!!CHECK THE TW IN THE AUTHOR'S NOTE BEFORE READING!!

I'm so damn lucky Cheeto noticed the obvious problems I have with math at the moment. Earlier in class, it asked me if I needed any help with the homework, and now we're at its house and, to be honest, I'm starting to get it.

As we sit on the couch-bed-fusion and decipher task after task, the ringing doorbell makes me flinch and look up. Jayden, who walks past the living room on his way to the door, just says "That's gonna be the mailman, I'll get it."

It's not the mailman.

I notice because Jayden curses and tries to shut the door as the steps coming upstairs stop, but something seems to stop him.

"Sweetheart, you don't even want to talk to your mother anymore?" A cool, disappointed-sounding voice sounds through the apartment.

I look up from the paper. Cheeto next to me is frozen, gripping its pencil so tight I fear it might break, staring in the direction where the voice came from.

"No. No, I fucking don't." Jayden hisses.

"Your father passed away."

There is a moment of silence. I shouldn't be here right now, should I? I think. Is he grieving? Cheeto's expression has barely changed.

And finally, Jayden says something. It's not what I expected, though.

"...And?"

"And? He's your... He was your father! He's the reason you're alive!"
"And he's the reason I didn't want to be alive!"

What?

"What makes you think I give a shit about him anymore, or you!?" Jayden continues. "I broke contact for a fucking reason! Why are you even here?"

"Where's my daughter?"

"No." Cheeto whispers before realizing it said that out loud. Its pencil breaks in two and the pieces fall to the ground. My friend's hands are shaking. What do I do?

"You don't have a daughter, you never had one. Can you get your foot out of my doorway now?" Jayden responds.

"You know what I mean."

"Well, my sibling's not here."

"And what about that noise I just heard?"

Shit.

I have absolutely no idea what is going on, but I do the only thing that seems mildly logical to me in this situation, even though my heart is pounding in protest.

She doesn't look like her children at all. That's the first thing I notice as I enter the hallway, unsure how to act. She's tall like them and has a similar skin tone, but that's really it. The way she stands and her face and... Everything is just different. The second thing that comes to my attention is the expression. As though she's above anyone she talks to.

"Who's that?" She asks as Jayden spins around with a horrified look on his face that changes to some sort of relief in the moment he recognizes me and not his sibling.

I'm his friend's sister. I answer, it's the first thing I can think of and since her mother or mother-in-law is deaf, I assume she understands sign language.

"Yeah, she is." Jayden turns back to his mother after shooting me a grateful look.

"Why is she here?"

"Why is that any of your business?"

The woman shakes her head. "Always that tone..." She mutters and turns towards me. "Do you know where I can find Jayden's sister?"

I try to look confused. He has a sister? I just ask, desperately hoping that my hands aren't shaking too much to tell.

"Does the name Diane ring a bell?" It does. First school day, transphobic teacher. I shake my head. "No? How about... What was it again? Ah." Her lips curl in disapproval for a second. "Cheeto."

I shake my head again because this name is associated with friend, would never betray to random lady at doorstep who doesn't seem to want its best.

"Well, if there's nothing to hide, you sure wouldn't mind me checking out my son's apartment, would you, Jayden?"

"You. Are not setting foot into my home."

The reaction makes her take a step back and give her son an angry look. "I'm your mother!"

Jayden slams the door shut. For a moment, no one says anything, we just stand there, Jayden shaking with anger and me trying to calm my racing heart. Then, in the same second, we both turn around to run into the living room.

Cheeto is still sitting on the couch, staring at the wall and looking up as we enter. Jayden immediately sits next to it.

"She's gone. She's gone, okay?"

He mutters and puts his arms around his younger sibling protectively. Cheeto nods without a word and takes several deep breaths, eyes closed.

"Sorry." Is the first word from its mouth as it manages to calm a little. Its voice is shaking.

"Why? None of this is your fault, you hear me?"

"She's here because of me, and I made a noise so Jesse had to get up and talk to her, and-"

"Hey. No. Stop it. It's not your fault she's an asshole, and you didn't intentionally do anything to get Jesse out there, did you?"

Cheeto shakes its head. After a pause, it says: "Thank you. Both of you. So much." It looks up to Jayden, and then me, who is still standing a few feet away from the couch. "I- We should probably tell you who you were talking to."

You don't have to if you don't want to. We've only known each other for a few weeks. I say immediately.

"But... No, I think we should. If that's okay with you, and you, Jayden."

"I wouldn't mind, really." Jayden says and looks over to me.

If you want to, sure, it would be good to know what I just did.

Not much later, we're all sitting at the kitchen table, each with a cup of tea that Jayden insisted on making.

"Well..." Cheeto starts. "I guess you noticed that lady gave birth to us. And that she's not the best mom one could have. Or that her husband wasn't the best dad either."

I nod, and Jayden laughs without any joy.

"That's nicely said."

"I know. Well, he hasn't really been sober since I was three, and Jayden was about nine or ten. Assume that's why he died. And... Well, he'd tend to get... aggressive. Very aggressive."

"Normally verbally, but sometimes he'd... Y'know, physically hurt us and shit." Jayden adds, twisting his hoodie string between his fingers.

I can't believe it. I can't believe anyone would do these things to their own children. But I nod, clenching my fist under the table.

"Well, I guess I won't go into detail about what exactly he'd do, but... Well, I guess our mother was too scared to say anything or whatever." Jayden's tone changes at the word "mother", as if he's trying to say "I don't see her as that, but I guess she is".

"When he wasn't home, she didn't really care either." Cheeto continues and pauses, biting its lip and taking a shaky breath. "We were kind of a disappointment, too, because neither of us were straight A students or wanted to be lawyers or doctors, I guess. And guess what also turned out growing up? Both are homo- and transphobic. Yay. Awesome."

Can it really get any worse? I think, not sure if I could've handled all of that growing up.

"So... You know how I came out to the entire school last year? Yeah, they found out. I explicitly told everyone 'Hey, don't tell my parents, that'd be actually dangerous, but I trust you with it', but they somehow found out. Long story short, they threw me out, I went to live with Jayden, he'd already moved out at that point." There's a short pause, and I notice it's intentionally skipping details. "It's been nine months, and I thought we'd never have to deal with them again, but weird stalker mom found out our address and... Yeah."

Cheeto is staring into its cup of tea. Jayden's turned his head towards me with an unreadable expression. And me? I sit there, speechless, still hardly believing all the information that was just given to me. Aggressive alcoholic father. High standard mother who didn't protect her children. Kicked out their kid for being who it was.

I'm so sorry. I say as Cheeto finally looks up, tears in my eyes and maybe in its, too. I can't really tell. I never knew. Is there anything I can do?

"See, I'm not religious, but that's why I'm pretty sure you're a literal angel." Cheeto says.

I shake my head. Anyone would do that.

"Jesse." Jayden gives me a slight smile. "Will you stop reducing the things you do to basic human decency? You don't know what's happening, but you don't hesitate to get up and lie to someone whose intentions you don't know just to protect Cheeto. You find out about two fucked up childhoods and immediately offer help. Not everyone would do that. They should, obviously, but not everyone would. In conclusion, the world needs more people like you."

I really wish I had a good response to that, but I really don't, so I just sit there like an idiot, unable to process everything that's happened within the past thirty minutes.

*nice jayden has left the chat*

anygay, don't you just love how cheeto and jayden's "dad" was just thinking about how much he hates fags and suddenly found himself at a lil nas x concert-