Team8s and Counting

136. Me Too

Bladey was a very social girl. She could read anyone she saw like a book, and could immediately detect any shift in personality.

One day, she noticed one girl in her class looking particularly down. Usually, she was very chatty, always hanging out with the other kids at recess. Almost no one in the whole school had a bone to pick with her. But on this particular day, she noticed her all a lone at lunch, something that almost never happened.

Bladey, concerned for the girl, picked up her plate of food and started heading over there. All the sudden, she was stopped by another kid in her class.

"I wouldn't go over there if I were you." The boy said to her, looking her right in the eyes.

"Why not?" Bladey asked innocently.

"Because," he said to her, "She might turn you in to one of those freaks to."

Bladey face scrunched up, knowing damn well that the chances of her having done somthing mean to anyone were slim to none, "Well, good thing I don't mind being a freak."

Bladey continued to march over to the other girl, plate in hand. Once she got there, she took a seat, much to the other girls surprise.

"Don't you hate me too?" The girl asked her nicely.

Bladey looked at her in confusion, "Of course not, you're like one of the coolest people ever!"

The girl looked down at her tray of food, "Well, once you find out my secret you won't think that."

"What secret?" Bladey asked. "What secret could be so bad that people all the sudden hate you?"

"It's because..." she hesitated. "I have two dads, okay? Now go join everyone else and leave me alone. I thought everyone knew this by now."

Bladey tilted her head in confusion. She didn't understand why having two dad's was such a problem. "That's...it?"
The girl nodded, still staring down at her tray. "Yeah, that's it. And ever since someone found out, people have been acting like I'm some kind of weirdo. It's been awful."
"What's so weird about having two dads?" Bladey asked.

The girl shrugged, her voice small. "I don't know. It's like...people think it's wrong or something. Like it makes me different, and not in a good way."

Bladey began to think of her own life at home. She had grown up with a straight, polyamerous, and homosexual relationship under one roof, so having two dads just seemed like another form of parents to her. She didn't think people would judge these relationships. "Well, I have two moms." Bladey said. "I don't know how having two dads is any different."

The girls eyes widened, "You...you have two moms?"

Bladey nodded, "Yeah? I thought lots of people had two moms. I didn't think I was the only one!"

The girl blinked, her surprise evident. "No, I've never met anyone else like me... or you, I guess."

Bladey started to get concerned. To her, having two moms, two dads, a mom and a dad, or whatever combination of adults were in someone's life to all just be normal. She didn't think there was some type of standard of what your parents should be or not be. "Do you think...do you think they would make fun of me too if they found out I had two moms?"

The girl looked at Bladey thoughtfully, her expression softening. "I don't know. People can be weird about stuff like that. They act like it's such a big deal when it's really not. But... maybe they would. I mean, if they're doing it to me, they might do it to you too."

Bladey frowned, not out of fear, but out of frustration. "That's so dumb. Why do people care so much? It's not like who our parents are changes who we are."

"I know, right?" The girl nodded, sighing. "It's just... people don't like what they don't understand. They think we spread the "gay disease"...whatever that is."

"I don't know what that is," Bladey said. "But I don't think I have a disease, I think my moms would have told me about it!"

"Exactly!" the girl said, "it's so nice that someone else gets it!"

Eventually, lunch ended, and the two girls parted their ways.

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Once Saw and Gaty got home, Bladey was waiting for them right by the front door, with lots of questions to ask them.

"Moms? What's the "gay disease"" She asked innocently.

"The what now?" Gaty said in shock.

"Yeah, I talked to this girl who has two dads and people say that she has it. Is that true?" Bladey asked.

Saw and Gaty exchanged a concerned glance before Saw knelt down to Bladey's level. "Sweetheart, there's no such thing as a 'gay disease.' That's something people make up when they don't understand things or are trying to hurt others."

Bladey tilted her head. "But why would people say that if it's not true? It hurt her feelings a lot."

Gaty sighed and sat on the couch, motioning for Bladey to join her. "People can be really mean sometimes, especially when they're scared of things they don't understand. They think if someone's family is different, like having two moms or two dads, it means something's wrong with them. But that's not true at all."

"I thought having two moms or two dads was normal?" Bladey said.

Saw smiled gently and sat beside Gaty, pulling Bladey into a warm embrace. "It is normal, sweetie. But what's normal to us isn't always normal to everyone else. People get scared of what they don't see or experience every day."

Bladey furrowed her brow, trying to make sense of it. "But why would someone be scared of two moms or two dads? It's just family."

Gaty nodded, "You're right, it is just family. But some people grew up only seeing families that look a certain way—one mom, one dad—and when they see something different, it confuses them. And when people are confused, sometimes they make up hurtful things because they don't know how to handle it."

"That's so dumb," Bladey muttered, crossing her arms. "It's just like how they treated that girl at school. She didn't even do anything wrong, but they act like she's different in a bad way."

"I know it's dumb, you are a very bright kid Bladey," Saw said, pulling Bladey in for a hug. "You did the right thing by going up to her, keep it up!"

"You have such a big heart, Bladey," Gaty said, her voice full of admiration. "The world needs more people like you."

Bladey looked up at her moms, her earlier frustration giving way to a quiet determination. "I'm going to make sure people know it's okay to have two moms or two dads. It doesn't make you any different."

Saw and Gaty faintly smiled at Bladey. They knew that Bladey would whiteness her first signs of homophobia at some point, but they didn't think it would be so soon. Regardless, they were proud of her for handeling the situation so well, and knew that Bladey could handle any situation when the time came.

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Poor Bladey gets her first look at homophobia 😞 Bladey is way too pure for this world. Not much else from me, see you in the next chapter!

- Sunny