Archive of Our Own ^beta

Ayato has been acting much like a displeased cat (but far less cute and far more annoying) for the past ten minutes. Just as I wonder if I ought to say something, Miiko, the realer and far cuter cat, hops into my lap. Simultaneously, Ayato caves and flops down on the couch with a soft oomph. He crosses his arms over his chest petulantly, and lets out yet another pointed, dramatic sigh. Who taught him to act like that? I continue petting Miiko. This inaction proves unacceptable to my little brother.

“Aren't you going to ask what's wrong?!” He suddenly shouts. “Your little brother has been sighing all afternoon, and you don't do anything?! What kind of shitty aniki are you!"

I did “do something”. I pet Miiko. Also, it’s barely been ten minutes. Still, it isn't a horrible idea to resolve the issue here than to set up any flags. “What's wrong?” 

Ayato grumbles something about insincerity and shitty older brothers. My concern dwindles dramatically. “Oh, it must not be anything too major if you're cursing your older brother so quickly.”

That seems to do the trick. “Aniki , I need to tell you something.”

“What's up?” I ask again, with little interest, until I suddenly remember something I read the other day. Ominous tags. Bad ending. Merry bad ending. Fuck. I grab his shoulders. He startles, shaken out of his protagonist's tumultuous inner monologue. Miiko slips out of my lap and meows plaintively at the both of us from the other side of the couch. My heart shatters. I somehow manage to resist dropping everything to hug the cat. This disturbs Ayato even more. 

“Sorry, one moment, Miiko. Ayato, are you okay? You're not getting bullied? None of your friends are having any potentially life threatening issues of the mental or physical nature? You don’t have any life threatening disease or-”

“I’m fine.” He grimaces and quickly shakes his shoulders free. So much for brotherly concern. As I scoop Miiko back into my arms, I can’t help but feel a cool shot of relief spread throughout my limbs. Thank goodness this BL world is the light-hearted type. “Stop making that face, it’s nothing bad. Or, it shouldn’t be, anyways.”

“Really?” I scratch Miiko’s chin. The cat purrs. Now that the danger has passed, I’m having difficulty focusing on whatever Ayato wants to tell me. “What is it, then?”

“I,” Ayato pauses. His confidence and bratty demeanor from just a second ago have vanished. Rather than the outgoing, popular high schooler he is today, he looks like the small child that would hide behind me at family gatherings. I nod encouragingly at him, keeping my expression carefully blank. Eventually, he closes his eyes and shouts, “I-I have a boyfriend!”

“Eh?” He must’ve finally resolved the miscommunication with Toujou. A second dose of relief washes over me. So I really was worried for no reason. “Congratulations, then.”

Ayato opens his eyes and gapes. Softly, like he’s scared that anything he says will sentence him to the worst fate imaginable, he asks, “You’re not… mad?”

“Why would I be mad? Do I look homophobic to you?” All my friends are gay, and we live in a BL world. I couldn't be homophobic even if I tried, because that too would raise a flag. Also, I'm somewhat openly bisexual. Wait, did I forget to come out to my family? I'm pretty sure our parents already know, but if Ayato's worried about my reaction to him having a boyfriend, then he probably doesn't know. Oops. I should casually slip it into this conversation, then. 

Back to the topic at hand, this is an important moment in Ayato's life: he's come out to his family for the first time. Now is finally the time for my supportive older brother speech that I wrote for this exact scenario five years ago. Actually, I think I wrote this speech before I even realized we were in a BL world. The closet really was made of glass. “I don’t care about the gender of the person or people you love. Gender is a social construct, anyways. I just care that they aren’t horrible, irredeemable assholes, or too old for you, or too young for you, or hate cats, or anything like that. If they make you happy, then that’s all that matters. After all, you’re my little brother. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.” 

Ayato stares at me for a long ten seconds. His eyes become dangerously shiny. For a moment, I am paralyzed by the fear of a teary hug scene following his coming out. I still have a cat on my lap, you know. Luckily, the teenager just wipes his eyes with a laugh and croaks out, “You totally rehearsed that, didn’t you?”

"Whatever." How did he know? I wave my right hand flippantly and ruffle my little brother's hair with the other one. He puts up a token protest, and the anxious knot in my chest unravels. "Wanna go get ice cream to celebrate your coming out?"

"Only if you're paying." Ayato rubs his eyes one more time. When he looks back up at me, he's beaming. It's a genuine smile, with more teeth than lip, the kind that makes your eyes turn into crescents and your cheeks dimple. I find myself smiling back without really meaning to. 

"Yeah, yeah." Oh, I almost forgot to come out, again. Well, no time like the present. "Hey, what do you think mom and dad will say when they realize they have two queer kids?"

"Probably some sappy stuff about always supporting the both of us-" Ayato freezes, and whips his head around so fast that I feel bad for his neck. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO-"

"Oh," I say, feigning surprise. "Did I not tell you? I'm bisexual."

"NO, YOU DIDN'T TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK-"

"Whoopsies." Maybe this was bad timing?

"Don't fucking 'whoopsies hehe' me!"

That was a startlingly good impression.

"In my defense, I genuinely forgot I didn't tell you." 

"How do you forget something like that?!"