Austin is my wife. Austin is my boy. Austin is my whole world.

As I continued to watch him, I heard a voice from behind me.

“Hank!”

I turned to see Coach Brick Murdock with his hand extended toward mine. I took and shook it firmly.

“I’m happy you and your boy could come,” I said.

“I’m glad you invited us,” Brick replied in his deep, gravelly voice.

Brick was about the same build as me and we were about the same age. It was nice to know another couple like Austin and me.

“Rob has been wanting us to do more socially and all, so this seemed like a good opportunity.”

I studied him closely. “What’s eatin’ ya, man?”

“Well, it’s Rob,” the coach began. “I do love the boy, but he wants to go public about the two of us.”

I rubbed my chin. “With your situation, that has to be quite the pickle.”

“Believe me, it is,” he huffed. “Rob sees what you and Austin have and he wants it too. He actually brought up the two of us getting married the other day.”

“You know how boys that age are, especially bottom boys. Submissives can be as emotional as women sometimes. Your boy doesn’t see how things are. He’s just got stars in his eyes.”

“That he does.”

“Do ya wanna marry the boy?”

“I suppose I do,” he replied. “I never considered anything like that until Rob, but I’m his coach, and he’s on a wrestling scholarship that I helped him get. If folks were to find out the truth about our relationship, I’d lose my job and he might even lose his scholarship. It’s hard for me to be with the boy like I wanna without fear of someone seeing us.”

“That is a danger,” I replied cautiously. “But it sounds to me that your boy is looking for assurance from you,” I theorized.

“Assurance?”

“Yep, if ya do love him and if ya do wanna marry him, you should set a date, maybe for three or so years from now. Boys his age want that security from their Dads.” We both chuckled at the word. “By then, he’ll have graduated, so you can take him as your boy without anyone being able to say shit about it. Hell, maybe even buy him an engagement ring to prove you’re for real.” I paused. “If ya explain your position and actually set a real, tangible date, Rob would have something to look forward to. In a way, he would have that validation that he wants from ya. Your promise would comfort him and maybe bring him that security that he needs. In the meantime, if ya ever wanna do a date night, you two can hang out with me and Austin. So, if ya get seen around town, it’ll look like a group of us just hanging out.”

Brick smiled at me. “That’s some damn good advice, Hank. I really appreciate that.”

“Anytime,” I replied.