You're The Voice - Sidemen

Chapter 8

"What time are Josh and Simon arriving at again?" Harry's voice cuts above the chatter in David's living room. All of LGSM (minus Josh and Simon, of course) are there, discussing what they can do to fundraiser for the miners. David is there too, sat quietly in the corner, watching. He's clearly interested, but unwilling to make a contribution, nervous.

"Three-ish. Why?" Ethan responds quickly, brought out of his brainstorming.

"Just wondered how long it was until they arrived. Been a while since we've seen them."

"Yeah, it has. I'm also quite looking forward to going home. No offence, David." JJ muses, and David grins lightly from his chair.

"None taken, can't wait to have you cheeky buggers out of my house." Although he speaks entirely deadpan, there's a glint in his eyes, and Vik bursts out laughing.

"I like that double entendre of 'buggers' there, David. Anyway, same JJ. I've missed London." The plan was for the whole group to spend a couple of days in Pool before heading back to London for a while, trying to fundraise.

The front door clicks open, and Chris walks in. It had taken the group a while to get used to the openness of the small community, and the lack of need for a key to get in or out of the houses.

She smacks at Ethan's legs, from where they're crossed atop the table. "Where's your manners, kid? David's got to eat at that."

Ethan grins, a mischievous look on his face. He unfurls his legs and proceeds to poke at her back with his feet, laughing as he does so.

"Ethan, are you four years old?" Tobi asks, his eyebrow raised.

"If I'm four years old, you're a nonce, babe." Ethan winks at him, the group cracking up at the look of disgust on Tobi's face.

"Now that's grim. Chris, you look like you've got something to say?" Sarah asks, looking over at the woman currently stood, tapping her foot against the worn carpeted floor.

"Yes," she huffs, "I was at the centre today, and one of the young girls, a new volunteer, was wondering about inviting you lot to the Women's Support Group. Apparently a lot of the old biddies there had been talking about it. I don't think it's a good idea at all."

Once again, Chris' guarded tone has arisen. She's refusing to make eye contact with them and her speech is harsh, no longer laced with the comforting sarcasm of middle aged women. On surface level, it looks like she takes offence at them, but Vik looks deeper, and can see her vulnerability in speech, her development of a coping mechanism.

"Why's that?" He asks, his voice quiet yet poignant in the quiet of David's living room.

Chris sighs, and moves to sit down on a chair at the dining table which Ethan's pushed out with his foot. "There's this woman. Joanne. She's in charge of the Women's Support Group, near enough. Her leadership is there, but it's unspoken." With a shuddering breath, Chris brings herself back to the topic at hand. "She's... what do you say? She doesn't like homosexuals."

"Homophobic." Harry contributes quietly, an attempted smile in her direction. It's hard for him, interacting with this woman, but he's trying, for Vik.

"She's homophobic. Before you got here, she got her two boys to try and start a protest against you coming here. That's why I haven't let you go out of your way to talk to anybody else other than David and I yet. It's a shame. Those two boys were lovely when they were children. I used to look after them while their mother was at work. I don't think your little speech helped either, mister."

There had been one attempt to integrate with the locals, which Harry had led, rather unsuccessfully. With hindsight, and the knowledge of a protest before they arrived, maybe he wouldn't have said it.

JJ snorts, "when one in five people is gay, the same goes for one in five miners, at least one in five of you is happy to see us!" His voice is a terrible mimic of Harry's, and the group have to restrain themselves from smiling. Simon'll lose it when he gets to hear this, later. It's exactly his kind of statement.

"People walked away after you said that! They'll dislike you even more for insulting them." Chris states, and Harry jumps in.

"What, being gay is an insult, is it Chris?"

"'Round here, to people who've never met a gay person in their life, yes. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is." Chris' voice becomes hard in tone again, and Vik watches her eyes, an angelic blue torn and cold, before she turns and hurries into the kitchen.

That's when it all clicks.

Harry opens his mouth to speak again, and Vik cuts him off.

"Harry, shut up. Please. Chris, I'm sorry." Harry waves his arms frantically, only to be met with gentle shakes of heads from everyone in the room. It isn't worth the fight. Vik stands up and moves to follow Chris.

She's stood, hands braced against the edges of the kitchen sink, looking down. Vik shuffles into the room, and closes the door behind him.

"It's not as bad as you think, you know." He whispers, her head snapping up to look at him.

"How would you know? You're living in London, you're young. I'm middle aged and have lived in this village since I was a child. I can't escape this."

"Sheffield born and bred, I am." Chris looks at him, eyebrow raised, "I know. I grew up and I knew too. This isn't a problem, it's who you are, Chris." He watches her wince, a hand going up to tug at her hair in frustration.

Quickly, he moves towards her, pulling her hands down from her head and around him, gathering her into a hug.

After a minute of swaying, Chris lets out a breath, "how did you realise."

Vik smiles against her hair. "I was 14, and there was a boy at school. He was my friend, and I thought he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life. Ever since I was a kid, I was told that being feminine was bad, told that being too close to a boy was a bad thing, and I couldn't see why. To be fair, I still can't." He feels Chris let out a huff of laughter against his shoulder. "You want to tell me?"

"I don't remember not feeling this way. I never saw boys as anything other than handsome in an everyday way. There were some girls I thought were beautiful, that I didn't know if I wanted to be, or be with them." She tightens her grip on the back of his jumper, "I'm sorry I'm telling you all of this."

"Please, don't be. It's hard, the first time you talk to somebody about this, especially with our upbringing." Vik likes that. It groups them together, a crossover between them, uniting them under one cause.

"Thank you. Don't tell all of your group, though. I don't think I would feel comfortable with it."

"Of course, though maybe you could have a conversation with Sarah, in the future? We're all here for you, and we'll support you."

"What about David?"

"David cares about you, and he's let us stay in his house. Leave it for a little while, but I'm sure he won't be too bad about it. If he is, he isn't worth your time, okay?" Vik pulls back, wiping the tears out of Chris' eyes. "Now, should we put the kettle on?"

Chris grins at him, and finally, Vik feels comfortable. Another piece has fallen into place.

Author's Notes
Well, a shorter chapter, but I didn't feel like I could move on past that, because it's quite an important moment. I'm enjoying the shorter chapters at the moment anyway.

Josh and Simon'll be back next chapter, and there'll be some more contact with the miners, so stay tuned for that, whenever it comes out.

Hope you're all doing okay (this book has been surprisingly consistent in the number of reads and votes it's been getting, and I couldn't be happier - thank you all so much for sticking by me and reading it).

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