Chapter 75 Chapter Seventy-One
Omniscient Narrative
Demi didn't remember when he decided to run home.
One moment he was standing under the string lights in Alex's backyard, the echo of his name still ringing in the air, the taste of shock and humiliation burning his throat.
The next, his feet were pounding against pavement, lungs screaming as the house disappeared behind him.
‘You're dead to me’
The words chased him down the street.
He didn't slow down when his chest began to ache.
He didn't stop when his vision blurred, when tears streaked hot and relentless down his face.
He ran like distance might erase the sound of Alex's voice, like if he moved fast enough, he could outrun the way his heart had shattered right there in front of everyone.
Streetlights flickered past. Houses blurred together.
His hands shook so badly he nearly dropped his keys when he reached his front door.
He slipped inside, shut the door too hard, and bolted up the stairs before anyone could stop him.
His bedroom door closed behind him with a click that felt final.
The room was dark except for the faint glow from the streetlight outside his window.
Familiar posters lined the walls. His bed sat untouched, comforter still folded the way he'd left it.
He collapsed onto it anyway.
The sob that tore out of him was raw and broken, like it had been clawing its way up his throat for miles.
He buried his face in his pillow, fists twisting into the fabric as his entire body shook.
He cried until his chest hurt.
Until his head throbbed.
Until the night felt too big to survive.
He replayed it all again and again, the shove, the shouting, the way Alex's face had twisted with rage and fear, the moment the words had left his mouth.
Not anger.
Erasure.
Dead to me.
It felt like being told his love had never existed at all.
Demi rolled onto his side, curling inward like he could protect himself from the memory.
His phone buzzed somewhere nearby, but he didn't look. He didn't want to see names.
Didn't want to read concern or questions or apologies.
He wanted silence.
Time blurred.
Minutes, or maybe an hour had passed in a haze of tears and shallow breaths.
His eyes burned.
His throat ached.
He stared at the wall without really seeing it, mind looping endlessly back to one truth he couldn't escape.
He loved Alex.
He truly loved the curly headed tall demon.
He had loved him quietly, so quietly you could mistake the love for ordinary likeness, one every friend has for their best friend.
He wanted to love him loudly, recklessly, but he knew that couldn’t happen and he was okay with that, he was okay with everything, he just wanted Alex with him, even if it was just for casual sex, if it meant the other boy would show something towards him other than friendship.
He was patient with the other male.
But it ended up being patience that had cost him pieces of himself.
And now it felt like that love had finally broken him.
A sound drifted up from downstairs.
The front door.
Voices.
Multiple voices.
Demi frowned faintly, disoriented. It was late. His family weren't supposed to be home, not all of them, not together, they were supposed to still be at the party. But he guessed they followed him back home.
Footsteps climbed the stairs.
They were heavy and very familiar.
His door creaked open.
"Demilade?"
He didn't look up.
The light flipped on.
Five figures filled the doorway.
His three older sisters-Temilade, Angel and Ayra- And his two older brothers-Daniel and Damson jr-.
All of them staring at him in various stages of concern, shock, and immediate recognition that something was deeply wrong.
"Oh my god," his oldest sister-Temilade- breathed. "Demilade..."
She crossed the room in seconds and sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers in his shirt Afro as she tried to massage his scalp gently like she used to do when he was little and in need of comfort
"What happened?" his second sister-Angel-asked, voice already breaking.
Demi shook his head weakly not wanting to worry his siblings. "I'm fine."
His oldest brother-Junior- snorted softly. "No, you're not Demilade, tell us what’s wrong."
His youngest sister-Ayra- closed the door behind them. "What happened between you and Alex?"
That was all it took.
The dam broke.
Demi's chest hitched violently, a sob ripping free before he could stop it.
He sat up suddenly and buried his face against his sister's shoulder, hands clutching at her shirt like she was the only thing holding him together.
"He hates me," Demi choked. "I ruined everything."
All five of them moved at once.
Arms wrapped around him.
Hands rubbed his back.
Someone kissed the top of his head-probably one his sisters-
His brothers flanked him silently, solid and grounding, while his sisters cried openly with him.
"No," Temilade said fiercely. "Whatever happened, no one gets to do this to you, please talk to us"
"Tell us," Daniel said gently. "We're here."
Demi hesitated.
His heart pounded painfully against his ribs.
There it was, the truth he'd been carrying alone for too long.
He didn't want to hide it anymore.
"I'm gay," he whispered, his eyes closed fearing to open them and see his siblings either looking at him in disgust or worse, they’re not there anymore.
The words fell into the room, fragile and trembling.
No one pulled away.
No one flinched.
His sisters tightened their arms around him instead.
"Oh, baby," one of them sobbed, tears spilling freely now. "Is that what you've been scared of all this time?"
Demi nodded, breath shaking. "And I-I'm in love with Alex."
The name shattered him.
He cried harder, collapsing fully into his siblings' embrace as the weight of it finally came loose.
His brothers exchanged a glance, then one of them spoke softly but firmly.
"We love you Demilade, your sexuality doesn’t change anything"
His other brother nodded. "Yes Junior is right, nothing about that changes."
His sisters cried openly now, pressing kisses to his hair, his cheeks, his temples.
"You don't have to be strong with us," Ayra whispered.
"You don't have to hide yourself anymore Demi," Angel added.
"You are not different," Temilade said through tears, she was taking this the hardest, being the oldest she had to watch each and every one of her siblings grow, so to see the youngest and baby of the house crying like his heart was about to rip, broke her heart, she didn’t like seeing any one of her siblings this way. She didn’t like it at all.
Demi sobbed like he hadn't allowed himself to before.
Great, gasping cries that wracked his entire body as months of fear, love, rejection, and grief poured out of him all at once.
His sisters cried with him, clutching him tightly.
His brothers held him steady, anchoring him when his body trembled too hard to support itself.
For the first time that night-maybe for the first time in a long time-Demi didn't feel alone, he was happy to have his siblings here with him. Even though it was because of a very sad situation.