Three months later, Luke was happy in his new relationship. Hell, he was happy in general, even dealing with an occasionally imperfect world. Turned out being an out policeman wasn’t a terrible place to be, especially when the rest of the force wasn’t missing any opportunities support him. Because he had grown up in this town and because he had developed a reputation for being a fair officer, there was very little hassle to his face, even as things got heated. He knew the mutters around some sections of the town were probably a whole less complimentary, but hey, if he and his gorgeous boyfriend didn’t have to hear any rumblings, he was fine. It was hard to keep up a preoccupation about what every member of a community really thought about you when your own life included regular increasingly hot sex with the man you were in love with.
For Jai, life in the lowlight of country gossip wasn’t too dissimilar to the gentle stir he had already created around town. His beauty and style of dress were always going to attract eyes, though these days the comments were far more likely to be complimentary. Each week he was increasingly tangled into small town life and he found he liked the rhythm of the place; he liked knowing the names of most of the patrons of the grocery store when he walked through the aisles, liked the way he saw his patients through good or hard times. He had wanted for so many years for his life to have meaning, and in this community he had a real place.
Sadly, what worried them most was Tom. A sixteen-year-old, just freshly out, only got so much protection in the Lord of the Flies-style social order that seemed to be the precarious way the teenagers sorted out their lives. Luke was relieved to find out the world had changed. Gay bashing wasn’t something that seemed to be happening at Tom’s school. Bullying, on the other hand, hadn’t entirely fallen by the wayside. So while Tom had plenty of allies, there was enough masculine posturing that there were tough days. The absolute surprise, though, was that it was Dave who somewhat awkwardly went and confronted the principal. Luke couldn’t imagine it was the smoothest conversation, but his brother had gone to stand up for his gay son. The night that Luke had told Jai that, there had been tears in his eyes. The father-son relationship was increasingly better, but occasional strains meant they had the odd evening when Tom turned up on their doorstep, needing an empathetic ear. Luke sometimes suspected what he really craved was some time watching him and Jai, needing to see a gay couple who were thriving in this town, needing to see proof that happiness was possible around the corner. Also, he hadn’t quite talked the kid out of letting his eyes linger a little too long on his boyfriend. Luke now made very sure that any family time included Jai wearing a shirt. It was probably too early to talk marriage, but Luke found he couldn’t stop thinking about it, and if Jai was going to be Tom’s uncle in the future, the kid’s crush would hopefully be less obvious by the wedding day. Tom’s internet friendship with a teen from Parkes was also helping matters in that regard; puppy love definitely trumped any other distractions.
Jai had somehow started being a gay support person at the hospital, and although he didn’t name names when he came home, it had become obvious to them they certainly weren’t the only queers in town. Hell, when one of the paramedics came out, Luke wasn’t even the only gay first responder. Luke had been afraid that coming out was going to mean he was more isolated in the community, but now he found it actually gave him closer ties to sections of it. He hadn’t realized how much of himself he had kept walled up in anticipation of rejection. He hoped Jai never found out how much bonding mileage he made with his staff when he turned down a night of drinking, citing a partner who wanted him home more. In reality, Luke was the one who needed to be home with his boyfriend. Now that he and Jai represented home to each other, there was no place he would rather be.