Chapter Text
Colin had long since grown out of the bed he had been stewing in for the last 3 hours. Normally, dinner with his parents was the kind of thing that could shake him out of a mood, but tonight even the promise of comfort food and familiar voices wasn’t enough.
Isaac and Michael were both back in England. And sure he could in theory go to his sister but he didn't have the energy to do any explanations and it would make him feel more stupid than he already did.
He sighed, staring down at his phone. The screen open on the greyhounds group chat glared back up at him. He loved his team, he really did and now that he was finally out and proud, he didn't exactly have to keep his personal and private life separate anymore.
But old habits die slow. The instinct to keep things quiet, to play it safe, was so deeply ingrained it felt like muscle memory. Just writing the invite had taken all evening. Typing, deleting, rewriting. Picking emojis. Deleting those too.
He'd been trying to ask them to come to the parade for weeks now, hemming and hawing after trainings in the locker room to the point where Will had been sneaking extra water bottles and strepsils into his locker. He'd even managed to bring it up a few times but chickened out before actually extending the invitation.
The thing was, it was tomorrow so even if people were free they would have to drive all the way up to Wales. Though a part of him was convinced that they wouldn't want to anyway. He wanted to speak up but the old Colin, the one that still felt like he had to fit in to be accepted, kept cutting off his words. They took him serious on the pitch now but that was only because he played better. He hadn't suddenly become a cool person off the pitch.
His phone dinged and Colin nearly dropped it on his face. It was an update from Michael.
Just a quick screenshot of train tickets going from Reading to Cardiff central and a "Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night, cariad💖". Colin send back a mixture of hearts and exclamation marks. Michael had met his parents before but that was in England. This time it was home. His Welsh roots, his people, his place. He couldn’t wait to show him around. He had been hoping that Michael would be able to make it in time for the event but Michael’s job was international, meetings across time zones, too many moving parts to take a single bank holiday Friday off. But Colin understood. He always had.
Just like Michael had understood back when Colin couldn't be out yet and also never once complained about his match and training schedules or mostly strict meal plan.
Colin forwarded a screenshot of the tickets on to his family group chat, with a '🚗??⌚?' before switching back to the greyhounds chat, where his invite had been sitting unsent.
Before he could second guess himself further, he just hit send.
Even if nobody but Isaac came, Richmond was his family and he wanted them to be there with him and see the most authentic version of Colin that he was. The one that he was still getting used to himself.