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Started at the Bus Stop Chapter 54
The next morning everybody was up in time to have breakfast together. While they were eating, Percy asked Clive if he could have a private chat with him. Clive suggested they go to his room to talk. Percy looked at Adam, who gave a slight nod of his head, and Percy agreed to Clive's suggestion.
Percy said he would help clear up after breakfast, since Juliet had done all the work preparing it, but Adam said not to bother – he and William would do that while Percy had his chat with Clive.
Once in Clive's room Percy began, "I want to tell you this because I really like you a lot, and I want you to know that I want to be your friend, like forever. You've probably seen it in some television shows where a husband or wife goes off and has what they call an affair with a different person. They call that being unfaithful, and it usually ends up with the husband and wife having big fights, with lots of shouting and maybe some crying too. When two people love each other they don't want another person coming in between them and making them doubt whether the person they love still loves them back."
"Yeah, you see that a lot on the tele," Clive responded.
"Okay, so there's something like that going on in my head. You know William and I are boyfriends and we love each other?"
"Yeah, I know that."
"Well, I feel that I have to be faithful to William. That means I shouldn't do naked stuff with anyone but William. So I don't want to do that sort of thing with you and Juliet anymore. William is very precious to me and I just have to be with only him for that sort of thing. I'm sorry, because it means you and Juliet won't get to have that kind of fun with me anymore. But we will have other kinds of fun. I'll still help you with your homework if you need it. I'll always be your friend, and we can play games together or go to town or a cinema still. We just can't do any of that sexual stuff anymore. You're still very special to me, and I like you very much."
"So, does that mean that you won't let Juliet make you any more special pants?" Clive asked.
"Yes, that sort of thing is included too. It's not just you. It's everybody but my boyfriend."
"Is William going to stop too?"
"That's for William to decide, not me. I think he'll let you know if he is."
"But I can still play with Juliet?"
"That's not for me to decide or promise. That's between you and Juliet."
"Can I still hug you?"
"Yes, we're still friends and special friends hug each other. Do you want to hug now?"
"Yes." Clive quickly slid over the few inches that separated the two of them and threw his arms around Percy. Percy pulled him into a tight hug, and they held it longer than they normally would have.
"Thank you, Clive. I needed that hug."
"So, we're still good friends?"
"Yes, we're still very good friends. You are a very special person and I love you. Not the same as I love William, but I do love you like you were my own brother."
"But you don't have a brother."
"Not a brother that came from the same parents as me, but you're my brother in every other way."
"So, I'm your brother and your friend?" Clive asked.
"Yes, and there's not many people who have a friend like that."
"I like the things we do. Do we have to stop?"
"Well, I have to stop or it won't be right with me and William. Since he's my boyfriend, he has to come first."
"Okay, I guess. Just make sure you stay my friend. I don't have any other friends."
"Clive, I'll always be your friend, even when I'm old and wrinkly," Percy assured him.
Clive giggled. "Dad's old and he's not wrinkly, but grandma is."
"Yes, and when I'm as old as your grandma is now, you'll still be my friend."
They spent a bit more time together and then went down and joined the rest of the family. Adam just nodded to Percy when he saw that Clive was not upset. They all sat chatting for a while and then Percy said he could do with another cup of coffee and asked Juliet if she would go with him to make it. Once they were alone in the kitchen Percy said, "I need to talk to you too. Do you want to bring a cup and we can talk out in the garden?"
Juliet realised that the talk would probably be on the same subject as Percy's talk with Clive. She was very curious so she agreed immediately. Their talk did not take as long, because Juliet understood straight away and accepted what Percy felt he needed to do. They hadn't even finished their coffees when Juliet leaned over and gave Percy a hug. "I'll make it easier for you, and promise not to try to get William hard when I'm fitting him for clothes. And I'll give you that same promise if you'll let me still make some clothes for you. Also, I'll do my best to leave William out of things. It'll probably mean I have to do more with Clive, but I think he'll also want to help both you and William to be happy."
"Well, your special brand of underwear will not be on the menu, but I guess if you want to practice making other clothes for me, I could manage to attend a fitting or two," Percy replied.
"Good. I want to make some matching shirts for the men in my life. I think it would look good for you all to have the same style, even though they will be in different colours," Juliet told him.
"Thank you for being so understanding. I only hope Clive doesn't get too upset. He seems to have understood and accepted what I was saying, but maybe the `not doing' will sink in more as time goes on."
"Actually, I think Clive was already thinking that it might happen. He asked me the other day if you two might get married and then not do anything with us," Juliet said.
"Yeah, but this is coming before we get married."
"You say that with a tone of confidence that it will happen."
"More a tone of hope. I know it will mean that I've only dated one person and then married him, but that is what I would really like to happen."
"There's no reason it's not possible. You two clearly love each other, no question. If the love flame stays burning, a wedding is the most likely result."
"Yes, but that's still a long way off. Who knows what the future holds? Look at what's happened in my life in just a few months. Just about more than in all my previous years," Percy said.
"Well, we'd better be getting inside before Clive sends a search party out for us," Juliet suggested.
When they sat down in the lounge with the other three, Adam again looked at Percy and nodded. He looked at Juliet and she nodded at him. "I think what you've done today, Percy, is a good thing. Juliet, Clive, you know why Percy wants to stop his naked playing with you two. I think you might want to show William how much you love him and also let him keep his times for Percy alone." Suddenly Adam had three red-faced offspring in front of him, and a red-faced guest as well. Seeing that, he added, "It would make me happier too." Once again, Adam had not condemned his children for what they were doing. He had let them know that it was not something he was pleased about, but he assumed correctly that they would not stop just at his request anyway.
Although William had not planned on stopping his intimate times with Juliet and Clive, Juliet told him that she understood how Percy was feeling and felt that William must be having similar thoughts, so she was not going to ask, or expect, William to have any further action with her. She said she would keep Clive happy, and hopefully that would help William to be able to stay true to Percy.
William was very touched, and after giving Juliet a hug and a kiss on her forehead he said, "I don't know what we've done to turn out the way we have. We are truly a blessed family, even without our mum."
"We have a very understanding and encouraging father. He's done his best to be both mum and dad to us, and I love him even more for doing that. I think it's his example and his stability that has allowed us to become such a loving family. He's taught us that it's a blessing to make a sacrifice for someone you love. That's what I'm doing for you and Percy, because I do love both of you," Juliet said.
In spite of his challenges, Clive was not stupid. He worked out that if Percy needed to give himself to William only, then William must also need to give himself only to Percy, and he never asked William to do anything with him again. He told Juliet that he missed it, but he knew they needed to be with each other. Clive raised the subject with Juliet a couple of weeks later.
"Juliet, if William and Percy need to be only with each other, what's going to happen when you get a boyfriend of your own?"
"We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it," Julie told him.
"No, I think we should stop now. I don't want you to feel bad because of me. I also don't want you not getting a boyfriend just because you don't want to make me feel bad. If we quit now, we don't need to feel bad about anyone."
"That's true, Clive. You know you're a good person, don't you?"
"Percy says I'm special and I'm his very special friend."
"Yes, you are special. You're very precious to me too. And I love you," Juliet assured Clive.
Although the sex play stopped amongst the Chesterton siblings, Juliet's work at her sewing machine didn't. She still got to see both her brothers in the altogether when it came time to try on underwear that she made for them. Juliet also continued to sew clothes for Percy, albeit only outer clothes; she never saw him naked or aroused again.
Juliet did get the shirts made. She asked them all to wear them for her birthday BBQ, to which Grace was also invited. Percy and William took charge of the grill as well as all the other nibbles for the party. Most of Percy and William's group of friends were invited, along with some other girls and boys from Juliet's own year at school. One boy from her year, Andre, showed a particular interest in Juliet from the moment he arrived. When the younger people began to dance after the meal, Andre was the first to ask Juliet for a dance. By the end of the evening they were a tentative couple, something Juliet had been hoping for and the reason she had invited him to the party. Before they left, Inky, Martyn and Barrie had cornered Andre and told him that he was a very lucky guy. Then they warned him not to hurt Juliet because they would make sure he was sorry if he did. The boys did it in such a way that Andre was not intimidated but knew that he was to treat Juliet right, which is what he wanted to do anyway.
Percy and William found that remaining exclusive to each other did reduce the amount of sex they experienced, but their love for each other meant that the intimacy and love making they did have was much better than what they had experienced before. The added emotional element took it from a way of releasing their tensions to being a way of deepening their relationship.
The two began looking at universities for when they finished their secondary schooling. Together they had applied to three universities that offered both of them their choice of courses.
Juliet's words seemed to be ringing true – their love for each other continued to grow. They could no longer hide it at school. Because they had initially enjoyed the protection of the rugby team, their partnership had become accepted, and that had encouraged a few other boys and girls to form same-sex partnerships. While not flaunting them, they were not hiding them either. Two of their male teachers also began to show a developing relationship. While that resulted in some heated discussions at meetings of the Board of Governors, they were never censured for their liaison. The government having legalised and formalised same sex partnerships and marriages, the board wasn't left with much option.
Although Percy and William's opportunities for intimate interaction had been curtailed somewhat, their time together had not. They spent a lot of time together studying for their A level exams. Both boys earned very good passes, ensuring their acceptance into any university they chose. Both accepted offers of places from Oxford. Following a visit to the city of spires they had assured their places in the same halls for their first year of study. They had even been guaranteed they would have rooms next door to each other.
Their school-leavers prom dance took place on the second last Friday night of the term. Of course, they attended as a couple. They were pleased to see Daniel and Nicky also arrive as a couple. Another male couple were their teachers, who were there as chaperones. William and Percy had just come off the dance floor for a bit of a rest and to get a drink when they were approached by the two teachers.
"We just want to express our thanks to you two for being brave enough to come out at school. The way it happened was so uneventful that it smoothed the way for several others to do the same. It also gave us the opportunity to reveal our relationship. We have come under some fire for it, but at last we don't have to live a lie," one of the teachers said.
The other teacher added, "We believe you two have a deep and lasting love. We hope that it does result in you two eventually getting married. Yes, we have discussed you two. We have come to the decision that we are going to get married. We would be honoured if you two would agree to be ushers at our wedding. It will be before you head up north to Oxford. We will, of course, arrange the hire of all the suits for the wedding party. Have a think about what we've asked, and if you have any questions just ask."
"We'd also like it if you would call us by our Christian names when we're not in school. So tonight, we're just Charles and Sam," the first teacher said, indicating his partner and then himself.
The four of them chatted for a while longer, then Charles turned to Percy. "Would you please let me have one dance with you?" he asked. Percy was taken aback, but after a short pause he agreed.
While they were dancing Sam told William, "We're supposed to be chaperoning all you horny teenagers, but we also like some fun. When they have finished their dance, would you please allow me to share the floor with you?" William agreed and enjoyed his dance with Sam.
It was getting close to the time that the dance would be ending when Dan approached the disc jockey. After a short conversation the dj agreed to let Dan say something through the sound system.
When the song that was playing ended, Dan began to speak. "This has been a great evening so far. I believe this has been the first leaver's dance where people have been able to show who they truly are. That happened because two people here had the courage to let us know that they were different. In just a couple of years the whole school has come to accept and trust people for who they are, not for some image they put out in order to be accepted. We only have a few more songs before the disco is silenced on this year's dance. This is our last social as a year group, and for what remains of it I want to ask that we all just be who we really are. Hopefully we can leave here with some happy thoughts to treasure and remember for many years. To the staff who have been here to help us enjoy our evening, a big thank you. I hope we haven't given you too much trouble or cause for concern. We appreciate your giving up time for us to have a good time. And that, folks, is enough warbling on. Let's dance."
As the disco started up, Dan and Nicky made a beeline for Percy and William and asked them to dance. Half way through the dance the two couples noticed that they had a bit more room around them. Looking around, they saw that the rest of the teens had formed a loose circle. While they were moving to the beat, they were not dancing as couples – all were watching Dan dancing with William and Nicky dancing with Percy. When the song came to an end, they all began applauding the two couples.
Nicky let go of Percy. Turning slightly, he gave an exaggerated bow. As he straightened up he began clapping, and the other three in the middle joined him. They smiled their thanks to their impromptu audience, then Percy pulled William into a hug and kissed him for the first time in front of their school mates and peers.
Two weeks before the school dance, Percy had succeeded in discovering an email address for a Sanderson who he hoped was Bryan's adoptive father. The evening of the prom he saw on his phone that he had received a reply to the email he had sent. Although Adam was picking both Percy and William up from the dance, they were both spending the night at Percy's home. When they got home and had greeted Grace, the two went upstairs and Percy told William about the reponse to his email.
They opened the email and read:
Hi Percy,
Don't be too surprised. Dad showed me the email you sent him and as I've had a lot of time to think, and some help from a shrink, I'm glad to be able to respond to you. Yes, this is me, Bryan writing instead of my dad. I'm shouldn't be, but I am surprised at how you find out things and then act on them. How did you know which Sanderson to email? I know I blocked all you guys and then deleted all your addresses and phone numbers. I was really upset and angry. I now realise that aiming it towards you and the others was wrong, but I couldn't see that then. Getting booted out of school was a real shock. I was convinced the school would get rid of gays first. I thought I should be given a medal for making things right.
I know from your email to dad that you know something about my past history and that you think it is what made me be the way I was. Yes it did have a part in it. The rest was my own doing. I wasn't thinking straight and I really messed up. I'm truly sorry for the pain and grief I've caused you over the years and I hope that you really mean it when you say you've already forgiven me. I would also like to meet up with you if you are willing so that I can show you, I've changed and am sorry.
Can you do me a big favour, I would like to be able to write to the other guys and apologise to them too. Would you pass on my email address, I haven't changed it, to them and ask them if they are willing to write to me. I will then respond and seek an opportunity to meet with them too. I know this is short notice, but perhaps we could meet at the shopping precinct tomorrow and maybe have a bit to eat and take in a movie or something. I'm going to be there anyway as I need to get some things. I'll make a point of being there from about 10:30 onwards. If you don't want to meet with me, I'll understand it, but I'll wait till after lunch time at least, in the hope you can make it.
Thank you for not giving up on me when most others had. It's been some time, but I'm glad you kept trying. My mum and dad think you're a very special person to have done that. It's why dad let me read your email. He asked me what I wanted to do about it and this is my response. I might have had some bad things happen in my life, but my mum and dad are some of the best things and they have stood by me even though I've put them through a painful hell.
Anyway, please let me know what you will do.
Bryan.
"Wow! That's a very different Bryan. Do you want to meet him tomorrow?" William said as he finished reading the mail over Percy's shoulder.
"I think we should all try to meet him. I'm going to forward this to the others now and suggest that we all try to make it to the precinct for about eleven. What do you think?"
"That's a great idea. We all were ready to forgive him when it happened. I'm sure the rest will still be ready, and showing up en-mass should show him that we all are still friends."
"Okay, here goes." Percy proceeded to forward the mail he had got from Bryan, adding his own explanation and encouragement for the others to be there if they could. He sent it off quickly, hoping that, as all of them had been at the dance, they would still be up and would get it in time to think about it a bit.
A few minutes later his phone began to ping as the friends replied to his email.
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