the recovery project [2]

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everett

"excuse me, but you and your... friend should not be doing that," a woman interrupts, face red as she holds onto the hands of her two kids younger than nine. "this is a public restaurant, and that kind of... display is not appropriate for my children."

everett rolls his eyes, planning to ignore her, but aidan isn't having it. "you aren't excused. there's nothing wrong with me kissing my boyfriend. if straight couples can do it, why can't we?"

"do you have any idea what people like you are doing to this world?" she asks, shaking her head. "you are indoctrinating innocent children to one day believe that they are gay."

everett almost laughs at her ignorance, opening his mouth only to have aidan speak again. "people like us? it isn't a crime to be gay, or to be any part of the lgbt community, and we aren't brainwashing children into believing they're gay; if they realize that one day, then it isn't because they saw two men kiss when they were younger, it's because they're not heterosexual like everyone assumes they are."

"it's sick. back in my day—"

"back in your day?" aidan spits, and everett squeezes his hand tighter, trying to yank him to the hostess who holds their menus, and is watching the scene in frightened shock. "back in your day doesn't matter anymore! if one of your children told you they were gay or bisexual or pansexual or whatever, i'd hope you'd treat them 100 times better than you just treated us, because there's no point in telling them all you want is for them to be happy if you can't accept them for who they are."

he storms off, dragging everett with him, until they reach a booth, sitting on opposite sides so they face each other. aidan's face is flushed crimson red, and he's shaking with fury.

"hey," everett murmurs, wishing he had stopped the quarrel before it happened. he extends his hand across the table and holds it palm up. "it's okay."

aidan intertwines their fingers and sighs, rubbing his face with his free hand. "i'm sorry. i didn't mean to be an asshole, it just pisses me off when—"

"i know," everett replies, heart melting for his boyfriend. "i know, ba— aidan. i'm here though, with you, and we are having our date together and we're going to have a fun night."

"thank you," aidan smiles, finally appearing to recover from the homophobic comments.

"for?" everett's eyebrows scrunch up.

"being you."

a waiter stops at their table, ready to take orders, and everett somehow manages to fall in love even more with the boy across from him.