Rating:

General Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

Gen

Fandoms:

Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid, Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types

Relationship:

Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau & Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Anania, Anania Williams, Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander, (mentioned), Original Siblings of Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau, Original Characters

Additional Tags:

Gaydar, Youtube show, Drag Queens, Trans Character, Social Media, Press and Tabloids, Oh no is this RPF?, RPF, sexuality realization, Identity Crisis, Himbo Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau, POV Outsider, Post-Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), you can pry the em dash out of my cold dad hands, playful banter, no beta we die like the Boston Raiders winning streak

Language:

English

Series:

Part 5 of Heated Rivalry Articles and Reactions

Stats:

Published: 2026-06-19 Words: 4,934 Chapters: 2/2

Trying to Guess if Cliff Marleau is Gay, Straight, or a Homophobe | Gaydar

Summary

“I’m Anania, this is Gaydar, and I’m going to find out if you are gay, straight or a homophobe, what is your name, and what are your pronouns?”
“I’m Cliff Marleau.” Cliff smiles, then remembers the rest of the question. “Oh! Uh…he and him. Oh, and his. He, his, him?"
“Are you asking, or…?” Anania eyes him with confusion.
"No, it’s him, his, he.” Cliff nods his head with each word, saying them carefully.
“Are you trying to get the order right?” Anania purses her lips to hold back a smile.
“Yeah.” Cliff admits.

OR: Cliff Marleau goes on Gaydar and has several identity crises.

Notes

I apparently can't stop writing these! Hopefully, it's not getting too repetitive. I had thought about doing one of these for Yuna, but then I couldn't get the idea of Cliff going on Gaydar out of my mind, so here we are! Let me know if you want to see a Yuna Gaydar fic! I could probably be convinced!

Chapter 1: The Episode

COLD OPEN

Cliff looks over at Anania and asks, “What did the prep chef say to the waitress as he walked through the kitchen?”

“What?” Anania gives him a tired look.

“Hot, behind!” 

Anania tries not to laugh but breaks and bends over cackling.

JUMPCUT

Anania is wearing a tan tweed pinafore dress over a white short-sleeve collared shirt with a brown satin ribbon tied in a large bow around the collar. Her hair is styled in a blonde afro. They are standing next to Cliff Marleau, who is wearing a faded dark blue henley with two buttons undone and medium wash wide leg jeans. 

“I’m Anania, this is Gaydar, and I’m going to find out if you are gay, straight or a homophobe, what is your name, and what are your pronouns?” 

“I’m Cliff Marleau.” Cliff smiles, then remembers the rest of the question. “Oh! Uh…he and him. Oh, and his. He, his, him?

“Are you asking, or…?” Anania eyes him with confusion.

“No, it’s him, his, he.” Cliff nods his head with each word, saying them carefully.

“Are you trying to get the order right?” Anania purses her lips to hold back a smile.

“Yeah.” Cliff admits. 

Anania gives him a little nod, “It’s okay, I think I got it.” 

“Okay, awesome.” Cliff says, relieved. “So you said your pronouns are she/they?”

“Uh-huh, yeah.” Anania says.

“So like, okay…do I–how do I know–is it like every other, or…”

Anania laughs. “Just use them sporadically. You won’t get in trouble if you use one more than the other.” 

Cliff lets out a loud sigh, “Oh, okay good. Man, I was worried about that—I mean woman–I mean…person?”

Anania cackles. “Okay, first question!”

“Shoot!” Cliff smiles at her.

“Name one historical gay person.”

“Historical?” Cliff repeats incredulously. 

“Yes.”

“They told you I play hockey, right?” 

Anania laughs. “Just one out of all of history.” 

Cliff shifts his weight back and forth with his hands in his pockets. “I’m not sure I could name any historical figure, Jesus.”

Anania chuckles, “Well, Jesus is a historical figure, jury’s still out on if he was gay or not.” 

Cliff laughs. “He did hang out with all those disciples.” 

Anania turns to Cliff animatedly, “This is what I’ve been saying!” 

Cliff laughs, then turns to the camera. “Don’t worry mom, I’m joking. I don’t actually think Jesus was gay for the disciples.”

I do!” Anania says to the camera. 

Cliff laughs.

“Okay, but seriously, name someone else.”

“Oh, what was the question again?” 

Anania huffs and rolls her eyes, “Name someone–”

“Oh right, right. Name someone gay.” Cliff looks up at the sky. “Uh…I’m just gonna name a person I know of from history.”

“Okay.”

“Uh…Abraham Lincoln.”

Anania smiles, “You know what…”

“He’s gay?” Cliff leaned forward in shock.

“Not officially, but…you know….there were signs.” 

“No way. Abraham Lincoln. You dog.” Cliff shakes his head, then winces. “No offence.”

“None taken.” Anania says as she looks down at their cue cards. “Who are your pop divas?”

“My pop divas?” Cliff looks at her questioningly. 

“Yes, your pop divas. Do you have hearing issues?” 

“No, I’ve just hit my head a lot.” 

“Yeah, that tracks.” 

“I don’t really listen to a lot of pop.” Cliff stalls.

“No? What do you listen to?” 

“Uh, EDM.” 

Anania rolls her eyes. “Now I know you’re lying. Why does every athlete think that’s all you can listen to?” 

“I’m not lying! The beat, you know? It gets you pumped up. It’s great to work out to br–sister.”

Anania laughs.

“Or…wait. What’s a name for a brother or sister, but not, like…”

“Not…?”

“Not you know, not a boy or a girl, what’s the name for that?” 

Anania chuckles, “Sibling?” 

“Oh, right! Sibling!” Cliff grins, “Do you want me to call you that?” 

“Not particularly, no.” Anania deadpans. “No pop at all?” 

“Well, when I’m with my sisters, yes. We listen to pop sometimes together.”

Anania’s face lights up, “Sisters, how many sisters do you have?” 

“Three older sisters.” Cliff says. 

“Three, wow. That’s a lot of sisters. Any brothers?”

“No, I was the only boy.” 

“Were they trying for a boy and then stopped, or what?” 

“You know, I asked that once, and my oldest sister Natalie said she didn’t like what I was insinuating, and I…never really learned what ‘insinuating’ meant, and Natalie kind of scared me growing up, so I still don’t really know the answer to that question.” 

Anania cackles. “Okay, but what music did you listen to?”

“Just whatever was on the radio. For Nat, it was Spice Girls, Tiff liked Nsync, but Kaylee liked Backstreet Boys.”

“Oh! What was that like? Contentious?” 

“If that means they had screaming matches comparing the two, then yes.” 

Anania laughs. “I noticed you didn’t list any black artists.”

Cliff’s face fell. “Mom really liked Prince, so we listened to a lot of that too.”

Anania’s face lights up, “Prince! You know, I have this theory, and I’ve said it on the show before, but I’m gonna say it again because I say it every time he comes up–Shut up!” She points at someone off camera, presumably a producer before continuing. “I have this theory that Prince is a he/him lesbian.” 

“Wait, a what?” Cliff reels. 

“A he/him lesbian!” 

“I don’t know nothin’ about that.” Cliff shakes his head. “Aren’t lesbians only attracted to other women?”

Anania gives him a withering look. “Wow. No. It’s actually used as a broader term to reference attraction between non-men. So a lot of lesbians and lesbian spaces are open to trans men, trans masculine, trans women, non-binary, and gender fluid people, so saying it’s only women attracted to other women is…kinda…”

“Offensive?” 

“It can be, yeah.” 

“I’m sorry, dude. Oh. I mean–”

“Do not call me dudette.” Anania holds her finger up and gives him a look of warning.

“Okay.” Cliff holds up his hands. “Sorry.”

Anania reads the next question. “What is a Boston marriage?” 

“Uh…a marriage that happens in Boston?” 

Anania chuckles, “Surprisingly, not a marriage that happens in Boston.” 

Cliff shakes his head, “Then I’ve got nothin’.”

“It was when two single women, usually independently wealthy, would live together long-term as companions. In the late 1800s early 1900s.”

“Oh wow. So they were like gay for each other?” 

Anania scoffs. “A lot of times, that’s what is assumed, but not always. They might just not have wanted to marry a man. Not everyone wants to submit to a man and have a ton of babies.”

“Yeah. That’s kind of like my Aunt. She never married. Whenever I ask why she’s not settled down, she says, ‘Why would I ever want to be settled? I’m not a colony.”

Anania throws her head back and cackles, “I live! That’s quite the woman!”

“Yeah, she’s pretty great. I’m glad she’s not living alone though. Her roommate’s her best friend.”

Anania just stares at him, “Her roommate?” 

“Yeah, they met in college and moved in together, and just never stopped. They even moved across the country together, from Chicago to Boston.”

Anania nods slowly. “And they’re best friends?” 

“Yeah, I even call her roommate Aunt. Aunt Bettie and Aunt Kate. She comes to all our holidays and everything. Aunt Kate’s family are a bunch of shitheads. She doesn’t get along with them much, so we took her in as an honorary aunt.” 

“Uh-huh.” Anania just looks at Cliff.

“What?” 

“No, nothing!” Anania shakes her head. 

“You’re not thinking...” Cliff shakes his head, then looks off into the middle distance and just stares for a while. 

“I didn’t say anything!” 

“No, there’s no way. I would know–it’s not like our family–I mean we are catholic–but–”

Anania shakes her head nervously and tries to regroup, “Okay, this isn’t ‘guess the sexuality of your aunt’. That’s a completely different show.” 

Cliff shakes his head. “Yeah, I’ll–I’ll go home and ask my aunt about it.” 

Anania nods her head, “Good idea.”

JUMPCUT

“What’s the difference between nonbinary and genderfluid?” Anania asks.

“One’s more hydrated.” Cliff laughs, “The other’s got all those binaries. Or–or missing binaries. Binary deficient if you will.”

Anania looks at him in surprise, "That's such a big word for you, Cliff!” 

“My mom’s got a deficiency.”

Anania looks concerned, “Wait–what?”

Cliff furrows his brow, “I don’t–it’s something medical–like some protein or enzyme or somethin’. I don’t remember. I just know she doesn’t have enough of it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry about your mom.”

“Thanks. She's okay though. Don’t be worryin’.”

“But I’m using binary deficient. I like that.” Anania laughs.

“Hey, you’re welcome.”

“But what’s the actual difference?”

“Difference in what?” 

Anania rolls her eyes, “Between nonbinary and genderfluid.”

Cliff laughs, “No fuckin’ clue!” 

Anania laughs, “Okay, nonbinary is someone who doesn’t identify as either male or female. Genderfluid is someone whose gender identity changes over time.”

“So they’re like..a boy one day and a girl the next?”

“It’s not like an every other day thing, but yeah.”

Cliff nods. “Dope!”

Anania cackles as they flip to the next card. “What is a binder?” 

“Uh…”

“He’s finding it.”

“Like those three ring binders you kept your homework in?” 

Anania cackles. “Um-mm, nope, no.” 

“Is it like, an entirely unrelated thing?” 

“Yeah.”

“Is it like something drag queens use to like smooth…” 

Anania’s eyebrows raise up indicating that he’s on the right track.

“...their package?” Cliff unconsciously covers his groin with his hand.

“No, you were kinda close though!” 

“Really?”

“Kinda, yeah! It’s a chest compressor used for gender affirming care to make a chest appear flatter under clothing.”

Cliff slowly nods, “”Ooohh…okay.”

“Any thoughts on gender affirming care?”

Cliff gives his head a little shake before saying, “Get it.” 

“I live!” Anania laughs.

“Yes!” 

Anania looks at her card, then looks at the producer off camera. “I’m gonna skip the next one.” 

Cliff looks at Anania, “It’s okay, I know I’m not getting a lot of these right, but you can ask it.”

“No, that’s not…I just think…I don’t wanna…” 

“Come on,” Cliff bounces on his feet and says in a sing-song voice. “Just ask me!”

Anania looks at Cliff. “Yeah okay. Okay.” She looks back at the camera. “You can cut that part out, and start now.” 

Cliff nods and smiles.

“What state was the first to legalize gay marriage and what year was it?” 

Cliff scoffs. “Yeah, I have no clue. California.”

Anania looks at Cliff as she says, “It was Massachusetts, in 2004.”

Cliff’s face falls a little. “2004?” 

“Yeah.” Anania confirms, looking at Cliff with trepidation.

Cliff pauses for a moment before saying, “My aunts moved to Boston in 2005.” 

JUMPCUT

Anania appears more collected, while Cliff fidgets with the hem of his shirt. 

“What do you say to a woman you are hitting on who says they are a lesbian?” 

Cliff smiles, “That’s great! You can bring your girlfriend too.” 

Anania hits him with the cue cards, “Nooo! Cliff!”

“You’re the one out here telling me men can be lesbians! How do they know I’m not a lesbian? Been with a lot of women! Primarily women, you might say.” 

“Primarily women?” Anania asks incredulously.

“Yeah.” 

“What do you mean ‘primarily’…have you ever kissed a man?” 

Cliff smirks, and gives a little shrug, but says nothing.

“CLIFF!” Anania grabs his shoulder. 

Cliff clasps his hands behind his back. “Pretty sure the point of this show is for you to guess if I’m gay. If one of your questions is, ‘have you ever kissed a dude’ kinda ruins the whole point of the show, don’t you think, sweetheart?” 

“I need you to not call me sweetheart.” Anania says, with an annoyed expression.

“Heard.”

Anania tries not to smile but breaks. “Have you ever worked in a kitchen?”

“Yes, chef!”

Anania laughs at the nickname, “Yeah?”

“Yeah, in high school, I worked a part-time job at a restaurant as a dishwasher to pay for my hockey gear.”

Anania smiles. “Working class!”

“Yeah, I ain’t no nepo baby.” 

“Work!”

“I did! I’m still working!”

“Well, sure. Getting paid a lot better for it now, though.” Anania says.

“Yeah, I’m not really blue collar anymore. But, I kinda think, you can take the kid out of the blue collar, but you can't take the blue collar out of the kid, you know?”

“Yes, but we have to go back to your answer to this question, because that was terrible.” 

“Oh.”

“I need you to look into the camera and apologize to the lesbian community.” 

Cliff sighs, “Lesbians, I’m sorry for coming onto you in bars.”

Anania waves their hand, “And you promise when they say they are lesbian, you will say…”

“I promise when you say you are a lesbian, I will say, heard, chef, and leave you alone.”

Anania scoffs. “Alright, good enough. And you are not allowed to refer to yourself as a lesbian. I don’t know what you are, but I know you’re not a lesbian.”

“You don’t know what I am yet?”

“Honestly, I don’t even know if you know what you are.” Anania chuckles.

“Better ask more questions then.” 

JUMPCUT

“Do you wanna hear a joke?” Cliff smiles.

Anania shakes her head, but says, “Sure.”

“What did the prep chef say to the waitress as he walked through the kitchen?”

“What?” Anania looks at him with a tired expression.

“Hot, behind!” 

Anania tries not to laugh but breaks and bends over cackling. “That was terrible.” 

Cliff laughs, “What? He was holding a hot pan.”

JUMPCUT

“What is the Kinsey Scale?”

Cliff shakes his head and laughs. “Uh…is that like pounds versus kilos?”

Anania laughs, “No.”

Cliff shakes his head, “Okay, but it’s something gay…is it like…oh! is it dick size?” 

“CLIFF!! No!!” Anania hides her face behind their cue card. 

“What? Don’t tell me that gay guys aren’t out here doing dick measuring contests!” 

Anania laughs but regroups and looks right into the camera, “First of all, to the trans men out there, size doesn’t matter. It doesn’t.” She looks back at Cliff and says, “but you’re so real for that.”

“I mean, that’s kinda just a guy thing.” 

“Yeah what is with cis guys doing that?” 

Cliff shakes his head. “Tiff would say something about toxic masculinity or something.” 

“Uh-huh and what’s that?” 

Cliff furrows his brow. “It’s when…men…when society…like—how men aren’t supposed to cry, and you know, like—society reinforces stereotypes…and men can only be a certain way or they are, like, bullied, you know.”

Anania gives an unimpressed nod. “That was poetic.” 

Cliff grimaces. “My sisters could explain it better. Did they tell you I’m a hockey player?”

Anania smiles, “Yeah, it might have come up.” 

“Okay.” 

“Anyway, the Kinsey Scale is the idea that sexual attraction is actually a spectrum, where zero is strictly heterosexual attraction, and seven is strictly homosexual attraction. Three is bisexual attraction, and the rest are various levels of attraction between. So, a 1 on the Kensey scale would be a guy who kissed another guy in college and liked it, but hasn’t really thought about it much since then.” 

Cliff looks at her with a furrowed brow. “Kissing one guy doesn’t mean you aren’t straight.” 

Anania looks at Cliff, “I–I’m not here trying to tell anyone how to identify, I’m just saying what the scale is.” 

Cliff nods, but still stares at her, “I mean, hell, kissing a few guys doesn't mean you aren’t straight.”

Anania takes a deep breath and nods, “Sure…sure, sure sure.” 

“...does it?” Cliff looks a little shaken.

Anania tilts her head in concern, then touches Cliff’s arm, “Can I see you in my office?”

“That’s the part where we turn around?” 

“Yeah.” Anania guides him as they turn around, then says, “Listen, sexuality is a complicated, nuanced thing, and nobody else can tell anybody else how to identify. It’s their own personal journey, you know? This isn’t that type of show.”

Cliff nods thoughtfully.

Anania continues, “I do, however, have some recommendations of books for anyone who might be processing in a certain way. I can give you those after, you know…if you run across anyone who might need them.” 

“Books?” Cliff looks a little concerned.

“I’m sure they have an audiobook–or I know a podcast too.” Anania nods nervously.

“Okay, yeah. I listen to podcasts, that would be good–for my friend.”

Anania continues to nod nervously as she turns around and looks into the camera.

JUMPCUT

“What is U-hauling?” Anania asks.

Cliff sighs, “Uh…I feel like Roz right now, like are we speaking different languages?”

“Ilya Rozanov?”

“Yeah.”

“He was on the show.” Anania smiles.

“Yeah, I watched his episode. He’s the one that told me to get my agent to get me on the show.” 

“Oh, nice! Yeah, he mentioned you when he was on the show, after we wrapped. He said you would be hilarious.” 

“I kinda get the feeling that this might have been an elaborate prank he pulled on me.”

“Oh, are you not having a good time?” 

“Of course! Of course I am, I’ve just never been so nervous or had so many identity crisises in such a short period of time. 

“Awe, Cliff! You did great.”

 “Yeah? Okay.” Cliff says, “ You know, you didn’t ask me any hockey questions. I kinda expected at least one gimme.” 

“Yeah, I used up all my hockey questions on Ilya and Shane. Sorry.” 

Cliff nods, “No, that makes a lot of sense.”

“Okay, do you want me to tell you what U-hauling is now?” 

“What?”

“The last question–I just asked you what U-hauling is?”

“Oh, yeah. Isn’t it just moving with a u-haul?” Cliff asks, then scoffs and gives his head a little shake. “I don’t know, maybe it’s some secret thing my aunts did.” 

Anania looks at the camera. “It’s when two lesbians move in together right after they start dating.”

“Oh, god.” 

JUMPCUT

“Alright, we’ve thankfully, finally made it through all the questions. Now I just have to guess if you are gay, straight or a homophobe.” Anania says with a smile plastered on her face.

Cliff scoffs. “Your guess is as good as mine!”

Anania gives a nervous chuckle. “Can I see you in my office?” 

“Again?” 

“Yeah,” Anania turns around with Cliff. “We can just skip this part…”

“What? No, this is the whole point of the show! How would the show end if you didn’t guess?”

“I don’t know, we’d figure it out in post.”

“No, chef, you gotta guess. I know it’s not a serious thing. I mean, you guessed Shane Hollander was a homophobe, and that’s obviously not true. Just make a little joke, and then the show will be over.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I promise you, I’m fine with it.” 

“Okay. Hey, we usually don’t do this, but I’m gonna send you the final edit of this and if you’re not okay with any of it, we won’t air it okay?” 

“Okay. If the people are seeing this, I promise, it got my approval. Thanks, chef.” 

JUMPCUT

“Alright, now it’s time for me to guess if you’re gay, straight or a homophobe.”

“You already said that part.” 

“Yeah, but we’re gonna edit out the last take.”

“What? No, you gotta leave it in! I love the part where you take people into your office.”

“What?” 

“Yeah, that's the best part! It’s so funny. Leave it in, please!”

Anania laughs and shakes her head. “Alright, Cliff, we’ll leave it in.”

Cliff nods his head once. “Thank you.”

“Alright, so I guess I’ll just guess now, then.” 

“Yup.”

Anania gives a long pause before saying, “You’re straight with an asterisk.” 

An asterisk icon pops up on the screen with a little ding noise. 

“I have no idea what that means. What identity is that?” 

“It’s like, ‘straight’.” Anania uses air quotes as she says it.

Cliff just looks at her confused. “You aren’t going to call me a homophobe for hitting on lesbians?” 

“Okay, actually, follow up question to that though. When they inevitably say they are not interested in joining you with their lesbian girlfriend for a threesome, then what do you say?” 

“I say have a nice night and move on.” 

“See, no you’re not a homophobe, you’re just stupid.” 

Cliff laughs. “Take that, Hollander.” 

“Yeah, he was getting on my nerves, so…”

“I didn’t get on your nerves?” 

“No, you made me want to adopt you as my drag daughter.” Anania gives him a look of pity.

“Your what? I don’t need another identity crisis, chef. Please, I’m begging.” 

“Heard!” 

SOUND PLAYING OVER THE CREDITS

“So, what are you doing after this, beautiful?”

“Cliff!”

“Wait, are you a lesbian? Because—”

“STOP!” 

“No, I was just gonna say, we could go out for drinks as friends!” 

Chapter 2: I'll Always Love You

Chapter Summary

Cliff leaves the Gaydar set with questions. He calls His aunt to get answers.

Chapter Notes

“Hey Marley, what’s going on? It’s been a while since you’ve called.” 

“Hey, Auntie, I know, I’ve just been really busy.” Cliff holds the phone on speaker as he paces the length of his living room

“Yeah, I imagine so, with how much they ping pong you around the country.” Bettie says.

Cliff smiles, “Yeah I think I sleep more in hotels than my own bed sometimes.” 

“Well, at least it keeps the lights on.” Bettie chuckles and Cliff joins her. 

“Yeah, at least there’s that.” Cliff takes a deep breath and holds it. “Auntie, I was on this show recently, it’s called Gaydar, have you heard of it?” 

Bettie laughs, “I don’t know about a show, but I know what gaydar is.” 

Cliff gives a nervous chuckle, “Yeah, it’s this YouTube show where the host asks you questions about gay stuff then guesses if you are gay, straight, or a homophobe.” 

“And you were on this show?” 

“Yeah.” 

“They know you’re a hockey player, right?” 

“I—there’s out hockey players now, Auntie, It wasn’t that big of—it was just supposed to be fun, and then they asked all these questions that made me question my whole life, you know?” 

Bettie sighed, “Oh Marley, it’s okay. We all discover things in our own time, you know?” 

“Right, and I know I’m not the brightest bulb or whatever, but it really got me thinking about—about a lot of things, really.” 

“Listen, I’m glad you felt like you could come to me with this.” Bettie says kindly. 

“That’s—that’s good to hear, because part of me just thought maybe I shouldn’t even bring it up—”

“No, I don’t want you living a lie like that, but I know it can be hard to accept.” 

Cliff sits down on his couch, leaning his elbows on his legs in a nervous pose. “Auntie, I know I’m—I know I’m a jock and can be—ignorant sometimes. I’m sorry about that. I just can’t take you thinking I wouldn’t accept this.”

“Cliff, I know you are the sweetest boy, but you are surrounded by a lot of bro culture and that’s gotta have some kind of effect. I’m glad to hear you’re open to discovering this about yourself though.” 

“And you know I’ll always love you.” Cliff finally digested that last sentence. “Wait, what?” 

“What’s wrong?” 

“I’m not talking about discovering new things about myself,” Cliff explains, “I just figured out you're gay!” 

There’s silence for about five seconds and then Bettie lets out a howl of laughter. 

“What’s so funny?! I’m being serious!” 

“Marley, of course I’m gay! You’re just now realizing this?” 

“What do you mean? Yes!” 

“I live with my wife! We’ve been together for 40 years!” 

“She’s your roommate!” 

“You call us both Auntie!” Bettie is still laughing. 

“Yeah, because we adopted her because her family sucks!” 

“Her family is homophobic. They kicked her out, that’s why we moved in together so fast.” 

“Wait, you said wife?" Cliff runs his hand through his hair, "When did you get married?”  

“In 2005, that’s why we moved to Boston.” 

“But—you didn’t have a wedding. I would remember a wedding with two brides.” 

Bettie just laughs again, “We went to the courthouse. After living together for nearly twenty years, we didn’t need a flashy wedding. We needed the security of the piece of paper. Married in the eyes of the law. Hers. Mine. Ours.”

“But, the family, we would have been there. I would have been there.”

“Oh, Marley. Don’t take this the wrong way but not everything is about you. Especially my wedding. I knew you all supported me. I thought you all knew.” She chuckles again. “You were at the reception though, you remember that?” 

“Reception?” Cliff asks.

“Yeah, the big party in your parent’s backyard when I moved to Boston?” 

“You mean your house-warming party?” Cliff’s brow moves even further up his forehead. 

“You really should be studied, I tell ya.” Betty shakes her head. “What more did you need? Did you need me to sit you down and say, ‘I'm gay’?” 

“Yes!” Cliff runs his hands through his hair. “So everyone else already knows?” 

“Well, yeah.” 

“This whole time!?” 

“It’s not like we were hiding it from you!” 

“Mother fucker.” Cliff mutters under his breath.

“I’m sorry, Marls.” 

“No, no.” Cliff stops her. “You don’t need to apologize. Jesus. I’m the one that’s sorry.” 

“Why are you sorry?” 

“I’m so bad at noticing things. First Roz, now this…I didn’t even think—like, it never even crossed my mind.” 

“You don’t have to apologize, baby. It’s okay.” Bettie soothes.

“Okay. Well, what I said earlier is still true. I’ll always love you and Aunt Katie, no matter what.” 

Bettie smiles again. “Thank you, and you know I’ll always love you, too, right?” 

“I know.” 

“So…this show you were on.” 

“Gaydar, yeah.” Cliff leans back on the couch.

“Other than realizing I’m a lesbian, were there any other revelations?” 

Cliff clears his throat. “Yeah, there was one other thing.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Have you ever heard of the Kinsey Scale? 

Bettie’s eyes twinkle and her smile broadens. “I’m aware of it, yes.” 

“Okay, yeah…”

Bettie waits for Cliff to continue, but when he doesn’t she prompts him. “What makes you bring it up?”

Cliff clears his throat. “Well, it came up on the show, and Anania, the host, she said…she said zero was strictly straight…and if you kissed a guy and liked it that would make you a one…or whatever, and I…I mean, not to get into details, but I’ve always thought of myself as straight you know? Like, I like women. I like being with women, I like the way they look, I don’t think all that much about men, you know? But, I’m not like, grossed out by the idea of being with a man. And–and I’ve kissed guys, and…and I liked it, right? It wasn’t gay, though. Or at least, I didn’t think it was at the time. It was…It was…you don’t want to know about my sex life, Auntie, I’m sorry. Just forget it.” 

Bettie takes a deep breath, “Marley, are you telling me you’ve done more than kiss a man?” 

“I’ve–well, yeah.” 

Bettie pauses, “I hope this host, Anania wasn’t trying to insist you were gay because of–”

“No! No, she was really very kind about it. She wasn’t saying I was gay or anything, she was just defining the scale, and then I kinda had a freak out and she told me I was the only one who could say what my sexuality was, and then after the show she–she gave me a bunch of book titles and a podcast, but I don’t read a lotta books, so I went online and took a buzzfeed quiz–”

Betty laughed. 

“I know, it’s stupid–”

“It’s not stupid Marls.” She laughs again. “It just reminded me, I took a quiz in the back of a magazine when I was younger…about what kind of man I should marry.”

Now Cliff is laughing too. 

“I just remember all the questions being completely unrelatable, and that’s when I kind of realized that I was a lesbian.” Betty chuckles.

Cliff smiles, “Really?”

“Yeah. So it’s not stupid to take a quiz online. What did it say?”

Cliff took a deep breath. “It said I was bi.”

“And how did that make you feel?” 

“It–well it made me freak out a little.” Cliff pauses, “But then, I thought about it some more, and it…it makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of things in my life make a lot more sense than being straight does.” 

“Well, that’s all that really matters, then isn’t it? That the label makes you understand yourself a little better?” 

“Yeah.” Cliff sighs. “Yeah, it does.”

“So you feel like that label fits you?”

“I…yeah. I’m bisexual. I like…I like all kinds of people.”

“Are you doing okay with it, now?” 

“Yeah, Auntie. Yeah. Honestly, I was more shook up with the realization that you were gay than that I was bi. Not because–I wasn’t–I just hadn’t ever realized and I can’t believe I was so stupid.” 

“You’re not stupid, Marley.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Okay, you’re a little stupid, but it’s not a bad thing, okay? Like I said, we all figure these things out in our own time, so don’t beat yourself up about it.” 

“Yeah, okay.”

“Love you, Marls.”

“Love you Auntie. Give my best to Aunt Kate.” 

“Okay, I will.”

Chapter End Notes

Bettie: “Marley, are you telling me you’ve done more than kiss a man?” 

What Cliff thinks: Well, I've kissed several men, had threesomes, stroked a guy off, gave a blow job-just to see what it was like...

What Cliff says: well, yeah.