All my life I thought I was straight. I never really imagined being anything other than straight. It was never even something I thought about until eighth grade. It never even occurred to me that I could ever like a guy until I started to.

It was my best friend. The one that I hung out with every second I could and played video games with, had sleepovers with and told things to. The one that hugged me when I cried and made me feel like the best person in the world. The one that held my hand and danced with me, cuddled me and sang me to sleep almost every night. But I guess that's where it started to go wrong.

Things became less platonic and more intimate. We never watched a movie with out snuggling, did anything without our fingers laced together. Being the oblivious idiot I am, I never really noticed anything changing or being weird. I liked it.

I started to notice it around the end of my last year in middle school. It was early in May when an innocent joke turned into more than I had initially thought.

I had already known that dating Vriska was a bad idea. I heard she liked me, and I sort of panicked. I didn't want to date her. I didn't like her, but I wanted to give it a chance. A month of dating went by, and I was still pretty frazzled about dating her. I broke up with her on March ninth, and it sucked. She was heart broken, and I felt awful.

For months after, she told me all the time that she still liked me. She texted me every day and told me that she wanted me back. I didn't know how to get away from it.

Until Dave had an idea, that is.

"Dude, is she really still texting you?" Dave sighed, leaning against the back of the couch.

"Yeah…" I bit my lip and texted a short reply to Vriska, dropping my phone on the couch and huffing out a shaky breath. "I deserve it, Dave."

He rolled his eyes and took his arm off my shoulder, instead tangling his fingers in my hair and gently running them through the black strands. "John, it wasn't your fault. You tried. You didn't feel it. She needs to move the fuck on."

"But Dave, I led her on." I frowned at the floor, throwing my hands in my lap.

"No, you gave her a shot. She shoulda got the hint when she tried to kiss you and you backed up into a table."

"I told you not to bring that up."

"I can't help it dude. You're a Derp."

"I know." I let a small smile pass as I studied the detailed pattern on the rug.

"Well she's on the verge of obsessive. You need to just tell her to get her shit together and back the fuck off." He smoothed some of the hair from my face, giving me that famous blank look that drove me insane. I never knew what he was thinking.

"I'm trying. She's not listening."

"Tell her you're gay."

That hit something deep inside me. That comment knocked me off balance inside. That comment made my stomach turn and my brain ache. My jaw dropped and I stared at him with wide eyes, Dave obviously not realizing why that was such a hard thing to do.

"...no way in fucking hell, man."

He raised an eyebrow, taking his hand from my hair and crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Why not? Maybe she'd take the god damn hint and lay off."

I felt my cheeks heat up and flush red and I bit my lip a little harder. "Because. I'm not gay."

He stared at me momentarily before shaking his head and letting out an exasperated sigh. "So what? You can't lie?"

"I don't wanna lie. It isn't true, and you know Vriska. She'll start a rumor."

"So what?"

Once again, my stomach churned and my head throbbed as my mouth stayed wide open. "…Dave. What is wrong with you."

"Is there something wrong with being gay?" He visibly clenched his jaw and his shoulders tensed.

I let my face relax as I tried to find an explanation. "No, Dave, of course not. I have nothing against gays. I just don't want to be made fun of for something that isn't even true."

He drew in a deep breath, letting it out and lifting up his sunglasses to rub his eyes. "Awesome. Just. Look." He let the shades fall back onto his nose, looking back at you. "It could be our own personal joke. If anyone asks, that's what we say. It's just a joke. We don't even have to tell Vriska. Let her guess at what's going on and she'll eventually get it and move on." I felt myself blush harder as he leaned in closer to my face, a smirk playing at his lips. "Let's pretend we're dating whenever she's around. Just pure fun. It just might get her off your back."

I thought it would be kind of funny. Holding hands and calling each other "babe" whenever Vriska was around. She eventually caught on; taking me aside at a school pool party to ask what was up. I innocently told her how I was now in a relationship with Dave, and I almost died laughing at her disbelieving response. It was funny. I wasn't actually dating Dave. Not like I had any feelings for him. I wasn't gay.

Then I realized exactly what was happening. It hit me like a ton of bricks to the face. The more I held hands with Dave, the more we hugged and snuggled and touched each other, the more I was okay with it. It became something we did when no one was around, and even something we did when everyone was around. Not just Vriska, but everyone. We sat innocently in Math, our only class together, chatting away and laughing and hugging like it was nothing. We had always been those inseparable best friends, but now on another level. We were those two people that acted like a couple all the time, so no one really ever knew what the deal was. People thought we were dating, others didn't. And I couldn't have cared less. I didn't care what people thought. As long as Dave was holding me, I never really would care.

It hit me when I started to think about Dave more than usual. He seemed to creep into my thoughts at every moment, and those thoughts weren't exactly the friendliest thoughts either. They were thoughts like I can't wait to hold Dave's and when we walk home today, or I hope today's the day he kisses me. And just like that, the joke was over. It wasn't funny anymore. It wasn't for keeping Vriska away at this point. I was falling for Dave, fast.