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Josh and Simon were having their usual music-themed cafeteria conversation, trying to work through the kinks of adapting their favorite songs to only guitar and keyboard.
“Ugh, really? Again?” North complained, sitting down in her usual spot a little farther down the table.
“You don’t have to listen to our conversations if you don’t want to,” Josh said.
“Not like there’s anyone else around to listen to.” It was true. The cafeteria table the three misfits sat at was only occupied by one other person – Markus Manfred, the son of some supposedly rich painter. He didn’t talk much.
“Are we still on to practice at your house?” Josh asked, turning back to Simon.
He shook his head. “My parents are away on a business trip, and they said Daniel and I can’t have people over while they’re gone after what happened last time.”
Josh laughed. “I still have that picture you sent me.”
“The sharpie horse?”
“The sharpie horse.”
The sharpie horse being what Simon’s little sister drew… well, everywhere. Josh was secretly impressed at Connor’s ability to distract the normally-alert Daniel for long enough that she could find a way to reach the kitchen ceiling.
“So we’re going to have to find somewhere else to practice.” Right.
“No way we can do it at my place,” Josh said. “The neighbors would be even more pissed than they usually are.”
Simon sighed. “My parents are going to be gone for two whole weeks, and we still need to practice.”
“You could still come over after school if you want.”
Simon pulled out his phone. “I’ll text Daniel and see if he can watch Emma.”
“Yes, I’ll watch our sister, but you’ve gotta watch her tomorrow!” Daniel yelled from across the commotion of the cafeteria.
Simon rolled his eyes. “Typical.”
North was howling with laughter, and even Markus seemed to be paying some attention to their conversation. Josh was just fascinated by the way the twins interacted, not having any siblings of his own.
The lunch bell rang, causing the cafeteria to explode into even more chaos as students dumped their lunch trays and pushed past each other to be the first out of the room.
“See you after school,” Simon said, giving Josh a kiss before they parted ways.
Josh and Simon dropped their bags in Josh’s room, Josh kicking the door shut behind him as Simon led him over to the bed. Their lips met instantly, with a confidence they only had from doing this so many times before. Simon’s hands wandered down to the hem of Josh’s shirt.
“Wait,” Josh said.
Simon stopped immediately. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just – we need to talk.”
“What’s going on?”
“The other day when you weren’t at school, North and I were talking. She said that if she didn’t know I was dating you, she would’ve asked me out.”
“Do you want to be with her?” Simon asked, pulling away from Josh completely.
“You’re my first priority. If you don’t want me to, I won’t.”
“But you like her?”
“Yeah. I do.”
“Then… I don’t really mind. Go talk to her tomorrow since I have to watch Emma, and you can figure things out.” There was something in his voice that suggested there was something else he wasn’t saying.
“Simon, are you sure you’re okay with this?”
Simon bit his lip. “Did she say anything about me?”
“No… do you like her, too?”
He shrugged. “Maybe? Ugh, this is so confusing. Daniel doesn’t even know that I kind of like girls, too. You know the whole rainbow theme he’s been planning for our graduation party, and how we’re supposed to come out to our family then.”
“And you’re thinking you can’t do it separately because you’re twins and people expect you to do it together?” Josh asked, trying to understand.
“Exactly. And everyone at school assumes I’m gay because of how out he is and seeing me with you, so I’d be coming out to even more people than him… doing something scary together is easier, in a way, than doing it separately.”
“I think you need to tell him that.” It seemed like the most obvious thing to Josh, but maybe it wasn’t to Simon.
“You’re right. Could you maybe wait until Saturday to talk to North? I want to be there.”
“So wait, we all just thought you were gay because of your brother?” North laughed, covering her mouth and nose with a napkin. “Okay, I’m not drinking any more of this until your life stops being a fucking soap opera.” She set down her coffee, Simon and Josh having already finished theirs.
“You’d get to be part of the soap opera if you dated us,” Simon said with a quick wink. He really could be flirty when he wanted to.
“This isn’t what I expected would happen, but I’d be up for dating both of you. It’s fine if the two of you want to put your relationship first, have sex, whatever.”
Josh smiled, glancing briefly out the window of the coffee shop before looking at Simon. “So that’s all worked out… but we still need somewhere to practice.”
“I used to play drums, if you guys ever want to jam together. I don’t really have a place we could all practice, though.” She shrugged apologetically.
“It would be nice to have a drummer, instead of playing the sound effects on keyboard,” Simon said thoughtfully.
The three of them were discussing the nowhere-to-practice problem when Markus actually spoke up for once. “There’s a room at my house you could use.”
“Your parents wouldn’t mind?” Josh asked.
He shook his head. “Not as long as you pretend to be my friends. Dad’s always hoping I’ll bring some home.”
“Will he care about—“ Simon gestured to him, Josh, and North in a triangle shape.
“Yeah, he’s cool,” Markus said. “So you three are together?”
“Yes,” North said, giving Simon’s and Josh’s hands a squeeze.
“Okay,” Markus said, his eyes betraying that he was more interested than simply curious.