"So, I thought this Summer we could go white water rafting!" Stephen tells Adam as they walk through the departures hall of the airport the next day.
"I'm going on a cricket camp this Summer."
"Oh. Well, maybe around Easter or ANZAC Day we could go hiking?"
"We're going to Grandma and Grandpa's."
"Okay, well that takes us to the July holidays, maybe we could go skiing?"
"YOU JUST DON'T GET IT DO YOU?!" Adam cries as he takes off down an escalator to the baggage check.
Stephen takes a quick look at Calum who's been pretty much silent all morning, before taking off after his son.
"Calum told me you weren't having a very good time," he talks quietly so not to embarrass the boy. "And I didn't want to believe him."
Adam turns around from ignoring his father and glances up at him briefly.
"I was just trying really hard to..."
"That's just it Dad! You try too hard."
"Yeah I guess I do," admits Stephen. "But I don't get to see you very often. You live there and I'm back here, so for those few days that I'm lucky enough to have you I want it to be something special, something...well, something. So that you'll remember me, so you won't forget me."
"When I'm with you I'm getting away from Mum and Gareth and all the bullshit stress that happens at school. I just want to hang out! And not have to worry about doing something every single minute of the day!"
Stephen takes a deep breath, he never realised how Adam had felt. "You mean just like lying around and reading comics?"
"Yeah, if I feel like it."
The airport public announcement system kicks in and tells them both that Adam's Qantas flight to Perth is boarding. They both look at each other, for the first time in years knowing how the other one is thinking and feeling.
"That's you. Call me tonight, no matter how late it is?" Stephen asks, noting that the ground crew are waiting to take Adam onto the flight.
"Okay, I will." Adam looks over to Calum standing a few paces away.
"Bye Adam," Calum tells him as he comes over for a quick hug.
Adam grins at him, "Thanks for the Scorpion Head!" Turning towards his Dad he reaches up and grabs Stephen by the neck, forcing his father to pick him up as he did when he was smaller.
"Bye," Stephen says thickly, giving him a squeeze before depositing him on the floor again. He's rewarded by a huge smile, the first genuine one he's seen in years, before Adam turns to leave.
"You know I actually don't mind being a step-mother!" Calum grins as they both turn away once they can't see Adam any longer.
"For someone who never had a father, you sure know a lot about being one," Stephen says quietly, already missing his son and kicking himself for all the times he's dragged Adam around without realising how much he hated it.
"Well, I just imagined what I'd want him to act like if I had one!" Calum explains, thinking about how Corey's parents had kicked him out of the house when they'd found out he was gay and he'd had to live with his Grandmother and then his Aunt. About Michael's dad who was just plain mean, whether he was drunk or sober, although he did tend to hit more when he was drunk. About Sam's dad who left when he was a teenager, and about his own Uncle Dave who would've made a great father had he not been gay, and have AIDS of course.
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Queer as Muke
Fanfiction"The thing you need to know is, it's all about sex. It's true. In fact they say men think about sex every twenty-eight seconds. Of course that's straight men. With gay men it's every nine." Twenty nine year old advertising executive Michael Cliffor...
