Note: this chapter contains some homophobic views and attitudes.

• • •

"I can't believe you're starting Year Three today. What a big boy you are." George's hand is interlocked with Kieran's, as the pair walk through the school gates. It is the kids' first day back at school following the Summer holidays — having had the day off, the day previous, due to their grandmother's death. Levi walks alongside them, holding hands with Gemma; as they approach Kieran's new classroom, George turns to Levi. "Don't forget to tell Gem's teacher about Mum. Just in case she gets emotional during class."

"Of course." Levi nods, ushering for his daughter to follow him towards her new Year Four classroom.

George heaves a soft sigh, as he comes face to face with Kieran's new teacher, Mrs Hall. "Good morning, Mrs Hall. I'm George Panayiotou-Jones, Kieran's father."

"Hello, Mr Panayiotou-Jones." Mrs Hall's pronunciation of the prolonged surname is rather impressive; she looks down at the young boy by his father's side. "Hello, Kieran. How are you, sweet?"

"I'm okay," Kieran answers briefly.

"You're okay, what?" George presses, encouraging his son to use his manners.

"I'm okay, thank you," Kieran reiterates politely.

"Good boy." George is satisfied with his response, so he glances back up at Mrs Hall. "I just needed to drop by to talk to you quickly about our home life as of recently." He averts his eyes to Kieran. "Mate? How about you go into your class, and I'll just talk to Mrs Hall. Is that okay?"

"Okay, Daddy." He leaps up, to hug George tightly in farewell. "See you after school." He smiles at his beloved father, before hurrying into the cloak room to put his school bag and jacket away.

Once he's settled inside the classroom, George brings his attention back to the teacher. "Look ... my mother died earlier this week. Kieran isn't quite aware of how death works yet. I've told him his grandma has gone to some party in Heaven." He seems a little shy about this made-up scenario he has painted a picture of to his son, but he knows it's the only chance he has for Kieran to accept his grandmother's passing. "He's ... taking it very well, so I don't want to upset him by saying anything different. But I knew I needed to warn you, just in case he does suddenly click on to what's actually happened."

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Mrs Hall apologises sincerely. "I can't imagine the pain you've been through the last few days. I'll make sure Kieran does okay while he's under my care. I promise you that."

George smiles weakly in appreciation of her kindness. "Thank you. It's been rough." He shrugs, as if trying to dismiss the turmoil he has faced as of lately. "But I suppose it's all part of life, isn't it? He'll figure it out once he's older. And then he'll be a little more mature; and he'll know how to grieve properly."

"Bless his little heart," Mrs Hall frowns. "Leave it with me. I'll make sure he's alright. Get yourself home, Mr Panayiotou-Jones."

"Thank you." He turns away from the classroom door, beginning to make his way towards the school entrance gates to exit the premises. As he moves his head around to check behind him, he spots Levi walking speedily to catch up with him; once his husband is finally by his side, the pair walk together out of the school grounds. "Gem's teacher knows. I would have been quicker, but she started getting a bit teary-eyed when I tried to leave her."

"Oh, bless her." George frowns at the idea of his daughter being emotional. "I'm hoping she'll settle into class once we've left."

"I'm sure she'll be okay. She's a tough little girl." Levi brings an arm around George's back, bringing him in closer as they head back to their car together.

Before the first lesson of the day has even started, Kieran's attention is captured by another girl in his class. She rips a page out of her exercise book, scrunching it into a ball; before tossing it in his direction. It hits him on the head; in reaction, he snaps his head around to find the culprit, and his eyes meet hers. "What do you want, Esme?"

The girl, named Esme, gives an immature, over-exaggerated smirk. "Did your dad just walk out with another dad?"

"They're both my dads," Kieran explains innocently. "I have two of them."

"Don't you have a mum?" Esme follows-up. "Where is she?"

"I have two dads instead," Kieran answers. "And they both love me, and I love them."

"Are your dads, like, married? Or are they boyfriend and boyfriend?" a boy, named Sam, interrogates.

"They had a wedding," Kieran informs them. "I went to it. So did Gemma. We had a disco and cake; and it was really fun."

Esme gasps suddenly, as if she has just received the most earth-shattering piece of news in existence. "My mummy says that two guys shouldn't love each other. It should be a man and a lady."

"But are they good daddies, Kieran?" another girl, Jennifer, asks him.

"They're the best dads that I could ever ask for," Kieran states; just thinking of George and Levi brings an uncontrollable smile to his adorable face. "And I've never had a mum. I don't need one."

"I have a mum and two dads," Sam boasts. "But that's because my mum and dad broke up, and my mum found a new dad for me. So now I have two."

"But that's different," Esme jeers. "Your daddies don't love each other. Your daddies both love your mum."

"Well, my real dad doesn't love my mum anymore," Sam corrects her. "He moved out of the house and now I only see him on the weekend."

"That's not the point." Esme rolls her eyes, turning her attention back to Kieran. "My mummy said that if a man and another man are married, it's bad."

"Uh — excuse me?" Mrs Hall enters the room just in the nick of time; she just manages to catch Esme making the unfair comments. "Esme, your mummy has opinions that are very old-fashioned, now." She grabs a board marker from her desk, heading to the white board to draw a pair of stick men. "You see, a man and another man are allowed to love each other, just the same as a man and a woman can." She draws a third and fourth stick man, adding skirts to depict them as being female. "And it's the same with a woman and another woman. Times have changed a lot since your mummies and daddies were little. Now, everyone can love who they want to; and nobody should bully anyone because of it." She then draws a pair of heterosexual stick people, before adding ticks to each couple that she has drawn on the board. "All three of these are perfectly good. That's what we need to remember."

"See?" Kieran jibes. "My daddies are normal."

"I still don't think so. Mummy wouldn't lie to me." Esme folds her arms, slumping into her chair. "Mummy is always right about everything."

"Unfortunately, not this time, Esme." Mrs Hall smiles over at Kieran, who returns the simple gesture. "But after school, I'd like to have a chat with your mummy if that's okay?"

"Okay." Esme settles after this, allowing Mrs Hall to continue teaching as she originally intended to. This doesn't stop her, however, from occasionally side-glancing at Kieran disparagingly as the lesson goes on.

• • •

"Oh! Excuse me, Mr Panayiotou-Jones?" At the end of the school day, Mrs Hall tries to earn George's attention as he walks away with Kieran; he turns his head to spot the teacher desperately trying to catch him, so he heads back over to her. "I just wanted to have a quick conversation with you regarding something that happened in class today."

To this, George looks down at Kieran. "You didn't misbehave, did you? Because I raised you better than that, didn't I?"

Kieran assertively shakes his head, his eye falling on Mrs Hall, who is also shaking her head. "No, he didn't misbehave today. I—" She looks off into the distance, spotting Levi walking with Gemma towards the school gates. "Mr Panayiotou-Jones?"

Levi glances around to see Mrs Hall looking his way; he indicates to Gemma that they should turn around, to meet the trio stood by the classroom door. "Hi," he greets. "What's going on? Has something happened?"

"I just thought it would be best to let you both know at the same time," Mrs Hall begins to explain. "Today, in class, one of the other students started making some comments about your marriage. She said her mum had fed her these opinions on two men being in a relationship." She heaves a sigh, clasping her hands together. "Luckily, I nipped it in the bud as soon as I heard it. It shouldn't happen again, but I thought it best to let you know."

"It's appreciated," Levi comments, feeling, perhaps, a little disappointed at hearing this news. "It's just a shame that there's still people who think like this. It's twenty-fourteen already."

"All I can do is apologise for such behaviour," Mrs Hall frowns. "Although, I caught up with the student's mother before I spoke to you. I told her that these comments were affecting another student in class, because his parents are in a same-sex marriage."

"That's very kind of you to do," George compliments warmly. "But please let us know if anything else gets said."

"Of course. Though, like I said, it shouldn't happen again now that I've addressed it." She smiles kindly at the two offspring the men share; with the turmoil of losing their grandmother, the last thing she wants is for the children to experience any other sort of hardship. "I'll keep an eye out tomorrow for you."

"Thank you for letting us know. See you tomorrow." Levi concludes the conversation, lightly tugging at Gemma's hand as a means of suggesting that they should leave. George and Kieran follow suit, walking alongside them, until they arrive back at the family car. The kids get into the back; George climbs into the passenger seat while Levi ducks down into the driver side. With seatbelts fastened, the family head back home for the day.

• • •

"I thought we were past all this. I was so convinced that, considering it's almost twenty-fifteen, we'd be past all this." George paces up and down the kitchen, past the breakfast bar which currently houses the children's school bags and coats. "This is the kind of shit I expected back in the nineties. Fuck, the eighties."

"We knew that we'd always have this kind of thing," Levi assures him, knowing it probably won't make much difference. "There's always going to be homophobic people out there. We just have to hope that what Kieran's teacher said is true — that she really has nipped it in the bud."

"And what if she hasn't?" George presses nervously; very rarely in his twenty-seven years of being out the closet has he ever really come face-to-face with direct homophobia such as this. "What if it continues on?"

"We can't go assuming the worst," Levi states. "For all we know, that could be the end of it. You could be worrying about it for nothing."

"I just don't want to get attacked like we did when we were kids." George shudders as he remembers the fateful evening in 1986; the perpetrators are more-than-likely walking free as he speaks due to their short prison sentencing, which makes the situation all-the-more frightening. "We don't know what any bastard is capable of. If the wrong person sees us happy, it could cost us everything."

"But the law is so much more in our favour now," Levi reminds him. "I mean — did you ever think we'd be married in our lifetimes? Did you ever think we'd have been blessed with Kieran and Gemma in our lifetimes?"

"It was always an uncertainty," George confesses. "But I still remember the day when the news broke out that same-sex civil partnerships were legal. The way we celebrated."

"You mean, with a ceremony and a huge party the very same month the laws came about?" Levi chuckles at the wonderful time back in 2005. "Even that homophobic piece of shit at the party didn't ruin our fun that day. It was fantastic."

"It was." George smiles vaguely as he recalls being ordered to turn the music down at his own reception, only to refuse to do so. "I'll never forget the look on his face when Steph dragged him out of there."

"How is Steph doing?" Levi asks. "Because I know she was pretty close to your mum, too."

"She's doing okay. She has Alex and Drew and Harrison to keep her on her toes." He pauses a moment to think about the family. "I can't believe Drew is the age you were when we first met."

"Time certainly flies," Levi agrees. "I can't believe Alex is twenty-seven now."

"It's really been twenty-seven years since everything changed." George isn't sure whether to reminisce on this fact fondly or with regret; for he lost the boy he believed to be his son, simultaneously with finally revealing his true self to those he loved during that time.

"Hey — he's still a part of your life. He's your godson. Our godson." Levi rests a loving hand against George's arm, in an attempt to slow his quickened mannerisms even if just for a moment. "Alex is more part of your life now, than he would have been if he was actually your son."

"I know. I'm just being a bit silly," George self-deprecates. "It's just, even though I forgave Steph and we're great friends now ... it still hurts a bit, even so many years later." He feels the need to elaborate on the point he's trying to make, so he continues to talk. "Because I look at how Alex turned out — a wonderful man; absolutely great guy — and I wish I'd have contributed to that, you know? I wish I could go around telling people, "That's my son and I'm so proud of him" ... you know?"

"It's about the 'What could have been'," Levi rephrases.

"Exactly." George averts his eyes to the floor, feeling slightly ashamed of his attitude towards his parenting. "I am immensely proud of Gemma and Kieran. They make me the luckiest man in the world, every single day. But I'd have loved it, if Alex were their brother. The way I thought it would be when I was twenty-three; preparing for him to be born."

"It's understandable," Levi reassures him. "You loved him because you thought he was your son. That's enough to hurt anybody for a lifetime."

"Well, life has never been fair, has it?" George dismisses. "No matter what we gain, we always lose something as a result. It's just the way it goes."

"But look how much we gained," Levi points out; he gestures with his hands at the beautiful home they share as just one example. "We live in the home of our dreams. We're married. We have two beautiful children. We have more love and security than we ever could have hoped for. And we have family that loves us to the ends of the earth."

George shakes his head; even though he acknowledges that Levi is correct in what he's saying, he can't help but have a more pessimistic view on things. He starts to pace up and down the kitchen once again; but ultimately, he gives in, heading towards the door of the room to spend some time alone. "But I lost the most important woman in my life as the price I had to pay for all of that."

Levi watches as his husband exits the vicinity, feeling just a little more heartbroken for him than he did before.

• • •

Poor George really isn't handling things well at the moment! Hope you're enjoying. xx