Quarantine has sent people around the world scrambling back to their childhood homes, and for one UK family, it's bringing them closer together. The tight quarters revealed to one father that his son is gay, though the 20-year-old hasn't come out to him yet. He took to Reddit to get opinions on the best way to broach the awkward subject.
"My son and his 'friend' are a couple. How do I let them know it's okay?" asks the now-viral post that has nearly 50,000 upvotes at the time of writing.
The father is refreshingly loving and wholesome when it comes to his relationship with his son.
"My boy is 20 years old. He's absolutely my pride and joy, and there is nothing he could do that would ever make me love him less," he begins, sharing the lengthy story of how he got sober to save his son from an abusive household. "He's everything a man could want his son to be; he's uniquely kind and fiercely loyal, he's unflinchingly brave, he's incredibly generous and, despite the horrors he suffered as a child, he's unfailingly positive and sunny to the last."
The son left for college a few years ago, but with the ongoing global pandemic shutting down schools around the world, he's come home and brought his displaced roommate with him.
Except it's been becoming more and more clear to the father that they are more than just roommates.
He explains:
"They've been back at mine for about six weeks now. They think they're being subtle I know, but I've caught them doing coupley things on several occasions now. The 'friend' has slipped up a couple of times and called my son 'babe' and 'sweetie' in front of me, which I pretended not to notice for the sake of saving embarrassment. There have been nights where we'll be watching a film with the lights off and, thinking I can't see, my son will have his arm around the 'friend.' One day I walked into the lounge and I'm positive they'd just been kissing and were trying to cover it, though I admit I have no confirmation on that one. The most solid evidence, however, came a few mornings ago. I get up very early to go for runs in the morning (hence why I'm making a Reddit post at five in the morning haha). As far as I was told, my son was sleeping in his childhood room and his 'friend' was in the guest room. I don't know what possessed me to do so, but on Tuesday morning I cracked my son's door open to check on him like I used to when he was a kid. Lo and behold, they're both asleep, snuggled up together, in my son's bed. That's more or less solidified for me that they're together. I didn't say anything, just shut the door and went for my run, and I haven't mentioned it to them yet.
What I want advice on is this; how do I let my son and his boyfriend know that I'm okay with them being a couple and they don't have to feel like they have to sneak around in my house? I want them to be comfortable here and I want them to know I support them both no matter what. Or is that not a good idea? Am I better off leaving it alone and waiting until they tell me themselves, if they ever do? I obviously don't want to force either of them out of the closet, but at the same time I hate feeling as if they feel like they're being forced into the closet in my house. What's my best course of action here??"
The earnest question renewed Reddit's faith in humanity.
"With all the mess that's going around it's great having people like you around OP, you make life worth it," one commenter wrote.
Most replies encouraged the dad to let his son now, subtly, that he's loved and accepted no matter what, and it looks like he followed that advice.
According to PinkNews, the father updated the story. "He figured I knew but neither of us wanted to make the first move cause we didn’t want to make it awkward for the other."
We love a happy ending!
