He's real

6.

It seemed like the gang was warming up to Connor. Rather than being annoyed with him, they put up with him. They didn't seem to have an opinion on him. Except Belch, he still kinda hated him.
But he liked him enough to pick them up and take them to the arcade like they planned. 
Connor wanted to play the arcade games as soon as he walked through the doors. The guys didn't really care to waste their money on some silly games, so instead they went over to the snack bar where a cute girl was working. 
"You sure you don't want anything?" Henry asked. 
Connor nodded. "I'm sure. I'm gonna go over there." He pointed off to the street fighter game. Henry nodded and focused back on the pretty girl, whom he was hoping he could convince to follow him into the bathroom for a quickie. 

Connor on the other hand had no interest in the girl. He only cared about one thing. Street fighter. 
The Street fighter in his home town had broke a while back, so Connor wasn't at all surprised when he got his ass kicked by the computer. 
"Hey, you like Street fighter too?" 
Connor turned around to see a boy with thick glasses and wearing a Hawaiian shirt, smiling at him. Finally, someone his age! Not that Henry wasn't appreciative of Henry letting him hang out with his friends! But he will admit it is kind of hard to fit in with them. They are a bit older than him... 

Connor smiled back at the boy.
"Yeah! I do! You wanna play?" He moved over to make room for the boy.
"Um hell yes I do! I'm Richie by the way!" 
"Connor." 
The two boys introduced themselves and started playing the fighting game together. They laughed and nudged into each other, trying to distract each other and get the advantage. 
Connor looked at Richie from the corner of his eye, watching his black curls bounce as he giggled like a happy little kid. Connors cheeks were dusted a light pink as Richie bumped his hip against his with a grin. 
"I totally kicked your ass!" Richie cheered. 
Connors eyes widened, looking back at the screen he could see that indeed Richie had beaten him. He shook his head with a smile. "Wow, you're really fuckin' good!" He complimented. 
He couldn't wipe the smile off his face. He wished he could stay here all night. But of course, he couldn't. And he couldn't come back tomorrow, he goes back home...

So with a sad sigh Connor gave Richie another smile and told him he had to get going. And he thought that was the end of that. But of course it wasn't....
"Hey, um..." Connor turned around, the smile he had instantly falling as he watched Richie pick up a quarter and turn to him with a shy smile. "Why don't we go again? Play some more, you know? Only if you want to!" 
And in that moment Connor saw his older cousin walk into the room with his friends. Now he was really panicking. He didn't mean to say what he did, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Dude, why are you being weird? I'm not you're fucking boyfriend!"
If eyes weren't on them already, they for sure were now. 
"Woah! I didn't..." Richie's face was a beet red as he noticed everyone turning to look at him. He loved being the center of attention, but not like this...
"The fucks going on over here?" Henry spoke up.
"You assholes didn't tell me your town is full of little fairies!" Connor shouted.
"Richie fucking Tozier? What, you trying to bone my little cousin?" The gang made harsh steps towards the bespectacled boy. 
Richie could only stay still, looking up at Henry with wide scared eyes.
"GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE FAGGOT!" Henry screamed. 
Richie flinched and began to slowly back away, looking at Connor with hurt in his eyes. 
"GO!" Henry shouted again, making the boy run out of the arcade.
Connor felt like shit. That kid did nothing to him, he was just being nice, and yet he was such an ass to him. He probably ruined the arcade for him, after what just happened no one would show their face again if they knew what was good for them. A small town like Derry doesn't forget.

"You alright?" Vic asked. 
Connor shrugged. "I'm fine. I just wanna get out of here." He mumbled. 
The boys nodded pushed it off as Connor being embarrassed. But Henry knew his cousin. Something was wrong. 

-----

Belch dropped the Bowers boys off at home, Connors mode hadn't improved. If anything it seemed to have worsened. 
The boys walked into the house, Butch looked over his shoulder and also noticed Connors mode. 
"What's wrong with you?" Butch motioned his beer towards the younger boy.
Connor simply shook his head and began making his way up the stairs to Henry's room. 
"Boy," Butch growled, motioning Henry over with his finger. "What did you do?" 
Henry stood in front of his father, the lighting from the television illuminated Henry's body as he looked down upon his father. 
"Nothing, dad." Henry said. "He probably just misses his parents-"
"Do not bullshit with me!" Butch seethed, grabbing Henry by his wrist. "As soon as your cousin goes home you and I will be having a good long talk." 
Henry yanked his wrist away, turning and saying nothing. He didn't feel like getting in a fist fight with his father at the moment. He had an idea why Connor was upset and wanted to confirm his theory. 

Henry shut his door behind him when he entered the room. Something his father hated. But he didn't want to risk him hearing this conversation, even though he was most likely about to pass out drunk on his chair. Just like always. Henry could smell the beer on him just from standing in front of him. He didn't understand how he never got pulled over for drunk driving because there is no fucking way that man isn't swerving all over the road. 
Oh wait, he does know. Its because he is one of Derry's shitty police officers. And the police here in Derry always put each other first. They would never give his father a ticket, let alone arrest him. Hell, he could kill his own son and the cops would probably praise him. 

"What's wrong?" Henry asks in a more harsh tone then he intended. 
"Nothing." Connor answers. 
Henry huffs at that, sitting himself down on the end of his cot. "Liar," He said. "I know you, Connor. I know when you're upset. So tell me." 
Connor glares at him. "I don't have to tell you shit!" He snapped. 
Henry glared at the boy. "Relax, I'm not going to murder you." 
"You will if I tell you..." The boy mumbles.
"It had to do with Tozier. Doesn't it?" 
Connor rolled his eyes. "Gee, really? No! Of course not!" He said with sarcasm lacing his voice. 
"You like him, don't you?" 
Connor froze. "I liked him until he started being gay towards me." He answered. 
"That's not what I mean't. You like Tozier. Don't you?" Henry continued to push. 
Connor looked down at the floor, part of him wanted to push and scream at Henry for even suggesting it. But another part of him really needed to tell someone about this. 
"Yes," He finally answered. "You gonna run off and tell your dad? Gonna send your friends to beat me?" 
Henry shook his head. "Of course not. I can be an asshole, but I would never hurt you. You're one of the few good people I have." 

The two boys sat in silence, unsure of how to continue this. 
Henry had an idea. He really didn't like the idea, but it might help Connor. 
"I know how you feel." Henry whispers.
Connors head whips around, looking at his older cousin with wide eyes. "Are you..?" 
"I don't know." Henry whispers. "I like girls. Like, I fucking love girls. But... Recently I found myself looking at boys the same way. Especially Patrick..." He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I'm just really confused honestly."
"Bi." Connor said, making Henry look at him with a tilt of his head. "You're bisexual. You like both boys and girls."
Henry didn't say anything. Bi. It sounded so right. It felt so right. 
"I tried liking girls for a long time. Like my friends back at school talk about them all the time, and talk about which ones they wanna fuck or have fucked. And I go along with it and pretend to agree. But... I don't know. They've just never interested me. I've always liked guys. But obviously I can't tell anyone that. People would probably try and burn me like the Salem witch trials." He says with a dry laugh. 

Henry nods as he continues to listen to Connor vent. He was happy he felt comfortable telling him this, it made him feel less alone. 
"Your friends are probably calling me a bunch of slurs right now." He mumbled.
"Nah trust me, my friends aren't exactly the smartest people in the world. They would only be suspicious of you if Richie would have called you a f- a slur. Besides, Patrick supposedly isn't the most innocent either. And you don't see them giving him shit."
"Because they're fucking scared of him!" 
Henry laughs. "Yeah that's true."
"Is Patrick gay?"
"I'm not entirely sure." Henry leans against his elbows. "I don't think he really cares. Patrick fucks whoever he wants, whenever he wants." 

And then its quiet again.
Connor sighs and lays down on his back, looking up at the ceiling, fiddling with the end of his shirt. 
The two boys didn't talk about this anymore. But they felt more comfortable with themselves. And they were glad to know they could trust each other.