Surviving the Harrison Boys (Re-write)

eighteen // coming out

Cody wanted to go set up his coming out surprise for his parents, so I left him and went back to my room. I would've expected him to wait at least a few days before attempting to tell anyone again, but hey, it was his decision and I didn't want to interfere with any negative energy.

I waited until he called me and Reece by the intercom. "Can you guys come downstairs, please?"

I was the first out of my room. I waited for Reece. He soon came out, and his face was a bit red. "I think I'm more nervous for this than Cody is."

"Nobody's as nervous as Cody." My voice shook. Reece and I bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. Hanna and Liam sat the island, blindfolded. In front of them was a tray of cookies that each had been iced with a colour of the rainbow, and underneath them in black icing, it said, "I hope you still love me. Cody xx"

Cody himself was leaning against the stove, his eyes flickering from his parents to the cookies. I walked over to him and squeezed his arm. Reece wrapped an arm around his brother and gave him a side hug.

"I don't think you understand how proud I am of you." Reece whispered. Cody smiled and blinked away tears, nodding. Reece kissed his younger brother's head before patting him on the back and giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"Mom, Dad," Cody's voice cracked as he spoke. His cleared his throat before continuing. "I'm going to count to 3, then you can take off your blindfolds. I won't be here, but Hunter and Reece will be. They'll answer as many of your questions as they can, and when they can't anymore, I'll be waiting in the music room."

Hanna and Liam nodded. Cody hugged me, then Reece, then went over to his parents and gave each of them a kiss on the cheek and a long hug. The smile that was once on Hanna's face had disappeared. Cody walked away and stood in the entrance of the kitchen.

"1, 2, 3."

He left. Hanna and Liam took off their blindfolds. Liam got his off first, and as soon as he laid his eyes on the cookies and the message, he smiled and started crying. Hanna placed both hands over her heart and tilted her head towards the sky, a smile on her face.

"My baby boy," she whispered.

Liam looked at us. "How long?"

"We don't know," I said, "he never told us."

"We found out today." Reece told them.

"And what do you guys think?" Hanna could barely speak through her sobs.

"I love him the same." Reece started crying, too. I grabbed his hand and held it, giving it a good squeeze. He smiled at me and used his other hand to wipe his tears. "He's my brother, there's no way I could not love him. It doesn't matter what he does and who he likes. He's still Cody, he's still my brother, and my love doesn't change."

I nodded. "Cody's an amazingly brave person. I've never respected someone as much as I respect him. I love him even more now, regardless that I met him a few days ago."

Hanna started crying harder, if that was even possible at this point. She just kept repeating "my baby" over and over.

Liam nodded. "I feel the same way. I love that boy. He's my son. Always has and always will be. I don't care who he loves, as long as he still makes me cookies on my birthday."

Reece and I laughed. Liam stood. "I'm going to talk to him."

He left the kitchen, but not before taking two of the cookies with him.

Reece's grip on my hand became tighter as he watched his mother. "Mom, what do you think?"

"This is all so overwhelming." She wiped under her eyes carefully as she tried not to mess up her eyeliner. "This was so clever. Ugh, my baby. I'm so proud of him."

The weight that was on my chest was lifted immediately and I almost fell to the floor in tears. I don't know why but I was mostly worried about Hanna's reaction the most.

She clapped her hands together. "I just need to hug him for the rest of eternity. He's so...I don't even know how to describe what I'm feeling."

Hanna took a cookie and left the kitchen. Reece and I looked at each other before he grinned and hugged me tightly. "I can sleep at night now," he said.

I buried my face into his shoulder and nodded. "Me too."

You won't, but I see the point you're making here.

He released me and the both of us composed ourselves. Reece put the remaining cookies in a container while I disposed of the baking sheet and put the tin back in the oven. I didn't want any of the other Harrison boys seeing it in case Cody wasn't ready to tell them yet.

The both of us headed upstairs to the music room. Hanna, Liam, and Cody were in there, the three of them talking. I didn't want to intrude, so I left Reece there and headed back to my room. Flynn was standing at the door.

I raised an eyebrow. "You could've gone in."

"That'd be invading your privacy." He muttered.

I frowned. "You all right?"

"Wanna go riding?" He sighed. "It's kind of a long story."

"Is it Trent?"

Flynn didn't look at me, but he nodded. "He won't speak to me."

"He's not speaking to me, either." I said.

"No, Hunter, you don't understand." Flynn was crying. "Trent's my best friend in whole house! He's the one I go to for girl advice, the one I can play video games with, the one who would always used to console after I woke in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm because I was terrified of the noise. He's one of the only ones I can talk to and not be judged about anything I say." He slid down to the floor. "And now I'm losing him. I'm losing one of my best friends. Hunter, this can't happen."

I knelt down in front of him and placed my hand on his leg. "How about we chill in my room with some snacks and you tell me how I can make this better?"

Flynn thought for a moment before nodding. "Let's do that."