“It’ll be okay.”

“Sure it will,” Leo murmured, squeezing Dustin’s hand back as he waited for his mom to answer the door.

There weren’t many more dramatic ways of coming out: walking in holding hands with another man. On the other hand, it was the easiest way to get it out of the way as quickly as possible.

Everything could go really weird in about ten seconds’ time, and it was way too late to turn back. Dustin’s grip on his hand was firm. He wasn’t letting Leo let go, and Leo was grateful for it. Sometimes he wondered how Dustin could squeeze all that damn bravery into his slender frame. He felt like half the man Dustin was right now. Dustin could surely feel his hand shaking.

The door was opening. “Leo! There you are, darling,” his mother greeted, then paused, looking confused as she noticed Dustin—and the death-grip Leo had on his hand.

He could see the recognition dawning in her eyes. Aside from holidays, he didn’t come home much, so he’d only seen them once since moving to town. Getting a call from him, asking he could come over and talk to them, had to have been a surprise. This explained it all as simply as he could.

“Hey, Mom.” Leo swallowed hard and smiled as he stepped inside, leading Dustin. “Is Dad home?” His step-dad had gotten the title sometime in elementary school, just because calling his father figure Rob raised questions he hadn’t always wanted to answer.

“Yes, of course. Hon. There’s someone to meet.” His mom’s tone was significant.

Rob came in from the living room, and as expected, he noticed them holding hands before he even reached them. His brows furrowed in confusion. “Leo?”

“Hey, Dad. This is Dustin, my boyfriend.” Leo tried to speak casually yet confidently. The balance was suddenly hard to find. “Dustin, my mom and dad.”

“Hi, Mrs. Sanderson. Mr. Sanderson,” Dustin greeted, letting go of Leo’s hand to shake.

Rob let him, looking somewhat dazed. “Leo,” he said again. “Dustin. Right.”

“I guess we should talk,” Leo said, nodding toward the living room.

Dustin breathed out a quick sigh and bent over to take his shoes off as Leo did the same, probably thinking the same thing: at least they’re inviting us in to talk.

Jesus. Leo shook his head and settled on the couch, patting the spot next to him for Dustin to join him. The tension in the room was even worse than it had been at Dustin’s parents’ place.

“So, uh. How long has this been going on? Have you been dating?” His mom corrected herself after a moment, perhaps thinking that sounded a little accusatory.

“Just since the weekend. I wanted you guys to know before the rumor mill and the grapevine got to work,” Leo smiled.

Dustin sat straight, hands in his lap. He didn’t say much, but he was closely watching Leo’s parents. Leo just prayed they weren’t about to be jerks in front of him. He didn’t really want to get the same you don’t deserve that speech he’d had to give Dustin himself not long ago.

“Right,” Rob said, settling back in his recliner and folding his hands against his stomach as he looked between them. “We didn’t know you were… dating men now.”

Leo shook his head. “It’s pretty new to me, too. I never really thought about dating much. You remember how I was,” he said with a quick smile. “Focused on my career. After I left the military, I started to think about dating. Moved back here, and… well, I kept meaning to sign up for an app or something. But then we ran into each other, and…” He shrugged, as unable to explain it to them as he had been to himself. “I realized it’s not just women who I’m interested in. Dustin stood out right away.”

“So it’s not all men…” his mother started.

Leo laughed. “Not every single man in Knoxville. Don’t worry, Mom. I don’t have that much free time.” That made her blush and reconsider her next words—long enough for him to get more in edgewise. “Men in general, yes. Women, yes. I’m bi. I never really thought about it, because I knew I liked women.”

“Right,” Rob dragged out the syllable for a second. “And this phase…”

“Not a phase,” Leo interrupted, trying to stay patient. “Do you mean this discovery, or this relationship? Choose one.”

He paused, looking between them for a moment. “This… self-discovery, if you like. Is that just since you were discharged?”

Leo nodded. “Pretty much. I mean, I noticed men before. I just thought it was…” He had to choose his words careful. Normal was still a little too quick to come to mind. That wasn’t right at all. Too many years not thinking about this shit. “Straight guy bonding stuff,” he chose instead.

“Do you think it could be… your experiences in war zones?” Rob asked.

Leo cast them a confused look.

“Some trauma response,” his dad clarified.

Leo laughed and groaned at the same moment as he heard Dustin gasp. He rubbed his forehead and shook his head. Of course his dad would want to relate it to the military—and something broken in him, instead of something still precious and whole and growing every day.

“A lot of men in uniform get home and figure out new things about themselves,” Dustin interjected. “Everything they were running away from when they enlisted. It doesn’t mean being overseas caused it.”

Leo glanced at Dustin quickly. “Yeah. That’s a good way of putting it, I guess.”

“So you were running from… us?” Mom asked, her eyes tearing up.

“No, Mom.” Leo sighed and rose to his feet, moving over to the loveseat to hug her. “I’m not saying that.”

That was half-true. His step-dad, maybe. Not her. Or at least the pressures Rob had put on him from an early age—choosing an active combat career, not girly photography shit. He’d met him halfway, at least.

“I don’t understand where this is coming from,” she managed, clearing her throat and pushing him away gently as she looked him over, then looked at Dustin. “It’s just so sudden.”

“It’s been sudden for me, too,” Leo admitted. “There’s been a lot of adjustment. But I’m so damn glad I realized.”

“But won’t you be happy together?” Rob asked. “If you’re… bi, like you say…”

“Bi people can be happy in relationships, sir,” Dustin interjected again. “Pardon me for sounding like the gay encyclopedia here. But it’s no different from straight people settling down in a relationship. They still find other people attractive, but they choose to date or marry one. Same with bi people—the pool of people they could find attractive is just a little bigger.”

Leo shot him a grateful look. “See?” He looked at his dad, then his mom. “I chose the one I love because of who he is, not what he is.”

“I still don’t think I understand,” his mom admitted softly. “But I want to try. You look years younger than you did when you came to see us for Christmas.”

Leo crookedly smiled. “I feel it, too. And there’s, uh, one other thing.” He moved back to the couch to take Dustin’s hand again. “We met at work, and some of the officers decided they had a problem with that. Long story short… it was quit or be pushed out on some flimsy excuse. I’m taking my photography freelance. Going to start a small business.”

“That’s… They fired you because you two are dating?” Rob sat up straight. “Now, hold on. That’s not right.”

Leo thanked God it worked. Rob was more fired up about his son being mistreated than he was about him being bi. Which automatically brought him around to the side of being okay with him being bi, and the relationship.

Rob seemed to realize it, too. He huffed and shook his head. “That’s not right at all.”

“We’re going to see about getting those rules clarified,” Dustin said softly. “They haven’t enforced them before, when straight couples in the office got together. And there are married officers—police families. Our supervisor seemed to be on our side.”

“But it was a good time for me to make the switch,” Leo took over from Dustin, squeezing his hand. “I’ve been wanting to for a while. Classes in random subjects aren’t helping me. This career wasn’t, either. Something new and different. Something where I can… I don’t know. Show the good side of life again, for the first time in so long. Just normal people being their happy, healthy selves.”

His mom nodded slowly. “You’ve always had that kind of heart. This will make you happier,” she said firmly.

Rob couldn’t argue. “I suppose so. As long as you’ve thought about this.”

“Oh, I have. There’s a lot of work to do, but I can’t wait,” Leo told them, his lips lifting into a smile. He felt like that represented his relationship with his parents, too. “Speaking of which, we should get going. I just wanted to give you that, and… now some time to process it.”

“Okay.” His mom rose to her feet and gave him a big hug, followed by Dustin. “Thank you. And it’s a pleasure to meet you, Dustin. Where were my manners earlier?”

Dustin’s smile was blinding. “Pleasure to meet you, too, ma’am. And… thank you.”