A Beautiful Bromance

 

Ben:

                “You’re what?” Danny’s mum and dad looked shocked, but his dad was becoming angrier by the second.

“I’m gay,” Danny was looking his dad right in the eye to show that he was being serious. His mum smiled at Danny and asked him if he was sure and that the last they’d heard he had a girlfriend. When Danny had convinced her that he was being serious about this she nodded.

“Well, we’re fine with this, aren’t we?” She turned to her husband who was glaring at Danny and shaking his head violently.

“NO! No son of mine is going to be gay!” His face was going red as he continued to glare at Danny. “I don’t know what the trend is over in America but you are not gay!”  He jabbed his finger in Danny’s direction when he said the word “you”.

                Danny stood up and glared back at his dad.

“It isn’t a trend, dad! I love a guy, that’s just how it is!”

“Oh, yeah? Who? Who is it who’s made you think that you’re gay?”

“I am.” I stood up and took Danny’s hand. His dad glared at our hands, fingers twisting together comfortably. His eyes then drifted to mine. I held his intense stare to show that I wasn’t intimidated by him.

“You?” He stood up slowly to tower over me.

“Yeah. And he doesn’t think that he’s in love with me. He is.” The older man’s eyes lost some of its anger as my words sunk in. Some of it, not all of it. “And I love him, too. There’s nothing you can do about that.” That did it. Danny’s dad sunk back onto the leather sofa and he rubbed his face.

“I’m sorry, Danny. It just came as a shock to me.” He looked at Danny with apologetic eyes. “If this is what you want, then I’m happy for you.” His eyes met mine again. “For both of you.” He exhaled deeply and looked at his wife with a smirk on his lips. “This is gonna take some getting used to, innit?”

                Danny’s grip on my hand relaxed. Fuck, I hadn’t realised how hard he was holding it. I smiled at him and we both sat down. The rest of the evening went by pretty much how it had started, as though nothing had ever been said. There was a change in the atmosphere between Danny and his dad, though. A little more tense than what it had been. We left the house at half nine and headed back to the hotel we were staying at. It was only a fifteen minute walk and we walked hand-in-hand in silence.

“That was a bit better than what I had expected it to be.” I glanced at Danny who looked as though the weight of the world had been lifted off of his shoulders.

“Yeah, how could it have been worse?”

“I dunno. I was expecting a lot more shouting, swearing, being kicked out and disowned.”

“You weren’t expecting the worst then,” I said sarcastically, which brought a smile to Danny’s lips.

“Hey, you’ve got it all to come. We’re visiting your family tomorrow.”

                Aw shit.