Chapter Text
"How could you say that?" George's mother asked in a whispery, shaky voice. His uncle looked at him with pure disgust on his face. "...What?" What did he do wrong? All George did was talk about the new boy in his grade. "George, my sweet innocent child, you can't just say things like that." His mother spoke with a stronger voice now. His uncle still not saying anything.
George looked from one adult to the other, completely lost. Was it really that bad? Was it that bad to like someone? "But why mum? What is so bad about it?" He still could not understand. His mother got up from the kitchen chair she was sitting on. Now kneeling down to be on the same height as her 11-year-old boy. "Sweetie, it's wrong. It is deemed a sin. You are still so young. You may not get it yet, but believe me. What you are feeling towards that boy is just temporary. It'll soon fly by." George has never seen his mother this invested. It had to be true that this feeling was wrong. After all, his mother would never lie to him.
"But what if it won't?" His uncle had his back to the other two. The strong disgust in his voice as clear as anything though. "Steven..." His mother started to speak but was cut off immediately. "No, Margaret. You never know if he's one of- them." He spat out the last word as if it was a disease. George's mother stood up again. "It could just as well be a phase! He's too young to know!" His uncle gritted his teeth, letting out a dangerous growl. "If he comes to me again with this shit then you two need a new place to stay."
"What?!" His mother was furious. "You know exactly I'm not financially stable enough to provide a place for the both of us. If you kick us out we will be homeless!" George still didn't fully understand the situation. He just knew two things. One, he was scarred while watching his mother and uncle shout at each other. Two, he was not allowed to feel like this towards another boy ever again.
"If you don't want to end up without a home, then make sure your son doesn't become a fag!" George could see a few drops of spit fly out of his uncles mouth. He was scared of him when he got this mad. He wanted to leave the kitchen.
But before he could even move a muscle his uncle turned towards him, his index finger accusingly pointing at him. "And you-" He stepped closer to the intimidated George who was now with his back against the wall. His little eyes stared up at the big man while they started to fill with tears.
"Say one more time that you think a boy looks cute and you will never see me and your cousins ever again." George was only able to nod. The tears were now running down his cheeks. "Stop crying you little shit." Some of his uncles spit landed on his face. He quickly rubbed it away to have the feeling of disgust leave as quick as possible. His mother had had enough. "Steven! Stop it!" She reached out to him to get him away from her son. He just swatted her hand away and storms out of the kitchen. Margaret looked after him with flaming anger in her eyes. But not for long. The small sniffles of her son made her turn her attention to George.
"It's okay my dear." She said while pulling her little one into a comforting hug. George clamped to his mother, small weeping sounds escaping his mouth. His mother rubbed little circles on her son's back, waiting for him to calm down. After some minutes the weeping stopped, only some sniffling once or twice. George's mother took this opportunity to talk to her son. Both her hands laying on George's shoulders, holding him strongly, her eyes locked with his. With a strong voice she started to speak. "George, this feeling towards that boy is bad. It's not normal." Her son watched her. His crumbled confidence turning more and more into dust. Without any reassurance she kept speaking. "It's wrong for you to like another boy, you hear me? This right now is just a phase. But it's okay. It'll be over soon. And after that everything will be perfectly normal." His mothers speak scared George, but he nodded regardless, taking in all the new information.
He kept repeating what his mother said over and over in his head "It's just a phase" for the next years.