warning: Ray and Charlie talk about transphobia. If it's not your jam, I'll write a quick summary at the end of the chapter of what happened.
Two days went by before Sora realized that Ray was intentionally avoiding him. At first he assumed Ray was sleeping in—the guy did have a car, anyway, so he could afford to take his time without fear of missing his bus—but then he came home from his second shift at the Bandaids and caught the tail end of Ray escaping into his bedroom for the night.
Sora hesitated, half-inside the apartment, half-out. Clearly, Ray had heard his key turn and in the five seconds it took Sora to get inside, Ray had scooped up all of his class work into his arms and made a run for his bedroom.
It's fine, Sora told himself as he shut the door. In the end it was better that I got it off my chest—I just wish I would have let him know that I wasn't a creep. Not that... I should have to reiterate that...
He shook his head as he slipped off his shoes. He locked the door behind him and tossed his duffle near the laundry door. He felt greasy and crusty from work and shut himself up in the bathroom for a thorough fifteen minute shower. It was his usual timing, something that Ray knew all too well. It gave Ray approximately fifteen minutes to pack up the food he prepped that evening and stuff it into the refrigerator.
He wasn't fast enough.
Sora emerged from the bathroom before Ray could escape. Ray turned like a deer caught in headlights, but instead of headlights, he was caught in the angelic glow of Sora, freshly cleaned and sporting nothing but a black towel and his used clothes clutched to his stomach.
They both stared at one another until Sora did a habitual thing: He gestured to himself and said, "Like what ya see?" like he was in the locker room with Charlie.
Ray went bright red. Sora had never seen someone's skintone snap like that before.
Ray nearly dropped the container in his hands on his way to the fridge, holding it up as he said, "TH-THIS IS FOR YOU!" before shoving it onto Sora's shelf and making a break for his bedroom, eyes on the ground.
Ray gasped in relief as he slumped against his closed bedroom door. His heart was in rapid motion the past two days, and the momentum with which it took off Sunday night sent it blasting off into space. And if Ray knew anything about the laws of physics, it was that his heart would keep going, spiraling through space and time, until it was caught in the orbit of something far greater than itself.
Or until it smacked straight into an oncoming object. That too.
There was only one person he could talk to about this, so he made plans with them that very next day. There, amongst the chaos of tourists and carnival games, Ray confided in Charlie.
"I don't know how much longer I can survive this!" Ray whined, full of dread and sinking against the floorboards of Fisherman's Wharf. He had a funnelcake in hand and his fist raised to the clouds, crying, "Curse you, Aphrodite!"
"Yeah, fuck Aphrodite. Making two men fall in love with this bastard," Charlie said, putting a middle finger to the Bay. He drank from his reusable coke bottle that was now tinged with Malibu on a Tuesday evening. He propped a hand behind him, crossing his legs at the ankles as he studied Ray's profile. Ray pouted, scowling out at the sea lions. There weren't as many out and about that early in the season, but those that populated the docks were barking and sunning themselves in what minimal light broke through the clouds.
It smelled like salt, sewage, and cotton candy, but at least the funnelcakes were oh-so delicious and powdery in Ray's mouth. He popped a piece in his mouth and sighed. "He has to be kidding, right? I mean, we're roommates and I'm... me. I'm not—I'm not..."
"I swear to God, if you say you aren't good enough," Charlie threatened with a scowl that caused Ray to pause, eyes settling on Charlie. Charlie rolled his eyes. "I've never known Sora to fake liking a person. Except at work. But work's different."
"Has he... ever had a boyfriend before?" Ray asked, realizing that he never thought to ask. There were those times Sora said he had a date, but by now Ray had dissected them enough to know that it was a lie to cover up the fact that he was off to the club to spin upside-down on a pole for cash.
Charlie thought about it for a moment. He opened his mouth, and Ray's eyes widened, only to sober when Charlie snapped his mouth shut again, deep in thought.
He opened his mouth again, hand raising. Ray straightened. Charlie dropped his hand and shook his head with a sigh, scratching at his chin.
"I'll take that as a no," Ray said, dully. Something about this realization hit him as disappointing rather than surprised. He blamed it on his desire to have someone else take the reins and know what to do.
He stopped that train of thought right there because why the hell was he actually considering this?!
"Yeah, honestly... I don't think Sora's dated anyone now that I think about it. He's never mentioned having a partner, even in high school," Charlie confessed. "You know he used to tell me that he was exclusively attracted to Ruby Rose?"
Ray burst out laughing. "You're kidding! That's amazing—I hope he had, like, a pinup of her or something."
Charlie shook his head, laughing. Ray lamented this knowledge with a groan. "And what's this I hear about that Mexican bastard? Not you, the other one."
Ray giggled again, blushing. "His name's Xavier and he's a friend of mine from elementary school. He's here on a scholarship for pole vaulting."
"Wow, two men who work the pole—all in the palm of your hands—"
"Ch-Charlie!" Ray gasped between fits of laughter. He kicked his feet out at the water, cackling. "W-We're just friends now! But he really likes me and I really like him, I just think there's gonna be a huge adjustment period. He's spent the past decade thinking I'm... a girl. And calling me by my deadname."
"Oh." A moment of silence after Ray whispered, "Yeah..." It wasn't awkward silence, however, and Charlie broke it with a startled, "Oh! You're—!"
Ray jumped, alarmed. "You mean you didn't—?"
"No!" Charlie cried, slapping a hand over his eyes. "I'm sorry, I never—"
"Th-That's okay! That's the point!" Ray cried, alarmed. Truthfully, he was flattered that Charlie never knew. In a perfect world, everyone would just assume he was a guy. "A-And it's different with you guys. You never got to know me before I started T or changed my name. It took my Aunt actual months to stop calling me by my old name. I mean, she named me. She was attached to it. And... I got into trouble a lot in high school and she used to curse at me with my full name and now—"
"I get it, I get it," Charlie said, waving his hand. He smiled and said, "In that case, I'm glad you got to introduce me to the real you. My vision is unclouded."
"Yeah... So..."
"It is an issue, though," Charlie reiterated, and Ray slumped. He loathed to hear the words he was thinking spoken out loud. "But the only reason I'm not opposed to this Xavier business is because I once changed Sora's name in my phone."
Charlie took a sip of his drink, which prompted Ray to say, "... And?"
"I spent a week wondering who the hell 'Thicc Booty' was in my notifications. Every damn time he texted me it took me five seconds to realize who it was. He doesn't even have a thick booty! It's firm but it's flat, you know what I'm saying?"
"I—! I haven't looked at it!" Ray cried in a way that suggested he had, in fact, looked at it. He put his hands to his face and realized the truth. "Oh, shit, I have looked at it," he said, thinking of the rave where he spent the entire night staring at Sora on the stage.
"But I also know that Sora would call us transphobe apologists."
"That's... a bit extreme? I don't think Xavier's a transphobe."
"I know. But since Sora's evidently into you, he's probably just pissed that you're thinking about dating this Xavier guy."
Ray pulled his knees up from over the ledge of the dock. He blushed down at his funnelcake and said, "I've never—I don't think I've ever had someone act like that because of me. I don't think Sora would call us transphobe apologists for the sake of... discrediting Xavier."
"Only one way to find out," Charlie said.
Ray shuddered with discomfort. He couldn't imagine talking to Sora about Xavier now. They had talked about Xavier before, but that was... before. Before Sora offered up his abs and his heart on a downtown San Francisco public bus. Ray's breath hitched at the memory of Sora's hand on the window, leant over Ray.
Of Sora kissing Ray, inadvertently, that one fateful morning.
Robin.
The silence between had gone on comfortably and accompanied by the gentle lull of the ocean lapping against the concrete walls beneath the dock. Charlie finished his Malibu and coke and capped the bottle with a sigh. "I wonder if Sora doesn't know how to flirt outside of the club. Ten bucks says he's a virgin."
"Wh-What!" Ray shrieked, louder than intended. A kid looked their way and their mother shooed them off. Ray stammered abruptly, saying, "Why would you—?"
"Damn, you're right. Fifty bucks," Charlie said. "I'm pretty confident."
"He works at a—! You know!"
"And? Listen, I don't think Sora's ever crossed the line into actual cold-hard sex work. He's never gotten paid to give a blowjob or handjob or a quickie or whatever—but Lord knows he's been offered it plenty of times. I'm talking more times than I can count on my fingers—"
"Ch-Charlie!" Ray cried, mortified. He set his funnelcake aside and groaned. "I'm not going to make a bet with you about Sora's virginity."
Charlie squinted at him before turning away with a curse and saying, "Damn. This sucks."
"What does?"
"That we didn't work out. I woulda made your first time amazing. Hands down."
If Ray could exceed the color red, his face certainly did. He wished he could roll off of the dock and into the ocean. "Charlie..." he groaned, uncomfortable beyond belief. His skin crawled.
"I'm just saying."
"B-But you like guys. Wouldn't you be disappointed if—?"
"Whoa, hey, no. None of that. My sexuality is based on identity. Not genitals. I don't care what candy store you've got down there—I'll lick it."
Charlie burst out laughing as Ray ceased all motor function. As his brain exploded into a cloud of dust through his ears, someone down the dock recognized him and, likewise, recognized the blonde beauty sitting next to him.
Ray's name was called, and the two of them turned to see Alice Nichols strolling up, eyes wide and a DSLR strewn around her neck. She had with her a tablet, which she slipped into her satchel as Ray stammered, "A-Alice! What're you doing here?"
"Working on a story," she said. She pointed off to the Alcatraz tour boat. "Two of our classmates were set up on a date—mostly on purpose, but they think it's an accident. It's a whole affair, so I'm staking it out to see how it goes."
She looked to Charlie and said, "You were with Ikeda that one day, weren't you?"
"Ikeda?" Charlie repeated.
Ray's skin crawled. He gestured frantically between them and said, "Alice, this is Sora's friend, Charlie. Charlie, this is Alice. She's in the same major as me and Sora."
Alice put her hand out to Charlie, who looked at it and pointedly pulled his sunglasses down. Ray grimaced, and quickly slapped on an apologetic smile when Alice raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well," she said, "it's nice to finally meet you."
"Interesting," Charlie said.
Alice pursed her lips. Ray jumped to say something, anything. "S-So are we thinking next Saturday for the movie thing?"
"Yeah, if your place is still available."
She gave him the chance to correct that mistake, but Ray was just too relieved to have shifted the conversation to even consider changing the location. "Yup! Sounds good."
Alice had to run off to catch the boat, so Ray bid her farewell and, immediately after, Charlie reequipped his sunhat and turned away from the direction Alice took off in. Ray smiled and Charlie rolled his eyes. At the turn in the walkway, which put Alice slightly ahead of them, Alice put her DSLR camera up and snapped a picture of Charlie's turned head and Ray's smiling face.
"Did she take a picture?" Charlie whispered.
Ray smiled apologetically and said, "Yeah, she kinda did..."
"Sora's gonna gut me," he said, and Ray laughed. Later that day, they would all be getting notifications from Alice's newsletter declaring the mysterious figure in the parking garage a friend of Sora's rather than a lover.
summary: Charlie hints at Sora being the jealous type and that he might view Xavier as a transphobe to discredit Xavier in Ray's eyes. Ray's got his own brain though and between him and Charlie, they determined that Xavier isn't a transphobe because he isn't using Ray's deadname to intentionally harm him and corrects himself when he uses it. Also, Alice shows up and Ray introduces her to Charlie, but she's on a mission and after leaving for said mission, she snaps a pic of Ray and Charlie sitting on Fishermen's Wharf.