- Forbidden Relationship
- Percy/Ethan
- Romantic

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"We can't do this again. We have to stop this."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief, his head shooting back and tilting to one side in incredulous disappointment as he registered the older teen's words.

He laughed, once; it was a laugh devoid of any real humour.

"You say that like we've been doing something wrong, or- or like we've been having you-know-what!"

The boy stood in front of him - looking much more serious about the situation than Percy did - stared at him with such intensity, such focused emotion, that Percy's throat was forced to swallow, in an attempt to alleviate himself of even the tiniest bit of oppressed anxiety.

"We are doing something wrong, Percy! How can you not see that?"

Percy scoffed, his emotions morphing from questioning amusement to frustrated antipathy in a matter of minutes.

"I can't see it because there is nothing to see! There is nothing wrong with us!" Percy had aimed to say, though his words came out as a bitter shout.

Ethan, Percy's (secret) boyfriend, narrowed his eyes and adjusted his stance, his arms coming up to cross over his chest; his expression all the while stayed somber.

(Percy tried to avoid the menatally-damaging thought of whether or not his boyfriend was still his boyfriend, at that moment.)

"Percy." Ethan spoke sternly, "I am dating a boy," (So they are still dating, yay!) "How is that not wrong, to you? My mother will kill me if she finds out we're more than friends. Alabaster can only cover for us for so long, you know."

Percy frowned.

"Why are you bringing Ally into this, now? Like, I'm sorry, but I don't care about him at the minute." At Ethan's change of expression, Percy added, "I care about us," in a tiny, broken voice.

Percy blinked back tears, only now realising that he was more upset about this than he had thought. He had just played it off as anger, for some (unkown) reason.

"You're dating a boy, so what? Does it mean nothing to you that I'm that boy?"

"Of course it does, Percy. ...But it doesn't mean anything to my parents. You know that."

Percy sniffled, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand once. He stood still for a second, then made the decision to leave.

On his way to the front door of his boyfriend's apartment, Percy passed his boyfriend's parents, both of whom stood with solemn faces and tense body language, their shoulders squared.

As soon as the door shut behind Percy, Ethan's parents nonverbally counted the five seconds they knew - from experience - it took for Percy to rush down the hallway their home was located in.

Once the five seconds were up, sure that the younger teen was now properly gone, the two adults called for their son.

"We need to talk."

--

"First of all, I wasn't aware that you think so lowly of us. Second of all, go and get that boy! Bring him back this instance, or you'll regret it!"