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“Uh, hey guys? I think I might be into men.”
“No shit, Bri, I think the whole club is.”
“N-no, I mean, like, exclusively. Into men. Um. Homosexual. I think I might be a homosexual.”
“… Huh.”
“Is- is that okay? With you guys?”
“Brian, you know we don’t mind if you’re a queer.” Andrew tried to reassure him, holding his shoulder reassuringly. Bender slunk around to Brian’s side, draping an arm over his shoulders.
“Yeah, just means we don’t gotta share you with the girls. I mean, Claire can get so possessive, and when she gets into it, she gets bitey. Not just verbally, I mean -“
“Yeah, Bender, shit, we get it!” Andrew stepped in when he thought Brian looked in actual danger of fainting. “Look, Brian, what he means is -“
“And Allison! Adorable, but- quit glaring at me, Sport-o, you know how she gets when she’s in charge -“
“Guys…” Brian meekly shoved at Bender’s arm in a futile attempt to dislodge him, but Bender just grabbed his hand and held it. Cute but not the goal.
“Christ, Bender, you’re so far from the point right now!” Andrew whacked him on his free arm. Bender immediately captured that hand too. Evil, smug ass grin. Cuddle time, bitches.
“What’s the point? Honey, our boy’s a faggot! Not exactly news, given the current group dynamic. It just means more for us!”
“Bender! This is a serious thing, Brian is trusting us with something heavy, and -“
“G- guys!” Brian finally shoved Bender’s (unresisting) arm off his shoulders. The boys stopped bickering, and turned back to him. He froze up at their sudden, undivided attention.
“Jeez, Bri, you okay?” Andrew stepped forward, concerned. Bender raised an eyebrow, straightening from where he’d slumped, leaning against a desk.
“I just told you I’m a homosexual! Isn’t that, I don’t know, weird? Something to be appalled at, or something?”
“What’s so appalling? We both like men, too.”
“Brian, dear, I’ve been called every homo slur you’ve ever heard, and a few you haven’t, for the entirety of my high school career. I’ve embodied most of them for even longer. I’m not gonna start clutching my pearls now.“
“Wha- I guess? Okay, but, I mean, I’m a homo! I only like men! I- I only like you guys! But you guys both like girls, too, you like Allison and Claire. So it like, you’re still halfway normal. Like, there’s a- a chance for you. I don’t have that, I’m just a, a homo!”
“A chance?” Andrew hesitated before catching Brian’s hand in his. Brian flinched a little, but didn’t pull away. Andrew pulled his hand a little closer, held it a little tighter, like Brian was gonna break away and disappear if he let go. “A chance for what?”
“Normal?” Where Andrew had been gentle, Bender was… Bender. “What the hell kind of normal are we? Brian, sweetheart, we’ve been fucking each other, and each other’s girlfriends, basically since we all met.”
“Dude!” Andrew sounded scandalized. He kept a tight hold on Brian’s hand though, so it was definitely less about the sexual deviancy of their little group, and more about Bender’s misplaced bluntness.
“What?! I’m right! We’re all deviants, in our own rights, and Brian being a plain old, run of the mill homosexual is probably the most normal thing about us. Come on, Bri, the hell do you really mean by normal?“
“I mean you guys aren’t beyond help!” Brian struggled to find words for a moment. Andrew squeezed his hand encouragingly. Bender hung back, still the interrogator.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Bender asked, suspiciously calm.
“Christ, Bender, give him a minute.”
“It just- I don’t- I mean-“ Brian stuttered, and deflated. “I- I don’t know.” Bender wasn’t done.
“No, Brian, I think you do know. Cause you wouldn’t just say something like that for no reason. You’re keeping something in that big brain of yours, and I’d very much like for you to get it out. Share with the class, please, sweetheart, tell us what we’re not getting here, how we’re so normal and all. How we’ve got, what, a chance? Chance for what, Bri?“
Brian hesitated. “I…” He clenched his teeth, flexed his jaw. Andrew squeezed his hand again. “I guess, I mean… You guys still like girls. You could knock off the homo stuff any time. Settle down, get hitched, and be upstanding members or society, or whatever.” Bender scoffed somewhere between ‘any time’ and ‘upstanding’, but Andrew glared at him, a silent reprimand to let Brian finish explaining.
“So, I guess, you guys could quit this, call it a phase or whatever, and just live like normal people, forget about the weird shit you did in school, whatever. But, but me-“ Brian finally squeezed Andrew’s hand back, while Andrew’s thumb rubbed over his white knuckles soothingly. “I can’t. Do that. I can’t knock off and not be a freak. I can’t settle down with some girl, marry and have kids and all that, cause I can’t- y’know, I can’t, not with a girl. You guys could at least achieve some semblance of normalcy! I don’t have that option!”