Nicole had just celebrated her 8th birthday a week ago at the end of September, enjoying a sparkly enchanted/unicorn themed party with her school friends. Her Granny Mae came as a fairy and she herself had opted for a rainbow detailed unicorn dress, looking pretty next to her dashing Prince Shane. But it was the 8th birthday in a row little Nicole had celebrated her big day without her mammy and Shane blamed himself every day for being a single, working parent.
For a short while Shane had been dating a blonde beauty called Gillian but it became apparent during the early days of their relationship he wasn't quite into women. It was only 3 months into their relationship that Gillian fell pregnant with Nicole so instead of being honest, Shane kept his sexuality to himself but once his daughter was born he couldn't live a lie any longer and felt he needed to be truthful about his feelings. Though with good intentions, Shane's admission caused Gillian to flea in anger leaving her baby behind with Shane. Try as he might, he couldn't find Gillian for love nor money and soon accepted that he'd broken the girl's heart and would take sole custody of his daughter. With the help of his parents, Shane brought Nicole up as best he could but not without its challenges. He felt so guilty about his sexuality, he refused to fulfil his needs and focused his time, energy and love on his daughter.
Despite their circumstances and struggles, Shane had done a wonderful job bringing up Nicole alone and she'd grown into a polite, down to earth, affectionate child who doted on her dad. She was his best friend and a constant inspiration, never asking for anything out of reach but encouraging Shane to be happy too. During her party, her friends had asked why her daddy didn't have a girlfriend so Nicole tactfully explained that Shane didn't want to be with a girl, that she was the only girl for him and that one day he'd find a boy to love instead. It had lead to a deep conversation the next day where he sat his daughter down and discussed his sexuality and life choices in more detail so she understood why he was still single but because she only ever wanted the best for her perfect daddy, she told him it was time for him to look for a boyfriend and the blessing and understanding he received from her warmed his heart so much, he did her the favour of taking her advice and created a profile on a new LGBTQ dating website called Starships and within no time at all he'd found new friends to talk to.
Sat in the lounge by the fire place glowing with a large cup of coffee steaming by his side, slippers firmly on his feet poking out from under his blanket where the laptop sat on a laptray, Shane logged into his dating account to add a new photo of himself. He wasn't quite a selfie king so Nicole had taken a gorgeous picture of him smiling he wanted to add to the others of him at family or friend's events where he'd blurred other people's faces out.
"That should do." Shane muttered as he updated his page just as a new message popped into his inbox.
Thinking it was his new friend Steve, Shane grinned as he prepared to hear what his mate had been up to today. The guy wasn't particularly his type but the site was commonly used to find friends too not just relationships and the two had a lot in common. Taken by surprise, Shane saw a new name on the mail.
"CoppaFeel?" Shane chuckled to himself, viewing the email first from the new profile. "No avatar, great start. Hey my name's Nicky, I'm a guard from Dublin with kids. Blonde, slim, active, always up for the craic. Saw your profile and hoped you'd fancy a chat sometime. There's pix on my profile but none face on due to my job. I'm pretty fit though honestly ;) don't be shy mate. Hope to chat soon."
Shane clicked on the copper's profile for a good look and his jaw dropped at the stunning side profile of this Nicky bloke. There was an image of him playing football with friends; showing off his muscly calves and skinny arms as he took aim, a scenic snap of him overlooking the coast with his back to the camera and a black and white, slightly off side profile of his jawline and little nose giving some indication of what he looked like without showing his full identity.
