Milan paced down the street, walking as fast as he could. He gripped the strap of his bag pack tighter as he reached the house at the end of the street. He went up to the porch, and without thinking twice, he knocked on the door.
Roan opened the door, greeting Milan with a smile, that the boy tried his hardest to return.
"Milan. Come in," Roan moved to the side to let Milan enter.
"Sorry for coming over unannounced, Mr. MacElroy," Milan apologised.
"Call me Roan, and it's okay. You're welcome here anytime," the blond said, "Leo's in the living room, come."
Milan followed Roan into the living room, where the whole family was seated. Kai had their car, baseball, in his lap. He looked up to Milan, and for the first time he wasn't surprised to unexpectedly see his student. He had seemed to have gotten used to Milan's presence in his home by now. He took the remote and paused the movie that was playing on the television.
"Milan! Hi!" Maya waved wagerly.
"Oh, hey Maya," Milan said, unfortunately not being able to return the little girl's enthusiasm, he turned over to Kai, giving him a polite smile, "hi, Mr. Nahar."
Before Kai could respond, Leo walked over to Milan. He had immediately noticed that something was wrong the moment he saw the other boy's face. He wondered if it had anything to do with his brother, but he didn't want to make any assumptions.
"Hey," Leo said softly.
"Can we talk?" Milan asked.
"Sure, let's go up to my room," Leo replied.
Milan gave him a nod and turned around to walk up the stairs. Leo glanced at Roan and Kai, who were giving him matching looks of concern. Leo shrugged, as if saying he had no idea what was up, before following Milan.
As soon as they were inside Leo's room, Milan dropped his bag on the floor and hugged Leo tightly, catching the latter slightly off guard. His face was pressed against the taller boy's chest, as he held onto him for dear life. Leo returned the hug, holding him just as tightly. When Leo felt Milan's hold loosen up just a little, he pulled back and finally spoke up.
"What's wrong?" Leo asked.
"They... My parents... I can't, Leo, I just can't... I—" Milan shook his head rapidly, stumbling on his words.
"Hey," Leo said softly as he pulled Milan back into a hug. He rubbed the boy's back soothingly as he whispered, "just breathe first, okay? Take deep breaths with me, Mila."
Leo kept whispering sweet nothings to the other boy, until Milan finally pulled back and gave him a nod. A sign that he had somewhat calmed down. Leo held Milan's hand and took him over to the bed. They both sat down next to each other, Leo didn't let go of Milan's hand as he once again asked him what was wrong.
"The whole thing with my parents is... much more complicated than I've told you. They've been super controlling my entire life, always telling me what to do and what not to do and what to study, what to eat, where to go, what activities to do— just everything, okay?"
"Okay."
"And I saw their relationship with Ben. I saw how disappointed they were with him. I didn't want them to feel that about me so I always listened to them. I was always the good son. But I'm just... I'm just exhausted now. They're still trying to control everything that I do and I can't... I can't do that anymore, Leo."
"You don't have to," Leo said.
"The worst thing is that a part of me still wants to, you know? Like, that part of me is dying for their approval and I hate the fact that I'm mad at them and they're mad at me and I hate myself for that. I hate myself for being so weak," Milan whispered the last part.
"You're not weak, Mila," Leo paused, "they're your parents, and you've grown up with a certain dynamic with them so it's understandable that you're having trouble trying to break free from that. That does not make you weak, just the opposite."
"You really think that?" Milan asked.
"Yes, I do," Leo reassured the other boy, squeezing his hand tighter.
"Thank you," Milan said sincerely.
"Will you tell me what happened today? What led to all this?" Leo asked.
"Yesterday when you, uh, when my mom saw you, she didn't exactly, you know..."
"Like the sight of me," Leo connected the dots.
"Yeah," Milan looked embarrassed, but he continued, "I've only told her we're just friends but she wasn't cool with that. She told me to... to not be friends with you and I sort of lost it at that."
"Milan... I don't want to cause—"
"You did nothing," Milan said sternly, "it's their prejudice, not you."
"Okay. What happened then?"
"I didn't really speak with my parents the entire day after that, and I sneaked out to have lunch with Ben. When I got back, my dad was there too. And my mom told him everything. He was pissed. Very pissed. And we had a fight and it kinda slipped out that I was with Ben and that just made everything worse."
"Crap."
"Yeah. Fuck. So yeah, I packed some shit and told them I was going out and to not wait for me. I'm gonna go to the city to spend the weekend with Ben. I was going to go straight to the bus stop but I... I wanted to see you first," Milan admitted.
"I'm so glad you decided that," Leo said geniunely, "you can stay here too, you know? Roan and Kai won't mind."
"Yeah, it doesn't seem like they would but," Milan paused for a moment, "it's a little weird, because, you know—"
"Kai."
"Mr. Nahar."
"Okay, I get that," Leo nodded, "I'd drive you to your brother's but my car is in the shop again."
"That's okay, I don't mind taking the bus," Milan shook his head, "I wish I could stay with you, though."
"Well, I could come with you..."
"Really? You'd do that for me?" Milan asked, looking at Leo with widened eyes. The other boy nodded in response, "yes, yes! That would be great!"
"Would your brother be cool with that? I don't want to intrude."
"I told him about you today, he wants to meet you," Milan said with a small smile, "I'll still call him to ask him."
"Okay," Leo got up from the bed as he spoke, "you do that. And I'll get you some water till then, cool?"
"Cool. Thank you, Leo."
Leo simply gave him a smile, before leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on his lips. He went downstairs to get Milan some water, and also to give Roan and Kai a heads-up. He didn't give them any details, just a vague idea of why he was going and where.
He gave Milan some time to talk to his brother, before going back up to his room. Ben was cool with Leo coming over, so the boy shoved some of his stuff in a bag, and left with Milan. They went to the living room to say bye before heading over to the bus stop.
"Here," Roan threw his car keys at Leo, who caught them just in time.
"You're letting me drive your car?" Leo asked in shock. Roan never let anyone drive his car. Not even Kai. If there was one thing he was extremely possessive about, it was his Mercedes.
"One scratch," Roan repeated, "one scratch and I'll... you know what? Just go before I change my mind."
"Thank you," Leo was still shocked, and Milan just watched the interaction in confusion.
"Wait," Roan walked over to Leo, handing him a fifty, Leo raised his eyebrow at the money, and Roan shrugged, "I keep telling you, gas ain't cheap."
Leo tried to control his smile, and just gave Roan a tight lipped nod before ruffling Maya's hair and leaving out the front door. The two boys got into Roan's car, and Leo looked like he was enchanted. It was his first time on the driver's seat of that car, and he was loving it.
Leo looked at the fuel gauge, which was full. Leo rolled his eyes, remembering what Roan had said as he handed him the money.
"Ready?" Leo asked as he put the key in the ignition.
"Ready to be with you? Always."
***
chapter 30 of delicate is up on patreon :)