When the Leaves Fall [bxp] ✔

20

Small Steps Forward

A/N: TW: most of this chapter will talk about transphobia and situations with that. Please take care of yourselves and if you don't feel up to reading it please don't, I will have a summary at the end, don't worry if you can't read it <3

"Hey, are you doing better?" Felix asked after a little while- after Jupiter's breathing slowed a little. Their breaths were still a little unsteady, but they weren't as fast as they had been.

"A little," they whispered, their voice still shaking.

"Who was that," Felix mumbled to himself. The two of them had made it back to where Felix had parked his car- the same car which Jupiter was leaning against.

"That was-"

"Oh sorry, I don't mean to push you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I was just murmuring to myself," Felix said quickly, cutting them off.

"No it's okay," Jupiter responded softly. They took a deep breath letting their hair cover their eyes a little. "That was Luke, he went to my old school. A lot-" They paused again. "A lot went down there." Felix ran his hand through his hair, his eyebrows knitted in worry.

"I figured something big happened that made you move here," he said gently. "You don't have to tell me anything you don't feel comfortable saying."

"No I kinda want to tell you, I haven't really talked about it since it happened? And I feel comfortable telling you I just need a minute to gather the words." They took a couple of deep breaths and Felix just waited for them to find what they wanted to say. "Are you okay with hearing something a little heavy? Because if you're not I totally understand and-"

"Yeah I'm okay with hearing something heavy," Felix cut them off, giving them a reassuring smile.

"Ok. So umm, okay. Umm, I wasn't friends with the best people at my old school?" They started, hesitating a little. "Like they were nice enough, but I always felt disconnected from them? They thought I was super cool and stuff, but I didn't exactly share those sentiments. And we lived there for a long time. Like I was born there and stuff. I loved them a ton when we were kids and stuff, but as we grew up I started unconsciously keeping things to myself more ya know. They weren't exactly accepting ya know. They weren't super mean about being homophobic/transphobic but they were definitely not accepting. I just didn't feel like I could trust any of them. I wasn't ever gonna come out to them. Like I was gonna go to college and not talk to them again." They paused, glancing at Felix to see his reaction. Felix just gave them a reassuring nod.

"A lot of people turn online for friends, right? Well, I never felt comfortable doing that cause my mom always talked about how it was dangerous and I guess it made me too scared."

"I get that," Felix said softly, nodding.

"My mom, she was always there, ya know. She always looked out for me." That's when their voice started to shake and their eyes started getting a little teary. "She held me whenever I needed someone and- And she never made a big deal out of it." They stopped squeezing their eyes shut.

"That's why I told her and my dad at some point in sophomore year. That I was non-binary. My dad was also really nice but I was always closer to my mom and I guess that's when it all changed? She- she refused to accept me." Their voice broke and tears slipped down their cheeks. Felix lifted his hand to wipe them away but hesitated. Jupiter gave him a single nod and he lightly brushed away their tears.

"She also outed me to the whole school? That's kinda when the bullying happened, I logged out of all my socials, and my dad stuck with me and helped me through all that? We're a lot closer now. He's the reason we moved here."