Blind Date [Noam]

[Fer Reyes]

Fer was worried. He had never heard the name "Noam Goldstein" before. In his mind, this either meant the boy was either ugly, or a nobody. Or straight with no chance whatsoever of being turned, but then again, for Fer, this usually meant said person was just ugly too. After learning Noam had been assigned as his random matchmaking date, he went on a little investigation of his own, meaning, he asked around. What he asked? Well, obviously if the guy was cute or not. Fortunately, he found the one person who knew Noam and said that he was "ok-looking", which made Fer sigh. Normally he wouldn't be the type of guy to settle with "ok-looking", he just goes straight to the hotties, but he decided to go on a leap and trust whichever machine paired them up.

Ok, maybe he didn't trust that much, he needed to assess the situation in person. He contacted Noam and told him he'd go to Noam's room before the dance so they can go to the auditorium together and have some time to chat alone and calmly. This of course was a lie. Well, maybe not a lie per se, but Fer had other intentions: if once Noam's room opened, some fattie thick-haired guy with a face full of zits and bad breath opened the door, Fer would come up with whatever excuse he could at the moment and run away for salvation, if not, then he'd have chance to talk... and maybe a quickie before the party? Maybe this was getting his hopes too up, but Fer does have a good talent in that part, or so he thinks, anyway.

Fernando spent the whole day getting ready for the night: on the morning he went to pick up his costume and had his hair done, in the afternoon he had a long shower and grooming session and in the late afternoon, the process of getting himself inside the costume was due. It was much, much, harder than he initially thought. These women made it look easy on TV. He thought to himself, but after he was done, he checked himself in the mirror agreeing that this was the bestest idea he had ever had for a Halloween costume. Initially, he had no idea on what to wear, but after a set of random events in which he was told he didn't look Brazilian, he decided it was time to make a statement: He was to wear the Brazilianest costume he could think of, and also, the hottest one, and tonight, he was a Rio de Janeiro's Carnival Garota. Yes, the costume was for a woman, but he did many other things that were socially "for women" too, and this would help as another statement to him as his sexuality, even if he thinks such things aren't even necessary anymore. Of course, he knew said costume would break Hammel's laws on costumes, but he found a fun way to bypass them by wearing a shirt underneath the costume and a set of very short jean shorts. The only thing he regretted was not getting a wig so the headset would look just as in the picture he saw in the internet, but he thought it looked good anyway.

The night was finally here and the Brazilian boy sighed as he wetted his lips after he arrived at the boy's door. He checked his breath and crossed his fingers before knocking on the door. Please don't let him be ugly, please don't let him be ugly, please don't let him be ugly.

[Noam Goldstein]

Noam was as nervous as hell going into the dance. He knew he'd told the matchmaker thing he was bisexual, but he didn't actually expect to get a guy date. He was expecting someone like Tak or even Callie, but things didn't always go as planned. Noam, as he threw on his Redshirt costume. He was actually terrified of going in it, but he figured that his brother would be almost proud of him wearing something nerdy. After all, the Goldsteins were as nerdy as nerdy could get.

He knew that whoever was going to be his date was going to meet him at his room. He was almost looking forward to it- his first male date, other than Alfie from theatre. He really did like Alfie- he was a good guy, and a good friend, more importantly. They did eventually go their ways, though if Noam had any regrets about their little relationship, it was the fact that they kept it under wraps. He wondered what people would think of this- he knew he'd have to come out to his already suspecting roommates after this, and that conversation was scaring him.

He opened the door, staring straight at the other guy. Was that one impressive costume...or what? It was actually really cool, he had to admit that, but it was definitely scary to see a teenage guy in that outfit. He simply stared for a moment, trying not to look too nervous. So this was the Fer Reyes that he'd been matchmade with... hey, he wasn't bad looking, he really wasn't going to complain.

"Hey, um... I'm Noam, you must be Fer," he outstretched his hand for Fer to shake it. "Nice costume you've got there. There's something I should probably tell you... thank god my roommates aren't here, I don't want them knowing."

[Fer Reyes]

YES! Thank you God. Fer notably sighed in relieve as he saw a good-looking guy wearing a Star Trek costume. Now, he wasn't the one to go after nerdy-types, and of course it wasn't hard to guess that Noam was at least a bit nerdy if he was wearing that costume, but all Fer was interested in right now was the fact that he wasn't ugly. Heck, he didn't even look gay, at least not at the moment and Fer's gaydar was quite good, but then again Fer's notably increased strong gayness this night was probably messing around with it, not that different from putting a magnet close to a compass.

"Yes, Fer," The Brazilian boy ignored the hand extended to him and instead went all-out with a short hug, which happened to be rather hard with his huge heavy costume. "nice to meet you." They were dates, right? He didn't see any harm on starting things with confidence, plus it helped Fer assess the body-status of his date, and he liked what he managed to feel. "Thanks!" Fer exclaimed with a bright smile hearing that Noam liked his costume, something that surprised him a tiny bit. "It took so much time to put on correctly, I don't even want to think about the pain it will be taking it off later on the night." Anyone that knew Fer, knew where this was going. "You'll help me, right?" Classy. Noam's question, however, threw him off a bit. "Oh, what's wrong?"

[Noam Goldstein]

Noam was taken by surprise at that- he wasn't expecting a hug. Though, he gave the other guy a polite smile, and scratched the back of his head. He hoped that Fer would be trustworthy and hopefully would keep his secret... though, he didn't have high hopes for that. He was simply riding a cow blindfolded, facing backwards, and trying to shoot something at pinpoint accuracy with this. Something was going to go wrong, at least that's what he was thinking. He figured that his costume was really ironic at this point. "'Course I will," he agreed with a nod.

"Look, um, I'm bi," he admitted. He knew he didn't look it, but he was bisexual, but not exactly proud. "And let's just say I'm in the closet still... figuratively. Literally, no, I don't live in a closet," he said grinning slightly. Leave it to Noam to make something serious seem unimportant. "And I haven't told anyone. You're really the first date that I've had that's not a girl. So, um, you'll have to show me the ropes here," he said with a smile. "But... please don't tell anyone this, please, unless I tell you..."

[Fer Reyes]

Noam's short and serious response to his subtle slightly indecent proposal made Fer wondered if he had caught it or not. Probably not, which was a bummer, he, at least, wanted to see the guy a bit nervous on the subject, it would let Fer know he's going in the right direction. This just made Noam look cold and hard-to-approach, and while Fer was ok with a challenge, he was expecting easy tonight.

Things however changed fast. If what Fer wanted to see was nervous, he was reading lots of it as Noam spoke. For some reason, inside the mind of the Brazilian's boy, all he could think of was a rain of the emoticon ":3". And it wasn't raining, it was pouring, Fer definitely loved to see the nervous and adorably side that Noam was showing right now. Oh dear, Virgin? Fer bit his lip a bit. The matchmaking machine had definitely made a perfect match, "showing the ropes" was probably Fer's favorite hobby ever.

"Aww..." He let out intentionally as his eyes shone a bit like that of a puppy's. "I'm..." He organized the thoughts in his head, he couldn't go on and say everything he had in mind just like that. "Yeah, I'll show more than that, whatever you want." Maybe he couldn't contain himself from that one. "Sure, I mean," Fer grabbed Noam's hand and placed it in his own chest, attempting to let him feel his heart rhythm. "you can trust me."

Did Noam's plans made sense, though? I mean, they were a date. Wouldn't people notice on the dance? Unless of course Noam was planning their night as more of a friends thing that an actual date. I mean yeah of course, they were bound to meet and be with their friends, but if Noam wanted a plain friends night, he shouldn't have entered the matchmaking or he could have just told no to Fer when he contacted him earlier.

"What about dancing, though," Fer wondered out loud. "we can dance together, right?" It didn't sound like it, but it in Fer's mind, this was a sort of ultimatum, if Noam didn't want to dance with Fer, and the Brazilian didn't manage to change his mind through the course of the night, Fer was definitely going to search for someone else to end up with later on. "Everything else can be left for private but, if we are dates, we should dance, no?"

[Noam Goldstein]

Noam tried his best not to look too uncomfortable. He figured that wherever this night went, people were going to question his sexuality, just like he had done after he'd entered Hammel. He'd never told anyone about it- it was information that was supposed to be strictly for himself, and himself only. Never did he imagine something like this to happen. Promising himself that he'd come out soon enough, he met Fer's eyes.

"Course," Noam agreed. Dancing was definitely his thing. "I'm into musical theatre," he stated with much more confidence. "So I dance all of the time, and I would be honored to dance with you." He was feeling slightly more confident about the entire thing; maybe Fer's confidence was starting to drip down to Noam, the usually confident guy who could almost always be caught singing and dancing in his free time, or even flying. Most likely, it'd be a combination of all three things.

"Maybe I'll come out after tonight," he pondered.

[Fer Reyes]

Musical theater? And he's in the closet? Right... Not like Fer was a good one to judge, specially on cliches, but the honest truth was that most of the time, they were right. With that little confession, Fer doubted "nobody" knew of Noam's liking for boys, heck he even doubted Noam was bi, he was just probably too inexperienced to know he was gay yet. Or perhaps just too shy.

"We shall dance then!" Fer exclaimed quickly before taking one step back and pointing with both hands towards the hall. Wasn't it time they head towards the auditorium? "Don't feel forced to come out, though." Fer said as they started walking through the hall. "I mean, I guess you can take it one step at a time." Honest good advice right there. "Or we can just make out in the center of the auditorium and save them all the trouble of wondering." Good advice too? "If you want to, of course," Fer wanted too. Definitely. "I'd have no problem in doing you such favor, I'm a good friend like that."

As they walked out of the dorms building, Fer immediately started to receive weird looks and stares from everyone who the two boys crossed paths with. The costume, most likely. Good. It was the intention, right? To catch eyes, and he was being successful.

"Don't worry, they're probably all staring at me." Fer said rather proudly. "I hope no one is wearing the same costume! I'd die right there in shame."

[Noam Goldstein]

Noam listened to what Fer had to say. "What was it like for you, y'know... coming out. I'm a but scared to actually do so... I know people have speculated if I am, they've seen me and my..ex-boyfriend Alfie looking at each other, though we're still friends." He hadn't met Fer before this, but he felt like he could trust the other guy. They were both interested in other boys- and he felt like Fer could be an ally, someone who could help him come out of the closet and get adjusted to the light.

"Well, I wouldn't say no to that," Noam said about the making out on the dance floor, adding a wink at the end of it. "Let's just see where I am at the middle of it...?" The whole thing was going to be uncomfortable, people were going to question him, and he'd have to face his fears. But as Newsies said- courage is when one faces their fears. And that's just what Noam was going to have to do.

"That would be embarrassing," agreed Noam. "But highly unlikely with a costume as creative as yours."

[Fer Reyes]

Coming out was not something that actually happened with Fer. For as long as he can remember, he has been gay, and for as long as he can remember, it has always been painfully obvious to everyone that met him, including his father.

"Yeah, well," Fer attempted to explain. "I never actually came out. I've always been out."

And then the "ex" word up. Fer hated it. Not only he thought it wasn't good manners to talk about exes in a date, specially the first one, but also, it reminded Fer that he has never had a true boyfriend. He never quite understood why, he is good-looking, he is fun, he is smart-ish enough, he is confident and he is good in bed, all traits he believed were good for a boyfriend, but for some reason, guys unusually took him seriously, and the few that did, well, Fer managed to screw it up quickly every time.

"Sounds like a plan." Fer smiled at learning that Noam wasn't all against his proposition. "Oh, thanks again!" He said, happy that the intention of being creative and unique with his costume had come across. "I guess we'll see soon," He continued, as they approached the place of the dance. "come'on, Nom-Nom." Fer grabbed Noam's hand. "I can call you that, right?"