Jumping the Fence

[Trent Frey]

Lyric shook his head. "I'm going to put it up again, I just..." He shrugged lightly. "I wanted to see if it'd be okay first." He hadn't wanted to risk getting kicked out of another mainstream school for looking too different. He blinked at the thought, then looked up at Jory. "There are other guys here," he said softly. "Like us." His gaze held Jory's for a moment longer before it was too much and he looked away again.

[Jory Addison]

Jory blinked, then his eyes widened. "Really?" he asked, amazed at the thought. He had only known two others like him, Lyric and Sean, and he couldn't imagine the luck of moving here and finding others. "How many?" he continued. He tried to think back if he had ever heard anything, but if he had he didn't remember very well. He suddenly found himself wanting to search out the others, just to know more.

[Trent Frey]

Lyric shook his head, unsure. "The only ones I really know of got partnershipped at the beginning of the summer, but... they're out. And the Headmistress let them have their thing here." Which gave him a lot of hope. It was really only a matter of getting his courage up and taking the chance now, but he hadn't wanted to stir things up.

[Jory Addison]

"That's crazy..." Jory said, looking out over the lake as he imagined that. He had never hid it, not exactly, but he had never thought about actively coming out, either. "I...do you know them?" he asked, watching the water another moment before he looked over at Lyric again. He wanted to meet them, he couldn't help it, but the same thing that pulled him to talk to Lyric made him want to search out others.

[Trent Frey]

Lyric shook his head. "I don't, but I've seen them around, they're hard to miss." He thought back, trying to remember what he knew enough to describe them. "One graduated last term and one's still here. I heard some seventh-years complaining that the house-elves had cleaned up his bed, but I don't know what that was about." And somehow he'd forgotten to say what they looked like. "I'm not sure which is which, but the one has red hair and the other one... His hair's like four different colors." Lyric lifted his eyes again, some part of him morbidly curious about Jory's reaction.

[Jory Addison]

"We should find them," Jory said immediately. They were older and had successfully come out and had a partnership ceremony. He couldn't believe his luck. Maybe it had been a good thing that the headmistress at MI had been less than accepting. "I mean..." he dropped his eyes and shrugged, unsure if Lyric would feel the same way. "If you want to, I do...it'd be great to have some others to talk to, you know?"

[Trent Frey]

"Yeah," Lyric said, nodding almost imperceptibly as he looked down at the grass beneath the tree. He wanted to say no, that he didn't want to meet them, that they were strangers, they were older, and he didn't trust them. Maybe it was only a year's difference, but when he'd seen them, it had felt like so much more, and he'd been perfectly happy just knowing they were there. He didn't want to talk to anyone else. Somehow he'd managed to talk with Jory, and he still didn't know how that had happened, either now, or before.

[Jory Addison]

Jory didn't know why he would suddenly want to talk to others when for so long he had been perfectly content to stay to himself. The only reason he had was that they were like him and he had been reminded how good it felt to be around someone that accepted him when Layne had walked him to the school. That had even helped with this, his conversation with Lyric. "I want to talk to them, would you go with me? Where do they live?" He didn't necessarily mean that it needed to happen now, but he hoped that it could happen soon.

[Trent Frey]

Lyric blinked and glanced up, then away again. "I would, but I don't know," he said. It wasn't a lie, but he couldn't feel right about it, either. He knew they didn't live at the school, thought that they were living on Diagon Alley somewhere, but he wasn't sure. What did Jory want to do, knock on their door and say We're gay too, wanna talk? And maybe, just maybe, Lyric worried that if Jory knew other guys like them, he wouldn't be interesting anymore. "One of them's in Gryffindor," he said, a peace offering and an ease to any guilt he might feel for the bit he'd withheld.

[Jory Addison]

"Really?" Jory asked, looking over at Lyric again. Maybe he could find him, then. The guy had to go to the common room sometime, didn't he? "I mean...can you imagine? We wouldn't have to worry about getting looks or getting an owl from the headmistress or anything. It'd be great." It would be so nice not to have to worry about this at all.

[Trent Frey]

Lyric gave a weak smile that wouldn't be easily visible with his head even slightly down as it was. He nodded. But he didn't want to come out, either. Didn't even like thinking of himself that way, even if it had to be true. "I can't imagine," he said honestly. He couldn't imagine anyone being okay with it, couldn't imagine feeling okay with it himself. He'd told Jory he was, but Jory was different, Jory wasn't everyone else.

[Jory Addison]

Jory shook his head, "Me neither, I mean...I can imagine, but I can't believe it. It would be so hard to believe it..." But it would be so nice, too. Just to have someone to talk to... Layne was good to talk to, but she wasn't like him. He couldn't imagine having someone to talk to that knew where he was coming from. "It would be perfect...." And he would still have Lyric, too, maybe it would help them. He looked out over the water blankly as he thought.

[Trent Frey]

Lyric didn't like talking about this, didn't like the idea of telling more people, no matter who they were, when he'd only ever told one person. He wasn't comfortable with any of it, but he couldn't explain it and wouldn't think of bringing it up. It was his business and no one else's. But Jory looked excited about telling someone, excited at the idea of telling everyone, and he couldn't bring himself to burst that bubble. He smiled again.

[Jory Addison]

Jory was silent a few more moments before he looked over at Lyric, finally tamping down the excitement that had come up at the knowledge of a couple. "So how is this place?" he asked. It seemed good so far, but he hadn't been here long enough to figure out how to get around the school, much less know the general feel of it. It was so huge, and the grounds were amazing. He hoped it was as good as he wanted it to be.

[Trent Frey]

"It's really nice," Lyric said, glad that the last topic seemed over with. "It's bigger than MI was, but the town, Hogsmeade? It's pretty small. I think a lot of people go to Diagon Alley." Lyric could have kicked himself for that, and squeezed his eyes shut briefly. Now Jory was sure to find those other guys, and he wouldn't be needed anymore.