At Sixes And Sevens

Mike Fuentes.
Define Mike Fuentes.
I’m the drummer of the band Pierce The Veil, that was would what he would always say at the beginning of the interview.
But to the crew, his friends and his band mates, Mike can be described as one word. Womanizer.

Everyone agreed due to the fact he would always bring girls over to the tour bus and sometimes, he was the one who suggested that they should go visit the nearest club.
However, only one person didn’t agree to the statement.

It was Mike himself.
Mike wasn’t a womanizer. It was all just a façade. A façade to hide the fact that he was secretly in love with his band mate.

Mike knew it was so wrong. He’s a guy, for fuck’s sake, Mike kept on telling himself. But it felt so right.

At first, Mike thought it was just an attraction. Like oh, he’s so attractive, I would like to be him. But soon enough, the feelings grew deeper. It wasn’t “I wish I was him” it was more to “I wonder what his lips feel like when they’re on mine”.

Mike tried to shake the thought off his head. The first time he noticed he was thinking such things, he only chuckled and convinced himself that he was just being ridiculous. Obviously his lips would feel like lips, what the fuck do you expect, Mike? Mike slept peacefully on the first day.
But on the next day, he woke up to find Tony’s face so close to him as Tony was shaking his body while yelling, “Wake up! Wake up!!”

He thought he had died. No – he thought he would die after being so close to Tony. Mike’s eyes widened as he backed away, freaking out as his heart beat increased and his cheeks were heating up. Tony didn’t notice anything weird and just said, “Good thing that you’re up now, Mikey, Vic had asked me to wake you up” and then walked away.

“Whoa,” Mike let out a gasp, clutching on his tank top. For a grown man, he was acting dramatically like a teenage girl and he was fully aware of that but he couldn’t help it.
Mike was certain that he was straight. Mike was really sure he was into boobies and girls but when it comes to Tony, it was just different. Mike tried to convince that he wasn’t homosexual – he was fucking straight and loves girls.

What does Mike loves?
Girls.
I love girls, I love girls, I love girls, I love girls, I love girls, Mike would recite over and over again whenever he caught himself staring at Tony or thinking of anything related Tony.

And yes, ladies and gentlemen, the unlucky guy was Tony Perry, the guitarist of Pierce The Veil.

If Mike was asked to describe Tony Perry, he would have a lot of things to say.
“He’s quiet but he actually has a lot of things to say in his mind but he likes to keep it to himself, which I don’t understand sometimes because I really wanna know what he thinks. Tony loves star wars and turtles. He’s a vegetarian. Whenever we have movie night, he was the one who stays up until the movie is over. If I were asked to say more, I would but let me just summarize it up in one word, he’s beautiful and perfect and amazing and adorable. Not one word but that’s who Tony is.”

Mike shook his head, stopping himself from daydreaming further. ‘Ugh, why am I thinking of him again?’ he thought as he tried to distract himself from thinking about Tony.

To Mike, the only thing that can make him forgot about Tony so far is… girls.
Yeah, girls. Girls and sex.
So he called Lily over.

Lily was a very beautiful blonde girl he had met at the club. She was amazing, hot but the only problem was she was not Tony.

Mike didn’t know where the others were, probably at the studio or in their rooms, he didn’t care and all he wanted back then was to remove Tony from his mind. The purpose of Mike inviting her over was for sex but Lily didn’t come for sex. She wanted to cuddle and do all the romantic shit and stuff.

You couldn’t possibly do anything romantic in a shared apartment.
Mike wanted to go straight for sex but he figured out that Lily would just leave if he dragged her to his room so they played a DVD. They cuddled. But it didn’t seem to work. All the time, his brain was thinking of Tony.

Like, ‘oh, this is Tony’s favourite movie’ And ‘Tony never lays down on my shoulder when we have movie night together.’

And one time, they laughed over a funny scene and he accidentally said, “No matter how many times I’ve watched this, the part when he fell was still hilarious to me. The first time I watched it with Tony, he didn’t get the joke.”

He didn’t realize it.

Then, a familiar scene came up again and he said, “Tony said out of all scenes, he likes this one the most. I think this is the lamest.”

It happened for the third time and he still didn’t realize it.

So when Lily finally mentioned, “You keep on talking about Tony, Mike. I guess you guys are too close.”

That shut Mike up.

When the movie was over, Mike immediately lured Lily to his room with the reason that he had the coolest stuff he wanted to show her. And they did it.

“M – Mike,” she let out a loud gasp as her fingers were digging deeply into Mike’s back.
Mike just kissed her neck silently while his hands were on her waist. After a few thrusts, they both came and Lily swore to God she had heard something that would actually made her shit bricks but she remained quiet – maybe her ears wasn’t functioning well. Maybe she was just high. After all, she had just an orgasm surely she had heard it wrongly.

Mike was still inside of her as he kissed her face and neck when all of a sudden someone entered the room while saying, “Yo, Mike, I –” Tony paused for a while and then he muttered, “Whoops! Sorry!!” and then slammed the door shut.

Mike was so fucking surprised. How can he be such an idiot? Why the fuck didn’t he lock the door??

“Shit,” Mike muttered under his breath as he pulled away from her, covering himself with the blanket and lied down next to her.

Lily didn’t do anything. She just lied down, breathing heavily while she was in a deep thought. Mike did the same too. It was different this time, Lily had noticed. Mike would usually compliment her but he just remained quiet.

And it wasn’t her name that she heard when he came.
It was Tony’s.

The next day, Mike went home really late and brought Tiffany home. Jaime, whose room was beside Mike, had troubles sleeping through all the moans and screams. When they woke up the next morning, Jaime immediately complained to Mike that he was being too loud.

Mike promised to be quieter next time.

But at the same night, he brought another girl again. This time, it was Aubree.

The good thing was, he had actually forgotten about Tony. He even rarely saw Tony at home (because he had been inside his room most of the time) and that weird behavior of Mike was noticed by his older brother, Vic.

“Hey Mike,” he began one day when they were at the kitchen, eating cereals.
“Yeah?” Mike had replied.

“You stress, lil brother?” Vic asked as he took a spoonful of cereals inside of his mouth while his brown eyes were watching every move his little brother made. Vic knew that something was bothering Mike by the way he had been acting. From Vic’s understandings, Mike would only bring home girls three times in a row when he usually had a hard time.

“Nah, what makes you say that?” he chuckled as he poured the carton of milk into his bowl.
Vic shrugged and then said, “I don’t know. You’ve been bringing girls home lately and that’s not healthy.”

“Hey, but that is better than bringing boys home, right?” and Mike laughed at his own joke. Vic didn’t laugh. He knew something was wrong. And he knew that Mike wasn’t joking about that either.

Sure, Vic trusted his brother. But he also trusted Jaime. He trusted Tony too but he was more close to Jaime so he approached Jaime. Jaime was sitting down on the floor, playing xBox. He was so absorbed in the game, he didn’t even bother that Vic was eating his Cheetos that was lying on the floor.

“FUCK YEAH!!” Jaime yelled as he managed to score one goal. He then turned to Vic and screamed happily, “I WIN, VIC. I BEAT YOUR HIGH SCORE!!”

“Yeah sure, whatever,” Vic said shortly and then immediately get serious, “Hey, Jaime. I need to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?” Jaime asked, turning his back to Vic and then click the button to resume playing.
Vic rolled his eyes, annoyed that Jaime was listening but not paying attention. “I think something is wrong with Mike,” he initiated.

“Yeah, something is wrong with him, indeed. I suggest that he should create a soundproof wall or something because damn, he must’ve fucked those girls hard because they keep on screaming nonstop— OH SHIT NO!!” Jaime screamed as his character failed to protect the ball from the enemy.

“Never mind,” Vic stood up, with an annoyed look on his face and left his room, then headed to Tony’s.

Vic knocked on Tony’s door before entering his room because Vic knew Tony likes to be alone and was wished not to be disturbed but he needed to talk to someone about his brother’s behavior. So he went to Tony.

Tony was on his bed, lying down while staring at the ceiling that was painted light green. He was in a deep thought when all of a sudden he could feel someone climbed up onto his bed. He turned his head around to find Vic lying beside him, making him completely surprised because damn, when did he get here?!

“Hey Vic.”
“Hey Tone.”

Then awkward silence, followed by the sound of his phone vibrating. Tony was about to pick up his phone but he felt too comfortable already and he refused to get up so he let it be. He made a note to check who was it later.

“Why are you here?” Tony asked, surprised because Vic was all of a sudden lying beside him although he was hoping that it was his little brother instead.

Tony does have a crush on Mike. Tony knew right from the start that he was bisexual but falling in love with your band mate is just a big fat no when he’s a fucking straight man. Tony knew that liking Mike would be a big mistake and he would only hurt himself but he couldn’t help it.
Whenever the older man was around, his heart began to do cartwheels. He didn’t know what made him feel that way.
Maybe it was because of Mike’s attractive feature.
Or maybe it was because of hi beautiful eyes.
But then again, it might be because of how nice he was to Tony.

“I wanna talk about something,” Vic started and then he let out a loud sigh, staring at the wall. Tony did too, they talked but they didn’t look at each other. It felt better that way. “It’s about Mike.”

Tony’s heart dropped for a second. Mike? What’s wrong with Mike?
“Mmhm.”
“Do you know what’s wrong with him?”

Tony took a while to answer. Of course he didn’t know. They have rarely spent their time together and Tony didn’t like it one bit. But what Tony hated the most was the fact that Mike had been bringing over girls a lot and it hurt him. Tony noticed that Mike was kind of avoiding him, but for what reason? What had Tony done that made Mike hate him so much? He was the one who should’ve avoided Mike, not the other way round.

Tony took a deep breath before answering, “Nah, I don’t know man.”
“And I thought you had a crush on my brother.”
Vic’s sudden statement suddenly made Tony’s head turned to Vic with eyes widened. “How did you know that?”

Vic turned to Tony and then chuckled. “So it was true? Tony has a crush on my brother??”
Tony turned away, hiding his now red face. “Damn you, Jaime,” he muttered under his breath and then turned back to Vic, “I don’t know. I mean, well he is a nice guy but…”

“But???” Vic asked with an excited tone inside his voice. Tony could tell that Vic was eager to know and Tony wasn’t sure why. Because if Tony weren’t gay, and one of his band mates is gay, he would totally be creeped out. But Vic was different. He wasn’t like that.

“But he’s fucking straight, Vic. You’re his brother, you should’ve known that.”

“You could try and tell him though,” Vic suggested as he recalled back the statement that his brother had made that made him felt curious.

“I don’t know about that. I couldn’t risk of getting hurt again.”

Vic gave Tony a small smile as his hand squeezed Tony’s hand, making Tony confused. Vic then said, “How do you know if Mike is going to say no when you’re not going to tell him? You wouldn’t know unless you tell him, right?”

● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mike got home earlier than usual and this time, he was back home with no girls, for the first time in God-Knows-How-Many days. Instead of going to the bar or anything, he actually got back from the studio where he actually spent a few times alone rehearsing for the upcoming concert. He thought he was all alone in the studio when actually their manager was there, watching him practicing.

Their manager had asked Mike to tell Tony that he needed to see him because he needed to confirm something.

So he called Tony.

No reply.

Tony wasn’t usually like that. Tony would always reply his messages as soon as he got them. Tony was a fast replier and he felt anxious that Tony didn’t reply to him. He tried to not care so he sat back on the stool, picked up his sticks and began to practice.

But he couldn’t help it. He was feeling anxious.

So when he got home, he went straight to Tony’s room, but only to find Tony and his brother on Tony’s bed, with Vic’s holding onto Tony’s hand and both of them were gazing at each other like couples in movie.

They didn’t realize Mike was there so he tried his best to shut the door softly.

And he immediately called Faith.

Unfortunately for Mike, Faith was the type that learnt her lesson immediately but she came to their apartment. They were in Mike’s bedroom, just sitting on the bed. While Mike’s head was down, – staring at the sheet of the bed, wondering why he had chosen a plain colour when he could’ve chosen a Gryffindor sheet –, Faith was staring at the uncommon behavior of Mike.

“Mike?” she called out. “Why did you call me here?”

All of a sudden, Mike didn’t know why she was being called. At first, it was just for sex. The thing that he really needed now. But his mind was just too occupied with the thought of Tony and Vic that he actually lost his mood to do so.

“I – I don’t know,” Mike whispered.

He felt disappointed and upset and blue and all types of sad. He wasn’t sure why. He loves girls, right? So why should he be getting upset?

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

Honestly, Mike didn’t. Mike didn’t want to tell anyone. But Faith can be trusted. He was sure that Faith could keep a secret but this one was different. What would people say? What if she spread it out? Regarding this matter, he couldn’t just easily tell people.

“Faith,” he finally said. “How do you know when…”

“When?” Faith repeated, patiently waiting for him to continue.

Mike couldn’t just let it out. He was scared. He was scared that he would want to admit it. He was scared to tell the girl in front of him, whom he had slept with, that he was actually in love with Tony.

“When you’re attracted to the same gender?” Mike finally finished off his sentence after what seemed like years.

Faith stopped for a while. And slowly, her pierced pink lips formed into a small smile as she squeezed Mike’s leg and then said, “You don’t. You just know it.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Mike muttered. “You’re not the one experiencing it,” he said in a small tone but it was loud enough for Faith to hear.

Faith let out a breath and then said, “So you were saying that you’re experiencing it right now? Mikey, are you confused?” she asked in a motherly tone – it seemed like she wanted to laugh but she was holding it in.

“I didn’t say that,” Mike immediately defended himself. “I never said I’m gay.”
“I didn’t say you’re gay. I’m just assuming that you are attracted to a man right now. But am I right though?” she asked. Mike only kept quiet. Faith can be quiet sharp sometimes and Mike regretted calling her in the first place. “It’s okay, Mike. Not all people are straight. It’s okay to be gay.”

“I don’t know, Faith, I just don’t.”

“It’s okay, you can tell me.”

And he did. He told her everything. How it started. When it started. He told her how he flinched every time Tony touches him. He told her how his heart felt like it was doing somersault whenever Tony was smiling. And Faith, being an ear to him, listened carefully with full interest.

“You should tell him,” she advised. “Maybe he is straight, maybe, but at least you let it all out and you wouldn’t feel guilty for letting all your feelings bottled up.”
“I’m scared, Faith, I’m scared.”
“You don’t have to be. I felt the same way as you are now when I wanted to tell Caterina.”

● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mike avoided Tony for a while before he decided to tell him the truth. He was scared. He was scared as fuck. Tony, on the other hand, really wanted to tell Mike about his feelings but every time he wanted to talk to Mike, Mike would refuse to look at him and made up reasons to avoid him.

“Hey, Mike, can we—”

Mike’s eyes would turn cold and he wouldn’t look straight at Tony. He would immediately mumbled, “Um, maybe next time, buddy. I’m kinda busy.”

Boy, that actually made Tony felt like shit.

Vic had noticed that things were getting strange. Mike didn’t bring girls back home again (and that’s a good thing) but however, it seemed like Mike and Tony had a fight. They rarely spoke to each other and Vic noticed that whenever Tony was trying to talk to Mike, Mike wouldn’t look at him in the eyes like he usually does.

He tried telling Jaime about this but unfortunately, all that-spiky-haired-good-for-nothing man only cared was the new video game they’ve bought.

Vic was so pissed and at one point, he actually turned off the switch of the game and left the room, and then the sound of Jaime’s scream was heard.

So Vic tried to have a talk with his brother. Mike wasn’t usually home lately but if he was, he just locked himself up in his room. It was only early in the morning, when it was time for breakfast, Vic can finally talk to his brother alone because a) Jaime might still be sleeping and b) Tony was out for a jog.

“Hey, Mike,” Vic started.
“What?” Mike snapped angrily, as if Vic had done something wrong to him. Vic noticed that but tried to brush it off. Maybe he had a rough night – but what Vic didn’t know was that Mike was actually mad at him.

“What’s up with you and Tony?”
“What about me and Tony?” Mike asked, rolling his eyes when secretly, his heart was beating so fucking fast hearing his name.

“Did you guys fight?”
“No, we don’t. Why the hell do you care so much about Tony anyway? What about you stop all this bullshit and just leave me alone?”

Vic was surprised by the sudden attitude of his brother and was about to catch up to him but Mike was faster than him. Mike locked the door of his bedroom, leaving Vic standing in the middle of the hallway, looking dumber than ever.

He turned around to go back to the kitchen but saw Tony standing not far from him with eyes wide open.

“He hates me, doesn’t he?” Tony asked, his voice cracked and his lips quivered.

● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mike decided that telling someone everything would help. He couldn’t talk to his brother, after what had happened. Jaime used to be a good listener but for some fucked up reason, the video game is way more important than his best friend’s sadness.

So he texted Faith, whom had kinda helped him.

Luckily, she was willing to listen to him although he knew that he was being such a lovesick teenage girl but she didn’t mind. She enjoyed listening to him and in turn, he listened to her. He listened to her experience and just then realized that she was a lesbian even before he had slept with her.

Then one day, when Faith told him that she had a day off, he invited her to their apartment. It was awkward because it was Tony who opened the door when the bell rung.

“Hey,” Faith started.
“Hey,” Tony awkwardly greeted back. “Who are you?” Tony knew who exactly she was. She was the same red headed girl who had Mike invited to his bedroom just when he was about to tell Mike the truth.

“Well, I am here for M—” her sentence was interrupted by Mike, who suddenly showed up with a, “Oh! It’s you. Come to my room.” And dragged her to his room.

Tony pursed his lips. He didn’t like it at all.

● ● ● ● ● ● ●

The last time Tony cried was when his last turtle died. That was a month ago. And now, he cried again. Because of Mike, this time. Vic found him (not exactly found him, more like banging on the bathroom of Tony’s room until he opened the door) crying inside the bathroom. That was just embarrassing – when your crush’s brother saw you crying.

But Tony didn’t care about that during that time.

Vic hugged him, asking him what was wrong but he didn’t answer. Tony didn’t even hugged back. Realizing that Vic never actually seen a crying Tony before, Vic went to someone who had.

Vic banged on Mike’s door, not caring whether he was fucking the red headed girl or not, and he kept on banging onto it and swore to never stop until he opened it.

Mike rolled his eyes and turned to Faith who was smiling and then said, “just don’t rush your feelings. Only tell him when you’re ready.”

“I know that,” Mike muttered and was about to say something but was interrupted by the loud knock. “Do you mind if I open the door?”

“Nope. Please do, it is starting to annoy the fuck out of me.”

Once Mike opened the door, he was greeted by a worried looking Vic. “What’s wrong?” Mike asked, clearly irritation was heard in his voice.

“It’s Tony,” Vic muttered. And at the mention of Tony’s name, Mike’s ears perked up. He was afraid that something bad might happen to Tony. The worried look on Vic’s face wasn’t helping either. “He’s crying. And I think it’s because of you.”

“What?” Mike snapped and immediately ran to Tony’s room to find Tony sitting on his bed, crying his eyes out. Tony looked up and saw Mike, the person he didn’t want to see the most, and immediately wiped his tears away and tried to stop sobbing.

Mike approached him and sat beside him and asked softly, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Why are you crying?”
“Nothing.”

“Goddammit, Tony Perry. If you are not going to tell me then I won’t leave this room,” Mike said angrily.

“Why would you be here? Did Vic force you to come here?? You don’t have to, you know. You really don’t have to stay here and pretend to care about me and act all concerned about me. If you don’t like me then just fucking said so,” Tony muttered.

Mike’s eye twitched. “So do you want Vic to be here? Is that what you want?”
“I di—”
“I came here because I wanted to. I never pretend to care about you because I do fucking care about you. And you said that I act all concern about you? So after all this time, after I comforted you when your fricking turtle died and after I stayed up all night with you watching Star Wars even if I don’t fucking understand what it is about and after all this fucking time – you feel like I was acting to be concern about you?” although Mike’s face was calm, Tony could see that he was actually super pissed.

Tony remained quiet. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even dare to move a muscle because all of a sudden, Mike was talking a lot, saying that he actually cares about him and shit.
Finally, Tony spoke up. “You’ve been avoiding me these past few days. You don’t have to lie, Mike.”

“Why the hell should I lie? How am I supposed to not avoid you when I am fucking in love with you but you are head over heels for my fucking brother? Don’t you know how shitty that feels? Of course, you don’t! I don’t have any idea whether you are straight or you’re in love with Vic but I am so frustrated these days because I am fucking in love with you,” Mike’s voice was high but eventually drowned into a whisper as he said the last sentences.

Tony stopped crying. Tony even stopped breathing for a second.

“I’m not in love with your brother,” he softly said. “Never was.”
“But you were lying on the same bed as him, holding hands and staring into each other’s’ eyes like ‘wow let’s forget the world it’s our time now’ and I could literally see sparkles in your eyes and don’t you dare say it never happened because I fucking saw it with my own fucking eyes,” Mike said furiously as the memories came inside his head.

Tony blinked and then he looked away. Then Mike swore he heard a giggle.

“The fuck?”

Then slowly, Tony wasn’t giggling anymore. He was laughing. He was laughing so hard, his tears came out and Mike thought he was crying again.

“Tone? Hey, Tone?”

“Mike, I can’t believe this,” he said between his laughs. “Did my eyes sparkle when I stare into Vic’s eyes?” Tony imitated Mike and then giggled again as he wiped the tears from his eyes – he was finally feeling a little bit better. Mike nodded, thinking that Tony wasn’t taking him seriously. Tony finally stopped laughing and then he said, “You idiot. We were talking about you.”

Mike’s heart beat was beating loudly against his ribcage; Mike could literally hear it thrumming in his ears. ‘God shit fuck no, why were they talking about me???’ Mike thought as he was feeling self-conscious.

“Vic knew that I have a crush on you and he advised me stuff and well…”
“Wait... you have a crush on me?” Mike asked, not believing what he had just heard.
“Can’t you tell?” Tony asked, rising his eyebrow.
“No, wait – I, well… I’ve been in love with you ever since forever and well, this is just weird because I’ve always thought you like someone else,” Mike mumbled.

“It has always been you though,” Tony smiled.

And god, he looked so fucking perfect. Mike bit his inner lip and then lunged forward, planting his lips on Tony’s. Tony was surprised at first, but eventually relaxed and Mike swore he could feel Tony smiling against his lips.

Mike pulled away, amazed that he finally kissed Tony.

“Wow,” Mike breathed out, his heart beat was beating faster than ever.
Tony touched his lips and looked at Mike nervously. Silence filled the room. Mike nervously laughed and then said, “Well, I didn’t expect I would confess like that.”

“Me neither,” Tony commented.
“I was expecting it to be, more romantic, you know?” Mike added.

Then both of them stared at each other for a long time. And they broke into a laughter, filling the room with their joyous laughter and slowly, they got closer and they shared another kiss again.
The end.

And on the other side… (extra extra extra)

After Mike had quickly left, Vic stood in front of Mike’s room, staring at the red headed girl who was sitting on Mike’s bed. Vic was surprised that she was fully clothed and her lipstick wasn’t smudged on her face.

Vic gave her a forced smile and so did she. It was awkward.

“So, um, what are you doing here?” Well duh, she’s one of Mike’s sluts, what the hell do you expect, Vic?

“Just helping Mike figuring whether he had crossed the Gay Line or not,” she nonchalantly replied.

“So you weren’t here for sex?” Vic asked, which caused her to chuckle.
“No, I don’t like dicks.”

Vic was starting to get interested with the girl so he came inside of Mike’s room and sat on Mike’s chair while facing her. “So what were you guys talking about?”
“Just stuff,” she answered. “Why?”

“Say, Mike might actually be confessing to Tony now or the other way round so let’s not disturb them, okay?”

“Okay.”

Awkward.

“I have this problem and I wonder if you can help me because I really have no one to talk to right now,” Vic said.
“Sure, why not?”
“Well there is this guy… and it seems like he cares about the video game more than he cares about me….”