Family drama!
"How long did we sleep?" Cedric, well, squeaked.
"Twenty minutes," Ian yawned. "It's okay, we will find something to tell them."
"Ideas?" Max was stretching as good as possible with three grown men on a queen sized bed.
"To busy panicking," Cedric mumbled, rubbing two hands over his face. "Why didn't one of us think for a moment?"
Ian chuckled.
"This was so worth it."
"God, yes!" Max moaned luxuriously.
"Admittedly," Cedric sighed.
Then they sat there, backs against the headboard, Max yawning again, Cedric fiddling with his fingers, Ian scratching his neck.
"Well," Max said.
Silence.
Noises form the party below filtered muffled into the room.
Wild knocking at the door made all three of them jump.
"Max, what are you all doing in there?" Greta yelled.
"Oh my God, what do you think? Having a three some, of course," Max yelled back.
Cedric clamped both hands over his mouth.
Ian's eye brows made a dash for his hairline.
"Fuck off, Max. Lisa is asking why you pulled the disappearing act."
His sister was obviously livid.
"Because I would prefer a threesome with two guys over spending one more minute with her!"
Max was getting red in the face and seriously angry.
"God, stopp that bullshit to get mum's attention," Gina groaned. "No one believes your whole 'I'm so gay' routine."
"I do," Ian mumbled.
Cedric just starred, his hands still over his mouth.
Ian wasn't so sure if he now tried to hold in his laughter.
"That's the reason I'm in here," Max shouted, pissed in earnest now. "Cedric has a lot of experience with his mother ignoring what's going on with him. He was willing to listen."
"Yes, ruin Christmas for her with your drama, you asshole," Greta seethed.
"I'm twenty four, I'm trying to tell her for nearly a decade now!"
And just like that, Cedric couldn't hole back anymore and wrapped Max, who had tears on his face by then, in a hug.
He was familiar with that kind of hurt. But he had always thought that Max's family was accepting him. He was so openly gay, there was simply no way to not be aware of it.
But as it seemed, it was considered as him acting up.
Greta made a big spectacle of stomping down the stairs.
Ian slid from the bed and dressed. Then he held Max while Cedric dressed.
Together, they helped Max get into his cloth, who repeatedly dashed the tears from his face, but they just wouldn't stopp to fall.
It should have been weird, but the moment was tender, something connecting them, making them all part of a whole for this evening.
"Thank God for sweaters," Max mumbled, giving a watery smile his best.
"Yes, no one will see our rumpled shirts," Cedric said while he opened the window.
Problem was, they most certainly reeked of sex.
Well, what could you do.
"I'm sorry for ruining the night," Max said, trying a laugh, only crying harder.
"You are not ruining anything," Cedric said, sitting down beside Max again. He and Ian were flaking him, all of them sitting at the edge of the mattress, facing the door.
"We do have a plausible story now," Ian said.
"My red eyes most definitely will be proof," Max chuckled, finally getting a grip again. For a moment, Cedric and Ian hugged him tight from both sides.
"I'm moving to New Zealand with Ian," Cedric said. "If it all gets too much, come visit us."
Max laughed. "I never knew you had such a dry sense of humor," he said, smiling at his biggest crush.
"He has not," Ian snorted. "You have to explain most jokes to him."
Max swallowed audibly. "You are really going away?"
"Sure." Cedric nodded.
"If they see my red eyes and you let that cat out of the sack, no one will think it weird how much time we spend together." Max stood up, seemingly readying himself for battle.
Ian and Cedric stood too.
"On three," Max joked.
When they came down the stairs, everyone went silent for a moment.
"It's considered rude to just disappear," Milly, Danielle's best friend and Max's mother said pointedly.
"It's considered rude not to believe me that I'm queer," Max retorted tiredly.
"Well, everyone knows that, young man," Grandma Cunnings huffed.
"He was ill a lot as a child and now he seeks for the same attention. That's all," Milly stated decidedly.
Ian could see the heat rise in Max's cheeks again. He himself had, for the first time in his life, the strong urge to deck a woman.
"See, that's what I'm talking about," Max said exasperatedly to Cedric and Ian. "Exactly that. And Greta is parroting everything my mother says."
"I believe you for sure," Grandma Cunnings said, sipping her brandy and smoothing out the blanket on her knees with the other hand. "Don't you, Pastor Gilmore?"
Her smile was innocent.
But Ian saw something sly twinkle in her very clear eyes.
The poor pastor showed that he too was suffering from the inability to swallow his own spit without choking on it.
All hell broke lose, everyone talking at the same time, some pretending desperately that nothing happened, others admonishing Grandma Cunnings who looked like a new born lamb and Greta came over to start into Max again.
Ian was fascinated. His family had always been little and this was... something else.
Cedric was squeezing his hand so hard it did hurt a little.
"Think of it as an episode of 'Coronation Street'", he whispered into Cedric's ear. "You are out of here in a few days. Nothing of this can hurt you anymore."
Their eyes met and for the first time in his life, Cedric was able to take a step back inwardly.
It was madness all around him, and it had nothing to do with him anymore.
"I'm going," Max said, turning his back on Greta. "I'm done."
"See you next Christmas in Wellington," Ian told him, giving him a many clap on the shoulder that Max didn't seem to appreciate much, if you judged the situation by his flinch.
"I'm going to be there, no joke," Max warned, then he and Cedric hugged.
"No joke," Cedric repeated into his hair.
"Cedric is moving to Wellington?" Greta gasped.
For the second time everything went silent.
"Ian is coming with," Cedric filled the gap in conversation.
The tray with dirty glasses Danielle had just lifted from the improvised buffet table smashed to the ground.
The picture above made me think "Someone help the poor man!" and then I simply had to take it :-D
Oh no, so much drama! And I really don't like Greta. She is daft.
Hope you all had a good day and tomorrow I will try to write in the morning because I have some time at my hand until nine :-)
Nightnight and till tomorrow!
PS: As always: Thank you all so much for reading, voting and commenting! Without you all it would have been half as much fun to write the story :-)