Something Complicated

11/10/2022

Download my Graphic Novel! (Based on a true story 😀)

When Fat Burgers Could Be Dangerous on Social Media, the only way he could think of to stop people from using a meme was if someone told them it was stupid. It had worked at first, but eventually he’d realized that it was just a waste of time to go to so much trouble to convince people not to use a meme and then have them do it anyway. If it was a problem, he would deal with it himself, and not let people bully him over it like they did when he was in junior high. So he made sure to take care of his social media accounts himself, and never posted a new meme until someone else messaged him to tell him about it. This was fine, and he was pretty sure everyone thought he was weird for it, but it worked, which was more than could be said for the other methods used to try and get people to leave him alone.
His Twitter account was different though; he had a whole group of people who kept an eye out for memes he posted. He hadn’t bothered putting up any filters because he’d figured nobody but him would be watching them anyway. But now, as he sat back, he wondered why these people were still following him after all this time. Sure, there weren’t very many people in his group chat anymore, but what was so special about his posts that he couldn’t just drop them? He clicked around until he saw a thread with several comments attached. One in particular caught his eye, and before he knew what he was doing he was reading it, his heart beating fast as he skimmed the comments.
I am totally gay for you, dude, you should tweet me some of those cute shit you post about your boyfriend
What was wrong with this guy?! His eyes darted to his lock screen where his Twitter handle was displayed, but nothing seemed to be showing up, making him doubt that maybe something was on his phone and deleting anything wasn’t an option. He didn’t want anyone to see his tweets.
He glanced down, trying to decide how long he should wait before replying, but before he got that far there were two loud knocks on the door.
Fat Burgers “FUCK!” yelled, slamming his laptop shut and hopping off the bed.
It wasn’t that he’d ever been scared of anyone – he was well aware of how tall he was, and was confident that, no matter how many times someone tried to pick a fight with him, he could beat them in a fist fight – but he definitely wasn’t expecting them to actually come knocking. And since Fat Burgers didn’t even know their name, he doubted whoever it was wanted to say hi.
“You good in there?” asked a voice from outside his door, followed by another series of pounding. Fat Burgers sighed, running a hand through his hair before opening the door.
As expected, it was one of the guys he went to school with – the one who always looked too tired for anything, and usually didn’t talk except to insult his friends. He stood just behind the taller boy, and Fat Burgers noticed the same look of disdain directed toward him in return. What a piece of shit.
The guy took a step closer, looking him dead in the face. “I asked if you were okay,” he repeated, “but I guess you don’t seem to care about anything beyond your little fanclub.” Fat Burgers didn’t know whether to feel offended or amused that he assumed that his fanclub consisted solely of him. They might not be big, but he had a couple hundred followers, not to mention a bunch of followers waiting at home to see what he’d posted that morning. Of course, it could also be the guy being rude. Or he could be really stupid. The latter wasn’t hard to believe considering Fat Burgers’ reputation. Maybe they had an issue with him because he didn’t fit in enough. That could happen. He’d dealt with that sort of thing before.
“I am,” replied Fat Burgers slowly, “but you have no right to ask me a question if your own are already fucking stupid enough to warrant that kind of response. Now kindly fuck off.” He stepped to the side to slam the door in the guy’s face, but just before closing it he heard him say, “Yeah, whatever. See you tomorrow.”
And just like that, the guy turned away, taking the rest of his small gang with him into the hallway as they walked away, leaving Fat Burgers standing alone with nothing to do but hope that he wouldn’t see any of his fans again until the next day.
Chapter 2
This is how things ended up happening: Fat Burgers woke up late on a Saturday morning and instead of heading down to the cafeteria for breakfast with the rest of the crew he decided to stay in bed and watch YouTube videos. By the time noon rolled around, he finally felt like getting up and moving around his house, so he grabbed his phone and headphones from his desk and set out towards the stairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairwell he checked the group text messages he’d received from his friends over the weekend, which consisted mostly of complaints about his choice of music and teasing him for posting such sappy memes. Once he’d opened the chat box he sent one reply: heyyyy guys i just woken up, wanna head downstairs to eat lunch?
It took a few minutes, and another message from his mom telling him not to stay up too late, but eventually Fat Burgers made it downstairs to find everyone already sitting down at the table. His friends gave each other knowing looks as he entered the room, but thankfully, no one said anything, which made Fat Burgers glad that there were at least some people left who believed he wasn’t a complete loser.
After they were all settled at the table with food they all spoke over one another talking about what had happened during class the day before. At one point, Fat Burgers remembered his promise to his mother that he wouldn’t spend the night partying, and immediately apologized. She just waved her hand dismissively, saying it didn’t matter since he was back now. After eating lunch, they headed upstairs to play video games before starting on homework. While they were busy working Fat Burgers couldn’t help thinking about his conversation with the other member of his fanclub and what that interaction had meant to him.
The guy had seen him make fun of memes once in public, so this probably meant he recognized who he was. He was pretty sure it was impossible for someone who lived in Derry to not know who Fat Burgers was – especially when it came to being teased for something as simple as having a dick on Instagram. But it had also probably meant he knew he liked girls, and maybe even other gay dudes, which wasn’t ideal at all – and while he was grateful for his support, the guy had a lot of nerve coming up to him like that.
As Fat Burgers tried to think of something to say to ease his tension, his phone vibrated, letting him know he’d gotten a new notification.
Amber_Bun: Dude, are you ok?? You look super tense.
Amber_Bun: Also can I say something
Fat Burgers: Of course
Amber_Bun: Just… umm
Amber_Bun: Ignore what I said last night and ignore my comments about dick pics
Amber_Bun: But I think we need to talk about stuff
Fat Burgers: About what?
Amber_Bun: I dont know dude… idk. Whatever it is i think it’ll pass
Amber_Bun: But you gotta promise me you won’t get mad at me
Amber_Bun: I don’t want to make you mad and I think that if things keep going this way then you’re gonna start getting pissed off a lot
Amber_Bun: So please just talk to me about it
Amber_Bun: Because you know what i mean and if you don’t then im sorry but I cant keep letting it go
Before he could respond a notification appeared on his screen. A quick glance down showed that it was from Tumblr, which had apparently gone viral overnight. He quickly skimmed through the comment section, seeing that it was almost entirely dedicated to comments from various fans and people tweeting about him and his relationship with Connor. Well, at least his fanclub had stopped bothering him.
He let out a breath, setting his phone down as he ran his hands through his hair. What did Amber mean by things going this way? Was she worried he wouldn’t be straight after all? He wasn’t quite sure what to make of that either, he wasn’t interested in dating anyone or anyone in the slightest. Not that it mattered anyway, he thought, shaking his head as he looked back up to his friends. It was probably nothing.