Sweaters & Cigarettes (52 page)

"Yeah, well," he says,
actually blushing a little, for some reason. "What can I say? You've made
an impression on me."

He hears Max exhale softly, as he
leans in closer and plants a soft kiss against his throat.

"Good," he says.
"And the same goes for you, by the way."

Theo glances at him, sees the utter
sincerity in those eyes, and he can't resist kissing him on the mouth, gently.
Then something occurs to him.

"Speaking of parents," he
says. "Shouldn't I meet yours? I mean, since they're moving away. Seems
like it's about time, doesn't it?"

Max actually sighs heavily, as
though a little frustrated, and he pulls away.

"Right," he says tiredly,
ruffling through his hair with his fingers. "That."

He glances to the side, sighing
again, deliberating, as he rolls his tongue piercing between his teeth. He must
know, as well as Theo, that that one brief encounter with his mother doesn't
exactly qualify as having
met the parents
, and that Theo has a point.
With all the time Max has spent at Theo's house now, hanging out with his
family, and with everything the two of them have been through, it seems only
right that Theo should meet his parents. And especially if they're leaving; god
knows if Theo will ever really get the chance again.

It's not that he really
wants
to,
per se; those short moments of interaction with Max's mother were enough,
really, awkward and kind of rude, as they were. But still.

"Yeah, I guess you're
right," Max finally says, turning back to his boyfriend, absently rubbing
his hand against the back of his neck. "Maybe even do it right, this
time."

Theo frowns.

"How do you mean?" he
asks, and Max shrugs, a little uncomfortably.

"I don't know," he says.
"Like, dinner, or something? That's how I met yours."

Theo thinks about that.
Yes
,
that makes the most sense, he supposes. Even though just the thought of it
makes him weirdly uncomfortable. Honestly, had it been any other parents, it
probably would have been fine; even apart from the fact that they're his
boyfriend's parents, Theo has more experience with situations like that, than
Max, and therefore tends to find them easier to handle. But Max's parents just
seem so... cold. He's not sure how to deal with that.

"Sure," Theo says,
nodding. "Yeah, we should do that."

Max looks at him skeptically.

"Should we?" he says, his
tone matching his expression. "Really? 'Cause, honestly, I don't think
they'd care much, either way."

"I would," Theo says,
surprised at how sure he sounds. "Like you said, we should do it
right."

Max seems to deliberate for a
moment, looking at him, before he finally sighs in something like defeat.

"Alright," he says,
nodding. "I'll set it up."

Then he sighs again, heavily, as he
leans back against his folded arms, an oddly tired, bitter look on his face.

"Dinner with the Collins
family," he mutters, sounding anything but excited. "Awesome."

Chapter 32

Spring

The night of the dinner arrives so much faster than Theo
expected.

A few days later, and just a few
days before Max's parents are moving, Theo comes over to their house. Max is
still living there, not really moving into Gavin and Amanda's place until after
his parents leave, so when Theo arrives, Max is the one who greets him at the
door.

"Hey," he says, as Theo
steps inside and stomps some snow off of his shoes. It hasn't snowed properly
for a few weeks, not since that snow day they spent at Theo's house, with only
the occasional falling of tiny, white flakes. But still, it snowed
a lot
,
that time, so it's taking ages for it to melt, especially seeing how it's still
pretty cold, outside. It's gradually getting better, though; you can even see
the ground, in some places.

"Hey," Theo replies, as
Max gives him a kiss. "How's it going?"

He asks mostly out of nervousness.
Because he realizes that he is surprisingly nervous, and he just needs to say
something, instead of just standing there in tense silence.

Max groans a little, glancing toward
the doorway Theo knows leads into the kitchen.

"Pretty good," he says,
"so far. But if you wanna run, I don't blame you."

Theo chuckles, a bit more nervously
than intended.

"I'm not running," he
says, and Max raises a pierced eyebrow at him.

"You sure?" he asks.
"I'll make up a cover story. Like, you slipped on some ice and hit your
head, or you were kidnapped by ninjas. Maybe, you found Narnia."

He adds that last suggestion with a
slightly hopeful look, and Theo smiles a bit wider.

"First off, I'm not going
anywhere," he says, taking off his scarf and jacket. "And
second―"

He cuts himself off, leaning in to
place a kiss on Max's lips.

"You're adorable."

Max groans a little, before letting
out a defeated sigh.

"And you're way too
responsible and honest," he says, like it annoys him to no end, and Theo
takes his hand, lacing their fingers together.

"I like to think that's why
you love me," he says, kissing Max's temple, and his boyfriend groans
softly.

"You would be right," he
grumbles, and Theo smiles, as they make their way into the house.

For once, both Max's parents are
home. Given how they have a lot of stuff to do, like packing and making
preparations, with the move so close, they have both taken a little time off
from work, these last few days. At least, according to Max, who himself has
been spending an increasing amount of time getting all his stuff together, for
his move to Gavin's house.

So when Theo steps into the
kitchen, he's prepared to see Max's dad, but he's still a little surprised, and
when the man turns around, Theo tries his best to seem unbothered.

"Oh," the man says,
straightening a little as he makes his way over. "You must be..."

He trails off a little, and Theo
can practically feel Max tensing up, next to him.

"Theo, dad," Max says, a
little stiffly. "You know, my boyfriend, the guy we specifically invited
over, so you could actually meet him?"

Max's father nods, as though
forgetting Theo's name is a completely reasonable mistake, and Theo almost
starts a little at Max's way of addressing him. His father doesn't seem to
care, though.

"Right," he says, turning
to Theo. "Of course. I'm William, but most people call me Bill. Pleased to
meet you."

He extends his hand, and Theo
shakes it, uncertain how to feel about this whole, slightly awkward situation,
but he manages to stay polite.

"You too," he says, and
Max's dad―Bill―gives him a small, tight smile. He doesn't really
resemble Max, at least not from what Theo can tell, and neither does Jeanine,
from what Theo remembers. Then again, that might have something to do with the
fact that where Bill has brown, sleek hair and a clean-cut look of dress pants
and a shirt (he looks like he's just come home from work at an office), Max is
the complete opposite, with his black-dyed hair, makeup, piercings and
completely different style. So yeah, it's hard to spot a resemblance. So far,
Theo has only observed that Jeanine and Max seem to share the same eye color,
and that his father might have a similar jawline. Or something.

"Theo," Max's mother says,
making her way over to them. "So good to see you again."

Theo is ninety percent sure, at
this point, that she only knows his name because Max just said it, but he
doesn't mention that. Instead, he just gives her a small, polite nod and smile,
keeping his hand locked together with Max's. And he swears he can see both
Bill's and Jeanine's eyes flit down there, as if a little confused at seeing
their son actually hold hands with someone, before they quickly look back up,
rather casually.

"Right," Jeanine says,
after a moment. "Dinner's just ready, so..."

They make their way into the dining
room, where the table is already set, and Theo feels a little apprehensive as
he sits down. Max sits down right beside him, though, and gives him a
supporting glance. Supporting, in Max's case, meaning a look of bored, slightly
sympathetic annoyance, as if to say
I know, it sucks, right?
But Theo
knows that's simply Max's way of showing said support, so he appreciates it,
all the more.

As they all start eating, the one
word Theo can really think of to describe the general atmosphere, is
cold.
It's
weird, but despite there being actual conversation and occasional attempts at
asking polite questions, Theo can't help but feel like none of it is really
genuine. It's like by some kind of script, and when he glances at Max, he can't
decide if he looks more bothered and uncomfortable by the whole thing, than
Theo.

No, wait
, scratch that. Max doesn't look uncomfortable; he
looks angry.

"So, Theo," Bill says,
and Theo looks up. "What do your parents do?"

Theo blinks, at the slightly
unexpected question. Sure, it's an ordinary enough inquiry, but he can't help
but notice the contrast between that, and the way his own mother asked Max
about what
he
liked to do, rather than what his parents did for a
living, when she first met him.

"Uh," Theo starts.
"My mom's a grade school teacher, and my dad's a mechanic."

Bill nods.

"Teaching," he says,
taking a sip of water. "A noble profession, at least."

He says it in a way that makes Theo
unsure if he's being jokingly dramatic, or not, and he ends up just nodding
awkwardly, even though Jeanine smiles good-naturedly, like she's finding the
whole thing rather pleasant.

Although then, Theo can't help but
wonder what, exactly, Bill's response implies.

"How so?" he finds
himself asking, knowing that he probably shouldn't. And Bill looks a little
surprised, for a moment, the rather hard planes of his face a little tense.

"Well," he says,
"taking care of the next generation. Sharpening young minds, and all that.
It's an important job, a good one."

Theo frowns a little, knowing that
he really should probably just keep his mouth shut, but he can't help but feel
like this man is deliberately saying that the opposite of those things applies
to his father's job.

"As opposed to fixing
cars?" Theo asks, before adding: "I'm sorry, it's just... I'm pretty
sure both jobs are important, in their own way."

And Bill just looks at him, as
though honestly surprised at his words. He even looks a little confused, and
Theo briefly glances around the table. Jeanine looks a little taken aback,
which worries him, but then he notices Max, who's leaning with both elbows on
the table, relaxed, and spinning his fork slowly with his fingers, its tip
pressed against his plate. And Theo swears, he even looks a little amused, with
a tiny, almost proud smile on his face.

"Of course," Bill says
after a moment, and Theo turns back to him. "But some jobs are just
more... valuable, than others."

Theo straightens a little.

"Do you fix your car,
yourself?" he asks. "When it breaks down?"

"Well, no, but―"

"Do you take it to a
mechanic?" Theo isn't lost on the sheer dryness of his tone, and out of
the corner of his eye, he swears he can see Max actually
smiling,
now.

"Yes," Bill says, a little
impatiently. "But what I'm saying is, that some people contribute more to
the economy."

"Like who?"

"Well," Bill says,
apparently attempting to salvage the situation. "Like teachers. Or
doctors, or business-owners."

"I'm pretty sure all of those
need vehicles for transportation," Theo retorts, shocked at what he's
saying and vaguely wondering what the
hell
he's doing. "And I'm
also pretty sure that my dad contributes to the economy, just fine."

"Well, does he have his own
business?" Bill asks, as though trying to prove a point, and Theo shakes
his head.

"No," he says, plainly.
"But neither do you."

And
god
, Max actually
chuckles then, and his father looks at him, along with Theo.

"Max," he says sternly,
but Max just shrugs. He's still slowly spinning that fork against his plate,
now resting with his chin against the palm of his other hand, both elbows on
the table.

"What?" he says, grinning
lazily, looking completely relaxed and oddly entertained. "It's
funny."

His father doesn't seem to think
so, though.

"Why can't you just
behave?" he says, sounding a little annoyed, but Max is unfazed, raising
his eyebrows a little.

"Well, we can't all be
Stepford residents, now can we?" he says, simply. "And besides, I
wouldn't exactly call your blatant bigotry
behaving
."

Theo looks back at Max's father,
who straightens in his seat, clearly very annoyed by now, in his own uptight
way, but before he can say anything, Jeanine interrupts.

"Okay," she says, getting
up from the table, "I think it's time for dessert. Bill, do you
mind?"

She looks at her husband pointedly,
who grits his teeth, before exhaling heavily and getting up, as well. No one
says a word, as he accompanies his wife into the kitchen, and as soon as
they're gone, Theo lets out a deep, almost gasping breath, as the realization
of what he just did suddenly hits him with full force.

"Oh my god," he says,
looking down at his cleared plate. "Oh, shit."

Max doesn't say anything, only
laughs a little, but Theo still buries his face in his hands.

"Shit, I'm so sorry," he
says, shaking his head, his voice muffled against his hands. "Oh,
god."

He feels absolutely
mortified
,
but Max doesn't seem too bothered about it.

"No, don't be sorry," he
says, probably still grinning, sounding positively gleeful. "Please, don't
be sorry."

He nudges Theo gently, and Theo
hesitantly looks up. Max seems way too relaxed and entertained by this,
according to him.

"Are you kidding me?"
Theo says, trying to keep his voice down, embarrassed enough about the whole
thing to even think about Max's parents hearing him. "What the hell was
that?"

He gestures a little frantically at
the table, then at the kitchen, as though making his rhetorical question
clearer, but Max just puts his hand on his waist, leaning in to kiss him on the
cheek.

"That was
awesome
,"
he says, smiling like he means every word, like he's moments away from bursting
into laughter again. "Really."

He keeps looking at Theo, who at
first feels a little annoyed. But then he notices that slight pride in Max's
expression again, and he softens a little.

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure
your dad hates me now," he says lamely, vaguely thinking about how that
mirrors what Max said, the first time he had dinner with Theo's family.

Max rolls his eyes, with a small
groan.

"He's an elitist with a stick
up his ass," he says. "I don't think he's even aware of just how many
people he actually hates. It's just all about 'serving a purpose', and whether
you're useful or not."

He looks at Theo pointedly,
expression a bit more serious.

"And what he said about your
dad was totally out of line."

Theo sighs quietly, again thinking
back to that night and what he said to Max, after he had talked back at Eric.
He's honestly vaguely amused at how similar the two situations actually are,
really.

"Yeah," he says.
"Thanks. But still, I can't believe I said that. I mean, that
was―"

"Awesome," Max finishes
for him. "You stood up to him, and not a lot of people would do that,
especially not when it's your boyfriend's dad, who you're meeting for the first
time. Not to mention, it was very entertaining."