22. Transphobia

-Kaeden pov-

I start to get nervous jitters as I walk up to Finley's flat. I had been here plenty of times before but this was different. It felt official.

Which was weird considering how just a few months ago I thought my life was worthless and I would never amount to anything. I was deeply depressed and swimming in what felt like a bottomless pit until the incident.

Then Finley came into my life. I'm not a sappy emotional person by any means but he changed everything. When I first met him I thought he was just another big headed smartass who needed attention. But there's another side to him that I never guessed was there before.

I knock on the door and after a few moments, Jamie is the one to open it.

"Hey! Babe look, he made it!" Jamie opens the door all the way so I could come in and looks at Mari who was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

Jamie looks like a handsome gentleman with messy brown hair, neatly combed to the side and an American accent to match. He's the boyfriend of Marius, Finley's cousin, and the three of them lived together in this lavish flat across the street from Regents Park.

"Thank god. I was shocked Fin didn't pull some unreal excuse out of thin air when I asked you to come by." Marius smiles.

"What he means is it's nice to finally meet you Kaeden," Jamie adds as he shakes my hand and Mari takes a loaf of garlic bread out of the oven.

"Thank you, Fin talks about you guys a lot," I say while smiling. Mari wipes his hands on a rag and looks at me. His eyes were two different colors but his sandy blonde hair is long enough to cover the green eye leaving only the blue one for the world to see. He rolls up the sleeves of his shirt to show that although he looked very short, thin, and frail looking, he had veins going to well-toned muscles that I wish I had.

"Where is Fin?" Jamie asks and Mari looks at his watch.

"I think he's still upstairs. Hey, Kaeden why don't you go up and get him while we set up," Mari suggest.

It was hard to imagine that we were all the same age considering Mari and Jamie looked like a couple that had been married for a few years and Marius was so smart that he already had his masters degree at eighteen and was working on his doctorate.

"Yeah, of course," I take the suggestion and jog up the stairs.

"Fin?" I call his name as I walk down the hallway to his room. I make my way to his open door and peek in. He was sitting on the edge of his bed looking down at his tablet focused on some sort of article.

"Fin? You okay?" I ask and he looks up startled for a moment until he sees it's just me.

"Oh, you're here," he smiles but I could tell something was wrong.

"Yeah, I got here a few minutes ago. What's going on?" I ask out of concern. He only shakes his head and tosses his tablet aside on his bed.

"Nothing sweetheart. You look like you've got a hot date or something," He laughs as he finishes buttoning his shirt and I nervously scratch my shirt.

"What am I overdressed or something? I got advice from Noell...now that I think about it I probably shouldn't have," I joke around and he stands up, standing on his toes to quickly kiss me.

"No Kaeden, you're fine. Better than fine actually," He whispers and wraps his arms around my shoulders to kiss me again, this time for longer. But I could sense something wasn't quite right. He was worried about something and trying to hide it. He really does suck at lying.

"Guys! Dinner is ready! Come on out to the balcony,"

I twirl the pasta around my fork and take a large bite of the steamy meal set before me. Finley's foot rubs the top of mine as he takes a small sip of wine sitting at the head of the table. Across from me sat Mari with Jamie sitting next to him.

"I don't know why you were so nervous Fin. Honestly, Kaeden seems like such a sweetheart. I don't know how he ended up with someone like you but that's beside the point," Mari gives a low blow to Fin with a sharp kick in return.

"I am not an asshole all the time!" Fin yells at Mari who kicks him back. "I've been by your side for nineteen years and I find that very hard to believe!" Mari yells and I laugh at the gesture while taking a bite of garlic bread.

"Actually Finley's the true sweetheart here. I'm really lucky to have him in my life," A small loving sigh escapes my lips and Fin rest his chin on the palm of his hand.

"Thank you Kaeden, see what did I tell you?" He shoves it in his cousin's face but Mari only rolls his eyes and brings his attention back to me.

"I'm already impressed by the fact you've been able to rehabilitate and train a wild beast. How did you two meet?" Jamie interrupts their petty arguments and Finley gently clears his throat.

"Remember when I was in that depression for a day or so?" Fin asks as he plays with his pasta.

"I remember it was a few weeks, not just a day or so but go on," Jamie nods. I quietly fix my glasses and continue eating.

"Well on the day I went outside and got fresh air for the first time was the day Kaeden was working with his friends outside on the quad outside my window. He was cutting a few pieces of wood for a set he was building because he's a stage manager for the campus theatre. I was so intrigued, I joined him." Fin explains, cutting out most of the personal details.

Like the fact he looked dead when I first saw him. So dead I thought he was a ghost. Or the fact his ex-boyfriend showed up.

"Finley you've never liked theatre, you don't even know what famous musical my name comes from," Marius interrupts my thoughts and I look at Fin.

"Well there was a cute boy involved, I couldn't help myself," He says and looks at me. And although I had long forgiven him for sleeping with Noell, I will never forget the fact that he was first.

"Ew, stop. I can't see you like this. Did you drug him?" Mari jokes and I shrug.

"Our show is premiering next week. You should come see it," I offer and he nods.

"I was hoping you would say that! Jamie and I would love to go see what you guys have been working on," Mari burst out excitedly.

"Aish, you guys are acting like my parents. Please stop," Finley whines and Jamie laughs.

"Your parents are five billion times worse and you know it. If Kaeden can't handle us, I don't think he has a chance against your fathers." He says while pointing his fork. I was getting this vibe that Jamie was more like an older brother to my Fin.

"Let's not spoil dinner with the thought of Mr. Ashley and Jonathan Grayson," Fin coughs before checking his phone and Mari does the same.

"They can probably hear us talking about them from....from..."

Mari stops talking when he sees the message and Finley does the same. Jamie looks at me and looks just as confused.

"I don't like this," Mari says and puts his phone down. Finley leans back in his chair and downs his glass of wine as if he's stressed out like earlier.

"What's going on?" Jamie asks for the both of us and Mari lets out a long sigh.

"The elections for Prime Minister of the UK are tomorrow. One of the candidates is a conservative man named Damien Giani. He's made a lot of transphobic hate comments and it looks like his campaign has been built around it. I guess there's nothing we can really do since no one at this table can vote yet on our visas but he's said some nasty things. I don't see how he made it this far. I mean I don't personally know anyone who's trans but that doesn't mean I want them kicked out of the country," he says and I choke on a piece of bread.

"You alright there?" Jamie asks and I look off to the city of London just below their balcony. A city I had loved so much. A country that had given me so much and taken me in when no one else would, could possibly turn his back on me.

"He's okay. We just have a close friend in the theatre who's transgender," I can hear Finley quietly mention.

"Ah I'm fine," Fear was starting to flood my system but I shut it down. I just had to get through this.

"Dinner was delicious, thank you, Marius and Jamie."

"I'm fine Finley," I try to convince him but it wasn't working. He quietly stares out into space while laying his head on my lap as we lay in my bed. I gently run my fingers through his soft silky hair to try to calm him down as he grips my bare leg.

"I'm so scared Kaeden," he whispers, nervously picking a small string on my boxers.

"I know, but maybe he won't get elected. I doubt the people here are that stupid." I speak softly but he stays quietly thinking.

I could see the panic on his beautiful face as he softly kisses the scar on my thigh and closes his eyes.

"I won't let anything happen to you Kae, I'm going to protect you," he promises. I bend down and kiss his forehead.

"Don't think about it too much. I'll be fine. All of my papers are changed and I'm here to stay," I didn't want him to worry about my problems but that couldn't be helped at this point.

"Let's move into a flat together," he says and I give him a look.

"If he gets elected, I want you to move in with me. We don't know what's going to happen but maybe that will protect you to some degree," he says.

"Fin I work as a teacher's assistant, I don't know if I can afford anything else right now," I try to think realistically but he refuses with a head shake.

"Don't worry about it," He says.

"What do you mean do-"

He kisses my lips before I could argue further.