thirteen
Michael placed two boxes of pizza on the dining room table. "I am a pizza enthusiast," he said, "This is my real job." He reached over the table, stacking three slices of pizza on his plate.
"That's disgusting," Juli said, grabbing a single slice.
"What?" He asked, his mouth already filled with pizza.
"Watching that pile of grease on your plate makes me want to vomit." She tied her hair up in a pony tail, letting the black strands lay upon her shoulder. "Can you bleach my hair?"
"Your dad would murder me." Michael pointed to Joey sitting down at the table, "He didn't talk to me when I shaved Joey's undercut."
Joey smiled as she sat down. She reached a hand up to feel the back of her head. "We need to touch that up, soon. It's growing back."
"After dinner," Michael whispered. He watched Calum and June come into the dining room, June holding Cal's hand tightly.
Michael knew Calum had a parent/teacher conference about June today which automatically put him in a bad mood. Mike was trying to avoid Calum as much as he could, he didn't want the man to snap at him.
Mike got June a plate, putting a slice of pizza on there ceramic. He made sure she was set and comfortable before going back to his own meal.
He watched Joey fidget around in her seat. Mike and her made eye contact and suddenly he realized what she was about to do.
"So, Dad," Joey started, moving her plate further away from her.
Calum looking up from his dinner, looking over at his middle child. "What's up, Buttercup?"
"I talked to Michael about this a few weeks ago, and I think it's time to talk to you about it, too."
Mike bit his lip and could feel his breathing stop. Calum gave Michael a look, obviously upset that he wasn't involved in something. Especially when it involved one of his children.
"Is that so?"
"I—," Joey paused, looking up at Michael once more. "I don't want to be called a girl, Dad. I don't want to be a girl. I'm not a girl."
He let out a shallow chuckle. "I don't understand."
"I want you and everyone to call me a boy. I want to be your son. I'm he, I'm him." Joey gripped at the placemat in front of him, his tan hands close to tearing apart the Tiffany blue mats.
"You're a girl."
"Cal," Michael dragged out his name, "Did you not hear anything Joey just said? He wants to be a boy. He's a boy."
"Don't defend Joey, she's confused."
"Dude, listen to your kid. He's not." Michael looked from Calum to Joey. Joey had tears brimming his eyes as he looked between Calum and Michael.
"Dad, I'm still me, I just want you to see who I really am," Joey pleaded. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling at the strands.
"What am I supposed to tell everyone? Oh yeah, my little girl is now a boy."
Joey rolled his eyes at the same time as Michael. Juli and June stayed quiet, slowly watching everything unroll in front of them.
"This isn't 1804, Dad. People understand transgender, or at least I fucking thought so."
"Don't swear at me." Calum looked over at Michael, ready to start a fight. "You knew about this? Were you ever planning on telling me that my daughter is now a boy?"
"Yeah, he was afraid of you for this exact reason! I'm not gonna out him like that, it's his life, not mine." Michael lost his appetite hearing his boyfriend speak.
"She's my daughter!"
"He is still your child. Just like he was yesterday, and last year, and the day he was born. Are you really acting like this right now?" Michael has never raised his voice, he's never argued with anyone besides his parents. He was always a common middle, he didn't like picking a side.
He usually was the one to calm Calum down, to assure him that everything would be okay. But, seeing him completely degrade Joey was something Michael was not for.
"Kids, take your dinner upstairs." Calum lifted up his own plate, bringing it to the kitchen.
Michael didn't move, just watched the three Hoods leave towards the stairs. Joey turned around once more, looking at Michael with sad, brown eyes.
He gave him a smile even though he knew he was in real shit with Calum.
"You don't get to say how I raise my kids. They're mine." Cal walked back to the dining room table, sitting where Juli once was. He was looking directly at Michael, both of their blood boiling.
"You don't get to treat them like shit, though. That's not good parenting!"
"You've never had a child. You can't tell me how to parent!"
Michael rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat. "Okay, fine. You're right, I've never had a child of my own. But your three kids mean the world and more to me. I'm gonna get really fucking upset when you treat them poorly."
"I'm not treating them poorly!"
"You told Joey his gender is invalid!"
"Because she's a girl!"
"He's not!" Michael yelled. The last time Michael yelled was when he was seven and his mother took away the computer because he refused to do his second grade homework. That was the last time he yelled. It's been three decades and Mike has never heard his voice raise that loud, that angry.
"You can't tell me what my own kid's gender is!" Calum matched his tone. He was much better at being angry.
"Only they can tell you what their gender is!"
Cal got up from the table. "I can't even speak to you." Calum went up the stairs, leaving Michael to dirty dishes and a silent house.
He figured the younger man wasn't coming back down when he turned the shower on upstairs. Mike got up, slowly putting away the dishes and starting the dishwasher.
An hour past before any sound filled the house. He turned around at creaking footsteps, seeing Joey standing in the archway of the kitchen. "I'm sorry," he said. He looked down at his black tee shirt, pulling at it with his hands.
"Don't apologize, it's just your dad being irrational." Michael leant against the kitchen counter, sipping at the Great Lakes beer he had opened half an hour ago. "Don't let him get to you, either."
Joey shrugged, still standing in the doorway.
"You're not wrong. You are you, okay? Even if he doesn't respect that, I do and I always will. You're going to meet so many people who don't respect you in that way, but you're going to meet so many people who do respect you in that way." Michael rubbed at his pounding headache. "I promised you that I'd do anything and everything to help you with your transition. I will hold that promise for the rest of my life, no matter what happens, okay?"
"I love you, Mikey."
He smiled. "I love you, too." Michael walked forward, pulling him in for a hug. "It looks like I'm gonna sleep on the couch tonight."
"The things you do for me," he said with a smile. He looked up at Michael, hugging him tighter.
Joey remembers his biological father well enough. He was six when he left. But, Joey has never felt such love and compassion for a fatherly figure like he does with Michael. He cares for Calum lots, but that's about it.
It's sad, but it's the truth.
Joey loves Michael like the father he never got hold of.
Daddy!Michael to the rescue?
Will Cal stop being a bitch ass?
Will I make it through the week?
Michael is a fluffy, smol kitten, please protect him at all costs.