As you might tell, I have been mulling over the circumstances of Colson's "coming out" and how it would look, and how it would feel to him. I think it had to involve a few factors: one ways a perceived loss of privacy from having his family intrude on him, to make him more protective of his relationship. Another is an environment where he could have a sense of anonymity, which did not settle on him all at once but gradually, to allow him to experiment with crossing boundaries he had not tried before. And his expressing his frustration about competing for Ellery's attention is also part of that - being more aware of his own needs, and not just his sexual needs but his social needs. And I knew that without some sort of perceived break from his immediate familiar surroundings, and some frustration thrown on top of it, he wasn't going to test those boundaries beyond Ellery's bedroom.
