"alright, ryan, what're you here for?" brendon asked ryan. after making himself a bit more comfortable with this group, he had seated himself in between the rock brendon was sitting on and the tree stump jack was on. 

ryan looked up, slightly confused, "what do you mean?"

"the tracks is kinda like a support group, we're all lgbtq+ here. im pansexual, jack's gay, ashley's a lesbian, the list goes on and on," he explained, "so, what are you here for?"

the way brendon was asking this made it sound like he was asking a prison inmate what they got arrested for. "i'm transgender, female to male, and i'm gay. would you mind explaining the me what you mean by this being a support group?" 

max spoke up, "all of our home lives aren't the best since we all came out. sometimes we just need other people who are going through the same thing to talk about what we're going through."

ryan made a small 'oh' noise, nodding. "do any of you have the time? if it's past nine, my father will call the police, claiming his daughter went missing."

"who cares if your dad calls the police? you can't live by their rules for your whole life." brendon exclaimed, taking a swig from a bottle of vodka that was being passed around the group, "we'd also like to say that if alcohol makes you uncomfortable, you will not be forced to drink any of it, we just bring a lot of it because it's easier for some of us to talk about difficult things if we have a little alcohol in our system."

"some of us just like to drink," ashley muttered and melanie snorted. 

ryan nodded and brendon gestured the bottle to him. ryan took it by the neck and took a long sip of it. "anyone got anything they wanna talk about? maybe something good or something bad that happened this week?" 

steven raised his hand. "i came out to my brother and he was supportive," he told the group. melanie gave a small cheer and everyone clapped, "next?"

"my father told me, once again, that everything's a phase and one day i'm gonna marry a nice boy and settle down, it's bullshit, men are gross." lynn laughed. 

"not all men..." brendon jokingly muttered, and ryan hit him on the knee. 

"brendon, you're the leader of this damn group, shut the fuck up." alexa snapped with a smile on her face. 

brendon leaned down to ryan's ear, "beware of him, he'll break your fucking neck." he pointed to alexa.

alexa cracked her knuckles, "you wanna go?" 

brendon stood up on the rock, "lets go!" alexa threw a punch, grazing right past brendon's face and he immediately sat down, "nevermind, you could kick my ass." 

ryan sat there, laughing. for the first time in his life, he felt like he actually belonged. before passing the bottle of vodka to jack, he took another swig. "guys!" a faint voice in the forest behind the group went. 

everyone turned to see someone pop out. "alex!" jack shouted, standing up and going over, engulfing him in a hug, "alex, this is ryan, he's trans and new to the group."

alex gave a small wave to ryan, and ryan returned a smile. "i thought your father wasn't going to let you out?" alexa asked. 

he gave a small shrug, "he passed out on the couch, i got an hour or so to hang out before he wakes up and freaks out."

"dude, i'm sorry, but you look like shit." brendon told him. 

"i know, i slept til like four today, and what is it now? like seven?" he asked and jack nodded, "also, i got this from my dad's cabinet," he pulled out a single bottle of coors light out of his hoodie pocket. 

jack snatched it and took his keys off his belt loop, using the bottle opener he had on it to open the bottle. he took a sip of the room temperature beer and smiled, "i fucking love beer." he muttered.

"i love you," alex replied, leaning forward to peck jack's vodka and beer flavored lips. 

ryan made an 'aw' noise and brendon spoke up, "alex, did anything happen with your dad today?" 

alex shook his head, "nothing too severe, he just kept telling me that i can't just become male, since i was born female, then he drank a little and passed out. nothing physical though, he doesn't really do anything physical anymore."

"that's good, not that he was being a dick, but it's good that he hasn't been physical." melanie spoke, sipping from the beer that was being passed around. 

"guys, guys off the tracks, train." lynn quickly went, getting steven and max off the tracks when she began to hear the train coming. 

the train whirled passed, and the entire group yelled at the train and brendon even through the empty bottle of vodka at it, and alex took pictures of it with his camera. 

"brendon, what the fuck?" ryan yelled.

"it's for the aesthetic, ryro!" brendon replied, throwing his arms around ryan's shoulders, giving him a tight hug.