." He was smiling at Sam, but as the seconds passed without a response his smile drops. He didn't give up, however, and leaned over to set the small foil plate next to Sam, making sure it wasn't too close to his hair. "Night," he whispers and settles in, trying to get as comfortable as he could get in the sleeping bag. As soon as he closed his eyes, he heard the crinkle of the foil and he smiles before going to sleep.
*
Morning brought Sam a new set of trials. First and foremost: untangle himself from Felix before said person wakes up and finds out that he is a cuddler. Second: try to accept the fact that he definitely has taken a romantic interest in Felix whether he likes it or not. Third: hopefully confess to Felix by the end of the day to get it off of his mind.
The first trial was easy and simple; Felix slept like a rock. He could have stepped on Felix's leg and he would have been none the wiser.
The second trial wasn't going so well.