Hey Stranger// GeminiFourth, FirstKhaotung

*51* How good it is to have a girl best friend?

The following weeks passed very quickly and were filled to the brim with activities.  Since Khao and First decided to get married, there has not been even a single day of peace at the Institute, and the entire motorsport world has been living with rumors about it for a long time.  An engagement he helped organize made him think of an idea, but he didn't know how to implement it.  Gemini returned to the Non-Magical world just for a moment to meet Rose.  After long and difficult persuasion, P'Zee allowed him to let Rose in on the affairs of their world, and Gemini eventually had to spend the night at Rose's to tell her everything.  He knew that his friend missed him very much, even though she hadn't seen him for only 7 months, but for him it had been over two years.  He told her about how time passes much faster on Gaia II.  And at the very end, like a cherry on the cake, he left information about Iris's pregnancy.  When he told her this, Rose became visibly sad.

“What's going on?”

“No, nothing is happening.  Why would anything be happening?” Rose asked in a nervous voice on one exhale, crumpling the piece of bedding they were sitting on in her hands.  Gem wasn't fooled.

“I can see it. Rosie, you're my friend for so long, you can't fool me”.

“Gemi, I'm sorry to say this, but while you were gone, I had a lot of time to think and I decided that no matter what, I would tell you the truth.  Because you see, I know that I will always be just a friend to you, I know that you will never see me as anything else, but I can't help it... Gem, I'm really sorry, but I've fallen in love with you”.

She didn't look at him.  Her cheeks and ears turned red.  She gripped the sheets even tighter.  Gem was stunned.  He didn't expect this but he appreciated her sincere words. For him, Rose had always been his best friend, someone he could tell anything to.  After all, Rose knew about his search for his mysterious handsome stranger, she even helped him with it...

Gem covered her hands with his.  When she looked up, he gave her a warm smile.

“Rose, you know I love you, right?  But it's like you say, you're like a sister to me.  Rose, maybe I wasn't entirely sure about it at the beginning, maybe I didn't understand everything back then, but a lot has happened recently and now I know it for sure: I'm gay and I'm in love with Fourth. I love him to the point that if I would have to suffer to make him happy or safe, I'd do it with smile. I love him, Rosie, I love him very much. Sorry”.

Gem would be a liar if he said he wasn't afraid to tell her that.  He was scared, but what scared him even more was the prospect of lying to someone who didn't deserve it.  Rose nodded briefly, blinked rapidly as if to ward off unwanted tears, and smiled back.  And he kept talking.

“I don't want to break your heart, I'm not saying this to hurt you.  This is how I am, this is how I was born.  Do you remember that sometimes I felt like I didn't fit in with the people around me?”

“I remember, but you don't care about such things, you don't care about other people's opinions about you”.

“Correction: I don't care about the opinions of people I don't know personally and who aren't close to me, but it was a time when I really didn't know who I was and what was happening to me.  You know my parents, you know that they're tolerant and understanding, and yet I was afraid to tell them about it, it seemed to me that I had let them down, that it was my fault, that there was something wrong with me.  I didn't tell anyone about it because I was ashamed.  But now I'm not ashamed anymore.  Maybe it's because I'm no longer looking for an answer: I've already found it”.

“I know.  It's Fourth, right?  Will you tell me about him?”

“Are you sure you can listen to this?”