Sem'ya means Family

Chapter 5 - Weighted Words

A/N: Just a warning that in this chapter there's a bit of a dispute between Mark, Scott and a stranger and a homophobic slur is used. Apologies if this makes anyone uncomfortable, it's only used the once.

...

Iakov drops Mark home later that evening, after receiving a call from Sergey to tell them that the 'visitors' were gone. The boy approaches his uncle in the kitchen as he's making dinner.

"Hey, Uncle Sergey, I was wondering if I could go to the movies with Scott tomorrow afternoon...?" The older Russian turns, acknowledging his nephew's presence.

"I do not see any problems with that," he tells him, smiling. "How was your afternoon with Iakov?" The boy hesitates, forcing himself to not seem too excited, not wanting to accidentally end up outing either himself or the other man.

"It was fine. We practiced Russian, then watched some TV," he says, locking his gaze on the pot of stew on the stove to avoid eye-contact, terrified of the chance that his uncle might realise that he's omitting some information about what transpired earlier today. Thankfully the older man appears to be oblivious as to the fact.

"That is good. I am sorry that you were unable to come straight home after school; I had a last-minute business meeting with some people from a rival company, and I thought it would be best to keep you from becoming involved just yet," he says. Mark shrugs it off, assuring him that it's fine, happy to know that he is more focussed on that as opposed to the boy's afternoon.

The teenager retreats to his bedroom and logs onto his computer, opening up his social media page to chat with Scott. He's pleased to see that his friend is online.

'youll never guess wot happend 2day!!' he types, feeling the excitement return to his chest now that he's alone in the privacy of his room, causing his hands to tremble slightly. Scott sends back a series of question marks. 'iakov and me were talking... he asked if you and me were dating!...'

'Wait what?? WHAT?' the older boy responds. Mark laughs softly to himself, quickly double-checking that the door to his bedroom is closed before continuing.

'i said no and hes like ok. i asked if it would be a problem if we were and he said no so i told him im gay but dont tell sergey and hes like fine but...' Mark trails off, wanting to keep his friend in suspense, barely able to contain himself.

'???!?' The boy hesitates, suddenly questioning whether he should 'out' the Russian man, although he figures that Scott would know to keep it just between them.

'he said 'dont tell sergey either but im gay 2'...' Mark's screen explodes with an array of question marks, exclamation points and frenzied questions, and he bites back the urge to burst out laughing, not wanting to draw attention to himself from anyone else in the house. Quickly realising that the younger of the boys isn't responding to his messages, Scott decides to video-call Mark. The seventeen-year-old snickers softly and answers the call, and his friend's face flickers up onto the screen.