Brother's Mate
Chapter 45
Callum was quite relieved to find that his parents were in the lounge and hadn't responded to his call because they had the television on and just hadn't heard him. Callum had a little smile when he saw that his mum and dad were sitting together on the sofa and were holding hands just as he and Leonid had been doing earlier.
"Hi, mum, dad, can I talk?" Callum asked.
"This sounds important. Yes you can talk." John said turning the television off.
"You don't need to stop watching your show. I don't think this will take long." Callum began and then found that he was actually quite nervous.
"We'll if you don't get on with it, it will take longer." John said, but he was smiling at the same time.
"Okay, I don't know why but I'm actually a bit nervous, which is silly." Callum started again.
"Who is it then?" Rose asked, "Leo or Aly?"
Callum blushed, then said softly, "Leo."
"At last. How did you make your mind up?" John asked.
"What? I don't get it." Alexander broke in and then, before anyone had a chance to explain it to him the penny dropped and he almost shouted, "Wait, I do. You and Leo are proper boyfriends now!"
This caused a little chuckle to escape both of Alexander's parents before Rose asked, "How has Alyona taken it?"
"Actually, it was Alyona who helped me to see it. She told me that she loves me like she loves Leo and not like Brad and Al love each other and that she could see in me that I love her the same way, but that I love Leo the same way as Brad and Al love each other. And she's right. I know that when I'm with Leo I feel different to the way I feel when I'm with anyone else." Callum told them.
"Well thank you for sharing that with us. Do Leo's parents know?" asked John, being ever practical.
"Yes, they do. They were very good because it also meant that Leo had to come out to them. Not that that was a surprise for them. They are happy for Leo too." Callum said.
"Good, I'm glad they know. It could be a little awkward at the next meal together if they didn't know." John said.
"I don't think Leo and Aly try to keep secrets from their parents but they might not be as open as you've helped Al and me to be." Callum said.
"I don't think there are many families like ours." Rose said.
"Can I tell Brad or do you want to?" Alexander asked.
"What that there are not many families like ours? I think he knows that already." Callum teased.
"No! And you know it! I haven't spoken to Brad yet tonight and so I'm going to phone him soon if he doesn't phone first and I need to know if I can say anything." Alexander responded.
"Yeah, go ahead. I don't think it will come as a surprise to him either. He seems to be able to see things a lot sooner than I can." Callum admitted.
"That's because he's my boyfriend." Alexander said.
"That's why he's your boyfriend, not because." Callum argued.
"Same thing." Alexander replied.
"Not really, but I'm too happy to get into an argument over semantics." Callum said.
"Oooh, he thinks that because he's got a boyfriend at last he can act all big and use big words now." Alexander teased and jumped up to run away because he knew Callum would be quick to react to that.
Alexander wasn't quick enough and Callum caught him and began to tickle him. The tickling had to stop less than a minute into it as Callum saw that Alexander was responding in a way that he didn't want to be a part of in front of his parents. Callum pretended to lose his grip and Alexander jumped up and ran off with both Rose and John smiling until they noticed that Alexander had got an erection.
"I thought you let him get off a little easy." John said.
"Callum didn't have much choice when that happened." Rose said.
"I didn't think of that possibility, just a bit of revenge." Callum said and gave a little chuckle. "The only thing is I don't think he'll even be the slightest bit embarrassed by it."
"I'm afraid you might be right there." John answered.
"I think you've made a good choice in boyfriends, by the way." Rose said.
"Thanks mum, he is rather dishy isn't he?" Callum said.
"If by that you mean good looking, yes he is. But he is more than that. He is a nice boy. Polite, caring and intelligent. And Alyona is a nice girl too. If your heart had taken you that way, we would have been just as happy for you." Rose replied.
"Has this helped resolve your questions on your own sexuality?" John asked.
"I'm still not a hundred percent sure but know I'm closer to gay than hetero." Callum acknowledged. "Sorry, but I think the possibility of grandchildren is slim."
"We'll just have to find someone else's kids to be grandparents to." John said.
"And you'll be wonderful grandparents too." Callum said. "I need to make a couple of calls so if you don't mind I'll head off to bed now and get in my shower and all."
"Yes, go along. Goodnight Cal." John said.
Callum got up and went across the room to his parents. He gave his father a hug first and then his mother who also got a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight and thank you for liking my boyfriend."
"That's easy." Rose said simply. Callum looked at her and smiled. His face showed how much he loved and appreciated his parents.
Callum had his shower first and then, lying naked on his bed, he phoned Dominic to tell him that he had boyfriend. Dominic congratulated him and told him it was about time too. Callum was beginning to think that everyone but himself could see that he loved Leonid more than Alyona. Callum also phoned Bradley who told him he had just finished talking to Alexander and offered his congratulations and also said it was about time he made it official.
"What the fuck! How come everybody could see it but me?" Callum said.
"I think you could see it, but you also have some strong feelings for Aly and didn't want to hurt her so you subconsciously ignored the true feelings you had for Leo." Bradley said.
"Shit, you could be a lawyer or a psychologist. How do you see these things and we don't?" Callum asked.
"I don't know. It must just be in my make-up." Bradley replied.
"Gosh, I didn't realise that mascara and lipstick affected you that way." Callum said.
"I'll forgive you that one because I'm guessing you're quite euphoric at the moment and think that allows you to be cheeky." Bradley responded.
"Well if you're going to start making accusations." Callum said.
"Hey, I'm not the one lying naked on my bed stroking as I think of my boyfriend." Bradley said; hitting the nail right on the head because that was exactly what Callum was doing.
"No, I guess you already got that out of the way in the call before this one." Callum got in right on target as well.
"Touché." Bradley said and both boys chuckled, said goodnight and were asleep shortly after ending their call.
A few days later Callum was walking along a corridor at school on his way to meet up with the others for the lunch break when he saw Timothy standing by himself in the doorway of a classroom. Callum walked up to him and said, "Your name's Tim, right?"
"What's that got to do with you?" Timothy Johnson asked.
"Not a great deal, but if it is Tim then it has more to do with Aly." Callum responded.
"What do you mean?" Timothy asked.
"I've seen how you look at Aly and then how you look at us. That tells me you have some feelings for Aly. Talk to her. She's our friend not our property." Callum said.
"I don't get it. Aren't you guys all gay or something? How come you all want to go out with Aly then?" Timothy said.
"I just told you. We're Aly's friends not her owner. Talk to her, I think she'll like that." Callum said.
"What chance do I have, she seems to go for you older guys?" Timothy said.
"Haven't you noticed there are younger guys in our group too? Three of them are younger than Aly by a year at least. Besides which, if you think you've not got a chance then you've got nothing to lose by trying. I hear that you've got brains, so has Aly. That gives you one thing in common already. Give it a try." Callum patted Timothy on the shoulder and walked off leaving him with a thousand thoughts whirring through his head. Maybe Callum shouldn't have interfered but he felt he could at least give Timothy a nudge. The next day he saw Timothy talking to Alyona who started to laugh and then pulled Timothy into a hug. When they separated again Timothy had such a huge smile on his face it nearly pushed his ears to the back of his head. Callum's smile also got bigger.
That same day at lunch Alyona arrived holding hands with Timothy and introduced him to the group. Then she let go of Timothy's hand and walked around the table. She bent forward over Callum's shoulder and gave him a kiss on the lips and said, "Thank you."
Leonid looked at his boyfriend with a bewildered expression and Bradley reached over the table and shook Callum's hand. "Are you sure your name is not Cupid?" he asked.
Later on, Timothy got Callum alone and thanked him. "How did you know?"
"Let's just say a pretty bird told me. And I can read between the lines." Callum said.
"Do you always talk in riddles?" Timothy asked.
"Only when the coat fits." Callum said and smiled.
Timothy smiled back and held out a hand, "I hope we can be friends because I understand you and Aly's brother are an item. That means we'll probably be bumping into each quite a bit."
"You treat Aly right and we'll be good friends." Callum said.
"Okay, good friend." Timothy replied which brought a fresh smile to Callum.
"Now who's talking in riddles?" Callum asked and the two laughed.
Shortly after Timothy started joining the group at lunch times Bradley, Callum and Dominic were all in the same class together when one of the other class members got up and walked to the front of the class before the teacher arrived. He knocked on one of the desks with the whiteboard eraser to get everyone's attention. "We know that we have three queers in this class." He began, his voice dripping with sarcasm which made the three in question look up concerned, "We have known we have them for some time and those bloody rumours that were put out by some bitchy person only served to confirm it. Yeah, Ashbourne, Carter and Wright, we do know about you. But we have discussed it amongst ourselves and we thought it was time to let you know that even though you are basically out to us, we don't give a fuck and we won't be outing you to anyone else. You guys have been okay with us and never made us feel like you were even perving on any of us. So we can be okay back to you too. We might never be best of mates but we can at least still be sociable." The class suddenly broke out in applause and Dominic had to answer for the three of them because Bradley and Callum were quite choked up.
"Sorry, I didn't know this was coming so I haven't got a speech ready. All I can say from all of us is thank you. Thank you for being the great class we are and yeah we'd like to stay sociable." Dominic said and got some more applause.
Their classmates went one step further in trying to get others to understand and accept that some people can be gay and that they don't normally pose any threat to others. That small start had a knock on effect and began to spread through the school and helped many of the pupils to be more accepting of those who might be different. Not just on grounds of sexuality but in other areas too. A girl who had a deformed arm found herself being helped with things rather than being laughed at and one of her friends even bloodied the nose of another pupil who made fun of the girl.
Epilogue
Although Bradley and Alexander had decided to stay true to each other, Leonid and Callum chose to include Dominic, Ben and David in some of their fun. Alyona also still had some intimate times with Callum and Leonid and on a few occasions this also included Dominic. On a few other occasions there was a bit of a foursome including Timothy who though not terribly comfortable with it all still found he could enjoy it; maybe it was only because he had also become good friends with Callum and Leonid who made up the foursome and he knew he could trust them not to push him too far.
Timothy did become a good friend with all the others and his relationship with Alyona lasted until they ended up going to universities in different towns. Being practical they agreed to remain friends but not lovers. Alyona was still intact when she started university. Timothy had lost his virginity before he even started dating Alyona. He was barely into puberty when he was lured by two older girls who taught him a lot more about sex in a couple of weeks during one school break than he had so far learned in his twelve years of life. By the end of those weeks he had penetrated each of the girls both vaginally and anally and had been sucked off by both of them too. Although Timothy craved to have intercourse with Alyona he respected her wish and never once tried to persuade her to change her mind for him. Timothy met a girl about a year after he had finished his degree who he married and settled down with. They asked Alyona to be a godmother to their only child, a son.
Bradley and Callum got into the same university and after their first year in halls they were able to rent a flat which gave Alexander more opportunity to visit and enjoy being with his boyfriend. Likewise Leonid enjoyed the same opportunities which helped both couples to stay together even though they were not seeing each other as often as they were used to. Alexander did not go to the same university but did get into a sister university in the same town. His first year in halls was Bradley's last year after which Bradley found work and rented a place that Alexander shared with him for the rest of his time at university. Once both of them had passed their degrees and were settled down in gainful employment they got married and gave themselves to each other for the first time on their wedding night. Alexander asked Callum to be his best man and David to be his groomsman. Bradley asked Dominic to be his best man and Ben to be his groomsman. Alyona, Leonid and Timothy took on the role of ushers. All of their parents were present along with a number of old school mates, university friends and work colleagues.
Dominic never got a steady boyfriend until he was halfway through his university course when he got together with the model he was painting. Dominic had chosen to do art for his degree and the model was another student in the same year as Dominic who was doing a drama and performing arts degree. He was modelling because it equated to paid work and he didn't have to travel to get to work. The first time that Dominic saw him, Gerald was as naked as the day he was born and for Dominic it was love at first sight. Gerald took a little more persuading but the two of them did eventually get married.
Following the horrific visit to his mother still plaguing his mind, David spent the next three years in counselling before he was able to cope with it and found that his best coping mechanism was not to mention her at all. Thus it was that he never talked about her, even with his best friend and confidant, Alexander, until after she died. And even then he referred to her as "that woman" when he told Alexander that his mother had died. The mental and emotional struggle that David went through kept him from forming any close friendships except what he had with Alexander which continued even after Alexander and Bradley got married. David did have friends but mostly remained celibate until he was into his thirties. Then he met a twenty-five year old guy who was struggling with much of what David had been struggling with. They met by chance at the urinal in a gay bar where they both had gone as they were both feeling low that evening. Jeremy was fighting back tears as he pissed and David tried to comfort him. They talked a lot and Jeremy ended up going home with David and spending the night with him. A few months later Jeremy had moved in and the two found that in their suffering they could be happy with, and comfort, each other. Probably because they could understand and empathise with each other like no one else could do.
Callum and Leonid lived together into their old age but never did formalise their union. They were happy and comfortable to remain as boyfriends.
Ben, opted to join the army, rather than go to university, and did an apprenticeship through the army coming out as a highly skilled munitions expert, with the rank of Major. Like his brother he never got into a very close relationship with anyone and enjoyed playing both fields as the opportunities arose.
Alyona met a man who was not that much different from Callum, except he was straight. They married and had three sons before he managed to get his chromosomes in order and produce a daughter on their fourth attempt. All four kids were encouraged to be proud of their bodies and were allowed to be naked at home, as their parents often were. The whole family also enjoyed holidays at naturist resorts some of the time. Those four kids also had an extra set of grandparents who spoiled them rotten for their birthdays.
Apart from spoiling their "adopted" grandchildren, John and Rose enjoyed being able to visit with their own children and sons in law for that is how they looked on both Leonid and Bradley. John had become the chairperson of the Board of Governors before Alexander left the school but remained on the board for several more years only retiring after Alexander and Bradley got married. Under John's leadership, the school benefitted greatly from the board's input through some wise counsel and some significant fund raising that strengthened the whole fabric of the school. George had resigned his seat on the board at the time Ben left the school.
The older generation kept up their monthly get togethers with the younger ones joining them when they were home from university or just visiting once they had completed their studies. The friendships they had formed through their children remained strong right into retirement.
The end
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Thanks
Rick