Chapter Text
“YOU LOSE!” Leo’s game taunts him after he gets defeated, again…
“Pfffffuuuu… yeh, yeh you win, happy…?” the boy in his pyjamas asks his game before sighing in sadness. He usually gets mad after losing eleven times in a row, but not today. He just feels down to be euphemistic. On a normal day he would probably not struggle this much on this boss but these days everything is different…
Then the front door opens
“Oh ehy mom you are back!” Leo welcomes his mom in from the couch
“Julio you are still awake?!” she asks surprised
“Yeh… yeh…” Leo looks at the ground before murmuring “I… couldn’t sleep…”
“That’s no excuse to be playing videogames this late at night young man! You have school tomorrow!”
“Yeh, yeh… you are right…” Leo turns off the console “I’ll go to bed…” he tells his mom while trying to not look in to her baggy eyes
“Ah! That’s new!” Leo’s mom quirks a brow “You usually always ask me for five more minutes, don’t you?”
“Yeh…” Leo brushes it off but as he starts to head to his room, he suddenly remembers why he even stayed awake till now in a first place “Oh, mom how was the welcome party for the new neighbours!?”
“Those two ladies were nice hosts! Admittedly their décor could use some adjustments but…” Leo’s mom seems I realize something and she subsequently gives her son a disappointed look “…and to think that I fell for it, I should have known that you asked only to stay awake longer. C’mon to bed!”
“Y-yes mom…”
Leo obeys without further protesting but as he makes his way through the corridor to reach his room, he stops to look at the schedule chart his family keep on the wall.
It’s full of sticky notes on every day of the week, all of his many siblings’ names plastered all over it. However between dance recitals, parties, soccer practices, parent-teacher meetings only one name was always present
‘MOM’ ‘MOM’ ‘MOM’ ‘MOM’ ‘MOM’ ‘MOM’ ‘MOM’ ‘MOM’ ‘MOM’ ‘MOM’
Sometimes he wishes mom wasn’t as busy a she is. Maybe then they would have more time to talk, maybe he would have been able to better gage how and when it would be best to come out to her… or at least know what she understands about being gay and stuff like that… maybe the fact that she never talked about it means she doesn’t see it in a positive light? But even then, WHEN exactly she should have talked about it!? Between a neighborhood council meeting and a trip to the pediatrician!? She usually needs to fit at least three household tasks in between those…
Leo was hoping that since she went to that party for the new lesbian couple that just moved in he’d be able to gage something from it, but luck mustn’t have been on his side tonight…
His mom’s opinion on the décor could mean everything and could mean nothing regarding what she thinks about LGBTQ+ people, maybe she was disgusted by a pride flag they have in their home, or maybe they genuinely have terrible taste in terms of furniture.
Knowing that those two ladies are ‘nice hosts’ it’s not of help either, his mom says that about everyone that hosts a party, unless they legitimately spat in her plate or something, as long as it is a party it’s fun for her no matter who hosts it and that’s enough in her book to consider anyone a ‘nice host’.
Maybe the fact that she didn’t seem excited when she came back means she secretly loathed the fact that they were two women in a relationship? Or maybe not? Maybe she was just tired? Or maybe the fact that she didn’t highlight the fact that they were two women at all meant that she was fine with it? But even then, maybe it would be different when it came to one of her children being gay…
“Ugh… whatever…” Leo mumbles as he stops staring at the schedule board like an idiot and actually heads to bed. He’ll try to bring it up tomorrow maybe… she’ll have time for Leo to ask about it… maybe… maybe… a big maybe…
Leo is tired and sad, but mostly sad to be honest as he quietly enters the room he shares with his siblings. He plops on the bed trying to not wake anyone up and he buries his face in his pillow! At least when he sleeps, he won’t need to think about it, but soon enough he starts to faintly hear his mom voice coming from the living room
“Yes? Sis mind me a favour?! Can you keep the little ones tomorrow because…”
Despite it being very faint it still manages to keep Leo awake, the constant murmur of her phone call just reminds Leo the secret he’s keeping for her, so he tries to stifle her voice by covering his ears with the pillow
“Yes hon? You are still at Lenora’s party? Are your brothers with you? Ok watch over them until I arrive ok? Ah… Ah… ok so you are sleeping over at Francisco’s place ok, so I don’t need to pick you up… but what about…”
No use… he can still hear her… so Leo reaches for his phone and headphones on his night stand. He’ll just watch something very quick until his mom goes to bed, something fun like a meme compilation!
As soon as he opens GuyTube however the first video in Leo’s for you page is ‘How I came out to my parents!’. Leo is not surprised his feed has been inundated with those recently, and he watched basically every single one that he could click on… but not this one… it must be new… but maybe watching it now it’s not a good idea… not only it’s already 23:00 on the clock on a Monday night but he also doesn’t want to go to sleep thinking about all of THIS! He won’t watching it, he’ll watch something else… something else… something else for sure… certainly not a coming out video…
“And so at that point my dad look at me in the eyes and… I’ll never forget it… he told me… “I’m not gona have a fa-”
Leo stops the video, he has had enough for tonight… he checks his GuyTube chronology on his phone and as he scrolls down he starts to count the coming out videos he watched since he has gotten in bed
1
2
3
…
They soon become more than he can even count this late at night, he watched fucking two hours’ worth of those! Guess he really needs to stop at this point…
Leo tries once more
He removes his headphones; he turns off his phone and lays his face on the pillow
But once more sleep doesn’t come to him despite the silence now reining around him… his brain is just too busy running through all the possible scenarios that him coming out may mean for him…
Get insulted!
Kicked Out!
Beaten…
Those were all possibilities, weren’t they?
But would his family do those things? Would even his MOM really be like that? Why would she tho? Mom seemed to have had a good time tonight at the welcome party for that lesbian couple, and she said they were nice ladies! But what if it’s different when it comes to her son!? What if she doesn’t want to have a gay son!? What if she regrets having spent the last fourteen years of her life raising a son that is gay!? What if-
“CREEEEEEEEK”
The bedroom door opens and Leo recognizes his mom’s footsteps
“Julio…?” she whispers… before getting closer to Leo’s bed. She takes a good look at him before she states annoyed “You are still awake…”
Leo raises from his bed and gives his mom fleeting eye contact in the darkness, there is no point in pretending, his mom knows him to well he’d just get in more trouble
“Have you been playing on your phone this whole time?!” she enquires with a stern whisper getting closer to his bed
“Sorry… mom I won’t do it again…” Leo subconsciously reaches out to wipe one of his eyes which he keeps glued to the sheets in his lap
“Julio… is something wrong dear?”
Leo blinks his surprise as his mom’s tone softens all of a sudden and she sits on the bed besides him
“You can’t sleep?” Leo’s mom quietly wonders as she puts her hand on top of her son’s
“No… not really…”
“Julio… is something troubling you? Something at school maybe? You don’t seem yourself recently you know…? When you get scolded you usually never giving without a fight…”
“Ehm… no… I’m ok mom thanks…”
“Julio are you really sure everything is alright? You know it’s not the first time I see one of my children like this, and a mom can always feel when something’s wrong with her child. So, at the cost of sounding oppressive, can you please tell me what is bothering you?”
Leo bites his lips… he can hear his heart beat at a million miles at second… maybe… maybe… he should just get it over with! Once and for all!
Leo sighs
“Mom… can we get to the living room… so we don’t have to whisper?”
“Sure!”
Leo gets up from the bed, feeling the chilly winter air on his skin, and then heads to the living room, with his mom by his side
When his mom turns on the light to illuminate the room, Leo’s eyes accustomed to the darkness squeeze themselves shut and take their time to open back up. When they do, he sees his mom in the kitchen taking out a mug from the drawer
“Julio, sit on the couch and wait for me, ok?”
Leo nods and obeys… slumping on the couch, eyes looking at the ground
He feels a knot in his stomach, he asked his mom to come here so that he could tell the whole truth but can he really!? He’s not sure at this point… what if she doesn’t accept him like that girl, or what if she like… kicks him out like that other person!? What if-!?
“Here…” Leo’s mom hands him a mug full of piping hot chocolate, the warmth of the mug instantly heats up Leo’s cold hand, almost prompting him to never drink it and just keep it close to his heart… it could be the last warm gesture he’ll ever get from his mom…
“Take your time honey…” Leo’s mom sits on the couch besides her son
“Thanks mom…”
Leo moves the cup around in a circular motion and watches the hot chocolate spin around with it, then he brings it to his lips but stops himself short.
He can’t drink this now…
He wouldn’t enjoy the hot chocolate like this… the knot in his stomach is killing him!
Setting the cup on the coffee table in front of him Leo turns to his mom
“Mom…?” Leo can already feel his voice starting to tremble
“Yes honey…?”
“You’ll always love me right?!” Leo’s tone becomes more unsteady
“Always.”
“Always always ALWAYS!?!?”
Leo’s mom puts a hand on his shoulder and looks at him in the eyes
“Always, Always, Always, ALWAYS! And forever…”
“M-mom… I’M GAY! Ahg…” as soon as he says it Leo’s eyes are overrun with tears but not even a second later he feels his mom’s arms warping tightly around him and keeping him close in a tender and comforting hug
Like magic, the knot in Leo’s stomach disappears and his hearts becomes light again. The warm embrace of his mom made him feel instantly better, with her by his side he’s sure he can do anything. How could he even think he wouldn’t love him anymore!?
“Wahhaaaaaaahaha mom…” Leo sobs strongly “...I love you!!”
“I love you too Leo…”
“AGaahhahaaaahhhh” in between his tears Leo manages to let out a laugh “You called me Leo!” he points out raising his head
“Yeh maybe” she winks
“Ahaaa, mom…” Leo pulls out from the hug and wipes his eyes “…I’m… sorry… guh…” he admits with a slight startle “…I’m sorry if I made you worry like this for no reason…” he sniffles some more
“No Leo I’m sorry… I’m sorry if I ever did anything that made you think I wouldn’t love you anymore if you liked boys instead of girls…”
“NO NO! You didn’t nothing like that! I just… to be honest… when I first realized it I didn’t fear you not loving me anymore but I just wanted to give myself some more time to be sure… but then I started to watch all these videos about people getting kicked out of their home and stuff after their parents found out they were gay and… I don’t know I guess I just became paranoid and feared it may happen to me too! Even, even IF I REALLY HAD NO REASON TO! But like really it’s my fault for doubting your love! I was really stupid mom!”
“Julio… I’m sorry that you even thought of that in the slightest… is there anything that I could have done differently… so that I could… I could have made things easier for you?”
Leo reflects on it for a moment. When he truly thinks about it maybe had they a chance to talk like this more often he would have felt more comfortable telling her or at least not bottling everything up! But his mom… the bags under her eyes… are already so deep… she can’t waste time on him like that and it would be unfair for the rest of his siblings too if he were to get that special attention…
“No mom, you have no fault in this I swear… it was just me getting paranoid about it…”
“I’m glad… and in all honesty Julio…”
“Yes mom?”
“…I always kinda knew you were, a… bit more special… let’s put it that way… so I already had this suspicion you know?!”
“Wait what!?”
“You know, you’ve always been a bit different compared to your older brothers… I can’t quite put my finger on it, but you just always had something different compared to all the boys of your age…”
“Like?” Leo can’t think of anything that would made him ‘different’ like that, he didn’t exactly like dolls, make up and dresses like other gay men he heard about always have had, and he never had any qualms about playing rough or getting dirty either… so he isn’t really sure about what his mom is referring to
“I told you… I just… I just don’t know really… it’s one of those things moms feel, you know? And you know when you were little I didn’t pay much mind to it, but as you grow older and I saw you not really paying much mind to girls compared to how much your brothers did and I… and I sorta just looked a bit more in to what I was feeling and realized that you might have no interest in girls at all! So just so you know it didn’t come as a total surprise to me!”
“OOHHH MOM!” Leo hugs his mom again as he starts to sob some more “You’ll always be by my side right?!”
“Always… and forever” she reciprocates the hug while gently rubbing her son’s back
“Mama, Porque Ulio esta llorando?”
Leo looks up to see the baby of the family standing on the living room doorway, teddy bear in hand, thumb in her mouth.
“Niña…” Leo’s mom sighs as he looks at her toddler age daughter enquiring on why her big bro was crying “Come here…”
The baby waddles her way to the couch and sits on mom’s lap “Why are you crying Ulio?!”
“Oh don’t worry about me… I’m fine… I was just a little sad that’s all!”
“Why…?”
“It’s… complicat-”
“Niña… look… Leo just had a boo-boo in his heart”
“In his haat?”
“Yes in his heart… do you know where the heart is?”
The baby stretches her little hand out and puts it on Leo’s chest “Boo-boo, Boo-boo GO AWAY!”
“AAAWWWH…” Leo sniffles a bit “…thanks little one!”
“Bewter!?”
“Yes! Thank to you now it’s all better” Leo picks up his little sister and hugs her tightly
Leo’s mom smiles, her heart full of warmth in front of this sight, but she still knows it’s very late for everyone “Ok ok niña but now go back to your bed please, mama is gona come to tuck you in in just a sec”
“KAY!” the toddler girl hopes off Leo’s lap and does as her mama ordered
“As for you little sir, you need to go to bed too! You have school tomorrow”
“Can I skip school tomorrow!? I’m kinda tired…”
“Don’t you have a math test tomorrow?”
“Yeh, but like mom you know I’m good at math I can just do it another day!”
“Yes but what if your friends do something very cool right on that ONE day you decide to skip school!? It would suck, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeh… ok fair… lemme just drink my-!” Leo turns around to pick up his hot chocolate but finds a teddy bear instead of the mug
Leo and his mom share one look and they let out a giggle after they realized the baby had pulled that trick right under their noses
“Guess no hot chocolate for me tonight then…”
“Not so fast, I’ll just make you another mug!”
“Really?”
“Yep! Now let me just make sure your sister doesn’t make a mess and I’ll come with the hot chocolate to tuck you in!”
Leo’s eyes feel watery again, he’s so fortunate to have a mom like her! Maybe she might not always have time for him but she for sure loved him more than anyone else in this world!
“Thanks mom!”
“I Love you my little sunshine!”
“I Love you too!!”
YEARS LATER
“Uhmm… paillettes o leather?!” Leo wonders and yawns before deciding “Whatever! paillettes! Everyone will be already drunk by now nobody will notice the difference” Leo swings his jacket on and picks up his phone where he sees that Ace has sent him a message
Ace
“Leo are you still awake?”
Leo types ‘Yes’ but then changes his mind and types a new message as he rubs his eyes
Leo
“Yes but I’m already in bed”
Ace
“Ah! Ok then I won’t bother you! Tmw pass by my dorm on your way to class, you forgot your socks in the locker room!”
Leo
“K Ace love U”
Ace
“Love U too sleep well”
Leo yawns and rubs his eyes again, the begs under them is pretty visible, as he looks himself in the camera of his phone he understands that he looks pretty shitty all around. His hair is a mess and his outfit not exactly runway worthy. Whatever it’ll do! It’s gona be dark inside the party anyway.
Light on his feet the soccer player gets out of his dorm and heads in to the elevator, he presses the button for the ground floor and can already feel in his bones the night of fun ahead of him!
“BIP BOP”
“LEO!?” the door opens to reveal Ace’s surprised face
“Oh hi…” Leo tries to look away but since he’s in an elevator he literally has his back to the wall
“Wait a second, what are you doing dressed like that!?! Didn’t you text me saying you were going to bed!?”
“Uh I remembered that I need to ask something to the receptionist!”
“In a paillettes jacked!?”
“It’s the first thing I found!”
“And it was easier to put on that a pair of sweet pants?!”
“Ehm…”
“Leo are you going to a party!?”
“I mean I was invited!!!! And it’s the birthday party of a dude in the soccer club, I can’t not go! He’d be disappointed”
“Leo who’s even is the birthday boy!?”
“Uh… Fran… Fran… klin?”
“See you don’t even remember his name!”
“But we talk sometimes…”
“Leo… please stop it already, you can’t go to a party like this! You already played soccer and went to the role-play club today! And don’t’ you have a programming exam in two days!?”
“Yeh… yeh I do… but I can just recover the sleep I won’t get today tomorrow!”
“Leo… I thought we went over this a million times already!”
“Yeh you are right… but can’t you try to not be so oppressing all the time!? You sound like my mom!”
“Well maybe I’m not your mom, but as your boyfriend I care about you just as much!”
“Ok… ok… I get it! See you tomorrow!” Leo presses the button to go back to his floor
“Leo wait-GAHA!” Ace shoves his arm inside the elevator to stop the door from closing
“Ace what the fuck!?” Leo screams out worried as the door open back up reviling the pain on Ace’s face
“Ouch… ouch…” the blue hair boy rubs his arm to try an alleviate the pain
“Ace why did you do that!!?”
“Because I’m coming with you!” Ace sets aside his pain and gently pushes Leo back in the elevator, but his tone ends up sounding pretty harsh
“Crap…” Leo mumbles to himself as Ace presses the button to go back to his boyfriend’s dorm
The elevator ride is spent in silence, with the exception of Ace still rubbing his injured arm
As soon as the door opens however, Leo sees another familiar person heading for his dorm door
“UH!? Mom!?” Leo asks in disbelief
“OH!” Leo’s mom turns around with the beg she is carrying “Hi Honey!” she exclaims happy waking toward the two men
As soon as Ace sees her however, he sides eye Leo with a look of disappointment
“Did you know she was supposed to come now?” he whispers
“Yes…” Leo mumbles “I forgot…”
Ace sighs but without another word the young men walk up to Mrs. Mendez and great her as warmly as they can
“Hey mom…!”
“Hi honey! Come here!” Leo’s mom puts her hands around her son’s face and quickly stamps a kiss on his forehead. Leo would have preferred she hadn’t done, at least not in front of Ace this but it’s too late now. “Did you just come up with the elevator as well hun?” she asks naively
“Yes?”
“Then how could have we not met on the ground floor?!”
“There are a lot of elevators here… we must have not crossed path…” which, now that Leo thinks about it, actually kinda makes the fact that he runed in to Ace of all people sting a lot more
“Hi Mrs. Mendez!” Ace intrudes after having let mom and son have their moment
“Oh! Ace! I’m so happy you are also here! C’mon let’s get inside I brought you something to eat!” Leo’s mom announces as he lifts from the ground the ‘something’ in question: a huge shopping bag barely holding all the food that will probably last Leo at least a month
Even if reluctant Leo guides his mom and boyfriend to his dorm and once inside, he immediately asks “Mom do you want help to unpack all that stuff?”
“Yes I-”
“I’ll do it for you Leo, don’t worry!”
“Aceee!!”
“Leo…” Ace bites his lips “ehm… No butts! You are tired and need to go to sleep as soon as possible! So got the bathroom and get yourself ready for bed!”
“Ihhih…” Leo’s mom lets out a small giggle
“MOM!?”
“Sorry Julio… it’s just that… Ace!”
“Yes!?”
“Do you know how many times I said those exact words to Julio!?”
“No…?”
“Probably more than a million!”
“See Leo! Even your mom says you clearly need sleep!”
“Yeh you really do hon! I’m sorry I came here now, had I known you were this tired I would have waited until tomorrow! But Ace is right c’mon get ready for bed! You look exhausted”
“Fine…” Leo sliders in to the bathroom without another word, now really outmatched, just as his mom and Ace start to unpack the food
“Thank you, Ace…”
“For what Mrs. Mendez?”
“For taking care of my son!”
“Oh… no really… it’s nothing big he’s my boyfriend after all!”
“That’s why I’m grateful! I’m honestly… when Leo went off to collage… I was worried… I was worried because… I think he knows he has a lot of siblings and he always wanted to do a lot of things… but I couldn’t always give him the time he needed, so I was worried, I was worried that now that he’s autonomous he’d just burn himself out… I think he has taken it from me… but I’m glad you are here to keep him in check…”
Ace bits his lips and rubs his hurt arm… “Thanks Mrs Mendez… it’s just that sometimes I feel a bit overwhelming! He’s so full of energy even at his lowest, and I’m always there trying to stifle him!”
“I know it’s hard but that’s exactly why I’m glad you are his boyfriend… because if you are willing to do that for him it means you really love him!”
“Yeh I guess it’s true!” Ace smiles at Mrs Mendez who, after giving a side eye to the bathroom door, whispers a request in Ace’s ear
“Do you mind going to the bathroom after Leo gets out? I need to talk to him in private”
“Sure!” Ace says out loud
“Sure what?” Leo raises and eyebrow as he comes out the bathroom in his pajamas
“I need to use the bathroom! Can I Leo?”
“Yeh… ok” the dorm owner agrees and his guest quickly walks in
“Mo-”
“Honey what’s wrong?” Leo’s mom anticipates him
“Oh, no it’s not like that, you and Ace are right! I’m just tired that’s all…”
“Honey I know something is wrong… usually you are always exited to see me on this day… but today you just seem kinda down…”
“Wait? Is it a special day today?”
“Yes honey it’s your coming out anniversary! Remember? We decided together that this would be a day I came by to visit you here at Olympus!”
“Oh yeh… that’s right… that’s right… I completely forgot to be honest this was the reason you came…”
“It’s ok honey… but now can you tell me what’s really wrong?”
“Do I have to?!”
“Well you don’t haaave to, but I think you remember what’s it like to keep something inside? Do you?”
“Yeh… I do…” Leo sighs and sits on his bed, his mom follows soon after
“it’s just that, right now I think I made Ace mad” he whispers to make sure Ace doesn’t hear from the bathroom
“Really? Why?”
“He caught me trying to go at a party right as I came out of the elevator and you know… long story short I ended up accidently squishing his arm in the elevator doors”
“And did you talk about it?”
“No it literally just happened…”
“Then you know what do to…”
“What?” Leo shakes his head slightly; he really can’t think of anything he should do right now
“Just talk it out, it’s not the first time you have fight about something, or is it?”
“No you are right mom… I’ll talk to him…”
“Good!” Leo’s mom stamps kiss on Leo’s cheek “Sleep tight my little Sunshine!”
“You are already going?!”
“Yes you have a guest over don’t you?” she winks as he heads for the exit
“Thanks mom!” Leo beams back with his usual big smile
“Oh! Are you leaving Mrs. Mendez!?” Ace comes out of the bathroom just as Leo’s mom is about to head out
“Yes I need to run Ace! Have a good night!!”
“Ok! Goodnight…”
The door closes
Silence falls
Leo already hates silence, so he breaks it as directly as he can
“I’M SORRY ACE!”
“Sorry for what?” Ace asks, demanding specifics as he looks at Leo from in front the bathroom door
“I’m sorry… for your arm… does it still hurt?”
“A little… but it’s fine really…”
“Are you mad at me for that!?”
“Ehm… yes I am mad at you Leo but it’s not because of that” Ace steps closer to Leo’s bed
“Wait really!?”
“Yeh, I was still the one who shoved his arm in the closing doors so I can’t really blame you for that…” Ace admits
“Uh… well… then what are you mad about?”
Ace walks up directly to Leo and looks at the sitting boy right in the eyes “You lied to me…”
“Ohw… yeh I did… I-I’m sorry I have no excuse… it’s just these days… you know the crunch with homework and stuff has been pretty terrible… I really wanted to take my mind off of things with all the free time I have but I knew that if I said I wanted to go to that party, you would have stopped me…”
“And…?”
“AndYAWWAAWAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNN” Leo rubs his eyes and clicks his tongue, then he looks back up at Ace “…you have been completely right to do so! Sorry for lying to you…”
Ace’s frown turns in to a smile as he sits down on the bed besides Leo and then tenderly stamps a kiss on his cheek in the same exact place where his mom kissed him earlier, then he looks in Leo’s eyes which makes his boyfriend smile back at him
“You are stopping at that!? Where’s the passion dude!?” Leo squeals
“Argh! Lemme give you all the passion in the world!” Ace pushes down Leo on the bed and fills him up with kisses in every angle of his body
“AhA! Hey not there aaha it tickles!!”
“You asked for passion and this is what I’m giving you!”
“Ok! Ok! But ahahaha stop it! I’m dying!” the smaller boy gently pushes his boyfriend away
“Yeh you are right that’s enough for today… you need to sleep…”
“Wait Ace! You know… usually when we do it right before bed I tend to sleep better you know?!”
“Leo… if you want me to stay for the night you can just say it!” Ace teases his boyfriend
“No, I mean yes! But I also want to… you know… that…”
“I mean… it’s getting kinda late but…” Ace adjusts his pants in the crotch area then he grins…
…and slides down Leo’s shorts