"Don't say I said anything, but the soft squishy side is w-way cuter than the like.. tough cookie side," Tatum replied, grinning slowly herself. When he patted her head, she felt herself blushing despite her attempts to stay chill. "Y-Yeah, that'd be.. pretty c-cool actually, yeah. Do y-you have a DS? Or like, a 3DS.. R-Resident Evil Mercenaries is a-amazing, I uhm.. play online a lot."

It did make her feel a little better to hear that someone else was going through the same thing as her, it seemed like she was far from the only person around who had a father that wasn't perfect. But that only provided so much comfort. Misery loved company, but she mostly just wanted her dad back. Before this whole gay fiasco, he hadn't been a bad dad at all, aside from maybe a little intense. He pressured her about her grades a lot, but he only wanted the best for her. She knew, unfortunately, in his own way that he thought he was doing what was best for her right now too. Except she wasn't going to give in and come home and live the way he wanted her to. Even if he thought she would eventually, she had already promised herself that she wouldn't. She was who she was, and there was no sense in trying to change it.

"Shit d-dads suck," she agreed weakly. "My dad like, t-thinks being gay is a disease or s-something.. like people just, get over it. It's w-who you are, man! It's not-- h-he's just a jerk. He's closed-minded.. f-fuck him, I guess."

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He giggled a bit at her revelation. He hadn't ever really seen a softer side in Mack before little Tater Tot came along, it was definitely a nice change. He couldn't blame her for hiding that side, he was just as guilty... until Eddie came along. "Yeah I bet," he grinned. "Give us tough guys something cute and we go to pieces," he laughed.

"I have a DS, old school one, well not too cold school, DS Lite," he said. "I'm waiting for tax returns to get a nice little 3DS. Budgeting sucks... oooo! I haven't played that yet! It looks dope though! Do you... um..." he pushed his hat down lower to avert his eyes. "You play pokemon?" he mumbled. He was a bit ashamed to admit just how geeky his gaming got.

"Nah man, aint no disease," he shook his head. "People," he squinted, pointing at her. "People are born the way they are, aint no changin' that. Fuck 'im," he agreed. "It's tough because a part 'a you wants him to accept you and fer him to be a dad but you can't change other people and there aint no way you should hafta change..." he trailed off. "Fuck it bro."

"I know I gave you a lotta shit in the past Little Red, you just... yer an easy target but it aint cause yer gay," he gave her a little nudge with her elbow. "I'll give you some hinters when I'm more uh... sobery," he grinned.

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Tatum was more than ready to busy herself with her room again, now that they were back into it. She stepped away from Le a bit, making her way over to the dresser she had mentioned earlier, hurrying to get all of the knick-knacks off of it and putting them onto her bed. "Y-You could.. well, you c-can play mine. It's r-red," the younger girl told him, pausing for a moment when he asked about Pokemon. "Uhm, yeah.. of c-course."

She hesitated for a moment, chewing her lip as she began taking pictures out of the edge of the mirror on the dresser. "W-Who's your favorite? I like, uh.. Pachirisu."

Standing in her bedroom and discussing Pokemon with Leland was never something she would have pictured before, but it wasn't turning out so bad. Alcohol was probably helping. When he pointed at her, she stared blankly back, but managed a little bit of a smile. "R-Right? You can't, uhm.. really c-change what's up. I am what I a-am, I guess."

She couldn't believe he was apologizing to her, and once again, she stared blankly at him for a few moments. "It's, uhm.. okay. Everybody g-gives me shit, so it's.. really not a big deal," she admitted, giving him a little nudge back with her elbow. "I'm j-just a wimp. I'm used to it.. at least, uhm.. I have Mack now. It's like having a snuggly attack d-doberman."

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"Ooo! Red, must be shiny! I like those ones," he grinned. "Oh, uh... Charizard has always been my favorite. Like, little dinosaur man, right? Can't go wrong," he found himself blushing even admitting that he knew what Pokemon was.

"You is what you is," he giggled. "But you gotta stand up fer yerself Little Red," he said moving over to the dresser. "Whatchu need me to do?" he asked. "Point me in the right direction!" he giggled.

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