Rentboy

into looking for a valentine card for Fox was full of giggling young girls poring over
    the offerings and impatient-looking men grabbing the first thing they saw that had wife on the front.
    Fox deserved something special, so Edward had left work early to find the right one.
    Beside the alley he had wandered down the first night he had met Fox was Gimme Gimme.
    They’d have something better than pink hearts and cupids everywhere. Inside he found as many men
    and women looking for valentine cards as in the others shops, but here the women were less giggly,
    and the men looked happier.
    “Who’s it for, mate?” A tall, thin, butch young woman with a name tag declaring her to be
    Brittany stood beside him.
    Thrilled to be asked, Edward found his cheeks growing pink. “My husband, or he will be this
    summer. We’re just waiting for his mum to get out of rehab. She was supposed to go for four months,
    but she needed a few more, so we’re planning to tie the knot on June twenty-first, my birthday.” He
    was rambling like an idiot as usual.
    But Brittany seemed patient and kind. “Right, then. You need something special.”
    “Very special. I’ve never had anyone to buy a valentine card for before. We met last June.”
    “Oh yeah, where?” With deft fingers the young woman leafed through cards, frowning at one
    after the next before putting it back.
    “In the alley right next to here.” Edward pressed his fingertips into his forehead. Why couldn’t
    he just shut up and stop letting everyone know what an idiot he was?
    “That’ll be a story to tell your kids one day.” Brittany smiled. “How about this?” The card had a
    rainbow on it, and underneath was a line drawing of two men holding hands. They looked as goofy as
    him and Fox. The caption read My Funny Valentine . “That line’s been done to death, but it’s
    timeless. Or did you want something more romantic? Is he the sensitive type?”
    “He’s very sensitive,” Edward said. “Very kind. Very loving. He’s perfect, and so is this card.”
    “Great.” Brittany looked thrilled to be of service. “Anything else?”
    “He’s also expressed an interest in a black leather dog collar. Do you have one of those?”
    Brittany took a long, hard look at him. “You little devil. I would never have guessed.”
    Edward’s face flooded pink again. “It’s purely for fashion. He’s an artist.”
    “Come with me.” She led him to the more risqué side of the shop. “Spikes or studs?”
    “I assure you it’s for decorative purposes only.” Why he felt the need to say that was beyond
    him. “He’s a Goth.”
    “No need to explain, dude.” She winked at him, which only compounded his embarrassment.
    “You and a Goth. You must be quite a sight on the streets of London together. Him with black makeup
    and you in an anorak.”
    “You should see us when we go out for meals with his autistic twin siblings who like to cross-
    dress.”
    Brittany began to laugh, and seeing the funny side of it, Edward joined her. He was really
    improving on the humor side of things, and with understanding everyday speech and nuance. When
    someone was sarcastic, Fox would say, Windup . When they made a joke Edward took literally, it
    was, Time to laugh, Eddie . If Fox said he was going to jump in the shower and Edward warned him
    he could slip, or Fox was going to run out to the shops and Edward said, No hurry , Fox would say,
    Figure of speech . Not even his family had ever had the kind of patience with him that Fox had. He
    had learned so much over the last few months.
    “So what’s it to be? Spikes or studs?”
    “I think he’d like the spikes.” By the time he walked out of the shop, Edward felt a warm kinship
    with Brittany.
    It was nippy out, a windy, overcast winter day. The cold brought his thoughts back to the old
    man Fox had befriended. Carrying his purchases, Edward walked down the alley, which was slick
    with rain. He had never known the man’s name, or he would have called out. A large cardboard box
    with a tarpaulin over it caught his eyes twenty yards away. “Are you there? Fox’s friend.”
    The tarp shifted, and a head stuck out of the top. “Haven’t seen you in a long time.”
    “I was wondering if you were all right,” Edward said.
    “Why’s that, then?” the man asked with obvious suspicion.
    “It’s Valentine’s Day. Everyone should have someone to care on Valentine’s Day.”
    “I told you before. I don’t get up to