“No,” Julian said, too quickly. He could feel his heartbeat speeding up, making his head light. “Uh, no, no one at all.”
Was… there was no way Isaac was about to ask him…
“Good, because I need a favor that would’ve upset your boyfriend,” Isaac said.
All Julian could manage to do in response to that was stare. Isaac looked at him expectantly, obviously waiting for a response.
“Anything,” Julian promised, and he meant it. There was very little Isaac could ask him that he’d refuse.
“I want you to be my boyfriend. For like three weeks.”
Julian’s head spun. Boyfriend?
Three weeks?
That… was better than nothing, he supposed, but it sounded suspicious.
“I’m not sure I follow,” Julian said.
Isaac wouldn’t just… demand to be his boyfriend all of a sudden. He was better with people than that.
Also, Julian had never gotten that lucky in his life, so he wasn’t expecting to start now.
Isaac was up to something.
“So uh… I know you heard about… umm, me being bi, and obviously there’s nothing wrong with that but I’m… uh, not,” Isaac said, playing with an empty glass in the middle of the table.
Julian took the opportunity to pour water into two of the remaining glasses, pushing one toward Isaac before grabbing his own and holding it close to his chest like a safety blanket.
“That guy just kissed me out of nowhere,” Isaac added.
Julian’s eyes widened. “You think he set you up?”
Isaac shook his head. “No, I think… I think he genuinely thought I was into him, and that’s probably my fault, but that’s not the point. The point is…”
Isaac trailed off, breathing a heavy sigh.
Julian sipped his water, waiting for him to decide what the point was. None of this made a whole lot of sense.
“Look, I woke up the next morning to a lot of people being dicks about it, but so many more people being thrilled that I’d come out. That they could see someone like them with a relatively successful sports career who apparently hadn’t been held back. People were calling me an inspiration.”
Julian nodded, following so far, but still waiting for Isaac to come to something resembling apoint.
“And then I thought of you coming out to me… what, ten years ago now? And being scared and feeling alone, and I couldn’t do anything to help you back then. But now… I could help. I could help maybe thousands of kids. And I want your help to do it.”
“This is all very noble, but I’m still not sure what you want me todo.”
Isaac shrugged. “Like I said, be my boyfriend. Or I mean… teach me to be bi. For the kids.”
“I’m gay,” Julian said.
“Right, and I’m straight, so between us we make one bisexual.” Isaac beamed at him as though that was the cleverest thing anyone had ever said.
Julian had never claimed to be an expert, but he wasn’t sure that was how it worked.
All the same… Isaac was asking for his help, and it seemed to be for a good cause. Julian wasn’t inclined to refuse him.
“Why three weeks?” he asked after a moment, wanting to know exactly what he was getting himself into before he agreed.
