Work Text:
So many kids pick on Guang-Hong, and Leo can’t stand it.
Yes, Guang-Hong is small and shy, and, yes, he’s a Chinese immigrant, giving people plenty of ammo to be racist, and, yes, he’s gay, which irritates the homophobes because they’re bigots, but none of this makes him deserving of being bullied. So what if he’s small and not white and gay? And it doesn’t make sense, because Leo is openly bi and isn’t white, but not nearly as many kids bully him as they do Guang-Hong.
And it just drives Leo mad. He’s a bit of a pacifist (he’s a Christian and heavily believes in treating people well; to be honest, this is something he wishes many other Christians would do), but he still wants to yell at them all for being assholes to Guang-Hong.
So when he sees a group of seniors crowded around Guang-Hong, anger surges through him as well as fear. He catches words like ‘sinner’ and ‘fag’ and ‘disgusting’ and Guang-Hong is crying and Leo grabs the ringleader by the shoulder.
“Shut up,” he hisses.
“Hey, I’m just telling the truth,” the guy says, smiling. “He’s going to hell, and you are too.”
“God, I hate people like you,” Leo says, laughing coldly. “You know… Sometimes I wish I was a bird so I wouldn’t have to worry about stepping in all your bullshit. You’re fucking liars. This isn’t about our religion; you’re just bigoted assholes.”
And Leo grabs Guang-Hong’s hand and they rush away from the scene. The moment they are somewhere safe, they slump against each other, hugging tightly.
“Thank you,” Guang-Hong whispers.
Leo presses a kiss to his forehead. “Don’t mention it. They’re just assholes. And I love you.”
Even though tears still run down his face, Guang-Hong says, “Love you too.”