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Allison stared at the lit-up microwave while his bag of popcorn spun slowly and grew sporadically. Inside, the kernels were changing, but not completely. The stuff inside was just coming out. Becoming better in the process, hopefully. This bag looked promising. He knew not to leave them in so long that they burned, like last time when the microwave nearly broke and his mom wouldn’t let him use it for a month and a half. The next time, he overcompensated and left the bag in for such a short cook that it only popped half the bag. This time he split the difference, hoping that not too many kernels would sit raw at the bottom where he and Scott couldn’t eat them.
He went to get a bowl, and came back to the sounds of a beeping microwave.
Upstairs, Scott was waiting against the headboard of Allison’s bed, scrolling through options on Netflix.
“Knock, knock,” Allison said walking in with the popcorn.
“Oh, hey!” Scott said. “I think I picked a movie. As long as you agree, of course.”
“Lemme see.” Allison sat close and rested his head on Scott’s shoulder.
They did watch the movie. It wasn’t as funny as the trailer suggested it would be, but it was fun and mindless. Mindless enough that they could basically tune it out when Ally started talking through it.
“I’m trans.”
Scott turned from the laptop screen. “Huh?”
“Transgender.” Allison, said, still staring at the screen. He was afraid to see Scott’s reaction. “I’m a guy. Boy. Man. Whatever.”
“Oh.” Scott said. He wasn’t sure how to be supportive. “Is this a new thing?”
“It’s-” Allison paused. “It’s sort of been nagging at me for years, but I only found a word for it, like, a month ago”
“A whole month? You could have talked to me, Ally.”
“I’m talking to you now. I needed the month to read a lot and make sure I wasn’t crazy.”
“Dude, you’re not.” Scott meant to say it more gently.
“Not a guy?” He finally looked Scott in the eye. “Screw you.”
“No, not crazy.”
“Oh. Thanks.” Allison dipped his hand into the shared bowl of popcorn and ate some.
“Um,” Scott started. A laugh track played in the background and he tried to ignore it, but he was distracted form something he wasn’t sure how to say.
“What?”
Scott finally articulated it. “Are you gonna break up with me?”
What? No.”
“If you like girls…”
“But I like you,” Allison insisted.”
“Even though you’re really a guy?”
“That doesn’t change just because my gender… No. Yeah, no I still like you. But I’m bi anyway. You knew that already.” This time, he threw a piece of popcorn at Scott.
“Oh yeah. I wasn’t sure if you were still bi.”
“Still bi.”
“Sorry, yeah. Of course.”
Allison put his head back onto Scott’s shoulder.
The movie was still playing, and they quietly pretended to watch. Eventually, Scott found the piece of popcorn that had been thrown at him. He tried to pick it up and overturned the entire bowl in the process. (So much for werewolf reflexes.) In the mess of trying to scoop it back into the bowl, he inevitably lost some. Allison ate a few pieces directly off the bed. They’d deal with the rest later. It didn’t matter, Allison assured him. He handed Scott a piece as proof.
“Thanks, you’re the best gir- wait. Does this make you my boyfriend?” He asked.
“Uh, yeah. I guess.” Allison smiled.
“Cool. I guess i’m not totally straight after all.”
“You did fall for a guy,” Allison agreed after a second.
“I didn’t know it at the time,” Scott added.
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad I know now. And I’m really glad I’m with you. You’re the coolest guy I know and I love you.”
When Scott kissed Allison, they gave up on the pretense of watching their movie.