(GQ #12) The Confession

2. Stitches

'Happy Birthday Léonardo.' Leon's mother texted. 'I know things have been hectic, but if Ángelito were here, he would want you to make the best of it. We'll call later. Te quiero. <3 (Have you gotten our care package yet? ó_ò)'

Leon sat on his bed staring at his phone just as he had been for the past three days. He let his parents know that he 'fixed' it when it was never broken and that he 'found' it when it was never lost. He told them good morning and good night. He let them know he was safe and how he felt–not great.

The one thing he couldn't bring himself to tell them was that he knew where his brother went. Every day since he got his phone back, he convinced himself that it would be the day he told them. Now, his birthday had come around, and he completely forgot. He just couldn't find it in himself to say the words.

And how could he? How could he tell his parents that their son snuck into the military? That he's pretending to be an adult? That he lied to them as Leon? His heart broke hearing them worry so much about Angelo's safety. He wanted his brother to be safe, too, but telling the truth at this point felt like pulling teeth.

Leon thought reaching out to friends for advice first might make things easier, not anyone on the ship but people he knew from high school. Most were busy with jobs or starting college. Those were the ones that responded, anyway.

His last option would be telling his crewmates. He'd have to do that eventually, and he wanted to believe that things would turn out alright, but the more he thought about it, the less sure he became.

Angelo's actions were bizarre, hurtful, and dangerous. How on Earth did he manage to sneak into the IF? For one, he needed a birth certificate to get in. Leon once read that Jun managed to get in by changing their gender marker to male, but age couldn't be changed. That's why the freshmen at his high school used to ask if he knew how to get a fake ID.

...Did Angelo get a fake ID? No, that's silly. Leon breathed a sigh of relief knowing that his brother would need faked documents to actually get in.

He used fake documents, didn't he? Horror welled up in the pit of Leon's stomach. Forged documents sounded like really bad news. He might go to jail for this. Leon's brain struggled to think of a scenario where his brother avoided that. It also struggled to think of someone as sensitive and frail as Angelo surviving. Picturing his mugshot felt like an absurd joke.

Things had to turn out okay in the long run, right? Maybe jail wasn't as bad as he heard. Maybe it got a bad reputation! Unfortunately, he couldn't know for sure without talking to someone with first-hand experience.

Fortunately, his roommate, who did have first-hand experience, walked into the room.

"Hey, Aiden!"

Aiden looked surprised at first, then tired.

Leon continued. "You've been locked up before. What's it like? Was it better than you expected? Were there things about it that you liked more than you thought you would like?"

The taller ranger squinted. "...You know I broke outta there, right?"

"Yeah, but... It wasn't all that bad, was it?" A desperate smile crossed Leon's face.

"It was."

His smile fell. "There's nothing good about it? At all?"

"Why do you want prison to be fun so bad? Are you tryin' to go? I don't think much of the IF, but I came here to get out of having to go back there." Aiden leaned toward him. "Get. It. Through. Your. Thick. Head." He poked his own head for emphasis. "I don't like prison." Finally, he turned toward the door.