Rumors of War

by Cynus 

War on Earth
 

Chapter Six

          “You’ve got it all wrong Dad,” I tried to explain, but the shake of his head told me that he wasn’t going to have any of that until I did as I was told.

          “Look son, I know you were going on a date last night with a girl from your school, and last night when I got home you didn’t respond to me calling you. I thought I’d check in on you, so I knocked on your door and didn’t get an answer. I figured you were still out so I decided to see how far along you were with unpacking, and I saw you in bed with someone. Now go get her so we can talk about this?” His voice retained its hard edge, but his face softened a little bit. The small difference in his eyes assured me that his primary concern was my well-being, and I suddenly knew that I could trust him.

          At least I could trust him with everything except the Angel and Demon bit anyway.

          “I guess I can’t keep anything from you, Dad,” I replied, and then added before I turned toward the stairs, “But you really don’t know what happened yet, and I think that you’re going to have a different impression in a few minutes.”

          I hurried up the stairs and slid into my room, just as Marc was pulling one of my t-shirts over his head. I was a little bit smaller than him, so the shirt was just a tiny bit too tight, but I thought it looked great. My purpose for coming back up was momentarily forgotten as I got lost in fantasizing about the beautiful boy in front of me. He snapped me back to reality with a quick kiss on the lips.

          “What are you thinking about Damien? You seem a little distracted,” he asked with a touch of amusement. I smiled back despite the situation that I knew awaited us down the stairs.

          I explained what I came to say in a rush. “You, and how beautiful you are, in all of your forms, but that aside, we have a problem. My dad saw us in bed together last night. He’s waiting for us to come explain ourselves. He thinks that I brought Veronica home from our date and slept with her. I think he’s mad because he thinks I’m taking risks that I shouldn’t be taking, like potentially getting a girl pregnant. Would you mind coming with me and helping me explain?”

          “Well this is awkward. I suppose it is largely my fault though isn’t it? Yeah, let’s go. I have some experience dealing with displeased adults. Hopefully he is a more reasonable man than my own father. Let’s go.” He replied while gesturing for me to lead the way. I was more than happy to do so. With what had occurred over the last twenty-four hours, I was pretty certain that I could accomplish anything with Marc at my back.

          As I stepped into the kitchen with Marc just a step behind, my Dad looked up and his eyes widened. It took him a moment but the hard edge drained completely from his face and I could see a different emotion settle in; Relief. He motioned to chairs on the opposite end of the table from him, and we took our seats quickly. I was certain now that this conversation was about to go a lot better than my dad had been expecting.

          “Well, you’re right Damien, I hadn’t been expecting this. Alright, since a lot of what I was going to say is now irrelevant, I will hear your story first,” he began, then with a look over at Marc he added with amusement, “Though I am dying to hear why he is wearing some of your clothes.”

          Up to that point Marc had not met my father. The two of them had not been in the house at the same time, due to Marc going home early and my father working late. I had mentioned to my father that I had a new friend though, and I figured it was time to make the introductions. “To start off, this is Marc. Marc, this is my dad. I have told both of you a little bit about the one another. Now you can both put faces to the names.”

          “Though I do wish this were occurring under different circumstances, it’s a pleasure to meet you sir,” Marc jumped in and extended his hand.

          My dad shook it and replied in kind, “Indeed Marc. It’s nice to meet you as well. I hope you don’t mind me saying that I don’t even know what the circumstances are now, so we might not have any problems at all.”

          Marc nodded and I continued my explanation. “Well, as you can see, Marc is clearly not a girl. He has in fact never been one, and I do hope that he doesn’t change any time soon. I kind of like him as he is.”

          My dad actually laughed a little, though his face grew a little more serious again as he replied, “You know son, you didn’t have to lie to me about going on a date with a girl. You could have just said that you were going out with a guy, I wouldn’t have cared. I know that we’ve never talked about your sexuality, but you are very aware that I have had several close friends who were gay over the years, and that it doesn’t bother me. You’re alright to be who you are in this house and out in the world, though I am a little concerned about you lying to me and not trusting me.”

          I shook my head and went on, “Well dad that isn’t really the case. I did have a date with a girl last night.”

          His eyes narrowed and the hard edge was back as he replied, “Well that isn’t something I’m very fond of. You shouldn’t be leading girls on like that when you’re sleeping with someone else. I didn’t raise you to act that way. Why didn’t you just tell her that you’re gay and refuse her advances? Crushing a girl’s heart immediately causes a lot less pain than cheating on her.”

          “Whoa dad, chill out. That isn’t what happened. I met her at the restaurant but she left within five minutes. It became very clear to both of us that it wasn’t going to work out, and she was definitely not who I thought she was. She might as well have stood me up for how she was acting, in fact that would have been preferable. I was home by six thirty, and then Marc came over.”

          The hardness faded once again, and I was curious about how it felt to have one’s emotions shift that much. I almost reached out with my mind as I had done with Marc earlier but realized it was a bad idea. Telepathy at breakfast was not how I wanted to come out as a psychic. My dad was pretty good at vocalizing his emotions anyway, and he replied with a hint of confusion, “I still don’t know why you couldn’t just tell her you were gay. That seems like it would have made things a lot simpler for you.”

          “Well, that would be because I’m bisexual, not gay. I like both sexes, and I was honestly attracted to Veronica, but I’m definitely not anymore. When Marc and I had talked earlier in the week, he let it slip that he was attracted to me, but that Veronica had beat him to the punch. When we got together after my failed attempt at a date, I hadn’t intended for anything to happen between Marc and me. One thing ended up leading to another and now we’re boyfriends.” I felt a sudden rush of embarrassment that I had just referred to Marc as my boyfriend, but he simply reached out with his hand and gave mine a squeeze, reassuring me that he was more than okay with accepting the title.

           “Bisexual huh? Are you sure you’re not just undecided?”

          “Come on, you’re not going to be one of those people are you? Yes, I like both. Personality traits are more important to me than physical attributes, and enjoy looking at both,” I replied with a hint of anger.

          He raised his hands in surrender to my point and said, “I’m sure you’re right, son. Though I don’t have a problem with it, I suppose it’s just hard for me to understand because I’m not that way. I’ve only had one bisexual friend before, but he always dated guys so I just figured he didn’t want to tie himself down to something that was a social stigma at the time like being gay was. If you say you’re bisexual though, more power to you. It doesn’t make me care for you any less. Now, how about you give me the story of why Marc is dressed like you? And don’t tell me they’re actually his clothes, because I definitely recognize them. You wear them quite often.”

          “That’s kind of embarrassing, Dad, do I really have to explain it?” I asked while trying to look anywhere else but his eyes. I knew that I didn’t have a convincing enough lie for this, and I certainly didn’t want to tell him the truth.

Thankfully Marc had an answer that perfectly matched my reaction. “We were wrestling, and we can both get pretty into it. Both my pants and my shirt were ripped quite a bit when we were done, and Damien said I could borrow some of his clothes until I was able to get to some of my own.”

          My dad chuckled when Marc emphasized the word “wrestling”, but then he looked between both of us with concern. He cleared his throat before beginning to say something that I knew was an uncomfortable subject for him. “Now, we need to talk about ‘wrestling’ for just a minute. I want you to know that I understand that hormones are a difficult thing to keep under control. That being said, you are both young and need to consider how having a physical relationship will affect you. This would be a very different talk if Damien had brought home a girl last night, but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t serious. You need to be careful and keep yourselves safe. I admit that I know very little about gay sex, except that you can’t get anyone pregnant that way. Please do research and make sure that you use what you’re supposed to use. I am okay with you having a physical relationship just don’t let it get out of hand. I think you’re both old enough to make those decisions on your own. Please don’t be too loud though, I find the thought of my son having sex to be about as repulsive as he probably finds the thought of me doing the same.”

          I admit that the thought sent a shudder down my spine, a movement that my father didn’t miss, and a smile crept onto his lips as he nodded in satisfaction. He went on to say one last thing to seal his end of the discussion, “This has been a difficult conversation for me, though I am glad to say that it was not difficult for the reasons I had feared. I know I don’t say it often, but I love you son, and I am glad that you seem to be happy. Now as for you Marc, welcome to the family.”

          Marc smiled in response and I got up to give my dad a hug. My father in turn waved Marc forward to include him in the embrace. I was glad that everything was alright, and that my father was so accepting. As we pulled away I saw Marc wipe a tear from his eye, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was happiness or sadness that had caused it.

 

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        A big thanks goes to Paul for his wonderful and generous editing. I couldn’t have done this without him.

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