It was after four in the morning and Gwaine hadn’t texted Percival back. Gwaine must have fallen asleep, and Percival didn’t blame him, as he was so exhausted his eyes burned and his brain ached.

He thought back to his high school years where he’d avoided dating, because while he realized he was gay back then, he wasn’t ready to face that fact. Plus, it wasn’t so difficult to pretend to be straight back in those days – he immersed himself in playing football, wrestling, and track-and-field. He was busy with sports and school, so it wasn’t that strange to be dateless. But when he broke a vertebra in his neck during his senior year after he’d been facemasked and tackled during a football game, his days of contact sports were over. And the pain had been horrendous and unyielding. …show more content…
He loved those hours of hard work at the PT center and made great friends there. But after his life as a jock ended and he faced college with no romantic experience, he had to make a decision – live as a straight guy or as a gay man. Too terrified to come out to his family as gay, he dated girls and had sex with two of them. Much to his relief, he’d been dumped both times after he slept with them, probably because the girls realized he wasn’t into it. He wished he’d had the guts to tell them the truth; they were beautiful girls and it wasn’t their