"Hey bro, you're looking really submissive and breedable today."

Christian laughed, "No way. That's not real."

"It is!" I grinned, "People on Twitch say that all the time."

"No," Christian grimaced, "I get pog. I get sadge. I do not get this."

"What's to get?" I shrugged, "It’s just something you say when your bro is looking submissive and breedable."

Christian shook his head, "Nah. Come on."

"I don't know what to tell you, dude!" I smirked, "Sometimes your bro just looks really submissive and breedable."

Christian hesitated. He glanced around the library, then leaned forward across the table. I leaned in to join him.

"Is it..." he lowered his voice, "Is it a gay thing?"

I rolled my eyes. Christian was a good guy but he was very sheltered when it came to stuff like this. He was raised on a farm — an actual farm — and had been homeschooled up until year 11. His parents had only sent him to Sydney for his HSC year cause they had heard homeschoolers got worse ATARs.

I had taken it on as my duty to educate him about modern life — which mostly meant telling him about memes. You had to start somewhere, ya know?

Honestly, Christian was doing a pretty good job at keeping up. I didn't know what his reaction would be if he somehow found out I was trans, though. His head would probably explode.

But that was fine. I wasn't planning on coming out until uni, anyway. Make a clean break.

"It’s not a gay thing," I said way too loudly on purpose. Christian flinched, "It's just a gamer thing."

"Mate, can you not?" Christian hissed. I grinned. I loved making him uncomfortable. His ears went all pink. It was very funny. "And, come off it. It's gotta be a gay thing. Like, get..." he lowered his voice, "Get fucked."

"Wow!" I patted him on the shoulder, "Nice swearing, champ!"

"Yeah, yeah," Christian's ears went pink, right on cue, "I'm not, like, scared of swearing, ya know."

"Oh yeah, you're a real sigma male," I said. Christian rolled his eyes and I stifled a giggle.

—

"Bet I can get it in that bin over there," said Christian.

We were sitting outside the library after finishing our study sesh. I followed Christian's pointing finger to an open bin that must have been twenty metres away. An ibis was stood on the rim, poking its long beak through the rubbish.

"No shot," I laughed, "Not a chance."

Christian sculled the rest of his sprite and pegged the can across the courtyard. It hit the edge of the bin and clattered to the ground. The ibis hopped down to inspect it.

"Aw, fuck," Christian muttered.

"GG," I clapped sarcastically, "We'll get 'em next time."

Christian got up off the step and walked over to the bin.

"Aw, are you cleaning up your accident?" I cooed, "That's so cute!"

"Shut up," he said.

"Don't be a litterbug!" I called after him.

He trudged towards the bin, head down. He looked very embarrassed, and very...

"Hey bro, you look really submissive and breedable right now!" I shouted out.

Christian whirled around and started towards me, then stopped and tossed his can in the bin first. He hurried back.

"Come on," he hissed, "As if that’s not gay."

"It's not!" I insisted, "People say it all the time!"

"There is no way anyone would ever say something like that unless they were trying to..." Christian blushed, "You know."

"Oh really?" I cocked my head to the side, "No matter how submissive and breedable they looked?"

Christian scoffed, "Yeah, of course not."

I smirked, "Challenge accepted."

I finished my own drink and tossed the can. It sailed perfectly into the bin.