Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 25: Invasive

A/N: For the next few chapters, there are some characters in this fic who are fans with names. All of these names were chosen to try and be generic. They do not represent any real people or fans whatsoever and if they happen to do so it is mere coincidence.

Also, the characters are very dismissive of some other ships in this particular chapter. This is existing within this fic world, where there are some real relationships which conflict with other ships. It is not in any way a commentary on the real world.

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It is not until the following week – in Atlanta – before anything else is said, but it comes in a different way, a girl in her early teens awkwardly asking if she can ask Courtney something one-on-one midway through their meet-and-greet session. There's a few groups of people meeting them all at once, this time, and it actually makes for easier conversation.

"Sure, Maddie," Courtney replies, lowering her own voice as they step slightly further away from the others.

"So, I... I'm sorry if this is too invasive to ask, but basically, I'm openly bi at school and things, but I recently got into a relationship with a straight guy and now I'm having this weird thing where people are asking if I'm straight now, and I know I'm not, but I don't really know how to answer them without being dismissive of my boyfriend – I was just wondering if you maybe had some ideas since you're in a similar situation of not being straight but dating a guy?" she asks, cautiously, and Courtney nods.

"Hey, it's fine, and yeah I totally understand what you mean – it's actually... something I struggled with a bit, I was second-guessing whether I still had a right to identify as not straight when I first started dating Shayne, and he might be better at answering this than me, actually, because it's something he was super cool about. But basically, the way I've come to see it is... I'm still me, and my sexuality isn't something that only exists when I'm actively looking for someone to date, it's part of my identity in a whole lot of ways. Just because I'm dating a straight guy and intend to be with him for the foreseeable future doesn't mean that part of my identity doesn't still exist in other ways, you know?" Courtney replies, shrugging slightly as she finishes.

"I guess that, yeah, that makes a lot of sense actually, thank you. The guy I'm dating is a little weird about it, which doesn't help, he's kind of scared I'll dump him for a girl which... it's not super serious with him, I'm only 14, that might happen, so I don't really know what to say to that either," Maddie adds, shrugging.

"Is it cool if I call Shayne over?" Courtney asks, glancing around to see he's currently just talking to someone with Ian and Damien. "He'd have a good response for that."

"Yeah," Maddie confirms, just as Shayne meets Courtney's gaze, and she subtly indicates for him to come over, which he does.

"Hey, it was Maddie, yeah?" he greets her, standing just beside Courtney, although not as close as they might usually.

"Yeah, hi, I was just talking to Courtney about, um... I'm kinda in a similar situation to her, I'm openly bi but dating a straight guy, not super seriously in my case, and he's like... openly expressing worry that I'll dump him for a girl. I don't really know how to deal with it," Maddie explains, shrugging, "Courtney said you're pretty cool with this stuff."

"I think the way I see it-" Shayne starts, "basically... I don't mean to hate on your boyfriend, but he's being straight-up biphobic by saying that, and he might not even realise it. The possibility that you might break up with him because you want to date someone else isn't any bigger because you're bi, it's the same as if it was a straight couple and one of them wanted to break up to date someone else. I don't know if maybe you could try and explain to him something like that, about it not being any different to any other relationship?"