Dad raised his eyebrows. Alan's mouth fell open. Jack grinned broadly.

I started crying.

"I-I'm so sorry," I choked out. "I've k-kept this in f-for so, so, long. I just didn't th-think you guys would e-ever be okay with it or-"

That's when Dad walked up to me. He put his hands on my shoulders. And he did something he never had before.

Dad leaned in and gave me a tight hug.

And he told me he loved me.

I don't remember the last time he did that.

Without saying anything, the team walked toward us and joined in the hug.

I couldn't do anything but cry.

***time skip***

Dad and I were silent in the car. As we pulled in the driveway, I unbuckled and started to get out, but Dad put his hand on my knee. I could tell something big was coming.

"Yeah Dad?"

Dad cleared his throat.

"Son- when your mother died all those years ago-" Dad paused, and took a breath. "Well, let's just say my world was over. I had two young boys at home who I didn't know how to care for. I didn't know anything about being both a mom and a dad. I knew I had to learn all the skills required for both. I- well, to put it in our terms- had to figure out a new game plan."

At this point, a few tears started streaming down my face. I've never heard him talk about Mom since she died.

"And-" Dad's voice cracked as a tear trickled down his chin. "And so, I tried to push away my feelings by never looking back. But I was wrong. I tried to replace your mother. I couldn't. She would have realized by now that- that you're gay. And I should have been able to see that you were uncomfortable when I asked about girls. I should have pushed you to be yourself instead of pushing you to get a girlfriend."

I broke down. I miss my mom. So. So. Much.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is-" He cleared his throat again, holding back tears. "I love my son."

Dad pulled me into another tight hug. I had never felt this close to him.

"D-Dad," I sniffled, "I miss Mom just as much as you do. But- but I think- I think that you've done just as well at parenting as she has."

I felt him sigh happily into my ear.

Another minute passed, then we pulled apart. I smiled and laughed a little.

"I should go call Simon," I said. I hadn't talked to him in a little while. "You know, tell him the news."

Dad looked down at his lap and chuckled. As I started to get out of the car, he called me back.

"Ol?"

"Yeah Dad?"

He took a deep breath and smiled at me.

"I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Dad."

***time skip***

I threw my backpack onto my bed and pulled out my phone. I had a Snapchat notification from almost everyone on the team. I ignored the snaps and dialed Simon's number.

Simon's a sophomore in college right now; he's studying neuroscience at Harvard. Most people don't know that we're brothers. I don't blame them- we're polar opposites. Simon is a verified genius. His IQ test score was 146. Simon was never into sports, so we didn't have much to talk about. Dad didn't know how to interact with him much, either, so he was always closer to me. Mom was always closer to Simon, so after she died, he had the hardest time. Simon kind of stayed to himself after that, because neither Dad nor I knew how to deal with him, but recently, Simon and I have become very close.

Simon picked up on the third ring.

"What's up, little bro?" he said.

I decided to just go for it. He was going to find out eventually, anyway.

"I'm gay," I said.

Simon didn't say anything on the other end for a minute.

"Simon? Are you there?"

"Oh, yeah, I am, I was just waiting for some breaking news."

"Wait- what?"

Simon laughed.

"You think I didn't already know? Dude, I'm your brother. I notice things."

"What kinda of things?"

"Man, I saw you and that Jack kid hanging out at the pizza place downtown. You guys were talking about a horror movie and you had a boner."

I blushed.

"Oh," I said.

Simon laughed again.

"Don't worry, little man, I support you!"

Simon and I continued to talk for another hour. He had to go meet up with some friends at 5, however, so we hung up.

I decided to open the snaps. A bunch were just ones saying that the person supported me or was proud of me. I answered them all, then snapped our football chat.

Hey guys, I captioned it, even though I told y'all that I'm gay I still want to tell other people on my own so if you could keep it to yourself until I'm ready that would be great.

The guys snapped back saying that they would. Then I opened the snap Jack had sent me.

Ollie I'm sorry about the whole pride game thing but I promise I wasn't trying to make you come out or anything. Also I'm super proud of you and I hope you can forgive me it's only been a day and I'm dying here.

I smirked. I could never stay mad at Jack. He's basically the foundation of my gayness.

I'm not really mad at that, I captioned, it was just something else. It doesnt really matter. Thanks for the support dude.

Jack snapped back within the next minute.

THANK GOD I MISSED YOU SO MUCH ALSO PLEASE TELL ME WHAT I DID THAT PISSED YOU OFF (IF YOU WANT TO) ALSO I'M HYPE FOR FRIDAY'S GAME NOW THE PRIDE JERSEYS ARE GONNA BE FRICKIN AWESOME!!

I laughed.

I'll tell you what it was later. And I'm hype too :)