Chase hadn't heard form his buddy Marshall in over a year. There was a time they hung out a fair bit, but ever since he made a surreptitious pass at the cutie they'd been distant.
Couldn't blame him for taking his chances. Chase had a crush on his sometime bestie ever since they met. Marshall was short but perfect - with puppy eyes, a fulsome beard, and pert bubble butt. Stinky and hairy like men should be. Chase knew he was straight, and Marshall knew Chase was gay, but they found themselves laying side by side on Marshall's mattress in the moonlight all the same.
No words were needed. Staring at the boy across the pillows, Chase's eyes did all the talking. When Marshall caught sight of his pal's loaded gaze, he switched the drunken chat they'd been sharing to a whole bunch of garbled nonsense about some girl he was seeing - neutralising the gayness and making his position clear.
A neat put-down, executed without any malice. After that they drifted apart. Until now.
Marshall missed him, and it was his suggestion they catch up over pint. Sliding into a booth at the Greenbank, they bantered and gabbed like no time had passed at all. Felt so great to be together again. Time flew by, and several pints later the conversation settled into more serious matters.
"You seeing someone at the moment?" Chase enquired - putting his own feelings aside, genuinely interested to hear about fit lad's love life.
"Nah," Marshall shook his head.
Perhaps it was always his intention they should eventually talk about girls? Marshall needed to get something off his hairy chest, and who else was there to talk to? Chase would understand. He was always there for him, so sympathetic and kind - a true friend.
"Women don't want short guys," he continued, suddenly overcome with the heavy sadness that afflicted him this past year, "It's hard enough to even get a date. They see your stats on Tindr, and if you're within an inch of their height they swipe left without a second thought. And then..."
He broke off, staring into his pint as if the amber liquid might show him a parallel world in which he wasn't ghosted on dating apps, or stung with rejection over his other crucial shortcoming.
"And then what?" Chase asked gently, thinking that Marshall was on the verge of opening up about something huge.
As it turns out, Marshall was opening up about something tiny. He looked so sad and beautiful, his eyes sparkling with doubt. Chase really wanted to be there for him, to be his best friend when he needed it most,
"...you can tell me anything, Marshall," He offered.