The Intervention.
The first of the visitors to appear that afternoon was Sebastian, but his arrival seemed to precipitate a rush to the door, as the four of their fellow Warblers that lived in Manhattan all appeared together, Flint coming directly from synagogue. They all headed straight down to the kitchen, where a slightly flustered Nick was just taking his bread rolls out of the oven. He could only watch as Ethan made a beeline straight for the fridge and helped himself to the butter, then took one of the bread rolls that had just come out of the oven to enjoy. His actions were enough for everyone else to do the same, and the noise they all made was enough to bring Owain and the two boys down from upstairs to join them.
Nick just had to accept what had happened and took it as a compliment that none of his friends could resist the temptation of freshly baked bread. He smiled even more when Wes came up to him and suggested that they could maybe make some cheese scones as well; his son was quite proficient now in scone making and they would make a great alternative to the bread when they sat down to eat properly. "That is a fantastic idea son; I can leave you to do that on your own whilst I have a chat with the others. You are such a good son…"
As that conversation was taking place in the kitchen, Jeff had taken advantage of his husband being distracted to slip out of the house and was now waiting outside the house for the last of their visitors to arrive, the person that he saw as his best friend, other than Nick of course. Trent was the final person to arrive and as he turned into the street and saw the familiar face standing outside the house, he knew instinctively that something was wrong. He stopped at his friend's side, and quietly asked, "Okay, what is happening? Is having Tim here causing too many issues?"
"Tim is no problem whatsoever; it is Wes that is acting up, and I think that might be down to the fact that he overheard Nick and I talking about something. Basically, Nick has got it into his head that adopting Tim formally would be a great idea…"
Trent stared at Jeff open-mouthed for a moment, then exclaimed, "Is he mad!? If Tim was a younger child, then such things might indeed be sensible, but at his age it is not quiet so important, especially not if you own son happens to be in love with the boy in question! Before you say anything, we all know that Wes is in love with him; it is obvious! Every time I saw them whilst I was helping Thad through his last days at Dalton, it was liking a repeat of how you were with Nick in our sophomore year. The only difference was that both of the boys are in your part, neither of them wanting to say what they truly feel…"
"You mean that he is in love with Wes too? That makes Nick idea a thousand times worse!" howled Jeff and Trent couldn't help but chuckle at the exasperation on his friend's face.
"I agree; in theory, the fact that their feelings are reciprocal should make things so much easier to handle. However, it is two teenage boys we are talking about here and we both know how we were back then. They are scared to death that their feelings aren't shared by the other, and that if they admit them, they will lose their best friend. I do not envy you one iota having the two of them living under your roof…"
"Add in Nick and it is a complete nightmare. I think that the time has come when we need to sit down have a talk with Wes and find out once and for all if he is gay."
Trent shook his head, and said, "That might seem like the answer, but I don't think it would be at all. Would you have liked it if your parents had sat you down and asked you that question? I think that what might help is if Nick finds out exactly how his son feels about Tim being adopted by you. From what you are saying, and the fact that you are telling me this outside and away from everyone else, he has no idea just what has been going on, has he? You've kept quiet in the hope that it will just resolve itself, but it won't. No, Nick has to actually be shown just how much his son hates the idea, but not with Tim anywhere in earshot. Once we have lunch out of the way we can try to get Tim out of the house and sit you down as a family of three…"
"Why do I have the feeling that this is going to end up being terrible? I suppose if Tim isn't there and we have even just you as a witness to try and calm things it might work…"
"I can do that, but maybe we could also have Sebastian there to help as well; he's actually become quite sensible as he has matured, and I trust him to be a fair arbitrator."
Jeff nodded, wondering if Tim could be sent off somewhere with Owain - but then it suddenly occurred to him that the young man in question might be useful at someone to be there for Wes in all of this. He would try to have a chat to Beats and see if he could take him out for a while, or Drew or Ethan for that matter. "If I can get Tim out of the house then we will go ahead and have that family meeting. I might also ask Owain to stay as well to be there for Wes."
"Not a bad idea. I will have a word with Seb, and you try to get Owain on his own. This all needs sorted out and quickly, because the longer it is left, the worse it will get. No, we'd best get in before we are seen out here together, and the rumours start…"
Jeff chuckled and was a little surprised when nobody seemed to notice that he had been absent when he got back into the house. He then had a stroke of luck; Beats informed him that Dante and Lachlan were on the way over. He thought that it would be a good idea for Tim to meet them properly; Jeff decided that that would be a great idea, particularly if they took him to see their little home and some of the local sights around about it. Beat nodded, certain that his adopted son and his partner would have no problem with that.
Lunch was soon served and the cheese scones that Wes produced went down well with everyone in the brotherhood. Wes positively glowed as he was praised by all of his 'uncles'. He then went quite red when Flint that they were superior to his father's, which did earn him a playful glare from both Nick and Beats…
"It's okay, I know that he has the edge on me on certain things and I'm not complaining," said Nick.
"It's all down to being shown how to do things from an early age and listening carefully to all that I was taught," replied Wes. "I've also had the advantage of doing some stuff for Dalton as well, which didn't happen at all when you were all there."
"That's true; there was no suggestion of any sort of domestic science or home economics course in our day. Dalton boys did not have aspirations to be chefs, so they did not show us how to be cooks. We were all still expected to marry well and find ourselves a wife that could cater to all our needs," said Ethan sagely. "I'm glad they have altered things now; no boy now leaves Dalton Academy without the ability to cook a meal from scratch…"
Owain nodded and said, "I am quite proud that I can make a nutritious meal for myself, and that I won't be living on ramen, or meals that I can obtain from either the diner or the hospital cafeteria. I can also sew on a button and darn a hole in my sock. My mom sent me here with a sewing kit she created for me, which amused my grandmother no end, as her brothers certainly couldn't sew, and kept bringing things back to her mother to be mended well into their twenties…"
"Times have changed," Trent responded. "Even 50 years ago, the idea that there would be a room full of married couple where all those present were male would have been seen as bizarre, but look around this room - only Flint of all of those present that are married is married to a woman…"
Flint chuckled and said, "That is very true and as the lady in question is one with extremely busy career, I have to sew on my own buttons…" All his friends looked at each other as they laughed, all pretty certain that it probably fell to his children's nanny to do such things…
Dante and Lachlan arrived just as lunch came to an end, and Jeff put his little scheme into action, introducing them to Tim, then casually dropping into the conversation the project that the two of them were involved in at the synagogue, through which they tried to bring people of different religions together, to promote tolerance and understanding.
Tim smiled and said, "My dad was a great believer in schemes like that, but I'm afraid that a lot of his congregation despised even other Christians. They had little tolerance for those in town who were Roman Catholics, so I can only imagine how they would have reacted if he had tried to talk to them about Judaism… His advice to me was that I should explore all faiths and find out which of them it was that suited me best, even if it turned out that that was not his."
"Well, I certainly did that and converted to Judaism just a few years ago," replied Dante. "Tell me, have you ever been inside a synagogue?" When Tim shook his head, Dante continued, "If you would like, Lachlan and I could show you around ours sometime. In fact, we could actually do that now if you don't have any other plans for this afternoon…"
"I think that is an excellent idea!" interjected Jeff, who had been listening in. "Wes can stay here, and you can show Tim some of the other local sights of a religious nature."
"I would like that very much," Tim said eagerly. With the plan now made, in no time Tim was on his way out the door with Dante and Lachlan, which meant that Jeff was now able to deal with the big issue that was lurking in his home…
Nick was a little taken aback when his husband came charging into the kitchen, a determined look on his face and headed over in the direction of Wes. However, he was even more surprised when suddenly Sebastian was standing at his side. "I have instructions to escort you up to the study, as your husband believes that there is a need for an immediate family conference about the situation the house since Tim moved in. I do not know the exact details, but he feels that a frank and open conversation is required, and he also wants witnesses. I have been co-opted as yours."
Nick looked confused and was going to protest, but then he recalled the look he had just seen on his husband's face and thought the better of it. He allowed himself to be guided upstairs and into his study, where he was surprised to see that four of the chairs from the seldom used formal dining room had been added to the usual two in the room. He sat on his own normal chair and Sebastian sat down beside him, the latter pretty certain that this meeting had to concern the tension between Wes and Tim. It had always been present between the two of them due to their soulmate bond and he was quite surprised that they had not yet acted upon it…
Wes was the next to appear, a look of anger on his face, with Owain at his side trying to placate him. Finally, Jeff appeared with Trent and closed the door behind him.
"Okay Jeffie, what is this all about? This is hardly the most appropriate time to have such a meeting given that we have a house full of guests," began Nick.
"I make no apologies for the timing, which I actually think is ideal, as we have witnesses to hand in the house - and quite probably a few more witnesses on the other side of the door. The one person that isn't here though is Tim, and I purposefully arranged that. Since he came to live with us the whole atmosphere in this house has changed. That is understandable, but it is causing an issue. I had not said anything up until now, but Wes has started to act up in the last week and yesterday he did so to such an extent that I briefly wondered if he had had a personality transplant. Then it occurred to me that he had overheard us talking in this very room; more particularly, he had heard you saying that we should consider formally adopting Tim. I have since found out that you mentioned that idea to Grace prior to Joe and Sugar's funeral and she told you at that time that it was an unbelievably bad idea. I have to say that I am in full agreement with my sister-in-law."
Nick shook his head and said, "Why is everyone so against the idea of giving that poor boy the security of knowing that he is wanted by us, and we do mean that most sincerely?"
"I would have thought that it was obvious, Nick!" said Sebastian, earning himself a stunned look for the man in question in the process. "I can understand what you are trying to do and in other circumstances I would applaud you for it, but not on this occasion. It also sounds to me as if you have forgotten to ask the two most important people what they want, namely Tim and your own son. The idea of being formally adopted by you might well be anathema to Tim; it could be his worst nightmare. He has only just lost his parents, and he will still be processing that loss when all of a sudden you are trying to replace them; he might not like that idea one iota. Wes should also be asked for his take on the matter, because this will have a huge impact on his life, whether you like the idea or not."
Before Nick could have a chance to reply, Trent said, "I have to say that all that Sebastian just said is correct. When Beats and Elliot adopted Dante in similar circumstances, they have no child of her own in the house, so the only person they needed to talk to was the boy himself. However, when they decided they wanted to do the same thing with Ty, the first thing that they did was have a conversation about it with Dante. You seem to have decided this is you think it is a good idea, nobody else's opinion seems relevant or important, and to be frank, you just cannot do that. The way that you are acting is rather like those rogue politicians that you find violating human rights as part of your work at the UN. I think that we now need to let Wes speak freely about his thoughts on the idea. I am of course assuming that Jeff is right, and he did happen to overhear your last conversation on the subject. You need to listen, Nick; you ignored your sister's opinion when she gave it, but her opinion was the correct one. I am afraid that I must side with her, your husband and Sebastian; adopting Tim would be a very bad idea for a great number of reasons…"
Nick shook his head once more, barely able to believe that Trent of all people had just compared him to the corrupt people that violated rights around the world. Then there was the fact that Jeff had created this whole scene, involving all of their friends in what was a private family matter and then going behind his back to talk to Grace, who also should not have repeated to him a conversation that they had in private.
"First of all, can I just say that I regard this intervention into private family matters unwarranted and then congratulate you all on forcing the matter into the open. I guess now that you will all expect Wes to tell us what his thoughts are on the whole matter, something that he might have wanted to keep private as well."
Wes had been staring down at the floor since his Papa had started to speak, but now he looked up and directly at his father. One look at his son's face broke Nick's heart; his boy's eyes were moist and the expression on his face was full of anguish. "Please dad, you can't adopt Tim! Please, you can't even think about it because that would make him my brother and he can't be!"
Nick looked at his son, a little startled at the amount of passion that had been behind his words. Then he replied, "I do think that is a rather selfish attitude, and totally unlike you. I would have thought you would want your best friend to be as happy as you are…"
"I do dad, but he can't be my brother; it would ruin absolutely everything!"
"I fail to see how it could…"
As everyone else in the room looked at Nick and wondered how he could be so clueless, Wes let out a sob, then wailed, "Because I can't be in love with my brother, and I love Tim, so he can be my brother! Please dad, don't make him my brother, because then I can't love him the way that I do without being an unbelievably bad person…"
Everyone sitting in the room at that point knew that they had just witnessed the moment when Wes Sterling-Duval came out, not that it was a great shock to any of them. They had all, with the exception of Owain, known the boy since he was born, and the signs had been there for them all to see that entire time. The fact that he had come out by declaring his love for Tim Hart was also not a surprise, as the bond that existed between the two boys had been there for all to witness from the day they had met once more at Dalton Academy. To most it appeared that Nick had been oblivious to it, however he had also suspected as much, but had decided that until his son told him to his face, he would not accept it as fact.
As Owain took one of his crying son's hands and on his other side, Sebastian reached out to gently take his other, Jeff gave his husband a look that spoke volumes as to what he expected Nick to do next. He saw it and he looked right back at the blond; something that he saw in his husband's eyes at that moment was enough to soothe the anger that Jeff had been feeling up until that point.
"So, you are in love with Tim… Does that also mean that you are like all of us gathered here in this room with the exception of Owain as well?"
Wes nodded, then in a quiet voice said, "Yes, dad, I am gay. I am sure of that now, but I wasn't always when I was growing up. I do like Evie a lot, but I realise now that is because we were together a lot as we grew up; once she went off to a different school, I concluded that I didn't like girls that way, but I was afraid to say anything. That was before I met Tim…"
A beatific smile came onto Wes' lips as he said the other boy's name, and suddenly Trent chuckled, earning him a glare of shock from everyone else in the room. "I am sorry, it is just that despite the fact that he is your biological son, Nick, that smile reminds me so much of the one that I used to see on Jeff's face so often when we were in our sophomore year at Dalton; it used to appear every time he saw you or even when your name came up in conversation…"
That made them all chuckle, even a blushing Wes. Nick then continued, "If that is indeed the case, then you have it bad, son… Well, faced with all of this evidence you are right; there is no way that we can adopt Tim. I conclude that because of the opinions that other people would have, of course; we would all know that you weren't biological brothers, but the world would assume that you were and react accordingly. Now, the next question is the important one; do you think that Tim loves you? The last thing I would want is for you to spend the next three years at Dalton the way that your papa did when he fell in love with the oblivious idiot that could not admit the truth about the way he was to himself, let alone anyone else…"
There was silence in response to that statement, but one person in the room did know the answer to the question, namely Owain. He had talked with Tim, and he knew that the boy was very much in love with Wes, but it was not his secret to share with anyone at that juncture, not even the object of the boy's affections. He knew that Tim would need to come out in his own time and then declare how he felt to Wes….
"I don't know how he feels about me dad," sighed Wes. "We are best friends and really close, but I can't ask him exactly how he feels about me; I can't even admit to him that I am gay… I was going to tell him before the end of term at Dalton, but then Uncle Thad fell ill, and then he died, and it just didn't seem like the right time to say such things. I thought about telling him after the memorial had taken place, but then he lost his parents, and my feelings didn't really matter that much…"
Nick nodded, then said, "You have decided to wait, which is sensible, although I do suspect I know the reason why you were planning on telling him just before the long summer vacation started; if he had reacted badly to it, then you would have been able to request a change of room and share with someone else so you didn't have to see him all the time…"
"Exactly. I don't think that Tim would ever be a homophobic hater, but I couldn't be entirely sure how he would feel about sharing a room with a gay boy and I didn't want to make him uncomfortable; some people are okay with folks being gay, but they would not want to share a bathroom with them…"
"Of course, now that Tim is living here with us, all of those troubles have multiplied, haven't they?" asked Jeff, leaning forward in his seat to smile sympathetically at his son. "That is why you have been so short with him at times, because you want to be able to tell him the truth and be yourself around him, but you feel that you can't risk it. You don't want him to end up being hurt, and you don't want to end up being hurt yourself either; all that is doing is making you lash out at Tim in frustration. I had my suspicions about that, which is why I decided that for everyone's sake, we needed to have this moment of intervention before it all exploded around us…"
"An intervention in which you effectively outed your son," quipped Sebastian, which made them all smile, even if Jeff immediately went bright red and nodded.
"It's okay, papa. I should have told you and dad how I felt a long time ago, because it wasn't as if I had to fear your reaction like some boys would; it would have been rather hypocritical of you to get angry…"
"We would have loved you even if you had been a red-blooded heterosexual," replied Nick, "although that would have been quite a challenge for us, especially if you had decided to ask us a lot of question relating to sex and girls. I suspect that your Uncle Mike would have found himself answering a lot of those questions for us…" They all laughed at that, but they all knew that the man in question would have taken on the task quite happily for his two best friends.
Nick continued, "Now we do need to address the elephant in the room, basically how much about this do we tell Tim and when do we do so. I think that for now we should all take the position that this conversation hasn't taken place, and none of us are aware if Wes is straight, gay, or even bi… I think, son, that it would be best for you to find a quiet moment when your papa and I aren't around to come out to Tim and just see what his reaction is. With luck, he may even come out to you, because there are signs that most of the rest of us have seen which hint that he might be gay too. I have a strong suspicion that his mom and dad saw them too and that is why he ended up at Dalton…"
Wes nodded, having seen those signs for himself and he smiled when his uncle Sebastian gently squeezed his hand and nodded as well, as he too had seen those same little things. Then the boy spoke. "That is all very well, but that doesn't mean that he will love me the way that I love him. Even if he were to come to me and tell me that he was gay, how can I tell if the love that I feel for him is mutual and that he reciprocates my feelings? It would be so much worse if Tim was gay and didn't love me back than if he was straight! Is there an easy way to tell such things?"
Nick looked around the room at his husband and his two friends, a look that his fellow musketeers recognised at once. "Ah, son, you ask one of life's great questions," he said. Sebastian let go of Wes' hand and got to his feet, before moving over to join Jeff and Trent who had also stood up and were now standing behind Nick. "Before I answer, let me just confirm that I have your question correct; basically, what you are asking is this…"
Owain would later say that what then occurred was one of those moments in life that he would never be able to forget; a prime illustration of what being a Warbler for life really meant. Much to his shock, and to the complete mortification of Wes, Nick had proceeded to jump to his feet and sing, "Does he love me, I want to know…" before he and his fellow musketeers went on to perform the rest of The Shoop, Shoop Song. They began as a group of four, but then the study door flew open, and Beats, Flint, Ethan and Drew, who had been listening outside, burst in to join the song. Wes went from surprised and shocked to holding his head in his hands, not even able to look at the impromptu performance that Owain had to admit was flawless. He was careful however not to smile too much in case Wes looked at him and saw it as a sign that he had no allies in the room at all…
When the song came to an end, Wes looked up at them all and groaned. "You are all so very embarrassing, do you know that?"
"Yeah, but you should know by now that when Warblers flock together, our natural urge is to sing and dance," replied his father. "In any case, the lyrics are more or less true. When your papa and I got together, it was only when I finally kissed him that I knew for certain that we belonged together; that I did love him, and he loved me. There were sparks in the air that day in the auditorium at Dalton; I still feel sparks when I kiss him now. That is how you know it is truly love."
"I think that all of us can confirm that is true," said Beats. "When you kiss the love of your life, it is like nothing else…"
Wes looked at them all, and said, "Well, that was still so embarrassing, and I really didn't need to know how you and papa feel when you kiss either."
"We've embarrassed our teenage son, Jeffie," chuckled Nick. "We really are spot on at this parent thing…" As everyone else laughed, Nick held his arms open for his son; Wes shook his head but still got up and sank into a hug with his father, which soon became a three-way hug when Jeff came over and hugged them both too…
Tim, meanwhile, had enjoyed his little excursion with Dante and Lachlan; he had found the synagogue fascinating and afterwards he had joined them in their small apartment. He was envious of the loving relationship that they had, which he knew had begun to blossom when they met each other in high school and had not been much older than he and Wes were now. It was clear to him that they were best friends as well as partners, illustrated by the way that they could finish each other's sentences. He had heard about the attack that had taken place on them a few years before, and when he asked them about it, they were both honest with him, telling him that it had actually brought them even closer to each other, to the extent that Dante had decided to embrace Lachlan's faith. "When you truly love someone, then you are willing to alter everything in your life for them. I could have ended up losing Lachlan that night and it made me realise that I never wanted to be parted from him again. I didn't need to adopt his religion, but I saw how much comfort he took from it and I decided that I wanted the same; in Judaism, I have found that inner peace that he always had…"
Tim would think about Dante's words as he walked back to the West Village, navigating those streets on his own for the first time. He walked back the way that they had taken him, even though he knew that with the grid system in the city it would be hard to get lost. He wondered if he could find a church in New York that would give him the anchor that his own church back in South Dakota had done, albeit one that had less prejudice and judgement within it. Then he began to wonder if Wes would be willing to attend that church with him. He knew that Wes and his dads had no affiliation to a church or any other sort of religion of any kind, but he knew that all of them did believe in the concept of God and heaven… If he would not go with him, then there was another possibility in the shape of Owain; he had gone to church some Sundays during term-time at Dalton and they all knew his faith was strong.
Such questions were for another day, however; he had a much more pressing issue to attend to first. Being with Dante and Lachlan had made him realise that he needed to get some things out into the open first. It was time that he admitted that he was gay, firstly to himself and then to his new family. He just hoped that in doing so he would not create an awkward situation for them all, especially with Wes. He had no desire to lose the boy he saw as his best friend and that might happen if he discovered just how strongly Tim's feelings for him were. He knew that Wes was not homophobic, but it was an altogether different matter when a gay man admitted that he had feelings for you…