"Bro?"

"Yeah man, what's up?" A gloved hand waved at him lazily from the other side of the couch.

"How come you never kiss girls? Like the people on TV? I've only seen you kiss Cal." The younger Strider tilted his head quizzically.

"Well, um…" Bro looked around, frowning lightly. "Cal is-"

"I know Cal is your "special someone" and that you love him and always want to be with him, but have you ever even tried kissing a girl?"

"Sure I've kissed a few girls." He sighed, seemingly relieved. "Why, is someone at school giving you shit about it again?" First graders were not very open minded when it came to dudes in shades and rad puppets being awesome parents.

"No, it's not them, well, it kinda is, I mean…uhm. What's it like?"

"What's what like?"

"Kissing a girl. On the lips."

"It's nice." Bro shrugged. "Girls were never my thing."

"Who did you kiss? Was she pretty?"

He chuckled. "Hell yeah she was pretty! She had curly black hair, and these cute glasses, and big green eyes!"

"Woah!"

"Fuck yeah! We only kissed once, cuz we were busy saving the world and exploring islands and stuff."

"Exploring islands? She sounds like my friend Jade." Dave squinted his eyes at his brother. "Did you kiss Jade?"

"Course not. I think you want to though!"

"Nuh-uh!" He crossed his arms, scoffing in an attempt to hide his blush. "What was her name?"

"Jake."

"Jake is a boy's name!"

"Is it?! So your saying all that time I thought I was kissing some dame, and it was really a dude?"

Dave laughed at his brothers shocked face. "Yes! I bet you liked it though!"

"Well yeah I did. Jake was cool."

"Wait, so boys can kiss boys?"

"Sure. Some people think that kind of stuff is wrong, but I think it's totally cool. Guys can kiss guys and girls can kiss girls and girls can kiss guys and bros can kiss puppets."

"Huh."

"Yep." Bro leaned back against the arm of the couch watching the gears turn in Dave's head.

"But what if I want to kiss boys and girls?"

"Then that's exactly what you do. Get your mack on with whoever you want, as long as it's okay with them." Dave seemed satisfied by this, and nodded. "Are there boys and girls you want to kiss?"

"Um, well my friend Jade is really pretty and nice, and she sends me lots of letters from her island and tells really cool stories. And, um…"

"John?"

"Yeah."

"Hey man, its okay to have a crush on your best friend. It happens to everyone. But maybe wait until you guys are older and you know what it is exactly that you're feeling for him."

"What if he doesn't like me back?"

"Who could ever not like you back? You are the coolest little shit in the world."

"Really?"

"Really really." Bro grinned, snatching Dave up into a head lock, mussing up his hair with Cal's hand.