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"I am into him" Melvin said, without thinking.
"...What?" Morty questioned, taken aback.
"As- as a vibe" Melvin quickly stuttered out, 'correcting' himself.
Melvin definitely did NOT like Morty as just 'a vibe' but decided that, judging by Morty's reaction, he didn't feel the same way. He also wasn't sure about Morty's opinion or views on gay or queer people altogether, he seemed to assume Mr Hinks had a wife, but that could have been an innocent assumption. He only seemed shocked and embarrassed when he realised Mr Hinks had a husband, so he could be ok with it? He did say he was fine with it, right?
Melvin kept overthinking and replaying the conversation from earlier that day. He was sat beside Morty in the common room, zoning out of whatever conversation he was having with a classmate to instead analyse Morty's facial expressions in his memory.
"What do you think, Melvin?" Morty asked, breaking Melvin out of his ruminating.
"H-huh?" Melvin asked, confused from being dragged into the conversation so suddenly.
"Kiss, marry, kill. Sgt. Lewis, Mr Hinks, Grandmaster Flash" Morty filled him in with.
Melvin chuckled at the inside joke, as Morty continued.
"I decided to kill the Hexmaster, marry Hinks and kiss Sarge cuz I'm not gay"
'Ah.' Melvin thought, but before he could even finish thinking, their classmate, Jake, was stating his opinion.
"I don't know, man. I'd feel weird kissing Sarge. I'd kiss Hinks, marry Sarge and kill Singh"
"I guess so, Mel, what about you?"
'Oh, he didn't comment on Jake deciding to kiss Hinks...' Melvin thought to himself as he delayed answering. "I... I gotta go with Morty on this, sorry Jake.." He did feel kind of bad about lying but he couldn't bring himself to tell Morty quite yet either. Even if he wasn't exactly saying the words 'I'm gay', it was obviously implied. He especially couldn't tell Morty when he wasn't 100% sure he wasn't homophobic. Morty didn't seem to mind Jake's answer, but maybe it was just because it was a game.
"See, told you!" Morty bragged, "Girls are just hotter, anyways"
"How would you know for sure, if you haven't liked a guy?" Jake laughed, jokingly.
Melvin was only half paying attention to the conversation, going back to decifering Morty's body language, as they continued discussing.
"I- I'm just guessing!" Morty snapped, in a humiliated fury, at what Jake was implying.
"Woah, calm down man, I was joking!"
Morty quickly declared he was going to his room, and Melvin immediately followed suit, as he usually did. Being brought back into the room just in time to hear Jake mutter "Jeez, what's his problem?" to another classmate as they left.
♡~A few days later~♡
Melvin had been thinking about the conversations from that evening the entire day, and the day before that.. and the day before that. It was like he was obsessed with trying to find that one shift in tone, that one change in body language, anything to tell him what Morty thought! It was honestly exhausting. Maybe he should just ask him? Wait, no, that's a stupid idea. What would he say if it turns out Morty doesn't agree? 'Yep, just keep to myself' Melvin said in his head. Melvin had gotten quite good at paying attention when he really needed to so he hadn't fallen behind in any of his classes but Morty still realised something was up.
"Hey, Mel?" Morty casually asked when they were about to go to bed.
"Yeah?" Melvin replied, confused.
"Are you ok? You barely ate anything at dinner and you haven't really talked much the past few days, I mean, I know you don't talk much anyway because of your curse but.. you just seem... off" Morty rattled off.
Uh, uhm, y-yeah! I'm- I'm all good! Just thinking, yknow?" Melvin stuttered, unprepared for the question and Morty's concern.
"Are you sure? You know, you can talk to me about anything, Melvin"
Melvin took a deep breath, it was now or never.
"How do you feel about gay people? Because I lied about agreeing with your answer, I actually agreed with Jake, but I didn't wanna tell you cuz I was worried of what you might think if you knew I was gay" Melvin said, almost too quickly for Morty to understand.
"Wow, man" Morty wasn't sure how to answer. "I am totally fine with you being gay, Jake is gay too and I'm fine with him, aren't I?"
"He IS gay?" Melvin replied, he wasn't sure whether Jake really was gay, or whether he just chose a man for fun.
"Yes, look Melvin, I don't care if you like guys or not, in fact... I think I might like guys too"
"Oh" Melvin said, not really knowing what else he would say.
"I mean, I still like girls, but I've recently realised that I like guys too and that I'm bi"
"That's great that you figured that out about yourself, Morty. What made you realise?" He knew he was prying a bit too much with the question but he had to know.
"Uhm, I realised that... I like you. Not as a friend, I LIKE like you"
"I.. I like you too" Melvin said, surprised.
"You probably should shut up now though" Morty said with a chuckle. When Melvin looked confused he pointed to the mask, which now had acid dripping from it.
"Shit." Melvin said as he reached into his bag to replace it.
♡~A month later~♡
By now, the whole school knew they were dating. To be fair, they weren't exactly the best at keeping it on the down-low. They held hands at any opportunity and whispered to eachother while giggling like little girls in the common room, cheeks (and Melvin's ears) red.
They didn't mind the school knowing, in fact, some things were better because of it. For example, Mr Hinks had a better attitude towards them and Mr Hebden usually lets them off if they are late, as long as it's not longer than 5 minutes late of course. The other teachers treated them the same. However, sometimes they would catch Sargent Lewis smiling at them as they went into the plagueround together, but, they would pretend they didn't see her.
Morty and Melvin have also been given a couple name by most students now, Melty. They weren't sure on it at first but it seems to have stuck, so they better get used to it. The two are even skipping lessons less, they still sometimes skip English (which is WARRANTED) but they mostly used to skip to have an excuse to spend time together, except now, they don't need one.
They love eachother, and that's all that matters. 💖