Chapter Text
In a quiet suburb of Kent, sat a quiet house amongst hundreds of similar dwellings. Here, the Spring family had grown from two devoted partners into five, and their differences over the years had stretched family bonds far beyond any would expect to survive. Like any other sprain, those emotional tendons were more fragile in the past, but that had only brought them to realize how important they were to treat with care.
The house was emptier than it had once been. Where there had been three siblings for as long as Oliver could remember, only he remained. With Tori and Charlie both off to university, it was hard to not feel like he had been left behind on some days, when the silence became overpowering no matter how loud he pumped up the music.
Fortunately, today was not one of those days. This Thursday, Olly and his friends had cajoled an afternoon together from their collective of parents. With classmates getting to that age where most were starting to see each other in new lights, it had become increasingly difficult for Olly to meet up with any friend without it becoming an awkward thing .
Where most parents and siblings would've reserved those smirks and indirect questions for any female friends, Olly had the mixed blessing of looking almost like a clone of his gay brother. Even if they were completely different people, it sometimes felt like he was treated like an echo of Charlie. It had become more difficult to open up about worries in recent years, every time feeling like he was under a microscope looking for some sign of the mental illnesses that had hung over the head of his siblings for as long as he could remember. It was a common loop in his head to intentionally avoid something that might be seen as a sign he had OCD like his brother, then worry that avoiding the usual symptoms was itself a symptom of the disorder.
On that same track of inherited worries, everyone in his life no longer assumed that he'd grow up straight. Every time someone tacked on 'or boy' to a statement about his future he cringed internally. Even years after it had started, there were still those little pauses mid-sentence as they mentally swapped 'girlfriend' out for 'partner', or 'wife' was replaced by 'spouse'. Looking back, it was clear that the sudden switch had been the family deciding on it as a group, without even consulting him. By the time he had noticed the pattern, it was too late to ask them to stop without it being the new scary awkward thing hanging over him.
They'd want answers, and Olly didn't have answers to give! He was only thirteen, this body was a mess of hormones and urges that he just wished would leave him alone! How was he supposed to figure out his orientation when anything could set off those feelings, from a game's efficiently running factory to a teacher complimenting his homework? Even trying to answer those questions purely for himself felt like an exercise in futility. He couldn't even just make something up to give them back that illusion of stability, claiming to be pan or ace or even reaffirming the traditional default would make it a thing!
Olly was pretty sure that whatever friends Tori had had at this age, she kept them far away from their home for rather the same reasons. Charlie had had more leeway, likely due to his tight social circle being eventually accepted as an important part of his mental health. No parental worries of teenage pregnancy had likely also factored into his longer leash, when one friendship became something more.
Olly's own strategy to minimize that awkward facet of the teenager-parent relationship was different, but once he had stumbled upon it, he had latched on tight before the teenage years had officially began. Whenever he had invited just Alice or Billie over after school, it only took a few repeated visits for the parents to start wondering just what kind of friendship they had. But if he invited them both, and regularly mixed up which pair or trio visited, all those concerned looks faded away.
It fit well with his habit of being a social butterfly, becoming casual friends with all sorts around his school, rather than being locked into one of the various squads that hung out with the same group every single day.
Plus, most games were just better if you had three or four players!
Today's guests were his long time acquaintance Jeremy, and a relatively new friend who went by the name Bell.
Jeremy's family had recently moved to Kent from the far north of Scotland, and while he had quickly toned down his accent to fit in with the others in his class, his regularly maintained buzz cut of red velvet and more freckles than the rest of the class put together betrayed his heritage. Similar paces on the running track in their first year of high school had led to the two talking, and a few shared classes had naturally grown their friendship.
Bell (or Bee, but never, ever Bella), to put it bluntly, had earned the reputation of being the class troublemaker in Year 7 and 8. Her student file was full of minor infractions: skipping classes, writing or drawing rude things on her desk and elsewhere, and even a few short fights that she had been provoked into. While her behavior had settled for the most part since the start of Year 9, she was far from welcome in any of the tight cliques that had formed around her. Olly had met her in detention near the end of the previous school year, and over the summer they had kept in touch. While she hadn't gotten into as much trouble since the school year began, there was still social friction and urges to push back against pointless oppressive rules.
Assorted coaxing and promises had secured the three an afternoon to do the day's allotment of homework together, followed by having fun until eventual pickups at dinner time.