Work Text:
Paper always thought of himself as different from any other person, even when growing up. He always felt different from the other boys.
Well, he was fixated on them.
When all the boys in his class were afraid of girls because they had "cooties", Paper agreed with them and stayed away from them. But deep down he always questioned it.
"Why am I doing this? What's so wrong with being a girl that makes the boys scared of them?"
He would ask this to the other boys, but they would call him a girl and laugh at him. Hive mindset.
Paper did not really have friends growing up.
__________
As Paper grew up and was in High School, this mindset changed. Now all the guys were INTO girls. BUT if you spent too much time with them you were seen as gay. At this point, Paper had grown up enough to realize that he didn't really like girls. He was gay. No one knew yet because this was a high school in middle America, if he came out then he would become an outcast.
His "friends" would torment him every day for not having a woman in his life. To Paper, this was the worst part about hiding his sexuality. He felt uncomfortable talking about it, but in a group of teenage boys this was probably the subject that would come up the most.
"Hey Pencil Sharpener, how was your date with Lipstick last night, huh? huh?"
"Oh... Well we went to Olive Garden and we kinda kissed."
"OH MAN! MY BOY JUST GOT HIMSELF A GIRL!"
Paper did not want to talk about this
"H-hey guys, can we please change the subject"
"NO! We want to talk about this now! You're just mad because you isn't got no bitches!"
"HOES MAD!"
"I-I just wanted to talk about something different, l-like what were you all doing tom-"
"YOU JUST DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT BECAUSE YOU'RE SAD!"
"Why do we even hang out with you anyway?"
The conversation would aways shift back to girls. Paper felt like at this point they were just trying to find a way to call him a fruit.
__________
High school started out OK for Paper. He had "friends", he was scoring well with grades, hell he even managed to get an elusive "girlfriend", which did not work as they ended in 2 dates.
Paper felt like torture trying to hide who he really was. When he held hands with that woman, he felt disgusted. He was trying vainly to make himself look like the others, and he wasn't really caring for himself.
His parents weren't homophobic or anything. He was blessed with parents who did not really care who he was, and that the most important thing was that he was their son. All the kids in high school, however, were EXTREMELY homophobic.
He remembers this one kid named Lighter. He was your stereotypical high school jock who always was the ladies' man. Paper thought he was kinda cute, but he obviously kept his lips sealed, as if he did, he would have a one-on-one conversation with "these hands".
Lighter was a really popular athlete also, he was the captain of the football team and had a pretty good career going for him.
That was, until he was caught making out with another man.
Paper remembered it like it was yesterday. Some kid was in the locker room when he heard strange noises coming from the shower. Yep, Lighter was making out with another man.
In 30 minutes, Lighter went from the jock who got all the ladies to a sissy.
"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ABOUT LIGHTER! HE'S A FRUIT!"
"they said he was making out with another man! Eeeww!!!"
The worst of all of this was Lighter. Paper still remembers Lighter's face when he got caught. It was one of pure horror. Dread. He knew that his life (or at least in high school terms) was basically ruined at that point. That face, still haunts him to this very day. When he reads up online about someone being outed as gay, Paper always thinks back to high school and Lighter's face.
He was kicked off the football team. His grades tanked. He began withdrawing socially. Paper wanted to talk to him and maybe start a friendship, but it appeared as though it was too late. By that point, Lighter was off to a conversion camp.
Paper had heard about them. It was basically this facility where gay people would be "converted" to being straight. They never worked, because that's not how any of that works. Paper feared that if he came out, that would happen to him.
When Lighter came back from there, he changed. He was not the same jock who was always working out at the fitness room. Who was captain of the football team. He was a social outcast who was extremely quiet and never talked to anyone. He did his work, and that was all.
Lighter was kicked out of his house when he was old enough (17), and he lived alone in a shitty one room apartment that was sustained with a minimum wage job at a fast-food restaurant.
One day, Lighter was walking to school. He went to a picnic table and simply sat there, emotionless, no color on his face. Paper felt bad for him, having no friends, so he decided maybe to talk to him for a bit.
He walked up to the picnic table and sat across him. He himself was also socially awkward, so it took him a bit to say anything.
"Hello there, uh... Lighter, how is it going?"
No response.
"Lighter? Are you OK?"
Lighter buried his hands in his face and made an ominous squeaking noise.
"You can talk to me if you want, I'm open."
Lighter looked up at Paper with a wide smile on his face, tears streaming down his face. The color rushed back.
"Y-You want to t-talk to me?"
"Of course! It's the least I can do!"
Thus began a friendship between the two. They both hung out together more and more as their senior year soldiered on. It seemed like Lighter looked more alive when he was with Paper. Eventually, Paper confessed to Lighter about liking men. And Lighter supported him. To Paper, that's all that mattered.
Well, that is until the other high schoolers found out.
"I KNEW IT! I KNEW ALL ALONG THAT PAPER WAS A FRUITY BOY!"
"He's just as no-good as Lighter! I wonder if they will make out!"
"LIGHTER AND PAPER KISSING IN A TREE! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!"
By that point, Paper had graduated from high school, so he only had to deal with that for about a few days before he left it forever.
________
A few months later, Paper had won a chance to compete in some reality show called "Inanimate Insanity". Paper said goodbye to Lighter, and they both departed on their separate ways.
When Paper first joined Inanimate Insanity, he never expected Idiotic Island. But when he got eliminated first and was stuck on that fucking island for god knows how long, he went insane. Evil Paper and all that nonsense.
But for Paper, it was when he met OJ that his life really began. He knew about him before he rejoined, but the interactions he had with him were pitiful. It was when he rejoined that Paper really began to crush on him. OJ helped Paper confront his fears, calm down once in awhile, and most importantly help him with Evil Paper.
Eventually, OJ won Inanimate Insanity, and he constructed a massive hotel with his earnings. Paper was allowed to live there, and he ended up sharing a room with OJ.
To be honest, Paper did not know OJ was gay until he told Salt. For Paper, to have another person who cared about him to also be gay was a big deal. He could actually relate to Paper's problems, much more than anyone else.
They began dating, and then got married. Paper still remembers their wedding. They were both teary-eyed, happy for finally being husband and... well husband. And then paper caught someone with the corner of his eye.
Lighter. He came to Paper's wedding. After all these years, he still cared about him.
After the reception, Paper talked to Lighter for a bit. He does still care. He updated Paper about his life. He got a better paying job as a regional manager of the fast food place he was working at, and managed to also meet someone he cared about. And they're getting married later this year.
OJ and Paper told him they were going to his wedding.
Paper and Lighter hugged, knowing everything was going to be alright now.