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Henry was outside in the pool with his friends later that day.
He’d offered to reschedule on Neil’s behalf but Neil said no. Even after Andrew openly expressed his concern for Neil.
Neil sat with Andrew, watching him cut up a watermelon for the kids.
“About what I said earlier--”
“I think you were right,” Neil said, cutting him off.
“Excuse me?” Andrew asked, setting down the knife.
Neil grabbed a piece of fruit. “I shouldn’t deal with that shitty intern just to be near dinosaurs. I’m going to talk to my boss on Monday. If nothing changes…” he fidgeted. “I-I’ll quit.”
“I was going to tell you that you should keep at it…” Andrew admitted. “I was proud of you for being strong enough to want to go back. Even if it was self destructive.”
Neil shrugged. “If nothing happens it’s going to be like working with my dad...I can’t do that.”
Andrew nodded. Neil ate the watermelon in silence. He heard a splash outside and looked over Andrew’s shoulder and out the window.
“I’m glad he’s got friends here,” Andrew said quietly.
Neil nodded. He watched a couple of them jump in and resurface laughing.
Neil and Andrew didn’t use the pool much because their yard wasn’t fenced in and Neil wasn’t entirely comfortable taking his shirt off where the neighbors could see. Andrew claimed that the sun was his enemy so he just didn’t like going outside (yet he still mowed the lawn whenever it was necessary).
He spotted Henry sitting off to the side with his friend. Sam. They were sat away from the others at the table Nicky insisted they buy so everyone could eat outside when/if they came to visit.
Neil watched them for a moment. A moment too long because Andrew tapped the counter in front of him.
“Hey, let them be.”
Neil looked back up at him. He frowned a bit but stole another piece of watermelon.
“That’s for the kids, you know,” Andrew hummed.
He pouted a bit and Andrew sighed, nudging a few more pieces to his husband. Neil ate the watermelon in peace.
He watched Andrew wash his hands and put the food out on a plate.
“Grab the lemonade,” Andrew said.
Neil did, following Andrew outside. The moment they approached the table where Henry and Sam sat, Sam stopped talking.
Andrew tensed slightly. Not in a noticeable way (unless you were Neil. Then of course you noticed).
Neil set the lemonade down. Andrew glanced at the kids in the pool then and Henry.
Henry looked away.
Neil gently grabbed Andrew’s sleeve before he said anything. Andrew looked over at him. Hazel met blue.
He signed that they should go back inside. To which Andrew responded, “Somethings wrong.”
Neil glanced at Sam and Henry. Henry’s eyes were fixed in their hands, Sam’s on Henry’s.
“Uh...what the fuck was that?” Sam asked. “Some weird—“
“Sign language.”
Andrew was still staring at Neil when he answered.
“I don’t like it,” he signed to Neil.
“You’re the one who told me to leave them alone,” Neil replied.
“Are they talking about me?” Sam asked Henry.
Henry shrugged. “I can’t keep up. I’m still learning.”
Neil looked back to Andrew. Andrew nodded back inside and Neil followed.
“Something about Sam...I don’t like him,” Andrew admitted the moment they were inside.
“What happened to letting them be, ‘Drew?” Neil asked, cleaning up the kitchen.
“They’re hiding something.”
“Of course they are, they’re fourteen and we’re Henry’s dads. There’s some stuff they can’t talk about with us there,” Neil said, putting dishes in the dishwasher.
Andrew watched him. Neil was right and they both knew it. That didn’t make it any less easier to deal with. Neither of them had the luxury of a normal childhood. This was unfamiliar territory.
“He’s not gonna tell you everything. I know you’re close, but let him be a teenager.”
Andrew leaned against the counter and pouted (though he will deny pouting).
“He just started to let me in and now I feel like I’m being pushed away and…” he paused, playing with his armbands. “Sometimes I wonder...Bee said I should be more open about these things…”
He paused again, looking at a loss for words. Neil tapped the counter in front of him to get his attention.
“Sometimes signing is easier.”
Andrew gave him a slight smile. Barely. “I want to be able to say these things out loud.”
Neil nodded, giving him all the time he needed.
“I don’t think I’m a good dad.”
Neil dropped the plate he was holding. It shattered and Andrew grabbed him before he could jump from the noise, landing in the shards of class.
“You’re not a bad dad, Andrew,” Neil said firmly, he seemed upset at the notion of Andrew not being a good dad. “Henry trusts you, he looks up to you, he--Andrew he goes straight to you when he’s upset or needs help. I don’t have that with him but you do. You’re a really great dad and if even think you aren’t so help me--”
“What?” Andrew hummed. “What’re you gonna do?”
“Get a dog.”
“Oh god, you wouldn’t.”
“Henry wants one. Told me himself.”
Andrew snorted. “Henry’s allergic to dogs, idiot.”
“I love the pet names you use for me.”
“Yeah, yeah, just grab the broom under the sink for me?”
Neil bent under the sink and pulled out the dustpan and broom so Andrew could clean up the broken glass.
-
“Henry,” Andrew said, later that night, disrupting their show.
Neil paused the show looking up at him. Henry looked over at him too, confused.
“I’m sorry about earlier by the pool with Sam. That was rude of us,” Andrew said, surprising Neil. “I didn’t trust Sam, but I trust you to make friends with the right people.”
Henry was quiet for a moment which caught Neil’s attention. He sat up fully now. Henry was vocal, not shy and quiet. He’d either tell Andrew off or accept the apology upfront. Something wasn’t right.
“Henry?”
He looked up at them. “We kissed at the football game last week. Then again in the school bathrooms during study hall.”
“Oh?”
“He wants to have sex,” he said, looking down at his hands.
“Okay,” Andrew said simply.
Henry looked up at them surprised. “Aren’t you meant to tell me not to have sex, I’m too young and so on..?”
Andrew looked at Neil. “Are we?”
Neil just shrugged. “Do you need condoms?” he asked Henry who looked bright red.
“You aren’t talking me--Wait you need condoms with a guy?” he asked.
Andrew snorted.
“Why aren’t you talking me out of it! Telling me no? Grounding me? What the hell!” Henry raised his voice, getting upset.
Neil’s posture changed, only slightly. He curled in on himself. Andrew tensed.
Andrew studied Henry for a moment. “You don’t want to have sex with him?”
Henry looked down. “I barely wanted to kiss him, I--”
Andrew sat up fast, startling Neil. “If he forced you to do anything--”
“No! No,” Henry said in a rushed, unconvincing voice. “He’s persuasive. And I wanted to know.”
“Wanted to know?” Neil echoed.
“If I liked guys. I don’t think so, by the way. Not like I like girls. But not like I don’t like them…” he frowned. “Bee and I are working on it.”
Andrew had sat back, leaning away from Neil. Neil knew that tonight Andrew would push himself onto his side of the bed, almost over the edge until it became too much and he’d vanish to the guest room.
Neil let it happen, he couldn’t change it. It didn’t stop the anger that burned inside him, or the sadness he felt knowing how little he could do to help Andrew when he was like this. He wondered, suddenly if this was what it felt like for Andrew when Neil got really worked up.
He made a mental note to ask Andrew later.
“What do I do?” Henry asked.
His question was directed at Andrew, but it was clear the older man wasn’t going to answer.
“Tell him no. He’ll respect that if he really cares,” Neil said for him.
Henry’s eyes flickered to Andrew. “Andrew?”
“Maybe we should--”
“Andrew? He never made me do anything I didn’t consent to,” Henry said. “I’m fine.”
Andrew’s head raised slightly. The only indication he’d heard him.
Neil saw the collegiate version of Andrew sitting next to him, not a grown man in his thirties. He got up and went upstairs. Neil just watched him go and it broke his heart, but he knew better than to follow him.
“I upset him.”
“No, Henry you didn’t. It’s not you.”
Henry frowned, crossing his arms.
“Don’t let Sam pressure you into something you don’t want to do, okay?” Neil asked. “If you want to talk to someone, not an adult like Andrew and I or Bee, Matt and Dan’s kid, Liam, is your age. You could talk to him--”
“Can we just stop talking about it? I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Henry said harshly.
Neil frowned. “It’s important Henry. He should respect your boundaries.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Hey,” Neil said, leaning forward. “Don’t ‘whatever’ me during this conversation. Answer me honestly: did Sam force himself on you?”
Henry looked at his hands, arms crossed. He didn’t answer, foot tapping anxiously. Neil didn’t know if he was mad or hiding something. He wanted Andrew here to help. Neil was about to say something else about the importance of consent when Henry turned to him.
“I told him no. He leaned over and said to just try it and kissed me anyway. It doesn’t--”
“So it is assault and you lied to Andrew and I,” Neil pointed out.
“I told him no about sex and he keeps asking...I don’t know what to do,” Henry admitted. “I thought you guys would...I didn’t think you’d take my side about it. I didn’t want to lie I just--”
“It’s a sensitive topic for Andrew, okay?” Neil said, their show now completely forgotten. “It’s not my story so don’t ask.”
Henry just nodded.
“We’ll figure this out okay. Just...you can come to us about anything okay?”
He nodded again. “Can I have a hug?”
Neil nodded, patting the spot next to him.
“We’ll talk about it more tomorrow,” Neil said, arms around his kid. “I need to go check on Andrew. Don’t stay up too late and if Sam bothers you more tonight come get me, yeah?”
Henry leaned against him. “Thank you.”
For believing him. For being his dad. Giving him a home.
Neil couldn’t be sure what he was being thanked for. He’d do all those things a thousand times over. He needed no thanks, no reward. He’d do it again.
-
Neil opened up the door to their room. Andrew was curled up on his side of the bed. He wasn’t sleeping yet, though.
“‘Drew,” Neil said, sitting on the far corner of the bed away from him. “We need to talk.”
Andrew didn’t move. Gave no indication that he’d been heard.
“It’s about Henry.”
“You can talk to Neil. You know I’m listening.”
He always listened.
“He told me that Sam forced the kiss. Henry didn’t think we’d believe him. That’s why he told you no.”
Andrew sat up, not yet looking at Neil. “I don’t know how to be there for him with this. It’s too much, but I can’t not do anything.”
“I can take care of this, okay? I’m more than capable of getting someone to leave Henry alone,” Neil said.
Andrew sat silently. “What’d he say?”
“He’s scared,” Neil said, watching Andrew drop his head back to the headboard. “You could talk to him about this. He looks up to you. It’d make him feel better.”
“He’s a kid. He doesn’t need to know those things.”
“So were you.”
Andrew laid back down. “Not tonight. I can’t do it tonight.”
“What do you need, ‘Drew?”
There was silence then Andrew rolled to face him and held out his arms.
In a broken voice he said, “I need to know that you’re real.”