Pairings: John x male!reader
Warnings: fluff, homophobia, mentions of conversion camp, swearing
Time: modern
A/N: this was meant to be posted yesterday for Anthony's birthday 😭
You and John had been dating for a long time. Like, for years. And the two of you couldn't be happier. Although, unlike most couples who reach the 'over three years anniversary', you hadn't met his parents. No, it wasn't a matter of John being too afraid to introduce you to them, or whatever. The issue lied in the fact that his parents were assholes, and wouldn't be happy to hear about their son dating a boy.
John had come out to his mother when he was thirteen, and instead of the accepting, supportive reaction he expected from his mother, who had claimed that she would always be there for him and nothing would make her love him less, all he got was a hushed: "Don't bring this up again."
From then on, his relationship with his mother immediately changed. She began distancing herself from him, and John found himself doing the same. At first, he was confused, asking himself why she said that, and why she couldn't accept him. Then he found himself feeling some sad version of denial, acting like nothing was wrong, and that his mother was just too busy to say goodnight to him. The denial quickly blew over when he met you.
You knew you were queer, and when you became friends with John and he hesitantly came out to you, you were overjoyed. You loved the thought of having a friend group where you felt accepted, and John was just the beginning of that. At some point, you asked him if he had come out to his parents yet, to which he responded truthfully, telling you about his mother's reaction. To say you were pissed would be an understatement. Your eyes widened when he asked why you were so upset, before you began ranting about how bullshit that was, and how he deserved better than that. Well, now he was just as upset as you were. He couldn't remember a time where he had been sincerely told that he deserved better than the way his parents treated him. His past friends would only shrug and begin to list a number of 'at least they don't do blah blah blah' and 'at least you've got blah blah blah'. Up until meeting you, he had just thought of himself as ungrateful for wanting to complain about his parents. You quickly informed him that that idea was bullshit, and he had every right to be upset about it.
Over the course of two years, the duo expanded to a trio, to whatever you call a group of five people, and you and John started developing feelings for each other. It wasn't really a sudden thing for you, more like over time, you felt butterflies forming in your stomach over his smile, and you felt your heart pounding whenever he sat close to you until you eventually realised you liked him in a not so friendly way. For John however, he developed romantic feelings over time like you, but the realisation of it happened way more suddenly than he intended. All it took was you joking about how you wanted to be with the Charlie Spring to your Nick Nelson, and his eyes immediately widened, his cheeks flushed bright pink as he thought: 'ME! I'm the Charlie to his Nick!' which was followed by confusion, wondering why he wanted that, 'it's not like I have a crush on him... do I?'
That entire afternoon he spent talking with Alexander - one of his new friends that made up the group of five - about this new found confusion. He rambled on for ten minutes, mainly gushing about you and how you always made him feel so good inside, to which Alex responded, "Ooft. Yeah, you're down bad for him."
Months went by, and with some help from Hercules, Alex and Laf, he eventually confessed his feelings for you. He had originally prepared a mental speech - with some help from Alex - of what he was going to say to you, letting you know that he wasn't trying to pressure you into saying anything back, he just wanted you to know how he felt.
