"Gus, can you pick me up?"
"What the fuck, Reid? I just dropped you off an hour ago." Gus and Reid had spent the night at Babylon, with Gus’s dads’ supervision.
"It’s important." The serious tone mobilizes Gus. He gets up to put his shoes on.
"Yeah, yeah, Reid. I’ll be there in a bit."
"Actually could you pick me up at the park around the corner from my house?"
"Yeah, sure." Gus can’t ignore the sense of dread in his stomach. What the fuck is Reid doing at that place at 1:00 in the morning? As he’s leaving the house, he thanks God his dads are still at Babylon.
XXXXXXXXXX
He pulls up to the park to find his best friend sitting on a slowly swaying swing. He waits for a few seconds before realizing Reid hasn’t noticed his car pull. He gets out and tells himself it isn’t weird to get freaked-the-fuck-out by desolate parks at one in the morning before walking toward his friend.
"Reid?" And, for a minute he doesn’t recognize his friend. Reid isn’t smiling, or laughing, or doing any of the things Reid’s always doing. He’s sitting on a swing at one in the morning with tears in his eyes.
"Hey Gussy." He instinctively grimaces at the nickname before kneeling down on the pavement in front of the redhead and placing a hand on his knee.
"What happened?"
"They found out Gus. I can’t believe they found out." Reid sounds nearly hysterical. Gus is about to ask him to elaborate when he figures it out for himself. There aren’t too many things that would have him this upset.
"How?"
"Fuck, I don’t know Gus. One of his friends saw us down there and thought it was his duty to tell dear old dad. Fuck, he doesn’t even realize his friend was probably down there getting his dick sucked like everyone else."
"What did your dad say?"
"He told me to get the fuck out."
"What do you mean Reid?"
"He’s a homophobic asshole Gus! He said that he wouldn’t have a fag in his house. Fuck, he wouldn’t even let me pack my shit."
"What about your mom?"
"She just stood there." When he starts sobbing, Gus can do nothing but hold his best friend. He considers telling him everything will be okay but he can’t bring himself to lie to his friend.
XXXXXXXXXX
As they drive back to his house, Gus can’t help but think of how lucky he is. He just can’t understand it. How does a parent do that to their child, putting them in that kind of position? Having their own kid not know where they’ll sleep or eat or how they’re going to live?
Gus looks at the time as he pulls up to his house and concludes that it’s too early for his dads to be back from Babylon. The teenagers walk into the house and Gus can’t help but hear his mother nagging voice in his head. Gus, have you asked your friend if he’d like something to drink?
"Would you like something to drink, Reid?" Reid attempts to smirk at Gus’s ever present manners but fails and just shakes his head in response.
They walk up the stairs to Gus’s bedroom and Reid immediately goes to the bed and stretches out on top of the covers before settling on his side. Gus lays down next him. And, when he sees his friend’s shoulders begin to shake with repressed sobs, he spoons behind him and holds his best friend like he did when they were kids and a bully broke Reid’s favorite toy truck.
XXXXXXXXXX
Gus moves closer to the warm body next to him and feels his hand being pulled lower, until it’s resting on top of what he knows is a jean-clad dick.
"Mmm, Justin." Gus’s eyes snap open and upon seeing very familiar red hair in front of him he jumps out of the bed faster than he ever thought possible with a suspiciously female-sounding scream of horror. His actions were almost simultaneously mimicked by his best friend.
"Promise me, you’ll never do that again."
"You touched my dick, Gus!"
"You called me Justin!"
"Fine. I promise never to call you Justin, if you promise never to touch my dick again."
"Agreed." They shook on it. And, Gus was grateful for something to lighten last night’s mood. He took a quick shower before giving the bathroom to Reid.
While he was in the shower, Gus went downstairs to see what Justin was cooking for breakfast. He entered the kitchen to find Justin making pancakes and his father doing his best to distract him.
"Hey, guys." Both looked to him with silent smirks.
"What?" They glance at eachother and Gus can actually see them silently deliberating who will speak and finally deciding on his father.
"Gus, do you have anything you’d like to tell us," at Gus’s confusion he elaborates, "about your relationship with Reid?"
"Your father and I saw you and Reid in bed together...spooning." Justin can barely keep the grin off his face.
"You should really be asking Pops, Dad. Reid was having an erotic dream about him." Brian looks to Justin and lifts an eyebrow, but before he can say anything, the subject of discussion walks into the kitchen and sits down on a stool next to Gus.
"So, what are you doing here Reid?" Justin sets a plate in front of both teenagers and pulls up a seat for himself, leaving his husband to fend for himself. "Wasn’t Gus supposed to drop you off at your house last night?" The two teenagers look at eachother and their good moods quickly take a turn for the worst before Reid responds.
"Gus did take me home, but my parents kicked me out." Reid’s head is down and Justin thinks he must have misheard him.
"What did you say?"
"My parents kicked me out last night...because I’m gay."
"Fucking assholes." Brian’s angry mutter can be heard in the silent room.
"Reid, exactly what happened?" And they all listen as Reid recounts exactly what happened when he got home. How he walked in to find both his parents in the living room with the lights on. How his dad told him a friend saw him on Liberty Ave and asked him if it was true. How he decided to tell the truth and told his father he was gay. How his father told him he didn’t house fags. How his dad told him to get the fuck out and how he looked at his mother, who remained silent. How he moved toward the stairs to grab a few things and how his dad grabbed his arm, forcibly removing him from the house.
Just as he’s finishing his tale, his cell phone starts ringing. And, they all know who’s on the other line by Reid’s panic-filled eyes as he looks at the display before answering.
"Um...okay. Yeah, I’ll be there soon." They can only hope it’s good news as he hangs up the phone.
"What did they say, Reid?" Gus’s hopeful tone betrays his age.
"Um...it was my mom and she said that they won’t be paying for my phone anymore and she told me I could pick up my stuff." He says brokenly as tears run down his face.
Justin glances at Brian, silently communicating, before focusing on Reid.
"I’ll go with you to pick up your things. Come on."
XXXXXXXXXX
They pull up to Reid’s house. "I’ll let you go in alone."
"Looks like I won’t have to go in at all." Reid’s looking out the window at boxes and garbage bags sitting in the driveway.
They load the truck and after a few moments of driving, Justin breaks the silence.
"Did Gus ever tell you I was disowned when I was seventeen?" Reid seems a little surprised.
"But, he always talks about his Grandmother Jennifer, your mom."
"Yeah, she wasn’t always so accepting. When my dad found out I was gay, he told me I had to make a choice. Basically, I had to deny who I was to live with him or be on my own as a young gay man. And, my mother didn’t do much to go against him. I was lucky - she came around eventually and dealt with it."
"Maybe my mom will come around too."
"Maybe," he paused trying to find the best way to phrase what he wanted to say, "the truth is, Reid, you have to be prepared that your parents may not come around. Gus has three parents and only one of our parents has accepted him as their legitimate grandson. I’m not saying you have to give up on the possibility of having a relationship with them. No matter what happens, most likely you’ll always love your parents Reid. I haven’t spoken to my father in ten years but I still send him a card every time his birthday rolls around. I guess what I’m trying to say is your parents may not support you, but you can’t let that tarnish everything else that’s good in your life. You have a group of friends that will always be there for you and that includes me, Brian, and Gus...and our whole little fucked up family."
With those words Justin pulls into the drive-way and they both take a box to carry into the unusually silent house.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Brian!"
"We’re up here!" Justin and Reid set the boxes down and head upstairs, curious to see what Brian and Gus are up to. Justin pokes his head in the master bedroom and Gus’s room to find them both empty.
"Where the fuck are you?"
"We’re in the guest room." Justin hadn’t even thought of looking in the guestroom that they so infrequently used. They walk in to see the room reorganized to fit a new desk and above the bed is an ugly banner, painted in what Justin hopes aren’t his nice, expensive oils, that says "Reid’s Room." Justin looks at Brian and Gus, both of which are barely containing grins at their handy work before smiling at Reid.
"Welcome home."
The End
fiction by juneprota