The day had been long and all Tristan wanted to do was get into his bed but he knew he had to do this. He'd been putting this off for a long time and if Hugo had left it this long to tell him something like this he'd be angry. He'd text Hugo earlier telling him to come round for 7:30. His nerves were building. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to say, he was cursing his past self. He should have just told him, what if he flew off the handle?
There was a knock at the door. Tristan crossed the room quickly smoothing his shirt and opened the door. Hugo stood holding a large bouquet of flowers smiling from ear to ear. 'God why are you so perfect?' Tristan thought. "Hey handsome" Hugo said stepping forward to place a sweet kiss on his boyfriend's lips. "Hi" Tristan beamed. His nerves had melted away, that smile could do that. "Come in, dinner will be ready soon" Tristan said as he walked back towards the kitchen.
They sat opposite each other eating dinner in a comfortable science. Tristan had to psych himself up and knew he just had to come out with it. "I have to tell you something" he started. Hugo stopped eating to look at Tristan "I didn't tell you Frankie is the sister of my ex." They'd never really spoken of ex's, it just didn't come up in conversation. Hugo's faced softened encouraging Tristan to go on. "I don't know why I didn't tell you about him. I didn't want you to think you had competition or something. I've not spoken to him in years but I know he'll be at the wedding. I think you'll get on with him. He's been in London for the past few years." Hugo interrupted "Are you going to tell me his name?" Hugo laughed. "I'll need to know who to scout out" he winked. Tristan felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Miles. His name is Miles." "And what does Miles do?" "He's writing I think. Well that's only from the small amount Frankie speaks about him."
Hugo stood up grabbing Tristan's hand in the process pulling him towards the sofa. "We've never really spoken about our pasts have we?" Hugo said. "Do you know at school I was a huge nerd?" he continued. "I was never popular, only had a handful of friends. Who wanted to be friends with the nerdy gay guy?" "Did they not accept you?" Tristan questioned. Hugo looked down "No not by my friends and a large majority of my family. The only family I still speak to is my Mum and Sister." Tristan looked sadly at him. "What about your friends and family?" "I was really lucky. I think they all knew before I even did. I think my brother struggled to start with but once he saw how happy being out had made me he quickly changed his mind." "And how did you meet Miles?" Tristan was taken aback. He wasn't expecting Hugo to ask him question about him. Hugo must have seen the confusion in his eyes. "I mean he must have been a huge part of your life?"
"I met him in my sophomore year of high school. At the time I thought he was straight. He was a serial dater going out with any girl who looked his way. Then one evening we decided not to attend prom because we didn't want to see certain people and ended up kissing. That went on for a couple of months but we split quite quickly as I didn't think he was over one of the girls. Then a year later he struggled with addiction for prescription drugs. I helped support him through it all even when others nearly set him back on the wrong path. And then we fell back into a relationship. It just naturally happened. Then I had the bus crash." Tristan looked down at his hands hesitating. Hugo looked at him as if to say 'only continue if you're comfortable in doing so'. Tristan took a deep breath and started again. "He sat by my side in the hospital everyday while in I was in a coma. I don't think I could have done that but he did. When I woke up he was there the whole time through rehab until we got to the end of high school. I couldn't keep up our relationship as I was killing myself trying to get better for him so I broke it off. He had been accepted to a writer's school in London and I couldn't live with holding him back from his dreams. Then he left for London and we haven't really spoken since." Hugo took Tristan's hands in his own. "Well he sounds like a great guy and it sounds like he provided you all the support you needed in a very difficult time. It also sounds like he helped you grow as an individual to the person I love today. So tomorrow I must say thank you to him for allowing you to develop into someone who is so wonderful." Tristan smiled. He had not been expecting this reaction. "I love you too" Tristan replied. He really didn't know how he'd got so lucky in finding first Miles and now Hugo.
Tristan grabbed Hugo by the face and pulled his into a long deep kiss. He knew Hugo was a keeper.