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Dean was freaking out, that much was very clear. Charlie just needed to get it through his head that sometimes people change or we discover new things about them. Even if that person is yourself.
“But I’m too old for this!”
“Yeah, well, some old dogs can learn new tricks.”
“I’ve only ever been with girls, though.”
“Until now.”
“Yeah, but what if it’s just a fluke?”
“Does it feel like a fluke?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, have you ever had any interest in men before?”
Dean thought. There was his best friend in high school, but he’d just thought it was an extreme feeling of affection, like a really strong friendship. There were the celebrities throughout the years that he’d joked he’d “switch sides” for, even though it wasn’t really a joke. Then there were other friends. Friends who, when he was drunk enough, he seriously considered kissing.
“Yeah. Yeah, I guess I have.”
“Well there you go.”
“Damn. To be honest, I wish I’d have seen it sooner.”
“Nothing you can do about that now. But now you know, and knowing is half the battle.”
“Thanks, GI Joe.”
“Anytime, Ken doll.”
***
This time when she found Dean at their usual table he was sitting behind a laptop with both of his hands in his hair.
“Jesus, Charlie! There’s all these different kinds of ‘sexuals’! I mean, I know there’s heterosexual and homosexual and bisexual but then theres all these… like, pansexual and polysexual and asexual and demisexual and-”
Charlie closed the laptop. “Dean?”
“What?”
“What are you comfortable with calling yourself?”
“I don’t know. I guess bi?”
“Then you’re bi.”
“It’s that easy?”
“It’s that easy.”
“There’s not like, I don’t know, some kind of test or initiation or something? I can just start telling people I’m bi?”
“You do whatever you want, Dean. It’s no one’s place to judge. Not that they won’t. But if they have a problem they can come talk to me.”
“That… actually makes me feel a little better.”
“I mean, after a year the Queer Police are gonna come and take you to the Rainbow Court and put you on trial to see if you’re bisexual enough to call yourself that, but…”
“Charlie.”
“I mean, I can’t even begin to tell you all the hoops I had to go through just to prove I’m a lesbian. And I’d never even dated a guy. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for the poor kids who realize they’re bi or something and have never dated anyone.”
“Okay, Charlie, I get it.”
“And the asexuals. What they have to go through just to define their orientation…”
“I’m leaving now.”
Charlie reached across the table and grabbed his hand, looking at him sincerely. “You just be you, Dean. Everyone else can go fuck themselves.”
He sighed and sat back in his chair. “Thanks, kid.”
***
“What is this that you’re showing me?”
Charlie was sitting in the chair next to him and, after typing for a minute on the laptop, slid it over to where he could see the screen.
“It’s called fan fiction. You like Star Trek, right?”
“Uh huh…”
“Well, see, there’s all these stories about Kirk and Spock.”
“Uhhh, I’m not sure about this…”
“Just give it a shot. If you don’t like it or it makes you uncomfortable, you don’t have to read it.”
“...I’ll think about it.”
“That’s my boy”
***
Charlie: How are you doing?
Dean: I’m doing good
Charlie: Yeah?
Dean: Yeah. Yeah, I’m doing real good
Charlie: Good.
Dean: Hey Charlie?
Charlie: Yeah?
Dean: Thanks
Charlie: For what?
Dean: For helping me not go crazy. I’d still be a fucking mess if it weren’t for you
Dean: I mean a bigger mess.
Charlie: Hey, what are surrogate little sisters for? <3