Like You
For @911scharactersofcolor day 3: favorite secondary character of color
Read on ao3 Micheal is working on the kitchen counter in the dim lights from the kitchen. The only sound in the apartment is the soft hum of the refrigerator and the scratch of his pencil. His kids’ soft snores come from the bedroom. He smiles to himself. He loves those kids more than words could ever comprehend.
He can still remember the first time he held May in his arms. He was suddenly filled with a volume of love he didn’t know was possible. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes and he was in love. And now she’s all grown up. His little girl is moving away and starting a new life in college. If he’s honest, Micheal isn’t sure he’s ready for that. He wants to protect his kids more than anything in the world and May about to fly the nest is making him more than a little nervous.
But in a bittersweet way, he’s happy. His cancer is getting better and he knows he’s going to live a full life where he gets to see both of his kids grow up into the kind and intelligent people he knows they are.
“Dad?”
Micheal looks up and sees May walking into the kitchen dressed in her pajamas, one of his old company t-shirts and flannel pants.
“Hi, May-May.” She smiles at the nickname as he folds up his work, making room for her to sit next to him. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”
She shrugs, “Yeah. So are you.”
“I’m an adult,” he reminds her. “Last I recall, there’s still a week until your birthday.” May rolls her eyes. Micheal looks at her and sees her hands fidgeting under the counter. “What’s going on? It’s not like you to be up in the middle of the night.”
May sighs, “I guess I’ve got something on my mind that I wanted to talk to you about.”
Micheal turns, giving his daughter his full attention. “Whatever it is you can tell me, you know that.”
May nods and takes a deep breath. She brings her hands to rest on the cold counter, her fingers tapping nervously. “How did you know that you were gay?”
“Oh, uh…” Of everything his daughter could ask him, Micheal hadn’t been expecting that. “I guess I’ve always known. There wasn’t really a moment that I knew or anything.” He frowns, “Is this about me and your mother-”
“It’s about me,” May jumps in suddenly. She freezes for a second and looks down at her lap, shoulders curling in on herself protectively.
Micheal softens immediately. He remembers the fear and anxiety he felt when he first told someone he was gay. He never wants either of his children to ever feel like that, but he knows he can’t protect them from it.
“I’m scared,” she confesses, her voice soft. May fixes Micheal with a pleading look as if begging him to make sense of everything turning in her mind. “Is that normal? I don’t think I’m like what everyone thinks I am. I-I think I’m like you.”
Micheal smiles reassuringly at her, “Hey, it’s okay, May. It’s normal to be scared while you’re figuring yourself out. Do you want to talk about it?”
May takes a deep breath and nods hesitantly. “There’s this girl and-and I get the same fluttering in my chest and the same nerves that I felt when I started going out with Darius. But I really liked Darius so I don’t think I’m like Hen and, dad,” May sighs, “I’m really confused.”
Micheal puts an arm around her and pulls his daughter to lean against his chest, “I know that feeling. Listen, I want you to know that it’s okay if you pick a label and it doesn’t fit down the line that it’s okay to change it. And if you don’t want a label that’s okay too, but I am going to be here for you no matter what.”
May looks up at Micheal with tears in her eyes, “You promise?”
“Come here, sweetie,” Micheal pulls May into a hug, one hand resting on the back of her head. “I swear to you that I will be here for you no matter what. I will always be in your corner to talk about whatever you need.”
“So it’s okay if I’m like you?” She looks up at him with those same big brown eyes that captured his heart in the hospital room.
“Of course it is,” Micheal assures her. “I’d be a hypocrite to say otherwise.”
“I love you, dad.”
“Love you too, May-May.” Micheal kisses her head, “Try to get some sleep okay?” May nods and as she walks back to her bedroom, Micheal feels a swell of pride in his chest for the relationship he’s built with his daughter, that she feels comfortable enough and safe enough to talk with him about these things.
She’ll be okay, Micheal knows, and when she’s not he’s going to be there for her to pick her up when she stumbles and hold her as she cries.