Second Chance Mates

-39- 🌹 To Be Free

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free."
~The Beatles, 'Blackbird'

~~~

*Ryland's POV*

"Whooohooo!!"

I throw my arms out, feeling the air blow around me. In this moment, I guarantee this is how a bird feels. So free and light; carried by the wind and not weighted down by anything.

Landon stands behind me, arms wrapped around my waist and his chin resting on my shoulder. I lean back against him with a smile, snuggling into his body heat to protect me from the wind.

"This is amazing! Are you having fun, babe?" I shout over the wind, but Landon doesn't respond. "Babe?"

Turning my head, I notice Landon glaring at our instructor. The poor man has sweat collecting on his bald head under the combined heat of the burners and my mate's intense gaze.

"Hey," I hiss, elbowing Landon lightly in the gut. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," he mumbles, although he can't hide the slight growl in his tone.

I glower at him. "What happened to being honest with each other?"

Landon rolls his eyes. "It's not a big deal, I swear. Don't worry about it."

I open my mouth to argue further when I catch our instructor staring at us. Whether he's looking at us out of disgust or pure curiosity, I can't tell due to his blank expression. It clicks in my mind why Landon has been glaring at the man, and I angrily turn around to face him.

"Do you have a problem?" I question the instructor, crossing my arms.

His eyes widen in surprise. "E-Excuse me?"

"You've been staring at me and my boyfriend for a while now. If you have a problem, go ahead and say it. I'll gladly educate you on tolerance."

"I-It's not like that!" The man waves his hands in distress. "I'm not homophobic, trust me!"

"Why should we trust that when you've been blatantly staring at us this entire time?" Landon chimes in, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

Our instructor gulps, playing with the hem of his shirt. "M-My partner...."

"Huh?"

He takes a deep breath before looking me in the eye. "My partner has been wanting to come out for a long time, but I've been too nervous to. I was staring because I was surprised to see another gay couple so open with their relationship like you guys are."

My anger vanishes in an instant, and my shoulders relax. "Oh. I wish you would have said something instead of just staring at us like that. I think my boyfriend was about two seconds away from beating you up."

"I wasn't going to beat him up," Landon huffs unconvincingly.

"I'm sorry," the instructor apologizes, wiping his hand over his face. "That was really unprofessional of me."

"It's okay," I wave him off. "Although... can I ask why? Why are you nervous about coming out? Isn't a relationship something you'd want everyone to know about?"

He shakes his head. "You two probably come from accepting families. My partner's family has known that he's gay since he was a teenager, but my family is extremely homophobic. If I come out to them, I'll probably be cut off from the family."