"You can always trust me," Tatum assured her quietly, wanting to just leave it at that. Whatever momentarily lapse she had experienced in judgement, it was over now. She couldn't leave Mackenzie, she had tried and it was far too hard. There just wasn't any way that she could pull it off. The blonde's emotional admissions weren't helping either. Her heart felt like it had a constant skip in it, jumping in her chest every time Mack said something particularly sweet, or even brushed up against her.

She managed a little sniffle, reaching up one hand to rub her eyes absently, cracking a weak little smile. "I'm fine, it just-- it's kind of stupid, but that's like, you pretty much just looked inside of me right now and f-found this thing, I'm l-like.. most scared of. T-That's exactly the kind of shit I'm so s-scared of. I can't even look my own parents in the e-eye anymore, and I just.. I don't know. Frankie thinks I should tell them. I think she was mad that I d-didn't and now she like.. doesn't e-even care, she's just so over it, and I like wasted m-my chance to tell them cause I was just scared," Tatum explained, trailing off to wipe her eyes again as they were already swelling up with tears all over again.

"L-Like parents are supposed to love you unconditionally, right? But like, they can only t-take so much. I'm a-already a shitty student beside Sera, so n-n-now I'll be stupid and gay!" she managed, squeezing Mackenzie's hand tightly as she spoke. She tilted her head back a bit, hoping the tears would just go away, wouldn't actually slide down her face. She never really talked to anyone, outside of Sera, about the fears she had so associated with their parents. Loving and generally accepting as they were, they were pretty traditional and serious people. There was no way Tatum could even imagine how to word her coming out, let alone actually go through with it.

What did she say? What did she do? And even once she figured all of that technical bullshit out, even if it was perfect, what if they flipped? She didn't think she could handle seeing Frankie, or any other girl she cared about, dragged out of her house. She was pretty sure it would kill her; Mack was even stronger than she had realized to have dealt with that. Tatum was sure she would just shut down, possibly die alone for fear of ever dating again.

"She still t-talks to you though. Right? She doesn't t-totally.. hate you, I mean. I think my dad would. I think h-he'd definitely hate me," she muttered, her face pressing into Mack's sweater, burying against it softly. She was getting a few tears on it, but she didn't think the blonde would mind. The sweater smelled even more like Old Spice, and that amused her, making her crack a smile despite herself. Even with emotional topics on the table, she was so glad to be back with her best friend, talking to her, being beside her, just being around her. "You're very entertaining. I won't like.. be bored anymore. I still like.. have that whole series box-set of Buffy that Rath got me for our birthday. We never watched that yet," she suggested, still managing a little smile. "Sarah Michelle Gellar really gets her sexy on in that show, like.. goddamn."