MARSHALL Hamston was taken in by Laurel Thomas and Jai Sharma when he revealed his homosexuality to his abusive father.
After months of trying to come to terms with it, the lad takes a huge step with Arthur Thomas next week in Emmerdale.
Marshall struggled to come to terms with his sexuality
This led him to hurt Arthur Thomas’ feelings
But the pair could take their friendship to the next level
Arthur Thomas (portrayed by Alfie Clarke) has been harbouring feelings for Marshall Hamston (Max Fletcher) for months, in the wake of his coming out story.
Unfortunately for him, Marshall has had trouble accepting his own sexuality and has been sending Arthur many mixed signals.
This was mostly due to his abusive father, councillor Colin Hamston, who made it clear that no son of his would ever be gay.
But Marshall eventually stumbled out of the closet and was welcomed by Laurel Thomas who had just found out about her own son Arthur’s sexuality.
Laurel (Charlotte Bellamy) took in Marshall when she realised he was being brutalised and belittled by Colin.
In recent scenes of the ITV soap, however, Marshall has struggled to find himself again and spiralled out of control with Cathy Hope (Gabrielle Dowling).
While his sexuality remained intimidating to him, Marshall tried to stick to the norms his father set for him throughout his life and gave dating Cathy a go.
Laurel gave him time to find and be himself, helping him get to the hospital when she found him unconscious in his room.
And it seems that her support has finally given the confidence Marshall needed.
Coming up next week, Marshall makes a huge move towards Arthur and the pair agree to go on their first date.
But how will it go?
Could there be more to Marshall’s initiative?
Is romance really in the cards for the both of them?
As mentioned above, Arthur was sent mixed messages by Marshall but he was also bullied by the latter.
Will they be able to move on from it all?
Emmerdale airs weeknights from 7.30pm on ITV.
Laurel took Marshall in
The lad had problems coming to terms with his sexuality because of his homophobic father
