The last part of their break went by pretty happily. The two did nothing important beyond spending time with one another. Brian took advantage of this time to baby AJ. He helped him with his exercises and took care of him. He helped him shower and dress and anything else he needed. To AJ’s surprise, he didn’t really mind Brian helping him.
In the daytime the two men stayed mostly at the hotel. They had convinced their friends to go back to wherever they had been for their vacations. Soon enough they would all be back on tour again. So, without their friends there, they spent their days either in bed with one another, or watching movies, or they called Tony and went out to laugh and shop and eat. Each night they met up with Mark and Tony at different restaurants.
But on their last day there, AJ woke up determined to do one important thing. They had a flight out at two that afternoon and he wanted to have things taken care of by then. So before Brian was even awake, AJ started to gather up little things here and there. He called down to room service, ordering coffee and breakfast sandwiches.
The sound of AJ moving around in the bathroom, gathering their toiletries, was what finally woke Brian up. He stretched luxuriously in the bed, cracking his eyes open to look sleepily toward the bathroom. “What’re you doing in there, lover boy?” he called out.
AJ’s head poked out the bathroom door, wreathed in smiles. “Morning, baby! There’s coffee and breakfast over in the living room.”
That was the benefit of having rented a suite. It was almost like their own private apartment. It also afforded them a slightly more secluded feeling.
“Mm, coffee.” Brian mumbled appreciatively. He didn’t bother to get out of bed, though. Instead, he rolled onto his stomach, crossing his arms under his head and smiling toward the bathroom. “You better not be moving your arm too much or lifting anything.”
“I’m lifting a bottle of shampoo and putting it inside the bag, does that count?” AJ called back.
“You’re packing us up already? We’ve got a few hours yet, honey. We’re meeting Mark and Tony at the airport café at noon, remember?”
“I know, but we’ve got a stop to make first, so I want to get out of here in the next thirty minutes.”
Brian sat up in bed, stretching his arms over his head. He heard AJ whistle and turned to look. AJ had stuck his head back out the bathroom door and had whistled at Brian as the sheet had slipped away, showing that he was naked. “Morning, sexy.” AJ said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Without any modesty at all Brian stood up and walked over to their suitcase. He deliberately ignored the catcalls that AJ was doing. A smile was curving his lips, though. “So where’re we going to?” he asked as he drew his pants on. AJ came out of the bathroom then, tossing the bag of bathroom items into an open suitcase.
“Your parents’ house.” The words were just casually thrown out there as if there was nothing to them. Even as he said them, AJ squatted in front of their suitcase of clothes. He knew better than to try and bend to sort through things. That was pain he only had to experience once to learn from. He hadn’t known how many ways of moving involved the muscles in the shoulder. It was amazing!
Brian froze in place, staring at the top of AJ’s head. “My parents?” he squawked out.
“Mm hm.” AJ sifted through his clothes, trying to find something to wear. It was such a pain in the ass to try to figure out how to dress when you had to have your shirt strapped to your chest and it was almost impossible to get a regular t-shirt on. He and Brian had bought plenty of new button up shirts, which did make dressing easier. “I called your mom. She’s expecting us before too much longer. I told her we had a noon commitment.”
“You did what? Listen here, Alex, I-”
AJ straightened up with his clothes in hand. “No, you listen, Brian. You’ve been beating yourself up despite my best efforts to kill off this guilt trip you seem to be in. You need to talk to them and work this out before it eats you up inside.”
“You had no right to orchestrate this behind my back!” Brian shouted at him. He stormed out of the bedroom and over to where the coffee sat waiting. Anger practically vibrated off of him. Annoyed, AJ sat on the edge of the bed and worked to put his pants on, grumbling the entire time. He’d known that Brian would react like this. It was why he had waited until the last minute to tell him.
He swore to himself when he bent the wrong way and his shoulder started to throb. That only increased his temper. It was so damn frustrating to try and do something on his own and have it be so damn hard! Eventually he got his pants up and the zipper pulled up. Buttoning one handed was more than he could do. Unbutton, yes; button, no.
In more pain than he would care to admit to, AJ headed out to the front room and over to the coffee. Brian already had a cup and was sipping at it, still looking annoyed. Guilt flashed in his eyes when he caught sight of AJ, though. He knew he looked a sight. Probably pale, as that usually happened when he was hurting, and most likely a little sweaty from struggling so hard and trying to keep the pain at bay. “You should have called me in. I would have helped you get your jeans on, honey.”
“I got the damn things on, didn’t I?” AJ grumbled in a low voice. He poured himself a cup of coffee and picked it up without bothering with cream or sugar, which was unusual for him. “Now are you done being pissed so we can get ready to go?”
Brian’s face darkened again. “You should have spoken to me first, AJ. I’m not ready to see them yet. I don’t want to go back out there and see them. They’re my parents, and it’s my right to deal with them if and when I’m ready.”
“Your right?” AJ said incredulously. He had to set his coffee cup back down for fear that he was going to throw it. Now that his hand was free he raised a finger to point at Brian. “They’re your parents, but you seem to be forgetting that I was the one that got fucking shot! If either of us has a right to be pissed it’d be me! But here I am trying to fix shit and here you are being a stubborn fucker about the whole damn thing!”
“I have never once forgotten that you were shot, Alex.” In sharp contrast to AJ, Brian’s voice was soft and low and full of pain.
Running a hand through his hair, AJ sighed. “Then why can’t you let me fix this? I have it in my heart to forgive him. You should too. You need to try, Bri. This will poison you if you don’t.”
The room grew silent. AJ could see that his words had affected Brian somewhere deep inside. He knew, even before Brian spoke, that he had won this. When his lover nodded at him, AJ smiled. He walked over and brought a hand to Brian’s cheek before kissing him. “Thank you.”
“I love you, Alex.” Brian whispered to him with a smile.
“Good. Then you won’t mind helping me button my jeans or get a shirt on. I don’t think we should go with me dressed like this.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brian shut off the car and sat there, staring at the front of his parents’ house. Nerves ate at the inside of Brian’s stomach. The last time they had been here, they’d been chased from the house with a shotgun and shot at. He’d had to hold a bullet wound on his lover and try to stop him from bleeding out as Kevin took them to the hospital.
A warm hand slid into his, catching his attention. He looked over to find AJ’s warm, chocolate eyes looking at him with love in them. “You’re doing the right thing, baby.”
“Let’s just get in there and get this done with.” Brian joked.
The two climbed from the car and joined hands before heading up to knock at the front door. Before they got the chance to knock the door was flung open. Jackie stood there, her eyes already red rimmed. “You’re here.” She breathed the words as if she hadn’t believed they were possible. There was love and anguish bright on her face. “Come in, come in. Please.”
AJ nudged Brian forward and the two followed Jackie inside. Instead of heading to the living room this time around, Jackie led them back to the dining room. She already had coffee set on the table and cups ready for their arrival. Harold sat at the head of the table, his hands wrapped around his cup, staring into its depths. At the sound of them entering the room his gaze snapped up, instantly locking on AJ.
His eyes traveled over AJ’s waist, where his arm was still strapped, and up to his shoulder, where the bandage was just a vague lump under his shirt sleeve. “You came.” He whispered it in almost the same tone that Jackie had.
“Yeah, well, AJ didn’t leave me much choice. Say whatever you want to him so we can go meet our friends. We’ve got a lunch date with them at noon and I don’t want to be late.” The words had a smart ass sound to them that wasn’t typical for Brian. It surprised even him.
What surprised Harold and Jackie more was AJ’s reaction to it. He sighed and let go of Brian’s hand. Then, reaching up, he took hold of Brian’s ear and twisted it. Brian instantly tilted his head, trying to relieve the pressure. “AJ! What on earth? Let go!”
AJ twisted a little harder, effectively shutting Brian up. Once he had him quiet he walked him forward to one of the chairs and forced him down into it. Still holding his ear, AJ bent down so that they were face to face. “I’ve had about enough of your bullshit little attitude about this. The Brian I know does not hold grudges or talk to his parents this way. The Brian I know always respected his parents. He taught me that forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Now, I tried coddling you with this, and I tried being patient. Which, you happen to know, is not a strong suit of mine.”
Releasing Brian’s ear, he pulled his face back and glared at him, watching as Brian reached up to rub at his now sore ear. “I’m done being patient. Suck it up and talk to them.”
“Last I checked, AJ, you weren’t in charge of me. I’m not a kid for you to just boss around. If I chose to get up and walk out that door right now it would be my business, do you understand me?”
Shock crossed AJ’s features for a minute. All three people in the room were riveted on AJ as the shock faded away and anger filled him. “How dare you?” AJ whispered. He looked at Brian, the pain in his eyes so sharp that it left Brian speechless. “You actually have a chance to fix this with your parents and you’re blowing it over pride? I would kill to be able to fix things with my mom, but that won’t happen.” AJ raised a hand, gesturing to Jackie and Harold. “They’re right there, willing to talk to you, to work with you, to fix things. But you want to sit here and act like a child.”
AJ threw his good hand up in the air and took a step back. “Do what you want, Brian. But whatever happens now is on you. Not them, not me. You. Suck it up or shut up. But I’m not standing here fighting with you over you being stupid.”
Furious and unable to contain it, AJ turned and stormed out of the house.
Shock was still the most prominent emotion in Brian as he stared after his fiancée. It was quickly followed by a wave of shame. AJ was right. He was totally right. “Mom?” he turned to look back at his parents, feeling that shame grow again. “Would you mind sitting with J for a bit? I don’t want him moving around too much and making his shoulder ache. We’ve got a flight ahead of us and I don’t want him to be hurting for it. Please?”
“Of course.” She said softly, hurrying out of the room.
For a moment Brian busied himself by preparing a cup of coffee. As he added the sugar he finally started to speak. “AJ’s already forgiven you, you know. He’s that kind of a guy. I think he stopped being mad the instant I told him what you said to me at the hospital, about how it was an accident.” Lifting his cup to his lips, Brian looked over it at his dad, his gaze steady. “Was that true?”
“It is, son. I never meant for that to happen. I was furious, yes. But I just wanted to scare him away so we could talk. I was stupid in pulling it out, but I never wanted to hurt him. Please, if you believe nothing else, believe that.”
“What about the problem that started it all? I’m still gay, Dad. We’re still engaged. I will have a commitment ceremony with him in California, and live with him in his house. None of that has changed. I love him.”
To Brian’s surprise, Harold was nodding. “I understand, son. I do. For the past week we’ve thought we lost you. Not only that, but I’ve had to live with the memory of shooting AJ. It does things to a person, living like that. I realized, your mother and I both did, that there’s nothing more important to us than your happiness. We can’t deny that you love him, or that he loves you. Maybe we’re not totally comfortable with it, but give us time and we will be. You’re too important to us to lose, Brian. We love you.”
There was one thing Harold never had been, and that was a liar. So Brian knew the words he spoke were honest and true. They took the weight on his heart and lifted it, easing a pain he had been forcing himself not to feel. “Thank you.” It was all he could manage to whisper as he reached out and took hold of his Dad’s hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AJ kicked the back tire of their car as he tried to light a cigarette with one hand. He couldn’t quite get angled right so the wind wouldn’t blow it instantly out. “Stupid fucking piece of shit.” Mumbling around the edge of the cigarette he tried yet again to get his lighter to flare to life. A pair of delicate hands suddenly cupped around the end of his smoke. AJ puffed it to life before looking over into eyes that were so like Brian’s. “Thank you, Ma’am.”
“Not that I approve of you smoking, mind you.” She teased him, leaning against the side of the car. “But I figured you needed this one.”
“I appreciate it. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating, being stuck doing things one handed.”
“I can only imagine.”
With a slow drag, AJ moved and leaned against the car as well, letting it ease some of the weight off his body. “Do you think they’re talking or fighting in there?” he asked quietly. As angry as he’d been he was still worried about how it would go. But letting on to that worry would only have given Brian another excuse to take them out of there. This needed to be done.
Jackie slanted AJ an impish look so reminiscent of Brian that he had to smile. “Until today, I had never seen Brian get snippy with anyone before. I’d also never seen him so thoroughly dressed down. Usually he just plods right on past obstacles, just doing what he wants despite objections, quietly going on. But I think you bowled him over. The way they were when I left, my guess is they’re talking. Thanks to you.”
“I just did what needed doing.” AJ mumbled, flicking his ash.
She shook her head and smiled in wonder at him. “You really love him, don’t you?”
“With every part of me, ma’am.”
For a moment Jackie stood there, staring at him. Then a smile lit her face. “You better stop calling me ma’am, then. No son in law of mine is going to walk around calling me ma’am. It’ll be Jackie, or Mom. Take your pick. Mom works best for me.”
Tears filled AJ’s eyes. To cover them, he bent down to put his smoke out. He hastily wiped at his cheeks on his way back up. “Thank you.” He whispered when he was face to face with her again.
Jackie slid an arm around his waist, tucking in to his good side. “Things will be better now, Alex. I feel it. You’ve brought change, but it’s all for the good. Our son is happy now. That makes us happy. We may take a little while to adjust, but we’re not going anywhere. You’re good for my son, I see that now. I see how you two are together. You’re exactly what he needs, and all we could have asked for in a partner for him. In the face of that, gender just doesn’t really seem to matter, does it?”
That was it for AJ. He gave up fighting the tears. With his good arm he hugged Jackie to him, kissing the top of her head. She hugged him back and smiled up at him.