There are many stories in between, believe me. I have been married to a woman for a couple of years. If you can believe it, it's not much easier coming out as an adult. My family knows and my parent's don't deal too well with it, but they still love me. I've told my best friends and many close friends.
Life goes on.
We've talked a little in recent years about what we did as kids. It had been a forbidden topic for a while. He admits that he still has mild feelings for guys, but not to the level where he'd risk his family and status to go be with a guy. There are levels to being gay and levels to people accepting it. If you nurture a friendship, over time the lust and cravings toward that person will fade and the friendship will endure and grow.