Work Text:
I Love You, Asshole
Davey groaned as his ringtone reverberated around the dorm, interrupting his boyfriend time.
He and Jack were snuggled up on his low-quality, cramped bed watching The Office and eating popcorn, and Davey really, really did not want to move. Especially if it was his parents calling for the umpteenth time to not-so-subtly hint at him to get a girlfriend.
But Jack was more responsible than him (wow, that's a sentence he never thought he'd think) and paused the show, reaching out to the small nightstand beside him to grab his boyfriend's phone and hand it to him.
"It's your brother," Jack said, glancing down at a grainy picture of Kevin from Mean Girls and the word 'Dumbass' lit up on the screen. "I think..."
Davey looked down at the device and sighed in confirmation. "Yeah. I should probably take this."
He stood from the bed and went to stand by the window (that was all of five feet away), then slid his finger across the screen.
“Hey, what’s up kiddo?” Davey asked, trying not to sound as unenthusiastic about being interrupted as he was.
“Hey asshole,” came the miserable reply. Fuck, he sounded like he was crying.
“Woah, what’s wrong buddy? Are you okay?” Davey bit his lip in concern, and he felt Jack’s worried gaze on him.
“I dunno. Ugh.” Les sighed before continuing. “Uh, I’m trans. As in, I’m a girl. With she/her pronouns and all that jazz. And I told Mom and Dad and, well, it didn’t go over well.” He – no, she – laughed humorlessly.
“I’m fine, like, physically; they’re not gonna kick me out or hit me or anything, but it stills hurts I guess. I don’t know. I never expected them to like it, but it still kinda shocked me when they started pulling out the slurs, you know? But it’s whatever. Only 5 more years til I move out, right?” She laughed again, but it was more of a depressed sound than a joyful one.
The line went silent for a moment while Davey processed everything. Jack seemed to notice his boyfriend’s distress, and he tentatively crossed the room to wrap a comforting arm around his body. Davey leaned into the embrace thankfully as Jack ran a warm hand up and down his back and pressed a feather-light kiss to his shoulder.
“Fuck,” he finally landed on. “That really sucks. I’m so sorry. Are you 100% sure you’re safe? Because we can figure something out...I graduate next year anyway, you can at least come live with me then. But if you need something sooner I can–"
“I’m fine, Dave. I’ll be alright. Although, I might take you up on that offer for next year...”
“Okay...okay. Let me know if anything changes, alright? I don’t care what time it is. You can always call or text or whatever. I love you, sis. So much.”
He was crying slightly as this point, hurting so much for her. He hadn’t come out to their parents for a reason, but he also understood why she’d wanted to. At least he’d been able to live his gay life in secret, but she was stuck in a body that was so wrong, and she’d have to stay that way for her entire childhood and teenage years.
David wiped at his tears as he listened to his sister’s thankful reply, grateful that Jack was holding him as it was probably all that was keeping him upright at this point.
“Look...it's kind of a weird time to be telling you this right now, but, um, I’m gay. So...you’re not the only disappointment! Yay...” He laughed awkwardly at his own weak joke, feeling...weird, was the closest word he supposed, about coming out to her after 13 years.
“Right...and you think this is new information...why?”
Jack snorted so loudly it could be heard on the other end of the phone. He slapped a hand over his mouth to try to muffle the noise, but to no avail.
“Dave? Who was that?”
“Umm...my boyfriend?” He cringed at the way it came out like a question, putting the phone on speaker so they could all converse practically.
“What, ain’t ya sure?” Jack teased lightly, before properly introducing himself. “I’m Jack, Davey’s boyfriend. It’s nice to finally meet you...” He trailed off as he realized he didn’t know her name.
“Diana,” she supplied. “Nice to meet you too, Jack. I’d like to say I’ve heard a lot about you, but seeing as Dave here thought he was pulling off the straight guy facade convincingly until today, I’m afraid that would be a lie.”
“Oh my god. You’re the worst.” Diana snickered. “How was I supposed to know you knew?”
“What, did my trans-ness come as a total shock to you?”
“That’s fair, actually. But I mean, you made me paint your nails and braid your hair for you when you were, like, five and you were always stealing Mom’s high heels and falling over in them, so...”
“And you can’t sit in chairs or walk slowly. You also had a boyfriend, like–"
“Wait, wait, you knew about Mark?!”
“Sweetie, I have eyes. What happened to him anyway?”
Davey spluttered while Jack guffawed in the background and Diana sniggered like the little shit she was.
“Ooh, I haven’t heard about this boyfriend, Dave. Do tell...” Jack said with a giggle, permanently securing his place on Diana’s list of cool people. (Dave was very much not there with him.)
Davey buried his head in his hands embarrassedly, but he ended up telling the story anyway.
A few minutes later...
“...and he decided dating a closeted guy just didn’t work for him, so we broke up amicably. I wasn’t heartbroken or anything, but it did result in me being lonelier, so that wasn’t super fun. But then I met Jack, so it was worth it.”
“Sap,” Jack said with an affectionate eye roll and quick peck to his boyfriend’s lips.
“Oh, gross. Please stop.”
"Aha, never!" Davey cried with an evil laugh and proceeded to cover Jack's face in noisy kisses, fueled by his sister's squawks of protest.
π
Later that night, long after the conversation with Diana, Davey lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about both everything and nothing.
How his 13-year-old sister would most likely be moving in with him in a little over a year.
What it would be like to live with her again after almost half a decade apart.
If Jack would be there.
When his parents would realize he was gay.
What they would do.
Exactly how little David would care.
And how thankful he'd be to have his real family – the one he'd chosen – next to him through it all.