Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2023 02:00:00 -0700
From: John Henry <niftyjhenry1988@gmail.com>
Subject: Thicker Than Water Chapter 14 (Gay/Young Friends)

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Chapter 14


I am your dad, Bryan seethed. Who the fuck does he think he is, Darth
Vader? Bryan put down his phone for the 39th time since Kenny went home.
Calvin hadn't responded, though he had seen the message. Bryan didn't
know what pissed him off more: Calvin not responding right away or that
Bryan might not get another opportunity to yell at his sperm donor again.
He grabbed his phone again and, of course, no more messages.


Bryan had spent much of his life wondering what he would say if given an
opportunity to confront Calvin. As a little kid, it was something like,
"Why did it take you so long to come for us?" When he and Caleb were
put into foster care till custody could be sorted out, Bryan would've
asked, "Why didn't you come back sooner?" And as Diego brought him and
Caleb home for good, Bryan would've asked, "Are you going to live with
us here, too?" Now, that he was close to being in high school and
getting closer to being an adult, all Bryan could think to asks was,
"Why the fuck are you even here, and when will you fucking going away?"


There was a soft knock on his door, which caused him to jump. He quickly
hid his phone and looked at his alarm clock. A few hours passed his
bedtime.


Diego opened his door and asked, "Why are you still up?"


"Nothing," Bryan automatically responded.


"Uh huh." Diego came into the room and closed the door behind him. He
then walked over and sat next to his son. "What's going on, Chico?"


"Just thinking about Kenny," Bryan said, only slightly lying.


"I get that. This is a big step for you."


"Yeah," Bryan said. "How did you deal with it?"


"Well, I was outed, so I wasn't given a choice; plus, it was a different
time. Being gay used to be illegal in a lot of countries.  They made
sodomy laws specifically to put queer people in prison or in mental
institutions.  The man who invented the computer, Alan Turing, was
threatened with prison time or chemical castration for being gay.  He
chose castration and eventually killed himself because of it, and he was
the one who helped the Allies win World War II.  Hell, until the early
80s, Oregon used to physically castrate anyone being released from their
mental institution, and that included homosexuals; it was a requirement
to get out.  There are still people who think the world needs to return
to such bigoted practices.


"Oh my god," Bryan said, feeling sick to his stomach.


 "Then AIDS was killing us by the tens of thousands. Ronald Reagan and
his homophobic political allies didn't care because it was only affecting
us queers. Hell, he didn't even address AIDS publicly until 1987.  Back
then, AIDS was a death sentence.  Lies were spread about how you could
catch it from touching an infected person to drinking after them.
Homophobes used all of this to attack us, verbally and physically.  It
wasn't until straights were dying that something was finally done, but by
then, it was too late.


"Because of that, there was a fear of anyone thought to be queer.  I
wish that was an exaggeration, too.  I remember watching old news clips
of Princess Diana hugging people with AIDS, and the press freaking out
thinking that she was going to catch it."


"But that's not true."


"Of course not, but nobody wanted to study it or the government wouldn't
let anyone study it, because it was a quick way to get rid of queer
people. Anyone who caught AIDS was treated as being queer. It wasn't
until a boy named Ryan White, who got AIDS through a blood treatment for
hemophilia, that the public started opening their eyes. He was harassed
and bullied for being queer, even by adults, despite the fact he wasn't.
He was even kicked out of his school so he wouldn't give HIV to other
kids.  He was a kid about your age. He went on TV and became a post child
for HIV awareness in a way that us queer people just couldn't break
through.


"By the time he died, things started to change, but not fast enough or
even in the right direction. Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of
Marriage Act did everything they could to keep us in the closet. Then
9/11 made things worse, since that increased the right wing's bigotry and
fear of 'others.' Bush Jr and his government wanted to bring about a new
Reagan-esk era where only straight, white, Christian men had power and
rights, while everyone else had theirs taken away. If it wasn't for
Obama, who wasn't a saint either, I don't know where we would be. To be
honest, the Supreme Court legalizing Marriage Equality is still a
shock."


"And that's when you were outed?"


"Around then. I was in love with a kid in my class. I thought he felt
the same way, so I asked him out. Come to find out, he was very
homophobic, and told everyone in the school that I came on to him. If it
wasn't for your uncles Hector and Manny...I don't think I would've
survived high school. I lost some friends, but I also gained new ones.


"However you decide to present and/or label yourself is entirely up to
you, and I will support you all the way. If this is some kind of
experimental phase, more power to you, but understand that this probably
isn't a phase and the more you understand and accept yourself, the
happier you'll be in the long run."


"I don't think this is a phase, Dad. I've had all kinds of crushes on
all kinds of people for years. Kenny is just...special. He always has
been."


"I'm glad to hear all that, Chico." Diego gave his son a hug, looked at
the clock and said, "It's way passed your bedtime, and you're still
grounded for skipping class."


"Can Kenny still come over?"


"I don't know. He seems to be a bad influence on you."


Bryan looked very confused and asked, "How so?"


"Well," Diego replied, "he got you to skip school and you've been in
fights because of him. I think you're attracted to bad boys."


"Oh yeah," Bryan said sarcastically, "Kenny is a real bad boy. Did you
know he squeezes toothpaste from the middle of the tube?!"


"That settles it then," Diego said, standing up. "I forbid you from
dating him. We can't have that kind of chaotic nonsense around here."


Bryan chuckled, "Good night, Dad. I love you."


"I love you, too, Chico." Diego turned off the light as he left,
closing the door behind him.


For a few seconds, Bryan forgot about Calvin and his message, then he
felt his phone vibrate. He unlocked the screen and saw it was a message
from Calvin.


"I get you're mad at me, but that doesn't mean you can talk to me like
that," Calvin said.


Fury replaced the mirth Bryan had felt after his talk with his dad. "Oh,
I'm sorry I hurt your feelings. I thought you left those behind, too,
when you went to Pennsylvania. My bad."


"Why are you being like this?"


Is this motherfucker being serious right now? Bryan shouted in his head.
"Seriously?!"


"I get what I did was bad, but I'm trying to make up for it."


Bryan had to take a couple of deep breaths to calm down. "Are you
seriously gaslighting me while trying and failing to make amends? Are you
really that fucking stupid? Or is it that you think that I'm that
stupid?"


"I don't think you're stupid."


"So, then, we agree it's you who's stupid. Got it."


There was a short pause. Calvin replied, "I'm not stupid either. I know
I fucked up. I shouldn't have left."


"That's where you're wrong. You shouldn't have come back. Caleb and I
are happy and loved, which is something we weren't with you and Donna.
Neither of you should've been parents. There are literally thousands of
gay couples who can't adopt, yet you two fucks get to make all the babies
you want to leave them the second you get the chance with no real
consequences. That's the epitome of straight privilege."


"I bet Diego taught you that."


"No, asshole, my deadbeat sperm and egg donors did."


"Can we meet so I can talk to you man to man?"


The fucking nerve of this guy, Bryan thought. "That's an
impossibility."


"Because of Diego?"


"No. Real men don't abandon their kids for some pussy across the
country, so it's impossible for you to ever be man enough to meet with me
on that level."


"I just want to say I'm sorry, explain why I left and didn't come back
till now."


"I don't care how sorry you are, and I don't want to hear your
excuses."


"Please."


"I'm surprised you're not in prison."


"Why's that?"


"You can't seem to take, 'No,' for an answer."


"That's not funny."


"I wasn't saying it as a joke."


"You wouldn't be talking to me like this if I had raised you."


"Well, that settles that then, doesn't it? I mean, we'll never know that
one for sure, will we?"


"Diego clearly hasn't taught you what respect is."


Bryan almost laughed out loud. What little noise did come out, he quickly
covered up with a cough. "More gaslighting! You truly are a simple
creature. I'm not Ben Affleck. I won't fall for your reindeer games."


"???"


Bryan just rolled his eyes. "Look, simpleton, I'm done. Contact me or my
brother again, and I'll tell my dad."


"You've said that before, and I'm guessing you haven't told him yet."


Damn, he thought. Bryan didn't mean to let that slip. "Fine. I'll tell
him in the morning, and we'll see about getting a cyberstalking charge on
you."


"Good luck with that."


"Thanks, but luck isn't necessary when you have a lawyer."


Calvin only responded with a thumbs up emoji.


Hate wasn't a strong enough word to describe how Bryan was feeling about
Calvin. Despite everything he said to the man, Bryan was looking forward
to Calvin messaging him again.


***Coming Soon, Chapter 15***