Title: Edward, Are You Gay?

Genre: Friendship, Romance

Pairing: Edward/Jasper (Em POV)

Word Count: 6,342 (total)

Warnings: No beta, different POV, slight bad language

Chapters: 5

Rated: T

Summary: Emmett's best friend is gay and is crushing hardcore on his brother. The problem is, Emmett doesn't know if his brother is gay or not. And Emmett will do almost anything to find out. AU/AH/EJ/EmPOV

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. Even If I forgot to say that in the last chapter. My bad.

A/N: All five chapters are fairly short and could probably compile into a relatively short one-shot but I decided to post them separately to make the story flow better day-to-day. This was written as a personal challenge to see if I could write an entire romance themed story from an outside perspective. Let me know how you like it. I contemplated labeling this as an E/Em story as Friendship and Humor but decided more people would read it posted like this.

Chapter 2:

Wednesday 6:00pm Living Room

Five hours later I find myself sitting on the couch downstairs staring at the flat screen without really watching it. I'm too busy listening to my brother move around upstairs in his room. I'm no closer to figuring out if Edward is gay than I was two hours ago when I came home. I've been sitting here the entire time thinking of a plan to make Edward somehow reveal his sexuality. For the life of me, I can't decide how to go about it.

By the time dinner rolls around the best plan I've come up with is making a list of all the gay and straight things my brother does. Then, in a few days I can present the list to Jasper and he can determine if Eddy's straight or not. Nodding to myself I head into the dinning room when Esme calls us to eat.

Carlisle is sitting at the head of the table watching his wife set the steaming pot-roast down in front of him. Edward is already at the table, waiting for dinner to begin. Esme and I sit down and Carlisle starts the prayer.

I eat my food and watch my brother from the corner of my eye; really study him. He eats methodically, chewing each bite carefully before taking another. I think about the way I normally eat and compare us. If the way he eats is anything to go by, he must be gay. Then I look at Carlisle and see he eats slowly too. So maybe he's not gay?

When Edward cuts into the roast, I notice he has thin, smooth hands. They look soft, delicate, almost like a girls, although much larger. Staring down at my own hands I note how mine are rough and calloused from playing ball. And when he cuts into his meat he doesn't push as hard as I do, taking shallower passes with the knife. Again I study Carlisle in the same way. While Carlisle doesn't cut as hard with his knife as I do, he still uses more force than Edward. And his hands have faint scars on them from surgeries at work. I make a mental note to add the word 'hands' to the 'gay' column on my list.

Half way through the meal, Esme looks at me with concern and asks if I'm feeling all right. She's worried because I haven't eaten or spoken hardly at all the entire afternoon. Even Edward seems concerned when I don't finish my plate by the time everyone else has finished. Carlisle just looks at me and smiles, as if knowing that I will be okay and don't want to talk about what's troubling me. Carlisle can be great like that, never needing to speak but knowing implicitly how someone is feeling. Jasper is good at that too.

When dinner is done I offer to help Esme with the dishes before I go upstairs to work on homework. We work in quiet until Esme throws down her towel and demands to know why I've been so quiet all evening. She's been my mom for almost seven years now but it still surprises me to see how concerned she gets when one of her "babies" is upset.

I don't know what to tell her. I consider lying and telling her I'm fine but I don't like lying to her. That, and she would know I wasn't being truthful. I also consider telling her that I'm just worried about a big test coming up or my date with Rose this weekend. Either excuse would get her off my back but I don't feel right about it. I settle for a half-truth.

"It's Jasper. He likes someone and doesn't know if he likes him back. I have no problem with him being gay, really I don't. But I don't have a clue how to help him. He really likes this guy but we don't know if the kid's gay or not. I just want to help Jazz figure out if he has a chance. I mean, how do you find out if someone's gay?" I look up at her, hoping she might choose to answer my semi-rhetorical question.

Esme looks back at me with concern shining in her eyes. "Does this kid go to your school?"

I nod.

"If you tell me who he is I might be able to help. This town is pretty small. I'm sure if he's gay there has to be some rumor out there. Jasper is a great boy. For his sake, I hope the boy likes him back."

I feel my eyes widen and I shake my head no. "I can't tell you who he is mom. Jasper doesn't want anyone to know who it is."

"But surely, you can tell me. I mean, you can trust me honey."

I know I can trust her but I can't tell her he likes her little boy. I just can't do that. I have to think of a lie quickly to get her to leave it alone. I plead, "Please mom," knowing the word 'mom' will get her to back down. "If the kid isn't gay, Jasper doesn't want any rumors getting around about him. Even if you didn't mean for anything to happen, people would still talk if you start asking questions about him. Just don't ask who it is. I can't tell you."

She must know I'm serious and I don't have any inclination of telling her a name because she backs off and grabs another dish from the sink, slowly washing it. I can tell she is still thinking but I don't ask about what, afraid to find out she somehow knows it's Edward I'm talking about.

When the last dish is put away she turns to me again and says, "I don't think there is any way to find out if someone is gay without asking them. Being gay doesn't mean that someone has to follow stereotypes by being in Drama or wearing tight clothing. Just look at Jasper. He plays on the football team and spends his free time here, watching action movies and playing video games with you. He doesn't exactly fit into any gay stereotype. I'm afraid you won't know your answer unless you ask this kid. I'm sorry I don't have a better suggestion for you honey. Tell Jasper good luck." With that, she exits the kitchen leaving me to think about what she'd said.

And I know she's right. Mentally I scratch out the word 'hands' on my list and crumple it up. Edward's hands are just a stereotype I'm inventing to help me figure out the puzzle. If I want to know, I'm going to have to ask my brother. But if I ask him he'll want to know why I'm asking and then he'll figure out Jasper likes him. I just don't know what to do.

A/N: Thanks for those of you that reviewed chapter one. It always makes my day to read them.

-Laura