Dancing With The Stars *Narry AU FanFic *Transgender!Niall

25 - Uncomfortable

It's strange to see my parents nonchalantly going out to eat; when I was young, my mother usually always had a plan for meals, whether it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We rarely went out to eat for anything, except for birthdays, where we would go to some expensive restaurant that I can't remember the name of.

It's awkward for me when we order, because, not only do I not know the menu or even recognize some of the things on the menu, my parents are very talkative with the waitress. They're cracking jokes and making each other laugh like it's some kind of tradition. And then there's me, mumbling what it is that I want in a quiet voice and my eyes still glued on the menu.

"Maura, you never told me you had a daughter! I thought it was only Greg and Niall?"

I look up at my parents; they're looking at me with small smiles. "That is Niall, Shay. He's finally returned!"

"Oh, this is him? I finally get to meet him after so long!" I glance up at the woman. I don't recognize this woman, so it's obviously not an old friend that they had even before I left. "Alrighty, well, I will return soon with your meals."

Shay walks off, her notepad still in hand as she leaves. I finally lift my head and look around the diner. A few people have looked over from their own tables at us, but they turn back when my eyes glance over them.

"You talk about me that much?" I asked them.

"We don't talk about you all the time. We just told her about you and Greg, and how you've both grown up and left to find jobs and whatnot. She asked where you two went, but, at the time, we didn't know where you were, so we told her that we didn't know where you went." My mother speaks.

I stay silent, just waiting for our food to arrive. But, they have different plans.

"Niall, what do you plan on doing now that you're back? We could enroll you at a University if you need to get your diploma still--"

"I've already got my diploma."

"Oh? Since when?"

"That was the first thing I did when I went to America, was finish all my schooling. I don't have any actual degrees, but I got a college diploma."

"Oh, well that's lovely. I guess you can just stay home now."

Actually, I was planning on getting some sort of job while I could. Maybe next week, I could go job hunting."

"Oh no, you don't have to do that. You've been away for seven years, Niall, just stay for a little while. But, maybe, you could join some sports teams? You were pretty good at football back then."

"I haven't touched a football since I was 14. And plus, I'm not interested in football. I want to dance. Maybe something has some kind of dance program--"

"Niall," My dad cuts me off.

"Sweetie, dancing is for girls. You can't do that."

"If you haven't realized by now, I am a girl. And also, have you ever even watched the show once? There's plenty of male dancers. It's not girly, it's just something fun that anyone can enjoy doing."

"You're not a girl, Niall, and you never will be."

This constant fight with my parents is getting so repetitive. I'm sick of those words, I'm sick of that name, I'm sick of them.

But I know that there is no way for me to fight back, because, to them, I'm still their innocent little boy, the one who does everything they say.

I'm tired of fighting with them.