...

Afton couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene before him, whether that was due to him currently being in puberty, shock, or a mixture of the two, he simply couldn't leave. ​​

He'd never seen anything even slightly romantic since reincarnating into this world, and had assumed that it wasn't really a priority for the Brotherhood of Steel... But after seeing this he wondered if this kind of thing had always been happening under his nose...

His "other head" was already beginning to awaken, realising that it'd be terribly embarrassing for all parties if he were to get caught, he started to back away... Only to slip on a discarded piece of junk metal, falling face-first onto the floor in full view of the two girls.

"Ah! Who's the- Afton!?" Veronica exclaims after rapidly spinning around.

"Er... Hey? What are you two doing here?" he asks as he awkwardly picks himself up off of the floor.

Veronica tosses her hair back and wipes some of Christines saliva from her lips before briskly walking towards him, grabbing him into a headlock. "Don't try it Afton, you're a terrible liar! I know you saw us!"

"Yeah? So what? What do you want me to do, I can't unsee it now!" he says as he tries to escape her grip.

"I want you to forget it, if I have to knock you on the head a couple times to make that happen then that's fine too!"

"What the problem anyway!? Why are you keeping this a secret, the Codex doesn't say anything against gay people!" he asks as Veronica continues to try and choke the life out of him.

Christine steps forwards and addresses them, "Let him go Veronica... Afton, you're right. The Codex doesn't mention same-sex relationships, and so its usually excepted. But, we are a chapter far, far from the rest of the Brotherhood, we don't accept outsiders so how do you think we expand our numbers?" the question was obviously rhetorical so she takes his silence as understanding.

"You may not know this, but if the others found out about this they'd force us to separate and shame us until we "fixed" our preferences..."

Afton is confused by this, he'd never heard of the chapter having any homophobic sentiments, though, now that he thinks about it he'd never seen anyone who swung that way. "So... You'll just continue to hide it?" he asks, knowing that they'd be found out eventually.

Veronica sighs and sits on a nearby desk, "What else can we do? We love each other, but they'd never understand... You understand, don't you?" she asks, her eyes glistening as if she were about to break down into tears.

"I do... I won't tell anyone but you need to find a permanent solution to this, the longer this goes on the worse it will be once you're caught. I...-" his voice trails off as weird and unfamiliar words almost escape his lips. He wasn't an emotional person by nature, but something about this situation seemed to call for it. "I care about you both, I'd hate for something to happen to you." he admits, feeling anxious and vulnerable after revealing his true feelings.

The two women smile at him, Veronica wiping her eyes before speaking, "Hah, what would a kid like you know about romance and love. I feel silly for worrying about it now." she says, her reaction hurting Afton slightly due to her not taking him seriously...

"I guess today's training is off then." he says before turning, wishing to leave and do something to take his mind off of what just happened. His arm is grabbed by Veronica though as she pulls him closer and hugs him to her chest.

"Thank you Afton, you don't know how much it means for you to accept us. I was scared you'd be the same as everyone else." she says before letting him go.

Christine nods at him, "Thank you... If you still want to train though-"

"No, it's fine. I'll find something else to do... You should try and lock the door next time though." he remarks as he leaves, getting chuckles from the girls.

After finding out their secret nothing significant had changed, they returned back to their happy states and he continued his training with them both. He didn't broach the topic again as he hoped they had some way of dealing with the eventual fallout.

Afton continued his education under Adah, as he was now ten years old, he'd have to take the initiate test relatively soon. Its function was to make sure initiates had at least the basic skills required, things like maths, english, science, knowledge on the Codex, ability to operate technology, etc. There were also relatively advanced studies that you need to have started to pass, things like engineering and mechanics. The level of these advanced subjects you needed to pass was akin to knowing how to change a tire if the original was damage, easy stuff if you weren't a simpleton.

Last but not least you needed a minimum level of fitness before they'd make you an initiate, children started basic exercises when they became eight years old, it was nothing difficult or even close to what Afton had been doing, but the kids complained about it regardless. He didn't know why though, they were perfectly content with chasing each other to play, but when someone told them to run suddenly it was a big issue.

Children weren't expected to pass on their first or second tries either, only exceptional people like Christine and Veronica were able to do that. Initiate's were sometimes expected to assist Knights in combat, so it'd be expected to make the bar relatively high to stop young children who weren't ready to be put into life or death situations.