Work Text:
Braeden lets out a soft sigh of relief when he leaves Haruka’s dorm building. They were great, and he loved spending time with Jay and them, but God, he was mentally exhausted. He hadn’t even had time to tell people he was bi before he slapped himself with another label. Were you allowed to be both..? As he walks, he googles ‘poly’, scanning the results. ‘Polyamory’ looked like the right thing. He’d heard that before. Reading the definition, he could practically feel the relief wash over him. That was definitely him. It felt like years of guilt for being into more than one person at once were disappearing. He does another quick google search, and yes. You could be ‘poly’ and bi. Nice. While he already has his phone out, Braeden decides he might as well tell a few people about at least part of his discovery. He pulls up the frisbee team group chat. Even if he’d stepped down as captain, he was still a part of the team, and they were still some of his closest friends. He types out a message and stares at it for a moment before sending it.
B:hey guys I know ive kinda dropped a lot on you recently but I figured since ur my friends I should tell you this.
B:so im bi
The response is almost immediate, a few of the newer members send various versions of ‘good for you, man’. His co-captain Liam, or… ex co-captain Liam, however, sends,
L: we know, dude
L: you’ve been sleeping w that genius kid in anatomy for months haven’t u?
Braeden flushes at the messages.
B: shit was it really THAT obvious?? Did everyone know my sexuality except me?
There’s a chorus of messages saying ‘yes’, before Liam sends,
L: u didn’t step down bc you got a bf or something did u?
L: bc that would be kinda shitty
B: of course not. It’s the job I promise. But I did start dating someone I met at work.
He hated lying to his friends, and this was the closest he could come to telling the truth. Another guy, Chris, messages back.
C: ooh whats his name ;)
B: it’s they actually, theyre not a girl or a boy
It takes the rest of the walk back to the dorm to explain Haruka’s gender to the team, but after an explanation and Braeden telling them that google is free, they seemed to be cool with it. He hovers outside the door to finish his conversation, not wanting to deal with Brett yet. After the gender explanation, Liam asks,
L: wait what about anatomy kid?
Shit, how was he supposed to explain that?
B: its complicated? Him and my partner know about each other but were still figuring it out
He sighs, and puts his phone away, finally opening the door to the room. Brett is in there, but it looks like he’s playing some game, headphones in. He doesn’t look up, to Braeden’s relief.
Braeden puts his clothes from yesterday into the dirty laundry basket, gathering his shower things and leaving the room again. He takes a quick shower, brushes his teeth, and puts on deodorant. On his way back, decides to tell Amanda. She was one of the most important people in his life. Besides, she’d called it back in middle school. He opens snapchat. International messages were too expensive to be their primary form of communication.
B: u were right.
He heads back to his room, and gets dressed in a clean set of clothes. He gathers his school things, then shoves a change of clothes in his bag just in case. He tosses Jay’s sweatpants in his laundry basket, then heads out of the room. As he leaves, Brett glances up at him and makes a face, but manages not to say anything. Braeden decides to just hang out in the lobby or something until Haruka and Jay were done. He didn’t want to deal with Brett.
Once he’s out of the room, he checks his phone, seeing a reply from Amanda.
A: I am about most things, but please go on.
B: call me?
He really didn’t want to tell her over text. She was his best friend, she deserved a call. Less then a minute later, his phone is buzzing, and he answers immediately. “Hey. So. I’m bi?” he says. He can practically see her rolling her eyes.
“Wow. How’d you figure that one out?” her voice is dripping in sarcasm.
“Hey! You know how much of a dumbass I am. You can’t be that surprised that it took me so long.” He replies, and he hears her sigh.
“Yeah, you’re right. Was it the Jay kid? Did he finally call you out on your ‘no-homo’ bullshit?” He doesn’t answer immediately, so she continues. “….You’re kidding me. You spend months banging this dude, and something else makes you question your sexuality? I can understand how being into me didn’t make you question it. But he’s a boy.”
“It’s awful. I know.” Braeden says. “But I met this person at work. They’re… non-binary? That’s the word, right?”
“Yes, that’s the word, you dumbass… And what, you’re into them? Just gonna drop the Jay boy like that?”
“Not… exactly. I’m dating Haruka. That’s their name. And… Jay and Haruka know about each other. Haruka said it was okay for me to keep sleeping with Jay, and Jay seemed cool with that. But then Haruka kept talking about how me and Jay were ‘obviously’ romantically into each other, and said they were also into Jay? Which made me realize I’m also totally into him. And he’s into me, too, but isn’t sure about Haruka. So we’re still working out the details. Did you know you can date more than one person at once? It’s called poly, and—” She cuts him off.
“Bray. Babe. Slow the fuck down. When did all of this happen? You didn’t tell me right away?” He’s quiet for a minute.
“…Yesterday. I know it’s crazy. This is the first chance I’ve gotten to talk to you.” There’s a moment of silence between them.
“Jesus Christ.” She says.
“Yep. That’s why I didn’t call you. Haven’t talked to mom or dad yet, either, but I know they’ll both pretty much just say ‘I told you so’.” They both laugh.
“All jokes aside, I really am proud of you. I love you, and I’m glad you’re figuring yourself out.” Amanda says genuinely, and Braeden smiles to himself.
“Thanks, ‘Manda. I love you too.” He replies. “Thanks for listening to me.”
“Of course, Bray. But I do have to go now. I’ve got a meeting. Talk soon! Love you, bye.”
“Yeah, love you, talk soon.” He hangs up the phone. He missed her. They didn’t talk on the phone enough anymore.
He’d tell his parents some other time, coming out twice was enough for one day. He navigates to his email app to let his professors know he’d be missing class as he waits for Haruka or Jay to let him know they were back.