Do You Understand?

1

"If I tried to describe him, I'd end up writing a thousand books just talking about his smile. A million words to speak of his eyes. One hundred poems to show you how beautiful he is. If you knew him, you'd understand why hurricanes are named after people. With his tragedy-kissed lips and his horribly touched skin, you only want to love his frail body. But to love him would be the worst torment you could put him through."
I put my pencil down, and crinkled up the paper I had been writing on. It was too...gay. And I wasn't trying to use gay as some sort of insult, I simply meant that it expressed too much of my homosexuality. Nobody could know I was gay. I lived in a very conservative town in Indiana, and being a gay guy in Indiana really fucking sucks.
"Gee, come downstairs," my sister, Angelina yelled from the kitchen. I quickly tossed the wad of paper into my wastebasket and trudged down the stairs.
"What do you want?" I snapped. I was in a bad mood today.
"I need to talk to you."
"You already are."
"Gerard, I'm transgender."
I froze. This wasn't something I'd ever expect from Angelina.
"What?"
"I want you to use masculine pronouns. And..." He paused. "Call me Jake."
"Oh hell no," I said. My brother's face dropped. He looked as if he was going to cry.
"G-Gerard, I-"
"Jake is a douchey name. Michael is better."
He smiled, and nodded. I asked him if he'd told mom yet.
"I was hoping, actually, that we could tell her together...?"
"No problem. Hey, gimme a coke." Michael gave me a Coca Cola from the fridge.
"Is there...is there anything you want to tell me?" He asked. I took a sip of my soda and thought for a second.
Should I tell him? About...him? Is this the right time?
"Yeah, actually. I'm taking you out tomorrow and you're going to get a proper haircut and maybe some clothes, if you'd like," I said rather nonchalantly. Michael started to cry. He walked around the table to hug me.
"I love you, okay? No matter what. If you're trans, if you're gay, it doesn't change the fact that I love you. Remember that, Mikey."
"Mikey. I like the sound of that," he said. I smiled. I was so proud of him.