Chapter Text
For the most part, Genos' family was very supportive. That was apparent on day one, when their firstborn son was born without legs from the knee down. They didn't have much, but they'd gone the extra mile to give Genos the prosthetics and excercise needed for him to walk comfortably day by day. His father helped him stretch daily every night while his mother helped him in the mornings.
At twelve years old, Genos was crying uncontrollably at home after a particularly bad day at school. Two boys had stolen his prosthetics and thrown them over the school roof and his entire class had laughed at him for having "baby legs". The bullying was nothing new, and Genos' mother decided that day to quit her job so she could dedicate her time to homeschooling her oldest son.
Genos was a straight-A student thanks to his mother's helpful teaching abilities. He wanted to give back, so he got a part-time job thanks to his father helping him with practise interviews. He started paying rent, as well as grow a college fund for himself. He never made friends, despite the homeschool social gatherings he was taken to, but his family would always be there for him. Genos loved his supportive family and they loved him. So it was a surprise when...
"You what?" His father said.
Every one at the table stopped talking and turned to Genos. He looked around a little nervously before answering,
"I.... I like guys."
"Oh! Have you been making friends, Genos?" His mother asked, probably missing the point intentionally.
"No, I mean," Genos started, feeling like a tween for what he was about to say, "I like-like guys."
"You like-like guys?" Genos' little sister said, combing her doll's hair at the table, "That's weird. In my shows only girls like-like guys."
"Yes. It is weird..." His father deadpanned.
"Since when did you decide you're gay?" His mother asked.
Genos looked down nervously at his untouched food and absentmindedly scratched at his freckles, "I... I've just never felt the desire to date a girl. Guys seem more attractive to me now than they did when I was younger."
"Have you kissed another guy?" She asked. Genos looked away too quickly, "Genos? Have you?"
"Yes."
Something clattered to his right and he peered over to see his father had fumbled and dropped his water. He took a deep breath and prepared for the inevitable,
"Who was it?"
Genos' eyes got a little wider as he stared a hole through the table and began to sweat. The boy in question was even more socially awkward than himself. His name was Charanko, and back in ninth grade, their parents (or grandparent, in Charanko's case) tried to set them up as study-buddies and set up little dates for them to study at each other's house. But at the third "study date", Charanko had suggested practice-kissing. He assured Genos about twenty times that it was "so we'll seem experienced once actual girls kiss us", but Genos was sure he was a sexually-confused teenager like himself.
Eventually, every time they were left alone in their bedrooms, they'd start a light makeout session that grew heavier and heavier overtime. Although Genos would never want to seriously date Charanko, he found himself getting excited whenever they were left alone. He even looked forward to it. That was when he realized how much the male body enticed him.
Genos could not tell his parents about Charanko. Not because he was embarrassed of him (okay, he was a little embarrassed of him), but because it would be wrong to out him like that. His grandfather took care of him and Genos didn't want to assume he'd be any more accepting of his grandson's activities than his parents were right now.
"I can't say." Genos finally answered.
His parents gave each other a look before his mother asked,
"Did you ever.. Go further? With them?"
"Mom!" Genos groaned.
"I need to know if some strange man is touching my son badly!" She replied in a worried tone.
"He was my age, and we didn't go any further than kiss a few times, Mom, I'm not some pervert!" Genos yelled.
"Indoor voice, young man!" His mom said.
"You know homosexuality is considered perverted, son." His father said.
"You... You think I'm a pervert?" Genos asked.
"I didn't say that."
"You implied it."
"Mom, what's a pervert?" His sister asked.
"Go to your room, sweetie." His mom said.
With his sister gone, Genos was left alone to his parents' scrutiny. It was a terribly awkward conversation, filled with questions Genos couldn't answer without stuttering, such as, "Did we not love you enough? Did we love you too much?", "Are you sure this isn't a phase?", "Is this because you spend so much time on that 'Tweetlr' site?" and everyone's favorite, "Do you love your parents? Do you appreciate what we've done?"
Ugh.
By the end of his parent's intervention, Genos was crying, only he didn't let it out until he went up to his room and closed the door. He couldn't cry in front of his parents. Not after hearing all of the gay stereotypes they'd believed. Somehow it felt unsafe to cry in front of his family now.
---
Fubuki was on her lunch break when she decided to call her sister. She'd been designing a new line of clothing and was too busy the past few weeks to call, so she wanted to catch up. Her sister picked up on the third ring:
"Miyuki, speaking."
"Miyuki!"
"Ah, hey, Fubuki."
"How's everything going?"
"It's... Everything's fine. Everyone's healthy."
"Everyone's healthy, huh? Is that your standard of fine? How's Midori, is she behaiving in school?"
"Of course she is, she's a sweetheart. Every boy gave her chocolate on White Day, you know."
"How about my golden boy, Genos?"
".... Excuse me..."
Fubuki's sister suddenly sounded offended by that.
"Your. Your golden boy, Genos." Fubuki corrected.
"He didn't... Recieve chocolate on White Day because he didn't give any chocolates to boys on Valentines day." Miyuki answered in a rushed tone. Fubuki wondered why she sounded so pissed off all of a sudden. Unless...
"What if he did?" Fubuki asked.
"He didn't, okay?!"
"Miyuki..."
A sigh sounded on the other end.
"He thinks he's gay."
"Um. If someone thinks they're gay, it's probably true."
"But Genos is so... Straight! Girls are always flocking to him!"
"Has he gone out with any of them?"
"No.. But he plays baseball and watches wrestling, and he's into heavy metal, and his room is filled with posters and merch of all these manly men like Vin Diesel, and Bruce Willis and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnso-.... Oh.."
Fubuki smiled to herself. Genos seemed to have a type. Maybe he'd get along with her weird neighbor... But that was a thought for another time.
"So your son is gay, so what?" Fubuki quipped, shrugging her shoulders as if her oldest sister could see.
"So what? Fubuki, this is huge! I thought I was this close to having grandchildre-... Genos? Honey? How long have you been there?"
Muffled shouting on the other line could be heard before Miyuki returned to give a hasty "Talk to you later, sis" and hang up.
Fubuki sighed heavily, before getting up out of her seat. It was time to pay her family a visit.
---
"Would you kiss.... That boy?"
Genos rolled his eyes as his sister pointed to some anime character on TV.
"No." He deadpanned.
"How about that one?"
"No."
"How about.... That one?"
"No."
His sister was teasing him. But it wasn't like he could ignore her or tell her off. If she ran off telling their parents that he hurt her feelings, they'd confront him, and he'd rather keep his distance at the moment. So instead he humored his sister, giving her as little satisfaction as possible.
"How about that guy?"
"No."
"He's cute, how about him?"
"No."
"How abou-"
"Hey!"
The two siblings turned around to see their aunt Fubuki with her hands on her hips. When did she get here?
"Midori, are you teasing your brother?" She asked.
"N-no." Midori lied.
"He's your only brother, you know. He loves you and cares about you. So you should return his love." Fubuki said in a serious tone.
Midori nodded obediently, and gave Genos a small hug. Genos groaned internally. He knew Aunt Fubuki knew about his newfound homosexuallity already, and now she was here to start drama. Because if there was one thing Fubuki knew how to do, it was causing a scene. Genos should know. She took him to her shitty improv class she always tried to get him to join. He loved his aunt like the rest of his family, but honestly, was she not thinking? Did she not understand he'd have to deal with the aftermath once she left?
"How's my little golden boy?" Aunt Fubuki asked, ruffling his hair.
"I'm taller than you. But to answer your question, not well. My parents are surprisingly homophobic." Genos answered in a dead tone.
"They're just confused." Fubuki said.
Genos gave a half-snort. His parents had been saying that about him for the past week.
"Where are they, your parents?" She asked.
Genos got up and went upstairs with Fubuki following him. As they got closer to his parents' bedroom, they could hear an unintelligable muffled argument.
"Excuse me!" Fubuki said loudly, knocking their door.Genos' mother came out to greet her sister,
"Hello, Fubuki. If I had known you were coming, I'd have made tea."
"No worries."
"What brings you here?" Asked his father
"Well, I couldn't help but notice the tension that's risen ever since your son came out." Fubuki answered
His father groaned at the phrase "came out".
"I guess you've come here to tell us to 'open our minds'." He grumbled.
"Well, yes." Fubuki said.
Genos raked his fingers down his face and turned to go downstairs. He couldn't deal with that shit at the moment. But he froze in place when Fubuki continued,
"But I know you won't adjust to this overnight. I may not change your mind, but I can't stand to imagine Genos living here while you're still getting used to this."
"It's hard to accept. We thought-"
"I know what you thought," Fubuki went on, "That's why I want him to stay with me."
"Huh?" Genos turned around.
"Stay... With you?" Genos' mother said.
"Yes. As long as you can't come to terms with your son's own identity, he can't be living here with you two making him feel like garbage! That's why I propose he stays with me for as long as it takes for you two to get used to the idea that your son..." She looked around for emphasis and stage whispered, "Is gay."
Genos' almost non-existant respect for his aunt grew in that moment. It would be nice to get out of the house for now. Away from the awkward small talk and having hot girls pointed out to him on TV. Away from all the sad staring, and talk about how great having kids is, and-
"Okay."
"Huh?"
"Take him. For as long as it takes for us."
Upon seeing his parents consider the idea as well, Genos' heart dropped a little. He wanted relief from them, but it hurt a little seeing them accept Fubuki's offer so quickly.
"Genos?"
At his mother's voice, Genos realized he was crying.
"Genos, isn't this something you want?"
"Yeah," Genos answered in a slightly shaken but controlled tone, "Just, um. You... Do you and Dad love me?"
Soft arms wrapped around him as his mother pulled him in for a hug.
"Of course we love you," She said, "But this is still a lot to take in. And I realize we've hurt you. And we'll continue to hurt you. I want to accept you, I want to try. But it's better off you're not here for that. We're not good for you right now."
Genos nodded his head sadly. He wanted his parents to accept him right away. But he knew better. He'd been angry at himself the first time he'd realized his sexuallity. He didn't want to feel any more of that anger coming from his parents for how ever long it took for him to get over it.
"Please accept me soon. I love you too." He said, returning her hug.
He felt another pair of arms wrap around him that he recognized as his father. "Hope to see you soon, son."
They hugged a little while longer. Genos already felt a tiny bit better. At least his parents would make a conscious effort. At least he knew they loved him. Even if they were being a little weird about it now.
"Um!"
Genos and his parents turned to see Fubuki watching the scene a few feet away. Her arms were crossed, and she looked annoyed, but Genos could tell by the tiny, barely noticeable smudge of mascara that wasn't there before that she had been crying.
"Yes, Fubuki?"
"Remember to bring a toothbrush."