It was three days after Ty asked Eli to be his boyfriend that he actually asked him out on a date. He was insanely nervous about it. He felt like Eli might have changed his mind in the meantime. He also thought that maybe Eli had never really meant to come out in a way that other people would know he was out. He had said, "I'm gay," in a hallway, but that doesn't mean that he actually realized that other people were going to overhear him when he said it.

Eli agreed to go on a date with him.

Ty asked if he knew that he'd meant a public place.

Eli laughed, and nodded his head.

Being openly gay is still new for Ty, and he finds himself kind of glad that he isn't going to be running into any public displays of affection; there is no way either one of them is ready for that.

-0-

Ty stands outside of Eli's dorm room, and knocks on the door. Eli opens it, and then reaches over to get his dining card from the desk in his room.

"You're not going to need that," Ty informs him.

"I wasn't sure…" Eli says nervously, fidgeting with the plastic for a moment before he sets it down.

"I'm not going to take you to the dining center on our first date."

"I wasn't even sure who was taking whom," Eli admits.

"Right, that does get a lot more complicated when you're dealing with the same gender. I think the rule is probably whoever asks the other person out does the buying."

"I'm pretty sure me looking all pathetic on the floor of your dorm room counts as asking you out."

"You were a long way from pathetic, and I'll yield to you the start of our relationship, but I asked you out on this date."

Eli nods, and the two of them walk down the hallway, a few inches apart, just like they did when they were friends. Yet, somehow, everything is different than when they were friends.

"So, tell me about this accountability group that you go to."

"I used to go there. Don't worry, I'm not going to show up on Tuesday and confess my horrid sin of going out with you."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

"You just want to know why I'm going out with you?" Eli asks.

"No, there is just this big change in your life. You don't believe things that you used to believe, and you do believe new things. I just wanted to know how it happened."

"I guess it would have to start with the Plato that I had to read for my philosophy class."

"Plato?" Ty says in shock. "I guess I don't even know what he had to say about homosexuality."

Eli giggles, "I don't either; probably nothing. This thing is a lot more about my faith than my sexuality. I was reading Plato, and it sounded a lot like Paul. I mean, obviously there was the 'through the mirror darkly' thing, but there were a lot of other things that sounded like Paul's letters. So I started looking it up, and I am far from the first person to see the connection. Some people actually consider Plato a 'source' of Paul, and a lot of people think that when Paul stood at the 'tomb of an unknown god' in Athens he was standing at the tomb Plato put up for a god he invented. You know, he didn't like Zeus, because he had bad morals. So he invented a god that was not that different from the god that I worship, from Jesus."

"So that's pretty cool, right, maybe it supports that whole argument of God revealing himself to all people even if they never have a missionary," Ty says.

Eli looks at him in surprise.

"Hey, I listen when I go with you to church," Ty says, as the two of them push open the doors of the dorm, and walk into the dusky evening.

"Right, and maybe it would be cool if I wasn't looking at it through the point of view of my fundamentalist church. Plato might have gotten close to the truth, but he definitely wasn't there. Or you look at Socrates, who was also close to the truth, but he committed suicide. Then there are people like Gandhi, and Emerson, and Euclid, and since my church doesn't consider Catholics Christians, even Augustine, Galileo and Mother Teresa. All of these wonderful people who grasped some part of the truth, and who made the world better, and none of whom my church would accept as 'saved'."

Ty is silent, because he can't think of a word of comfort to offer.

"I'm supposed to believe they are in hell? That a loving God would send them to hell?" Eli shakes his head, "I won't believe in a God like that. If that's all there is, some divine tyrant who sentences people to eternal torment, because they were born two generations before the word of God came to their city. A God who makes people suffer for doing a good job of following the religion to which they were born, and never hurt a soul, a God who killed his own son, because the rest of us couldn't help but screw up a list of rules he gave to us… I won't worship that God."

Ty pushes the words past a lump in his throat, "So you lost your faith?"

"I'm not done with the story yet. Maybe I lost it for a while. Maybe that's not the right word for faith at all. I just… I was angry at God for a while. Really properly angry."

"So what changed?" Ty asks.

Eli laughs, "I started reading ancient Christians. I stopped just listening to what my church had to say about God. I'd tell them I had too much studying to do, and blow off church. Then I'd go back to my dorm and read people from thousands or even hundreds of years ago. They didn't all believe in hell. They didn't all believe that Christians still had to hold to anything in the Old Testament apart from the Ten Commandments, most of them didn't even believe in a literal six-day creation. You know that no-one really believed in that until the last few hundred years?"

"I had no idea," Ty says as he unlocks the door of his car. He thinks about going around, and opening up the door for Eli, but Eli is too quick for him, and soon has it open himself.

"So I realized that it was possible for me to be a Christian and believe in evolution, and hell being temporary, and universal salvation, and that it's ok to love someone of the opposite gender as long as you don't have sex until you get married. Well, some sort of marriage of the hearts, anyway, so long as the great state of Colorado won't offer us anything better."

Ty smiles as he backs up the car.

Eli waits until they are out of the parking lot before he says, "I hope that last part isn't a deal-breaker for you."

Ty shakes his head, "I'm telling you. I don't actually need those things right away, I just need to know they are possible."

Eli bits his lip, but Ty, driving, doesn't notice, "By 'those things', you're including babies, right?"

"You don't want to have kids?" Ty asks, without a hint of disapproval or dismay.

"I don't think it would be right to."

"Really? You think kids would be worst off with us than most parents?"

"I think they would be better off with a mom and a dad who loves them."

"Right; but in the real word, not every kid gets that. You know Shelby and Tammy?"

Eli nods his head, he seems to find himself at a team night at least every other month. He's quite familiar with all of the people that Ty considers "family" by now.

"Well, Tammy's father raped them both, and hit Shelby, too. I'm absolutely sure we could be better fathers than that."

"Right, but that's the point. We'd both be fathers. Every kid needs a mother and a father. We would never be enough for our kids," Eli says.

"I didn't have a father for the first three years of my life, and my mom was gone serving her country all through my high school years. I'm fine."

"Your dad was overseas for three years?" Eli asks.

"Wow, I can't believe this never came up," Ty says in shock, "My parents met in the Gulf War. I was an oopsy baby the result of them… sharing a tent while they were there. After the war, my parents lost contact with each other. My dad didn't even know I existed. I was three by the time they found each other, and almost four by the time they got married."

"I knew that you were older when your parents were married. I have heard the stories about you in a dress at their wedding. I had just always assumed that they were together through the whole thing, even if they weren't married."

Ty shakes his head.

"Wasn't it better when you had both parents?" Eli asks softly.

Ty finds himself having a much stronger reaction to that question than he thought he would. "Look, we've got plenty of time to figure out if we're going to have kids or not. I think before that happens we should figure out what we're going to eat on our first date."

"Right," Eli says, turning back to the road in front of him and ignoring the fact that his boyfriend is crying.

Two Weeks Later

"So you're going to be coming home for the whole Thanksgiving weekend, right?" Jack asks his son over the phone.

"I am, and I was wondering if I would be able to bring someone with me. Not that I've asked him yet, I was kind of hoping that I could know you were ok with it before I asked him."

Jack blinks in surprise. His son has never mentioned a special someone before, and taking someone home to meet your parents on a holiday weekend indicates a pretty serious relationship. He figures that he is going to have to do something to make his son more at ease sharing his dating life with him, "Of course, what is his name?"

"It's Eli," Ty says.

"Oh, I thought we were talking a date here," Jack says.

"We are," Ty says, his stomach curling up with nervous energy.

"You and Eli are dating now?" Jack says in shock.

"Yeah, for about a month now."

"For a month? You've been with Eli for that long, and you never bothered to tell me?"

"I don't know… it's weird to talk about this kind of stuff with you parents. Is it ok if he comes?"

"Of course, Ty; Eli is always welcome in your house. I'm actually glad that you and he have started something. I felt like there was something there from the very beginning, but that nether of you felt like you could act on it."

"Right, well that didn't have to do with you guys, it had to do with his family, and his church. He's… adjusted his beliefs a little bit now, and we are so not telling his family. Actually, that is one of the reasons that I wanted to invite him home for Thanksgiving."

"So you plan on using your family to hide from his family?" Jack says in a disapproving voice.

"Not hide, exactly, it's just that… well, you know, it would be nice to have him in a place where everyone accepts him for a holiday. He's never had one before where he didn't have to pretend, and about a whole lot more than just his orientation."

"Has he told his father that he doesn't want to be a Pastor? His folks are shelling out a lot of money for that kid's education. I think they deserve to know that it is going to be a waste."

"His parents aren't actually helping him with college, although his church is."

"That makes it worse!" Jack exclaims.

"Look, Eli is still going to be a Pastor. He is just maybe searching for beliefs that are a little different than the ones he was raised with. He's trying to find his own way to God. I think he could do with a little bit of acceptance on his way there. Can he find some at our house this Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah, of course," Jack nods into the phone. He might not agree with all of the decisions the kid makes, but he is capable of accepting him.

The Next Day

Dating has become comfortable and familiar for Ty and Eli. They no longer have to fret about who is going to open the door for whom (whoever gets there first) or who is going to pick up whom (whoever is closest to the location gets picked-up) and it's been a long time since their hands met awkwardly over a check (it's a simple rotation, if you didn't pay last time it's your turn).

They spend a lot of their dates arguing philosophy or religion or history or playing Wormhole Extreme trivia (which Ty usually loses, because he confuses the show with real life).

"So, I was wondering if you would come over to my house for Thanksgiving," Ty says.

"Well, I don't know about on the exact day, but I'll definitely stop by at some point in the weekend."

"No, I mean, like… for the holiday, for dinner," Ty says.

Eli stops in the middle of chewing his hamburger, and stares at Ty in shock, "It's a family holiday."

"I know," Ty says.

"Man, we are not family."

"There is a good chance we will be someday," Ty says, with his cheeks turning red at the thought he has so frequently said in his head, and so infrequently said out loud.

"How am I supposed to explain this to my parents?" Eli protests.

"Just tell them you are coming over to my house. You don't have to tell them why," Ty advices.

"Well, that's good, because I'm not too sure that I am clear on the 'why' myself."

Ty hadn't planned on saying this, but now he doesn't see any way around it, "You deserve to be somewhere where you don't have to worry about how to explain something. Where when you do explain things, you do it with the truth. I know that right now, you've got a lot of ideas that are up in the air, a lot of ideas that you don't plan on letting your parents know. Not all of them have anything to do with us. I just thought it might be nice to be around a family that isn't going to judge you."

"They aren't my family, though," Eli points out.

"They could be," Ty says, and then realizing how his words sounded he quickly follows up by saying, "That was not a proposal. I'm just saying… even if the two of us don't end up together, which I am really hoping we do, my family could be yours."

Eli is touched to the soul, and he looks away for a moment before saying, "I'll try to make it work."