Thicker Than Water - 3. Chapter 3

Diego, Bryan and Kenny got into Diego's truck and headed away from the school. Kenny said that he ran into Diego and asked for a ride.

“Bryan—“ Diego started but Bryan cut him off.

“Dad, can we just move on? The fight was so last chapter?”

“Oh, you've got jokes now?” Diego asked with a small smile on his face, while Kenny giggled.

“I'm mean, I've always had jokes, so....”

“Well, I'm glad you think all of this is funny.”

“Thanks Dad,” Bryan said with a wide smile. “I really appreciate your support.”

“You might want to reserve your appreciation for after your punishment.”

Bryan's smile faltered. “Punishment?”

“Yeah, you can't just punch a kid in class, again, and think you can just get away with it.”

“But, I was defending Kenny and other queer kids.”

“You punched him three times, Bryan.”

“Yeah, one for every time he said, 'Fag.' Am I supposed to just sit there and let it happen?”

Diego was secretly proud of his son for what he did, but Bryan needed to learn that you can't just beat people up because they offend you. “Why didn't you use your words instead of your fists?”

Shocked, Bryan looked at his father and said, “You have seen Dan Thomas, right? Does he look like he can understand English enough to get that he's being properly insulted?”

Kenny couldn't help but giggle again, though he suspected that Mr. Padilla didn't find Bryan's remarks funny.

“Does it matter?” Diego asked. “I didn't raise a bully.”

“I am not a bully,” Bryan said, scandalized. “I was defending my best friend from being bullied. I was defending those still in the closet who are too afraid to come out. If anything, I was defending my people from the bigotry Dan Thomas and his friends love to weaponize.”

“Your people?” Diego said, trying not to laugh. “Is this you coming out?”

“No, I'm not coming out. You've raised me to stand up for those marginalized people who don't have the power or ability to do it themselves. Those are my people, Dad.”

Diego felt proud of his eldest child. Nurture over nature, He said to himself. “I'm glad you have a cause, Chico, but you still can't just put hands on people.”

“It wasn't people. It was Dan Thomas. He barely counts as human.”

“Don't dehumanize him, even if he's a bully, or you're no better than he is.”

Bryan nodded, seeing the wisdom in his dad's words. “Would it make you happy if I apologized?”

“No, it wouldn't, because you wouldn't mean it. I don't want you to do the right thing just to make me happy. I want you to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do.”

“I'm sorry you had to miss work because of my actions. I'll try to do better in the future.”

“Thank you, Chico. I appreciate and accept your apology; you're still grounded, though, and I have a list of chores for you to do during your suspension.”

“But, I apologized!” Bryan countered. “Doesn't that count for something?”

“It does. It means that I still love you even after all of this.”

“Please, like you were ever going to stop loving me.”

“I don't know. It was a very lengthy debate on the way to the school.”

Bryan rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah? What would you do? Send me to live with my mother?” He regretted the words the second they left his mouth. “Sorry, sorry. I totally forgot. Dad, I'm really sorry.”

“How could you forget that your mom is dead?” Kenny asked, who was shocked at the statements.

“I rarely thought of her before today, so I guess it's a habit,” Bryan replied to Kenny. “Dad, seriously, I didn't mean it like that.”

Diego squeezed his son's hand and said, “I know, Chico, but are you really apologizing to me or yourself?”

Bryan thought about it for a while. He didn't miss his mother when she was alive, and he honestly didn't feel any different now that she was dead. His comment was an accident. It was often a joke that, once Diego “grew tired of being a dad,” he'd send the boys to someone else; often, it was Diego's mother in Mexico, but Bryan occasionally offered his mother as an option knowing that Diego disliked the woman a lot.

“Both, I guess,” Bryan said. “I wish I could miss her, though. Just another thing my sperm donor took from me when he left.”

“Both your birth parents were wrecks,” Diego said, still holding his son's hand. “You're mother was an addict, and you're father...well, we don't have that kind of time. You're nothing like them, Chico.”

“Thanks to you, Dad.” Bryan squeezed his dad's hand, unbothered by the display of affection that would normally drive a teenager into a frenzy of embarrassment.

“You two are so gay,” Kenny said from the backseat.

“Oy!” Diego chided, chuckling, “nobody asked for your opinion, buster. I can love my son all I fucking want!” Bryan and Kenny both laughed. “Are you staying for dinner, Kenny?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Diego looked over at his son and said, “Hear that? 'Sir.' You could learn a thing or two from your friend there, Chico. He knows how to respect his elders.”

Bryan rolled his eyes and said, “Kenny, what did we talk about? If you start showing him respect, you'll ruin him for the rest of us.”

“You'll show me respect or you can walk the rest of the way home.”

“Oh no, that's like half a mile.”

“Yeah and for your generation that's like a marathon.”

“Whatever. Abuela has me walk like two miles for her every time we visit.”

“Which has only been twice since she moved back, so don't sass me.”

“Yes, Sir,” Bryan said, mockingly emphasizing the last word.

“See, that wasn't so hard was it?”

Diego dropped the boys off at the house before heading to the store to get food for dinner. Steve was in the living room watching TV. They exchanged pleasantries, which Bryan only half-heartedly joined in as he got a couple cans of Coke from the fridge for he and Kenny. While his friend and maybe-stepfather talked, Bryan walked down the hall to check on his little brother.

Caleb was curled up on his bed asleep. By the smell in the room, Caleb wet himself again. Bryan sighed wondering when this habit was going to end. Ever since he could remember his little brother peed the bed. Things got better as time passed, with Caleb only doing this whenever he was greatly stressed. Unlike himself, Caleb started to get attached to their mother. The boy was too young to remember ever living with her, which was right before their birth father abandoned them with Diego; in fact, Caleb's earliest memories didn't include either of their parents. Diego was the only dad Caleb had ever known.

Bryan got out some clothes and brought in a warm washcloth. He gently shook his brother awake, who began to cry once he realized what had happened.

“Shh, hey, hey,” Bryan said softly. “It's okay, buddy. It was an accident. There's no need to stress out, okay?” He helped his brother out of his soiled clothes and gave Caleb the washcloth. As the 11-year-old cleaned himself and got dressed in new clothing, Bryan took the dirty bedding and started washing them. They weren't like most siblings. Caleb was the only blood family he had, and Bryan was smart enough to know not to squander it.

Bryan walked back into the room, as Caleb was putting new bedding on the mattress. Luckily, nothing soaked through to the mattress. He walked over and pulled his brother into a hug. “How are you doing?” Bryan asked.

“I'm okay,” Caleb said. “Please don't tell Dad.”

You know I'm not going to lie for you; plus, I think he'll figure it out once he hears the machines going.”

“I don't want him to be mad at me.”

Bryan lifted his brother's chin, so they could lock eyes. Caleb had dark blue eyes, unlike his own brown. “Caleb, when has Dad ever been mad at you for wetting the bed?”

“Never.”

“So, why would he start now?”

Caleb sniffled. “Because he just got the mattress cleaned, and I could've ruined it.”

Trying to be patient, Bryan said, “Did you ruin it? No, you didn't, so there's no reason to believe that Dad will be mad at you. Even if you did get piss on the mattress, he wouldn't get mad at you. He loves you very much. That's why you're his favorite.”

Caleb chuckled and jokingly pushed his big brother. “No, you're his favorite.”

“I think not, daddy's boy.” It was a private joke between the two boys and their dad, over who was Diego's favorite, as if being more loved by their father was a negative thing. Bryan hugged Caleb and said, with as much sincerity as he could muster, “I love you, baby bro.”

“I love you, too, big bro.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Kenny said, poking his head into Caleb's room. “Steve is getting boring, so are we going to do math now?”

Bryan rolled his eyes and gave Caleb one last hug before taking his friend to the room next door. Sampson, the family dog, pushed passed both teens and took his spot in the middle of Bryan's bed. Bryan moved the dog out of his bedroom, despite the very vocal protesting Sampson was doing. “Go get Caleb,” Bryan encouraged as an alternative, before shutting his door.

“I thought you like that dog,” Kenny said, kicking off his shoes and pulling out his math book.

“I do, but he likes to get in the way,” Bryan said, removing his shoes and socks. “What are you doing?”

“Math,” Kenny replied, looking confused.

“Why?”

“Um, you said you'd tutor me.”

Bryan nodded, then said, “You do remember that I failed math last year, right?”

“Yeah, but you were in Pre-Algebra. I'm in pre-Pre-Algebra, which you passed in 6^th grade.”

“Barely,” Bryan corrected. “Tell you what,” he said, grabbing his Playstation controllers, “for every fight you win, I'll help you answer a math problem.”

Kenny glared at his friend. “You know I suck at fighting games.”

“And I suck at math, so we're even.”

Kenny couldn't argue against that logic, so he grabbed the controller and pressed Start. After 20 minutes of getting his butt kicked, with his 20 unanswered math questions nagging at him, Kenny opted to get half of his homework done, while Bryan played a different game.

Once Kenny was done with what he could, he looked at his best friend, and the thing that had really been bothering him prompted him to ask, “Are we ever going to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” Bryan replied, still focused on his game.

“You know what.”

“Nope, can't say I do.”

“The kiss. You kissed me over the summer.”

“Oh,” Bryan said offhandedly. “What's there to talk about?”

Kenny was in shock. “You kissed me!”

“I beg to differ, Sir,” Bryan countered. “I recall you leaned in and kissed me.”

“I most certainly did not!”

“Uh, yeah, you did.” Bryan put down his controller and turned to his friend, who was rather red in the face. “We were here. You had just come out to me, even though I knew you were gay since, like, 3^rd grade, and you leaned in and put your lips on mine.”

“No, I did not! I came out to you. You said we were cool, I leaned in to give you a hug, because I was happy and crying, and you kissed me.”

“Yeah, that's not how I remember it,” Bryan said, starting a new game.

“Can we at least talk about it?”

“What's there to talk about?”

“Ugh,” Kenny moaned out of frustration. He didn't know if Bryan was messing with him or not. “Never mind,” he said, while putting away his things.

“Where are you going?” Bryan demanded. “My dad is making dinner.”

“I need to talk about what happened and you clearly don't, so I'm going home.”

Bryan put down his controller, grabbed Kenny by the front of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. They held their lips together for a good three minutes before Bryan pulled away. Kenny looked breathless, his eyes only partially open. Bryan turned away, grabbed his controller, and said, “There, we're even.”

Kenny swore loudly, prompting Steve to yell, “Language,” from the living room. “You, you, you--” The boy was clearly flustered.

“Welcome, I think it is the word you're looking for,” Bryan said with a wide smile.

“You can't just queerbate me, Bryan,” Kenny said, sounding genuinely upset.

Bryan realized his mistake, turned off the game system and pulled his best friend towards him. He wrapped his arms around Kenny and said, “I'm sorry, Kenny. I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just playing around.

“I'm not playing, though,” Kenny said, crying into Bryan's shoulder. “This really hurts.”

“Okay,” Bryan said, still holding his friend. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Are you gay?” Kenny asked.

“No,” Bryan said definitively. “I'm not gay, but I'm not straight or bi, either. I think I'm pan.”

“Oh,” Kenny said, recognizing the shorthand for pansexual. “That makes things more complicated.”

“Tell me about it,” Bryan said. He let go of Kenny and stretched out on his bed. Kenny laid down next to him. Bryan looked down and slid his hand into Kenny's, lacing their fingers. “I don't know how to describe it. I don't like all boys, and I don't like all girls. I just think some are cute, regardless of what or who they are.”

Kenny's heart pounded, as he quietly asked, “Do you think I'm cute?”

Bryan squeezed Kenny's hand and said, “Yeah, I do--”

“--But,” Kenny interjected, feeling his heart hurt.

“But I don't know how to feel about that. We're best friends. What if we ruin that by being more than best friends? I don't want to lose you.”

“You won't lose me, Bryan,” Kenny said, rolling over and putting his head on Bryan's chest. For his part, Bryan wrapped his arms around his friend.

“My dad and birth father used to be best friends, and now, they're not. I know he doesn't say it, but I know my dad hates my sperm donor, and for a lot more than dumping me and Caleb off on him.”

“We won't ever be like them, though,” Kenny said.

“How can you be so sure? Dad said they were like brothers once.”

“I just know you aren't like your birth father.”

“Maybe I am? I can't risk losing you if I turn out to be like him.”

Kenny sat up, leaned in and kissed Bryan. It was still on the lips with no tongue, but Kenny hoped his real feelings for Bryan could be felt all the same. “You are not like your birth father. If you're like anyone, you're like your dad, Diego. He's your real father, no matter what your DNA says.”

Something inside Bryan was about to break, and he didn't like that feeling. He would get the same feeling during therapy sessions. It was uncomfortable and scary. He needed a way to ignore it till the feeling was gone, so he leaned in and kissed Kenny once again, this time with a lot more passion than their previous kisses had been. Kenny, of course, didn't mind in the slightest.