A few of my apprehensions returned when it was time for play practice. I walked in at a reasonable time, except everyone was already there. There were already sitting down in the circle. I got the feeling they were expecting me, so that unnerved me a bit.

"Hey guys." I said weakly. "You've probably heard what happened."

"Yeah we did." Maria scoffed monotonously, blowing a large bubble of gum.

"I'm really sorry about that, I'm sure Isaac didn't mean it like that." Abe tried to apologize.

"It's alright." I shrugged, sitting down.

"About Greg?" Alex asked, as if there was more than one rumor about we going around.

"Yeah."

Arthur just frowned. "I knew you guys were friends, but it would have never occurred to me that you were dating."

"He's actually my soulmate." I announced, it felt good to say it finally.

"Really? This whole time you've been queer and you never told me?" Alex asked incredulously.

"Yeah." I waved slightly. "There you go, hi, I'm bi."

Alex snorted and Arthur glanced over at him, turning red slightly.

"The point is." Julia rolled her eyes at the boys. "We're not the kind of people who will judge you because of that."

"Definitely not." Maria agreed.

"I mean, come on Micah, we're theatre. This kind of stuff is almost to be expected." Alex pointed out.

"Thanks." I replied genuinely.

"In fact..." Alex glanced around at us nervously. "I uh...while we're on the topic..."

"Spit it out." Maria demanded.

"I have a crush on a boy!" Alex said quickly. "I'm pan."

There was a stunned silence, Maria's bubble gum popped. I blinked in shock. Wait what? Alex too? Arthur and I locked eyes from across the circle and he paled.

"Wait...what?" He inquired.

Alex blushed and pulled at his shirt collar. "I like guys too, and gals, and non binary pals."

Maria look unimpressed as usual, Julia just looked confused.

"Was that not obvious to everyone else?" Abe glanced around.

"Does anyone else want to spontaneously come out too?" Julia waved her arms around in exasperation. "Am I the only straight person here?"

"Nah." Abe replied.

Arthur stood up so suddenly it scared me. "I'm bi."

Julia's mouth gaped open like a fish. "Anyone else?"

Alex's jaw dropped. "No way!"

Arthur, still standing, looked over at him. "Yes in fact...Alex...do you want to go out with me?"

"Only in drama." Julia muttered under her breath.

Alex turned bright red. "Oh my God."

"I'm sorry was that too sudden? You can say no." Arthur realized, backing off slightly.

"No of course!" He agreed, standing up next to him. "I'm just...I just can't...I have a crush on you!"

Arthur looked taken aback. "Me?" He squeaked.

"Yes!" Alex insisted, he grabbed one of Arthur's hands. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Then something amazing happened. Under their shirts, a faint glow appeared. Both boys looked down and gasped. In the background, Julia was clapping slowly and shaking her head. I was watching this unfold with extreme interest.

"We're soulmates." Arthur breathed.

"Yeah." Alex shrieked. "Best soulmate ever!"

"Only soulmate ever." I pointed out.

"Don't ruin this for me." Alex laughed while point at me.

"We're soulmates." Arthur repeated, still in shock.

Julia switched spots to sit on the other side of me so Alex and Arthur could sit next to each other. She forced them to sit down, and took her seat.

"Okay." She clasped her hands and stared at all of us. "Anyone else? Maria? You got something you wanna spill?"

"And ruin my mystic-punk reputation, I don't think so." She rolled her eyes.

"Good, now if that's settled, let's get down to business."

"To defeat-!" Alex and I started started at the same time.

"You guys, "Julia yelled above us, "shut up."

Alex and I giggled. I noted that throughout our practice, all of us were extremely happy. It was a lot happier than we had been in a while. I really appreciated that.

"You won't believe what happened today." I told Greg as we waited for my dad to pick us up.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow, staring at his phone.

"So it turns out Alex and Arthur are soulmates."

Greg glanced up, looking genuinely surprised. "Dang. Dang dang diggity dang dang."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Did you just make a Heathers reference?"

He smiled wryly. "Yes...?"

"I love you." I told him, putting my arm around his shoulder.

He smiled weakly. "I love you too babe."

I sighed, leaning against him. "Have you been taking your binder off for gym?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I feel a lot better actually, so thanks."

"No problem."

He was staring at his phone again. He looked troubled. His eyebrows moved together and his nose wrinkled a bit. I wondered if it was something I said.

"You okay?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head on his shoulder.

He nodded, putting his hands over my arms in a reverse hug of sorts. "My sister's been trying to talk to me."

"What's she saying?"

He turned his phone off and sighed. "She's genuinely trying to rebuild something between us."

"Is that...good?" I frowned, the way he was talking it seemed like he didn't like it.

He groaned and leaned his head into mine. "I don't know. I want to just completely drop them from my life, to never see them again, but she's trying really hard. She's stopping using my deadname, but I have this suspicion that maybe it might just be my parents. Maybe they stole her phone and are trying to lure me back so they can send me away to conversion camps."

"Would they do that?" I frowned, horrified.

"Absolutely. They almost did the first time I came out. I had to beg and plead them not to send me. All these stories of kids who've died going to those hell holes keep coming back to me, and I just..." He trailed off. "It was hard."

His grip on my arms tightened unconsciously and I squeezed him him a little tighter.

"But I'm here, I'm still alive, and I'm proud of that." He sighed.

"That's right." I agreed.

"I think I'm gonna ask her if she can bring me some of my stuff, like in a duffle bag or something. As much as I love the clothes you got me, I want my hoodie back. I have a love-hate relationship with short sleeves." He exclaimed, rubbing his bare forearms uncomfortably.

"You wanna have her bring it by at the play?" I suggested.

Greg looked up at me with admiration. "That's perfect."

"Anytime babe, anytime."