Fix You ~Completed~

Act Seventy-Six-Point-Five

~Eddie~

"Okay, so," Georgie announced as he swung around the counters and nearly ran into me. "I have this feeling deep in my soul that the only person Mom likes more than Dad is Clem now and I feel really hurt by that. Like, I'm second rate. Does that make you third rate?"

I rolled my eyes, attempting half-heartedly to unscrew a jar of peanut butter. There were more opportune times to decide to whip myself up some peanut butter toast, but I was restless and needed something to do. Toast was always a good idea.

Thankfully Clemmy had crashed so hard when we upstairs to go to bed, otherwise I would have woken him up by slipping out at two in the morning.

I wasn't even gonna waste time asking why my brother was up at this hour. No point in getting into it.

When I refused to give Georgie a response, he sighed, "If I'm being honest, your boyfriend is pretty sweet. It's no mystery why Mom is gaga over him. After they had that bonding session when your old pals came around, Mom's just fallen in love!" My older brother leaned one hip against the counter to keep me from moving away from him and this conversation. "I actually like the kid, though. At first, I was a little hesitant. Guess I just didn't know if you were all that serious about being into him; he's not your type exactly. He's skittish as a hell, but that's a weird kind of charming. Even Dad seems to dig him."

"Dad likes everybody," I reminded him. Our dad was a silent one, but loving. He preferred to keep to himself; said it made him appear more mysterious. August Han always was one for a mystery. "And it's impossible not to like Clemmy. He's... he's everything that's right in a person."

"Is it weird?" Georgie narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Dating Clem?" I responded. The entire time we'd been at home, I had been patiently awaiting this conversation. Neither Mom or Dad said much about it, but everyone was thinking about it, questioning it. Leave it to Georgie to be the only person with the balls to open up his big mouth. My brother was the only one who could say what ninety percent of humanity refused to. "It's not weird."

"Even though he's a guy?"

I shot Georgie a look. "Clem's a person. Who gives a crap about gender? We fall in love with a person, not a body part. I love him and that's that. If he was a girl or didn't know what he was, I'd love him just the same."

"Dude, I already told you I could really care less if you're into boys. You know we're not religious-types! You like what you like, Ed," Georgie reminded me with a good-natured laugh.

Lowering the peanut butter jar, I nodded, muttering that of course I knew that. What I didn't say was that that didn't mean much; my family still could have been uncomfortable with it. When I came out to them, I didn't really know how they'd react. I had hoped they'd be open-minded and I lucked out.

"I'm asking you about Clem out of curiosity, not to be a jerk, so wipe that look off your face. I've never been with someone of either gender so I'm intrigued by the fact you can go for both. It's also kinda funny because I'm pretty sure everyone would assume I'm into boys way before they'd ever dream you are. Remember Mrs. Klein, that lady that used to live next door to us? She was insistent when it came to hooking me up with her grandson, Jeremy."

I remembered Mrs. Klein well enough. She was an old lady with the prettiest golden retriever and a grandson who apparently owned a collection of Fleetwood Mac shirts that'd put our parents to shame. Said grandson visited periodically and Mrs. Klein never let Georgie forget he was single.

For the first time in a few hours, I laughed. "She sure did like you," I commented, giving Georgie a smirk. "Wanted you in her family, I guess."

"Oh, screw you," my brother chuckled, thwacking me in the arm. If Clemmy had been there, he would have jumped two feet in the air. He would shave run up to me and checked the skin. He might of even started to cry. That thought upset me more than it should have. "I like what you said, though, about not loving a body part. Wait... Have you loved his body part yet?"