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imagine-the-energon · 11 months

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PRIME DIRECTIVES, CHAPTER 4

They had barely been able to get out of the Dam before it shut down, and she could see fire coming from the generator area.

“Shit,” she whispered, motioning to Morgan and Nathan. “Who do you think shot out the generators? Will it cause the cryostasis to fail?”

“Maybe if it were all of them, but just one looks damaged,” Morgan answered. “He might thaw a little, but he should stay here until the rest come for him.”

A dark blue Mustang sat in a pick-up stall, a man with blue hair looking anxiously between them and the generator. “There’s Overboard,” Nathan began to push them towards the said ex-Prime, and as they entered, she could see dozens of agents starting to flood the bridge. “Shit.”

“Car checks,” she murmured. “You’ve changed alt modes between the distraction and now, so you should be fine. Did you take the EM neutralizer?”

“Yes, but I don’t like it. It’s itchy,” he answered, and they were the next car.

Seymor Simmons was not a pleasant man to look at, but she grinned at him from the passenger seat. “Where are you coming from then?”

“We just got done with a tour,” she said. “We’re going to Vegas next. Can’t wait to see the ma-”

“Gambling,” the other three quickly interrupted, shooting her genuine scandalous looks. Simmons pursed his lips but also looked ready to laugh.

“Do you have proof of purchase for this car, as well as the tickets for the tour?”

Overboard offered up all of the documents, and one of the other agents took it for a few minutes before returning it with a nod, making Simmons sigh before stepping away, waving them forward.

“Well, enjoy your stay,”

-----------------------------------------------------

“You should’ve extracted the second you realized what His plan was,” Stormdrive all but screeched as the femme finished scanning her. “She’s absolutely doused in unstable radiation! It’s amazing that S7 didn’t sniff her out immediately.”

“I’m right here,” she muttered, glaring up at the femme, all the while holding a bucket in case she vomited again. “If we didn’t, the Allspark would’ve been destroyed.”

“And you wouldn’t be suffering from radiation sickness that we can’t treat unless we rob a hospital,” the femme countered.

“What do Megatron’s scans say?” Nathan interrupted, pinching his nose. “Please tell me you can gather some intel off of it.”

“Aside from his systems are absolutely wrecked by the constant sub-zero temperatures and his spark pulse is far too slow as a result? His EM field showed improvements the longer Riley had stayed near him. Three scans from different angles tell me nothing. I need a more in-depth scan,” she sounded ready to cry as she continued. “The fact that his EM field reacted to Riley shortly after transferring the Allspark, with the latent energy still enveloping her…”

“My theory has proof?” At her question, Stormdrive gave a single nod.

“It’s likely his EM field was corrupted by something, and when he became Lord Protector, the Allspark made that corruption go deeper into his processor banks.”

She closed her eyes, letting her head rest against one of the barn’s pillars. “I can’t exactly be with him for the next ten months to flush his field,” she whined. “And the day he unfreezes, he offlines.”

“So we’ll focus on cleansing his processor afterward,”

She felt sick again, and she could hear the various noises of concern and disgust as she heaved what little crackers and water she had gotten down back up. As she stopped, a sudden bout of dizziness hit her, causing her to moan before pitching forward, Morgan was barely able to catch her before she landed face-first in what the bucket used to hold.

“Let’s get you inside,” he soothed, pulling her onto her feet. The world spun with each step she took, until she finally had to pause, leaning against the hood of her car. “Tired? Headache?”

“Dizzy,” she murmured. “Hot. ‘M not feeling vomity anymore.”

“Is that a good sign? Storm, is not feeling sick good?”

She could feel Nathan trying to tug her away, but she closed her eyes, refusing to budge. After a few seconds, she felt considerably better. “I’m fine,” she murmured, trying to shake off their hands.

“You’re looking green again,” Morgan argued. “Let’s at least get you to some bushes.”

“No, I’m fine,” she insisted, physically shaking off their hands, the feeling of frustration slowly building up.

“Oh, for pit’s sake, just get in the house already. You’re swaying.”

“I said I’m fine,” she snapped, but they continued. She couldn’t describe how the more frustrated she got, the higher her fever spiked, or how she started to glow by faint Cybertronian runes seemingly tattooed into her skin appearing.

All she could describe was the sense of… of loneliness that filled her as she realized they weren’t listening to her. Their voices overlapped as she squeezed her eyes shut tighter, doing her best to ignore their raising voices. The mantra of I’m fine falling on deaf ears reminded her too much of her old life, of constantly lying through her teeth and putting on a smile.

Like her old life, it came crumbling down when they touched the back of her neck.

Her eyes flared open, and she slammed her hands on the car hood, snarling the same words she had been saying over and over again, except this time, what interrupted her was the sudden blast of energy that had the humans flying and hardlight forms flickering out of existence.

She lay there, stunned and staring at the sky as the others did the same, the birds slowly chirping again.

“What was that?” Nathan croaked out, prompting her to slowly sit up.

“I… I think it was energy build-up,” she answered in the same hoarse tone, horror leaking through her voice. “Oh god did I just…?”

“I sense a New Spark,” Overboard answered, stepping out of the barn. “Congratulations, Riley. It’s a Mechling.”

She felt ready to cry as she stared at the seemingly normal car in front of her, waiting for it to transform with red optics. She could tell the others were too before Morgan let out a choked snort and stood.

“I don’t think it took,” he said slowly. “Would’ve modified already.”

For some reason, her heart broke at that and she turned towards Stormdrive for confirmation, who frowned. “The spark pulse is fluctuating, but otherwise within stable range for a Cold Construct.”

-----------------------------------------------------

She was aware that they should’ve been in Tranquility by the end of the week, but she couldn’t bring it in herself to leave the still motionless muscle car behind, and none of the ‘bots could currently tow anything. She could rent a truck that could, sure, but she wasn’t allowed to touch anything tech related until they were sure she wouldn’t make any more.

Arguably, the others should drive then, but they all had some excuse as to why they couldn’t do it. She didn’t trust a third party to drive him, which led to moving day.

She gently knocked on his hood. “Your systems are fully formed,” she said, more for herself. “You can’t spend all year sleeping.” When there was no response, she sighed. “C’mon kiddo. Are you pitching a fit because I was upset when I made you? I already said I was sorry.”

Stormdrive stepped out of the cabin in her hardlight form, her head tilted to the side. “I believe he… wants a designation.”

“He doesn’t have one already?” She asked, blinking.

“No. Often, our creators choose a designation, or it is encoded in our frame if we are Cold Forged.”

She suddenly felt shitty and turned back to the mech. “How about you transform and we’ll work on a name, ok?” For a split second, she swore his armor began to shift before settling back, making her sigh. “I’m not exactly a good person to get named by.”

“Perhaps some basic names?” Stormdrive suggested.

“Basic,” she sighed. “Something like, what? Sunjaw?”

“Usually just one,” she corrected. “Like Trident of Thunder,”

Instantly, she shook her head. “Those don’t feel right. Dynamo?” No, it still felt off.

“He’s colored like fire.” Storm mused. “Firewing, perhaps?”

“Definitely Fire, but ‘wing doesn’t seem right,” she agreed. “Are you sure you don’t want to transform and help us?”

Finally, there was a noise, a whine that sounded like someone was about to start crying as the car broke apart. She watched in amazement as the mech transformed, ending as his doors clicked across his chest, bright blue optics looking at her with a frown. Almost immediately, she noticed how tall he was. The tallest ‘bot she’s seen (aside from Megatron) was Velocity, who stood at 22 feet tall, yet he was definitely four or more feet taller than him. Maybe even taller than Optimus, but she was definitely sure he was smaller than the Decepticon leader.

“Primus, if he’s what you make when angry, what will you make when happy?” Storm joked. “We might have Titans again!”

“Was that a Clifford reference?”

The femme just smirked before walking around the mech, who shifted, side-eyeing her as best as he could. “He’s got a good arsenal too,” she announced. “I think you made yourself a guardian.”

“No!” she instantly denied, making the mech flinch. “Hey, no, don’t- I’m saying no because you were made literally this week. I’m going to be a really high-risk target, and I don’t want you in danger like that, ok?”

There was another whine, a bit lower, and she sighed, looking at Storm for help. “He wants to help,” she translated. “He thinks it hurts when you’re sad.”

“All kids think that,” she murmured. “Do you like the bit that we have so far? Fire?” The mech let out a warble before shrugging, making her let out a laugh. “I know it’s not complete, but it’s a start, right?” He nodded, making her smile. “Do you think you’re ok with following Storm to our new home for the next few months? I’ll be in the driver's seat to help.”

-----------------------------------------------------

She had a three-bedroom house that had a two-car garage attached, but a three-car in the backyard that had an open loft, so the ‘bots could transform in here. Well, maybe not all of them, but Prime’s alt mode would definitely fit.

She still had enough of a backyard that she could decorate it as she pleased. As it were, since Michael was enrolled, as was ‘Bee, they had to decorate their own rooms, though ‘Bee’s was more for display than use… Or it should’ve been, had he not discovered her switch and immediately begun playing on it.

“I only have one of those,” she said, building the desk as he lay on the bed, the switch above him as he mashed buttons. “If you break it, you’ll have to manually replace what you broke.”

He paused, looking between her and the console before signing out Common.

“Nope! It was released in 2016. So the tech for it hasn’t even been made yet. I have one, and I’m not sure if the others do, but again if you break it, I will cry. I’ve sunk at least a hundred hours into Breath of the Wild.”

He nodded as if agreeing before frowning and pointing at the desk before himself.

“If someone thinks you don’t live here, I could get in trouble,” she answered. “Plus a desk will help with schoolwork.” She then paused. “Ah, shit, I’m pretty sure you’re going to have a genealogy report in history. We’re going to have to figure something out about that.”

He frowned again, tilting his head before reaching for the notepad he had on the bedside table. What does that entail?

“Family history,” she answered. “Like a family tree or someone important in your family. Sam will do a report on Archibald, as an example.”

I never knew my creators, he wrote. And one of my adoptive sires tore my vocal banks out.

“Well… We’ll work on something. Maybe even get some of the other bots in on it.” He let out a silent laugh alongside her, but her heart hurt at the confirmation that Megatron had helped raise ‘Bee. “Have you decided what classes you’re going to take?”

Same as Michael, he wrote. The school said they’d let me.

“So you’re going to be a band kid,” she muttered. “God help me.”

-----------------------------------------------------

Michael already knew how to play the trumpet, but Bumblebee spent too much time browsing the internet for memes, apparently, as he chose a trombone and just laughed when her face showed his dismay.

What was even worse was that he locked himself out of the datapacket that would’ve taught him how to play, which meant he actually had to learn like a human.

On a completely different note, Albert and Aaron, Alpha Trion and Alchemist respectfully, were able to infiltrate S7 and Gould Industry, so now they had a full scope of the Decepticons and Government activities. It was made slightly worse as Particle and Aeroblade, Prima and Amalgomous, were off planet attempting to scout Sentinel’s ship and then finding any signs or sightings of Quintessa.

This immediately put four of quite possibly their best scouts in immediate danger, as both Gould and S7 have proven they’re willing to end anything that stands in their own way, and if Sentinel was woken ahead of schedule, or if Quintessa was indeed real and brought to Earth, that meant Unicron would wake up far too soon.

Sitting in her study, she let out an aggravated noise and pulled on her hair for a few seconds before taking a deep breath. She could deal with this. She could handle this.

Her phone buzzed.

It was Optimus.

She stared at it, feeling herself slowly get flustered as she reached for the phone, taking another moment to try to calm herself before reading it. She needed to get over this crush of the Autobot leader if they were to work together. It wouldn't be fair to him for her to put him up on a high pedestal than he already was on.

[O. PAX]: [VIDEO ATTACHMENT]

[O. PAX]: Bumblebee has informed me that despite having achieved basic space travel, many humans have not yet seen footage of another planet. He also stated that you often stargaze.

[O. PAX]: I hope that this may satisfy any curiosities you may have.

She stared long and hard and the blank video image before slowly accepting the datapacket, letting the video play.

At first, she couldn’t quite comprehend what she was looking at. It was just a bunch of people laughing and walking around a strange, yet beautiful park. That was until she took a closer look. Cybertronians. The Towers of Iacon. She could see what seemed to be 6 various colored lights shooting up in the sky.

This was Cybertron before it fell.

[SECURED PHONE 1]: I… have no words. Your planet is very beautiful. I can understand how one can fight so long for its survival.

[O. PAX]: Your words are appreciated, but flawed. Cybertron is dead. Even if the Allspark was to be recovered without Decepticon intervention, there are other items required that are needed to ensure its survival.

[SECURED PHONE 1]: Tell us what you need.

[SECURED PHONE 1]: Please?

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skiptomy · 7 years

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Long ass list of symptoms under the cut

Head

-Migraines/headaches

-Acne

-Eye strain, often go out of focus

-Constantly stuffed nose, even when on allergy meds

-Jaw pops a lot

-Ears WONT pop, can’t hear well

-Near Constant Ringing in ears/Tinnitus

-Everything feels foggy when I’m in pain

-Tired all the time

-Eye mucus

-Constant Running nose/Sneezing

-Occasional eye twitches, five to ten minute bouts

-Sleep doesn’t restore rest

-Hard to get to sleep

-Nose Polyps

-Tongue swells in the back sometimes

-Fevers when pain is bad

Neck

-Constant stiffness

-easily gets pulled/strained

-Post Nasal drip

-Tonsil Stones

-Constantly swollen lymph nodes

-Trouble holding up head

Shoulders

-Shoulders click and grind when rotating arm

-Will pop out occasionally

-deep pain between shoulder blades and spine

-small cysts/acne

-Almost constant pain

Arms

-Elbows lock/pop

-Wrist always feel swollen

-Almost constant wrist pain

-Feels like Carpals pop out of place

-Fingers Pop out of joints/lock in place

-HyperFlexibility in Fingers

Torso

Lungs

->Pain while breathing

->Asthma is definitely not controlled even with Advair

->Hard to get a full breath most of the time

->Coughing Fits

->Coughing when Laughing/Singing

Stomach

-upset stomach at least once a week, usually like every other day

-diarrhea at least once a week

-seemingly very selective lactose intolerance

Lower Back pain

->Can’t walk for more than 20 minutes without brace and cane

->With brace can’t walk more than an hour

->bad enough to make me cry from attempting to sit up

(I didn’t even cry when I sliced my thumb open to the bone)

->Feels like it’s seizing up most of the time, even when sitting

-> Constant pain

Hips

-Will pop out or lock up

-Almost constant pain

Legs

-Knees constant pain

-Knees pop out and lock up

-Knees click when I walk

-Ankles click when I walk

-Knees constant pain

-Feet always hurt

-Tendon in Foot will overstretch easily

-Toes lock up/pop out of socket

-Knees feel unstable most days

-Occasional discoloration around knees

Skin

-Cuts don’t heal

-Dry skin cuts easily, small scrapes and cuts without knowing how I got them

-scars from every cut

-Bruises don’t show up for several days, last weeks

-From armpits to knees (also on upper arms) feels like it’s bruised despite no coloration, literally hurts worst to poke it than getting a tattoo

-discolored on sternum/under breasts

-small cysts on arms, full of pus, similar to when I had shingles

Other

-Lots of muscle strains/pulls/tears

-Pain worsens when it’s raining, or very humid

-Very Flat Feet

-Frequent urination/ near constant pressure

-Severe Period Pain

-Lower than normal Body temp (usually 97.3)

-Hearing Loss

-Joints click

-Sleep Apnea

-Frequent Ear Infections

-Frequent Sore Throats

-Frequent Nausea

-Get dizzy in high heat

-Skin gets rashes in high heat

-Sensitivity to Light

-Sensitivity to Loud Noises

Mental Health

-Depression

-ADHD

-Anxiety

-Paranoia

-Mania occasionally

-Memory problems

Health History

-Asthma

-Ringworm that went systemic

-Shingles like four times

-Pneumonia like twice a year since 8th grade

-Seasonal Allergies

-Lots of food intolerances

-Chronic Pain since about 6th or 7th grade

-Chronic Migraines since 7th grade

-Partial Deafness

-Getting colds ALL the time

-Tubes in my ears

-Lots of Sore Throats/strep

-Arthritis

#Tmi probs #If this sounds like anything in particular let me know #and I'll bring it up to the docs #At the moment the closest I've come to a diagnosis is Elhers Danos Syndrom

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pippiessweathogs · 6 years

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Welcome Back Kotter fanfiction: Epstein's Secret chapter 4

Chapter four

As the students roamed through the halls, they chatted amongst themselves, creating somewhat of a rumble of voices. Locker doors slammed throughout the hallways, often riding above the loudness of the constant chattering. The lights in the school also seemed obnoxiously bright that day as they beamed down upon the students. Every voice, every metallic slam, every single squeak or tap of random shoes across the floor, even the hum of the fluorescent lights with the overbearing brightness, wreaked havoc on one student as he lay across the bench in agony. Epstein, eyes hidden behind his dark sunglasses, tried desperately to ward off the ever-increasing headache he was experiencing, but to no use.

With the amount of students dwindling as everyone headed for their classes, the noise in the hallways began dining down as well. This brought Epstein a moment of near relief. The moment, however, disappeared as Vinnie and Horshack approached him.

“Hi Little Juan!” Horshack shouted

Epstein winced as he sat up. “Shut it, Horshack, or I-“ He stood up a little too fast, then sat back down with a grunt, holding his stomach.

“What’s the matter, Epstein?” Vinnie laughed. “Mrs. Kotter feed you her tuna casserole for breakfast?”

Holding back his urge to heave, Epstein shook his head. “Barbarino, I wouldn’t mention food around me right now, if I were you.”

“Why not?” He teased

“I’m too sick right now to be able to knock that smile off your face. So I guess you’re off the hook. For now.”

They were interrupted by the ringing bell that announced they were late for class. The sound of the bell seemed intensified to Epstein, causing to wince and hold his head in pain. Vinnie slapped him on the back as he walked by, briefly mentioning how he would meet him in the classroom. Then, closely behind Vinnie, Horshack went immediately into his croaking laugh, making it even more annoying as he passed Epstein. After they entered the classroom, Gabe stood in the doorway looking at the student on the bench, unaware that Freddie was sneaking into the classroom behind him.

“Come on, Epstein. Time for class.”

Epstein groaned, holding his head down. “Don’t think I can make it, Mr. Kotter. I ain’t feelin’ so hot.”

Gabe walked over to Epstein and pulled him to his feet. He then started ushering him forward into the classroom. “Well, I suppose you’ll think twice next time you decide to drink on a school night.”

“Not so loud, Mr. Kotter.”

Gabe raised his voice to a near shout as he shoved the student forward. “Sit down, Epstein.”

Epstein slowly shuffled over to his desk and sank down into the chair with a heavy slouch. Really feeling the effects of his hangover, he folded his arms over the desk and rested his head on top of them. Freddie, wasting no time, threw a paper airplane at Epstein. The airplane landed neatly, getting stuck in Epstein’s hair. With a grunt, Epstein reached up and pulled the airplane out of his hair, crumpled it up and tossed it to the floor. Gabe walked over to the student’s desk, standing right in front of it with his hands on his hips.

“Excuse me, Mr. Epstein.” He said comically “There will be no sleeping in the classroom. Unless you want me to transfer you to the kindergarten class in the elementary school.” Epstein did not budge, but only grumbled a reply. This prompted Gabe to lean down closer to him. “Epstein wake up! He shouted in his ear.

Epstein jumped, quickly sitting up as straight as he could. His sunglasses nearly fell off his face in the process, but he managed to catch them. “What? What? I’m up! I’m up!” He adjusted his sunglasses, and sank back a little in his chair.

“Good.” Gabe grinned a little “Now stay that way and pay attention.”

“Mr. Kotter, couldn’t we do this payin’ attention in class thing some other day when I’m feeling more up to it? Say some time in 1987.”

“With my luck, and your grades, you’ll still be in my class.” He said, sounding quite a bit like Groucho Marx. “But sorry, Juan, I know you’re hung-over but I still expect you to at least pretend to learn.”

With a slight hesitation, Epstein scooted up some more in his seat. As much as he did not want to, he put his best effort into seeming as though he was paying attention to Gabe’s lesson. While he did this, however, he actually was just trying to keep himself together while wishing for the relief of death. The class seemed to drag on too painfully slow, which brought more agony to the hung-over student. Finally, right when Epstein thought the class was going to never end, the bell rang. Even though he was happy that class was over, he still moved rather slowly getting to his feet.

By the time he made it nearly to the door, most of the other students were out of the class. Gabe stood in the doorway, blocking him. He turned and saw the other three Sweathogs standing there. He looked from his friends to the teacher then sighed.

“Ok I give up. What’s going on?” He asked

“Juan we would like to talk to you.” Gabe said

“Well Mr. Kotter, I’d like to thank you for making me come to school today.”

“Oh really?” Gabe answered, not buying the statement from Epstein

“I’d like to. But I can’t, ‘cause I gotta go throw myself in front of a bus. Hopefully I’ll feel better then.”

He tried to leave the room but Gabe ushered him back inside. Gabe and the other three Sweathogs took seats and looked at Epstein.

“Join us over here, Juan.” Gabe instructed

Horshack patted the empty chair next to him. “Room for one more.” He let out a short laugh

Without saying anything, Epstein then joined the others, taking the seat next to Horshack. Then, looking at all four of them, he started to remove his sunglasses. Wincing from the light, he changed his mind and put them back in place.

“Alright.” He said. “What’s this all about?”

“We just wanted to talk to you a little more about last night.” The teacher said

“Do we gotta do this now?”

“Yes, Epstein.” Gabe laughed as he continued “Besides, I don’t think that your other teachers will be worried about you guys. I’m sure by now they all expect you all to be late for class.”

“Alright, so, what are you guys gonna do?” Epstein asked, a little agitated. “Pick on me some more about my hangover? ‘Cause none of that was funny.”

Freddie smiled “Hey don’t sweat, Epstein. We coo’. I mean we were only messin’ ‘cause, y’know, we care ‘bout ya.”

“Oh.” Horshack said “That’s how come we were doin’ it? I just thought it was funny.” He started laughing. Epstein glanced over the top of his sunglasses, glaring his displeasure at Horshack, causing his laughter to be abrupt.

“Hey, don’t worry Epstein.” Vinnie said “We won’t mess with ya no more. Like Freddie said, we was only doin’ it cause we care about ya.”

“Well if that was because you care, then I’d hate to see what you woulda done if you didn’t.”

“Okay,” Gabe did his best to add a seriousness to the conversation. “Enough of this. Now let’s move away from Epstein’s hangover and the fact that he was drinking last night. We should discuss something a little more serious than that.”

All eyes turned to Epstein and all traces of humor faded away. Feeling uncomfortable, he slouched in his seat and turned his head down slightly. In that moment he mentally thanked the fact that he wore his darkest sunglasses to make things easier to avoid eye contact. Even though he was dreading the upcoming conversation, he decided that he would sit there and listen to what they would have to say to him, even if it meant he’d have to use all his remaining strength just to uphold his head.

“Now, Juan, I thought we should discuss the matter of you running away from home.”

“Mr. Kotter I already said I can’t go home.” He looked at Vinnie “Barbarino, I really do appreciate everything you said to me last night, about your cousin. But I don’t think it can help me.”

“So all that stuff I said was for nothin’.” Vinnie folded his arms across his chest. “Sorry for tryin’ to help, Epstein.”

“You don’t understand-“

“Come on, Epstein, man.” Freddie cut him off. “We know you left because your mother was upset. She’s got to be gettin’ worried about you by now.”

“That’s just it, Freddie.” Epstein removed his sunglasses, looking directly at him with slightly squinted eyes. In this moment, there was clear pain in his eyes that went beyond what he was still experiencing from his hangover. “She was so upset that she cried. I ain’t never made my mother cry before, no matter how mad she is at me.” He turned his head down “An’ y’know, I also never been called a big disappointment like that before. So that’s why I can’t face her. ‘Cause if I did, I’d see that disappointment all over her. An’ I couldn’t live with that.”

Silence surrounded all of them as they took in what Epstein said. Epstein had kept his head down until he felt a tap on his shoulder. When he looked up, Horshack was offering him an end of his scarf.

“What’s that for, Horshack?”

“In case you cry.”

Right away, Epstein’s face hardened as he prepared for a defense. “Hey, now, ain’t nobody’s gonna make fun of me for that again.”

“Hey who’s makin’ fun?” Vinnie asked “So you cried! I mean, yeah we laughed at the time, but that was only ‘cause it was funny.” He saw Epstein’s anger begin to rise “But that was before we knew anything about what happened with you and your mother an’ all that.”

“Yeah man,” Freddie chimed in “What’s the big deal? We still think of you as the toughest kid in school.”

“Even though I got fairy wings, huh Freddie?” He asked with a defensive smirk in his voice.

“Whoa, hold up. I ain’t never said that, Epstein.”

“Oh yeah? Then what did you say last night?” He started to get out of his chair and head over to Freddie. “It sure sounded like something like that came out of your mouth.”

“Hey you misunderstood what I meant.”

At this point, Gabe stood between the boys, making Epstein sit back down. “Alright, let’s end this before it gets out of hand. Epstein, calm down. Freddie didn’t mean anything by what he said last night. At least not the way you’re taking it.”

With a fading scowl on his face, Epstein went back to his seat. He then, with a slight sigh, put his sunglasses back on. At first, the quiet filled the room as they all sat there. For a moment, Epstein held tension in his entire face and body as he sat, scowling with his arms folded across his chest. However, shortly his demeanor softened and he reverted to a near slouch. Knowing that all attention was back on him, he started to feel uncomfortable. He then looked up at all of them and let out a sigh.

“Alright, what else do we got to talk about?”

There was another bout of silence before Gabe decided to speak. “Would either of you like to say something? Anything at all.”

Horshack threw his hand up in the air and excitedly moved about in his seat, trying desperately to get unnecessary attention. “Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Mr. Kotter! Ooh! Ooh!”

“I suddenly get the feeling that Arnold would like to say something.” Gabe finished with a small laugh. “Go ahead, Arnold.”

Horshack put his arm down and then calmly turned to Epstein. “Little Juan, if you don’t mind me axing.” He paused slightly “How did you get to be gay in the first place?”

“What? Do you think I chose this for myself? ‘Cause I didn’t. I never wanted no part of this.”

“There’s one thing I don’t get.” said Vinnie

“Just one?” Freddie laughed

“Hey!” Freddie stopped laughing then Vinnie continued. “Any way, something I don’t get is, if you’re gay then how come you always date girls?”

“Come on, Barbarino. You actually expect me to date guys in front of everybody? I don’t even want to date them in private.” Epstein paused “But I’ve always kinda known that dating girls wasn’t right for me, y’know? Every time I’ve been with a girl it just felt wrong to me.”

“Then why keep dating them?”

“Well, Freddie… I guess I was hopin’ the feeling would pass.”

“The feeling never passed, did it, Epstein?” Gabe asked. Epstein turned his head down and mouthed “no” as he shook his head. “You knew it really wouldn’t, didn’t you?” This time Epstein nodded and mouthed “yes”.

Epstein looked back up and noticed Horshack staring at him in confusion. “What, Horshack? Quit lookin’ at me.”

“Just wonderin’ Epstein, how long have you felt dating girls was wrong for ya?”

“Since I started.”

“You started dating in the sixth grade.” Vinnie added

A look of realization fell slowly to Horshack’s face. “Oohhh… Why’d you go so long without letting anyone in on this secret? Ain’t we your friends?”

“Yeah you’re my friends. But like I told Mr. Kotter, I’d been in denial about it for so long. It hasn’t exactly been something easy to deal with.” He became quiet for a second and moved his sunglasses to the top of his head. “Y’know it’s weird. I actually kinda feel better about you guys knowin’ ‘bout this. It was getting harder and harder to keep this around with me. Always hidin’ it from people ain’t easy. But now with you guys knowin’ I don’t gotta hide it as much.” He pointed a finger at them. “But that don’t mean I need it spread around.”

“Come on, Epstein. We ain’t gonna tell nobody!”

“Vinnie’s right, man. We’re yo’ best friends.” Freddie added, “You don’t have a thing to worry about.”

“Yeah.” Horshack said, “I couldn’t say anything for fear of getting stuffed in your gym locker.”

To this, Epstein smiled and let out a small laugh. He then turned to Horshack and gave him his best intimidating stare. “And it better stay that way.”

Gabe glanced up at the clock, and then reached into his desk drawer for a pad of notebook paper. “Alright I think this is a good place to end the conversation.” He started writing on separate sheets of paper. “As much as I enjoy seeing your faces in my classroom, I think your other teachers should get the privilege of seeing them as well.” He ripped four sheets of paper out of the notebook. “Here, I took the liberty of letting your teachers know that you were in a conference with me.”

The Sweathogs got up and walked over to Gabe’s desk. He handed each of them their freshly written note as they left the room.

“Epstein, I’m sorry but I could not sign this one in your mother’s name. You’re just going to have to get by with a legit note.”

“Hey, no problem Mr. Kotter.” He patted his shirt pocket “I’ve got plenty of other notes I can use for my other teachers. I’ll just hafta let this one slide.” He smiled then stepped into the hallway to catch up with his friends.

Vinnie walked along side him and placed a hand on his shoulder “Listen, Epstein, since you ain’t goin’ back home, you could come over my house and stay for tonight.”

“Hey thanks, Barbarino. I might take ya up on your offer.”

“But I gotta warn you now; you’ll have to share a room with me and my brother.”

Epstein shrugged his shoulders. “No problem. It’ll be a nice change from having to share a room with four of mine. I’ll be able to stretch out for once.”

The two friends shared a laugh and then headed down the hallway towards their respected classes.

#Welcome Back Kotter #WBK fanfiction #fan fiction #Epstein's Secret

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