"Charlie!" Ben sing-songed my name when he got home late. I smiled to myself from my spot, curled up in bed with my latest book.
"In here!" I called back and moments later, he appeared in the doorway, a goofy grin on his face.
"Hey."
"Hey. Where've you been?"
"I got caught up at work. Sorry, I thought I'd texted you."
"It's okay. Come cuddle me. I missed you today." I held my arms out to him and he came over, falling on top of me and burying his face against my neck.
"I missed you too." His voice was muffled against my skin but I felt the vibrations of his voice and it made me laugh. "How was your first day?"
"Really good, actually. The kids are so good and the staff are really nice too. I made a friend even."
"A friend?" Ben gasped dramatically and pulled back, a look of fake shock on his face. "You're not allowed to make friends."
"Oh shut up." I playfully swatted his arm and he rolled off to the side but kept his arm draped over my waist. "You remember that guy I talked to at the meeting night?"
"Which one? There were so many."
"The tall one, rugby player."
"Oh. That one. Yeah. What about him?"
"He's the one I said I made friends with. I drove him home today too. 'Cause his car was in the shop and he would have gotten half drowned if I let him wait for his wife to come."
"That was nice of you. What's he like?"
"He's nice. He's P.E and coaching the rugby team."
"So he's athletic?"
"Yeah. And he's got a little girl a bit younger than Alexis."
"Whoa. You guys only met today and you're talking about your kids?" Ben laughed and I stuck my tongue out at him.
"You can't say you don't talk about Nathaniel and Alexis any chance you get."
"You're right." I grinned and leaned over to kiss him softly. "Hey, what's for dinner?"
"There's leftover pasta in the freezer. But you have to eat it in here with me. I want cuddles."
"I can't cuddle and eat at the same time, babe." He whispered, kissing me again.
"You can try." I gave him a push towards the door. "We have to talk." With wide eyes, Ben hurried out of the room and I heard him rummaging around in the kitchen for a while.
After dropping Nick at his house, I'd talked to Nathaniel about the comment he'd made regarding his school. It ended up being a very long conversation and the poor boy had fallen asleep on the sofa for a bit until I woke him up to go to bed. But now, I needed to have a serious talk with Ben about it.
Finally, Ben came back, a bowl of pasta in his hands and he made himself comfortable beside me. I switched off the TV and turned to face him.
"So, what do we have to talk about?" He asked.
"Nathaniel's not happy at school."
"What? Since when? I thought he was very happy."
"So did I. But he was telling me today that the other kids exclude him from stuff. He thinks it's why his grades are so good; because he just spends his time studying at lunch and between classes."
"But he's got friends. He talks about them all the time." Ben's reaction was almost identical to mine and I nodded.
"He had one friend in the beginning but even he's gone to hang out with other kids now."
"Wasn't he texting someone this morning? Remember with that whole drama about Alexis stealing his phone?"
"I asked about that. It broke my heart, Ben." I mumbled, blinking back tears as I remembered what Nathaniel had told me. "He said he sends messages to people but they never reply. He just does it because he doesn't want us to worry."
"Oh." Much like I hadn't known what to say, it seemed like Ben didn't either.
"The worst bit is, he thinks it some sort of homophobia. Because of us. He said that he thinks the other kids are basically bullying him because he has two dads."
"No..." Ben was shocked, abandoning his food and turning to face me fully.
"He told me he doesn't mind that we're together. That he loves us both. But he thinks the other kids have an issue with it."
"What have the teachers said?"
"That's even worse. He said he's tried telling the teachers but they've told him there's nothing they can do."
"Oh god." Closing his eyes for a moment, Ben breathed in deeply and sighed. "Charlie, we have to get him out of that school."
"I asked him if he wanted to go somewhere else. He said he'd be okay where he is if he has to stay."
"No. No way are we forcing him to stay there if he's not happy there. He can go to Lakeside. Or Hawking High. Or even where you are." Ben said forcefully and I nodded. I'd been thinking the same thing most of the afternoon. We didn't want to be forcing Nathaniel to stay at the school, especially if he wasn't happy, but also if it could possibly lead to him resenting us.
"When though? I mean, we've gone through a big enough change in this house with me switching jobs."
"Maybe that means it's the perfect time. While everything's still settling. That way we don't have a second massive change to deal with."
"Maybe. But we need to talk to Nathaniel about it. As much as I don't want to force him to stay, I don't want to force him to move if he doesn't want to."
"Of course. Oh, Charlie. Are we bad parents for not picking up on this before?"
"No. He's always been a private kid. You know that as well as I do. But I feel awful for not noticing after what I went through as a kid." I wrapped my arms around him as we slid further down into bed. He pressed a soft kiss to my cheek and whispered in my ear.
"You're not to blame for this, Charlie. I love you. We'll fix this."
"I know we will. I love you too."
