Love You Regardless

7

TW's:
-Mentions (child) abuse (bruises)

Clay's POV

It was later in the afternoon, the new family would come over to eat with us. I came home from the farm earlier today so I could watch an episode of my favourite series before and the first half of a soccer match after that.

I was cuddled up with my brother as we watched the episode and my brother smiled as I was staring at a boy passing by on the screen.

'Do you find that boy beautiful?' he asked with a smile on his face.

I felt my cheeks heat up slightly as I nodded.

'Do you like boys with brown hair and brown eyes?'

I nodded and wrapped my arms around my brother's waist as I held Wolly tightly against my chest.

'Have you seen the new boy around here? He has brown hair and brown eyes.'

'He was a bit mean to me,' I muttered as I looked back at the laptop screen.

My brother kissed my hair and smiled. 'Have you told him about your autism and ADHD?'

I shook my head. 'I don't think he will like me after I tell him about it.'

'Do you want me to help?'

I nodded and my brother kissed my cheek. 'Do you want me to tell our parents that you're gay after the episode is finished?'

'If you want to.'

'Of course, the episode is only three more minutes.'

I cuddled up with him even tighter and after those three minutes, we stood up and my brother held my hand as we walked downstairs. He sat down on the couch with me next to him and smiled. 'Do you want to cuddle with me as I tell them?'

I shook my head and he smiled. 'That's fine, mum and dad? Can you come here for a second?'

They both walked to the couch and sat down as they smiled at my brother. I held Wolly tightly and curled up like a ball as I put my thumb in my mouth.

'Clay told me something, but he finds it very hard to tell it himself, so I'm going to help him.'

I hid my face a little as I was holding my thumb in my mouth to calm down a little.

'Clay told me that he likes boys a little bit more than girls. I don't know for sure, but I think he's gay.'

I turned to my other side so I was facing the couch and curled up so they wouldn't be able to hurt me.

'Clay, that's totally fine. Don't be scared, we still love you.'

I turned back around with Wolly and my thumb in my mouth and my brother smiled at me. 'Do you want a hug?'

I nodded and my brother hugged me now as my parents stood up to come closer to me.

'Do you like a specific boy, Clay?' my mother asked as she kneeled down in front of me.

I shook my head. I didn't dare to speak so I let my brother speak.

'He is just a little bit attracted to boys who he sees in his series and at the soccer matches. But he doesn't feel that attraction to girls.'

'That's totally fine, you can talk about that to us. We don't mind and we would love to meet the boy you are going to like someday.'

I smiled and nodded. 'Thank you,' I whispered as I looked at Wolly.

'Uh- now we are talking about this,' my brother said. 'I'm uh- figuring out what I am, but I know I'm not straight.'

My dad walked to him and gave him a hug. 'We love you just as much. You can keep talking about it if you like, but I have to prepare dinner for the new family in the village now.'

'Can I sit with you?' I whispered.

'Of course, Clay,' my dad smiled. He grabbed a chair and put it down in the kitchen. I sat on the chair with my thumb back in my mouth as I held Wolly. I was softly rocking a little bit and looked at my dad preparing the stuff for dinner.

'Would you like to help me, Clay?'

'What can I do?'

'You can sit in front of the oven to see if the potatoes are getting ready. You like sitting in front of the oven, don't you?'

I nodded and sat on the ground in front of the oven. For some reason the sound of it calmed me down and the nice smell that came from it, made me happy as well. I sat in front of it for minutes as I was holding my thumb in my mouth and Wolly on my lap.

I sat here just as long as I heard the doorbell ring. I didn't want to stand up, so I just kept sitting in front of the oven as suddenly the new boy, his sister and their parents walked in. They looked at me sitting here with my thumb in my mouth and Wolly and I crawled up.

I didn't really know what to say so I walked to my brother and grabbed his hand for comfort. He rubbed his thumb over the top of my hand and smiled as he stuck out his other hand.

He shook the hands of everyone and introduced himself. I did the same as him and stuck out my hand as well as I stared at the ground.

'This is Clay, my little brother. Clay has autism and ADHD. He can get very excited about things, but he has more trouble with other things.'

I saw the boy with the dark brown hair nodding and smiling at me. 'Sorry, I didn't know when I met you.'

I nodded slowly and smiled. 'Do you like Wolly now?' I asked as I showed him my llama.

He nodded. 'Of course!'

I pointed at my face to show him that I wanted to know what happened to his cheek and he shrugged. 'I hit the door.'

I looked at my brother, but he had a weird look in his eyes. One I didn't really understand well. I left it like that and sat down on my chair at the table. I always sat here so I felt safer.

1049 words