Oh My God, They Were Roommates

24 | Say It Ain't So

a/n: A bit of transphobia in this chapter—Use of Ray's deadname*. I have his deadname redacted.

*deadname: The birth name of someone who has changed it. The term is used by people who are transgender and elect to go by their chosen name instead of their given name.

"Hold on, hold on, let me get this straight... You've been dating de Lucía this entire fucking time—and you didn't think to tell me?"

"It's not that simple—"

"Yes, it is that fucking simple, you sexy fucking moron!"

"No need to throw mean names around—I think? That was mean, wasn't it?" Erin said, looking to Ray's friends for support, but the Idiot Trio was completely gobsmacked by the morning's events. Barry whistled low under his breath, impressed.

Charlie hit Sora on the shoulder, and then on the chest for good measure. Sora lost his breath on the second one and choked out, "Yeah, okay, I deserved that—"

"Ya think!" Charlie screamed.

The café was starting to thin out as the time drew closer and closer to ten, at which point Ray could be seen thanking customers for leaving tips and for staying and listening. Sora glanced over at him and some sane part of him was still stuck on the idea that Ray would be a perfect performer at underground parties—

Charlie hit him again.

"Ow! Fuck!" Sora groaned.

Erin cut between them, shoving them both away from one another just as de Lucía made his way over.

"Erin! You made it!" Ray said, beaming. He looked across the startled faces of all of his friends and said, "I'm so glad you guys could come! I—"

Before he could finish, Leo was on his feet and storming to the door. Huey half-stood to go after him, but Barry stopped him. Ray had only seen the very edge of Leo angry and this went beyond that. Worry pricked at his heart as he watched his friend escape the café. He looked back at Huey, who put his head in his hand and sighed.

"I-I'll go check on him," Ray said, hesitating as he put a hand on Charlie's shoulder and said, "Could you maybe guard my guitar for me?"

Charlie sighed and said, "Yeah, sure, whatever," as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose and halt the impending headache.

Ray thanked him and jogged out after Leo. As he skidded out onto the sidewalk, he spied the back of Leo's fuzzy brown hair at the corner of the street, his hands tucked into the front pocket of his hoodie and his shoulders bunched up in frustration. Ray ran up to him, out of breath, and said, "Hey, what's up?"

Leo put a hand up to rub his eyes and, to Ray's astonishment, his tears. "Nothing," Leo muttered.

"Come on, I know you're lying," Ray said with a half-hearted laugh.

Leo threw his hand down and said, "For fuck's sake, Ray." Ray startled, alarmed at the venom Leo spat out at him in the form of harsh words. "How long have you been lying to me? Have you just been making fun of me this entire fucking time? I thought you were serious about—About hating Ikeda!"

What? Ray thought, floored. "I wouldn't say I hate him..." he started.

Leo let out a hollow laugh, turning to Ray, his eyes flitting everywhere but on Ray. "Yeah, well, clearly. Since you're dating the guy."

Ray could have laughed, and he did. "I'm—" he started, only to stop, his eyes catching on the café window where he could see Erin's brown hair curled to perfection. The only person who thought he was dating Sora was Sora's sister.