Xander had gotten a call from Sydney asking to meet up for coffee later that afternoon. Xander had replied telling her that he was out looking for cars with his mum but was more than happy to meet her later, he could never turn down coffee after all.

After he had found a car which was on Carter's list, he liked and could afford he drove it to pick up Sydney, who was on the street waiting for him.

“Hey, nice car.” She offered whilst sliding into the passenger seat.

“Thanks.” He replied smiling overjoyed with his purchase.

“So you stayed at Carters last night?” She asked straight away, which made Xander almost stall the car as he pulled away.

“Err yeah he took me back there last night when I was completely wasted. He’s a good friend.” Xander responded, slightly defensively.

“Oh, it’s just that I live in the same building as him.” She mumbled looking down at her feet, clearly apologetic. “I gather you worked that out.” She smiled, finger guns pointing at him. Xander chuckled.

“Yeah kinda did, that’s pretty cool.” He added trying to raise the now awkward mood.

“Yeah, when you left to travel the world he was like a lost puppy, so I helped him out and now we’re pretty good friends.” She grinned. Xander was pretty glad that his best friend wasn’t alone while he was away.

“Just friends though?” He quizzed curiously.

“Yeah, I actually had a girlfriend at the time.” She admitted. “But that ended and Carter has actually been great at making me see what idiots I end up with, both boy and girls!” She snorted. “Carter and I never would have worked. It just would be… weird.” She giggled waving a hand dismissively.

“Oh, so you like boys and girls?” He blurted out. Before he could carry on he covered his mouth with his hand. Sydney laughed and looked up at Xander’s shocked face.

“Yeah I do, what about you, who are you into?” She asked waggling her eyebrows, she seemed pretty happy with herself and Xander couldn’t work out why.

“Oh me? Well I… umm.” Xander was lost for words. He wasn’t sure whether or not he could trust the girl. She was very blunt and honest. “I’ve never been asked that before!”

“Don’t worry.” Sydney eased sensing his tension. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me too.” She lightly touched his arm in encouragement and comfort. A warmth overcame Xander and he felt he could trust her.

“Well, I don’t really mind either way.” He confessed and once he had started he couldn’t stop. “I’ve never told anyone really, other than my parents, I’ve just kinda gone along with whatever. I’m pretty open-minded. I’ve been with both boys and girls and both at the same time! To me, it doesn’t matter about gender or what’s between someone’s legs.” He gushed laughing and blushing.

“Wow! That sounds fun!” she giggled clearly not fazed at all.

“So can I ask you something?” He said, after deeming Sydney trustworthy, he hoped she was. She nodded a gentle smile on her face.

“Carter, he’s still… straight isn’t he?”

“Oh yeah, he is, but you never know. Hey, does he know?” She answered shifting suddenly.

“No, like I said only my parents know, and I’d like to keep it that way, not sure how people would react to knowing that I’m… whatever I am.”

“Pansexual,” Sydney stated.

“Pansexual?”

“Yep, it’s where you’re attracted to people regardless of gender, meaning, boys, girls, non-binary, and the rest. It’s kinda a branch of bisexual. In the middle of the scale.”

“Wow, I err, I didn’t know it had a name,” Xander confessed.

“Of course it does, everything has a name nowadays!” she giggled. “You know what, I think I need another drink.” She announced changing the subject. Xander went along with it.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind another one.” He agreed, getting up and heading to the counter.

Xander bought them both another coffee to go and dropped Sydney off on the way home. He was glad she had called. He could see them being pretty good friends. He drove his car home and was hoping to tell his mum about Sydney and his little self-discovery but she had gone out. Pouting to himself Xander decided it was about time he had something to eat so he walked through to the kitchen. There was a note from his mum on the table.

Xander, I ordered you a pizza, it will be here for 7. Love you, be home late. Mum xxx

He smiled down at the note, checked the time, 6 O’clock. He still had an hour before the pizza arrived. He grabbed a glass of water and headed up to his room. He sat down at his desk and opened up his laptop. He typed in pansexual into google and read through a couple of different things. It felt right. He’d always hated the label bisexual because it never really felt like him, but this… this felt good. Grinning to himself he got up and looked into the mirror. “Pansexual.” He nodded. Yep, that was definitely him. Now onto more pressing matters, he really needed to find a job.

Xander had always been a great artist and he did commissions while he was traveling which made a pretty good income. Though he wasn’t sure he would be able to make a living off of it. He checked his art email account and found he had a number of requests for different things. Maybe I could make a decent living off of this. He went through the emails and noted down all the unique and random things he had been asked to draw and worked out that he’d make enough money to last till the end of next month. He’d probably have to set up a proper business. He made a mental note to ask his dad for some help and advice tomorrow when his dad got back from work.

Xander started on the first commission. A black and white drawing of wolves running through the woods. It would probably take him until tomorrow afternoon to finish.

At 7 O’clock the pizza arrived and by 10 Xander’s eyes started to get heavy. He decided to finish for the night. He showered and got into bed, drifting into a dreamless sleep.