707. Chapter 707

He leans over the kitchen counter in Winn’s studio, empty glass in his hand and exhaustion written all over his face.

“Hit me,” he sighs, and Winn raises his eyebrows.

“You sure, kid?”

Adrian just taps the glass on the counter insistently, and Winn sighs. “Alright. Not too much of the hard stuff though.”

They exchange a dry chuckle as Winn pours a shot of Pepsi into Adrian’s glass.

Adrian tosses it back like a shot before doubling over, eyes squeezed shut and coughing.

“There’s not any actual alcohol in there!” Winn defends himself from Maggie’s wide eyes and Alex’s dangerous look as he thumps Adrian on the back.

“It was the fizz,” Adrian wheezes after a long moment, his eyes brimmed with inadvertent tears.

He sniffles once and shakes his head with a loud sigh.

“Hit the spot though,” he nudges Winn, his characteristic smirk back on his face.

“Yeah, if the spot was you nearly keeling over,” Alex teases from the couch, and Adrian sends a mock glare her way.

“I was fine,” he defends himself with another grin.

“Those bubbles’ll really do you in, I know,” James claps a hand on his shoulder and kisses his cheek as he leans past Winn to grab the tray of cookies they’d all made together.

“So kid, you gonna tell us what made your day such an epic failure?” Winn asks as he follows James back to the couch, settling himself in on the floor.

Adrian sprawls down on the couch, his head next to Maggie’s in Alex’s lap.

“Nuh uh uh!” Winn points at him emphatically. “Binder off if you’re gonna be lying down, young man!”

Adrian grumbles as he sits up and James offers him a cookie as compensation.

“I have a few oversized sweaters in my middle drawer,” Winn instructs, because he knows, and Adrian’s eyes flood with tears for a brief second.

Maggie and Alex keep extra big sweaters around just for him, and it makes him feel safe and protected and loved; but being in the home of someone who has them for himself, that Adrian can borrow, feels different somehow.

“Do your stretches!” Winn calls as Adrian grabs a sweater and heads into the bathroom.

“Okay, Daaaaaaad,” Adrian teases from inside the bathroom, and Alex, Maggie, Winn, and James exchange affectionate eye rolls.

They make it most of the way through their pizza and root beers before Adrian feels like he wants to start talking.

When he does, it’s with James’s hand on his knee, Maggie’s hand holding his, Alex and Winn leaning forward with tilted heads and loving eyes.

“It’s nothing,” he sputters at all the attention, but Winn’s slight squint makes him sigh and toss his free hand up.

“Alright, it’s not nothing. I emailed all my professors before term started. About my name, you know? Which I shouldn’t have to do, I mean, out myself like that, but whatever, it makes it easier for the most part, you know?”

James nods slowly and Maggie holds a breath, knowing what’s coming and that she’ll have to hold Alex back from killing whatever professor put that sad glint in his eyes; and that Alex will have to hold her back, too.

But it’s Winn’s eyes that Adrian seeks, because his is swimming not only with love, with understanding, but also with his own memories.

“So anyway, this asshole – sorry Mags – this uh… my bio professor, he was decent about it on the first day, you know, but he keeps ‘forgetting,’ now, and he acts like it’s just such a damn chore, and the other kids, they…”

His voice breaks and Winn’s jaw shifts.

“They don’t know how to interact with you anymore, when they knew two seconds ago.”

Adrian nods, shame flooding his face, and Winn sighs and shifts forward on his knees so he’s kneeling right in front of Adrian’s seat on the couch.

“I don’t wanna make it about me. But would it help you if I made it about me for a sec?” he asks, and Adrian laughs wetly as he nods.

“For me, it was the same, you know, with attendance and all that. But there was also my last name.”

“We need a support group for all our last name issues,” Alex murmurs, and James chuckles as Maggie kisses Alex’s hand.

“Daddy issues club,” James sighs as he kisses Winn’s.

Adrian tosses up his hands with a soft smile. “Sorry guys: my dad’s great.”

Maggie kisses his shoulder. “You never apologize for that, kid. You just be happy about that.”

Adrian nods and all eyes turn back to Winn, who sighs and plays with James’s fingers – drawing comfort from his boyfriend’s touch – as he speaks.

“All the news reports about my father talked about his daughter, his daughter, you know? And nothing makes it better. It doesn’t stop being infuriating, and it doesn’t stop hurting or being unfair. But the shame changes. Because you’re not the problem. People’s assumptions are. Society is. Not you. Never you. And you’ve gotta surround yourself with people who remind you of that.”

Adrian’s eyes flicker. “You didn’t have that,” he says softly.

Winn takes a hard swallow and shrugs with a small smile before looking slowly around the room. His smile broadens, then, as he kisses James’s hand and leans up to kiss Adrian’s forehead.

“I do now. And so do you,” he says, and that’s more than enough for now.