Living

Chapter 22: Questioning Everything

I'm not writing and publishing again as of now, but this story is pretty much pre-written so why not?

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Les woke up very early on Tuesday.

He wasn't sure how. He went to sleep at a pretty respectable time—11:30 instead of the usual 2:50–but it wasn't early enough to wake up at 4:37AM on the second day of the week.

But there is nothing important about this day in February. It's just February. None of his friends have birthdays this month, not that he knows of. And Valentine's Day isn't for another two weeks.

Valentine's Day, he thought, getting out of bed. What do you get your boyfriend for Valentine's Day?

Les changed quickly, ready for school despite not wanting to go. He walked into the kitchen, where he saw Davey making coffee while wearing his glasses. "Hey."

"Hi", Davey says, not smiling. He glanced at Les. "Ready for school?"

"Sure", Les nods, deciding not to question it. Davey had the look on his face he gets when he fights with someone, so questioning it might make it worse for either him or his brother. "You ready for work?"

Davey chuckled, pouring coffee in his travel mug. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Les nodded and walked to the living room, turning the TV on. Davey sat next to him.

They sat in silence together, the younger tense as the older leaned back. That was odd for them.

Les glanced at his older brother, who was eating toast—Davey can't stand some cereals, and all of those cereals happen to be Les' favorites—in worry and question. He'd had this question on his mind for a while.

He'd ask his boyfriend, but that might be weird. He could ask Jack, but Jack might tell Davey. Any of the other boys might not take him seriously.

So who better to ask than dear old big bro?

"How'd you know you were gay?"

Davey chocked on his coffee, coughing lightly. He looked at his brother. "W-what?"

"How did you know you liked boys?" Les says seriously. "Like, how'd you know what to label yourself?"

Davey nodded, processing. Les still doesn't know what he is. Thinking back on it, they'd never had this conversation. Les sort of just started dating.

"Hm", Davey hums, taking another sip of coffee. "Well, I always knew I didn't like girls as much I did boys. I got my first crush when I was...10?"

Les snorted. "Really?"

"Yes, now hush. Anyway, his name was Seth, and after I told him, he punched me in the face and made fun of me."

Les became confused and angry. "What?!"

"Yeah", Davey chuckled, shaking his head as he finished his coffee. "It's funny because he started dating the most popular boy at school when we were 16."

Les laughed softly. "Teenagers are confusing."

"I bet you can speak from experience."

"Whatever!"

They laughed. "Then what?"

"Well", Davey started, looking at his little brother. "I went home and looked up what it means to like boys. I got a few results and decided I was mlm."

"Mlm?"

"Yeah", Davey chuckles. "Have you ever seen the pride flag with the blue and green colors?"

Les nodded, remembering seeing it somewhere. "That's me."