They'll be staying with Adam's mom for a little less than a week. When Adam had mentioned finding a hotel to settle into, Trevor could practically hear Melissa scoff through the phone as she insisted that there was enough room for them there. While it wasn't his childhood home by any means, Trevor thought Adam would be excited at the thought of staying there for such an extended period of time. However, the closer they get to his mom's house, the more anxious Adam starts to get.
It's in subtle ways, but enough for Trevor to pick up on. The way his fingers start drumming against the steering wheel, almost frantic. Or how he starts making random sounds with his mouth to fill an oddly silent car. Something's bothering him. That couldn't have been any clearer if it were written across the sky. At a stoplight, Trevor taps him on the arm. "Are you okay?"
At this question, Adam turns to him with a confused stare. "'Course." He puts on a smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Trevor doesn't want to drop it exactly, so he pushes it to the back burner and leaves it simmering. He can return to it later if Adam wishes to confess what's on his mind. But when they arrive at his mom's, Trevor wonders if he was reading too much into things. Because the moment they pull into the driveway, Adam's wearing a bright smile; though Trevor is still certain it lies somewhere between real and replicated.
"There you two are!"
Trevor and Adam look up from where they've just opened the trunk of the car to see Melissa exiting the front door. She comes around to the back of the car and envelops Adam in a hug, who buries his face in her hair. "Hi, Mom," he greets softly in a way that has a warm feeling settling in the pit of Trevor's stomach.
Melissa backs away, hands on either side of his face. "Welcome home, Scout." Her eyes are still lit up as her gaze focuses on Trevor. "And Trevor." To his absolute shock, she hugs him, too. He didn't expect such a greeting from a woman he'd only met once, but he hugs back regardless. "I'm so glad you could make it."
"I'm happy to be here," Trevor says and means it.
Smiling as she pulls away, Melissa glances in between them and gestures to the house. "Alec should be in from Philly soon, but Teddy and Calvin have already made it in from Hershey." She beams, joy completely evident from having her family back together. "I know they can't wait to see you."
"We'll get our bags and be right there," Adam tells her, and Melissa kisses his cheek before turning on her heels to head back towards the house.
When she's disappeared inside, Trevor lets out a sigh, turning to face Adam, who's avoiding his gaze. He starts to ask him what's wrong but decides on a different approach. "You know, we don't have to stay here," Trevor ventures, voice low despite no one being around.
"Is there a reason we shouldn't?" Adam sends him a puzzled glance and misinterprets the suggestion. "If you're nervous about staying around my family, don't be." He reaches into the trunk and comes away with Trevor's backpack and duffle to hand him. "They're gonna love you. I promise this isn't a Get Out situation."
Trevor cringes, sliding on his backpack with a shake of his head. "I'm not super comfortable with you making that joke," he says, putting his duffle bag on his shoulder.
"Noted, sorry." Adam removes his bags, then closes the trunk to turn to Trevor with his crinkly-eyed smile. "This is why you're my fake boyfriend. I like someone who calls me out on my shit."
"Well, I've been doing it since the day we met, so why stop now?" Trevor tries to steer the topic back on track. "No, I'm not nervous about your family. I just know you're not telling me something. That makes me nervous."
Adam says nothing at first. Then he offers Trevor his hand, who accepts it because he hopes this will lead Adam to confess what's on his mind to him. "Don't worry," he states instead. "I'll protect you from my mom's baking."
"Adam, I'm not playing." He starts to remove his hand, yet Adam clasps his other hand over it, moving closer. Trevor rolls his eyes when he takes in Adam's pout. "Your pretty face ain't working."
"Really? Not even a little?" Trevor stares at him deadpan and Adam sighs. "Trev, there's nothing to worry about." He searches Trevor's eyes with baby blues that hold way too much power. "Trust me, okay?"
While Trevor was known to deflect with humor, Adam used charm. And as easily as Trevor could call him out for that, he chose once again to ignore it. If only because the last thing he wanted was to get in the middle of family drama that had nothing to do with him. "Fine. Lead the way."
Giddily, Adam squeezes his hand and keeps hold of it as they head into the house. When they get inside, Adam drops his hand to close the door and Trevor takes in the foyer. There are a few pictures of the family on the wall that Trevor takes the time to study.
One photo in particular catches Trevor's eye and he smiles. It's from Halloween, he's guessing, and in it a toddler Adam and his siblings are dressed as characters from Rugrats. Alec as Dil, Teddy as Angelica, and Adam as Tommy. "This is the cutest shit I've ever seen."
Adam comes over and nods, a smile etching onto his face as well. "I don't remember much about that day, but my mom tells me that Teddy took her Angelica routine very seriously. Little did we know, she'd be a diva for the rest of her life."
Footsteps on the stairs grab Trevor's attention, and he glances up to see Teddy coming down with her fiancé Calvin. At the sight of them, she smirks, tsking at Adam's words. "Calvin, we should get the salt and iron because I do believe a ghost walks among us." When she reaches the floor, she opens her arms to hug a waiting Adam, reminding him, "He's taught me just enough Latin, so I can exorcise you if I want."
Trevor isn't sure if ghosts are exorcised with Latin, but he finds the exchange too adorable to point that out. "Missed you too, Teddy. Also, good to see you'll never let the Bucks killing me go." Trevor didn't blame her. That angle was funny as hell and it still makes him laugh to this day. "Calvin, always good to see you," Adam greets as he moves to hug Calvin. "Very awesome of you to support my sister's ghost hunting habits."
"What can I say," Calvin asks in a British accent, sending Teddy a smile when him and Adam break apart. "We've probably been watching way too much Supernatural."
"Oh, how about Castiel?" Adam lets out a low whistle. "Total smokeshow, right?"
Trevor is about to agree on the principle that it's Misha Collins alone, but then he sees the bemused looks on the faces of Teddy and Calvin and has to use his energy to prevent himself from snickering.
Teddy pointedly bats her eyelashes at Adam which is definitely sibling code for something because Adam clears his throat, placing a hand at Trevor's back and gesturing to his sister and future brother-in-law. "Trevor, Teddy and Calvin. Teddy and Calvin, Trevor, my boyfriend, who is just as, if not more, handsome than Castiel."
"Smooth, babe," Trevor laughs with a shake of his head. He registers after he's spoken that he's used the "babe" pet name for the first time. Trevor's default nature would be to fret, but the way Adam's eyes soften put him at ease.
"You'll find out soon enough that smooth and Austin are polar opposites." Teddy hip bumps Adam out of the way and shakes Trevor's hand with a firm grip. "It's great to meet you, Trevor. Austin's told me a lot about you."
"Has he now?" Trevor glances at Adam with a raised brow, but only gets a sheepish shrug in response. "Hopefully, all good things," he remarks, dropping Teddy's hand.
"It's nothing but good things," Calvin assures, and Trevor accepts the handshake he's offering. "Big fan of your work in NXT, by the way."
"Thanks, man. Appreciate it." It always felt nice to meet a fan, no matter the circumstance.
Melissa pokes her head in then, telling them that lunch is ready, and they should go put their bags away. Trevor and Adam head upstairs to do that in the guest room, while Teddy and Calvin make their way to the kitchen. "I think you guys are going to get along great," Adam tells him as he drops his bags unceremoniously on the floor. "Teddy has a sense of humor you'll probably appreciate, and Calvin is a huge wrestling nerd. It's adorable, really."
Trevor takes in the muted blue color on the walls, setting his bags down carefully. "And your brother?"
It's a testament to how much time they've been spending together seeing as how Trevor can feel Adam tense up even when he's on the other side of the room. Adam answers with his back to him. "Uh, yeah. Alec's great." He whirls around, eyes bright. "There's so much I want to show you after lunch, you'll love it."
Trevor swears this man is the master of deflection. Putting on his own smile, because again, not his business, Trevor offers Adam a hand this time. "I'm sure I will," he says when Adam takes it. "But only after you show me some hella embarrassing photo albums."
Adam chuckles, walking backwards out the door and pulling Trevor with him. "It just so happens that we have plenty of those." He turns to lead him down the stairs but freezes at the top of them. Trevor peeks around him so he can see what caused him to stop and is greeted by the sight of Alec, looking so much like Adam that it almost hurts.
Letting Trevor's hand go, Adam starts down the stairs at a slow walk. "Hey, Alec," he speaks, voice hesitant.
Trevor stays back and observes the scene from the top of the stairs. He watches as Alec doesn't say anything and gives Adam a once over instead. Then, after what feels like forever, Alec breaks out into a smile. Whatever went down between the brothers the last time they were together seems to be forgotten as the two hug. Trevor mentally wipes sweat from his brow as he shuffles down the stairs.
"Man, it's so good to see you, brother," Alec says, clapping Adam's shoulders. "Didn't know when you'd be making a trip out to Lancaster again."
"You know I was just waiting for the right time." Adam beams at Trevor as he sidles up beside him on the ground floor, gesturing to him. "Alec, this is my boyfriend Trevor, the wonderful man you may have seen me with on social media."
"Pleasure to meet you," Alec greets with an outstretched hand that Trevor accepts. "I can't believe my bozo of a brother finally found someone willing to put up with him," he jokingly remarks.
Trevor shrugs, glancing at Adam with a smirk. "Eh, he's kind of annoying when we're on the road, but we deal."
Alec's smile falters ever so slightly that Trevor picks up on it, which means it's impossible for Adam not to have noticed it. As Trevor drops his hand, he files that away for later. "Well, I'm sure every day is eventful."
Adam nods, his own smile diminished somewhat. "Like you wouldn't even believe."
"Hey, boys." The three turn to see Teddy poking her head out the kitchen doorway, waving a wooden spoon. "You gonna stand there all day looking pretty or are you coming to eat?"
+
Lunch is fine for the most part. The food is good, conversation is lively, and Trevor somehow manages to capture everyone's hearts in minutes when launching into a debate with Adam about Fred Jones' ascot. They're competitive people, so the debate is passionate, but Trevor comes away with the victory in the end. There's no prize for it, though Trevor now has something to hold over Adam's head when they're just chilling at home.
Aside from that, Trevor gets a lot of insight into what may have caused the rift he's seeing between Adam and Alec. While Trevor was happy to take a breather from the conversation and enjoy his garden salad, he was somehow roped right back in when they started discussing how things were going in NXT. He and Adam had only given a few fun tidbits when Alec excused himself from the table. With promises that he'd return for dinner, he kissed Melissa's cheek and took his leave.
Needless to say, it put a damper on the mood. But Alec's actions had an enlightening effect on Trevor. Even though he only had some pieces of the puzzle, Trevor believed he had enough of the ones that mattered to get the gist of it.
As he thought this, he observed Adam's reaction. Adam tried to put on a happy front when Alec was gone, but Trevor saw right through it. He was lost. A little withdrawn. Possibly trapped in a cycle he couldn't escape from though he desperately wanted to. Trevor sadly knew what that was like.
Alec didn't return for dinner and Adam was pushed back into that cycle all over again.
Later that night, as Trevor lies in bed on his back, he speaks into the darkness of the room. "Hey." Adam is on his stomach to the left of him and Trevor knows his ass isn't sleep, but the man fakes a snore anyway. Unbelievable. Trevor rubs his cold, bare foot against Adam's leg and earns a grunt of displeasure in response. "Caught you in the act faker."
He feels Adam readjust in the bed and it brings him a bit closer. "Yes, Trevor, light of my life?"
Trevor doesn't roll his eyes, moving to lounge on his left side. They're close enough so that Trevor can see the outline of Adam's face. "I know you're not being honest with me, Adam." Adam starts to protest, but Trevor keeps going. "I'm not mad," he assures. "I just want you to know that you can talk to me about whatever's going on. We might be fake boyfriends, but we're still real friends and I care about you."
"I care about you, too, Trev," Adam is quick to respond. In the dark, Trevor can just barely make out Adam holding up his hand. Without hesitation, Trevor interlaces his right one with it. Adam huffs out a breath, squeezing his hand gently. "It's why I don't wanna burden you with something so small."
"You're not a martyr," Trevor tells him. "I don't mind helping you shoulder a burden."
They've shared many beds before. The life of an indy star wasn't all glitz and glam. After many nights traveling from town to town, the only comfort one could find would be under the scratchy sheets of a motel bed with two other people squashed in on either side of them. Adam and Johnny had been his go-to bed partners for years, but this feels different. Intimate in a way Trevor can't deny and not just because they're holding hands.
"I know," Adam says after a moment, readjusting his hand so that he can carefully stroke his thumb over the skin of Trevor's. "I think that's what makes it so easy to be here with you right now."