New York-Pilar-Lake-Felix-Benji-Mia-Andrew-Armando and Isabel-Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not lay claim to existing characters, familiar plot points, nor anything that may be considered intellectual property of the creators of Love, Victor or other content related to this story. I do not intend to use this story for commercial purposes, nor shall any other party be permitted to do so.

New York Part 6:

Omniscient:

Upon reading Victor's message, Simon's heart falls into pieces. He sees the shame that Victor feels, and he recognizes that it's so much more than just shame in his actions; it's shame in who he is as a person. No one should ever have to feel like that. He's also conflicted; he knows that Victor just made a really destructive decision and could very well get himself into trouble.

Since there is a lot to unpack in this message and Simon knows that he is not completely alert, he decides to wait until the next morning. He needs some time to think about his response because he knows that at this point, he doesn't have much room for error.

Sunday morning, Simon sends the message:

Simon:

Victor,

It breaks my heart to hear you talk about yourself like that. You're perfect. And that part of you that you wish you could cut out, that's the part that makes you you. If you could only see what my life is like in New York, you'd see that there's a world beyond high school, beyond your family. I wish you were here right now so I could give you a hug and make you believe it.

As the week goes on, Simon doesn't hear anything from Victor. It worries him deeply. He can only hope that Victor hasn't done something more destructive, something terrible. He holds onto the deepest of hope that Victor is holding up okay, but also the deepest of worry that he isn't. He checks his phone every morning that week for a message, but he never gets one.

It's always the same routine. Simon gets up and checks his phone, his friends ask him if he's heard anything, and he says no. He checks his phone frequently throughout the day, as well. He struggles to pay attention to his classes because he wants to be on high alert in case Victor says something. When they're all back in the apartment together at night, his friends ask him once again if he's heard anything. Once again, he says no. He goes to bed, not getting very much sleep because of how deeply concerned he is, and he wakes up and repeats the cycle in the morning.

Friday approaches, and still, Simon hasn't heard anything.

"Simon, when are you going to Newark?" Bram asks him.

"I'm actually packing to leave in a few minutes. I want to get there early so that I can help do some day-before preparation."

"Well, tell your cousin I said congratulations."

"I will," Simon replies as he puts on his jacket.

Bram laughs. "You still have that raggedy old thing that you wore in high school?"

"Of course," Simon jokes. "It's a part of me now."

"Okay, I'm gonna be honest," Bram says with some humor, "That jacket is a fashion don't if I've ever seen one. And trust me, I've seen many."

Simon laughs.

"Seriously," Bram says, but his tone is still light with laughter, "If I see you wearing that thing after this weekend, I will burn it."

They both laugh together again. Simon isn't really offended, but there's something about that jacket that really gives him comfort. When he went through his tough times senior year of high school, he wore it a lot. Since then, wearing that jacket has reminded him of his strength and resilience. It gives him a sense of empowerment. It truly has become a part of him.

Simon leaves to go to New Jersey. He plans to stay over with his cousin before the bachelor party. When he gets there, they exchange warm greetings, but Simon quickly gets to work. He meets up with the best man and the other groomsmen to run some errands to make sure everything is set to go for tomorrow evening.

As much as Simon loves his family, bachelor parties were never really his thing. They seem to revolve around alcohol and naked women, in neither of which Simon has very much interest. He's just there to show that he supports his cousin in this brand new chapter of his life.

At the end of the day, before Simon goes to bed, he realizes that he hasn't checked his phone all day since before he arrived at his cousin's place. He was so busy interacting with the wedding party and planning for the bachelor party that he lost focus. When he does check his phone, he is relieved to see a message from Victor.

Simon's first thought about the message is that he is glad that Victor is in touch again. He begins to read, and he is glad that Victor is okay and that he was able to find solace in Simon's words. But as Simon reads on, he can't believe his eyes.

"Oh shit," he murmurs.

Simon gets on the phone immediately, and he calls his boyfriend.

"Hey, what's up?" Bram picks up. "How's Jersey?"

"Bram, is everyone there?" Simon asks, wasting no time.

"Yeah, why?"

"Gather everyone, and put it on speaker phone," Simon instructs.

"Sure, hold on, just a second."

After a couple of minutes of Simon hearing Bram try to coral everyone, Bram says, "Okay, we're all here. What's up?"

"I heard from Victor," Simon tells them.

They all are immediately attentive.

"And?" Kim asks.

"What did he say?" Ivy adds on.

Simon pauses, and the silence on the other end is full of anticipation until he finally says, "He's coming to New York."

Everyone stops. It's quiet. They're all in shock.

"Gurl, what?" Justin finally breaks the silence. "What is this kid doing?"

"I told him that if he could see my life in New York, he'd know there's a place he belongs," Simon explains. "And I said that I wish he was here so I could give him a hug and make him believe it. This is definitely not what I meant, but I guess he took those words to heart. And he's on a bus now."

"Wait, he's already on a bus?" Kim asks, stunned. "But you're not here!"

"Yes, Kim, I know that. But he's on his way, so we have to entertain him somehow."

"So what do you want us to do?" Ivy asks. "He thinks he's only been talking to you."

"I know," Simon replies. "But I've told him about Bram, and he's seen pictures on my Instagram. So, Bram, are you listening?"

"Yeah, I'm listening," Bram says. "What do you need?"

"Based on his last message, it looks like his bus is scheduled to arrive at around 8:00 tomorrow morning. So can you look online and try to figure out which stop he's arriving at and meet him there?"

"How am I supposed to do that?" Bram asks, commenting on the amount of bus traffic that comes in and out of New York.

"It will be a bit of a shot in the dark," Simon tells him. "But just try to see which bus from Atlanta is arriving tomorrow and at what stop. You'll probably have to go to Manhattan early."

"Okay, yeah, I can do that," Bram says.

"As for the other three of you," Simon continues, "he has no idea who any of you are. And he thinks that he's just been communicating with me this whole time. I'm going to let him know what's going on. Obviously, since I'm sending Bram to meet him, he'll know that I had to fill Bram in. But he doesn't think that you three know anything. So just act like you don't know him. I would rather be there and for him to know everything, but since I can't be there to explain it to him, it might be better just to keep up the confidentiality. Just wait for him to open up to you."

They agree.

"Keep me updated," Simon tells his friends. "Let me know how it goes."

"We will," Bram says.

When Simon and Bram hang up, the four people left in the apartment are shook.

"Wow," says a now speechless Bram.

"I certainly did not see that coming," Justin says.

"I guess we're finally gonna get to me him," Ivy says.

"I know. It's actually pretty exciting!" Kim gives their take.

"Well," Bram replies to the cacophony of comments, "he's been through a lot. Let's try to give him a great day."

The other three in the apartment nod in agreement, and they start to mentally prepare themselves for the weekend to come.

Bram stays up to look at the buses that are coming in from Atlanta. He sees that there are two different buses that have routes from Atlanta to New York that arrive at 8:00 in the morning. They are at two different stops. He doesn't know which one Victor is on, so he goes to the stop he knows is more popular. It's a 50/50 chance.

Saturday morning, Bram gets to the bus stop somewhat early. He waits. At 8:00, a bus pulls up. It's not from Atlanta. At 8:05, another bus pulls up. Not from Atlanta. At 8:10, another bus. This one is from Atlanta. Bram tries to see what is going on as he is swarmed by the crowds on the sidewalk. 8:12. No Victor.

Bram starts to worry that he is at the wrong bus stop when he sees a familiar looking person step off of the bus.

"Victor?" Bram calls out as he sees Victor get off the bus. He waves, "Victor, hey!"

"Hey," Victor says to him and waves back. To Bram, the lack of enthusiasm in his tone makes him seem tired. He also knows that it might make anyone nervous to meet a new person, especially since Victor thinks it has been all Simon thus far.

Bram tries to be as welcoming as possible as he runs towards Victor and greets him. "How was your trip?" he says with a big smile.

"It was good," Victor replies.

"Ah!" Bram can't contain his enthusiasm, "I'm so excited to meet you!" He grabs Victor by the shoulders and gives him an Italian-American New Yorker-style welcoming kiss on the cheek.

Victor tenses up and backs away. "Whoa," he says, his eyes wide.

Bram sees the fear in Victor's eyes. He realizes that he's going to have a lot of work to do to get Victor to open up.

"It's all good. It's New York. Nobody gives a shit," Bram assures him with a laugh. "Trust me."

He puts his arm around Victor, and they walk together.

Victor is slightly uncomfortable, but as he and Bram talk, Victor warms up to him.

"So," Bram tells Victor when they get on the subway, "Simon filled me in on what's been going on. How are you doing, man?"

"Okay, I guess," Victor says with his head down.

"Hey," Bram says to comfort him, "well you're here now. And I can't wait to show you around!"

The train gets to Brooklyn.

"Oh, this is our stop," Bram points out.

They get off the train and they head to Bram and Simon's apartment. When they get there, Victor hauls his bag that he packed for the weekend up several flights of stairs.

"Oh my God," he says, exhausted from the number of stairs he just had to climb.

"Sorry, the elevator's broken," Bram tells him. "But on the plus side, all those stairs are killer for your glutes."

Victor smiles awkwardly at Bram's remark after he puts his things down. To him, the comment seems a little bit strange, but he glosses over it.

Victor notices movement out of the corner of his eye, and as he looks in that direction, he sees more people. It's Ivy, Justin, and Kim scrambling around to make sure that the apartment looks nice and clean for their surprise weekend guest.

"Uh, who are these people?" he asks somewhat nervously.

"Uh, you think that we could afford an apartment in Brooklyn with no roommates?" Bram asks rhetorically. He then answers his own question humorously, "No."

"I prefer the term flat mates, actually. It makes us sound more European," Justin takes notice of Victor and Bram's arrival.

Bram reacts by rolling his eyes. Of course Justin just had to start with the sass right away, not even easing Victor into it.

"I'm Justin," he introduces himself to Victor. "With a soft J, like joosh."

"I'm Victor," he says with a smile, wanting to be friendly to the people he is meeting, but quite nervous about their presence.

"I'm Ivy," she says before Kim cuts in and interrupts.

"I'm Kim. And before you ask, my pronouns are they/them/theirs."

"Oh, okay," Victor says, not knowing exactly how to respond. "Nice to meet…they."

The four of them all laugh. Now they really know that they have a lot of work to do. Bram puts his hand on Victor's shoulder as he laughs, and Victor stands nervously, not understanding what's so funny. Thankfully, no one is offended. They just see Victor as an innocent soul who has a lot to learn.

"So what's your deal?" Ivy asks. She was never the best with words when getting to know people, but she just tends to like to be direct.

"My deal?" Victor asks nervously.

The three of them nod.

"Oh, I'm just, uh, visiting." Victor then proceeds to lie, "I'm Bram and Simon's pre-frosh."

This immediately catches Justin's attention. After Victor came out to Simon and now that Bram knows, he didn't think that it would be too much of a stretch for him to open up. Justin looks over at Bram to try and figure out what's going on. Bram is just confused, and his facial expression shifts accordingly.

"Yeah!" Victor responds to the residents' silence. "We all used to go to the same high school so my college counselor hooked us up. Wanted to get a taste of NYU. You know, check out the basketball program."

"What?" Bram reacts almost immediately in confusion. As far as he's concerned, it's a pretty weird lie.

"You wanted to come to NYU for the sports?" Ivy inquires skeptically.

Justin cuts in, "Ooh, you're college counselor hooked you up with the wrong ass people, gurl!"

They all laugh, but with a different kind of laugh, Victor defends, "I'm not a girl."

"Don't mind him," Kim cuts in. They know how it feels to be misgendered, but they also know that Justin doesn't use the term literally.

"He's harmless," Ivy tells Victor, realizing once again that the four of them have a lot of work to do. "Any friend of Bram and Simon's is a friend of ours."

"Absolutely," Kim says.

Bram looks over at Victor, noticing his discomfort, and trying to figure out what to do.

"You should totally come with us to Messy Boots tonight!" Kim invites.

"Yes!" Ivy agrees, seeming excited about the idea.

"What's Messy Boots?" Victor asks.

"It is the best party in town," Justin replies with a sudden seriousness. "They have this drag show where they bring people from the audience on stage-"

"No, I-" Victor's nervous laughter interrupts Justin's explanation.

Bram sees Victor's discomfort even more, and he takes a deep breath. This is way more awkward than he bargained for.

Victor looks over at Bram, seeing the worried look on his face. "I mean, it's just – I just have so much to do with this pre-frosh thing, so."

Justin, Ivy, and Kim all feel the tension. They know that's not why he's here, but they don't want to say that. It's sort of uncomfortable for everyone involved.

"Um," Bram addresses Victor, "Can I steal you for a second?"

"Yeah, yeah," Victor agrees, relieved to get out of the awkward meeting with Bram's roommates. As Bram leads Victor to a separate room, Victor politely but nervously addresses the other three, "Nice to meet you guys."

"Nice to meet you!" Ivy and Justin both say asynchronously.

They huddle as Bram and Victor enter the other room.

"What is a pre-frosh?" Justin whispers.

"That was awkward," Kim says.

"Do you think he'll open up?" Ivy asks.

"I don't know," Kim replies. "Give him time."

Bram closes the door behind him as he takes Victor into the room. He turns to see Victor nervously pacing by the window.

"Okay, what was that?" he asks a bit more bluntly than he intends. "Why did you tell them that you're my pre-frosh?"

"Because I don't know them!" Victor responds. "I barely know you. Look, Simon is the only person I've told, and I'm not ready to open up to a whole bunch of strangers."

As Victor speaks, Bram understands. He knows that Victor has been through a lot, and that all of this is brand new for him.

"Okay," he nods, acknowledging and legitimizing Victor's reasoning. "I get it, and I'm sorry. I forgot how scary it is when you're first coming out. Even around other gay people."

It's been a while for Bram. He remembers not even being able to reveal his identity to his gay pen pal in high school.

"I'm sorry," Victor apologizes for raising his voice. "I – I know I came out here to experience gay stuff, but it all just feels so…"

"Gay?" Bram completes the sentence for him with an ounce of humor.

Victor exhales with a smile, not wanting to offend the people he's meeting now.

Bram laughs, happy that in the moment, he could at least put a smile on Victor's face. And suddenly, he has an idea.

"Come on. I gotta show you something, alright?"

Victor follows somewhat reluctantly as Bram leads him out the door.

"We'll be back in a while!" Bram calls out to his roommates as he leaves.

They say goodbye as Victor and Bram exit.

"Where are we going?" Victor asks after they walk a couple of blocks.

Bram doesn't respond right away, but Victor follows anyway. They reach their destination a few seconds after Victor asks.

"You said everything was too gay for you, so thought I'd butch it up," Bram tells him.

Victor sees the basketball courts in front of him.

Bram turns around to address Victor. "Came here for the sports, right? Let's see what you got."

Victor tries to hide the proud smile that comes across his face, but he can't. He warms up to Bram even more because of this gesture. He can't help himself, so he goes with Bram onto the court, and they play their street game.

Victor feels highly inadequate throughout most of it because of how good the players around him seem to be, making it an even more prideful moment when he does make a shot. He is also proud to outperform Bram, who makes exactly zero shots.

At the end of their game, Victor sits down, exhausted. He sees a text from Mia.

Mia

How's your boys' trip? Having fun?

He had temporarily forgotten about the lie that he told her to throw her off track. Before he can decide what to do, though, Bram comes over and sits next to him. Victor puts his phone down and gets distracted enough so that he won't remember to respond to the message later. It's a welcome distraction, since he doesn't want to think about Mia right now.

"So what'd you think?" Bram asks.

"That was embarrassing," Victor laughs, now feeling comfortable enough with Bram to talk as normal. "At Creekwood, I'm actually considered good!"

"Oh, I know, these guys are insane," Bram replies.

"Yeah," agrees an out of breath Victor.

"Jason was in the NBA. First openly gay player."

Victor looks over at Bram, surprised by the description. He is distracted by Jason calling over to them.

"Hey, good game, Bram!" the former New Jersey Nets star calls out. He teases, "Maybe next time, you'll even make a shot."

"Oh, that's cold!" Bram takes the criticism with humor as he dismissively waves Jason away and Victor laughs. "Get outta here!"

"He's gay?" Victor asks.

"They all are," Bram reveals with a smile. "It's a gay league. We play here twice a week."

Victor looks over to see the players packing up, a couple of them kissing each other as they do. For the first time, Victor actually feels like there's a place that he belongs.

Bram continues, "I just wanted you to see that there's no one way to be gay. Right? You can be fem, you can be butch, athletic. Or in Simon's case, painfully un-athletic."

Victor laughs.

Bram is an opportunist. He takes advantage of this moment between them to tell Victor exactly what he knows that Victor needs to hear, the same thing that he had to tell himself two years ago at that Winter Carnival, "But the one thing you can't be is afraid."

Victor takes the words to heart.

"Victor, you came here because you wanted to belong," Bram reminds him. "And I got an apartment filled with super gay roommates who would be thrilled to accept you. So don't be too scared to let them in. Yeah?"

He puts his hand on Victor's shoulder, and Victor takes a breath. Victor still feels kind of afraid, but for once in his life, he knows that he doesn't have to be.

"Yeah," he whispers, cherishing Bram's advice as much as he has cherished Simon's over the past few months. "So, everyone here is gay?" he says, now more lightly, as they get up to leave.

"Oh yeah," Bram replies.

"Even Darius? He's look six foot eight!"

"Oh, you should see him in heels," Bram says teasingly.

Victor laughs, and all of the tension that he felt when he got off the bus and met Bram disappears.

They have a quiet walk back to the apartment.

Meanwhile, the three who remain at the apartment get ready to go to Messy Boots.

"So what tricks do you think Bram has up his sleeve for this one?" Justin asks Ivy as she does his makeup.

"You think he has tricks?" Ivy questions.

"Well, yeah," Justin says as if it should have been obvious. "If I know Bram, he's a crafty bitch."

Kim laughs. "What tricks do you think he would have?"

"I don't know," Justin responds. "Maybe something to get him to open up?"

"I wouldn't pressure him," Ivy says. "I get it. It can be a lot to come out to people you don't know. I've been through that."

Justin and Kim nod in understanding, and they hear footsteps in the hallway.

"Oh, they're coming!" Justin interjects. "Act natural, keep doing my makeup!"

They quietly continue what they were doing before, and Bram and Victor walk in the door.

"Hey guys," Bram greets them as they walk in.

"Hey!" Victor greets them as well, now feeling a little less awkward about their company.

A chorus of "Heys" then come from the other three inside the apartment.

"Hey, pre-frosh!" Kim addresses Victor.

"Justin, that's a lot of look," Bram says as he closes the door behind him.

"Gurl, we are going to a drag show, not church," Justin jokes.

"Why do so many gay people like dressing up in drag?" Victor's question immediately catches Bram's attention. Sounds like he's about to learn something. "Is it like, fun to be a character? Be someone that you're not?"

The room gets quiet. Justin and Ivy share a look with each other. Victor notices the tension.

Justin didn't think anything of Victor's comment earlier when he used the slang "gurl," but this is a little bit more personal to him. He knows now that he is going to have to educate their guest.

"Okay, pre-frosh," Justin says. He gets out his phone as he walks over to Victor. He pulls up a picture from the morning of the day that he came out to Nathan. He's in the church after his brother's confession, and he's faking a smile. He shows the picture to Victor. "This was me three years ago."

Victor looks at the picture, and then back up at Justin. He can't even believe that he's looking at the same person.

"Yeah," Justin lets out a somewhat uncomfortable laugh. He then says with a hint of sarcasm, "My parents would have me put on this gorgeous ensemble and walk around the neighborhood and try to convince people to join a religion that I knew wanted nothing to do with me. As you can probably tell, I was not loving my life. It was – it was a dark time."

As Bram notices the way the memory haunts Justin, even in this moment, he feels sympathy. He knows the story.

"Anyway," Justin gets back on track, trying to shake the thought. "That was putting on a character. That was 'drag'. This," he smiles and changes his tone, "is just me being me."

As Victor hears Justin's story, he reflects. He might not feel the same pain that Justin does, but he can relate. He never knew how hard some people have it. He never knew that someone with a difficult past can come into their own so well like Justin has. He sees the obstacles that Justin overcame, and recognizes that he did overcome them. He thinks now that maybe he can overcome those obstacles, too. More importantly, in this moment, Victor realizes that he's not alone.

Victor takes a breath and exhales, trying to release some of the nerves. "My parents are religious, too," he says, now struggling to get his words out. He captures the attention of everyone in the room. "Not like yours. But um," he pauses. The other four know what's coming. "I really worry how they'll react if I ever tell them that I'm um – I'm like you guys."

As Victor's voice breaks at the end of the sentence, so do Ivy's, Kim's, and Justin's hearts. He can't even say the words. He opened up to them, but he can't even say the words. They've all been there before.

Justin drops the sass. He knows it isn't the time. He puts all that aside because he knows that right now, what Victor needs more than anything is love and support.

Justin mouths the words, "it's okay," to Victor, and slowly approaches him, wrapping him in a hug. When he does, Victor exhales all of the excess air in his lungs, relaxing, as he feels the embrace of someone who gets it. Of someone who cares. Of someone who is there. Of someone who accepts him. Of a world that makes him feel like he belongs.

The other three join the hug, and it becomes a group hug. A huge smile sweeps across Victor's face as he realizes that there is room in this world for him after all.

The hug lasts for a good couple of minutes. They all just want to band together to make Victor feel safe. They did that, and then some.

When they finally break contact, Kim asks hopefully, "Do you want to come with us tonight?"

"Sure," Victor laughs, soft tears welling up in his eyes. "It'll be fun."

They cheer as they convince him to go.

They finish getting ready, and they go to the club. When they get there, Victor is noticeably tense.

Bram tries to break the tension, "Aww, it's baby's first gay club!"

Victor laughs somewhat uncomfortably. He knows he belongs here, but it seems like a foreign land to him.

"Aww," Justin echoes.

"What do you think?" Bram asks.

Victor questions, "So, everyone here is-"

"Gay," Justin finishes matter-of-factly.

Victor continues to feel that sense of belonging that before today, he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Just a ginger ale for my friend," Justin orders for Victor, "he is drunk enough on boys already."

They laugh, and they exchange some banter as Victor warms up to Justin's sassy personality.

Unexpectedly, a guy approaches the bar where the crew is sitting, and they watch as he addresses Victor.

"Yo, I'm Mikey," he says flirtatiously.

"Uh, nice!" Victor smiles.

Bram laughs, and Justin nearly spits out his drink. The guy walks away.

"Victor!" Kim says, their smile wide.

"He was trying to flirt with you!" Ivy adds.

"He was?' Victor says suddenly.

They all confirm, and Victor puts his hand over his face.

"You're hopeless," Ivy says, which rings true to Victor.

"Get used to it, Victor," Bram comments, "I have a feeling you're gonna break a lot of hearts."

Victor laughs.

"Totally!" Kim chimes in.

"You can't forget all about that Benji kid."

The whole group looks at Ivy. None of them, including her, can believe what she just said. So much for confidentiality.

"Wait," Victor says. "How – how did you – how'd you know about Benji?"

Ivy realizes her mistake. The four of them have been caught. Actually, Simon has been caught. They don't know what to say. They stay quiet.

"Did Simon tell you guys about our messages?" Victor says in defeat, now thinking differently of the one person he thought he could trust.

Bram shifts in his seat. "Victor, look-"

He tries to explain, but Victor interrupts. "So you all just pretended not to know who I was?"

The group is speechless. Justin wants to say something, but he doesn't know what to say. He can't manage anything other than some awkward facial movements.

"And you've just been lying to me?" Victor says, now hurt and angry. And to think that just a few short hours ago, he actually thought he had found a space that was meant for him. "This whole time?"

Victor looks at Bram as he says this last part. Bram doesn't know what to say. The accusations are true, but they still sting when said out loud. He just looks Victor in the eyes, hoping that Victor will understand.

"Wow," Victor says after no one responds to him. He feels angry. He feels hurt. He feels betrayed. Not only did Simon betray his trust, but so did these four.

"No-" Bram says.

Victor interrupts with a pained menacing "Cool" as he gets up to walk away.

"No, Victor!" Bram calls after him, but he's already gone.

Justin looks back at Bram; they're both speechless, and they both feel helpless.

"Ivy!" Kim says as Ivy hangs her head, feeling guilty about letting it slip.

Bram looks over at Ivy. He's not angry at her. But she did make a mistake. He can understand why Victor feels hurt. Still, he wishes Victor would understand that they've all had his back from the beginning. This night was going so well.

As Victor walks out the door, it rains lightly on him, and he feels cold. He came to New York to escape the storm in Atlanta, not to walk into another one. Still, the rain finds its way back to him.

AN: Reminder that this story will be moved to AO3 after the New York Perspective (one more chapter after this), and I will stop posting on . The story is already on AO3, so here is the link: /works/27583115/chapters/67474946