The Lies That We Tell

𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭

After Quentin asked about telling parents about them, Theo wanted to think about it a while before doing anything.

Fortunately, his boyfriend seemed to know why and never mentioned it again for his sake even though Theo knew that he wanted to tell at least his parents.

A few weeks later when they were just laying on his bed and watching movies, he decided that he was ready to do it. Or at least talk about it. It wasn't fair to Quentin to ask him to hide their relationship from people he loved just because he was a coward.

"We should tell them," Theo said in the middle of a movie. Quentin didn't seem to listen to him very much because his eyes were still on the screen.

"Tell who about what?" He asked mouth full of popcorn. Theo rolled his eyes when he saw the way he was looking at Captain America and had to remind himself that he was a fictional character who just happened to be very hot. But Quentin was still his boyfriend.

"Your parents. About us," he said. At least that made Quentin take his blue eyes of his new crush and look at him with a strange look on his face. Was that surprise? Relief? God, Theo was so bad at this.

"Don't think you have to do it now, I can wait. No need to rush. What about your Mom?" Quentin asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Of course I want her to know about you but it's just... scary not to know for sure how she will react," Theo said. Quentin paused the movie and turned around so that he was now facing him before holding his hand.

"Take as long as you want, I know it's not easy. You want to know how I did it? Came out?"

Theo was more than surprised to hear the question but nodded anyway, now feeling genuinely curious. He never thought much about Quentin's sexuality and how he learned to deal with it since he was so confident about it as if it had always been part of him as much as his red hair.

"I had just turned thirteen and guys at school talked about girls and how pretty they were and all that, you know. That made me realize that I didn't like them in the same way. That day I truly understood why. I was different than them. I liked someone else. A boy,"

Quentin leaned on the wall and played with his fingers that now had pastel yellow nail polish.  Theo wasn't sure if he was avoiding looking at him on purpose or if he was just so lost in memory but didn't want to interrupt so he stayed quiet.

Still, he felt a bit uncomfortable for some reason so he took Quentin's right hand and held it, wishing to give comfort to both of them. Immediately Quentin tightened his hold so apparently he did the right thing.

"After school, I was crying in my room because I felt like there was something wrong with me. All the guys liked girls. Why couldn't I? Mom and Dad heard me, got in my room and started to ask questions. I tried to get them to leave but they just wouldn't listen," Quentin chuckled but Theo could see all the emotions in his eyes while he was telling the story.

"That's when I told them the truth. I liked boys and only saw girls as friends. You know what Mom said? She thought I had cancer or something and that I has scared them. Then she said that I shouldn't cry for who I am, instead, I should celebrate it. They taught me that in the end, the only thing that matters is how we see ourselves and that people who won't accept you aren't worthy of your time. Why change ourselves for other's opinions?"

Quentin was looking at him in the eyes and Theo had a feeling that he was expecting some answer but he didn't have one. Instead, he was thinking of that day when Quentin had said the same thing a few weeks after they just met.

He had been working and Theo had gone to the coffee shop to have a drink. That's when he had asked why he wore nail polish and makeup since everyone made fun of him.