Luis walked through the hallway, feeling all eyes on him for some reason. He felt uncomfortable, trying his best to smile as he made his way to his locker. The typically joyful eighth grader in middle school was nervous as people whispered while looking at him. When he reached his locker, he realized why.

His locker was covered in notes saying every kind derogatory insult toward gays you could think of. Luis' face fell as everyone in the hallway snickered at him. He hunched his shoulders, biting his lips as he opened the locker. He tried his best to ignore all the eyes, snickers, and insults. All he wanted was to get through the day without crying in front of everyone.

When that final bell rang, he was out of the classroom as fast as he could be. He sped walked through the hallway, seeing everyone staring at him. Luis just wanted to get out before the boys he knew were behind the notes found him.

He sneaked out behind the school, trying to text his pick up to meet him there. As he tried, he was grabbed by the backpack from behind and thrown to the ground. "OW!" he cried, hitting the cement hard.

"Well if it isn't the faggot," a familiar taunting voice said above him. Luis scrambled away from him, only to be kicked. "Where you going princess? You got some daddy you gotta suck off?"

He cowered away from him and the other kids towering over him on the ground. "P-Please Henry! L-Leave m-me alone!" he cried as he grabbed his shirt.

Henry and his friends laughed as tears rolled down Luis' cheeks. "Aww, he's crying!" Henry cackled. "Aw what's the matter princess? I thought you gays usually liked it rough!"

Luis expected pain or more insults, but instead found himself back on the ground as Henry let go of him. He looked up to see that he was on the ground too, having been shoved off of him. His friends gasped, and looked scared, making Luis look up to see someone standing in front of him. Relief flooded over him as he recognized his older brother in senior year of high school.

"Don't ever fucking touch my brother again, you understand?" Virgil snapped, grabbing Henry by the shirt. The little middle school bully looked absolutely terrified as he nodded frantically. "Good. Now get the hell out of here."

He released him, letting he and his two friends run away. Virgil sighed as he calmed his anger. He heard a sniffle from behind him, making him turn to see Luis on the ground. He was crying as he held his knee, which had a bleeding scrape on it from when he'd fallen.

"Hey, hey..." Virgil murmured, kneeling down to his level. "Luis, are you alright?"

The eighth grader buried his face into his legs, avoiding looking at his big brother. It made his heart ache to see him so upset and hurt. "Come on, let's go home and get that scrape taken care of," he said, helping him to his feet.

The two brothers go into Virgil's car, not saying much at first as they drove home. Eventually, Luis spoke up quietly. "V-Virgil... is b-being g-gay really t-that b-bad?" he asked, tears still rolling down his cheeks.

"What? No, no, Luis, there's nothing wrong with being gay," his older brother said, trying to reassure him. He looked at him with wide, teary eyes as if he didn't believe him. Virgil was firm as he continued. "Luis, there is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing wrong with being gay. I'm gay, our dads are gay, my boyfriend's gay, tons of people are gay or something other than straight, and that's completely normal."

Luis rubbed his nose, sniffling a little. "T-Then why w-was everyone b-being s-so mean?" he asked as he wiped his cheeks.

"Because they're idiots with their own insecurities," Virgil told him. "They pick on you because they're jealous that you're happy with who you are and they're not happy with who they are."

His little brother was quiet for a little while as he nodded and mumbled an okay. The senior looked over at him sadly, upset that he had to go through this kind of thing, angry at the idiots that did this to him, and desperate to make him smile again. He got an idea, eyes widening a little.

"Hey, Luis," he said, getting his attention. The eighth grader looked at him in confusion as Virgil smirked. "The dads aren't going to be home tonight cause it's date night. If you promise not to tell them, I'll buy you a whole tub of ice cream for you to have all to yourself, and we can spend the whole night watching your favorite movies."

His eyes widened, as he seemed to brighten up. "W-Will you have Roman come over?" he asked quietly. Virgil laughed, knowing how much his little brother loved his boyfriend.

"I'm sure he'd love to join us if you want him to," he replied as they pulled into the grocery store instead of their house. They parked and Virgil turned to his little brother and extended his hand. "Is that a deal?"

Luis smiled and shook his hand with a nod. His older brother smiled too as they got out of the car and went into the grocery store. While the eighth grader picked out the ice cream he wanted, Virgil texted his boyfriend about what happened and about his request to come over. Roman was more than happy to do so, saying he'd be over in twenty minutes, giving the brothers plenty of time to buy the ice cream (a tub all for Luis and a tub for Virgil and Roman to share) and finish the drive home.

The dads of the house had already headed out, having left a note for them on the counter. After cleaning up the scrape on his little brother's knee, Virgil ordered a pizza as Luis set up a big pillow fort in front of the living room T.V. for all three of them. Roman arrived, bringing a surprise case of cookies much to Luis' delight.

"Roman! I already bought him a tub of ice cream!" Virgil exclaimed.

His boyfriend shrugged. "So? He can have both! As long as he eats his dinner and doesn't get a stomach ache," Roman said, winking down at Luis who was hugging him. Virgil couldn't argue with them, simply smiling as he rolled his eyes. He watched as Roman put his little brother on his back, who was giggling. "Come on! To the pillow fort!"

"Onward!" Luis exclaimed happily as he held onto Roman.

Virgil couldn't help the affection he felt in his chest as he watched his boyfriend and his little brother get along so well. He followed them to the pillow fort, soon finding himself laying next to Roman with Luis in the middle. This only lasted for about twenty minutes before the pizza arrived. An entire pizza and too many desserts later, Luis was out like a light snuggled between the two seniors. Virgil smiled at his little brother, happy to see him feeling better as he latched onto Roman. He didn't even question it, wrapping an arm around him. Virgil gave his boyfriend a grateful smile, mouthing a thank you as Luis cuddled into him.

Roman just smiled, shaking head to show it was nothing as he hugged Luis. He then beckoned Virgil to move closer so he could wrap an arm around his boyfriend too. Now closer to him, he could whisper to him. "Thank you, Roman."

"It's really my pleasure Virge," his boyfriend whispered in response with a smile. "I'm glad Luis likes me so much honestly. He's like the little brother I never got to have."

Virgil hummed thoughtfully as he smiled. "I'm glad too," he said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "It's nice to have my two favorite people getting along."