A Pure and Honest Heart

by Zambezi

Chapter Ten

Brad drove back to Trinity after dinner on the Sunday evening, in anticipation of his first exam - General Studies - the following day. It was one of those subjects which Brad had no worries about as it was little more than a general knowledge quiz, and sure enough he came out of it relatively happy, rushing back to his room to continue studying for the other subjects which would come after the half term break which spanned the following week.

The second part of the General Studies exam followed on the Wednesday morning. Brad retired to his room immediately afterwards, and had been in about five minutes when there was a knock on his door. "Come in," he called, and his Housemaster entered with a grave look.

"Brad, I wanted to wait until that exam was over, but I'm afraid there's been some news from home. Jamie's been hurt."

"What?" Brad cried as he flew out of his chair to address Mr Stephens.

"He was discharged from hospital but then he disappeared during the night. Frank Clarkson called me this morning as soon as they realised what was going on."

"I'm going back right now. I've got to."

"I know. Here is your car key." The older man held out the fob. "Let me know if there's anything we can do, and let me know tonight how long you'll be away for."

"Sure," Brad called, already on his way out through the door.

Two and a half hours later he pulled up outside the Clarkson house on the outskirts of Faversham and walked in through the kitchen door without knocking. He spotted Penny, Sarah's mother, sitting at the breakfast bar putting down a newspaper as she reacted to the teenager entering the house.

"Oh, Bradley, thank goodness you're here. I guess you heard the news?"

"I did. What in the hell is going on?"

"He got beaten up outside school as he left yesterday. The ambulance took him to Kent and Canterbury Hospital as a precaution, because he fell and banged his head, but he seemed to be all right. We brought him back here and put him to bed, but when I went in to wake him up this morning he was gone."

"And?"

"And we haven't seen him since. We have no idea where he might have gone - checked all his friends, even back at your house, but he wasn't there. He didn't show up in school either."

Brad ran his hands through his hair and held the back of his head. "OK, thanks Penny. Do the police know?"

"Not officially, not yet. They said to wait twelve hours before they could take a missing persons report."

"I'm going out looking for him. I'll check in with you later this evening - call me on my cell phone if you hear any news." Brad stepped back outside and got into his car, wondering how on earth he'd be able to cope without it. He realised that, without him noticing, he had somehow started to regard it as 'his' car even though he had set out with the intention of it always being Zelda's, on loan. He didn't want to risk driving it across fields so took the long way back to the farm house. He quickly checked in with George, who wasn't expecting him, and gave him his blessing to knock off early along with the rest of south east England that evening as Manchester United prepared to challenge for the European Cup - their third trophy of the soccer season.

As he stepped back outside the house Brad began to think of all the places on the farm where his brother might have tried to hide. He knew that on foot in the dead of night Jamie could not have got desperately far from the Clarkson residence, and in any case he probably knew only half a dozen people in Faversham itself well enough to seek refuge, and Penny Clarkson had contacted them anyway. He had to be somewhere on the farm, Brad mused. He checked in the hay loft and in the other outhouses around, but there was no sign - too obvious. The he remembered a small hiding place out in the dairy pasture, where the rocks and lie of the land created a sort of hiding place where they had played as younger kids. Not even their parents had known they hid there.

Rather than take the UMM jeep out, Brad decided to walk. He was not particularly keen about creeping up on his brother, but didn't want to frighten him away either. The walk took about fifteen minutes at double pace..

As he rounded the corner into the little enclave, he spotted his brother lying on an old mattress he had completely forgotten about. Jamie stood up to challenge the intruder, but upon seeing it was Brad he rushed straight into his brother's arms and began sobbing uncontrollably.

"Bradley, thank God. I knew you'd come for me."

Brad held his young brother tightly as the tears flowed, not knowing when to start speaking himself. "Jeez," he thought to himself, "how am I suppose to deal with all this emotion?" But although he didn't have an immediate answer he just, somehow, knew what to do. He knew that he had to be there, hold on tight, and show that he loved him.

After about ten minutes the sobbing abated and Brad pushed Jamie back to look him in the eye. "I am so glad you're OK. But I am really worried about you. I want to know exactly what's going on and I don't want to be spared any details. If something is up you must tell me or we're doomed. Now spill."

"Brad, it was awful. I told my friend Ben about how cool it was last weekend to have you back, and how much I enjoyed cuddling up to you. I thought I could trust him, but he went and told someone else about it, and before I knew it the whole school was saying I was a cry-baby and a poof. Then I got beaten up in the corridor at lunch."

"OK, so then you got taken to hospital and the Clarksons picked you up and took you back to their home. What happened there? Why did you disappear in the middle of the night? Penny's worried sick."

"I know, and I'm really sorry for putting them through this. But Sarah, she, she..." Jamie couldn't continue.

"Sarah what?"

"She came into my room and started stroking me, touching me, telling me she knew I was a real man. It really freaked me out and I had to get out of there."

Brad's head was spinning. "I'm sure she was just trying to comfort you."

"Brad," Jamie retorted, "she made a pass at me. I'm not stupid, and I'm not ready for something like that."

"Okay, okay," Brad responded as he pulled his brother back into the hug and comforted him. "Sorry if you were ever uncomfortable in that situation. You shouldn't have to deal with attention like that."

"So what happens now? I don't want to go back and live with the Clarksons."

"Neither do I," Brad responded as he weighed up the options, "so you're staying here." Brad had made up his mind in milliseconds. "I'm dropping out of school to look after you."

"What?"

"You heard me. You and me, we're gonna be a proper family from now on and to hell with everything else. I am not going to stand by and watch my little brother or anyone else I care about get hurt if I can possibly make a difference. Now let's head home."

And off they walked, at a more sedate pace this time. When they got back to the house Jamie went up the stairs to shower and freshen up while Brad prepared a quick snack for the pair of them to tide them over until later that evening. He had just defrosted some bread to go with some cold ham and salad when Zelda Williams' giant Mercedes pulled up in the driveway, so he trotted to the kitchen door to welcome her in. She smiled weakly as she entered the house and Brad showed her to the lounge.

"Good news travels fast then?" Brad enquired. He knew Tom Stephens would have told Tony about this latest domestic crisis, who in turn would have told Richie, who in turn would have told his mother.

"I suppose one might say that. Has he been found?"

"Yes. He was trying to come to terms with, er, a difference of opinion with the Clarksons about what constitutes appropriate behaviour towards a thirteen year old."

Zelda raised her eyebrows for a moment, long enough for Brad to see. The young adult continued: "I'm dropping out of school to look after him. I know we said before that it was insane, but I have no options. I can't leave him here any more, he'll be put into care. And he can't come with me back to Trinity. I have to stay."

Zelda nodded her head in understanding rather than agreement. "Run it by me again. Why can't he go back with you?"

Brad looked up then realised that she didn't know the whole story. Quickly, leaving out some of more graphic details, he recounted the story of Bob Davis' expulsion and subsequent readmission, and his own reaction to that sorry state of affairs, explaining how he and the Headmaster had fallen out over the matter, which had scuppered Jamie's chances of the bursary he needed to make up the difference between the half-fee scholarship he'd been offered and the asking rate. All the time, Zelda nodded with continued understanding, before she finally spoke.

"So the Head just decided to let this Davis boy back in even though he'd been expelled for assaulting someone?"

"That's pretty much it."

"Brad, I have always thought of you as a person of principle, and I am really proud of you for having stood up to the Headmaster over that. More proud than you could imagine, particularly when the potential cost has been so high. Tom Stephens told me back in January that the general consensus of opinion in the Staff Common Room was that Jamie would have a place at Trinity in September by hook or by crook. I'll pay for him."

Brad was thunderstruck. "Huh?"

"I said, I'll pay for him. The balance of his fees."

"No you won't. You have done enough for us already; there's no way I could ask that."

"So you are really going to throw away everything you have earned over the last nine years just to look after your little brother?"

"In a word, yes."

"You know that if you stay here and don't go to university then our little deal is off? No sponsorship, no job?"

"Yes, I am aware of that."

"Then I admire you even more. I can't say I agree, but I have nothing but the deepest respect for your conviction, and I will support you however I can, you know that." Zelda stood up and began to head for the door. "When Richie calls tonight, as I am sure he will, what should I tell him?"

"Tell him I miss him, and I'm sorry I won't see out the rest of his first year at school. If he calls, I'll explain."

"I'm sure you will Brad. I'll be in touch." And she walked out of the door.

Brad awoke early the following morning with a hangover. He had been forced to endure two stomach-churning telephone calls the evening before. The first had been to Tom Stephens to briefly explain that he had found Jamie safe and well, but would not be returning to Trinity. The devastated Housemaster offered any help he or his wife could provide, and accepted Brad's reasoning, although he did not agree with the decision.

The second call was a little more awkward. Brad didn't really know how to tell Frank Clarkson that he didn't want Jamie back under his roof, but whatever he mumbled seemed to have got the message across, and there seemed to be a bit of an understanding anyway. Brad wondered if Sarah had been speaking to him. The two boys then drowned their sorrows in a small case of Bishops Finger beer which had been floating around since the Shepherd Neame buyer had visited.

As Brad got out of his bed and walked through to the bathroom, it dawned on him that the rest of his life was beginning, and he was terrified. It had seemed such a clever idea yesterday to drop out of school to look after Jamie, but this morning he was daunted at the scale of the task ahead of him. As he completed his ablutions he rationalised that he thrived on responsibility, he was more than capable of running the farm and keeping them financially secure, and that Jamie was a wonderful, positive kid who would always try his best to please his brother. Brad knocked softly on Jamie's door to wake him up for school, and drove him there half an hour later with a note explaining his absence the previous day.

Daniel Leigh, the lawyer, arrived in the middle of the morning having been clued up to the latest turn of events, and after a long discussion with Brad he hurriedly arranged another meeting with the social worker. He was unsure how they would react to Brad's proposed arrangements, and was not willing to guarantee they would accept it. He told Brad as much, and called Zelda from his car to brief her as he left just before lunch.

Brad spent the afternoon with George tying the hop vines back to prevent them strangling each other before he left on the stroke of three o'clock to pick Jamie up from school. The following day, Friday, was pretty much along the same lines: take Jamie to school in the morning, farm work, then pick Jamie up in the mid afternoon before both mucked in with farm work for a few hours until they called it a day.

Both were at it again for a few hours on the Saturday morning, tending to the hops again, before a light lunch and then settling down together at the kitchen table so that Brad could help Jamie catch up with the schoolwork he had missed that week. They were still poring over it two hours later when the rumble of a car on the track outside disturbed their thoughts. Brad wandered over to the door and opened it to find Richard Young standing there. Richie stepped forward and pulled his older friend into a tight hug around his waist, Brad's arms automatically responding by wrapping themselves around Richie's shoulders.

Jamie looked up and raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

The two Trinity pupils released their grip but held each other in their eyes as Zelda arrived at the door too. "Mind if I come in?"

"Sure."

"Richie wanted to come and see you both now that he's on half term. I hope you don't mind. We should have called, but he wanted to surprise you."

"And a lovely surprise it is too," replied Brad, slightly annoyed he had broken the hug with the boy he loved. "But if you've come to talk me into going back to school after half term and take your money to pay Jamie's fees then you've wasted a trip I'm afraid."

Zelda grinned. "Well, I've been thinking about doing that since Wednesday night, but I won't have to now."

Brad was puzzled. "I'm sorry, I don't follow you."

"Brad, I think we all know that Jamie was going to get that bursary, right up until your disagreement with the Headmaster. Tom Stephens told me, and you pretty much knew anyway."

"True."

"Well, he's not going to lose it just because you stood up for principle, regardless of the Head's view. I came to tell you that the Headmaster will suffer a mild heart attack some time during half term, and will take early retirement with immediate effect. Mr Stephens will be acting Headmaster when school resumes, and Jamie will have his bursary. He's expected."

"What do you mean 'the Headmaster will suffer a mild heart attack'?" Brad asked, incredulously.

"The Governors told him he will," Zelda replied, wholly unfazed.

"Excuse me?"

"The Governors got to hear about the whole incident with that Davis boy, and they weren't impressed with the way the Head handled it."

"How exactly did they hear?" Brad enquired, still scarcely believing his ears."

"Let's just say that you and Jamie, and indeed Richie, have friends in high places," Zelda continued.

"Sounds like that bloody honour committee telling Tchaikovski to poison himself." Brad walked over to his school-issue term diary on the counter, flicking through the pages until he found the list of school Governors. Sure enough, right at the bottom of the list was one P A Young QC, OT. "You never told me Richard's father was a Governor as well."

"Must have slipped my mind. But notwithstanding my memory, shit rolls downhill. A valuable lesson to all of you."

Richie spoke up. "So, you're coming back to school, both of you!" The excitement in his voice was palpable.

Brad looked at Jamie, whose face was a picture. For the first time since the accident he smiled a huge genuine smile. Brad turned back to Zelda and her son, who by now were standing arm in arm grinning like Cheshire cats. "There will be a few practicalities to sort out, but it looks like it." He walked over to Richie and high-fived him before another hug, this time neither caring whether or not Zelda saw. For her part, she just smiled at Jamie and rolled her eyes in resignation. Brad saw it out of the corner of his eye, and instantly he knew that she knew. And he figured Jamie probably had suspicions as well.

* * *

On the Friday of the half term break Brad and Jamie loaded their possessions into the Passat. Brad's older Trinity uniform had been stored in the loft once he outgrew it, in the hope that Jamie would be able to make some use of it at the right time. They had got it out a couple of days before and it fit him perfectly. After leaving final instructions on running the farm to George, they headed off together to spend two nights with Richie as they had agreed earlier.

They whipped quickly around the southern stretch of the M25 and headed down into darkest Surrey towards the vast Inglewood estate. As Brad turned the big yellow Volkswagen through the gates and they headed up the drive, Jamie exclaimed "Jesus, do they really live here?"

Richie greeted them as they pulled up, Saunders at his side to take some of the luggage as directed. Richie told Brad that his mother wanted to speak to him in the study when they arrived, so he would show Jamie up to his room.

Brad headed along the ground floor corridor towards the study. The door was open, but he knocked on it politely before being summoned in.

"Bradley," Zelda said, "I am so glad to see you here at Inglewood again."

"I'm always happy to be here. It is becoming something of a sanctuary for me."

"It always will be, I am sure. I need to tell you about what Mr Leigh told me this morning."

"That doesn't sound too good." Brad's voice was heavy.

"He doesn't think Kent council will go for your proposal about Jamie. He reckons one judge in ten might see your side, but thinks we should explore other options first."

"I see. But we don't really have any other options."

"You don't between yourselves. But with Jamie's education secure that only leaves holiday time, which should fit in quite nicely with your university studies. Sure, there'll be half terms and things, but I think I have a way around all that."

"Go on..."

"Richie and I have talked and we'd like to foster or adopt Jamie. That way he will be here under our - my rather my - care and you are free to come and go as you please. If our deal is still on you'll be working here when you're not at university anyway, so it makes sense for him to be here too."

Brad was struck dumb. "I'm gobsmacked," he replied eventually. "I don't know what to say, for once again your generosity has left me feeling very awkward."

"Don't feel like that. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't mean it. It was Richie's idea actually. He has often talked about how you all supported each other and how that made you all stronger, and I think he wants a bit of that here too. I can't say I disagree. Peter and I made a bit of a pig's ear of providing a safe and warm environment for Richie to grow up in. I reckon I'm working on it now, but Richie and I are both convinced it will be a lot stronger if we had you two in it as well. Although he obviously adores you, Richie has quite a soft spot for Jamie too, and he could barely contain himself when he found out that he'd be at Trinity too."

"I still don't know what to say. It would sort out most of our family issues once and for all, but we'd have to give up the farm."

"I thought you hated being tied to that place and couldn't wait to get off."

"True, but that was before, you know."

"Are things really any different now? The farm would have given you a small income but little more and you were always going to resent it as a weight around your neck. I am offering to look after Jamie from now on, and if you sell the farm you'd have the proceeds from that to provide some financial security for both of you independent of what I can offer you here although with money coming out of my ears it really isn't an imposition. I'd never live with myself if I didn't offer to take you both in."

"Zelda, I really appreciate this, but I need to think about it and I need to speak to Jamie about it. I probably also need to speak to uncle Gareth to get another perspective."

"I understand. I'd have suggested it anyway."

Brad hesitated momentarily. He knew that everything was coming together and that if Jamie agreed they would be foolish to turn it down. But there was something else he needed to get out of the way.

"There's one slight problem, and I am not really sure how to say this."

Zelda smiled at him. "Try me, I'm pretty unshockable."

"You already know how Richie really feels about me, which would potentially have made things awkward anyway. But things have moved on since we last spoke about it in January, and although I am still struggling with some of the emotional issues, let alone the practicalities, I think I may love him too. I am telling you this first of all because you have a right to know if you're inviting me to live under your roof, and partly because we all need to consider the implications if Richie and I fall out at some point in the future. We both say we love each other, but I am not so arrogant or naïve to assume it will last forever. I'm not even sure I am gay, but I know that right here and now I love him, and I'm going to do everything to enable that love to find expression."

"I wondered when you were going to bring that up, but I'm glad you did. In case my own position as Richard's mother isn't clear, I will gladly repeat what I know I've said before. I can't think of a better boyfriend for my son to have than you. You will always be welcome under my roof within that context or outwith. I know that many teenage romances do not last, indeed few do. But Richie desperately loves you, and for you to turn around now and say the same your feelings have to be up there with the best of the best. I am not going to belittle those feelings: when you say you love each other then I believe you genuinely mean it. Many people of my age think that you can't love as an adolescent, but I do not. You merely lack the life experience to realise that love for someone is only ever a snapshot in time. For some relationships, it's a snapshot that repeats on a cine-camera for the rest of one's life; for others it's a single polaroid that fades with time and eventually gets shoved into a dusty photo album with the other memories. Or it's something in between. But it's still love. Come and live with us, with Richie, with my blessing. Take your relationship at your own pace: within the walls of Inglewood you have the space and the privacy to do that. If you are meant to be together then it will work, both of you will make sure of that. If it doesn't, then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. What we must not do in this situation is to avoid walking down a path because we don't know what's at the other end, when the bigger challenge is the walk itself, regardless of what awaits us. In any case, I just have a good feeling about you two."

Brad blushed and permitted himself a grin. "Me too" was the best he could muster.

Zelda had given Brad and Jamie their own room each - Brad next to Richie, to which he was now accustomed, and Jamie across the corridor.

After they had all retired after another alcohol-fuelled karaoke session Brad was surprised not one iota when his door creaked open and light footsteps padded up to his bed, accompanied with a whisper of "Are you awake?"

Brad's answer wouldn't have made a difference anyway, as Richie slipped under the covers with him. Neither had to say anything as they kissed each other tenderly and simply enjoyed the physical proximity as they drifted off to sleep in each others' arms.

* * *

The whole of Wordsworth House knew of Brad's family tragedy: his various sudden absences could not be simply papered over, not even in a place like Trinity. Tony Fleming and Nathan Gregory - the new House Captain for the next year who took office after half term - had, between them, fielded all the questions from the rest of the House about their sorely missed leader.

Thus, when Brad reappeared after half term with his younger brother in tow, nobody was particularly surprised. Although Jamie was a year younger than the Third Formers he was billeted with and shared classes with, he was not overwhelmed, remembering them all from when he spent a few days there in February to sit the scholarship exam. Bob Gillson, Allesandro Correlli, Marcus Carter, Chas Danton (begrudgingly, at first) and of course Richie made sure that he was welcome and made to feel at home. He would, of course, begin in the Third Form again in September, but looked upon the whole experience as a development opportunity.

Brad got stuck right back into his A-level exams, although he was severely behind on his revision. The first week after half term saw three exams with which he struggled, his mind wondering about all sorts.

By the time Saturday came he was mentally exhausted, although still able to take to the cricket field to represent the Trinity First XI again for the first time since his exploits at Woodlands. Despite the total absence of practice for the last month he was on top form, taking the new ball and blowing the visiting King's School top order away before returning later in the innings with spin to wrap things up quickly, making seven wickets in the match again. He didn't need to bat as Trinity ran home by nine wickets long before the scheduled tea break. Brad decided to head down towards the under 14 pitch, where - to the surprise of some - Richie was captaining the side for the first time in the absence of the regular skipper who had managed to dislocate his shoulder falling out of a tree - which surprised no-one. It was a slow-scoring game as Richie's defensive fields for impotent bowlers strangled the King's batsmen until the inevitable declaration would eventually come some half an hour after tea.

When he arrived, Brad spotted Zelda Williams and Peter Young standing side by side in the pavilion admiring their son marshalling his field. He walked up to say hello to them, and to thank Peter for his efforts with the other Governors. They then stood around with general chit-chat as the boys came off the field for the tea break. Naturally, Richie and Jamie - who had been selected to bat at seven - wondered over to what passed as their complete family in their own minds.

Peter Young was the first to congratulate both young teens on their cricketing prowess before he wandered off to have a chat to the Master in charge of under 14 cricket. Brad was left with his brother, his boyfriend, and his boyfriend's mother. Zelda spoke first, to her son and Jamie, "Glad to see both of you settling into school life together."

"Thanks Zelda," Jamie responded, the perfect child-gentleman.

Zelda turned to her own son with a glint in her eye. "Is your new jockstrap helping at all?"

"Mum!"

Zelda was having difficulty controlling herself and avoiding breaking into hoots of laughter. "Richie used to use a Slazenger jockstrap," she continued as she addressed Brad, despite her son's increasingly desperate protestations. "But for some reason he decided that he had to start using a Reader one. I wonder why that is?"

"Mum!" Richard wanted to die, and started to turn away in teenaged disgust, although he remained rooted to the spot.

Brad shook his head as he grinned, chuckling to himself but Jamie, eager to make conversation, chipped in with "Brad, you wear a Reader too don't you?" Brad grinned and nodded with a slight air of embarrassment. When the penny dropped, Jamie gave his brother a puzzled look but didn't say any more.

After tea, the weary Trinity under 14s headed back out onto the pitch to continue their war of attrition. Jamie caught a blinder in the slips off Richie's off break bowling to spark a mini-collapse but Kings declared just before Richie's hat-trick ball.

As they applauded they players off, Brad turned to Zelda and stated, matter-of-factly, "You and Richard's father seem to be getting on a lot better."

"Yeah, she replied," momentarily off guard. "After your loss, I contacted him to see about who was the best family lawyer he knew to help you out. He wanted to know why, so I told him everything that had happened. As we talked about it we both realised that there were far more important things in life than scoring points off each other in front of our son, and that providing a loving, respectful and exemplary environment to nurture him - and now you and Jamie - was a far more useful way to expend our energy. I am sorry we had to use your loss to see that but if it means anything, we're both very grateful. We'll never get back together, but we can be friends again, friends enough to rediscover all the things that brought us together in the first place."

Brad smiled. "I'm sure Richie's delighted."

"He is."

"My ears are burning," cried a voice behind them as one arm extended around Brad and another around the woman next to him, drawing them in together. Brad ruffled his boyfriend's hair quickly, before anyone noticed.

"Good bowling out there, Richie. Shame they wouldn't let you try for the hat-trick."

"Moral victory's still mine," the younger boy observed.

Brad stayed and watched as the Trinity batsmen set out to reply to the King's total. In almost an exact replay of Brad's tour de force in the Woodlands game a month or so earlier, Richie took the opposition attack apart with a superb display of exquisite timing and controlled aggression. Every time he despatched a bad delivery to the boundary he looked up to see his mother, father, and Brad and Jamie cheering him on with applause. Very soon he was batting for them - Brad in particular - and drew an immense amount of support from them all standing together on the boundary. As he passed his fifty he pointed his bat at the family before he saluted the pavilion, bringing a huge smile to Brad's face. Recalling his own virtuoso performance for the younger boy a month before, Brad realised what was going through Richie's mind just before he realised he had included himself and Jamie in the "family".

As six o'clock approached the game started to slip away from Trinity as they lost a flurry of wickets in the middle order, which slowed the scoring rate down. By the time Jamie walked out to join Richie in the middle and bat for Trinity for the first time about half of the school had gathered on the boundary to watch the tense finish.

Brad's heart was in his mouth. He knew that if his two boys out there knocked off the winning runs in the short time available they would win their passport to instant acceptance for a very long time. Richie, as it happened, was nearly there anyway but Jamie still had to carve a name for himself in the school jock hierarchy, and the perfect opportunity lay in front of him. Jamie and Richie, the two people Brad loved above anyone in the world that warm June afternoon, did not let him down as Richie continued his fluent drives and cuts, while Jamie's delicious Klusener-esque mows brought him run after run over midwicket.

Finally, just on the stroke of six o'clock Richie ran a wide ball down to third man and set off for the two runs which brought his side victory. He and Jamie punched each others' fists as they finished the run and gave each other a friendly squeeze on the shoulder before they walked off towards the clapping masses at the pavilion. Both heroes walked up the steps together and Brad, now standing at the top, held his arms out wide for his brother. However, Richie made a beeline for him as well, so he took one boy in each arm and hugged them both tight, not caring who saw them as he gave Jamie's hair a quick kiss, followed by an even quicker one for Richie's. Zelda captured the moment on a video camera for posterity.

Later that evening, there was a small knock on Brad's study-bedroom door and Jamie let himself in before plonking himself down on the bed and picking up the newspaper to flick idly through as Brad crammed some more revision in before heading to the bar for a swift drink.

"Brad," Jamie began without looking up from the paper, "you never did tell me why you and Sarah split up over Easter."

"You're right, I didn't. And I promised I would." Brad screwed the cap back on his pen and folded up his notebook to give his brother his full attention. He didn't want to step on any banana skins here. He took a deep breath. "Sarah and I met each other when we were younger than you are now, and we kind of fell into our relationship. It cheapens it a bit to say there weren't any other options, but the option of not getting involved is always there. But we liked each other, first as friends, and then over time we found that we became very fond of each other physically too. That led to a sexual relationship which is where we were. But recently I met someone else, who was much more of a free choice in comparison, and for whom I have developed some very deep feelings. Although nothing sexual has happened with this person, I couldn't promise myself, or Sarah, that nothing ever would. She knew it almost before I did, and we had to stop things."

"This other person, is it Richie?"

"What's your position if it is?" Brad responded, unfazed.

"First, it's not really my business. Second, I'm still your brother, and I still love you. It makes no difference to me who it is. I trust your judgement about who is best equipped to make you happy."

"I appreciate that Jamie."

"Well, then. Is it?"

"Is it what?" Brad grinned. He received a playful punch on his arm for his humour.

"Is it Richie?"

Brad smiled and nodded his head almost imperceptibly, with resignation. "How long have you known?"

"Since February when he stayed with us. It was never really in our faces, but it was still pretty obvious how much he worshipped you. And the way you so obviously care about him, I just knew you had feelings for him, even if you didn't know yourself. There were loads of other clues too. Then there was that funny thing with the phone calls every night. Even Mum and Dad laughed about it."

"They knew?"

"They knew that you had found a soul mate and that both of you cared very much for each other. I think Mum may have suspected there was slightly more than that from him, but they were just so proud of you for being a friend to him I don't think anything else mattered. They certainly never talked about the possibility that you might be gay, at least not when I was around. The final clue was the kiss this afternoon. I just hope we can explain away any questions with the 'new family' defence."

"Me too. And now that I've admitted everything to you, how do you really feel about it bro?" Brad enquired.

"Like I said, I still love you. I am worried about how people here might react, but I know you can handle it and besides you'll be gone in a few weeks. I'm also a bit worried how Richie and I will manage next year and later if people find out. They're gonna talk eventually."

"I know. The new family defence should cover most bases, and once I've gone people will forget. They'll find someone else to pick on. They always do. And if they don't, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Yeah." Jamie got up from the bed and headed towards the door. "Brad?"

"Yeah?"

"Richie's a good guy: his heart's in the right place and when his body finally catches up he'll be an awesome catch for you. And you for him. You're both gonna break a lot of girls' hearts."

"Thanks bro," Brad replied as his brother disappeared through the door.

Brad looked at his Omega watch on his wrist, and decided to head for the bar. It would be an intense few weeks ahead, so he was going to get his retribution in first.