From afar, I can see Grey take a deep breath before he lifts his head to the young woman. His eyes are darker than usual, nothing but hate in them, pain. He’s been quiet aboutthatthe past ten minutes, ignored every question, every attempt of getting information about said fight, and now he’s looking up. That’s not good.
“Grace did,” Grey answers, his voice coming through strong and low.
I keep telling my kids that you don’t point fingers at anyone, that fights start on both sides. It takes two, always.
Except that this is bullshit.
It’s true that it takes two sides to even get to a fight, but it only takes one to initiate it.
No person out there who gets bullied doesanythingto receive that hatred, and saying it takes both sides for it to escalade is stupid because no, it doesn’t. The person who gets bullied doesn’t ask to get bullied, they exist and that’s enough of a reason for some people to be cruel.
Same goes for the Queer community. We exist, and there’ll always be people hating us for that very reason. We don’t ask for anyone’s opinion, we don’t ask to be hated on because we’re not part of the norm. Wedon’tstart the fight, society does.
So to everyone out there who says it takes two, fuck you, because it doesn’t.
“Mr. Davis!” another reporter calls for his attention, “Would you say Saxon deserved the punch?”
“He did. He deserves even worse.”
Oh, Grey…
“What did Saxon Grace do to provoke you?”
I watch as two of Grey’s teammates try to talk him out of answering, but I know that once Grey has set his mind on something, he’ll follow through with it.
So, ignoring his teammates and the headshakes from his PR team from somewhere across the room, Grey says, “Saxon Grace doesn’t know how to keep his preferences out of the arena. When he gets frustrated, he retreats back to insulting, which is fine, if his insults weren’t aimed at myboyfriend and me, and the fact that neither of us are straight white men.” Grey leans back in this seat, seemingly relaxed while half of this room breaks out into gasps and shocked wheezes. His eyes find mine in the crowd, and when his lips slightly pull up into the softest of smiles that’s invisible to everyone but me, I know he made the right decision.
No more hiding in the shadows.
“Maybe if Saxon didn’t retreat back to insulting Luan and I’s race and sexual orientation, I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did. But unfortunately, he did, so yes, he deserved that punch and even worse. Any more questions?” The reporters keep surprisingly quiet when this would betheirmoment to shine. “That’s what I thought.”
Grey gets up, walks around the table, and comes over to me. Once he reaches me, he presses his lips to mine then intertwines our hands and leads me out of that conference room.
As we walk down the hallways of this arena, both of us not saying a single word, the realization of what just happened starts to settle.
Grey made our relationship public.
Grey called out another NHL player for being racist and homophobic; surely the NHL has got to do something about it now, which again means he’s no longer hiding what’s happening behind the closed doors of professional sports. If Saxon Grace doesn’t faceanyconsequences, there will be a whole lot shit coming the NHL’s way, especially the Islander team owner’s way.
We’re no longer living in the nineteen hundreds, professional sports are trying to be more inclusive that includes different races and sexual orientations, they’re no longer excluded from their teams. Which means ifnothinghappens, it’s a negative on their part.
I don’t think there has ever been one moment I’ve been prouder of Grey. Except maybe when he stood up to his father.
???
Grey decided to postpone his birthday. Apparently it’s Emory’s birthday next week, so they’ll just celebrate together. As much as I would’ve loved for Grey to spend the evening of his birthday with his friends, celebrating his arrival to this world at least a little bit, I understand why he’s not up for any kind of celebration tonight.
We’ve been lying all cuddled up on his couch for the past few hours, watchingJumanji. I’m not really paying any attention to the movie as I seem to be far more focused on Grey’s hand slowly stroking up and down my back with the most sensual and softest touch ever.
He’s always so gentle with me, and I have no idea where that’s coming from. Looking at Grey, you’d think he’s one of those guys who never smiles, and although that hassometruth to it, hedoessmile a lot. He smiles when he’s with me or his friends. Grey seems like the type of guy who’d fuck you over, but he’d never do that. He’s so sweet and loving, I’m embarrassed to admit that I used to think he was an asshole.
Then again, hewasan asshole to me once upon a time, but years later I finally know why that was. He never meant to ignore me, he just didn’t have any other choice, so he thought.
I am glad we turned out the way we did though because I can honestly say that without Grey Davis in my life, I wouldn’t be who I am now.
I probably would’ve fallen back to manipulating people as I wouldn’t have had anything or anyone to hold on to. There’s even a high chance I would’ve picked that bottle back up to drink all of my pain away, even if there hasn’t been a lot of that ever since I met Grey. Only the occasional pain that hurts right in my heart when I’m separated from my boyfriend for weeks.
For a moment, I close my eyes and listen to Grey’s heart beating inside of his chest, being more thankful than ever for it. It’s such a little thing, yet when I think about that one day this very heart might stop beating, I can feel a lump build in my throat and tears swell in my eyes.
