Page 1 of Filtration Play
Chapter One
Breakups sucked.
Breakups sucked even more when it was your first boyfriend and you had to admit to the family you were bi.
Not that Ollie had a difficult family. His brother, Julian, had been restraining a squeal since they left Dad’s house.
Julian had all but shoved Ollie into his car and then drove them off to Tabletop Tavern, where Jules used to work. He settled in the passenger’s seat, flashbacks slamming in of being in this old junker with his brother back before he could drive. Ollie should’ve still been processing coming out to Dad and Jules, but he hadn’t been concerned about any negative reception.
Instead, Julian prepared to throw him a freaking pride parade at his workplace.
Only problem was the whole situation rubbed salt in the wound that he would’ve preferred to do this happily dating someone, not on the heels of getting dumped. Asher had broken up with him last week by way of a text. A year-long relationship flushed down the drain. He stared up at the ceiling of Jules’s car as they zipped along the familiar San Francisco streets. Not like he’d been around this area for a bit. The past few years, he’d stuck to Oakland for trade school, for work, for his social life. While it was the next city over, he’d been so focused on trying to find somewhere to fit in that he’d stayed local.
Except when he and Asher had split up, he’d lost those friends too.
His skin crawled every time he thought of the list of people who’d left him on read. The urge he sometimes believed he had conquered rose a little more by the day. The itch under his skin grew in intensity in his darkened room at night.
Ollie had known he needed to reach out, and he could always rely on one person. Besides, he should’ve come out to his family ages ago—especially Jules. His brother had been out and proud for as long as he could remember, wholly himself, no matter what hurdles he came up against. Nothing Ollie had ever managed to achieve.
“Why keep the relationship secret, Ollie?” Julian slowed to an open parking spot along the side of the street.
There it was. He’d been waiting for the question.
He ran his fingers through his hair. As much as he wanted to dodge it, he also didn’t want to hurt Julian’s feelings more than he already had. His brother had pulled into park and stared at him with hurt puppy eyes. Julian’s clutch around the steering wheel showcased his ocean blue nail polish that kept catching the light.
“Mmm, ever tried a secret relationship? It’s thrilling,” he said dryly.
Julian gave him the “Mom” look he’d perfected. Ollie had been on the receiving end of it his whole life, since their mom died when hewas young. He and Amelia were the youngest in the fam, so Julian had become their surrogate parent while Dad worked long hours to keep a roof over their head. His brother wore black nurse scrubs right now, but normally, he was dressed in whatever latest style trend he chased, whether that was crop tops or hair feathers.
“Fine.” He tipped his head back again so he wouldn’t have to face the disappointment in Julian’s eyes. “I just wanted to figure things out on my own. Asher was my first boyfriend, and if we got to the meeting the family stage, yeah, you guys would’ve known.”
Except they never quite did. Maybe that had been a red flag, but Ollie had been so smitten by the attention doled out to him. Asher swept him into his circle, and hell, Ollie had struggled to fit in his whole life. He’d fallen into the friend group and the parties and…well, now all those things vanished as fast as he’d found them.
He chewed on his lower lip, not wanting to look at his brother, who was probably delivering gooey eyes.
Julian put his hand on top of his and squeezed. “I get it. I’m just happy you told us now. And if you need a queer community, this is the place to go.”
Ollie glanced out the window at the sign for Tabletop Tavern down the block. That was Julian’s community for sure, and he had no doubt the people there would welcome him in with open arms.
Yet he was the youngest of five. He’d been getting hand-me-downs his entire life, and fuck, he wanted something that belonged tohimfor once. No matter his attempts to carve those spaces out, though, they all crumbled in the end. However, he pasted on a smile for Jules. “Well, what are we waiting for?”
He hopped out of the car, the cool San Francisco breezes whipping around him. Ollie tugged at his old letterman jacket from Oakland High. It had been three years since he played tight end in high school,and while he wasn’t clinging on to any “glory days” bullshit, he did miss playing. Not like there were pickup games aplenty or even great outlets to get out some physical aggression.
“Come on.” Jules clapped a hand on his shoulder. Even though Julian had always been a parent figure, Ollie loomed over him now. Most of the family was on the shorter and slender side, but he’d shot up and bulked up. His size was one of the few reasons he’d survived high school, albeit by a thread.
The sight of the pride flags outside Tabletop Tavern always caused his heart to skip, even more so now that he was out in the open. He’d swung to the board game café a few times, but as gaming wasn’t his jam, this didn’t make for his usual hangout choice. He was more likely to hit a sports bar to catch the Packers play.
While he didn’t think Tabletop Tavern would become his newest go-to, he did appreciate that Julian kept him out and about. Better than heading home to the apartment he shared with Luna, a rando from Craigslist who had ended up being chill. She was a little plants and crystals woo-woo, but if she needed to chant over him once in a while to “purge the negative energy from his soul,” that was the price he gladly paid for a nondramatic roommate.
However, after coming out to Dad and Jules, especially sans boyfriend, the itch grew a little stronger than normal. The crawl across his skin that never bode well. That always, always spelled a spiral…eventually. So the longer he could stay out, the better.
“Do you want everyone to know here? Or are you keeping it private?” Julian asked, even though he clearly brimmed to tell his boyfriend, Cal.
Ollie shook his head. “I don’t mind if everyone knows, though I don’t want a big deal made.”
Because Julian would. He was sweet as fuck and a natural caretaker, now working his dream job as a nurse. However, he’d spent years as a chef at Tabletop Tavern and hung out here often still because Cal was one of the owners.
Julian marched in first, and Ollie followed him. The scent of coffee and orange peel greeted him, along with the steady murmur of customers.
