Claude and Fifolet waited for two days before either one screwed up enough courage to tell the rest of the Guild members their secrets. Claude suggested they each tell their respective Guild first, and then let things go from there. Fifolet agreed with him, thinking it would be a lot easier to be honest with people they'd known and trusted all their lives.
"If you need any help tellin' 'em, let me know..." Fifolet offered before they split up to talk to their respective families.
Claude frowned. "What do you mean...?"
"I only got to deal wit' Singer an' Questa, both of whom are pretty easy-goin' an' hard to rattle. I'm not expectin' dis is gon' take much effort or time on my part. You, on de other hand..." Fifolet elaborated.
"Hmm...yeah good point. But y'know, I t'ink wit' Remy an' Mercy already knowin', an' Tante Mattie within' yellin' distance if t'ings get weird...I'll be okay." Claude told him. "But t'anks. I 'preciate de offer."
"No problem. Good luck."
"You too." Claude replied before heading to the library, where he had asked the rest of the thieves to meet him.
Fifolet watched Claude walk away and silently prayed the thieves took Claude's news as well as he knew the assassins were going to take his own news.
"You're gon' tell dem, ain' you?" Bella Donna's voice resonated in Fifolet's mind as he entered the living room of the safehouse.
"Yep. An' I ain' de only one tellin' secrets 'round here today either." Fifolet thought back, smiling at them.
"Claude...?" Bel pressed. She had guessed for quite some time that the quiet thief was hiding some kind of secret, but she never could figure out just exactly what it was. He kept his mind blocked from any intrusion she could try.
"Yeah...now hush." Fifolet raised an eyebrow. Aloud, he said, "As ironic an' somewhat foolish as dis is, two of you already know what I'm gon' say in a few minutes, but two of you don'. I don' know why I didn' tell all of you...no. Dat's a lie. I do know." He looked at Singer and Questa. "Actually, if Bel wasn' telepathic, she wouldn' know either, so I guess you two are in good company. As for why I only wanted to tell Gris...honestly, I was scared. Not of you guys, but of how it would effect t'ings..."
"Uh Feef?" Questa's dark blue eyes questioned. Fifolet remembered that Questa didn't have the best attention span in the world and laughed.
"Sorry, Q. I'm not tryin' to confuse you, really. De truth of de matter is, I'm bi. I've known for a long time...an' Gris' know almost as long as I have. I'm sorry I didn' tell you..."
"So tell me somethin' den..." Singer asked, her fine, dark eyebrows raising above the dark glasses she always wore. "Why were you scared of dat fact changin' t'ings? I mean, I don' know much 'bout dis, but it seems to me nothin's gon' change. Nothin' changed b'tween you an' Gris an' Bel, so why would Questa an' I be any diff'rent?"
"I don' know." Fifolet sighed in exasperation. "I really don'. I'm sorry..."
"Don' be." Questa grinned. "Hell man, if you've know dis for years an' t'ings went smoothly all dat time, I ain' worried. Don' you be."
"So we're still cool?" Fifolet asked.
"As cucumbers." Singer laughed.
Fifolet sighed with relief even though he knew his friends would be okay with the whole idea. He wondered how things were going for Claude in the library. He had a feeling telling the thieves wasn't as easy a thing as telling the assassins. Their relationships were much closer, their bonds much stronger, due to the life they'd led together before the unification. The idea that one of their own was gay might be a huge blow to their collective egos.
"Claude." Mercy caught up with her friend in the hall outside the library. She was the last to arrive because it was her turn to help Tante Mattie with the dishes. The second he had called the meeting, Mercy knew what he wanted to talk to them about, and was determined to be there for him.
Claude turned and smiled nervously at Mercy. "Hey."
"Remy had to go back to Westchester." Mercy told him. "So you just got me for support...you sure you're ready to do dis?"
"Been hidin' it for years, Merce. An' de way t'ings are goin'...if I don' do it now, it could be a disaster."
Mercy tilted her head curiously, her blond ponytail swinging to one side. "I won' ask you what you mean by dat, but as long as you're ready, let's go."
Together, the two friends walked into the library, where the other four thieves were sitting around the table in the center, waiting. Claude looked at them and suddenly wished he was on the moon, away from them. Zoe, being a woman, would probably react the way Mercy did. It didn't effect either of them very much that one of their guy friends was gay. But Theoren, Genard and Emil...it scared Claude to the core of his soul to think of how they'd react.
Claude looked at Mercy, fear showing plainly in his green eyes. "You wan' tell dem for me?" He asked hopefully. "I'll pay you."
Mercy merely raised and eyebrow, shook her head and sat down at the table with the others. "Dis is your show, Claude. You called de meetin', you' d'cided now was de time to do dis, so I can' do it for you." She told him.
Claude chuckled nervously. "Yeah but right now I feel like a trapeze artist who's never performed before and gets to the top of de platform an' suddenly realizes he's afraid of heights."
"Whatever it is, Claude, jus' tell us. It can' be dat bad." Emil said supportively.
"You'd be surprised, Red." Claude replied. He looked directly at Theoren, Genard and Emil. "An' whether or not it's bad d'pends entirely on de three of you. I already know what Mercy t'inks, an' I'm pretty sure Zoe's gon' have a similar opinion, b'cause it's de type of t'ing dat comin' from me don' bother dem too much. It's you three I'm worried 'bout. An' I ain' scared to admit dat."
"Claude would you jus'...?" Theoren was getting exasperated.
"De t'ing is, I've been keepin' a nice little secret from all of you for a very, very long time. Tante Mattie knew, but she didn' press me 'bout it until a couple of months ago an' since den I've started to realize, mostly t'anks to her, dat I really should jus' be honest wit' you guys an' stop givin' myself an ulcer." Claude explained. "De reason I didn' tell any of you b'fore was b'cause I was scared."
"Scared of what?" Zoe asked quietly.
"De reaction dis is gon' get." Claude quipped. "But I was scared of rejection, of gettin' kicked outta de Guild for bein' who I am...essentially I was scared of losin' everythin' I had. Still am, actually. De second I say de words, dis whole situation is outta my hands an' I won' be able to take any of it back. Dat's why I said it all d'pends on you guys."
"Claude, just say it." Mercy said.
Claude bit his lip and took a deep breath. Inside his head, he heard Tante Mattie's voice. "You can do it, chil'. Mercy an' I b'lieve in you an' so does Fifolet." That did it. Letting out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, Claude came out with the truth, the words hanging in the air in the center of the table.
"Guys...I'm gay."
Emil was the first to react. He smiled at Claude. "Okay. An' here I t'ought de world was endin' or somethin'. Can I go back to bed now?"
"No...dat's all you have to say?" Claude wasn't really surprised that the red-haired young man accepted the truth without question. Emil was Remy's best friend, after all, and had stood by Remy through thick and thin since they were ten years old. Emil was one of those rare and wonderful people who knew that what was on the inside was what really mattered, and things like race, religion, sexual orientation and whatnot were trivial, surface things.
"Well for cryin' out loud, Claude, what do you want me to say? You're gay. Big deal...you're still you. It doesn' change nothin'." Emil griped. "Unless you want me to be mad or somethin'..."
"No, dat's okay."
"I'm wit' Lapin." Genard said in his typical quiet voice, his brown eyes throughtful behind his glasses. "If you've known dis for years an' it didn' effect our relationships in all dat time when we didn' know, why would it effect us now?"
"T'anks. De t'ing is, I value all of your friendships way too much to let dis effect us. I would never let it get in b'tween any of us...hell if it ever did, I'd resign from de Guild immediately. Dat's how strongly I feel 'bout keepin' t'ings okay b'tween all of us." Claude was grateful to have the support of his two pseudo little brothers. The real test was about to come.
Theoren had sat in stunned silence in the minutes following Claude's announcement. That silence continued as he felt all eyes in the room turn to look at him. His mind racing, Theo wasn't ready to react yet. He could feel how worried and scared Claude was, but that wasn't what he was looking for. He knew it would hurt his friend, but he did the only thing he could do. He got up and walked out of the room, without saying a word.
"Claude..." Zoe said softly, putting a hand on his arm. "He's just shocked. Go after him. Talk to him in private. Maybe that's what you and he need."
Claude looked down at her with a sad smile. "Somehow...I don' t'ink dat's gon' solve anythin'...but I gotta try..."
Claude went after his best friend, somehow knowing where to look. Sure enough, when he got there, he found Theoren standing on the back step of the safehouse, leaning against the railing, his shadow cast on the deck by the bright morning sunshine. Silently, Claude stepped out onto the deck and joined his friend.
"Theoren..."
"How could you not tell us...tell me an' Henri at any rate..." Theo's voice was low and bitter. He didn't try to hide his anger and hurt over the whole thing. "Nice to know you trust your best friends, Claude."
Tears welled up in Claude's eyes and he hung his head, ashamed. He couldn't argue with his friend's logic, much as he wanted to. "I'm sorry..."
"Do you t'ink bein' sorry's gon' make up for de fact dat you lied to us all for years...an' 'bout somethin' like dat?!" Theoren demanded, whirling on Claude. "Henri an' I trusted you wit' every secret we ever had, no matter how big or how small, an' you couldn' do de same for us...how is dat s'posed to make me feel, huh? I'm jus' glad Henri's not here to witness dis. I'm sure he's turnin' over in his grave right 'bout now."
Claude made no effort to hide or stop his tears. "I'm not perfect, okay. I make mistakes jus' like everyone else. An' maybe de biggest mistake I ever made was listenin' to my father de night de assassins massacred my entire family. He told me to run an' hide. I did. Maybe I shouldn' have. Maybe if I hadn' listened to him I'd be dead now an' you'd all be better off."
With that pained statement, Claude turned and left, fleeing back into the safety of the house. He didn't see Tante Mattie in the kitchen; he'd had no idea she'd listened to the conversation. He raced up the stairs and into his bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind him. Sobbing, he collapsed on his bed, curling up into a fetal position and crying as if his heart was breaking.
Tante Mattie joined Theoren on the back deck. "Jus' what do you t'ink gives you de right to treat him like dat?" She asked.
Theoren looked at her. "He lied to us."
"Weren' you listen' to him in de library? He didn' tell anybody...not even me...didn' confide in a single soul...b'cause he was scared to death of gettin' a reaction like de one you jus' gave him." Mattie chided. "De others can accept it, an' I'm pretty sure Henri would if he was here. Why can' you?"
"I don' know, I jus' can'..."
"Maybe you should take a lesson from Gris-Gris." Mattie suggested.
"What?" Theoren was stumped. "What's he got to do wit' dis?"
"Fifolet is bi-sexual. Gris was de first person Fifolet told, an' instead of rejectin' his best friend the way many of the assassins would have done, Gris accepted him, supported him an' b'came de soundin' board he needed when he got confused an' scared 'bout t'ings." Mattie explained. "Claude needs you to be dere for him de way Gris has always been dere for Fifolet."
"Feef's bi...?" Theoren raised an eyebrow. "Why does dat information make me t'ink t'ings are gon' get real interestin' 'round here from now on?"
"Well you're not wrong dere." Mattie laughed. "But dat's partly why both of dem d'cided to get deir secrets out in the open now. So dey wouldn' have to hide anythin' dat might happen b'tween dem from de rest of you. Dey bot' wan' be open 'bout it an' de last t'ing dey wan' do is go b'hind anybody's backs."
"I t'ink maybe I overreacted..." Theo said quietly. "He prob'ly don' wan' seem me right now, but I owe him an apology when he comes back down."
"Claude?" Fifolet called into Claude's bedroom from the hallway.
"Go 'way." Claude's muffled voice drifted back to Fifolet's ears. It sounded like the thief was crying, but he couldn't be sure. Either way, Fifolet wanted to know what was going on.
"No. What happened? Are you okay?" Fifolet pressed.
"I don' know." Claude replied.
Fifolet tried the doorknob. Locked. Shaking his head, he wondered when the thieves were going to learn that a locked door did nothing to stop him. He kicked his powers into gear and became intangible, walking through the door like a ghost before returning to normal. "You should know by now I can walk t'rough doors." He joked. Then he saw Claude, curled up on the bed, crying, and the smile that had started to play on his face vanished in half a second.
He crossed the room in one stride and sat on the edge of Claude's bed, his dark brown eyes filled with concern. He put a gentle hand on Claude's shoulder. "Hey...what is it? What happened...?"
Claude shook his head, sniffling, trying to tell Fifolet without words that he didn't want to talk about it, but Fifolet didn't buy it. He suddenly found himself being lifted to a sitting position. He tried to struggle, but failed. Fifolet was stronger, after all. He soon found a pair of warm, strong arms wrapped around him, holding him. He took solace in the strength in Fifolet's arms and leaned against the other man, tired and heart-broken.
Fifolet held Claude there for what seemed like a very long time, not saying a word. He knew whatever had hurt Claude was big, and that his friend needed time to regroup before he could talk about it. He was willing to sit there for a year if that's what it took. He just hoped Claude knew that.
When Claude had finally stopped crying, he looked at Fifolet. "It mostly went okay..."
"Let me guess. Theoren."
Tears welled up again in Claude's eyes. "Uh-huh..."
"Hey...shhh...Your news prob'ly shocked him senseless. But it's somethin' you have to work out, together. You guys are best friends. I know you're both smart. Dis isn' somethin' dat should come b'tween you, no matter what was said a little while ago. If he doesn' wan' lose you as a friend, he'll stop bein' mad sooner den you might t'ink."
"I hope you're right..." Claude whispered, leaning against Fifolet again, feeling safer and more comfortable than he'd ever felt in his life. "Do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"Stay here for awhile?"
Fifolet laughed softly. "Wasn' plannin' on goin' anywhere until you kicked me out. Don' worry."
"T'anks..."