"Yeah, guys can date guys too, Pluto…" Beau answered gently, looking over to his younger brother with a quick nod before he glanced away a bit quicker than he intended. The whole conversation began to remind him of a boy in his class that he had mixed feelings about, not that he would admit it to anyone at home. What if they thought he was weird for kind of liking a boy?
(OMG I TOTALLY NEED BEAU OPENING UP TO MERCURY ABOUT HIS FEELINGS BC MERCURY'S PAN AND AAAAAAAAAAAAA)
“It depends on who you like. Some people only want to date girls. Some people only want to date guys. Some people want to date both. Some people want to date people who don’t identify as male or female. Some people don’t want to date at all. In my opinion, gender doesn’t really matter in terms of dating, but that’s just how I feel.” Mercury explained.
(YES OPEN UP CHILD! MERCURY IS THE SUPPORTIVE OLDEST SIBLING)
"What if you don't like anyone? Do you still like the same or opposite gender or what is that?"
(Wait, I don't understand the question)
(Asexuality, essentially. He's asking if you don't like anyone are you still considered straight/gay and asking what that would be called. He just doesn't know all the proper terms for that)
(K, cool.)
"Well, some people don't like anyone romantically, so they just don't have crushes on anyone. They're called aromantic. Some people have crushes on others, but they don't really want to kiss or do anything.." he cleared his throat. "..Anything some couples might like to do. They're asexual."
"Could someone be aromantic and not be asexual? Or vice versa? Or do they always go together?"
"It's really common for them not to go together. You might not want to fall in love with someone, but you might want to kiss them. You also might want to fall in love with them, but you don't want to kiss them. You might also only want to kiss them after you've developed a strong emotional bond with them. That's demisexual."
"How many combinations are there?" I have a feeling this is going to be pretty overwhelming… Pluto braced himself for a long list.
"…. A lot. There's also a lot of different genders, but I'll spare you the list for both of those. You can figure it out when you're older. There's never really any set age for you to figure out who you're attracted to, so there's a lot of time to figure it out."
"What if I just like girls and that's the end of it? Is that the simplest route to go?" Pluto tucked his knees inside his hoodie again, laying his head on them.
"Well, nothing will be simple unless you are true to your heart. If you like boys, then you like boys. If you like girls, you like girls, if you like both that's cool too." Ana hummed from the door frame
"There's not really any simple route, because any way you go relationships are going to be difficult. You can't choose your gender, or who you're attracted to. You're just kind of born with it. I was born pansexual, and I identify as male, and it doesn't matter if I think being heterosexual would be easier, I can't change who I'm attracted to."
"But why can't you choose? You can choose who you date and stuff, so why not? Is it not that easy?" What have I gotten myself into?
"It's not all that logical," Kai explained, having gotten over his embarrassment. "It really just hits ya. Or it doesn't. It's random like that."
"…Okay? I'm still not sure I fully understand, but whatever."
"Yeah, I don't really understand either. It's like that. Anyway," Mercury said, sitting on top of the counter, "who wants to tell me about the things you guys did while I was doing things I definitely should not have done off at college?"
"I'd rather hear about all the weird stuff you got up to in college," Kai replied, smirking.
Venus continued to examine the necklace, "I got a girlfriend. So there's that."
Mercury let out a choked noise. "What?" He yelped, excitedly. "You're dating someone?"
Venus looked at him and grinned, "Yep. I'm eighteen, why wouldn't I be?"
"Wait, what's her name? Hold old is she? Does anyone else know? How long have you been dating her? Is she nice to you?" Mercury practically yelled, grinning. "Why did you not tell me? I need to meet her! Where does she live? How fast can we get there?"
Venus laughed slightly, "Umm, her name is Lily, 17, not a lot of people know, since the beginning of junior year, I wouldn't be dating her if she wasn't nice, I didn't tell you because, and that is private information."