Warblers Pride Oneshots

June 3: This Place Isn't So Bad [Sebastian]

"Sebastian! Oh, we miss you, mon cher."

He laughed. "I miss you too, maman." There was a cough, and he rolled his eyes. "Obviously I miss you too, Dad."

"'Dad'?"

Sebastian flushed. "'Papa' is a word in English, nobody here uses it to refer to their fathers. I'm just adapting."

"Oh, look at you, getting used to America already," his mother cooed.

"Yeah, speaking of that, how's your new school treating you?"

He cleared his throat. "That's actually what I'm calling about. Y'know how we moved here so fast, that this weird preppy boarding school was the only school in the area that'd take me in on such short notice?"

"Yes. I promise, I'm still looking—"

"No, no, that's not it. It's... I actually don't mind this place," he admitted. "The Dean's alright, and I've met some pretty cool people. I wouldn't mind staying."

"You don't have to if you don't want to, it's really not that big of a deal," his mother assured.

He shook his head, even though they couldn't see him. "No, it's... I want to stay. I want to keep going to school here. It's different, from what I'm used to, and a little weird, but everyone's really nice and I kinda like it. And I've made some friends, and I don't want to leave them behind. And... I met a guy."

"You go to an all-boys boarding school, surely you've met several," his father said, before he heard his mother elbow him. "Oh! Oh, no, I misunderstood that completely. You're coming out to us. Right?"

"John," his mother mumbled disappointedly.

"Yeah," he managed, face bright red, hugging one of his pillows. "I really like him, and he seems interested in me, so I figured I should tell you guys before anything happened."

"I'm glad you felt comfortable telling us, honey," his mother said gently. "You know all the same rules about being safe still stand, and I'd still much rather have an awkward conversation with you that we both want to burn from our brains than have you get hurt, but I have one thing to add.

"If you and this boy start going out, make sure you're clearly communicating about what you want from the relationship, alright? Because if one of you goes in looking for something serious, and the other goes in wanting to experiment or just mess around, then someone's going to get hurt if you don't communicate that right off the bat.

"Which is definitely something that still stands regardless of gender, but I only thought of it recently."

He smiled. "I'll be careful, and safe," he promised. "I love you guys."

"We love you too, Sebastian." "We love you too."

There was a loud knocking on his door, and he looked up at it.

"Sebastian! C'mon, we need you for Monopoly!" a voice called through the door.

He laughed. "I've gotta go, I'm needed elsewhere. I'll talk to you guys later."

"Okay. Goodbye! Have fun!"

He ended the call, walking over to open the door.

"Why are you red?" Jeff immediately asked. "Never mind. Come with me!"

"What the fuck is Monopoly?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, letting Jeff pull him along.

"Oh my god, I didn't even consider that you might not have played before. This is going to be incredible!"

Yeah, I think it is.