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It took a few minutes for Nya to convince herself to hit the call button, and as the phone rang, her mind spiraled, thinking of every worst case scenario, everything that could go wrong on this phone call that matters so much-
Kai's voice broke through her panic. "Hey, sis," he said. "Long time, no call. What's up?"
"I… have something to talk to you about."
"That's coincidental. Same here."
Nya blinked. "Oh? You can go first."
"No, no, you called me. Go ahead."
Nya fiddled with the seam of her jeans. She was curled up on the couch of her apartment, the lights dimmed, classical music playing softly. She set up the whole room to relax, to prepare for this call. Then why did she feel so unprepared?
"Please, I insist," she said. "You go first."
"Uh. Ok." He laughed. "This isn't how I imagined this going. I'm in the middle of a parking lot right now, I was going grocery shopping. But whatever. I mean, it had to happen sometime, right?"
She squinted, trying to decipher his tone. (It was more difficult when she couldn't see his expression- but she knew she wouldn't be able to get through this call if she had to look him in the eye during it.) "Are you nervous?"
"What? No!"
"So… what news?"
He sighed. A car door closed in the background, and by instinct, she said, "Don't start driving yet. Wait till you're off the call."
"Ok, Wu. I fight people on the daily, I doubt that a car will get the best of me."
"Yeah, but you don't want to die before you get a girlfriend, do you?" It was a running joke between them, so natural that she didn't have to think about it. She didn't think about it, that is, until Kai went silent. That joke never failed to get a laugh out of him. Why was it failing now?
"Yeah… about that."
Oh, he's gay! Yes, that must be it. Nya always thought that he was unusually close with Cole. And Zane. And even Jay. Friends don't act the way those four do.
"It's ok, you can tell me," she said, trying to use her most soothing tone.
"I was talking to Lloyd the other day," he said, "and he was talking about what it felt like to have a crush- because, y'know, he doesn't have crushes often- and something hit me."
He had a crush on that cute guy at the bar, that guy he didn't stop talking about for three days, the one who recognized Kai from the news and was so pleasant that Kai went back to the bar a couple nights after (only to discover that his favorite bartender had quit). Nya could see it all, it was so obvious, she couldn't believe he'd managed to fly under the radar for so-
"I might be aromantic."
Huh. "You might be what?"
"Aromantic. It means I don't feel romantic att-"
"I know what aromantic means. I just… oh." Because he never showed a preference for men or women, did he. Because he wasn't attracted to anyone. "Well, that's… I'm glad you figured that out!"
He laughed, relieved. "Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Great! Um, great! That's all I had to say, so-"
"Hang on, I haven't told you my news yet." And now that she knew his, her mood had shifted from nervous to excited.
"Right. Go ahead."
"I'm aromantic, too!"
"You- what?!"
"Yeah, I just found out a few days ago. I wanted you to be the first to-"
"But what about Jay?"
Nya frowned, and hoped that he could hear her displeasure when she said, "What about Jay?"
"I thought you were in love with him. I mean, you had a real, long term relationship with him. You loved him. How could you be-"
She scowled. "You know, you seemed real touchy feely with your girlfriend of the month in April. Are you sure you weren't in love with her?"
"Hey, that's not fair! I thought she was pretty, and I didn't know I was aro!"
"Well, neither did I! Jay was a great friend, and he liked me, so I thought it was natural that I had to like him, too."
A long pause from the other end. She couldn't believe that he didn't believe her. And right after she'd been so supportive of him, too.
"You're… right," Kai said, like he was pushing out the words. "I shouldn't have doubted you. Sorry."
"You're right, you shouldn't've."
Another pause. Then, "Hey, Nya."
"Yeah, Kai?"
"It's pretty cool that we're both aro."
She smiled, the anger fading at the eagerness in her brother's voice. "Yeah. It is pretty cool."
They sat and talked for a few more minutes, until Kai got off the phone to drive back to his place. As soon as he hung up, Nya jumped to her feet and spun around, gripping her phone as a poor substitute for hugging Kai. She couldn't have asked for a better brother.