"Wow," Adam whispered.
"Yeah," Scott echoed.
"That was definitely. . . wow." Scott took a good look at Adam's face.
"Adam, was that the first time you've ever kissed a guy?"
"Um, yeah," Adam admitted. "I've never really thought about it before. I mean, I've kissed a couple of girls, but I've never had a girlfriend."
"Well, has the thought ever occurred to you that maybe you're gay?" Adam sat and thought about that question for a few moments.
"I'd really like to say no, but truthfully, yeah. But my father would freak, and so would a lot of our fans. Besides, growing up is confusing enough without being in show business."
"I completely understand. But you're wrong about one thing. The fans probably wouldn't care that much. I mean, a lot of the girls would be a little disappointed, but truthfully, a large amount of fans, including female fans, would be really excited if one of you was gay. Have you ever searched fanfiction sites? There are hundreds of sites dedicated to slash fic, or "gay" fanfiction stories. I think that some of the slash sites dedicated to your dad are actually still up, now that I think about it." Adam pondered this news for a while.
"Okay, while the idea of my dad being romantically involved with anyone- including my mother- completely scares the crap out of me, I am intrigued. You mean that there are actually groups of people who spend all their time writing stories about my family members and I being gay? I mean, I knew that it existed, seeing as Xavier's girlfriend is an avid fanfic author, but I had no idea that it was that popular."
"Yep. Actually, one of the biggest groups that was dedicated to Hanson is still around. It was a mailing list called the DAE, and it based around a story about your father and Scott Moffatt, who was a teenaged singer when your dad was growing up." At this, Adam started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Scott asked.
"Oh, it's just that my dad and Scott Moffatt have been friends since before we were born. It seems when he was first famous, people thought that he and Scott looked alike, and there was supposed to be this big rivalry between the bands, which never actually existed." Scott and Adam both got a good laugh at this. The two boys kept talking for a while, and when they finally headed back to their rooms, Scott gave Adam the addresses to a few of his favorite slash sites, as well as his phone number and email address, just in case Adam needed someone to talk to who understood what he was going through.
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A few weeks later, Matt was finally released from the hospital. It was a cold day in March that he hobbled into his house, greeted with a warm welcome and a lot of hugs from his family. Almost immediately, however, Matt could tell that his family was treating him differently, and he didn't like it.
"Hey Mum, I'd really like to call a family meeting, excluding the little, that is. I need to say something to all of you." When everyone was assembled in the family room, Matt stood up.
"Listen. First of all, I want to say that I'm sorry. I made a stupid mistake that hurt a lot of people because I was being selfish. Yeah, I was really depressed, but I'm doing a lot better now, especially now that I'm on medication. I just want to say that I'm not fragile. Please don't treat me like I'm going to break at any moment. And please, please don't be afraid to say what you feel. I can't promise that I won't hurt myself, because I can't see the future and I'm not perfect, but I can promise you all that I'm certainly going to try not to. And I don't want you all to think that I can't talk about it. I know that everybody has questions about it, so please don't beat around the bush." Nobody really said anything for a few minutes, until Babsie finally spoke up.
"Thank you for making this clear, honey. I'm really glad you did, because I know we were all wondering. And I can understand if you don't want to answer, but do you know why you did it?" Babsie asked, honestly. Truthfully she had been blaming herself ever since she first found out.
"It was a whole bunch of things, really. But you all need to understand that it was nobody's fault. I was really upset and I made a rash decision without thinking it through, and I will always regret it. I love you all so much, I can't imagine losing you." With that there was another round of hugs, and then everyone broke up the crowd to go and do the work they needed to get done. As Carmen and Esme left the room, Matt looked at them with concern in his eyes. There was just something about them, about their demeanor, that reminded him of Abbey Dayna, and Katrina, the eating-disorder girls that Matt got to know at the hospital. He didn't want to jump to conclusions quite yet, but he decided he was going to keep his eye on his older sisters.