Coming Out by Minako Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm kinda using it without permission, but since I'm not making any cash off it, I'll hope she doesn't mind. ^_^ ------- "You jerk... you jerk... why can't you consider my feelings for once! UGH!" Akane smashed her hand through a few bricks, and Ranma winced from his vantage point. This was it. This was the day... he was finally going to tell Akane the truth. It was something he'd known for a long time, but had never had the courage to tell her. But still, he was desperately afraid to tell her, he had been working up the courage to do it for months. Back in April, he'd decided he'd do it on September ninth, the date was circled on his calendar. It had seemed so far away at the time, but the date had come, and he had a promise to himself to keep, and a real man would never break his word, even to himself. Gahering his courage, he stepped into the dojo and approached the short-haired girl. "Um... Akane?" He said tenatively. She spun around and pinned him with a glare. "What do YOU want?" She growled at him. He winced. So maybe picking a fight with her first thing in the morning had not been the best of ideas, but he'd been so nervous, it had been hard not to. Besides, it wasn't his fault she'd picked this day of all days to cook breakfast. He took a deep breath and gathered his courage. "Look Akane, I'm really sorry about the breakfast thing, I didn't mean to make such a big deal about it." Akane blinked rapidly in confusion, then gave him a worried look. "What's wrong?" He could feel the confusion spread over his face. "Um... nothing..." She shook her head. "You're never this nice unless you want something from me or something's wrong. Seeing as I don't think even you are stupid enough to think I would do ANYTHING for a jerk like you, I'm assuming something's wrong." Ranma sighed, she certainly wasn't making this easy on him. "Look nothing's wrong, and I don't want anything from you... well, I guess I do." He took a deep breath and tried to settle his nerves and think straight. "I just want you to listen to me, OK?" Akane continued to look at him suspiciously for a moment, then nodded. "I'm listening." He nodded, and was silent for a moment. She sighed. "Look Ranma, I haven't got all day, what do you want?" "Sorry... this is just really important to me, so I don't want to screw it up." Akane's glare softened, and she nodded. "Take your time." He nodded back and closed his eyes. After taking a deep breath, he opened them again and looked at her, then quickly at the floor. "I wanted to tell you something about myself, a secret. One that I've paid Nabiki an insane amount of money to keep covered, not to mention a number of favours... I think I'm in her debt forever." He gave a cockeyed grin, and shook his head. "Anyway, I've only told this to a couple of people, and I've been working up the courage to tell you for the longest time. I figure that of all people, you probably deserve to know the most..." He glanced up at her again, her eyes were wide and she was looking a bit hopeful. He looked back at the floor. That wasn't what he was expecting, he was probably giving her the wrong idea... "What I mean is... I don't know... you're really important to me... more than just a friend... and I didn't want you to find this out from someone else... like Nabiki when I finally run out of money." He sighed again. "I'm not very good at this stuff, am I?" He didn't wait for an answer, "I've rarely ever had to express my feelings to anyone like this... I've only told one or two people what I'm trying to tell you now." "Ranma..." He shook his head, cutting her off. "This is hard enough for me as it is... please don't interrupt me..." He glanced up, and she nodded. He closed his eyes, and and tried to word what he wanted to say... he gave up... "Aw, to hell with tact." Gathering his courage and going for it in the brief time before it failed him, he looked up at her and stared deep into her brown eyes. "Akane, I'm gay." ------- Ehe... this idea came to me in the shower at about six in the morning today (doesn't everyone just LOVE school) C&C are welcome, daybreak_impression@yahoo.ca kind crits are ok, but flames will make me cry.