Dreamer

surprise....🌈

Summary: Emma pushes too far and a secret "comes out". Hurt/comfort fic.

Warning: contains references to past child abuse/ homophobia, with strong language

Emma, Jacob, and Enoch stared at Horace who was across the room, sitting on the living room sofa and giggling at his phone softly. They were sitting at the kitchen table, half full cups of cold tea in front of them, gossiping about the latest season of game of thrones and how they think the character development could potentially affect the next season, but now they had something more interesting to discuss.

"Who do you think he's texting?" Emma wondered, leaning forward across the table to discretely gossip with her boyfriend and brother.

"I don't know.." Enoch said lowly, mind whirring into action as he saw Horace bite his thumbnail, before smiling again, typing something out rapidly.

"You think it's a girl?" Jacob asked, not exactly sure of himself, even as he said it. The other two looked at him sharply in surprise. Enoch scoffed.

"What, like a girlfriend?"

Emma shrugged, her face the perfect picture of contemplation.

"I mean...it could be? He's thirteen, he goes to school, and I bet he gets alot of attention from the girls in his class..."

Enoch nodded sagely.

"He's also been going out alot these past couple of months, we've all noticed! And he comes back from school later and insists on walking home, no matter the weather. And he doesn't come to spend lunch times with us in the cafeteria anymore, he ditched us some months back....do you reckon he's been going on dates?"

Jacob shook his head, dismayed.

"But...But....he's babey!" He exclaimed. Emma and Enoch chuckled, swirling their cold tea absentmindedly.

"I get what you mean Jake", Emma sighed. "It's like it was only yesterday when he first showed up. He barely came up to my elbow!"

Enoch sniggered. "He hasn't grown that much, he's still always underfoot!" Emma reached over to swat his arm playfully, Jacob laughing as he tried to collect the now empty mugs. But then Emma grew silent, and she looked at the youngest one last time from the table, scrutinizing him.

"I wonder...."

Jacobs eyes widened, and he spoke in a rushed but hushed tone. He knew from experience that forcing some... small teenager or child to tell them who their crush was never ended well for him and always used to make him die inside.

"Emma, babe, please, don't be nosy I'm SURE he'll tell us in good time!"

But Emma was already standing, and with a gleam in his eye Enoch was too, and they swiftly moved in on their prey. Jacob cursed and tripped as he fumbled his way through the kitchen around the table, tripping on the leg which caused the entire piece of furniture to rock precariously. 

He got to within standing distance of the sofa, managing to catch Emma and Enoch right as they plonked themselves down on either side of the small boy.
He felt even worse when he saw that Emma had snatched Horaces phone out of his hand, and was holding it securely away from him.

Oh, shit.

Horace was having a good day. He woke up, went to school, saw his friends, and when he got home, he was greeted by the lovely messages his boyfriend had sent him in the past hour.

Yes, boyfriend.

He was sadly out of school sick that day, and Horace spent most of the school hours missing his hugs and affection. They had been dating secretly for a little over 4 months now, and everything he did still made Horace melt. He loved everthing about him. He was in the year above him, at 14 going on 15 in 3 months, and honestly made his day. They went on dates frequently, simple, fun stuff like the movies, bowling, pizza dates in skateparks in the evening, milkshakes and cakes at the diner and comic book shop, the works.