Dex's confession

You look at Dex, and... he knows without you having to say it. "Tails," you say, feeling a bit apologetic.

He nods, looking so appallingly miserable you're at a loss for what Hitler-adjacent thing he could possibly have done to feel such dread at you finding it out. It has you half torn between whether you want to go over to him and hold his face in your hands and alternately comfort him and tease him until he cheers up, or whether his secret really is bad enough to make you be through with him.

"Okay, go ahead," he says to Scott, and you look at him in confusion. "We decided it was better if each of us explains the worst part for the other. Keep us from sugar-coating it too much."

Scott takes a deep breath, then nods. Jesus, they are really making this so fucking dramatic, you think, just as Dex stands up, eyes shining and looking a little wild. "Wait!" he says, then stands there staring at you both for a second. "I, uh—can I... have a hug first, Birdie? Maybe I'm being too dramatic but I'm pretty scared we might not be friends after this."

They really are being so fucking dramatic. It's starting to make you feel a little... scared too, maybe, actually? But it feels like this has taken on a life past your ability to call it back. And anyway, you aren't sure it's the right thing to stop now, even if it does somehow ruin everything. It's not like them keeping secrets and just acting mysteriously weird all the time was going swimmingly. You stand up and move over to him, and he puts his arms around you, tucking his chin on your shoulder and half-shuddering against you with something that you realize is him fighting tears. He hugs you a little too tight and a little too long, and you let him. Scott doesn't say anything, just politely averts his eyes, as if you and Dex are a little uncomfortable to watch.

When Dex finally lets you go you both resume your seats, and Scott waits for you both to get settled before starting. He's starting to look pretty unhappy, too, but he tosses back the last of his drink and sets it on the table before turning to you and taking another long breath in. You find yourself taking one right along with him.

"Okay. Bridge. If you can save questions and stuff till the end. That'll make it maybe easier?" Scott says, then continues without waiting for you to answer that. "Dex's secret is that he made a mistake in a moment of frustration that resulted in awful consequences. For you."

You're still trying to do the calculus on that as Scott goes on. "He texted your dad the night of the party to come get you. But your mom saw it first. She was the one who called the cops and told them there was a party with underage drinking. He didn't mean that to happen though and he's been punishing himself for it ever since. I knew and didn't tell you either because I was scared he'd tell you my thing."

Um. Whoa.

"That's a pretty charitable take on things," Dex mutters, not looking at either of you.

Scott shrugs, his shoulders a little defeated-looking now too, maybe because his thing is next. "Maybe I'm trying to remember you're not actually a hateful dick. Or maybe just hoping you'll feel obliged not to make me sound like a monster when you tell her mine."

"What questions do you have, Birdie?" Dex asks, instead of answering that. "About the fact that you spent five months eating shit because of me."

You're still sort of working on what your actual reaction to this is. But you do want to know some stuff. "Why would you text my dad, though?" you ask. "It's not like we weren't ever at worse parties."

"I decline to answer on the grounds I will definitely incriminate myself?" Dex offers with a grimly joking expression, but he still goes on and says, "It's a lot pettier than he made it sound. I wanted to leave, and you didn't. And I really wanted you in particular to leave as soon as possible."

You shake your head. "Can you be less cryptic and explain why any of that?"

To your vague startlement Dex's eyes fill with tears.

"It's okay," Scott says. "You can tell her."

Dex swipes savagely at his eyes with the back of one hand and says, "I guess... I was hurt and jealous?"

You're trying really hard not to be too impatient here, but you're also getting a little worried they might pull some bait and switch dumbshit stunt where they drop a bomb like this and cop out on giving it any meaningful context or explanation. "About..." you prompt.

He scrubs again at his eyes. "Scott was my... we were together. We kept it secret. A long time. He wasn't ready to be out."

Your eyes dart immediately to Scott, who is staring miserably at his hands. "Scottie?"

"Yeah," he says. "It's true."

Dex sniffs loudly. "And by the time of that party I'd been worried a while. That maybe he wouldn't ever be ready and he'd rather just keep me as his dirty little secret. I was starting to worry maybe it wasn't even the queer thing as much as it was just, me. Like I wasn't worth being out for."

You can't help staring at Scott in amazement, trying to picture him and Dex together as a couple. He swallows audibly.

"So things were kind of getting tense about that and then." Dex pauses for a second here, because he's properly crying now. Scott is just slumped in his same spot. "But then he was flirting with you at the party," he resumes in a small voice. "Like I know you didn't know about any of it because I went along with the whole secret thing." He rubs his sleeve over his face. "And. It was kind of exciting having a secret thing. But it also turns out that if the other person suddenly wants to pretend you don't mean anything to them, there's nobody else around to say otherwise and make you feel less gaslighted."

"Is that how it was, Scottie?" you ask, still feeling rather numbly befuddled about the whole thing.

"Bad as that sounds, he's actually making me sound better than it was," Scott says without looking at either of you. "I—well, my dad was—never mind—just, I was kind of trying to prove to myself that I don't, like... like prove to myself it was just an experimental thing or something. Like a phase. I guess at the time I'd had a couple beers and it seemed like flirting with a girl was a great way to do that." He reaches up and wipes at his own eyes, which are looking a bit red. "Sorry. I'm really so, so sorry," he says to Dex.

There's a long pause. "I know," Dex says after a minute, reluctantly. "It was just... did you have to break my heart with Birdie, of all people?"

"I know," Scott says.

You fight down the lump in your throat that makes you want to forgive them both immediately so you can get started fixing them and the three of you can be a thing again. "Look, I kinda get not telling, okay, people... but how come you didn't tell me?" you ask finally, still sort of reeling through all this in your mind.

"He wanted to," Scott says. "He always wanted to. That part was all me. And then things got kinda ugly after the party. I guess kind of a mutually assured destruction sort of thing."

"How long were you together?" You look at Dex, who is just sitting there, looking at you both and occasionally wiping quietly at his eyes.

"Since freshman year," Scott says, and you stare at him in shocked amazement.

"Are you being fucking serious?" You stare at them both. "Multiple years you were a couple and didn't ever tell me? I was starting to think you might actually be ace and hadn't realized it yet, Teddy!"

When neither of them say anything right away, you flop backward on the couch, not even bothering not to huff about it. "So, thanks a lot for sparing me the sad truth that literally everyone but me is having sex. Huzzah. Or whatever," you complain.

Scott begins, "Bridge... I think--"

You cut him off. "--I think you both have a lot of thoughts. I love you and shut up. Now I'm going to tell you what the fuck I think."