Hey everyone, the reason why I've gone dark for so long is because this will be the hardest chapter I've ever had to write and I kept putting it off for ages because reliving the origins of what you're about to read is really difficult. I've had no issues telling an altered version of my story through Will on more general topics, but its the darker stuff that gave my mental health cause to decline which is hard to put into words. I'm in a better enough place that I can write about it now, so I hope you enjoy and find something in it to relate to. Thanks for all your support over the past 6 years and sticking with me. This story is far from over.

WARNING: Sex ahead.

"Needless to say I keep it in check, she was a bad-bad nevertheless..." I softly sang to myself as the bus rolled into the drop-off area outside school. The door hydraulics hissed as myself and the student body piled out onto the pavement in a kinda not really wanted pursuit of knowledge. Over to my left I saw Hiccup and Astrid waiting for me on a little strip of lawn and they beckoned me over.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" I asked as I took my headphones out.

"Hey bud, we're good, yourself?" Hiccup replied as he held my shoulder.

"You know what? I'm amazing!"

"Oh, okay! I take it things went well with Peter?" Astrid asked.

"Super well. He's really kind, funny, artistic..."

"Cute?"

"Yeah, uh...hot...actually." Oh my God, this was the first time I ever called a guy hot out loud. Pull it together, man!

"Alright, then! Are you seeing him again soon?"

"We have another rehearsal planned for Thursday at mine, so, yeah I am!"

"Good for you, Will, that's awesome," Hiccup chimed in. He took a quick glance at his watch and gestured for us to follow. "Oh geez, we gotta move."

And as if on cue, the first bell rang. Everyone picked up the pace and I walked with Hiccup and Astrid to our lockers.

In Drama, Peter and I sat across from each other in a small patch of unoccupied space onstage. We had two sheets of paper with lines scribbled on them between us.

"Welcome, everyone...welcome," Peter said to me.

"Make that a little bigger," I interrupted. "We want to get across that your character is addressing what should be a lot of people but its really just the two of us."

"Okay, yeah that makes sense...wait, where did you get this idea from again?"

"...I dunno, I think I saw it on TV once when I was younger-anyway, from the top!"

"Alright, alright...Welcome everyone..." Peter took a moment to pretend to address a huge group of nonexistent men, spreading his arms out wide. "WELCOME... to this secluded weekend of self discovery and the quest for authentic manhood, entitled, Primal Enlightened Noblemen In Society...or-pffff!" Peter spluttered out a raucous laugh. "Oh god, I can't do it!" I giggled myself.

"Come on, get through it!"

"Heheheh, okay...or, Pe-NO!" Peter howled with laughter again. "Oh god...alright, Pen-aha...ah, okay, come on..." He took a deep breath. "Primal Enlightened Noblemen In Society...or, P.E.N.I.S. for SHORT-!" We both cracked and rolled onto our backs, our laughter travelling high above the proscenium arch. Our Drama Teacher, Mrs Taggart, marched over to us, hands on her hips and glared daggers through her black framed spectacles.

"Are you both quite alright?" she asked icily.

"Ahahhh...sorry, Miss, we're just getting the laughs out of our system," I wheezed.

"Yeah, Will chose a funny script," Peter said as he sat up and pulled me up with him into a seated position.

"Possibly too funny...both of you get it together, the purpose of comedy is to make your audience laugh, not yourselves." And with that, she walked over to a group of girls rehearsing what looked like a...makeup tutorial gone wrong...?

"I...guess that's original?" I uneasily asked while pointing at the girl group.

"Eh, they're screwed. Pretty weak idea if you ask me," Peter shrugs.

"Mm...okay, now where we?"

"Uhh, oh, here..." Peter crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knees. "Tonight, we will begin with an introduction to meditation, then on Saturday, we'll be chanting the hunting songs of the Indian Apache Braves, visualising ourselves as huge hairy giants weaving ceremonial headgear from our own pubic hair..."

I wrinkled my face in confusion as per the script.

"...And much more! Then on Sunday, our grrrrand finale, will be a spectacular initiation ceremony in which we will...UNLEASH THE POWER OF THE PRRRRRRIMAL WARRIOR!" Peter finished with a trill and dramatically hilarious face. I laughed and clapped.

"Okay, that was perfect!" I smiled. "So that covers the dramatic monologue Colin delivers, now we're up to Frank 'introducing' himself to the 'group'. You don't happen to have a really really thick book lying around at home do you?"

"I think I do...how thick do you want it?"

"As thick as possible, like two Order of the Phoenix's thick...Frank's autumn leaf album is enormous." I gestured with my hands to emphasise.

"Noted."

"Sweet."

"Hey, uh, before we get back into it, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah of course, Pete."

"I just wanted to say, I...I'm really glad I met you. You've been so nice and you've made Drama a whole lot more enjoyable for me. You're an amazing guy." He touched my forearm and smiled. I placed a hand on his knee and gently ran my thumb across.

"I'm glad I met you," I whispered. We stayed like that for a moment, innocently touching each other and smiling warmly. I caught myself before getting totally lost in his eyes and coughed awkwardly.

"Uh, shall we continue?" I asked. Peter chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah for sure, I wanna see your inner autumn-leaf-nerd come to life!"

"Alrighty..." I prepared myself to embody the childish, physically comedic tendencies of Frank and fired off.

Towards the end of class, Mrs Taggart had left us to talk amongst ourselves while she did some data entry of our group performances on her laptop at the foot of the stage. Peter and I were quietly chatting to each other in a pair of seats in the front row when we were interrupted by another student.

"Excuse me?" A male voice asked. Peter and I paused our conversation to see who it was. Curly brown hair. Warm dark eyes. Slight build. It was the kid from the football friendly last week.

"Oh hi! You're...Mike, yeah?" I asked cheerfully.

"Yeah, that's me," he said as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Will, right?"

"Yup. What's up?"

"Oh, not much, just, uh, wanted to know what you guys are doing."

"We're doing a scene from this sitcom Will watched when he was a kid, so the core of the humour is a little lost on me but overall its pretty funny; I mean, who doesn't love a good dick joke?" Peter chuckled.

"Oh, how does the story go?" Mike asked me. I took a deep breath.

"Essentially, Peter and I are playing two housemates, Col and Frank, who are constantly at each other's throats and are basically as dumb as each other. One day, Col questions Frank's masculinity and in an effort to make him more of a man, stages a weekend long workshop in their apartment, and hilarity ensues."

"That actually sounds pretty funny."

"I should hope so! Did you hear Peter recreate the Blue Danube Waltz with intermittent screaming?" I giggled.

"I actually did, that was fucking hilarious!"

"Well, Pete, sounds like we're on a roll!" I exclaimed as I rubbed his shoulder. "What about you, man? What's your performance?"

"Actually, it's more of a standup routine. I'm a good team player in football but when it comes to the stage, I prefer to work on my own."

"Oh wow, okay!" Peter asked. "Never took you for the stand up type, to be honest."

"Fair enough! Yeah, I'm gonna try and talk about football and also try my hand at self deprecation because that's something we can all relate to, right?"

"You're not wrong!" I shrugged. The three of us shared a laugh. "Well hey, Pete and I are having a rehearsal at my house on Thursday, would you like to come watch us and give proper feedback? We can critique your routine as well if that's okay."

"Sure, why not?" Mike smiled.

"Alrighty!" I said as I clapped my hands once. And strangely on cue, the bell for lunch rang. "And it's time to eat. Wanna join us, Mike?"

"Okay, sure!"

THURSDAY NIGHT...

"...That's been my time, thank you guys very much," Mike finished as he held a hairbrush to his mouth. Peter and I clapped and cheered from our spot on the living room floor where we sat cross legged next to each other. On the coffee table nearby were three glasses of red wine. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to drink while my parents were away in San Diego for a weekend-long zoological conference. I'm a bit of a lightweight so even after only having one drink I was starting to feel it a bit.

"Dude, that was really well done!" I said as I wiped a tear from my eye. "Loved that anecdote about the locker room banter, very topical."

"Thanks, and he needed to be taken down a notch, one thing we don't stand for on our team is emasculation and homophobia."

"Well I'm glad to hear that. Any feedback from you Pete?"

"No, I got nothin', that was solid," Peter said.

"Okay then, well thanks!" Mike's shoulders finally sagged in relief and he dropped to the floor on his back, stretching out from finger to toe tip and sighing deeply.

"It's a warm night tonight isn't it?"

He wasn't wrong. Despite the fact that the summer season was on the verge of ending, we still couldn't shade the heat that made itself so at home in Berk, so to speak. The sun was just dipping below the horizon, bathing the living room in a gorgeous golden glow beneath a blue-green sky that was just starting to become studded with starlight. I took a sip of my wine and looked out the window.

"Mm, yeah it is warm," I agreed, wiping a droplet of sweat from my brow. Peter grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it up to his face, exposing his belly. His creamy skin was so smooth it looked like satin marble from a distance, and just chiseled amongst it all was a hint of abs, setting my heart racing and stirring something deep down within me.

"Whoa-ho, you're not helping matters here, Peter," Mike heckled from the floor.

"Ah shush, you know you like it." Peter retorted, swatting the air.

I do. I like it very much.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't," Mike replied. We all shared a laugh.

"...Hey, Will, truth or dare?" I looked over at Mike who was staring at me intently.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Truth or dare! Pick one!"

"Dude, what are we, five?"

"May as well be! We've drunk so much wine we pretty much all have the mental coherency of a five year old right now." Mike held his hands up in the air like an upside down shrug from his position on his back.

"Ugh, fair enough...um, okay, truth."

"What's the deal with you and Peter?"

Peter and I glanced at each other as I felt my cheeks starting to burn.

"Oh, uh...I-I dunno, we-"

"We haven't really gotten that far, to be honest, but I do feel like there is something between us," Peter nonchalantly put out there. I felt my heart soar.

"...You, you do?" I timidly asked. He looked at me with those cat-like eyes, half closed and warm, smiling and gently nodding.

"Yep."

"Huh, well...I do, too." I responded, finally.

"Aw," Mike cooed. "Okay, it's your turn, Will."

An idea suddenly exploded into my head. It seemed like such a juvenile and cliche thing to do, but after seeing Peter's skin and him looking at me with those eyes and speaking so beautifully to me, I decided to take a chance.

"Pete."

"Yee-ees?" Peter asked.

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

YES!

"Kiss me."

He crawled on all fours over to where I was sitting on the ground, sat back on his knees, placed one hand on my thigh and the other on my cheek, and gently kissed my lips. This felt different to when he and I first kissed at the house party I went to with Hiccup and Astrid. It felt tender, sincere, like there was something more he wanted from this. I reached up to caress his cheek as I kissed him back, and pulled him on top of me as I laid back on the ground. My arms wrapped around his waist and I began to run gentle strokes up and down his back. The alcohol helped the warmth of the moment and I felt like I'd sunk into a hot bath...with Pete along with me no less, I thought to myself. Our lips partedand I looked into those warm eyes that I was loving more with every passing second. I gently pushed him off of me and sat up.

"I need some water, I'll be back," I said. My head was only growing foggier as the wine began to work its magic in conjunction with my overwhelming emotions.

"I'll come, too, I need a drink as well," Mike said. I almost forgot he was even there. I beckoned him to follow me into the kitchen and produced two glasses from a cupboard above the stove. My mind was racing, struggling to keep up with itself. Giddiness was neck-and-neck with intoxication and severe anxiety which threatened to spill over the more I thought about what I wanted from Peter. As I finished filling my cup and handed Mike's his, I urged him to take a step closer so we could speak quietly.

"Mike?" I whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Listen, I...I've been thinking about this a lot, but I'm really scared to do it..." I felt tears starting to form in my eyes.

"Are you gonna ask Peter out?"

"I mean, I want to but...I'm afraid." My voice started shaking and I inhaled sharply.

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid that it'll be another Victoria situation...and, like, I know that I also like boys, but, Pete's the first boy I've felt anything real for, and these feelings are pretty intense."

"Oh yeah, I remember you mentioned Victoria earlier tonight...look, I-I know how scary this might be - believe me, I've been in your shoes before with other guys - but all you can do is try, and if things don't go the way you planned, you could always remain friends, right?"

I pondered this for a moment. He did have a point. I mean...if things did go south, I guess I'd still want him in my life as a friend than not at all.

"Yeah, I guess." I sniffled as I wiped the tears from my face with my wrist.

"Just go ahead, dude, I'll be there with you," Mike assured. He gently rubbed my arm and pecked my cheek. "It'll all be okay." My stomach did a little somersault and I gave Mike a quick hug. I started to feel a bit better.

"Thanks, man." He squeezed me in response and walked me back into the living room, where Peter calmly waited for us on the floor. I sat down and took his hands in mine. A few deep breaths later, I felt like I was ready.

Ask him. Just ask him.

"...Pete?"

"Mm?"

"Look, I...there's no other way for me to ask this, so I may as well just come out and ask...I really like you and I was wondering if...you'd maybe be my boyfriend?" I barely whispered. Peter's eyes widened a fraction, and I could see the cogs turning in his head. Still holding my hands, he cast his eyes downward and spoke sadly while Mike silently watched the exchange, hugging his knees to his chest.

"Will...I really like you too, so much, but...I'm not emotionally available right now." A massive stone dropped in my stomach and I did my best to hide my disappointment.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I...my Mum doesn't know that I like boys, and I need some time to process it all, you know?"

"Oh! Oh, right, uh, yeah, I-I totally get it."

"Thanks, I really am sorry, I'm just not ready to go there, you know?"

"I understand." I rubbed his hands and lifted one of them to my lips for a quick kiss. "Take as much time as you need to process." I smiled bravely and pulled him into a hug, where we stayed for what felt like a long time. I withdrew and lingered near his mouth, where he inched forward and captured my lips in his. He was kissing me more passionately and pulling me closer, eventually falling back and pulling me on top of him. I began to feel a frenzy come over me and kissed him back just as desperately. His tongue began to mingle with mine and I felt myself get hard. I started to shudder and a thought came into my head. Mike's cute...Peter's beautiful...could we maybe do this?

"Bedroom?" I asked. I felt Peter nod against my face and he turned to his right to face Mike. I think he had the same idea I did.

"Mike, bedroom?" Peter asked. I looked over at Mike and saw he was nervously smiling, and gave a short nod. I saw a slight bulge protruding from his shorts and that gave me a slight vote of confidence on what we were doing.

"I'll be with you in a moment, just gotta freshen up." Mike quickly stood up and left to look for the bathroom.

"Last door on your left." I called after him. I got up and helped Peter into my room. We stood at the foot of my bed and started kissing again. He tasted minty and smelled so...I couldn't even describe it. I just wanted him. I wanted him so badly. I grabbed at the hem of his shirt and yanked it up. He got the message and raised his arms so I could pull his shirt off, exposing his chest to me again. I quickly threw my shirt over my head and pulled him closer to me. Feeling his skin on mine was electric. I ran my hands up and down his back, mapping every square inch of his smooth skin. I wanted more, I needed more.

"Can I...mm, can I touch you?" I panted between kisses.

"Please."

I trepidatiously let my hand trail downwards, towards the front of Peter's shorts. When I finally found what I was looking for, I gasped and rubbed my hand across it. Peter groaned softly and dropped his head on my shoulder, sucking on my neck as he touched me, too. My head dropped to his shoulder and I gently nipped his shoulder as I moved against his hand.

"Pete..." I moaned. I grabbed him around his middle and gently pulled him onto my bed. He climbed on top of me and we resumed kissing. At some point we ended up with our shorts on the floor, only remaining in our underwear. We took a moment to breathe and just looked into each other's eyes.

"Do you wanna fuck me?" Peter suddenly asked.

I froze. Staring at him dumbfounded, I withdrew a little bit and leaned on my elbow.

"...Are, are you sure?" I asked. Peter warmly smiled at me and took my hand.

"Yeah."

My mind started racing again. Internally, I was screaming, but on the outside, I just gawked at him, struggling to process everything that was being offered to me. Realising my mouth was open, I immediately shut it and made up my mind. I was a virgin, and in that moment, I was ready for it to be taken by him.

"Um, okay," I shakily nodded. He grinned at me and pulled me in for a deeper kiss. While we were preoccupied, I felt him reach down and remove my underwear, exposing myself to him. I reached down and returned the favour, pulling him flush with my body. I felt like I was on fire. We heard soft footfalls approach my bedroom door and Mike came in, chuckling at the position we were in.

"Wow, you guys are really going for it," Mike smiled.

"Come on, then," Peter replied. We watched Mike eagerly undress (he did look pretty cute all over, and subverted my expectations in uh...another area on his body) and joined us on my bed. The three of us took turns kissing each other and holding one another. It was a bit of a shock to me, that I'd consider something like this. When I was younger, I had it in my head that sex should be enjoyed by only two people and that they should be in love. But as I got older I'd heard stories from my peers back home that three-ways are totally normal at our age and its something we should all try at least once...I never thought I'd be 'riding the tricycle' so soon in my life, yet here I was. I guess all I could do is be thankful that it was with two people I trusted, and in that moment, I felt comfortable. Eventually, I reached over to my nightstand and produced some condoms and a bottle of lube. This is really happening, oh my Gods. I gave the bottle to Peter and let him prepare himself, while I did my thing, all the while I was shaking nervously. Mike gently rubbed his hand across my chest and kissed me, which make me settle just a little bit. I felt Peter tug on my hand and withdrew from Mike. Peter rolled onto his back and I crawled across the bed to apply lube on myself. He wrapped his legs around me and pulled me down for an embrace, as he guided me into him, painfully slow. I felt like it was about to snap off my body, but eventually, after Peter groaned ecstatically, we connected. It felt really warm and tight, being inside him. We paused for a moment to adjust, and we tenderly started kissing again. Eventually, he encouraged me to move, albeit slowly.

"Pete..." I groaned. He ran his fingers through my hair and gradually got me to speed up. I hadn't felt anything so amazing in my life before, I never wanted this moment to stop. After a while, I got tired and rolled onto my back, allowing Peter to take the lead. Mike watched the moment unfold and intermittently kissed me while Peter rode me. When I wasn't blinded by the pleasure of the moment, I willed myself to look up at Peter's warm smile, and I thought to myself "he is the most beautiful thing in the entire world." Eventually, he came on my chest, which for the first time in my life, really turned me on. He carefully got off me and kissed my forehead before rolling onto his back and laying his head on Mike's knee.

"Fuck, that was amazing," Peter murmured.

"You're amazing," I sighed. I realised I should probably clean myself up and wiped my torso with a few tissues, before going to the bathroom to take a shower, leaving Mike and Peter to themselves. I heard them roll around and kiss on my way out, which made me chuckle. I turned on the hot water, disposed of the condom and waited for the shower stall to steam up. I stood under the running stream and applied soap all over my torso, letting the suds trail down my body into the drain. I traced my fingers over the part of my chest where Peter left his mark, and I took a moment to indulge myself, since I realised I never climaxed. While I felt myself get closer and closer, the bathroom door opened and in stepped Peter. He turned me around and kissed me under the running water.

"Hi," he grinned into my mouth.

"Hey," I sighed. He gently moved my hand away and replaced it with his. It felt so much better and it came on even quicker.

"Pete, I'm gonna-Fuck," I groaned as I felt it wash over my body. I wrapped a leg around Peter's and thrust against his hand and belly, until I gradually came down from this high I'd only ever felt on my own. I wrapped my arms around Peter and we just held each other under the shower-head, pausing every few moments to lightly pepper each other's faces with sweet kisses. Eventually we had to get out and I wrapped him up in the biggest towel I could find on the shower rack. I felt like drying his hair for him, and after be both exchanged giggles like a couple of 10 year olds, I kissed his forehead and dried myself off with another towel. Eventually, we walked back down the hall to my bedroom, hand in hand, where Mike was fast asleep. We carefully climbed under the covers and the three of us drifted off.

4 hours later, I woke up to the sun barely coming over the horizon and casting a faint orange line over Peter, who I watched sleep with a faint smile on his face. I finally felt like I was comfortable with my identity. I could fall in love with a boy and not give a fuck about it. I was willing to wait for him. Hell, I would have done absolutely anything for this boy. I started to get the idea that he and I were meant to be...and I wasn't bothered by the fact that he happened to be a boy. I didn't care. All that mattered was I loved him. His kindness, his warmth, his generosity, his sense of humour. I felt safe with him. Like I could be myself with him without a care in the world. I would have done anything for him.

"And then, a few days later, the three of us caught up for coffee after school," Will resumed after he took a moment to dry his eyes. Astrid and I held a hand each and just sat there, taking it all in. "I was the last to arrive and I noticed they were sitting together. For the next like...50 minutes or so, they were speaking really cryptically and glancing at each other a lot."

"What were they saying?" I asked.

"They kept talking about wanting to see two animals kiss in front of some dolphins," Will continued. "Eventually, I sensed something was up, and asked them what was going on...and then they finally explained that they got into a relationship the day after the three of us...you know."

"Wait, what?" Astrid gasped. "So...all this time, Peter was only stringing you along?"

"I honestly don't know, Astrid," Will said as he shook his head in shame. "They claimed they didn't wanna hurt me and wanted to tell me as soon as possible, but I couldn't believe what I was hearing, so...I just up and left without a word. They tried to make me stay but I was so in shock I just ran out of the place and got as far away from there as I could."

"Gods, bud, that's awful," I sighed. I leaned my head on his and rubbed his back as comfortingly as I could. I felt so bad for him.

"And then, for the next few days I shut myself in my room, I didn't talk to my parents, started...drinking heavily..." Will sobbed.

"Will," Astrid cooed gently.

"And that night that you saved me, Hiccup, I was on a walk at school to try and calm myself, then Peter rang me and I just...snapped. And then, well...here we are now."

Astrid and I glanced at each other. We both had tears in our eyes and the three of us just held onto each other tightly while Will loudly sobbed into my shoulder. It was really contagious because I started to feel sobs rack my body and Astrid eventually joined in. We stayed like that until we were all pulled out of the moment by Toothless, who ever the good boy, meowed loudly to get our attention and started rubbing his face on our arms to try and soothe us.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Will," Astrid said softly. "What do you want us to do?" Will gradually collected himself and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Could you guys take me to the hospital?" Will asked. I nodded soberly.

"Sure, bud," I nodded. "Do you wanna go now?"

"Yes, please."

"Okay."

Astrid and I helped Will out of my bed and wrapped him in a blanket before taking him downstairs. Mum and Dad were in the kitchen making coffee when they saw us trying to secretly leave through the front door.

"Astrid? Will?" Mum called out to us. "What's going-"

I held up a hand to silence them and shook my head. Not now. Astrid unlocked her car and wordlessly got us to get in the back. Will rested his head on my shoulder and I kept an arm wrapped around him. We drove in a companionable silence until we got to the hospital 15 minutes later.

We went in together.

And there we go. You guys have no clue how it feels to finally finish this chapter and get a lot of stuff off my chest. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I once again apologise for my prolonged absence. I hope this long chapter more than made up for it. There is an ending to this story and we will get there eventually. Just got a lot of other things to get through. Thanks so much for sticking with this story. I'll be back soon.