Devon

Another response for the WL Christmas Challenge


Upon waking in his own bed Devon's first thought was "thank God, that's over."
But, somehow the thought wasn't enough to propel him out of bed.

Devon had just spent yet another Christmas week at his parents' house. His older
brothers and sister were all married and had seven children between them. Oh, a
lot of it Devon had enjoyed. He loved being the favorite uncle, he loved being
mobbed by the kids and hearing the call of "Uncle Devon! Uncle Devon, where are
you?" That had seemed to ring incessantly around the house. That wasn't why Dev
was glad the holiday was over.

He loved his family but, he wanted his own partner. He wanted to arrive with
someone else. The fact is, he thought ruefully, being gay takes a bit more
effort meeting people. Let's face it the pool of gay guys is a lot smaller than
the pool of straight guys. He had tried a couple bars and clubs, that just
wasn't his thing at all. The guys he had met were in search of one thing and it
sure wasn't any kind of meaningful relationship.

Ah, well. Getting up Dev went to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator to
stare a bit. He knew after being gone a week there wasn't going to be anything
in it still edible. He looked at the tin of cookies on the counter that his
mother had sent him home with and shook his head. Shrugging into his coat he set
off on the half mile walk to the nearest breakfast spot.

The breakfast crowd was spilling over onto the sidewalk when Devon arrived. He
realized that this wasn't going to be as simple as he had thought. Making his
way to the front to the girl with the clipboard he asked about the wait.
Forty-five minutes seemed a long time given how hungry he was.

"Devon!" He heard his name shouted. It was Alan from the gym waving him across
to a table in the corner. "Come join me."

The girl smiled at him and he returned her smile and made his way over to Alan.


*******************************
A year later.......

"Uncle Devon! Uncle Devon you're here! Merry Christmas!" Ryan, Devon's seven
year old nephew came running out of the house to wrap himself around Devon as he
emerged from the car.

Michael, Devon's older brother who was also Ryan's dad came down the walk toward
the car. "For heavens sake Ryan, don't strangle him!"

Devon and Michael hugged, and then they both turned toward the man who had
quietly come around the car to stand next to Devon.

"Michael, Ryan, I'd like you to meet Alan Mancini."