Simon: age 8
Josh's POV
"Leeds?" I question Simon. We are sat at the dinner table having a lovely meal made by JJ. JJ has a smirk on his face. No doubt it's because Simon is no longer supporting Millwall.
"Yeah," Simon confirms as he bites into his chicken sandwich. He has been telling us about his day at school.
"How did you get the idea of supporting Leeds?" I interrogate.
"This kid that Lewis is friends with. He supports Leeds," Simon blandly explains. He gives no real explanation and leaves it as that.
"Leave him be, Josh. Let him support who he wants," JJ gives me a pleading grin. I sigh and over exaggerate it.
"Fine," I jokingly roll my eyes. A smile spreads across Simon's adorable little face. "Anything to see that smile," I say as I ruffle Simon's hair. He laughs and pulls away from my hand. He hurriedly tries to resort his hair.
"Can I go back up to my room now?" Simon asks excitedly. His plate has been cleared of food. He was playing some games on his Xbox with some of his mates from school.
"Go on then," JJ gives him the go ahead.
"Thank you, Papa! Thank you, Daddy!" He cheers as he scurried to put his plate in the sink. He darts up the stairs and his door is heard closing.
"That boy," I smile and shake my head playfully.
"I know. He reminds me of myself when I was young. I would always beg my parents to let me go and play games instead of whatever we were supposed to be doing," JJ says with a fond smile on his lips as he remembers his younger self.
"So what do you want to do tonight? It's Friday night and we already know where Simon is going to be all night," I question my husband. We both chuckle.
"A movie?" JJ suggests.
"Sounds good. Our room or the lounge?" I ask.
"Lounge," JJ decides after some consideration.
Once we clean up the table and the kitchen, JJ and I situate ourselves in the lounge. I went and collected our duvet from our room so that we could cozy up together. I let JJ pick the movie since I really didn't care. I only care about spending time together, not what we are actually doing.
My head rests on JJ's shoulder as our eyes are trained on the movie. His arm is wrapped around my waist as he holds me to him. His hand finds my hand under the duvet and laces our fingers together. A smile creeps onto my face at the action.
"I love you," I randomly say during a somewhat boring part of the film. JJ's head turns to my direction.
"I love you, too," JJ replies. He leans down ever so slightly to peck my lips. We stay close as the movie plays on.
We miss probably a good fourth of the movie just lost in each other. We are taken away from our staring at each other by the sound of Simon rushing down the stairs. We think nothing of it until we hear muffled sniffles. It's almost as if he is crying but trying to hide it.
"Simon?" I call out into the kitchen where the sniffles are coming from.
"Y-Yeah?" He calls back. He tried but failed to keep his voice strong. He stutters as his voice cracks.
"Come here, please," JJ requests. It takes a few seconds, but the kid finally trudges in.
He shuffles his feet as he stands slightly to the side of the couch. His head is down as he studies his feet. His hands are behind his back. He looks so frail and vulnerable in this state.
"What's up?" JJ asks of the boy. We are both concerned, but we are trying not to baby him too much. He has been complaining and whining at us to stop babying him so much because he is a big kid now.
"Come here," I say as I pat the space beside me after he doesn't reply. He saunters over and lazily plops down onto the couch. He still doesn't look up at us. JJ pauses our movie so that our full attention can be on our son.
"Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" JJ tries to get the boy to speak. Simon shakes his head no. I raise my hand to his chin and lift his face to look at us. He has tears trailing down his cheeks. His cheeks are flushed a light red color.
"What's wrong, Simon? You can tell us anything, you know that," I try to comfort and coax the boy. We lock eyes. He says nothing as he wraps his arms around my body. I don't hesitate to place my arms around him as well.
His crying starts to get harder. JJ and I share a knowing look. We just need to let him cry it out before we get any answers from him. I pull our baby boy into my lap as he continues to cry. JJ places a hand to his back and rubs soothing circles into his shirt.
After about five minutes of comforting, the boy starts to calm down. He reaches out and holds JJ's hand up to his face. He nuzzles his cheek into the palm of his hand as he lets out a stuttering sigh. We wait patiently for the boy to begin talking.
"We were playing Call of Duty with some kids from school. They started making fun of me for having two Dads. I told them to stop, but they wouldn't. Why do people not like that I have two Dads?" The innocent boy explains why he is upset. My heart absolutely breaks. We knew that this would happen some day.
"Some people just don't understand how Daddy and I can love each other because we are both boys, but there is nothing wrong with loving whoever you want to. Some people just don't understand that it's okay to love anyone you want to," JJ tries to explain it in a way that the boy will understand. His hand caresses the poor boy's cheek. His thumb soothingly rubs across his cheek.
"What does fag mean?" He asks as he rubs at his eye. My face goes red with anger. JJ's jaw clenches at the word. My hands clench into tight fists. My fingernails are digging into my palms.
"That is a bad word. When people don't like gay people, they use that word to make them feel bad," I put it in a simple way.
"What is gay?" The curious boy asks. We have been waiting to have this conversation until he is older because we want him to really understand it.
"I guess we better just have this whole conversation now," JJ suggests. His eyes are trained on me.
"Yeah. So when a man and a woman are a couple, they are straight. When two men or two women love each other, they are gay. Some people only think that straight people are good. Papa and I think that everyone should be able to love whoever they want to," I educate the young boy.
"So you and Papa are gay?" Simon looks up at me from my lap. His forehead is creased with curiosity.
"Well there are different kinds of being gay. Daddy is pansexual which means that he likes boys and girls and people who don't want to be a boy or a girl. I'm bisexual which means I just like boys and girls. If someone is a boy and they just like boys, then they are gay," JJ tries to make it really easy for him to understand. Simon nods along.
"It's okay if you don't understand yet. All you need to know is that you can love whoever you want to. If you ever want to talk about something, you can always talk to us, no matter what it is about. We love you and we always will, no matter what," I reassure the boy. I tighten my hold around him and press a kiss to his forehead.
"Now, the next time someone gives you a hard time, you ignore them. I know that it might hurt, but you are our strong big boy. Next time it happens, ignore them and tell us straight away, okay?" JJ instructs the boy.
"Okay. Thank you Papa and Daddy. I love you," Simon expresses his gratitude to the both of us. His arms encircle both of us.
I hope you enjoyed. Until next time, Ilya, bye!!!
