Fragile

by Skyler Snow

  Was it really that easy though? I struggled with him and Scott. What if Elliot struggles with me dating his best friend?

  Elliot already knew I was bisexual and as much as it had surprised him, he was happy for me. At least that bit was taken care of. But this was his best friend. If Tom was anyone else I was sure he would be fine with it. Also maybe if we had told him sooner.

  But it was Tom. Besides them being friends and co-workers, the age gap felt like it might pose a problem. Sure, Elliot and Scott’s relationship had a similar age gap, but it wasn’t like ‘hey, here’s your new step-dad. He’s your age!’ Everything about the situation seemed anxiety-inducing and I couldn’t help but feel a twist in my gut when Tom brought it up a few days ago.

  It was eating away at all of us, even though it really shouldn’t have been. I loved Tom. I loved Elliot and Scott. Having all of them in my life would be amazing, so why keep up the lie?

  “We don’t have to tell him if you don’t want to, babe. We could make something up.” Tom muttered into my shoulder. He spent a lot of time trying to manage how to work things out between his best friend and me. I knew it had to be exhausting him.

  “I don’t want you to go through all of that. I don’t want to be the type of man who feels like he has to hide his boyfriend from the world.” I sighed. Tom had gone through so much already. This couldn’t be another thing placed on his back. I couldn’t be another thing he smiled through even when he was sad. He didn’t deserve that. “I can tell him if you’d like. You don’t even have to be there.”

  “No, I want to be there. It’s gonna be weird for a while, but he’ll be okay with it. He might be mad, but that’s about it.” Tom sighed, snuggling closer against me like maybe I could shield him from this wreck of a situation we were in. “But if I’m there, he might actually think for a second that it was a prank or something. That won’t be great.”

  “That won’t be great.” I echoed. The last few days Tom had come home from work exhausted. Especially having to lie to Elliot. I needed him to know coming home to me was his safe place, his time where he could just be. Still, I couldn’t blame him for worrying but I needed to not be part of what he worried about, especially if I could take this off his plate. He was already starting to nod off in my arms and I carefully stood up, lifting him off the couch. He didn’t put up any resistance, but simply clung to me and yawned.

  “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of it, I promise.” I whispered as I carried him into the bedroom. I wasn’t even sure if he was awake when I helped him out of his clothes and into bed. He was certainly asleep by then because he had gone completely limp, the only movement the steady rise and fall of his chest. I watched for a minute, feeling a rush of almost painful affection. I wanted to hold him, protect him from the world, keep him safe forever. Just the fact that I couldn’t do that for him was enough to make my chest ache.

  I quietly tip toed out of the room and closed the door behind me.

  Tom had done enough already. At least I could do the rest of the heavy lifting for him. Making sure that I wasn’t making a sound, I went to the living room and pulled out my phone. I wasn’t sure if Scott would be awake at this hour, but he would wake up if I called. We always had that sort of relationship.

  I only had to wait a few moments before he picked up the phone. From the roughness in his voice I could tell that he had been sleeping.

  “Jack? What’s going on?” I could hear him getting out of bed and Elliot’s sleepy complaints in the background. There was some whispering, then the sound of a door closing. My heart settled a little. Scott was always there for me, I knew that.

  “A lot, man. I want to come clean about something. To get your advice.” I said, and I could practically hear him thinking.

  “Sounds serious Jack. I’m all ears, what’s going on?”

  I took a minute to suck in a deep breath. As much as I knew he loved me, I was worried about being judged. But I needed to tell someone about this and it had to be him.

  “It’s Tom. I… We…” I suddenly found myself frozen, standing in the living room of my condo. It felt like that moment when Elliot had called me and told me that he was dating Scott now, but the places were reversed. Fuck if this was how he’d felt,yeah. “Tom and I are seeing each other. We have been for a while now.”

  It was maybe the least graceful way to announce that we were in a relationship, but Scott got it immediately.

  “Oh, well alright then! Good on both of you.” Relief flooded his voice as the anxiety I felt quieted a bit. Of course Scott wouldn’t be mad at me about this. He was Scott. “I thought you’d murdered someone, man. I was ready to break out my shovel and drive over.”

  “Scott, I think I’m perfectly capable of burying a body myself.” I said with a smile on my face. Typical of Scott to be thinking of the absolute worst case scenario but at least he had my back. “We want to tell Elliot, but I don’t know how he’ll take it.”

  “Oh, that makes a lot of sense…” We were both silent, clearly Scott was thinking about it. I hoped he came up with a better idea than I did. I was actually glad he was the Elliot whisperer. We were two of the three people he trusted most on this Earth and Tom was the third. We were his family, no matter what, but it was hard to imagine how he might react to all of this. “I’m actually not really sure. It’s not a thing that I ever expected to happen, so I have no idea how he’ll feel or react. Are we too old to cross our fingers?” I let out a sigh.

  “I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine Jack. Worst case is that he feels a little uneasy about it, but he’ll get over that, too,” Jack said. “Besides, who is he to judge?” My friend snorted.

  I couldn’t help chuckling at the shot Scott had taken at himself and my son.

  “From your mouth brother,” I said.

  Still that’s exactly what I had been thinking. “Okay, yeah. Yeah we can do this.” I nodded.

  I still felt like I was on pins and needles, but at least now I knew that Scott was fine with it and that he was going to be on my side. I had back up. Not that I wanted this to be a fight, but I wanted support.

  “Alright, that’s about all I wanted to say. Could you tell Elliot that Tom and I will be dropping in for a visit around noon tomorrow?”

  “You’re going to tell him then?”

  I nodded. “Why not? The sooner, the better.”

  “Alright,” Scott yawned. “I’ll tell him to expect you two. Sleep well.”

  “Sleep well.”

  27

  Tom

  “Pretty sure this will always give me fond memories now,” I grinned as we stepped into the elevator. Jack pushed the up button.

  He scoffed. “I wouldn’t say that. You were drunk and I was trying to get home.”

  We both chuckled, just to break the tension. Today was the day we finally told Elliot and it was making both of us nervous. I was actually a little bit more dressed up than usual, but that just meant that I was wearing a shirt that fit me and jeans instead of basketball shorts or sweatpants. Jack was dressed up like Scott in a plaid shirt and blue jeans.

  The creaky old elevator moved up and I hoped that maybe it would get stuck again. My palms were getting wet and I kept on having to wipe them on the front of my pants. Jack and I were silent as we both tried to envision how this entire interaction might play out, but it was completely hopeless. I was one of his best friends and Jack was his dad. We still couldn’t predict anything about any of this.

  But seriously who renovated an apartment building without updating the elevator?

  I let out a sigh, okay so I was a ball of anxiety wrapped in nervous energy, dipped in a bowl of oh fuck, what had I gotten myself into.

  After all, I was about to tell him that I had been sleeping with his dad. There’s really no standard reaction to that sort of thing.

  “I’m pretty sure I’m gonna faint,” I muttered.

  “Shhh, you’re not baby.” Jack took my hand, giving it a squeeze. I glanced u
p at him. “Everything’s going to work out the way it’s supposed to. I promise.”

  “And if Elliot is pissed and hates me forever?”

  Jack raised a brow. “Why just you? We’re in this together.”

  It was my turn to scoff. “You’re his father. It’s easier to dump a friend than your dad, especially when he is a good one.”

  “Stop it.” Jack turned and pulled me closer. “Cut that out. He’s not going to hate you.” He leaned down, kissing me softly before he pulled back. “Say it. Everything’s going to be fine.”

  I chuckled against his lips. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

  I said the words, but my stomach still did flip flops. The elevator dinged, the doors opening to let us out into the hallway. We both glanced at each other, a little surprised that we were actually about to do this.

  “No turning back now.” I said, stepping out into the hallway and offering my hand to Jack. He took it and we walked hand in hand through the halls until we got to that familiar apartment door with that familiar number painted onto its surface. We stood there, not in any particular rush to get inside. When I glanced up at Jack I could see his face was paler than usual.

  “Are you okay, babe?” I asked. Jack turned to look at me and immediately his face relaxed a little. I don’t know what he saw in me that could calm him down so much and so easily, but I was glad for it at that moment.

  “Yeah. Just nervous.” He gave my hand another quick squeeze before knocking on the door. There was a pause before Scott was opening the door for us, looking just as worried as I felt. Jack and I let go of each other’s hands and all of us were staring at each other for a silent moment, trying to get a read on each other. We all knew what was about to happen and none of us knew how it would end.

  “Hey!” Scott’s face only showed the tiniest trace of anxiety now as he let us in. The apartment was a familiar place for all of us but it almost felt like a completely new space. Elliot was sitting on the couch only for a second before he ran up to Jack and gave him a hug. It was so rare that he did that. I knew he really must have missed his dad coming over all the time.

  “Hey dad!” He shouted. It really had been a long time since we had all been in a room together and the tension melted away a little as Jack hugged him back, laughing.

  “Hey kid!” He held Elliot out at arm’s length, looking him over. He was probably the healthiest he had ever been with the weight he was gaining from Scott’s cooking. There was also the fact that he was less stressed, his anxiety had calmed a lot since they started being around each other all of the time. Elliot always seemed to be glowing with life and happiness now. Not to mention Scott routinely dragged him out on hikes so he wasn’t as pale as he usually was. I knew how happy it made Jack to see him like that. “You’re looking good!”

  “So are you, dad. And you!” He turned to look between the two of us. I saw the calculation creep into his features. We were all standing a little awkwardly in a circle around him as he spun around, looking from Jack to Scott then me. “Is… Is something going on?”

  “Yeah. Maybe you should sit down.” I said quickly. It was better to just get it over with rather than having to drag it out and make it any more awkward than it already was. Elliot stared at me for a long moment. I knew that he was wondering if this was a joke. I shook my head slightly, nodding at the couch.

  Wordlessly, he sat down. I looked to Scott, then Jack. They stared at me with uneasy expressions. Great, guess I’m the one with balls in this situation.

  “Elliot, listen. It’s nothing super bad, don’t worry.” I began to say, not really hearing my own words. I was speaking but running on instinct, from the past experiences of coming out to people. None of it was conscious decision making anymore. “Jack and I have been talking a lot. We’ve been spending a lot of time together. We,” I glanced up at Jack. “We make each other happy. He makes me happy. We’ve been dating for a while now and we just put off telling you because—”

  “Tom.” Elliot cut me off and a jolt of cold fear washed over me. His voice was steady and serious, his eyebrows drawn. The room was dead silent as we waited for Elliot to continue. “Tom, I swear to god if you’re about to tell me that you’ve been,” he made a gagging motion, “fucking my dad I’m gonna punch you in the nuts.”

  He looked up at me, a barely concealed smile on his face before we both burst out laughing.The nervousness that I had felt about this day over the entire course of my relationship fell away. I launched myself at him. The hug turned into me dragging him to the floor and threatening to hit him.

  “That wasn’t funny!” I shouted, shaking him by the shoulders. Faintly, I could hear Scott and Jack laughing, but I was focused on Elliot right now. He was beaming at me, proud of himself.

  “You do the same shit to me every day! It’s fair!”

  “NOT ABOUT SHIT LIKE THIS!”

  The day had been a difficult and anxiety inducing one but we were right about one thing. We couldn’t have predicted the way that Elliot would have reacted in a million years.

  “I’m not sorry,” Elliot grinned. “It’s exactly the heart attack that you deserved hiding the fact that you were with my dad all along. I thought something was really wrong with him!”

  I frowned. “I’m sorry. Really, man. I should have told you from the start, but I was just enjoying it.” I glanced up at Jack and smiled before I looked back at Elliot. “Having him all to myself. It was nice.”

  Elliot was still underneath me. He tilted his head. “You two are really together now?”

  “Yeah.” I bit my lip. “Is that too weird for you?”

  “It’s weird,” Elliot sat up and smiled softly. “But I think I’ll get over it. You two were there for me when I started dating Scott. Why wouldn’t I be the same way for you?” He glanced up at his dad. “You jerks could have told me sooner though.”

  “We should have,” Jack nodded, his hands pushed into his pockets. “We were worried about how you would react. I told Scott last night.”

  Elliot gasped. “You told Scott first? Wait! He told you and you didn’t tell me?” He shoved a finger at Scott. “Oh I’m so mad at you.”

  Scott groaned. “See what you did?” He said to Jack. “You’re getting me in trouble!”

  “Does that mean Elliot won’t let you fuck him?”

  “Tom!” All three of them yelled at me at once.

  I grinned. Now, that was more like it. Just like that the tension disappeared and I had my family back.

  Epilogue - Jack

  The door opened and shut. I was on my feet in a snap. Tom was back home from work, weighed down with the bag of art supplies and sketchbooks that he insisted on using even though he admitted that digital art was more practical. He looked almost the same as the day I met him, except for the fact that he had gained a few pounds and his hair had grown a bit longer.

  “Hey honey, how was work?” I mimicked a high voice as I pressed a kiss to his cheek. Tom immediately tried to swat me away, laughing. I trapped him in my arms as he struggled to break free but only managed to squirm around a little.

  “Babe, I married you, not a 50’s housewife.” He gasped, finally stumbling out of my arms. We were both smiling as Tom ran a hand through his messy hair. Whenever I was with him the only thing I felt was joy. I’d found my perfect match.

  It had been a year since we actually started dating. The day we told Elliot was the day we settled on, since our relationship had always blurred between friendship and romantic. So much had happened in the past year!

  Tom moved into my condo. He was still working the same job, but with higher pay now that the game was off the ground. I was still working my job from home, but I helped Scott at the gym now to get out of the house. It was a fulfilling life. And more than I ever hoped for.

  “Where’s Arrow?” He asked, looking around the condo. Arrow was the puppy we got nearly six months ago, but he was a dog now. A little tan corgi that usually liked to romp around until he fell
asleep on the bed with the help of the step stool we’d put beside it.

  “Elliot and Scott are looking after him for today.” I took his bag from him and gently placed it on the couch. He was looking at me a little bit confused as I opened my arms to him again. He walked into my arms again.

  “What’s up? Is something going on?” He asked. I smiled, knowing that he was just now starting to suspect that something was amiss. I had been counting down the days to our one year anniversary, but I knew that he would forget about it with all the chaos going on. He and Elliot had been working night and day to hit their deadlines for the new game that had been announced for next year. I didn’t mind at all. I just felt stunned that a year had passed.

  “It’s our anniversary, baby.” I whispered, still holding him. He paused for a moment as my words sank in before he buried his face in my chest, groaning.

  “Ooooooh no is that today? I didn’t plan anything, I’m so, so sorry Jack, I got caught up in work.” He sighed, slumping forward against my body.

  Tom had been working late nights to be able to help with his team in person and the last few weeks had taken its toll. He still had his happy glow and he still had that weight that he had gained over the last year, but there were dark circles under his eyes.

  “It’s alright, baby. I ordered some Thai food and I was thinking we could just relax for a while together?” I gestured to the couch, where our usual order of Thai takeout was waiting in styrofoam containers. It was still warm, since it had just been delivered a few minutes ago. Tom’s eyes went from the white containers to the movie I had ready to play on the TV and finally to me.

  “Is this for me?” He whispered. I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around him again because it almost felt like my chest was caving in on itself. I loved Tom more than words or actions or ideas could ever describe and he still didn’t understand that fully. I was going to have to burn down the world for this man before he realized that he was my everything.