Young, Gay and Sweet

The One

Matthew stretched his arms and legs out, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he turned over to the side of his bed to look down at the mattress beside it. When he saw that it was Jay-less all of the memories came flooding back. Jay, in an unexpected lash of aggression, had punched his mother. But not only that, Jay had essentially forced Matthew to come out to his parents, and now his mother hated him. In addition, she believed that Matthew was in on the punching incident. 

He didn't feel like getting up. It was as if there was a large purple cat sitting on his lap, preventing him from moving a muscle. It was only when Kimberly walked into the room claiming that she'd just made pancakes that Matthew managed to move his mouth to form the words, "No thank you". Kimberly paced up to him, and sat at the edge of his bed awkwardly.

"Look, Matthew, Iv'e been thinking", Kimberly said with a sigh, "Iv'e been thinking that it was wrong of Brittany to invade your privacy like that. So, I'm sorry. If I were kissing a boy at your age, I certainly wouldn't have wanted my sister to film it".

Matthew didn't know when exactly it was coming, but he knew there had to be a but at some point.

"But", Kimberly said, as if on cue, "I think it was very wrong of you to kiss Jay with the door open, because any of my children could have seen. And I understand that it's your choice to make these decisions in spite of me, but the last thing I want is a bad example for my children".

Matthew nodded as Kimberly took another breath in.

"I'm sorry for hitting you, that was an accident. But you need to apologise to Brittany for lashing out at her. Your thirteen, she's seven, she must have been terrified".

"Wait, wait, wait", Matthew interrupted, "You just acknowledged that what Brittany did was very wrong, but now you want me to apologise to her!"

"Matt, she's only seven".

"But she's old enough to know right from wrong", Matthew reasoned, "And why did you think that I was in on Jay punching you? I had no idea!"

"You told Jay that I broke your phone Matthew, what did you expect was gonna happen?"

"But you did break my phone!"

"It was an accident"

"You broke my phone because I was playing a song you didn't like", Matthew said, standing up with tears in his eyes, "It was a song about Christianity!"

"Written by atheists"

"Written by people who read the bible! You've claimed to have never had sex before marriage, but that makes no sense. I was born three months after your wedding! Three months!"

"Iv'e already told you Matt, you were born premature."

"Bullshit!"

"Matthew, language!"

"Look, I'm done here", Matthew announced, crossing his arms and stomping out of his own room, "Jay may have been an uncontrollable little freak but at least he was right about one thing, you need to show your children respect!"

Jeremy had nobody to kick from under the table that morning, which was good in theory, but it tore him apart. Michael was upset about Jay's absence too, but was to afraid to say it.

"And that is how the Flying Wolves beat the Soaring Owls. Any questions?", Edward conversed one-sidedly in pride from the head of the table.

"Yeah", Matthew said, "Why can't that flying wolf take mum away?"

Kimberly groaned, "Matthew, not at the breakfast table".

"It's not my breakfast table!", Matthew argued, "I'm not even eating breakfast! I'm on a hunger strike". 

"What's a hunger strike?", Zoe asked, intrigued.

"It means I-"

"Matthew, no", his mum interrupted, "Lets have this conversation later".

Matthew flashed her mother a dirty look, and silently, yet loudly silently, left the table.

"Jay? Ja-ay?"

"The fuck!", Jay cried, jumping up on his mattress, "Who's there?"

"Oh honey", Alexander assured, tenderly stroking Jay's forehead, "Are you used to unfriendly wakeup calls?"

It took a while for Jay to remember where he was. "Oh, uh, hey Alex. Sorry about my language".

Alexander smiled, "It's fucking fine."

"Ha! You swore to make me feel better. Thats erm, that ah, great".

"I'm glad", Alexander said, "But don't you dare tell John I swore at you, he'll have me stuffed".

Jay chuckled, "Hey man, my lips are sealed".

Alexander led Jay to the dining table, where three pancake plates were set. John was spooning Philip some baby food as the baby wiggled delightedly on his high chair to see Jay. That was when Jay heard his phone ringing rather loudly from the laundry room. John laughed, "Interesting ringtone little buddy". Jay blushed as The Spectrum Of Sexuality from Gordi's Journey blasted from his phone. He ran as fast as he could to pick it up, hoping that the two men wouldn't hear to much of the song. 

"Um, hey", came a voice from the other side of the phone. Jay could recognise that voice anywhere.

"Ugh, jeez, what do you want?"

"Just for interest", Matthew replied, "Why did you punch my mother?"

Jay took a deep breath in, "Look, I know that it looked bad, but I only did it because your mother is a homophobic piece of shit who killed your baby and does not respect her children. Happy now Matthew?!"

There was silence for a few moments, before Matthew stuttered out, "B-but why did you care so much? She was only going to be your mother for six weeks".

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was because I FUCKING LOVE YOU?!", Jay screamed into the phone. 

Uh-oh.

Once the words were out, he couldn't take them back.

Quickly Jay, think. Uh....hang up the phone. Right, right.

Jay hung up and threw his phone onto his mattress,  before cursing the world. It was only then that he realised that John was standing in the corner of the room.

"Tough breakup, huh?", he asked, gesturing for Jay to sit down on the mattress beside him. Jay sat without a moments hesitation, he loved confiding in adults.

Jay sighed, "Yeah, I thought we really had something. But then he said that he never wanted me, and that I was the reason his mother was mad at him".

John nodded, "Yeah, that sounds like that would hurt. How old are you sweetie?"

"Thirteen"

"Uh, thirteen", John said, "See, when I was thirteen I fell in love with lots of guys. That was before I discovered that the LGBT community was a thing, and I thought that I was just a freak. But then it turned out that one of those guys was a 'freak' as well, so we started dating and kissing in secret. He was gorgeous: great eyes, lovely hair.....but it didn't last. I was devastated when it ended, but then I found another boyfriend. I got through four unsuccessful relationships before I met Alexander at the bar that lucky day. When you're young, it can really feel like he's the one. But trust me, if he was the one, the relationship wouldn't end. You're only thirteen, and I promise you, you will find the one one day. Especially with those abs!"

John softly pokes Jay's stomach, making him chuckle, "Yeah, I, uh, do a lot of bouncing on the trampoline".

John just smiled at Jay, "Now, let's figure out where you'll be going".