No going back - 13. Family Life: homophobia rules

I was rather nervous of just leaving Colin to it but didn't see as how I could muscle in and demand I help. Still, he messaged me on Sunday evening to let me know he was feeling OK, had decided I was right, and he would talk to the guys tomorrow. And that there had been no word from either his Mum or brother. The shits.

Monday, all hell let loose at the new house. There was a frantic two days as Colin and the team got everything ready for the new windows arriving on Wednesday. Then they would be fitted, and things should be all hunky-dory by the weekend. It didn't quite work out that way. There was some problem in the kitchen and a delay to the new windows. Colin seemed to spend the week looking rather frazzled. I kept well out of the way, using the front bedroom of the new house as an office, but staying put in the rental house. But Colin had to eat. So, on the Tuesday and Thursday, I went to the take-away and brought back food to the new house. We didn't really have sex, but it was cosy and intimate.

Tuesday he'd said that he'd still had no word from his Mum, so had decided that on Wednesday evening he would phone her. I gather that it didn't go well. Her response to most of Colin's queries had been to parrot that 'Miles said....', and Miles it turned out wasn't just a wanker, he was a real right-wing bigot. Queers were definitely bottom of the pile and Miles didn't want a queer brother, ergo Colin couldn't be queer. All he had to do was... You get the drift.

Thursday, we had a couple of beers with the take-away and talked coming out, homophobic parents and that, comparing horror stories.

"Talking of horrors, how did the chat to the guys at work go?"

Colin gave a dry laugh, "The thing I was most dreading turned out to be the simplest. Jimmie asked me what I'd been doing, and I said I'd met up with a guy I'd been seeing, and he'd stayed over, and we'd been late up on Sunday. Mum hadn't been best pleased, and I had been so angry I'd managed to come out without intending to.”

“And that was it! How did they take it?”

“Both laughed, said it was great that I was being so open, and that was the guy, you! Turns out they'd both wondered and as far they are concerned, I'm me and the so-called revelation doesn't make a damn difference. As long as I'm not a kiddie-fiddler, and they could see I was a long way from that", he shrugged and laughed, "Jimmie then launched into his story about a mate of his brother-in-law's and discovering he liked kids."

I laughed, "Seriously?"

Colin nodded, "Seriously, you can't keep one of Jimmie's good stories down it seems. So, all clear there."

Friday, the windows were nearly there, and I took some pictures and used that as an excuse to email Mhairi, trying to keep things light. She replied saying 'Looking good' or something, but we didn't really develop a dialogue. Colin was meeting his mates at the pub as usual on Friday, and no doubt his news would come up. Then they were back working to finish off on Saturday morning. We had agreed that we'd meet up for a drink at the wine bar on Saturday and decide what we fancied doing. But Colin had sort of agreed that he would come back to my place after.

Friday night, I was feeling a bit knackered. It had been a busy week at work, never mind the goings on at the house. I had intended to have a good tidy round but postponed that till Saturday morning. I had a baked potato and a frozen beef pie in the oven and was just relaxing with a gin when the doorbell went. Who? I checked my phone and there was no message from Colin.

The guy was around my age, tall and broad, his face and mine were almost at the same level even though he was on a step below me.

"Owain Hargreaves?", I nodded, "I need to speak to you. Can I come in?"

He made to simply walk in, but luckily the house had been built on a small scale, for railway workers. The front door wasn't in any way generous, and I easily blocked it.

"And you are?" I stared at him. The resemblance was sort of there. This could be Colin's big brother. Certainly the behaviour was par for the course.

"I need to speak to you about my brother, so can I come in?", again he tried to push forward.

I was getting fed up with this, "By, your brother, I presume you mean Colin Anderson, which means that you are his brother Miles. I don't see that we have much to say to each other, and certainly I don't feel I want to let you in without more idea of what we are talking about."

"Now look here you fucking fairy", and he poked his finger at my chest. If he hadn't been so threatening, it would have been funny, did people really behave like that? "You leave my brother alone; I won't have you corrupting him. Colin's a good boy, if easily led, and he's certainly not queer and I won't have you making him so. Now, just you listen..."

"No, you listen Mr Anderson", and I poked his chest. Two could play at that game. "Last time I checked your brother was a perfectly responsible adult. He's had plenty of life experience and knows exactly what's what. Because he didn't choose to talk to you about it is not my doing. Colin is a friend, and that's all you need to know. Now, if you'll excuse me", and I shut the door.

I could have done more but thought that discretion was the better part and all that. Besides, if he got violent then I didn’t stand much chance and I didn't want to make life even more difficult for Colin. I waited by the front door and eventually Miles disappeared. He sat in his car for ages, but finally left. My phone went a couple of times, but I didn't recognise the number and ignored it. There was no message.

By Saturday morning, I was a bit calmer and once I'd had my coffee, I phoned Colin. He was completely livid. It seemed that Miles being an arse at his Mum's was something Colin was prepared for. Miles being an arse at my house was different again, and Colin pointed something out. How did Miles know where I lived? I wasn't in any directory; it was a short-term let.

Colin appeared, early afternoon, still seething; whatever plans either of us had had for the afternoon rather went by the board. It seems that he’d chatted to his Mum, and it wasn’t good. He'd waited till the guys had finished at the house, which meant that there was a good chance his Mum would be back from the shops. I wasn't sure why he'd phoned her, rather than Miles, but it seemed she knew all the details, anyway.

Miles had gone through Colin's phone. When he was getting his stuff together to turn round and leave on Sunday morning, Miles had done quick search and hit pay dirt. And his Mum seemed to think that it was quite a reasonable thing to do. To protect Colin from himself. I gather that Colin had, for the first time ever, lost his temper with his Mum.

"Sorry, that our bit fun has cost you so much trouble", I put my hand on his knee.

"It's not your fault. I had no idea that they felt like that. Blood hell, I'm not a kid and I'm not doing anything wrong", he sighed, "I don't know what's going to happen. I'm not going tomorrow, that's for sure."

"Send your mother an email, say you are sorry for losing your temper, but that Miles' behaviour was completely unacceptable. How would he feel if you'd done that to him? You had a right to live your life as you think fit. You were happy, and finally out to your friends, blah blah blah.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll apologise and that, though I doubt it will do any good”.

“By the way, how did it go on Friday? With all this fuss, I forgot to ask".

"OK. Not quite as straightforward as the guys at work. Most were OK, some were a bit sort of subdued and I think one or two are less than enamoured of having a queer friend. I think it was the 'we're your friends, why didn't you tell us earlier’ sort of thing."

"You'll get there."

"Yeah, that's what Jase said. I've known him since we both started working when we left school. He was cool and thinks the others just need a bit of time. And we had a good laugh in the pub as usual."

"Good", I kissed him.

And, well, it sort of spiralled from there. I hadn't been certain what to do for the afternoon, but fucking Colin on the sofa was a lovely surprise. And he was delightfully relaxed, we had fun, sexy fun. And I managed to persuade him to stay like that, naked, for tea and cake afterwards. Decadent or what?

Before we left for the wine-bar, he got out his laptop and drafted an email to his Mum. He asked me to look it over, but it said everything that was needed, and firmly put the ball in her court. Their court, actually, as he sent it both to his Mum and Miles and copied it to another address which turned out to be his sister-in-law's. Nothing like covering your bases.

We didn't go out and get shit-faced, but we did have plenty to drink. They were offering a house cocktail, and we arrived just in time to catch happy hour. Who could resist? Luckily, we were too late to get a second one cheap, so we moved on to wine and made that last.

"Can I ask you something?", Colin looked slightly nervous.

"Ask away?"

"It's about the boyfriend thing."

"You mean, are you my boyfriend?"

He looked terribly shy, "Yeah".

"Well, that's up to you. Are you? It certainly feels like it, especially after this last week. I can't think of anything I'd rather do, than make this something regular. Once you've finished at the house, I won't see as much of you".

"So, we need to sort something out?"

"Precisely. And as your boyfriend, I think I get first dibs on your time, don't you?" and I leaned over and kissed him. Only briefly, but he went bright red. He didn't pull away, however, and kissed me back.

"I think I'd like that."

"Let's try to arrange a regular meet up during the week, if only to have a take-away. And then do something on Saturday. Sunday mornings?"

"I don't think I'll be going home in quite the same way. Even if," he shrugged, "when Mum comes around, I think we'll keep things a bit less formal".

"Can't Miles and his wife pull their weight bit more with your Mum?"

Colin laughed, "Look, she's not old, she's not infirm, she can cope. At the moment. But Miles has shied away from even doing the basics, and I don't think he'd let his wife do anything either."

"So, it was all on you?"

"Yeah. Not anymore. I've been thinking about that holiday in Italy. I'm definitely on, can you see if you can sort out one of those hotels you mentioned. There's something else. Next Saturday there's a Ten Tons of Fun special. I wondered whether you fancied..."

I grinned, "Do I hell! It's a date. And we’ll stay, no driving home in the small hours. Just a cab back to a hotel."

He blinked, "Yes, that'd be fun. I've stayed in the Premier Inn at Euston before."

I grinned, "Oh, I think we'll try for something a bit fancier than that."

When the waiter came to take the empty plates away, we were holding hands. Me, holding hands. Colin went a bit pink, and his grip tightened, but he left them there, and of course, the waiter simply smiled.

"There is something, I wanted to ask. I've been sort of putting it off. There's a service at church that I want to go to tomorrow?"

Colin looked surprised, "At your old church, the Brethren?"

"Good lord, no. At the Minster. They are having a blessing of the new Garden of Rest and if you remember, I gave a donation in memory of my friend Lily."

"The old lady who took you in, and took you to Evensong there?"

"That's the one. I've sponsored a seat."

He giggled, "That's right, so folk can sit on her and remember. You want to go to the service?"

"Yes. It's at 10.30am, so it means getting up."

He shrugged, "Still a few hours more than I've been getting. 'Sides, we can't let Lily down, can we?"

We were a bit giddy and frisky on the way home, and when we got to the house, Colin showed a surprising side. So far, sex had varied between full on lust-humping to gentler intimacy, more making love. But I'd always been the active one. This time, Colin took the lead. Gently and somewhat hesitantly but take the lead he did. And it was rather lovely.

"Was that OK?"

I grinned, "That was far more than OK. Don't be daft."

"No, I meant me doing stuff to you?"

"Well, I don't know whether you noticed, but I rather enjoyed it", he giggled, "and it was far more than OK. It's nice to share things. This is an equal relationship. In everything."

He nodded, "If you're sure?"

I squeezed his hand, "I'm very sure. This is a partnership, right?"

"Right". And he smiled, "Does that mean I can do it again?"

And he did.