#their relationship was dangerous and toxic and riddled with internalised homophobia

[princetorn]

headcanon . I can’t overstate how dangerous Royce’s entanglement with Johnny was. If discovered, it wasn’t only his baseball scholarship he stood to lose – his family would have been disgraced, his friends would have abandoned him. Homosexuality was illegal, viewed as sinful and deviant, and ultimately the 1950s would prove to be one of the most repressive periods in US history. Henry would have almost certainly surrendered his only son into medical care, where aversion ‘treatment’ might include electroconvulsive therapy, electric shock therapy, or even ice-pick lobotomy.