FP 3 - A Gender Bender
"Pap?" Alex called out, after he came back out of the bathroom for the second time that morning.
Alex had tried not to take Henry's cold indifference to heart, but it had been an utter failure. Henry had left Alex lying in his bed, cold, naked, alone and sated with only a cursory clean up of his come. That had stung Alex. Usually, Alex was the one telling Henry they couldn't languish the day away in bed and encouraging Henry to go out and do things. Henry was not usually in a hurry to leave his bed, especially if Alex was naked in it with him.
It was almost like the Liam incident all over again. When they were sixteen and Liam and Alex had been bored one night at Liam's house and had loaded his laptop to their favourite porn website and jerked off beside each other. When Alex had been close, Liam had reached out and finished the task for him.
At the time Alex had thought it was simply something bros did or some homoerotic friendship thing. Liam hadn't tried to discuss it with Alex either, but Alex had wanted to. But Liam had kept shutting him down. After a tense month of avoiding Alex, he had cornered Liam in a bathroom at a party. Liam had been carefree and told Alex not to worry about it because he had moved on from Alex.
Later that night, Alex overheard Liam telling another guy they knew from the lacrosse team, Spencer, that he and Alex could never be together because as a person, Alex was too much. That his family were a lot to deal with and he wasn't willing to wade into that hot mess. Alex had wanted to confront him, argue with him; however, out of respect to Liam's mom, he would not start an argument at the party. But it was too late, the damage was done, and Alex had been hurt.
After losing his best friend, Alex moved to California a week later to spend his senior year with his father and Raf. He has not spoken to Liam since then.
Since then Alex learnt from Liam's mom, that Liam had been a bit of a fuckboy after that, before he and Spencer settled down and got married last year. They were now living in Dallas.
"-Are you even listening to me?" Raf asked Alex, concerned. They were in a small cafe that Alex usually frequented when he was homesick for some good ol' southern food and hospitality. Raf had been asking Alex about his school for the last three minutes before he realised that Alex wasn't even paying attention to him.
"Sorry, Pap." Alex muttered softly. He really wasn't paying attention. He had tuned out completely.
When he had emerged from the bathroom, Nora, Pez and Henry had gone and Raf was the only one left in the apartment. He had checked his phone and seen that Henry hadn't texted him either. Pocketing his phone, he had decided to try and give his stepfather his undivided attention, to no avail.
"Want to tell me what's been going on?" Raf asked softly, as their coffees arrived. "We've always gotten along, and you've been able to trust me in the past."
"I'm scared." Alex admitted, taking a sip of his espresso.
Raf smiled softly. "It's ok to be scared Alex. Every queer person is scared at some point." Raf certainly was and he had seen firsthand how scared Alex's father was.
"I haven't figured out what I am yet, but I am pretty sure I am bisexual." Alex confessed, before hiding his eyes behind his hands. "You absolutely cannot tell anyone, and I mean anyone, Pap. Not even dad."
"Of course, Alex." Raf reassured him. "But I am fairly certain your father would understand. The man was married to your mom, before he married me."
"I don't think he will." Alex sighed and closed his eyes. A pained expression swept across his face. "Dad's only ever been attracted to one man and one man only. He doesn't even call himself bi. Not to shame his own label, because that's his right. But I don't want dad poking his nose into my life. It's bad enough, you know. Besides, he and mom have told me that I all but 'have to' marry Nora or else."
"Thanks, kid." Raf huffed playfully. They stopped talking when the waitress came by and delivered their plates of huevos rancheros. "You know your parents have tunnel vision when it comes to the Nora thing. But it's your choice, not theirs." He and Leo had both always tried really hard to present a united front as stepparents, but sometimes Ellen and Oscar made that very hard. The issue with Alex and Nora was one of those things. Raf took a bite of his food and mentally prepared himself for his next question. "So, is it just a sexuality thing? Because we can talk about whatever else is going on too."
"Yeah."
Alex lied. He had made a conscious effort to dress himself the way the old Alex used to dress that morning. But since he had been exploring his sexuality, he had found that his clothing style was changing too. It had become more androgynous and less masculine. Percy had honestly been an influence in the fashion area. It had started with Alex loaning a nightshirt from Pez when Henry's father Arthur had been visiting from London.
It had been a slow change to begin with. After the nightshirt incident, Alex had started going for a looser fit in his shirts when they would go to what Pez lovingly referred to as 'mainstream clubbing'. This was before they found their favourite queer club, not too far from the apartment.
From there, the next change, unbeknownst to Nora at the time, had come from her. When they had to choose teams for a trivia night, he had immediately chosen Nora. they'd made things more interesting when a bet between the four of them had resulted in an underwear swap for the losers. She was almost one hundred percent positive that they would win. Alex liked those odds and had felt he was safe.
What he had not counted on was Henry and his encyclopaedic mind of queer literature in the twentieth century and the fact that there was a whole section of questions on that topic. Nora and Alex had lost by seven points.
They had gone into the disabled cubicle of the bar and swapped underwear to pay their penance. Nora had slipped Alex's black elastane jockey shorts on and declared that they were uncomfortable, but manageable for the night. Before handing over her own scrap of lace. The scrap of lace in question was high cut on his thighs and low cut in the front. There was a narrow elastane strap that was barely the width between his ass cheeks and the lace at the front couldn't contain his entire manhood. Alex had tucked his balls and cock inside the lace panties the best he could and arranged them in a way that the head of his cock peeked over the top of the lace.
When they had returned to the table, Nora had shown Pez and Henry the waistband of Alex's jockey shorts against her dark skin. When all questioning eyes turned to Alex, he had simply confirmed he was wearing Nora's panties. Naturally, Pez hadn't believed him and Henry had playfully groped his ass, confirming to Pez that Alex had some kind of underwear on.
When they left Henry had almost instantly become fascinated with Alex's ass at that point. When they were drunk enough, Henry had accompanied Alex onto the dancefloor and had been more handsy than usual. He hadn't been able to wait until they got back to the apartment and Henry had led him into the men's room, pushed Alex into a stall and dropped to his knees. The sight of Alex's weeping cock against the black lace was doing things for Henry and he had mouthed at them until Alex had come in them.
An awkward conversation had followed the next day with Nora, where Alex had made a monetary restitution for the ruined underwear and she had told him it didn't matter, the main thing was he was finally finding his true self. Then, she hugged him and told him how proud she was of him.
Now Nora sends him links for men's lingerie and sometimes they shop together, which often leads saleswomen into thinking that Alex is her boyfriend. They don't correct the saleswomen. With the three men who share the apartment on a chore roster, the change in Alex's preferred underwear was discovered rather quickly. Percy, however, was absolutely delighted when Alex admitted the truth. They shared that they too sometimes preferred lingerie over the more traditional style of men's underwear.
"Ale?" Raf asked, bringing Alex's attention back to his food. It was mostly cold now and he had barely touched it.
Rafael studied his stepson closely; something was weighing on his mind. He'd bet dollars to doughnuts that it had something to do with Henry, or at least with Alex liking men. Had noted that Henry had left the living room earlier that morning and joined Alex in the bathroom. As much as Nora and Percy tried to distract him with stories of Alex living his life in Brooklyn, he had heard the stereo switch on and then later had seen Henry guiding Alex across the hall and into Henry's bedroom.
He had heard sounds and had tried really hard not to remember what he heard. He hadn't been sure which man was responsible, but he heard them. If they thought they were fooling anyone, they should think again. Raf was an openly gay man married to a man who claimed to be heteroflexible but loved nothing more than having sex with his extremely gay husband of more than ten years.
"Is everything-?"
"Can we not talk about this right now?" Alex interrupted his stepfather. Alex was not in the mood. He could feel that his mind was about to spiral and not in a good way. He didn't want to spiral in front of Raf. He couldn't. It would be more ammunition for his parents that Alex wasn't ready to live away from home. "I had a shitty night last night and an awful, early morning. Whilst I love seeing you Pap, I don't love seeing you under my roof and having you give my boy- … my friend - Henry, the cold shoulder. It feels like you're second guessing everything I do and judging me for it. I can't deal with all of this extra pressure right now."
"Talk to me. Please, Alex." Raf begged, shoving his own plate towards the centre of the table. "I get it, I really do. You're scared. I was too. So was your father and Nora. Henry and his friend Percy were probably scared too. It's normal to be scared. My friends were scared too. But there really is a community out there and honestly, I don't think your dad's gonna be mad at you. I don't even think your ma and Leo are gonna be mad either. CJ is going to be your number one supporter, no matter what you do in life and Evan is so whipped, he does whatever CJ does. Promise me you'll think about telling everyone."
"What part of I am not ready to deal with this, did you not understand?" Alex angrily huffed, standing up and tossing some bills on the table to cover their meal. Raf pulled out his own bills and thrusted them, and Alex's bills back at him, before laying his platinum VISA card down to pay.
He was not letting Alex waste his money on their meal. He was the parent. Alex was his responsibility.
"Ok, I'll drop it." Raf conceded. He could see the worry and stress behind his eyes, and he wondered whether or not his presence had caused some tension in their household. "Just one more thing, then I will drop it … for today."
"What's that?" Alex snarked, as he slid his sunglasses back over his eyes and ran his fingers through his curls in an effort to calm his racing mind.
"I want you to come with me tomorrow or Monday." Raf lowered his voice, keeping the conversation between the two of them. "I want you to get tested. I can go with you. I'll even get tested too, if that helps ease the fear. I know that Ellen and your dad didn't give you that part of the talk back then. That's on them for making assumptions, but I just want to make sure you're safe. That you're wearing a condom if you're having anal intercourse. And we can talk to the clinic about getting you the HPV vaccine and getting on Truvada."
"Fine." Alex huffed at him. He and Raf usually got along well, but right now there was tension between them and one lunch wasn't going to change that. "If it'll shut you up."
There wasn't much more to say. They departed, Alex back to the apartment he shared with Henry and Percy and Raf back to his hotel.
Raf's had finer parenting moments than in the last twenty-four hours with Alex, and June by default, but mostly Alex. June was always the easier child to parent, in terms of raising but Raf still wouldn't change anything with Alex. Not one hair on his head.
Oscar has always joked that it was because Raf saw a lot of himself in Alex, but honestly, he just loves Alex's chaotic energy.
The ringing of his cell phone interrupted his inner thoughts, as he was letting himself back into his hotel room. He had stopped by Marty's room and checked in with the man who was leaving tomorrow. He had profusely apologised for leaving, before explaining in the vaguest of terms that Alex was too intoxicated to be in public and he had to take care of him.
"Hello you." Raf cooed, seeing Oscar was the caller ID. "I've missed you."
"Good to see you're alive, babe." Oscar teased his husband. They had always shared this playful banter between them and Raf had to admit, it had only gotten better with age.
"No need to be so fuckin' dramatic." Raf huffed, starting the in-room coffee machine. "I've just returned to my room from last night."
"Really?" Oscar played along. "Was he good looking? Your 'keep you up all night' man?"
"He's a looker alright." Raf smirked, even though Oscar couldn't see him. He had heard the shift in Oscar's breathing, and he wondered if his husband wasn't jealous. "Bit young for me, personally. But beggars can't be choosers."
"Well, don't leave me in suspense." Oscar muttered and Raf wondered how his husband would react. "Who was this devil?"
"Wait, I didn't tell you the best part." Raf hissed, excitedly. "I've been sleeping with his father for at least ten years."
"You saw Alex." Oscar surmised. His tone was undecipherable and Raf was sure that Oscar would have had something more to say. He would at least make a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat.
"I saw Alex." Raf confirmed. "I saw Alex in a queer club with his queer friends, very, very drunk. His friend Henry helped me get him back to his apartment and get him into bed. Henry, it turns out, is the replacement roommate for that Hunter character and is much lovelier. He is British and I am fairly certain he was the reason they were at the club. Although their other roommate Percy was there too. Oh, and I saw Nora too."
"Alex and Nora were together, huh?" Oscar asked, amused. "Didn't see that one coming. That should make Ellen very happy."
"No, Nora is involved with Percy, Alex and Henry's other roommate." Raf corrected him and had to admit that his husband's tone worried him. Maybe Alex had been onto something. Maybe Oscar was ok with being queer himself, but he wasn't ok with his son being queer too. "They call Percy, Pez and they use they/them pronouns."
"Alex is living with some queer folk then?" Oscar asked. "I suppose that's better than the other two roommates he had. How was Nora? Is she good?"
"She's very happy with Pez." Raf replied, neutrally. "Os, babe? What is it?"
He could hear the longing in Oscar's voice tinged with an undercurrent of something else Raf couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Can you answer me something?" Raf gave him a moment to gather his thoughts and spit out his question. "Do you think Alex and Nora will ever give up on avoiding the inevitable and get together?"
"No." Raf replied, firmly. "I think the more y'all push Alex towards Nora, the further he is going to move away from her. Besides, he told me at brunch this morning that Nora was more like June to him, than 'girlfriend material'. I think that they're just friends and y'all need to stop pushing and take a step back."
Raf certainly wasn't going to out Alex to his father. Besides the fact that he promised he wouldn't tell a soul what he had seen. It was also a really shitty thing to do to another human being. On top of the trauma of a queer person outing a fellow queer. That is a vile, heinous act and one that is the ultimate betrayal to their community.
"Other than that. How's my boy? Kicking goals? Does he have a girlfriend yet?" Oscar asked at a rapid-fire speed that was making Raf's head dizzy.
"He's good."
"Good. If you see him again before I speak to him, please tell him that Senator George Walsh has a daughter at NYU as well. She's doing an arts degree and he's a huge benefactor to Southwest University." Oscar added, hopeful that Alex would pick up the hint and chase the daughter down for a date.
This was how it had gone with Alex for the last year. There had been a lot of anger at hostility when Alex had turned down both Leo and Ellen's offer of studying law at UT Austin and living at home for free. As well as Oscar and Raf's offer of law school at Southwestern on a heavily discounted tuition fee and scholarship ride, with free room and board at home with them.
No one had seen Alex almost fall apart under the pressure. Oscar and Ellen fought over which one they thought Alex would go for. Raf and Leo had been each sure Alex would choose the other parent.
Then Alex dropped the bomb that he had been accepted into the law program at NYU and he was going. Chaos had ensued and both the Claremont mom and Diaz dad had all but demanded that Alex take one of their offers.
June had been forced to step in when Alex had called her in a panic attack after the four parents started screaming at one another. In the end, June laid down the law to each parent.
Alex was an adult
Alex had scholarship offers - A lot of them from many different schools
Alex was smart
Alex didn't need to live at home
Alex had the right to make his own decisions
Alex didn't need his life pre-arranged for him
June had flown down the following weekend, with her husband Evan in tow, and had given the four parents the same lecture again, this time face to face. She had let her anger at them grow and fester for the whole week in between and now, she was like Mount Vesuvius, ready to explode from all angles.
It was halfway through CJ ranting at the four of them, but Oscar and Ellen in particular, that Raf had looked up and caught Leo's eye. That was when Raf and Leo realised when it came to Alex, they had all screwed up.
"Alex shouldn't have to call me to get the four of you to listen to me." June had seethed at them. "He is just as much a part of this family as the rest of us, and he deserves to be listened to, as well."
Raf and Leo had both murmured that June was right, much to the horror of their respective partners.
From that fateful day, Leo and Raf had discreetly exchanged cell numbers and frequently texted one another about either the kids or about their respective spouses. They even had a code for when shit was about to hit the fan to warn the other person.
Leo used the code more than Raf ever had. In fact, Raf had never used the code. Not until he returned from his business trip in New York. As soon as he landed at Austin-Bergstrom, he was switching on his cell and firing a text to Leo before he had disembarked from the plane.
By the time Raf had gathered his carry-on bag and his rolling case, Leo had rapidly returned messages informing him that he had ditched Ellen and already had secured them a table at the corner bar near Raf's office.
Oscar and Ellen knew on occasion that Leo and Raf would meet for a drink. Sometimes Leo's business overlapped in Raf's area of expertise, and they would often talk business. Neither partner ever pitched too much of a snit when the two husbands would catch up.
Raf hailed a cab from the stand to the bar. His office was just a short walk and Oscar, and he had already made plans for a late dinner in the city.
The bar was nondescript from the outside. Made from red brick with a loading dock out back, heavy black metal doors and lit up neon signage out front. All typical of a local watering hole. The bar was managed by an old Mexican couple who had immigrated to Austin around the same time that Oscar's parents had and Raf often joked to Leo that they were part of the Mexican gossip ring.
"Hola, Maria." Raf greeted the daughter of the owners who was tending the bar.
"Hola" She replied, holding up the tequila and a bottle of corona. Raf pointed to the beer and pointed to the usual table he and Leo met at.
Leo was already one glass of whiskey in and looked stressed out. Raf was having second thoughts now and wondered what the hell he was thinking. It wasn't like he could really talk about the fight he'd had with Alex without outing him and he promised he wouldn't say anything. But some of the things that Oscar had said to him on the phone were admittedly alarming. Combining that with the conversation he had with Nora and her flamboyant partner was concerning.
"You look tragic, sitting here on your second whiskey before I've even sat down." Raf greeted him with a jab. It was part of their usual repertoire.
"Yeah, well who makes the husband of his husband's ex-wife his first call when he has been outta town for a week?" Leo grinned, as Maria delivered Raf's beer and another whiskey for Leo. "Seriously, it's good to see you. How was New York?"
"Good." Raf replied, taking a large swig of beer. "Saw Alex and Nora."
"Yeah?" Leo asked, before there was a fleeting look of worry on his face. It was more like a flash and then it was gone. "Don't tell my wife that. When I left the office, Mike and his wife, Michelle were whining to Ellen about how Nora never comes home now that Alex lives in New York. Apparently, Nora was in Boston but has transferred to NYU."
"Nora mentioned transferring." Raf murmured, wondering how he could bring up his concerns without outing or even hinting about Alex.
Maybe he should focus on his concerns about Alex and Nora, rather than Alex and his newfound bisexuality.
"She told me how unhappy she was at MIT. How she was struggling mentally with the social isolation and distance from her friends."
"Mike and Michelle mentioned Nora moving closer to Alex and Ellen and Oscar seem sold in the idea that by them living in the same city, it must be a thing."
Raf scoffed out loud. He hadn't meant to, but he couldn't help himself. His head supplied him with the image of Alex and Henry grinding together on the dancefloor and Alex placing kisses along Henry's jaw. Then it morphed into seeing Alex keen under Henry's touch as Henry maneuvered him through the apartment and Alex asking Henry when he was coming to bed too.
"Alex is definitely not dating Nora." Raf specified.
"But Alex is dating someone?" Leo asked and of course, Raf had expected that. Enquiring minds and all that jazz.
"Dating is such a strong word these days, Leo." Raf replied cryptically to him, before giving out a small chuckle. "Alex and Nora are most definitely not dating …. Because Nora is dating Alex's roommate, Percy."
"Percy, who the heck is Percy?" Leo asked and honestly, Raf winced, but it made him feel better. That meant that Ellen and Leo were just as in the dark about Alex and his new roommates as what he and Oscar were.
That made Raf feel better.
"Pez, or Percy. They are British exchange students and best friends that rent their rooms from Alex." Raf explained with a smile. He purposely left Henry's name off. He didn't want Alex thinking he was telling the rest of the family about Henry. Whereas Nora had been open and honest about her relationship with Pez. Even going as far as specifically mentioned she didn't care if news of her relationship with Pez made it back to her grandparents. "He is a character for sure, but he seemed like a good fellow. Alex likes him, he would have said something to Nora, if he did not."
"Would he though?" Leo asked. Leo's question caught him off guard. "I mean it's no secret that Ellen and Oscar's scheming with Mike and Michelle to get the two of them together drives both of them insane. Hell, Alex ran off law school in New York to get away from it and Nora, well, she fled the Holleran family estate, as soon as she could without looking back. The girl hasn't even been home for Hanukkah in three years."
"Let's not forget your part in all this." Raf snapped and Leo had the decency to look ashamed from his actions.
Leo was angry at himself and had been beating himself up now for over a year. It had taken his stepdaughter June, and stepson-in-law Evan to stand in front of the four of them and berate them about their matchmaking behaviour before Leo had seen how wrong he was. He had told Ellen that night in bed, that if their relationship with Alex was the cost of his business doing business with the Holleran family then he didn't want to do business with Mike and Michelle. That he wouldn't sacrifice a relationship with Alex for the sake of business.
Ellen had reluctantly agreed, but she was also firm with Leo that her and Oscar knew what was best for Alex, and what was best for him was starting a relationship with Mike and Michelle's granddaughter.
The thing was, there was very little that Ellen and Oscar agreed on in life, and surprisingly, this was one of those things.
When June had been ranting and berating and he had looked up and caught Rafael's eye, he knew he had been in the wrong. He knew that both parents couldn't see the situation straight. Oscar could only see the potential donor funds to his law program at Southwestern and Ellen could only see the happy image of perfect families as she prepared to enter the political world, in her quest for domination.
Thankfully, she was starting small and tackling the mayor's office first.
"How could I forget?" Leo asked him seriously. "It haunts me every day. I have sent multiple apology messages to Alex with no reply, I have tried calling and he doesn't pick up. I don't want to say I blame Ellen, but …"
"If the shoe fits, right?" Raf finished for him with a rueful smile.
Leo tapped his nose twice. Precisely.