A Beautiful Bromance

 

Danny:

                We’d finished our tour in America and were in the UK again. I still wanted to talk to mine and Ben’s parents about us, and that’s what we were going to do. Our tour manager gave us a couple of days to spend visiting our families before we hit the road again – those days being today and tomorrow.

                I looked down at the concrete path that I was stood on and fiddled nervously with my shirt. Ben put a reassuring hand on my shoulder and squeezed tightly. I looked back at him and he smiled, then nodded, urging me on. I took a shaky breath and knocked loudly on the door in front of me. There was some shuffling about and some talking. Then the door opened.

                My mum’s eyes widened when she saw me. I smiled at her and said “Hi, mum!” as though I’d only seen her yesterday. Her face broke out into the biggest smile I’d ever seen and she pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

“Oh, Danny! You have no idea how much we’ve missed you!” She pulled back and held me at arm’s length to look me up and down. She grabbed my arm and shook her head in disappointment. “I’ve got to say, I don’t really like the fact that you’ve got yourself covered in these tattoos. Especially these!” She held up my hands to point out the “Fuck This” written on my knuckles.

“Aww, come on! You didn’t honestly think I was that innocent, did you?” I laughed. She laughed too and pulled me into another hug. She must’ve just noticed Ben stood behind me because she pulled out of the hug and said “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot you two haven’t met. Mum, this is Ben. He’s the lead guitarist for our band.”

“Hi.” Ben held up his hand and smiled. He looked so uncomfortable. My mum must’ve noticed this, as she giggled and said “Oh, don’t worry: I don’t bite! Come on in, you two. Are you wanting anything to eat or drink?” She huddled us inside and led the way to the living room.

“Nah, we’re all right, thanks, mum.” She nodded and said that my Dad had gone to the shops and should be back in a minute.

                My mum somehow managed to force some biscuits and a cup of coffee down us. We ended up talking about allsorts (obviously avoiding the subject that we were here for in the first place) and I was glad to have dropped in.  My dad walked through the door within half an hour of us being here, and reacted in pretty much the same way that my mum did, when he saw me. Another cup of coffee and a dozen biscuits later my dad asked the question that I’d been dreading.

“So what are you here for, Danny? I’m sure you’re not just here for a catch-up session, are you?”

I gulped the rest of my coffee down and sat up straight, glancing at a nervous looking Ben before looking at my dad right in the eye.

“Well… I’m gay.”