Summer Sunshine (bxb)

Chapter 9. Happy Birthday?

The evening before Summer's birthday Caleb wanders out to the front porch after hours of writing. Sam is there with a bag of potting soil and several different hanging plants. Petunias. The blooms are bright bursts of color on the white porch.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asks watching his brother fill a hanging planter with potting soil. It's pretty obvious what he's doing but no one taught Caleb how to make conversation.

"Planting these flowers," Sam gestures to the pink, white, blue and purple flowers sitting around him. "It's a little later than I intended. I was hoping to have them up before June."

"Oh, so these are Pride flag colors?" Caleb sits down on the porch swing and picks up a pink flowered petunia.

"Yes, to show support for Ivy," Sam says proudly. "I do this every year."

"They are for you too, Caleb," Summer's soft voice says.

Caleb jumps with a yelp. "Where did you come from?"

Summer looks amused. "I was getting water." He sets a full watering can down on the porch and crouches next to Sam. "Luckily both you and my mom are bi so we're killing two birds with one stone." He frowns. "That's such a violent saying. Why would anyone ever want to kill birds?"

Caleb smiles fondly at him. This is one of the things he loves about Summer. The way he views the world. He loves so gently and with his whole heart.

Ivy comes out to join them with a mug of tea in her hand. She ruffles Summer's hair affectionately and leans against the porch rail. Shark jumps up next to her begging for attention.

"Do you need any help?" Caleb asks Sam and Summer.

"You can help me," Summer offers. He is surrounded by white, pink and blue petunias. The colors of the trans flag.

Caleb sits down cross legged next to him.
"Why petunias?" he asks Sam. The stems are slightly sticky. He doesn't like how they feel.

"Well," Sam carefully plants a pink petunia in his hanging basket, "they come in a lot of different colors for starters. Plus they bloom all summer and they are perfect in hanging baskets."

"It's a pity we can't do your flags, sunshine," Ivy says to Summer.

Summer shrugs. "I don't mind. I think the colors of the genderqueer and demisexual flags would be difficult to come by."

"I didn't know you were genderqueer," Caleb says after a pause.

"I don't think it's ever come up. I figured it out in my early teens but I think I always knew. I just didn't have a name for it before. I still use he/him pronouns but any pronouns are fine. I don't really care. I was mistaken for a girl all the time growing up and it never bothered me. I use a lot of different gendered terms."

Caleb hands Summer white petunia. "I guess I learned a new thing about you."

Summer smiles at him. "I should learn something new about you too then. It seems only fair."

Caleb suddenly can't recall a single thing about himself. Does he even have a personality?

Summer laughs when he sees the look on his face. "You don't have to figure something out right now." He leans forward a little and meets Caleb's eyes his voice lowering. "Tell it to me later."

He's not flirting. Not really. Because his mom and Sam are right there and this is Sam's little brother. But maybe he is flirting, just a little, and he's surprised at himself.

Caleb's eyes widen and he quickly looks away. He's flustered and Summer finds he likes making him flustered. He almost wants to try again but he refocuses on what he's doing planting the flower Caleb hands to him with all his concentration instead.