It might get a snort from Nick, but it just gets a smirk and a nod from Cameron. But as soon as Damian stutters through asking about a âTalk,â Cameronâs noticeably uncomfortable.
A talk. A Talk. The Talk? Heâs trying to think of times when he was sloppy and left a clue, but comes up empty. This honestly isnât the worst thing that could happen, but it still sucks, because he respects Damian a lot and wanted to say something on his terms. But if itâs gonna come up anyway, he figures itâs best to come clean all at once.
âUh, yeah, totally,â Cam says, but his voice is weirdly strained and heâs fidgeting with his fingers. He clears his throat. âI hope youâre not mad, âcause I was gonna tell you - thereâs no reason to hide being gay from you, right, thatâs silly, you probably could figure it out, but I was nervous anyway-â he catches his breath, pauses for a second. âBut anyway, if you wanted to give me the Talk, thatâs totally cool. Super cool. Iâll definitely listen. Will you just, um, tell me how you figured out about my boyfriend?â
Damianâs mouth gapes open. Then he closes it, because thatâs impolite, and he rewinds, goes over his words, tries to pinpoint the miscommunication - ah, there it is - and then all of this short circuits and Damian says, âOh, Cameron, of course not. Of course - well, Iâm - Cameron, Iâm honored that you would tell me this about yourself. Iâm very glad you feel comfortable enough to share this, and Iâm very, very proud of you.â
Is this the right time for a hug? Damian would hug his own child here, but Cam isnât  his child, the Big Brothers Training Program has a section on appropriate expression of affection and responding only to the youthâs needs, not your own, and on top of that, Damian wasnât hugged enough as a child, so he refrains.
âThe Talk to which I was referringâŚâ began Damian, âwasâŚmore angled towards what Emery said about you making Tick-Tocks about petty theft. For the record, I think perhaps it would be more appropriate to ask your grandfather about the, ah⌠other Talk, though I am perfectly happy to jump in in the event he defers to me - in fairness to him, well, it is my area of expertise - but thatâs beside the point. I didnât know about any boyfriend,â says Damian, honestly. âHow wonderful. Iâd be honored to meet him, if you were alright with that.â
He blinks once, twice. âOhhh. Oh, that makes more sense. Yeah.â He smiles, genuinely, and then hesitates before playfully punching Damian in the arm since he also doesnât really know whatâs appropriate, and thatâs pretty safely a big-bro-little-bro move, right?
âOf course Iâd tell ya. And uh, thanks.â He said he was proud of him. Hell yeah. He could cry (but he wonât). âIâm real glad I donât gotta worry about it now. But ok, the Emery thing. First, I can tell by the way you enunciated that youâre spelling it âT-I-C-K, and itâs T-I-K-space-T-O-K. Second, thatâs just for fun, and to see if I can sneak it from under Emâs nose, stuff like that.â
He sits on that for a second, and then waves his hands and elaborates on his story. âI donât actually smoke the weed.â Under his breath he says, âI actually prefer edibles,â and then coughs and continues, âAnd I donât steal from businesses or anything like, serious. I donât even really steal... I always give it back... well... 90% of the time.â
