Scene Change - 8. Chapter 8

Things were definitely going well with Joel, and the happy days stretched easily into happy weeks, and whilst there were changes taking place in our relationship, it all seemed so natural. Which is why it felt unremarkable when Joel came to football with me after school. It was funny to see him shouting and cheering on Leon’s team with such enthusiasm, and when they scored a goal his excitement went so far as giving me a kiss. I knew that people had seen, and perhaps just had their thoughts confirmed, who knows, but it felt very grounding, very real, to be there with him, as a couple. Weirdly, in this, the most alien of environments for me, I started to feel a bit more like my ‘old’ self.

Leon’s team ended up winning the match, which was actually a little unusual, so afterwards there was a lot of celebrating and more hanging around than usual whilst they all got ready to go home. Being later home on a Wednesday also means it’s our trashiest food night of the week. Joel stayed to eat with us, which was happening more and more, and he also stayed over, the first ‘school night’ we had spent together. We hadn’t planned it at all, it just sort of happened, or rather, Joel made it happen. Leon was all ready for bed and had come to say goodnight to Joel. Of course we heard about the football game again too, before he was finally ready to go.

“Goodnight Joel.”

“Night buddy.”

“Maybe next weekend we can go for ice cream again?”

Leon was giggling, knowing that he was probably going to get his own way.

“Ha ha, yeah, maybe.”

Joel laughed too, and in that moment turned to look at me. He looked damned adorable, and then, in a flash, also mischievous.

“Hey Leon, you never know, maybe you’ll see me before then. Maybe you’ll see me in the morning?”

Leon looked both excited and confused as Joel turned to me again and asked.

“What do you think, Daddy?”

I could help but smile.

“I think that maybe he will.” I switched my attention back to Leon. “But it’s still bedtime, so come on.”

As we made our way out of the room I pulled Joel towards me.

“But I don’t think you should call me Daddy, that’s just weird.”

He smirked, and was still smiling when I returned to the sofa. I pushed him down and straddled him.

“So you’re staying then?”

“You don’t mind, do you?”

I chose actions over words, and kissed him.

“I could always take the day off tomorrow…”

The idea was very tempting, but unfortunately, flawed my from perspective.

“I wish that was going to be as good as it sounds, but I have to work tomorrow, so unless you’re going to make me tea all day…?”

“Oh, cool. I mean, not about not spending all day in bed with me. I didn’t know you’d taken another job?”

“Yeah, well, I need to earn money. It’s another play in London, I have drawings to finish.”

The feeling of Joel pulling me down on top of him, holding me close, kissing me so softly you yet with an intensity I don't remember experiencing with anyone before, it’s a good feeling.

“OK, then I’ll be home to make dinner then?”

“What?”

“I mean, if that’s OK, if you’re not getting bored with me?”

“Ha ha, no it’s not that, but… can you cook?”

This prompted some rather child like tickling and messing around, which ended up with some very adult like feelings as Joel somehow managed to manoeuver me underneath him.

“Come on, it’s a school night, let’s go to bed.”

Since then, Joel staying over has become the new normal, for several nights a week at least. Sometimes he’s working away for a day or two, sometimes he needs to go home to get clean clothes, although even they were slowly migrating over to my flat. Things were really starting to feel as though they were settling down, I was feeling properly stable for the first time in many months. And so, naturally enough, that was great, for as long as it lasted.

~~~~~

I was, as seemed now usual, trying to do at least three things at once, and I’m not good at it, no matter how much practice I get. On the hob was the slowly simmering bolognese sauce and the boiling pan of pasta.

“Leon? What are you doing buddy? Can you go wash your hands ready for dinner?”

There was a minimal response from him. I turned my attention back to my iPad on the counter.

“Sorry Kerry, so show me the problem.”

The image panned around rapidly as she walked around the set before settling on the edge of a piece of scenery.

“See, the overhang is on the bottom side, so I don’t see how it’s supposed to fix onto platform? It’s totally unstable like it is.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean now. I think it’s upside down, let me find the drawings, hang on…”

I walked towards the lounge to find the designs of what should have been made, talking to Leon as I went.

“Leon, I can hear that you’re not washing your hands, come on!”

It took me a few minutes to find the right pages.

“Kerry? Yeah, so it looks like they’ve built it upside down, I’ll email you the specs so you can yell at them. Sorry, hang on.”

I walked to Leon’s bedroom to hurry him along, and as I suspected, he was still engrossed in building his newest Lego kit. Some feigned negotiation later, and I get back to Kerry.

“Should I call you later?” She asked.

“No, it’s fine.” I drained the pasta, temporarily obscuring my view with steam.

“So, you could get the retaining bolts removed and re-welded on the other side, but that’s still going to leave the overhang, which everyone will trip over when it’s turn on it’s side later.”

“That’s what I thought too.”

“So we’ll have to get the fabrications people back, they need to make it match the drawings.”

“OK, I’ll call them first thing in the morning.”

“Isn’t it Mark at Fab Steel on this one?”

“Yeah, I think so, why?”

“Just… remind him it’s for me if he starts telling you how slow it will be.”

“Yeah? That’s going to work is it? I wonder what he owes you a favour for Connor?”

“You can stop looking like that! It’s a strictly work only relationship. But I’ve sent him enough work recently, so he owes me.”

There was a loud knock at the door.

“I got to go, call me back later if there’s anything else.”

“You know you should just give him a key, right?”

“Yes! I know! I just haven’t had time to sort it out yet.”

“OK, cool. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

“Thanks Kerry, bye.”

Kerry disappeared from the screen as I headed to the door, trying to calm my frustration at seeing Leon back in his bedroom building Lego. My anticipatory relief at having Joel home was short lived, as it wasn’t him. Instead, there was an officious looking woman with a disinterested man at her side.

“Hello?” If you’re selling something, then you can fuck right off.

“Mr Featherstone?”

“Yes?”

“I’m Jenny Collins, this is Peter Hellard, we’re from Children’s Social Care. Is…” she checked her notes, “Leon Featherstone with you? Can we come in?”

Feeling immediately defensive I closed the door slightly, so that I was filling the only space there was.

“What do you want?”

“Sir, if you refuse to let us in we’ll wait here for the Police to assist us in gaining entry.”

The man still hadn’t spoken, but didn’t seem to be in any way concerned about this conversation. I was fairly certain that the threat was an empty one, not least because I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Well maybe you should start by explaining why you’re here, rather than call the Police?”

“We’re here to see Leon Featherstone, to complete a welfare check. It’s completely routine.”

“No it’s not. And you just threatened me with the Police, what’s going on?”

“Sir, we’ve received information from a member of the public rising concerns about the wellbeing of Leon Featherstone, and we need to ensure his safety.”

“What!?”

“Mr Featherstone…”. She checked her notes again, “Connor, I’m happy to explain more, but we really do need to come inside.”

“Fine, but you’re not speaking to Leon until I understand what’s going on, OK? Wait one minute.”

I closed the door, which resulted in her immediately knocking on it again, which I ignored as I headed to Leon’s room.

“I’m coming Daddy!” Leon jumped up, dropping the piece of Lego he was trying to fit in the process.

“It’s OK buddy, you can carry on for a few minutes, I just have to talk to some people, and then we’ll have dinner, Ok?”

“OK.”

“I’m going to close your door for a minute, I’ll be right down the hall yeah?”

He was already back at the Lego building, so I closed his bedroom door as I returned to the door banging woman.

“OK, you can stop the banging, I told you I’d be a minute. You’d better come in.”

I guided them towards the lounge, and whilst their eyes may have been everywhere, I made sure that they couldn’t ‘accidentally’ walk in to Leon’s room.

“You can sit down…” I indicated the sofa, and they both perched on the edge of it as I took the remaining chair.

“As I said, we’ve had information from a member of the public…”

“Yeah, you said, so what’s supposed to be the problem?”

She checked her notes again before continuing. To be fair to her, she sounded at least a little hesitant.

“…that your lifestyle isn’t safe or suitable for a child, and that he is at risk from the number of men visiting the property…”

I couldn’t help but laugh, even though it really wasn’t a funny situation.

“You find this funny Mr Featherstone?” Clearly she didn’t.

“Actually yes, I do. Seriously, it sounds like something my mother would say.”

I laughed again, but her stony silent glare caught me, and her raised eyebrows filled in for any words.

“Oh my god, you’re fucking joking? My mother has reported me to Social Care?”

“Sir, I can’t tell you who made the complaint at this time. Is there some reason that we can’t see Leon?”

“What? Yes, of course there is. The last time he met a social worker he was removed from his home, which is how he comes to be living here with me.”

The two of them exchanged looks, clearly not knowing anything about this.

“Really? You’ll believe the crazy stories from her, but you don’t even check who it is you’re supposed to be concerned about?”

I moved to the filing cabinet by my desk, returning with the folder full of letters and meeting minutes from when Leon came to live with me, handing it all over to her. Before I’d returned to the chair there was yet more knocking at the door. I looked to the two social workers.

“Who’s this likely to be be Mr Featherstone?”

“Presumably one of the ‘many men visiting the property’.”

My sarcastic tone was probably unwarranted, and of course it was exactly the man I was expecting, Joel.

“Hey. What’s up, you look stressed?”

“Yeah, come and meet the reason why. My mum has reported me to Social Care.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I know.”

Joel followed me in, and the social workers were stood up when we entered the lounge.

“This is Joel, he’s my partner, and the only man who has ever visited the property.”

There were terse introductions and a re-cap on the events so far. They asked us a lot of questions, most of which seemed borderline inappropriate, but Joel seemed OK with it as he sat on the arm of the chair I was in.

“OK, it seems this is a malicious complaint, so I’m sorry about that Mr Featherstone. Although we do still need to speak to Leon.”

After some discussion, they were happy for Joel and I to be in the room when they spoke to Leon. Theyexplained to him that they just wanted to ask him some questions, and he gave them amusingly blunt answers throughout. It seemed to go on for hours, but was only maybe fifteen minutes. Leon didn’t seemed too concerned, which was my priority, but I felt much less tense when they finally left.

Leon and Joel ate dinner, but I was no longer in the mood for food. Before he sat down Joel pulled me in to a hug, kissing me softly. I’m not going to lie, it helped.

I wanted to call her, to yell and scream and swear at her and to tell he to fuck off forever. But I didn’t, I just lay against Joel and closed my eyes as his hands wandered through my hair.

By the morning I was feeling calmer, which was a good thing as Leon kept asking me about the social workers that had visited us.

“…why though Daddy?” For about the tenth time.

“OK, so do you remember Becky the Social Worker? We met her a few times when we… when you moved here?”

“Yeah…”

“Well the people yesterday, they were just here to check for Becky that we were doing OK. To make sure that everything was alright.”

“Hmmm OK.”

So I lied, but only a little bit. Joel came with me to take Leon to school before reluctantly leaving for work. But not before teasing me with possibilities.

“You know, I could finish early today and be home at lunch time. You think you’ll be busy this afternoon?”

“I think I will be now.”

Smiling as we kissed, it still didn’t feel real, but it sure felt good. The morning seemed to speed by, with most of it spent on the phone or working on a couple of new designs I’d been commissioned for. Despite the anticipated fun of the afternoon, I was still hard at it when Joel returned. I had some music on but was vaguely aware of the door closing, and then much more aware of Joel’s lips brushing over the back of my neck as his arms wrapped around me from behind, trapping me in the chair, but hardly in a bad way.

Needless to say, we didn’t ever make it as far as lunch, only just managing to get dressed and look vaguely presentable again in time to pick Leon up from school. Whether it was just the post-sex buzz or something else I don’t know, but Joel held my hand as we waited on the playground. Rachel came over and chatted with us, and he still held my hand. The school erupted with people making their escape for the weekend, adults and children alike, and Joel still held my hand. Leon and Andre came running over, full of energy and laughter, and Joel still held my hand. Rachel invited us for dinner on Saturday evening, which of course met with Leon and Andre’s approval immediately. As we left, Joel still holding my hand, and Leon doing the same on the other side, it was impossible not to smile.

“So guys… what shall we do this weekend?”

Joel’s question was mostly directed to Leon, and the two of them talked across me as we walked home. I wasn’t totally paying attention, because I knew that it was going to be great, whatever they wanted to do. Maybe we didn’t have it all worked out, maybe not even half worked out, but I allowed myself some luxury and enjoyed the feeling of being with my family. My new family.

Thanks for reading   Final update coming up next!