A couple of days had gone by since the incident with Mark, and Chester and Mike had taken some time off of work to relax. Since the police had been involved, it hadn't been difficult for Mike to ask for some days off, since his job was fairly new (the interview with the director of the last shop had gone very well after all). The half Asian had promised to work some extra hours to cover that up, and he thought that mister Molko, the director he had spoken to, had seem to take it well.
"So, that director of yours... is he pretty?" Chester asked, as he was preparing his backpack.
They had decided to spend two days at Chester's parents house, so the blonde man could spend time with his sister, and for Chester's family to properly meet Mike. The tattooed man had protested at first, but Mike had told him that it would surely help him to reconnect with his sister, and that he didn't mind spending time with his boyfriend's parents.
The half Asian raised an eyebrow at Chester's question, before a smirk appeared on his face. "Yes, in fact, he really his... Why, are you jealous?"
"Of course not." said the blonde man, too quickly, as he continued to shove his stuff in his backpack and the younger man stood beside him before he poked him in the ribs. "Stop, it tickles!" Chester yelled and Mike laughed before he lightly pushed Chester on the bed, now tickling him fully as laughters erupted from Chester's mouth.
"S-stop, M-mike!"
The half Asian finally let him go, but not before he placed a soft kiss on his boyfriend's lips. "I love you. I would never leave you for someone else, surely not my boss."
"I-" Chester began, but he got interrupted as Mike kissed him again, and soon, small moans could be heard from the bed.
Mike kissed his boyfriend's cheek, before he continued down on his jaw and his neck, leaving a path of wet marks.
"God, Mike... we don't have time for this, fuck-"
The half Asian sucked on the tender flesh on Chester's collarbone, before he sighed, and rolled off of him.
"You're right, I'm sorry."
"How am I supposed to spend the day with a hard on, now?" Mike blinked before he looked back at Chester and he laughed heartily, throwing his head back as his eyes squeezed shut and the blonde man frowned before a blush appeared on his cheek. "What's so funny?"
He had never been this blunt before, especially not about sex, and to know that he was more and more confident only filled Mike with happiness. He only wanted the best for his lover, and he was so proud that the young man had come so far since their first meeting.
"I love you." Mike answered, and Chester cocked his head to the side, staring at his lover. "You're so cute when you're confused." He ruffled the blonde man's hair and Chester groaned.
"Please, I spent hour to be sure they were perfect!"
He walked toward the mirror to fix them, frowning at the mess Mike had made, and the half Asian smiled.
"You're pretty no matter how you hair looks."
Chester finally turned around and shook his head. "Only you think that..."
The younger man finally closed his bag and walked toward his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around his lover's body as he laced his fingers behind Chester's back.
"I'm only speaking the truth, Ches, you're beautiful."
Even after all this time, the tattooed man wasn't used by all the affection Mike was giving him, but he couldn't say that it didn't made his heart flutter each time.
"I love you too, baby." Chester replied and kissed Mike tenderly.
"Alright, time to go." Mike said, as he reluctantly let his boyfriend go so he could take the bags into his hands. "You sure you have everything you need?"
"Yup."
Mike smiled. "Let's go, then."
*
The ride took a little longer than they expected but they didn't really care. They had agreed to split a taxi since Mike didn't want to drive his motorcycle with two bags. Hand in hand, they walked towards the front door of a big house, each of them with their backpacks on their backs. It wasn't the same house Chester lived as a kid, he knew that when his mom told him they decided to move not long after the blonde man had gone into the clinic for they couldn't stand the kids' empty rooms and the memories that house brought to them. It was a bigger and fancier house. Big glass windows covered the front walls and the wooden front door highlighted the white and grey walls. The front garden was heavily decorated with all kinds of colorful flowers and that reminded Chester of Ryan. He needed to see his friend again sometime soon as well.
"You okay?" Mike asked as he squeezed the other's hand, as he had drifted off.
"Yeah... I was just thinking." Chester sighed and inhaled a deep breath. "Let's go now or I'm gonna get anxious." He said, taking a step forward and dragging his lover with him. The blonde looked hesitantly at the door and then at Mike before he finally, with closed eyes, knocked and waited.
Mike squeezed his hand reassuringly, noticing as it had begun to sweat, and then the door opened, revealing a sweet old lady. Chester's mom, Margaret.
"Oh, hi son!" She smiled brightly and pulled the blonde man in for a hug, kissing his cheeks and looking at him with fondness in her eyes. "And you must be Mike!" She said excitedly, and Mike nodded, extending his hand awkwardly. It had been such a long time since he had to talk with one of his partner's parents. He was out of practice. "Oh, none of that, dear." She waved her hand and pulled him in for a warm hug instead, shocking him, but he hugged back nonetheless. "Come on in, darling! Amber and Francis are waiting to meet you!" She motioned her hands inside and Chester grabbed the half Asian's hand, seeing he was nervous. They both walked in.
The house was really big but also very cozy. It felt familiar being there even if Chester had never set foot in there. He followed his mother along with Mike to the living room.
"You can put your bags down now, boys, you can take it upstairs later, come on, I'll make some tea for us." Margaret said and she sounded so much younger. It was clear to everyone around that she was excited to be apart of her son's life again. They both set their backpacks down by the door and went inside the living room, being greeted by a screech from Amber.
The girl looked exactly as Chester described, even prettier. Her brown hair, now cut at her shoulders, hazel eyes and sharp jawline - like Chester's - made her look stunning. It was a family thing, Mike thought.
The young woman came to them, a bit slower since she had stayed laying in a bed for so many years, and jumped on Chester, who squirmed as she squeezed him. They almost fell laughing as they hugged and Mike only watched, amused. That was adorable.
"Holy shit, Chester! He's hot!" Amber gasped as she looked Mike up and down and slapped her bother's arm. "You're not wasting any time, Jesus!" She widened her eyes as the half Asian blushed and looked away.
"Stop it, Amber! He's shy... I told you." Chester pushes her slightly and went to kiss his boyfriend's cheek, making him even redder than before. The siblings laughed together as the blonde hugged Mike, however, the laughter died when Francis, Chester's father, appeared in front of them. Chester hadn't seen him that day on the hospital since he had gone home earlier, and seeing him now wasn't any easier than he thought it would be.
"Son..." Francis said, his voice small, not jubilant as Chester remembered. "Come here, Chester!" He said, with a smile and tearful eyes, opening his arms wide for his son. Chester gulped and felt his eyes watering as well. He didn't expect his father to be accepting like that, but he was once again wrong. He just ran to his dad, and crying, buried his head into his chest, hugging him as tight as he could. He had missed his old man more than he had expected.
Mike and Amber stood watching the scene, both of them silent, but happy for the two.
The half Asian looked back at the woman, smiling. "Can you show me to my room, I'd like to give them some time."
"Pfft, your mean, your and Chester's room. Don't make me think you're going to sleep in separate bed."
Mike opened his mouth to say he had thought otherwise, but when he saw the grin on Amber's face, he decided to let it go. She loved teasing him, and he sense that maybe, some years from now, Chester would be the same. God, he wouldn't be able to hear the end of it with those two...
The sense of thinking about living with Chester years later suddenly caught him, and he stopped walking as he blinked. Was that thinking too far ahead? After all, after everything they had gone through, Mike was certain that he wouldn't be able to live without Chester now... but he didn't want to scare the other one by sharing his thoughts so soon. After all, the blonde man was still adjusting with all the changes that had gone through his life since Mike had come into the picture, and if one day, the half Asian saw that Chester would want to talk about the future, they'd talk.
"Mike, you're coming?" asked Amber, as she frowned upon seeing that the young man had stopped walking just before going up the stairs.
"Yes, sorry."
Both of them walked up the stairs, Amber clutching at Mike's arm, since her legs had some difficulties to move how she wanted them to.
"Were you having so dirty thoughts about my brother? Or are you more of the good guy type? Nevermind, I guess I don't wanna know after all, I mean, I am sleeping under this roof too tonight."
"Jesus, Amber-" Mike said as he stopped on the second floor.
"I don't believe in him, nor God."
Upon saying this, she turned around to walk toward the bedroom, and Mike couldn't help but sense that he had hit a nerve. Amber had been recovering awfully well since she had woken up, but maybe there was some underlying fear that she wouldn't shown in front of Chester. This was understandable, but Mike thought that he should talk to his lover later... maybe Chester should stay here longer. After all, his family needed him right now...
"Here you go." Amber said. "There's a linked bathroom in there too, with a shower. Oh, and, I think mom said dinner would be ready in two hours or so-"
"I'm not going to steal him from you, you know."
Amber looked back at Mike with a surprise expression on her face, and the half Asian couldn't discern if it was because she didn't understand what he was talking about, or if she had been surprised by that statement.
"I mean, you must have been close to Chester when you were younger, and ... He's here to spend some time with you. I'll just hang around, I just want you to know that, I may be overprotective of Chester, but I don't want you to take it the wrong way. We've just been through a lot, especially the last couple of days, so I can't help but want to shield him from any hurt that will come his way, but I would love for him to reconnect with you. He loves you, I can clearly see that, and it would make me happy if he could be close to you again, close to his parents again..."
Amber's playfulness had disappear from her eyes, but a genuine smile shone on her face, and she seemed truly happy about Mike's words, as the half Asian's heart warmed at seeing that he had been right to let her know that.
"Thank you, Mike... for giving us some space."
He nodded. "Anytime."
"Amber! Mike! I need to show you something!" Margaret's voice came from downstairs, and Amber shouted back that they'd be right there.
"Are you okay to go back down the stairs by yourself? I'll be down in a minute."
She nodded and turned around to let Mike put his stuff into the room.
The half Asian looked around and sat on the bed, taking some time to feel it under him. He smiled to himself at the thought of how far they'd come. It was such an evolution from delivering Chester's pills and having the door closed on his face every time, to being his boyfriend and meeting his family, which he never thought he would at all. He got up and looked at himself in the mirror, tidying his clothes before going downstairs again and seeing the whole family gathered at the couch. He smiled again but this time he felt something different. He felt so out of place being there... and suddenly he wanted to go back upstairs and stay in the room, just leave the family be by themselves. He couldn't help but feel left out, he wasn't a part of the family after all. He gulped and was ready to turn on his heels when Chester looked up at him, the shine in his eyes so evident that Mike didn't have the heart to look away, and so he continued walking down the stairs.
Chester jumped out of the couch, handing the book he had on his lap to his mother before he jumped on Mike and gave him a hug. "My mom found old pictures of us, Mike! You need to see them, they're so funny!" Chester said excitedly as he held the half Asian's hand and dragged him to the couch, making him sit down where he previously was and sitting on his lap. Mike blushed at that, he wasn't used to Chester showing such affection in public and even less in front of his family, but the blonde didn't even seem to notice. "Give me!" Chester reached his hands towards his mom and grabbed the photo book again.
Francis and Margaret looked amused at the couple. They didn't expect their son to be so affectionate towards anyone other than Amber, but they were happy he had found someone he could be comfortable around besides his own sister. The young woman looked at them with a smirk, knowing that Mike was utterly embarrassed right now, and that Chester couldn't care less.
"Look! That's me on Halloween! I was like 10 years old. I'm Iron Man, as you can see, and Amber is Spider Man!" He said excitedly as he pointed at one of the pictures, practically jumping on his boyfriend's lap, and Mike held him steady so he wouldn't fall, as he looked at the picture and smiled. Chester looked so cute with those chubby cheeks and brown hair.
"Your hair was so long!" He commented and smiled.
"He would refuse to cut it!" Margaret added with a chuckle. "He used to be a little brat!" She laughed a little more as she reminded of the several troubles her son put himself into.
"Was? He still is, Mrs. Bennington!" Mike commented and laughed as he poked his lover's belly.
"Oh, please call me Margaret, Mike!" She waved her hand at him with a smile.
"I remember this one! Chester was keen to help me out with the barbecue. He ended up burning the whole food!" Francis commented with a boisterous laugh as he pointed at another picture of Chester by the grill and himself putting some coal in it. Chester held a spatula too big for his tiny hands.
"How old was he?" Mike asked, truly interested, losing his shyness a little.
"Seven. At seven years old this boy thought he knew everything!" Francis laughed again, this time ruffling his son's hair.
"Dad! I spent hours to make it perfect!" Chester huffed, just like he had done earlier with Mike. It seemed like he had never been apart of his family at all as they were so united already.
"You are still the same. Such a drama about your hair." Amber rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the smile forming on her lips. "He always hated when we messed with his hair." She explained to Mike, who nodded and laughed, his mind drifting to how much of a hair pulling kink Chester had, but he was brought back fast when the blonde pointed at yet another picture.
"This one! When I got my first guitar!" The picture was Chester, not older than eleven, holding a blue guitar with a wide mouth and eyes shining with the lights of the Christmas tree behind him. "I miss that guitar!" He commented.
"Then you'll be happy to know that we kept it." Francis said and Chester dropped the book as he jumped up, startling Mike and the rest of the family.
"No way!" He shouted excitedly.
"We did! Dad, please go get it!" Amber said and watched her father nodded before he went upstairs, coming back seconds later with a blue and white beautiful vintage fender, and handing it to Chester. Mike gasped at the sight of the instrument and the blonde knew how he'd love to play it, so he handed it to him.
"I want you to play it first." Chester said as he sat down next to him, the guitar on his lap already.
"I... I don't know, Ches. It's yours." He whispered, a little embarrassed.
"Come on, Mikey! You taught me how to play it. There's nothing more fair than you playing it first." Chester encouraged but Mike still wasn't buying it.
"Come on, I wanna hear your talents that Ches spoke so much about." Amber commented, teasing both her brother and his boyfriend with that comment.
"Play for us, darling, we would love to hear it. Don't be shy." Margaret offered her sweet smile.
"Yes, you're family too, son. Don't be shy!" Francis encouraged and at those words Mike's jaw dropped and his heart warmed. They really considered him family even if they had just met him. Even if he was their son's gay boyfriend. And that was all he needed to hear to know that it would all be okay eventually. It could take some time for things to become normal, but they surely would.
"Which song do you guys want?" He asked with a rather confident smile this time, already turning the pegs on the headstock, to tune the instrument right.
The night ended just like that. A family singing and eating together, having fun, reminiscing about the past and bonding together, and when the couple went upstairs to sleep, Chester couldn't stop smiling.
When Mike came to bed, the blonde hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Mike."
"For what, baby?" The half Asian frowned, confused as he hugged his lover back.
"For everything you've done for me. Since day one you've been the only one who believed in me and I've come this far only because of you... for you. Before, I had no idea what path my life would take me... now I still don't, future is unsure after all, but I know that it'll be with you and that it'll be good. I feel that everything will finally be okay now. Thank you for that. I love you." Chester smiled and kissed Mike's lips tenderly.
"I feel the same about you, Ches. We will be okay, we will. Wherever the future takes us, we will be together." Mike kissed his forehead and smiled.
They both felt the same, and they would be okay.
Smiling, the couple of young men fell asleep in one another's arms, just drowning in their love.