Chapter 17: Speak with someone who understands

"So, you ran away from home," Arthur said, and Tommy nodded.

"They said they were disgusted with me," the boy defended himself. It had been his father who had shouted that, but his mother had just stood there. Keeping her silence.

"Do you know what you did to them, when you ran?" Beth chastised, non-pulsed by the words. "The hurt you caused them? Tagas, how many missing posters did you say there were on their street alone?"

"Almost every tree had one, plus, the streetlamps," the angel said, and Tommy looked down at the table.

"They want me back now, but they said that they can't look at me," the boy murmured. His mother had not spared him a look. His father had been the one to shout it.

"You have to make them understand," Arthur said. He nodded to his mother. "My mother knows that I like men now, despite me having two sons. She has nothing against it."

"Lucky you," Tommy told him, looking bitter. "I don't get it, why does it matter who I like? They have always told me that love is love. Now, when their words are put to the test, they just..."

"They are just two people who are as flawed as everyone else," Beth told the boy. "If you don't forgive them, who would?"

Tommy looked at the old woman.

"Have you ever disapproved of your son's orientation, ma'am?" Tommy asked.

"I disapproved when he didn't get a divorce with his ex right away, when he caught her in bed with his best friend," Beth spoke, a snide look in her eyes pointed at Arthur.

"I didn't want to lose Jake too, mother," Arthur said, and Beth waved a finger at him.

"You played married to the scamp since you were both in kindergarten. One hurdle, and she cheated," Beth was not going to let her son make excuses for Audrey. She continued speaking. "There is no excusing what she did. A moment of weakness? Well, you were at the same level of distress. Did you cheat?"

Tommy looked between the two, and then decided to see how Arthur was going to handle this. If the man could put up with his mother making such a judgement of his decisions, then so could Tommy.

"Things worked out, in the end," Arthur told Beth. "She is happy now, that the children are back with her. She brings them every other day now."

"And you are happy with crumbs? She should be letting them live on the farm for longer than a day every week! You are their father, and you deserve to be with them," Beth snapped. Her patience straining.

"I won't separate a mother from her sons," Arthur told her sternly. "And we are not here now to speak about that. Rather, we are here to give some advice to Tommy here."

Arthur nodded to the boy, who blinked at him. The mother and son duo had fought, but they had not come to a shouting match. And their problem seemed much bigger than his own.

"If I may ask, with who are you in love with?" Tommy asked. Arthur nodded to the angel-demon duo.

"With those two," Beth's eyes widened.

"Harry, what have you done?" She accused, and the demon smirked at her.

"Come now, mom. Don't place the blame on me. Arthur was the one who agreed first," Harry told her. Beth scrunched up her nose at him.

"I do not approve," she spoke, and Arthur wilted.

"We are happy, Beth. It is our dream to have a family together," Tagas told her, and Beth rounded on him next.

"And you? Didn't you fawn over my son? Now, you fawn over your friend, and want to keep my son for yourself as well? What is the difference between you and Audrey?" Beth snapped, and Tagas smiled at her.

"Audrey wanted to leave Arthur. There is no possibility in which I do the same. I love him, he is my soulmate," Tagas told her. He wanted to show off his wings, but restrained himself.

"If you leave him, don't show your face around the farm anymore," Beth said, frowning.

"That was it?" Tommy asked, surprised that the woman had caved so soon.

"What did you expect? My son is an adult. I won't mix about in his love life," Beth told the teen, and then rounded on him. "You, however, are no adult. Your parents are still overprotective of you."

"Are you saying their reaction was the right one?" Tommy asked, and the woman shook her head.

"All I am saying is that you have to see it through their eyes. The son they have been raising is now different from their teachings. They are upset, and don't think straight. That doesn't mean that they don't love you, boy," Beth finished, and then stood up. "Now, get this boy in your fancy car, and get him back home. I am going to bed."

She walked off, leaving Tommy with many things to mull over.

"If they still love me, then that is why they are searching for me, right?" The boy asked the three men who were around the table.

"You bet," Tagas said. He had felt the mother's desire to hold her son in her arms again. To tell him how much she had missed him. How she had worried.

"Then, I will give them a chance," Tommy spoke, and Tagas and Harry stood.

"We will get you home," Harry said, and went to Arthur. "A kiss for the road?"

The demon leaned without waiting for a response, and kissed the farmer on the cheek. Tagas went to them, and invited himself to a kiss on Arthur's cheek as well.

The angel-demon duo went to Tommy, and took him by the arms. They teleported out of the farmhouse, leaving a grinning Arthur behind, who had a hand on both of his cheeks.

The next morning, there was a report of a missing child coming home. By himself, looking worse for wear, as he was unwashed and a little hungry. But the family in the video looked happy to have him back, and Arthur was glad that the three had talked it out.