Author's note:
This is the last chapter ;( I'm just going to go into the corner to cry
Thank you so much to all my followers, favourites and reviewers, especially kerrie110, ThreeSix, Jo0sefa, kellyb321, Janeiina, Spice of Life, veronicalodge36 and Glasz Wingsz - and the guest reviewers too *HUGS* to you all
After this there will be a short but sweet epilogue
Warning: Rated M for a reason; language, mild violence, smut
Disclaimer: I own nothing
11. Breakfast with the Duvals
Natalie was pouring some more juice for herself when the boys finally entered the kitchen, Jeff dressed in his clothes from the day before. Nick had added a t-shirt to his pyjama bottoms to come down to breakfast.
Nick started preparing coffee as Natalie showed them how Spot the digital dog was doing much better at obeying her voice commands.
Jeff was sat at the kitchen table, listening to Natalie as he gazed out of the window, watching the cars driving past the house, inhaling the delicious smell of the ground coffee beans mixing with the warm water in the machine. He noticed one car, though, that didn't drive past. Instead, it came up the driveway and parked. Jeff looked over to Nick and Natalie who were discussing the digital dog again.
"Er, Nick?" Jeff interrupted the siblings.
"Yes Jeff?" Nick looked over to Jeff questioningly.
"D-does your father know you are gay?"
"Yes." Nick nodded, puzzled as to why Jeff was asking that right now.
"A-and is he okay with that?"
"Yeah, some other family members thought, well, probably still think I'm going through some kind of phase," Nick rolled his eyes, "but he didn't really say much when I came out. He's not really said much about it, now you come to mention it." Nick looked thoughtful. He snapped out of his thoughts to ask "Why do you ask?"
Jeff stood up and moved nearer to the doorway of the kitchen, giving him a better vantage to look out of the window. "Well, there's a car I don't recognise in the driveway and someone who looks like you plus 25-30 years and a bit taller is getting out of it."
Natalie giggled and Jeff glanced over to her quizzically, before looking at Nick, whose expression had changed from relaxed to... What is that expression on his face? Have I annoyed him somehow? What did I say?
"Jeff?" The blond gulped. "Yes Nick?"
"Did you just insult my height?" Natalie giggled knowingly, looking between Nick and Jeff expectantly as if she knew something was going to happen, specifically, to Jeff.
Nick raised his eyebrows, folded his arms across his chest and started approaching jeff in a joke-threatening manner.
"Erm, well, no, i just...uhm..." Jeff started backing out of the kitchen doorway, towards the lounge, wide eyed. He made sure to not turn his back on his assailant as Nick advanced on him.
Jeff stuttered "I just meant that he is t-taller...not that you are short or anything..." crap, don't say the word short you idiot! Jeff chastised himself.
The blond hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, so it was a surprise to him when the back of his legs hit the couch and he went down. At the same moment, Nick pounced, tickling him ferociously as Natalie squealed with laughter.
"Aaaaaahhhh get offff! I didn't meeeannn iiit!" Jeff managed to get out between fits of hysterical laughter. Nick was relentless as he straddled the blond, continuing his attack.
Nick's father's imminent return was completely forgotten, until the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly interrupted their hilarity. Nick rolled off of Jeff and fell onto the floor, panting heavily. Meanwhile, Jeff desperately tried to make himself look presentable, but was still only managing disheveled.
Nick addressed his father from his place on the floor. "Dad! This is Jeff, my, uh, friend from McKinley. We are study partners and he came over yesterday for a study session." The boys both stood up in front of the man, both looking slightly nervous.
Nicholas Duval Senior offered his hand to Jeff and shook it firmly.
"Yesterday did you say?" he enquired, amused, waiting for the explanation as to why he was still here. "What exactly were you studying for that long?"
"Uh, yeah, well, we put Natalie to bed..." Nick started, but was immediately interrupted by Natalie.
"Nick read me The Sleeping Beauty for my bedtime story and he did all the voices and I leant Jeff Bradley Bear."
Nick continued "...and then it got kinda late, and Jeff and I were going to watch a film but we ended up falling asleep on the sofa. Jeff's mum works night shift at the hospital on a Friday so he let her know he would stay over because it was quite late when we woke up downstairs."
Nick decided to tell his father a bit more, he doesn't need to know every detail of what's happened this week. "Dad?"
"Yes?" His father waited.
"Erm, Jeff isn't just my study partner." He looked to Jeff before taking his hand and interlocking their fingers, squeezing tightly as he continued "uh, as of this morning, he's also my boyfriend."
"YAY!" Natalie flailed and started jumping up and down madly. At the curious look from her father, she quietened down, still beaming happily at the two boys.
"Okay." Nick's father said.
Nick and Jeff looked a little shocked and seemed to be waiting for more.
"Is something wrong? What else do you need to tell me Nick?"
"Oh, er, nothing, but... you're okay with this?" He gestured to their joined hands.
"Of course I am. You know, when I came through the door and heard you all screaming with laughter in here I was beginning to think I had come into the wrong house. I've not seen either of you this happy since... well, you know."
Mr Duval continued, "If Jeff being here for a few hours can cause that, then he is certainly welcome here any time."
The relieved, happy smiles on both boys' faces lit up the room.
"Why don't we all sit down in the kitchen - I bought some croissants and muffins for breakfast and after last night's party I really am in need of some coffee."
He looked at Nick as he added "And I think it's about time we had a chat."
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A short while later the four of them sat around the kitchen table, the delicious smell of toasted croissants filling the air, mingling with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.
Nick helped himself to a blueberry muffin, adding it to his plate before addressing his father.
"What is it you wanted to talk about, Dad? Is it about me being gay?" He enquired. "Or having a boyfriend?" His tone wasn't accusatory in any way, merely interested in what he was about to hear.
His father set his croissant back down onto his plate to answer his son.
"Well, to start, I'm concerned that you felt you had to ask me if I was okay with you having a boyfriend." He smiled in acknowledgement of the blond, who was also listening attentively.
"That tells me I haven't been as open with my opinions on the matter as I perhaps should have."
Now Nick was intrigued.
"When you came out, Nick, yes, I was glad you were able to tell us something so personal, but really, you shouldn't have had to. To accept your homosexuality, in my opinion, is to do nothing different than if you had come to announce that you found girls attractive.
I just expected to wait for any girl or boyfriend of either you, or Natalie, to be brought home for me to meet them and then if any issues came up on which you needed advice, we could deal with them as they arise."
He regarded the boys for a moment, then, censoring his words due to Natalie being at the table with them, he continued "like being safe" he hadn't quite said "having safe sex", but he eyed the boys knowingly and the wide-eyed, panic-stricken "deer in the headlights" look he got from both Nick and Jeff told him his guess was pretty accurate "...or any emotional issues with any such serious relationship."
Nick and Jeff remained in stunned, appreciative silence.
Nick's father ate part of his croissant before continuing. "I have never told you the real reason I had you take boxing lessons, Nick. When I grew up here, I was sent to an all-boys boarding school called Dalton Academy.
I roomed with a guy named Charlie who turned out to be one of my closest and dearest friends during my time there. When I married your Mother some years later and moved to the UK we fell out of touch other than Christmas cards and the odd email or phone call on a birthday."
"Is he gay?" Nick asked.
His father replied "Yes, he is gay and that didn't make any difference to our friendship. Also, the school has an enforced no-bullying policy so it just wasn't an issue for anybody within the school grounds. Outside was another matter though, which is why he took up boxing. I went with him to keep him company on the first lesson and then I enjoyed it so much I kept going."
Mr Duval sipped his coffee. "So, when you came out to us, I promised myself that I would make sure you learned to box, if only to defend yourself when necessary. Unfortunately, you've had to do just that many times over, haven't you?"
Nick nodded and Jeff made a mental note to ask him about that later.
"But I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself at every turn. I thought about sending you to Dalton when we moved here, but I decided it was better to let you try to settle in to McKinley High, the "real world" if you will, rather than immediately wrap you up in cotton wool and send you to the less realistic halls of Dalton.
But son, if there ever is any cause to send you to Dalton, I will do that for you without hesitation, because your safety and happiness is all I want. You just need to tell me."
Nick got up from his chair and went round the table to his father and engulfed him in a hug. "Thank you" he said, muffled by his father's shoulder.
After Nick returned to his chair, his father asked "Nick? Last night when I spoke to Natalie on the phone before her bedtime, why was she asking me about princes kissing?"
Natalie looked sheepish as the rest of the table broke out into laughter.
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As Nick watched Jeff's, no! my boyfriend's, car pull away later that morning, he thought back to that day in the cemetary that now seemed so long ago. He had felt so lost and worried about the next chapter in his and Natalie's lives.
I need to let go of the guilt. Just because I am starting a new life here because of my Mother's death, it doesn't mean I'm glad it happened. I have a right to be happy here because I can't change the situation and bring her back.
It isn't my fault that here is where Jeff is, the amazing, sexy, caring, wonderful boy that I just know I was supposed to meet. I'm going to take every chance at happiness I can, because I know just how unexpectedly short life can be.
Yes, he thought, I think we are going to be alright here.
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The end :(
Epilogue up next...