Cody learns to love

The one chapter where Cody has some issues

  Warning: homophobia and self-harm, if that triggers you, skip this chapter.

  Cody was pretty nervous about Obi-Wan coming to their house for dinner. Well, Obi-Wan was going to bring the dinner so Cody guessed he at least didn't have to worry about cooking. He did have to worry about cleaning the house, though.

  "Fives, Echo, why don't you go play to your room instead?"

  "But we built a race track here," Fives pouted.

  "I know, darling, but I need to clean the living room. You can build a new track for your cars in your room."

  "But we like this one!"

  "Why do you even need to clean?" Echo added.

  "Remember how I told you that a friend of mine is coming for dinner? We need to clean up so it looks nice here for our guest."

  "But you never clean when Boil and Waxer come visit!"

  "That's different."

  "Why?" Echo asked.

  "Because we all know Boil and Waxer very well and we know that they don't mind. But when someone that you don't know quite as well comes into our house, we need to make sure that it's clean in case they mind." That wasn't the best explanation but whatever. Hopefully the twins got it.

  "Why does your friend want to come here if he doesn't like our house?" Fives asked. Cody hated his life.

  "Because this is not just some friend," Wolffe popped in from where he was forced to collect the now dry clothes from the dryer. "This is Cody's boyfriend."

  "He's not my boyfriend, we're just friends."

  "How could Cody have a boyfriend?" Fives looked at Wolffe with disbelief. For once, the little shit was on Cody's side. Maybe Cody liked children, after all. "He's a boy." Okay, that's not what Cody expected.

  "Fives'ika, why would you think that?"

  "Think what?"

  "That I can't have a boyfriend."

  "Because you are a boy."

  "That doesn't mean anything, Fives. Yes, most boys like girls, but there are also boys who like other boys and there is nothing wrong with that," Cody explained patiently. He wondered if Fives just assumed that gay people didn't exist because he knew none - assuming he hasn't figured out that Cody isn't in fact just lonely but also gay - or if someone told him it was wrong. But who would do that?

  "It's weird, boys can't like boys and girls can't like girls."

  "They can, Fives, and it's not weird. Why do you think it's weird?"

  "Mr. Krell said so."

  "Mr. Krell? One of your caretakers?" Cody was going to give that man a piece of his mind the next time he went to pick the kids up. Giving ideas like this to his little brothers and all the other children... What the fuck was that man even doing near children?

  Fives nodded.

  "And why did he say it?" Cody was so going to destroy that man's entire career. He would rather home school his kids than let someone put ideas like this into their little heads.

  "We talked about families and one boy said he had two moms and Mr. Krell told us that it was weird and unnatural."

  "He rea-"