Isaac trailed off, and Julian let him. Something about the pause made Julian suspect that Isaac was gathering his thoughts, not just ending the sentence there.
“Oh,” Isaac said after a moment, squeezing Julian’s hand again. “Maybe Iambi,” he added, softly, as though the thought had only now occurred to him.
Judging by the conversation they were having, Julian was starting to think ithadjust occurred to him.
A tiny part of him that had been waiting to hear that for a long, long time leapt for joy, despite the rest of him still being worried about how upset Isaac seemed.
He squeezed Isaac’s hand back, a silent gesture of support, not wanting to interrupt anything else he might be about to say. Clearly, this was a big moment.
“You wanna talk about it?” Julian said, not sure if he was asking about the incident that had upset Isaac, or his newly-discovered bisexuality.
Maybe both. Either way, he was happy to listen to whatever Isaac wanted to tell him.
“I, uh… ran into an ex-girlfriend. At first she was really nice and I thought maybe we’d get to be friends after all, because we had kind of a bad breakup, but… then she asked about whether or not the rumors were true, and…”
Julian made a soft, sympathetic noise, reacting to the way Isaac’s voice had started to crack. When he looked, he saw tears in Isaac’s eyes that he was desperately trying not to shed.
This had clearly hurt him, and Julian wasn’t sure what else he could do about it.
After a moment’s hesitation, he rested his head on Isaac’s shoulder. Hopefully, that would be comforting for him.
Isaac sniffed, wiping at his eyes.
“She said some things I’d rather not… repeat.” He swallowed thickly.
Julian didn’t need to know exactly what she’d said. He’d seen this look on enough faces toknow. Not the details, but the kinds of things. He’d heard them plenty of times himself.
“People have said all kinds of awful things about me, but…”
“This hurt more, because it was about something that’s fundamentally a part of you,” Julian said, speaking from experience.
Isaac nodded, hanging his head and staring at the floor.
“I’m sorry. People can be cruel.”
Isaac shifted his weight, then reached out for the hot chocolate Julian had made for him, finally sitting back and holding it close to his chest.
“It’s what I signed up for, though, right? The reason all those kids were excited to see that I was just like them… that’s because they hear crap like that all the time. That they’re liars and cheaters and disgusting.”
Julian’s stomach flipped over at hearing those things, hearing thepainin Isaac’s voice as he said them. Isaac was none of those things.
“If me taking that means maybe they won’t have to… it’s worth it. I know I can’t change the world, but…”
“But you want to,” Julian said, affection welling up in his chest. This was the Isaac he loved. The beautiful, noble man who wanted things to be better.
Isaac would never have thought that about himself, but he didn’t need to. Julian could be proud enough of him for both of them.
“Obviously,” Isaac said, some of his confidence kicking back in. “Who doesn’t wanna save the world, right?”
Julian shrugged. “I’m happy just… sharing it with someone who does,” he murmured, and then panicked that he’d said too much. Maybe Isaac didn’t want to hear that.
“Every hero needs a sidekick,” Isaac said, grinning. “We could get you a little cape.”
Julian chuckled, glad that Isaac seemed to be cheering up now. If all it took was a mug of hot chocolate and a shoulder to cry on, then Isaac was one of the easiest men to please that Julian had ever met.
Of course he was. People liked to say that Isaac was childish, or highly strung, or had an attitude problem, but… he wasn’t. Not really. Not outside of the ridiculously high-pressure world he lived in.
When he was hidden away in the safety of Julian’s apartment, he was just Isaac. Sweet, gentle Isaac who carried the world on his shoulders and never complained, not really.
