Chapter 28TheoAsher #2
“Holy shit! Okay, you’ve gotta see this.” Quincy pulled out his phone and pulled up TikTok.
Theo put up his hands and said, “Dude, don’t show us anything hateful. It’s too soon…”
Quincy shook his head while he typed away on his phone. “I won’t go into the comments, though you might want to read some of them. I’m just going to show you the numbers.”
Quincy displayed his phone, and my heart nearly stopped.
“Ten million views?” I shrieked.
“What the hell? Is this real?” Theo asked.
“Hell yeah, it’s real!” Quincy minimized the video and then scrolled to the top of our account.
We had 150,000 followers. “Oh my God,” I whispered. “Can I see? ”
Quincy handed me the phone, and Theo leaned in closer. The video had been reposted tens of thousands of times. We had close to two hundred thousand likes. I did the unthinkable and clicked on the comment section.
You boys are the absolute cutest!
I love you!!!
You’re both so brave. Please post more.
You inspired me to come out to my team. Thank you.
I’ve added all of your games to my calendar so I can cheer you boys on!
MORE KISSING! MORE KISSING!
There were hateful messages, too. The f-word was used a bit, but it was followed by a gazillion comments from people telling the person to go eat a dick, or something to that effect.
Each negative comment had way more replies telling the person to leave us alone than celebrating it.
“I can’t believe this,” I said, completely in awe.
“Believe it,” Quincy spoke with a smirk. “And check your freaking DMs because there might be brands who wanna give you free hockey gear!”
I didn’t care about the free stuff. My mind was on the words of encouragement. The love that emanated from the comments was unbelievable. Never in my life did I expect that to happen.
“Should we post something after practice?” Theo asked.
“Uh… I guess? I’m speechless.” What would we even say? Give an awkward thumbs-up and say thank you. It was crazy and wonderful at the same time. It was weird and unsettling, yet deeply healing. I never thought something like that could happen.
I looked at Theo, and I could see he was just as gobsmacked as I was. “Are you okay?” I asked.
He looked at me and said, “Baby. I’m always okay when I’m with you.” Then, his lips met mine.
“Haven’t you faggots learned your lesson yet?”
I ripped away from Theo to see Mason standing across the locker room, glaring at us. “It’s bad enough your ass is plastered all over the internet. Do you need to subject us to PDA, too?”
Theo was about to say something, but I tugged his arm, catching his attention. I shook my head, signaling him to stay quiet, then closed the distance between Mason and me.
That word wasn’t going to be said in my presence ever again. Ever. Mason could do or say whatever he wanted behind my back, but there was a fucking limit to what I’d accept to my face. Too many people had said awful things to me in my life, and it was time to put that shit to a stop.
“Mason, if you ever say that word around me again, I’ll report you for discrimination and sexual harassment.”
I could feel the flames burning within, but I took a deep breath and spoke with controlled eloquence, a quality that sometimes emerges when you’re on the verge of exploding.
“Not only that, I’ll post about it on our channel. I’ll ensure that every single person who follows me, and there are nearly a hundred fifty thousand at this point, knows who you are, by name, and what you said.”
I moved closer, my face only a couple of inches away from his, and spoke in a low, raspy tone that would have scared the boogie man.
“And I won’t just post one video. I’ll post dozens.
Hundreds. I will make it my personal mission to destroy you.
I will set aside time in my day to go online and speak about the hateful things you’ve said to me in this locker room.
It will be a permanent fixture in my calendar.
I’ll do it over and over again until the entire world knows who you are and shuns you for your hateful words.
Do not underestimate my tenacity to make your life fucking miserable. ”
I said those last two words loud enough that everyone in the locker room heard them. The entire team was watching us.
“You think you can intimidate me, Mason? Please. I’ve dealt with far worse than you.
You are nothing. You’re gum on the bottom of my shoe compared to the shit I’ve lived through.
Believe me when I tell you that I’m stronger than you and will win whatever war you want to wage. You don’t want to fuck with me.”
The tension between us was thicker than butter. Mason’s eye literally twitched as he stared at me with unbridled hatred, but I didn’t back down. I held his gaze, waiting for the response.
Go ahead. Try to say something to me.
He didn’t. His eyes scanned the room, witnessing the entire team looking at him with disdain. His mask of hate started to crack. He must have thought that guys would rally around him, but all he received were cold stares.
He muttered something under his breath, then walked to his locker. I waited until he got there before I moved, following his movements with my eyes the whole time. When I turned around, Theo had the biggest smile I’d ever seen, and that was saying something for him.
When I reached my locker, which was right next to Theo’s, he leaned in and said, “My dick is harder than the Washington Monument right now.”
“Almost as big, too,” I replied.
He howled with laughter, then gave me a hug. “You’re fucking perfect, Red.”
“Love you too, Big Boy.”