"let me tell you something, darling. you've unlocked a side of me, even I fear. but since you want to keep me up all night, challenging me, he's gonna show up at some point." Mateo whispers, huskily into my ear, gripping my neck.
"what are you talki...
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When Malik was 11, he first came out to me as gay. my first reaction was to hug him, my second reaction was to tell him that I support him and that I don't care who he loves.
As an older brother, I felt proud. proud that my brother trusted me enough to tell me, proud that he was proud of himself and proud that he found himself.
the second person he told was our mom. he knew she would be fine with it. our mom is probably one of the most accepting people. she even confessed that she had done things with women as a teen.
when it came down to our dad, the three of us were confused. my dad never talked about the LGBTQ community. mom was optimistic because she knows her husband. she knows how open-minded he is. I was optimistic too. my dad's company won awards for the most diverse staff. mom even said it was his idea that the company hires more minorities.
so when it came down to malik telling him... dad was more than accepting. he asked Malik if there was anything he wanted. anything he should add to the company. all malik asked for was pride flags outside each one of our properties. hotels, resorts, restaurants, everything. and we did just that. dad even went above and beyond, he bought pride merchandise. everyone got a shirt, he bought himself a mug, he got malik a flag and even educated himself on other sexualities.
the same year Malik came out, we went to new york to take him to his first pride parade. it was an experience for us all, but I knew that it made my little brother feel safe. and that's all I wanted and still want that.
"how do I look?" malik asks coming into my room.
"gay" I answer.
"that's the point," he says. Malik's wearing a Nike shirt with the pride flag on it, Rainbow shorts, Nike Air Max 720 from the BeTrue collection. his eyes have rainbow eyeshadow on them and his nails are painted rainbow.
the makeup and nails took some convincing. how did I get him to do it after he had a panic attack over it?
I had to do the same thing. my eyeshadow is done and so are my nails. malik has probably called me the f-slur 100 times this morning. the only thing that will let people know I'm not gay is my shirt that says "ALLY" in a rainbow.
"come on, faggot. let's go before I change my mind and take everything off." malik says rushing me out of my room. today Malik will basically out himself to the school. he's had multiple breakdowns in just 2 hours.
"Aww you look amazing." mom says as we walk downstairs.
"picture." dad says taking his phone out. I wrap my arm around Malik's shoulder and dad takes a few pictures.
"ok, have a great day. remember if you feel overwhelmed you can come home." mom says to malik. malik nods his head.
