Needing (not edited)

Luke (3)

I need to convince Levi to be more social.

Well, easier said than done. Jasper drove us home, and the second we walked in the door I was dragging Levi up to my room.

"Hey, arms are supposed to be connected to the body!" He exclaimed.

"I'm not pulling you that hard, you wimp."

As we got into my room I closed the door and told him to sit somewhere. He went with the bed (can't blame him), and looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "So, I'm worried about you," I said. He looked like he was about to speak but I cut him off, "I know what you're about to say because you say the same thing every time, you're going to say that you're fine and your mental health is stable. And I always just dismissed it. Not anymore, I don't believe you. You sit all alone in lunch, you barely even talk to people unless you absolutely have to, and you always look like a big ball of anxiety. So, you're going to tell me the truth of what's going on with you," I said trying to sound gentle. I'm pretty sure I failed though.

He looked at his lap, and when he looked back up at me there were the starts of tears in his eyes, "I'm just lonely. That's all. I do prefer my own company to others usually, but having someone to talk to would be nice," he mumbled leaning into the pillows on my bed.

"Well then talk to people."

"I'm scared to. They always screw me over. They have been my entire life."

"I know that, but there are tons of people who would love to be your friend, I'm sure of it," I said smiling a little, "And you should try to talk to some girls. You should really try just dating a little bit. It's not as terrible as you think it is." That made him smirk a bit.

"Um, I never said it was terrible. I'm just not very interested, but people aren't very interested in me either, so I don't see the problem. You're the one who gets all the girls, not me, and I'm good with keeping it that way," he explained.

"Why though? What do you not like about it? I'm not trying to pressure you, I guess I'm just trying to understand," I said sitting down next to him.

"It just...I don't know. I don't see the point in dating if no one likes me, and I don't want to get rejected. That would bring me down a lot."

Then, what could be the best or worst idea I've ever had popped into my head, "What if I helped you? I could help with getting you a girl, since first of all, I know a lot of them. Secondly, I know what they like. I'm not saying you aren't good enough or anything, but, um, maybe lose the glasses and stop wearing khakis every single day..."

He looked pretty flustered. "I - I don't know how I feel about that."

"Well, do you like anyone?"

"Yeah," he said then immediately facepalmed, "I mean...uh...no. I didn't mean that."

I raise my eyebrows, considering I don't think he's ever liked somebody, and I definitely don't believe that he doesn't like anyone since his face is red as fuck right now. "Who do you like then?"

He rubbed his forehead and sat up a little bit. Then he looked at me and said, "Not someone you would expect."

"What does that mean? I don't care who you like."

"You might. I don't think you would but I'm not sure."

"Who?" I practically begged.

He mumbled something but I'm not sure what it was. "You need to speak up, I can't hear you," I said.

"I'm gay."

I was...shocked, to say the least, "You're - you're gay?"

"Yes. Please don't hate me, I'm still me, I promise."

"What? No, of course I don't hate you. Why would I? I'm sorry for just assuming that you were straight. I'm also proud of you for telling me, that was probably hard. And I didn't mean to pressure you into telling me, I'm sorry."

"It's fine. And thank you, I appreciate it," he said with a smile.

And that's when I remembered, "Wait. But you said you liked someone. So, who?"

"I just can't say right now. I'm sorry."

I nodded, then told him he could leave if he wanted. Right when he was about to leave I said, "I've got your back, okay? Always." He widely grinned, and gave me a thumbs up.

My brother is gay. And likes a guy. I'm guessing someone I would be surprised about since he was very hesitant to tell me...okay.