Galactiquest

Emil entered the captains’ quarters, prepared to tell his brother what he’d meant to tell him days ago. It couldn’t wait any longer. He had to do this now.

“Um….Lorenzo?”

Lorenzo turned his head. “Yes?”

The blond thought about addressing this information more formally, but he decided to go with something more his style, simple and quick. “I’ve been thinking aaand, I’m not-- I don’t think I’ve ever been really interested in women.”

“Me neither.”

This took Emil so off-guard, he assumed it was an auditory hallucination. He continued. “I prefer men…”

“I have no preference.”

“Wh--??” The lieutenant squinted. “So… you’re okay with the whole ‘me liking men’ thing?”

Lorenzo didn’t even look at him. “You know, for the past few days I was thinking and, I always thought I was straight because I don’t have an interest in men, but then I realized that when women expressed attraction toward me, I felt trapped and wanted nothing more than to be out of the situation. Is that weird?”

Emil rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, III don’t really feel that way. I like the attention, but I’m not really into them the same way, you get it?”

“Yes, you seem like that type.”

“What’s that supposed to mean??” Emil gave a faux-indignant huff. He then thought back on Lorenzo’s interactions with the girls he tried setting him up with. “But… Now that I think about it, you did always look kinda uncomfortable in those situations... I never woulda guessed that was the reason why, though. My bad!”

“But if I don’t like men or women, what does that make me...?”

Emil couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. He was overjoyed. “Y-You still didn’t answer my question though!” He waved. “To answer yours, I guess you’d be asexual, or was it aromantic? You should probably ask Jun about it! They know more.”

“Oh, there’s actually a word for--?” The captain abruptly cleared his throat. “I was getting to you! Anyway, I was trying to say that now I get that you can’t really choose what you like. I only thought you could because I thought everyone was like me.”

“I… had no idea.” Emil experienced a whirlwind of emotions. He couldn’t stop laughing. Tears formed in his eyes. “Phew…That was much easier than anticipated.”

“You were that afraid to tell me?”

He looked away. “I know you’re more of a traditional guy, so I thought maybe you wouldn’t be so thrilled…”

Lorenzo thought for a moment. “…I’m sorry if I did anything to make you feel that way. Though…it’s good that you told me now instead of earlier or I probably wouldn’t have been as understanding.” He looked toward Emil. “What made you tell me?”

“You’re kind of the last person on the ship to know.” Emil scratched his hair, looking away. “I didn’t want it to slip out from someone else and surprise you.”

“Last person…?” The captain looked sad in a way. “That’s understandable.”

“I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me...”

Lorenzo looked toward his brother. “I’m glad.”

Nothing is said, but Emil screamed internally. It was a rarity to hear his brother express something like that so directly. So, even if he proved it in his own way, it was still nice to hear.

“Are you going to tell Mom and Dad?” asked Lorenzo.

“Mom already knows.”

“I kinda figured you’d tell her if anyone.”

Emil paced around. “Dad? ...Maybe someday… It took enough for me to tell you.” He stopped. “I’m gonna wait awhile.”

“Okay.”

“Soooo.” He thumbed toward the door. “You want me to go ask Jun what you are, or do you wanna do it yourself, orrrr...?”

Lorenzo stood up. “If it’s fine with you, could we both go?”

“Yeah, alright!” Emil bumped his brother’s shoulder as he approached the door. “You can count on me.”

“Me too. From now on.”

They both left their room. On the way down, it proved to be hard for Emil to keep a toothy grin off his face. He didn’t mind. He didn’t mind at all.