I grab the box of kelp cakes from the cupboard by the stove and shove one into my mouth, scraping my tongue and teeth over it, scrubbing out the bitter algae dessert taste.

I turn to the counter, but Ange and Mackere aren't in here yet.

So I peek out the archway to the living room. They're still talking by the doorway.

I eat another kelp cake, then slide the box back into the cupboard by the stove. Hesitantly, I paddle through the archway, fiddling my fingers until Ange glances at me.

"You were going to say why you moved," I sign.

Mackere's lips go flat. She glances at Ange and says something, he nods quickly and motions to the couch.

"What?" I ask.

Ange drifts to the cushions, sinks onto one, Mackere beside him. "Mackere asked if I could translate what she says, since she doesn't want her ineloquence making it harder."

I bend my fingers back and forth. I nod, slowly, swim toward them and perch on the edge of the cushions, Ange in the middle of us.

Mackere starts talking, mouth moving slow. Ange signs, red fins dancing. "I'm sorry, Nudibranc, that this thing didn't turn into a date like I said it would. If I'd known Marli was in a relationship I never would've suggested we go."

I carefully nod. "Okay."

Mackere tilts her head. "You're not mad?" Ange translates for her, his knees bouncing.

I shake my head. "Why did you move? You said you'd tell us."

Ange covers his mouth. Mackere's eyes go half-lidded at him. "What?" she signs.

Ange says aloud/signs, "Nudibranc asks, why did you move? You said you'd tell us."

Mackere frowns at me. Then says something. Ange signs, "so you're really not mad?" but he keeps bouncing his knees.

I shake my head. "No, I'm not." I wiggle my ankle fins. "Should I be?"

"Okay, time out, "Ange signs/says aloud. "I know I'm only supposed to be translating here, but. Nudibranc, if you were mad at her, this is exactly how you would be acting--saying you're not, shaking your head, asking about something else. Mackere--Nudibranc actually isn't mad at you for anything. Okay? Okay. Everyone good?"

"Why would I be mad at her?" I wiggle my toes, tucked under me on the cushion. "She obviously had no way to know Marli was dating anyone and I didn't even like Marli in the first place."

Mackere says something aloud, hands fluttering about her face.

Ange just laughs. "Sometimes people are like this. Can we move on now?"

Mackere nods.

"Why did Mackere move?" I ask, again.

Ange looks at her.

"Why I moved?" she signs.

I nod.

She folds her arms, leaning back against the couch. She starts talking, staring at the far wall.

Ange translates, "I really don't like talking about it--like, not even Sta knows. So don't tell anyone, okay?

"Background for this whole thing, my parents split up when I was younger. I lived with my dad in that house you guys saw until I finished school, but in the last few years he started dating someone else and it got weird for me."

Mackere pauses.

"I'm sorry your parents split up," Ange signs.

"Not the worst thing," she signs back. She shivers, and starts talking again.

"The woman he started dating had a kid. Maybe like ten, so he hadn't reached puberty yet, but he always liked dressing like an older woman. You know, baggy shirts, bigger shorts, big hats. My dad...was not okay with it."

She pauses again. Says something else.

"Oops, I'm the worst, this kid was like ten so no puberty yet, but I shouldn't just assume 'he' like that. Let's call this kid--" Ange spells out, "--G-R-E-E-N," then after that does the sign motion for the color.

"So Green dressed up in these baggy, bigger clothes, my dad got onto Green about it and refused to let the kid go to school like that. Green's mom didn't do anything to help in front of my dad, she just let him say and enforce whatever. She kept buying Green the same types of clothes though, and kept letting the kid wear them when my dad wasn't around, so I don't know what her deal was."

Mackere pauses, purses her lips.

"That's pretty terrible," Ange signs.

I nod. "So Green was like Hamme? A little?"

Ange shrugs. "I think so." He says something aloud to Mackere, and she sits up and nods to me.

She starts talking again, and Ange translates, "I'd never told my dad I was interested in girls. I didn't even figure it out until all this was going on and I started asking questions about Green and wondering about life in general and myself--I don't want to say I figured it out because of what was going on with Green, but...kind of, yes.

"My dad and the woman he was dating broke up before I finished school. Like, three weeks before I finished school. It'd been super weird for me all the time she was around, but suddenly after like two years she vanished, and that was weird too. We had six of us--Green had two little siblings--living there, but suddenly it was just me and my dad again..."

"So Green and their mom left?" I ask.

Ange says something to Mackere, and she nods to us.

"No clue where they went after that. No clue if Green transitioned in puberty or not, but honestly I hope so."

Ange scoots forward on the couch and signs/says aloud, "couldn't Green get medication to make the transition happen?"

Mackere says something. I glance between them. Ange screws up his face and Mackere nods.

Ange turns to me, signing, "Green's mom didn't have a lot of money, especially taking care of three kids, so if Green did need medication to transition...they both might not have been able to afford it. At least for a while."

"Oh," I bend my fingers back and forth. "That's sad."

Ange nods, turning back to Mackere. "So what happened when you finished school?"

Her lips go flat, but she starts speaking, vibrations thin from her mouth.

Ange translates, "it was weird for both of us in the house after they left. For some reason this was worse than when only my mom left when I was a kid. Like, three people to two was hard because the missing person was my mother, but six down to two left everything...super empty. Like an abandoned reef.

"So the day after I finished school, my dad said we were moving in a couple weeks. Or rather, he was moving, and I was going off to university and living there. I was sad about it? I think? I don't know.

"Anyway, the big point is, the day before I left for university, I told my dad I was into dating girls. I knew if it went bad I could just go to university and forget about it, and if it went well I could..."

Mackere quits talking and shrugs, staring at her hands. She says something, and signs, "maybe I knew, bad."

We sit, motionless on the couch. Ange's arm rubs my arm and I slightly pull away, and quiver my back fins.

"Me telling my parents was a pretty awful experience too," Ange signs/says aloud. "My dad asked me at dinner who I'd managed to take out on a second date, because that had never happened before. Me going on a second date, that is. I said Parro's name because I didn't think anyone would know who that was--just some random person at school, right?"

Mackere looks up at him. She says something.

"Yeah," Ange nods. "Well turns out my mom was like 'isn't Parro that one boy you did a group project with in maths last year? I didn't know he transitioned!' and I was like 'oh, yeah, Parro...actually hasn't transitioned' and half an hour later I'd packed up as much of my belongings into a tiny little bag as I could, as fast as I could because my parents kept screaming and banging on my door that I could stay in their house if I chose not to love this boy but guess what I couldn't so I snuck out the window and ended up homeless. And Parro's family took me in," he flashes his teeth at me.

"Wow," Mackere signs.

I already knew this, more or less. But I rub my wrist fin against Ange's, because that's sort of like a hug and he likes hugs.

Mackere starts speaking again, and Ange translates, "my dad was not that extreme. He just said he didn't get how I could do this to him and complained about the school system corrupting the next generation, then the next day I told him to have a good life and I left," she shrugs. "Yeah so anyway, Sta knows my parents split up when I was younger, and that I don't really have contact with them anymore, but that's it. It's not a major deal, I just want her to hear it from me."

Ange nods.

"Okay," I sign. "I won't tell her anything."

Mackere shows her teeth. "And you?" She points to me. "Sad story?"

I bend my fingers back and forth. "Um..."

Mackere says something aloud, and Ange translates, "she's wondering if you have a sad story of telling people you like girls."

I shake my head. "I just barely told anyone. Parro, then Ange, then the group."

Ange relays this to Mackere, and she nods, lips pursed. "Valid," she signs.

"Actually," my heart skips, "I have a little sad story. Not the same kind of sad, but still sad." I stare at my knees, and Ange goes still beside me. "I didn't think I might not go by 'she' until weeks after learning Hamme went by 'they'." I glance up at the murky green wall, past Ange's face, his flat lips and wide eyes fringing the edge of my vision. "So I think I might go by they too but I'm not super sure."

My hands fall to my sides, to the squishy couch cushions. I cross my fingers, I uncross them, I bend my fingers back and forth.

Ange's mouth slowly spreads, teeth bright. "Nudibranc, can I hug you?"

Mackere says something aloud.

"I..." I flick my gaze between Mackere and Ange. "No?" I already did enough things like hugging today, my arm has been rubbing his arm half this time.

Mackere says something.

"I can tell her, right?" Ange signs at me.

"I just tried to."

Ange slaps his hands together, whirling to Mackere, vibrations tumbling from his mouth. Mackere plants both hands on her face. She says something to Ange, and he turns his back to me, but I still catch him signing "not" and "super."

My stomach flip-flops, like the dry algae dessert cakes have expanded into sponges drying up my insides. I quiver my back fins.

Mackere paddles around Ange, to sit on my other side. There's barely room on our couch and her arm fins brush mine. I quiver my back fins, staring at her.

"That is super not sad," she signs. "Super not sad." She flashes her teeth.

Slowly, I nod. My stomach calms down, and my swim bladder tries floating me up to the ceiling like I'm giddy so I shove my toes behind the couch cushion at my backside. "Thank you?" I sign.

Mackere shakes her head. "No thank you. Just...you."

I tilt my head, bend my fingers back and forth. "Okay," I sign, which makes Mackere flash her teeth.

"Now what?" I ask.

"We could...bake a cake?" Ange signs.

The door opens and we all jump, but it's Parro, back from the adoption class. His eyes go half-lidded. "Hi everyone," he signs, "what's happening here?"