Flawless

Rayne was an amazing person. He was sexy, smart, strong and powerful. But I had lost so much ever since my interest in him began. My too-big-for-my-shoes ego had gone, my popularity had disappeared overnight, my friends had left me and my father had disowned me. All I had left was Rayne and I wasn't sure if that was enough.

I held my head in my hands in frustration and glared down at the floor. I was torn. The only person I had ever loved was upstairs crying and I didn't know what to do. My hands clenched into fists on either side of my face and I felt angry. I was angry that things hadn't gone my way. I wasn't expecting rainbows and daisies but I was at least expecting some sort of acceptance, not total horror.

And Rayne - beautiful, delicate Rayne. My Queen.

I got up off my ass and ran upstairs and into Rayne's room where Jesse was hugging him to his shoulder as the Queen let out all his tears onto his brother's shoulder. Jesse glanced over at me with a worried expression on his face.

'I'll be here if you need me, okay sweetie?' Jesse hugged Rayne again before leaving him in my shaky hands.

I sat down next to Rayne on the bed and held him against my chest like he did to comfort me. I had no clue what I wanted to do.

I needed to go somewhere I could get help, some form of support. And I knew where I had to go to get it.

'Rayne, I have to go somewhere,' I mumbled.

'I'll come with you,' he said with a sniff.

'No, that's okay.'

'I'll be fine, I'll come with you.'

'No,' I semi-snapped at him. 'I'll be fine by myself.'

I let go of Rayne and walked to the door, already regretting the harsh tone of voice I used on him.

'Brendan?'

I looked over my shoulder holding back the threatening tears and saw Rayne with a concerned look on his face. He had his hand against his heart as if he was shielding it from getting broken.

'Will you still love me in the morning?'

I allowed a single tear to roll down my face and I looked down at the ground trying to conceal the emotions that were bursting to get out of their cage.

'Until the moon stops shining,' I mumbled.

I exited the room before any more tears could come down and I left the house without another word. I hopped into my car and got ready for a near three-hour drive to Uncle Greg's house.

I was exhausted by the time I rolled up to his driveway. I knocked on his door, half expecting him not to be home but sure enough, Uncle Greg opened the door, very surprised to see me at his doorstep.

'Brendan! What are you doing here?' he opened his arm to hug me and he let me in. I shut the door behind me and nearly sank into him.

'Greg, I need help.'

Uncle Greg was possibly one of the manliest gays I know. He was an avid sports watcher, loved his beer and worked in construction. He also had the biggest biceps I had ever seen so it came as a surprise to me when I found out he was gay. Greg and I had never been extremely close although we loved each other as family so I understood why he was surprised to see me.

'Sure, buddy, what's up?'

I reached down into my wallet and pulled out the picture of Rayne and I we took on one of our romantic dates. I handed it to him and watched as his happy expression turned into one of shock.

'That's my boyfriend,' I explained.

Greg looked up at me and a smile spread across his face. He opened his arms and hugged me with his colossal biceps.

'Is that the problem? That you're attracted to men?'

'No.' I sat down on the sofa opposite from him and sighed. 'I've lost everything because of him. I came out to Mum and Dad; Mum was fine with it and I assumed Dad would be too because of you but he was far from happy. He basically disowned me right in front of him. I came out to my friends at school and they've all turned their homophobic backs on me. Even Rayne, my bofyriend's friends have turned their backs on him. I don't know what to do.' I ran my hands through my hair and stared at the table to stop myself from crying.

Greg moved from his sofa and sat adjacent to me so he could put his arm around me and comfort me.

'I've been there,' he said, 'my parents weren't too thrilled about me being gay. Your father absolutely hated me for a moment. My friends turned their backs on me and people treated me as if I had a disease. But you know what? It was better this way. Now I knew who my true friends were and they were the ones who accepted me and stood by me no matter what, and my family eventually came around to accepting me because of the love they had for me, so don't worry about your silly ol' father. It'll take time for him to get used to the idea of having a son-in-law as opposed to a daughter-in-law, but he'll come around like he did with me. And those friends of yours who turned their backs on you weren't friends in the first place so it's better that you got rid of them this way.'

And just like that, my sanity had returned. In a matter of mere seconds, my problems had all gone away, and there was one shining light of hope that I had been neglecting. I had victimised myself complaining about how my life sucked and about how my life was in the shits when I had completely ignored Rayne. Screw the fake friends and the bitches. I knew what I wanted in my life right now and it was Rayne.

'You alright, buddy?' Greg asked.

'Yeah, thanks man,' I said, giving him a quick hug, 'I feel better already.'

'What are you going to do?'

I smiled and rubbed my chin with my thumb. 'I'm going to see the love of my life.'

Greg invited me to stay for dinner with him and his boyfriend but I politely declined, saying I needed to get back to Rayne immediately. I didn't even bother getting a burger on the way home despite not eating since lunch; the adrenaline kept my hunger at bay and my love for Rayne kept me awake as I drove through the night.

It was around 11pm when I stopped outside Rayne's house finally. I quietly opened the door and tiptoed upstairs and into Rayne's room. The door slowly creaked open and I viewed the most beautiful image I could possibly imagine; the sweet and delicate Rayne was fast asleep in his pink princess bed, his satin sleeping mask fastened nicely over his eyes. I kicked my shoes off and took my shirt off quietly and walked over to his bedroom window; I drew the curtains and the light of the moon shone down on his beautiful face immediately.

I got into bed next to him and shook him gently to wake him up.

'Brendan?' he yawned.

'The moon's still shining,' I whispered.

Rayne pulled his mask up and beamed at me when he saw the expression of love I had on my face. I leaned down and kissed him differently, knowing that I loved him more than anything and I was ready to face anything as long as I had him by my side. I felt a single tear roll down his face and I rubbed it away with my thumb as my lips continued to slowly and passionately manoeuvre around his.

After our kiss had broken apart, Rayne rolled around so I could get behind him and inhale his sweet scent and kiss him on his neck and feel his warm body next to mine. Rayne grabbed my hand under the sheets and held onto it tightly.

'We will get through this together,' I whispered, 'I will make sure of it.' I kissed Rayne gently on his neck and he soon placed his sleeping mask back over his eyes.

'Baby,' I said finally, 'will you still love me in the morning?'

'Until the moon stops shining,' he replied, his grip on my hand getting tighter.