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“So… how is it?”
Normal held up his hand mirror, seeing a rare nervous smile from Taylor in the reflection. The braid he had just finished covered the right half of his head and looked pretty clean- Normal’s hair was parted in a relatively straight line and there weren’t too many flyaways. Taylor had improved a lot.
“I’ll give it… an eight out of ten?” Normal said. “It looks really good, but you did miss a chunk of my hair in the front.”
Taylor frowned. “Not fair, I can’t see there!” He leaned forward and messed with the thick, curly strand in front of Normal’s ear. Grumbling, he tucked it behind his ear and ran his fingers along the finished french braid. “Do you want me to redo it?”
“Um, if you could, please, yes. But you’re on your way to becoming a stellar braider, Taylor! Don’t let one strand keep you down!” Normal reassured, setting down the mirror to pull out his hair tie while being careful not to touch the pinned-away left half of his hair. Taylor clapped his hands happily from the compliment as he took the section from Normal, already starting to run his fingers through the slightly tangled hair.
“Nothing but the best for Gerry!” Taylor declared, posing with an arm in the air for a moment before snatching up a comb and starting to split Normal’s hair into three sections again.
A few days ago, Taylor had come up to Normal’s room and asked him to teach him how to braid hair. While Normal had grown up playing with his sister’s hair, Scary had learned how to braid when she was younger, and Lincoln had been experimenting with some braided styles recently as he grew out his hair, Taylor was unable to do a simple braid. He had huffed and quietly mentioned that he didn’t want to be the only one who couldn’t do Gerry’s hair when he started school.
After almost two years of being his foster parents, Lincoln and Scary finally adopted Gerry permanently. A busy year had passed since then, with Normal and Taylor moving into a new house with Linc and Scary, as well as a lot of signing papers and weird looks at their five-person marriage certificate from some lawyers. Normal wouldn’t have it any other way. Gerry was the light of his life and one of the main reasons Normal was able to get out of the bed and take his meds in the morning. It was great to feel needed by someone, even though his friends assured him daily that he was loved and they wanted him around.
Apparently, at that second he was desperately needed.
“UNCLE NORMAL!!” came a rapidly approaching voice from down the hall. Normal whipped his head around to the doorway and Taylor stiffened in his chair, both alert as Gerry ran into the living room.
“Gerry! Is everything okay?” Normal started to stand but the young child ran into his leg and slapped his hands down on one knee, forcing him to sit back down. Gerry’s eyes were wide and sparkling as he looked up to his uncle.
“Uncle Normal, uncle Normal, uncle Normal! Are you gay?”
Normal felt both his and Taylor’s shoulders lose their tension. False alarm, there’s no incursion or monster they need to defeat. Everything's fine. Normal’s heartbeat caught up to his brain as he tried to remember Gerry’s question. “Oh- um, yes, I am.”
Gerry let out the most adorable gasp. Normal heard Taylor chuckle behind him as the comb parted his hair. “Really? ” Gerry said with wonder.
“Uh, yeah.” Normal responded.
“Oh-em-gee,” Gerry said, definitely not knowing what those letters meant. “That’s so cool!”
Normal smiled and patted Gerry’s head. “Thanks, I guess.”
Gerry jumped up like he was about to sprint away, presumably to ask his parents more questions about gay people, but he faltered and turned back to Normal. He cocked his little head. “Are you dating another gay person?”
Normal’s face went red. He heard Taylor try and fail to hold in a laugh behind him as he stopped doing his hair, presumably pulling a hand away to cover his mouth. Normal thought back to his ongoing with-they-won’t-they with Hermie and tried to formulate a response that Gerry would understand. “Um, no, I’m not. I’m not dating anyone right now, actually.”
“Uncle Normalll,” Gerry whined, shoulders slumping. “You need to date someone. I want to meet more gay people.”
Normal’s heart lurched. He was so cute. “Well,” Normal started, “Your Mommy and Daddy are both bisexual, and you’ve met them!”
“Yeah, but that’s bice-egg-shwell, not gay!”
“Bisexual,” Normal said, enunciating his consonants for Gerry to understand.
He stared hard as Normal spoke. “Bi-se-xu-al,” he repeated diligently. Gerry was always so curious and determined to learn new things. Normal was going to have a heart attack from cuteness at this rate. Maybe living with them wasn’t good for his health anymore.
Normal thought hard about who was gay in Gerry’s life, since apparently being bisexual didn’t cut it. “Well, how about this,” he said, pointing his finger, “your Grandpa Marco and Grandpa Grant are both gay, too!”
Gerry’s eyes widened immediately as he let out another adorable gasp. “Really?!” With that, he took off down the hallway again, out of sight as Normal heard him yell for his father. He could only wonder what kind of fun conversation Linc and Scary would be having with their son.
Taylor reached around Normal to grab a hair tie, finishing up the second braid. “Looks like I really am the only straight one in this house,” he muttered lightheartedly.
“Maybe they’ll adopt another kid,” Normal responded, making Taylor laugh. Normal picked up the handheld mirror and assessed the newly-finished braid.
Normal tugged on a big lock of hair right in front of his ear that had been missed entirely. He turned back to look at Taylor and smiled sheepishly.
He heard Taylor groan and grumble as he pulled out the hair tie and prepared to redo the braid again. “Nothing but the best for Gerry,” he said with a lot less conviction than last time.