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They were on the couch asleep before the movie was even over. Jenna had moved to the kitchen to start dinner and Tyler had just gotten home. He traveled to say hello to his wife, before heading over to say hello to his child and wake them up for dinner. He smiled when he saw them in one of his old tour hoodies and their head resting on the plush Ned a fan had made for them, before frowning at the sight of the red lines on their upper thigh. There was more than one, and it was obvious that it wasn’t from one of their friends' animals.
He took a deep breath and ran his hand over their shoulder. “Hey, bub wake up,” he said softly. “I’m back bubba,” he gave a small smile when they opened their eyes to see him. “Nice nap?”
They nodded their head and wrapped their arms around his shoulder. “Missed you,” they smiled even brighter.
“I missed you too bub. I’m here for like seven months now, not leaving for a while,” he gave them a soft squeeze and moved so that he was sitting on the couch with them in his lap. The cuts were still visible, and with the way they were sitting he could see even more. They didn’t seem to notice yet that Tyler could see them, so Tyler took a deep breath. “Hey bub?” He asked and they tilted their heads to show they were listening. “I don’t want to make things awkward, but you know I’m here for you right? Me and your mom are always here if you need to talk. I know that I’ve been away for a while but I’m always a phone away, and your mom knows how to talk about tough things really well,” he told them and rubbed their back, noticing the tears welling in their eye and the way they bit their lips. They looked down at their laps and froze when they realized, before quickly fixing their boxers and trying to pull away from Tyler. “Hey, no it’s okay. Don’t run away bub, talk to me,” he lightly pulled them back to him and they fell back into his lap, hiding their face in his shoulder.
“I'm sorry!” They cried.
“You have nothing to be sorry about bubba. I'm sorry that you feel that you deserve to be hurt.” Tyler ran his hand through their hair and over their back, placing a kiss on the top of their head. “Can we talk about it?” He asked and they looked up at him biting their lip. “You don't have to say anything you don't want. I just want to listen to you and help you.”
“I just. I hate myself. I'm not normal, I'm weird and disgusting.”
Tyler took a deep breath, trying to keep himself from crying. “You right, you're not normal,” he said and felt them tense and more tears fall. “But neither am I, or your mom, or you aunt Debby and uncle Josh. And you came from two of the most nonnormal people in the world, so I think it's actually a little normal to be not normal. What makes you think you're disgusting? I traveled three months in a tour van with the toilet clogged, nothing disgust me.”
They gave a small smile, before their face dropped again. “I. People. Because I'm a fag,” the say so softly that Tyler barely hears them.
Tyler stiffens before squeezing his child closer to him. “You are not disgusting for being who you are. Who is telling you this stuff?” He says aggressively, but not at his child.
They're sobbing so much that they can only see blobs and gasps. “School.”
“I'll talk to them. Let's try to breathe okay?” He rubs up and down their back slowly. “Brethe in with me,” he breathes in slowly and they follow him.
Jenna appears in the living room and they finally catch their breath. “Dinner's ready babes,” she says softly as she walks over to them. “You okay bug?”
They bite their lip hard again, and before they can cry again Tyler speaks for them. “They're having a rough time. We can talk about it later, I think right now we just need some family time,” he gave them a soft squeeze and smiled at the two of them.
Jenna nodded understanding as she always is. “I made spaghetti, do we want some strawberry milk?” She smiled and ran her hand over their shoulder. They smile and nod their head yes enthusiastically. “Come on you two, the food will get cold.”
Jenna gets off the couch, with Tyler and them following. Tyler sits down and scoots his chair so he’s closer to them. Jenna makes a cup of strawberry milk and gets two glasses of regular milk.
After dinner the three of them made it back to the living room and Jenna and Tyler held their child close to them. They put on Alice in the Wonderland for them, as it has always been a comfort movie for the three of them. When Tyler noticed them fighting to stay awake he rubbed their back and kissed the top of their head. “You can go to sleep, bud. You’re okay bub.”
They looked up at him and gave a soft smile, before burying their head in his chest. Once he knew that they were asleep he spoke softly, “ They’ve been hurting themself Jen. They said that that they hate themselves, and people at school are being rude to them,” he tried to keep himself calm but failed and held his baby tighter.
Jenna frowned and ran her hand over his cheek, “It’s okay Ty, they’ll get better. We’ll help them, they aren’t alone. We’ll help them see that.”
Tyler nodded his head and Jenna pressed a kiss to his nose, before turning their attention back to the movie on the screen. The three of them had fallen asleep on the couch all together. They would help them together. Things would get better.