Sweaters & Cigarettes (29 page)

He shrugs.

"She's giving it a
chance." Max just looks at him, before shrugging questioningly, and Theo
explains. "She talked to my dad, and managed to convince him."

"And...?" Max really does
seem slightly on edge, and Theo resists the urge to smile in teasing amusement.

"And," he says,
"you've been officially invited to my house. For dinner."

Max actually stops dead, then,
making Theo stop, as well. And then he pulls back a bit, his expression
suddenly humorously terrified.

"Wait, what?" he says
dumbly, and Theo chuckles at his reaction.

"They want to meet you,"
he says. "Or at least, my mom does. Not so sure my dad's too happy about
it, but it's still happening."

Max blinks, apparently stunned.

"Uh," he says,
eloquently. "Dinner? At your house?"

Theo nods, pressing his lips
together.

"With your family?" Max
continues, eyebrows raised, and Theo hums in confirmation.

"Yeah," he says.
"That's the gist of it."

Max seemingly holds his breath for
a moment, letting it sink in, before exhaling slowly.

"Right," he says,
nodding. "Okay."

Theo looks at him pointedly.

"You alright?" he asks,
and Max keeps nodding, making a face that's probably supposed to be reassuring,
but which only makes him look oddly nervous.

"Yeah," he says.
"First time for everything, right?"

Theo grins, admittedly amused at
Max's somewhat terrified reaction, and he takes Max's hand and places a soft,
chaste kiss on his lips.

"Exactly."

Chapter 20

Dinner

"So, they finally caved,
huh?"

Theo looks up at Riley's words. The
two of them are sitting in the living room, Theo half-attempting to study,
while Riley plays videogames, and they haven't really spoken in the last
fifteen minutes. Riley glances at his brother pointedly, though, as he asks the
question, and Theo sighs.

"Yeah," he says. "I
guess they did."

Theo is honestly a little bit
surprised, on some level, that his parents haven't changed their minds, about
meeting Max. It's not that they normally would do something like that; he's still
just anxious about how they went from completely disapproving, to tentatively
accepting. Or his mother did, at least. His dad is still pretty tense about the
whole thing.

"Took them long enough,"
Riley says, eyes back on the TV, thumbs maneuvering the Playstation 3
controller in his hands. "I didn't think mom would be such a hardass about
it."

"She had her reasons,
apparently," Theo says, not going into it any further. And Riley doesn't
ask. "And hey, thanks, by the way."

Riley glances at him, questioning.

"For talking to her,"
Theo clarifies. "About Max."

Riley quirks a small smile, turning
back to the TV. He shrugs.

"He's a good guy," he
says. "I figured he deserved a chance."

"Still, though." Theo finds
that his voice sounds more serious than he intended. "Thanks."

Riley gives him another glance,
before nodding. And that's all they say about that.

"So," Riley says after
another little while, a teasing edge to his voice. "You nervous about
it?"

"About what?"

"Dinner."

Theo shifts slightly in his seat.

"I don't know," he says.
"Shouldn't be, right?"

Riley cocks his head.

"Well," he says, "I
would be. I mean, mom and dad practically hated the whole idea until a couple
of days ago. Even if they changed their minds, I'd be nervous."

Theo just stares.

"Well, thanks for that,"
he says sarcastically. "Now, I'm not nervous, at all."

Riley smiles in a typical, teasing
little brother kind of way.

"Happy to help," he says,
and Theo scoffs.

"Bitch," he mutters under
his breath.

"Jerk," comes the reply
from Riley, and Theo returns his attention to his studying.

He shouldn't be nervous, right? Max
is the one meeting his parents, the one thrown into a situation that Theo is
pretty sure he really isn't used to. All Theo has to do is be there. No big
deal.

Theo sighs. Tomorrow night.
Tomorrow night, Max will be coming over, and they're all going to sit down and
have dinner, together.

It should be interesting.

♦

"I don't like this."

Max pulls on his cigarette, glancing
at the cold, snow-covered ground. Theo looks at him, a bit apprehensively.

"Yeah, maybe this whole
dinner-thing is a bit much―" he starts, hesitantly, but Max cuts him
off with a look.

"No, that's not it," he
says, almost hurriedly, like he really wants to reassure him. "That's not
it, trust me."

He gives Theo a quick kiss on the
mouth.

"I want to," he says,
before cocking his head, as though revising. "...ish."

Theo gives him a pointed look.

"Ish?" he asks, and Max
glances away briefly. He sighs, worrying at his pierced lip.

"Don't get me wrong," he
says. "I'm not too excited about the prospect of having a civilized meal
with your parents. I mean, I barely even talk to my own parents. How am I
supposed to talk to yours?"

He glances at Theo pointedly, and
Theo opens his mouth to reassure him, but Max cuts him off.

"But," he says, "I
do want to do this. For you. I know it's important, so... Yeah."

He shrugs awkwardly, and Theo lets
out a slow breath. It's amazing how Max can still surprise him, somehow. He can
be so considerate, so sweet, while still being the same sardonic prick as
always toward anyone else, and for some reason, it makes Theo feel all the more
special. Because Max wants to do things for him, wants to make him happy. Even
though he recoils at the idea of having dinner with Theo's family, simply
because of how awkward and unfamiliar it is, he's going to do it tonight. For
Theo. Just for him.

"Thank you," Theo says,
taking Max's hand, the one not holding a lit cigarette between its fingers.
"Really."

Max grumbles.

"Yeah, alright," he says.
"Don't get all cheesy on me."

Theo smiles, pulling him in for a
kiss.

"Should I wear a tie?"
Max asks, frowning, his tone that perfect mix between sardonic and joking, and
Theo chuckles.

"No," he says. "I
mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love to see you in one. But no. It's just dinner.
No big deal."

"You sure?" Max asks
pointedly, cocking his eyebrows. "I've got a blue one. Really brings out
my eyes."

He widens those dark blue,
black-lined eyes, as though to prove this point, and Theo smiles, tilts his
head, pushing that black hair back from Max's forehead.

"Well, I'm intrigued," he
admits. "How about we save that for a different occasion?"

Max quirks a smile.

"Fair enough," he says,
giving Theo a kiss. "I'll just be my usual, charming self."

♦

The day ends much faster than Theo somehow expected,
and before he knows it, it's nearly dinnertime.

Amy is cooking, Eric isn't home
from work, yet, and Theo is alternating between tidying up his room and getting
his hair right. The latter task is frankly ridiculous, though; his hair is
rather short and plain, just short enough to
not
be a pain to deal with,
so there's really no point in standing in front of the mirror, adjusting every
single strand. He doesn't even usually do that. He has never really cared about
it, and he has no idea why he's suddenly starting, now.

Maybe he's just nervous. Hell, he
knows
he's nervous. Probably nowhere near what Max is feeling, though, and Theo still
can't believe he's actually doing this for him.

Theo can only hope that the night
goes smoothly.

It's when the doorbell suddenly
rings that Theo practically throws himself down the stairs, while attempting to
casually let his mother and brother know that he's getting the door, and he
gets a somewhat amused eye-roll from Riley, which he decides to ignore.
Instead, he takes a breath, before opening the front door.

"Hi," he says, a bit more
hurriedly than he meant to, and Max raises his eyebrows at him.

"Hi," he says, smiling in
something like surprise at Theo's apparent fluster. And Theo just stares at him
for a moment, before reanimating, and stepping aside.

"Just, uh―" he says
stupidly, and Max narrows his eyes as him, while stepping over the threshold.
It's snowing a little, outside, and as Theo closes the door, he watches as Max
brushes some snow off of his coat. He suddenly doesn't really feel nervous,
anymore, but rather excited, in a way he can't really explain.

"How you feeling?" Theo
asks, and Max looks up at him.

"I'm good," he says, a
bit apprehensively. It's like he's a bit confused by Theo's manner, and Theo
deliberately takes a deep breath, calming down. "Just need a minute."

Theo nods, and Max takes off his
coat and snow-covered boots. Theo just watches him, feeling his heart rate
steadily slow down, until he feels still and completely calm. Just being near
Max tends to do that to him, when it's not making his stomach leap and fill up
with butterflies, that is. It's like Max centers him, grounds him.

It's when Theo notices what Max is
wearing, that his face breaks into a small smile.

"Hey," he says, gently
taking a thin, black suspender strap between his thumb and index finger.
"Look at that."

Max gives him a small glare.

"Don't," he says
warningly, but with a certain softness to his voice. "It's not like I
dressed up, or anything."

Theo cocks his head.

"I don't know," he says.
"You look pretty good, to me."

Max looks at him pointedly.

"I always look pretty
good," he says smugly, but in a way that lets Theo know he's just being an
ass, on purpose. "But thanks."

Theo eyes him up and down, smiling.
Max is right, it's not like he has dressed up, or anything; that wouldn't
really be his style, anyway. Instead, he's just wearing his ordinary uniform of
a black, long-sleeved t-shirt, and black jeans. The only detail slightly
altered is the addition of the suspenders, and Theo can't deny that he loves
the way they look on him.

Max takes a deep breath, then, and
Theo looks up at him. Those blue eyes look slightly nervous, and he gives him a
small nudge.

"Hey," he says. "You
okay?"

Max exhales slowly, and nods.

"Yeah," he says.
"I'm fine."

Another few seconds pass in
silence, and then Max scoffs and shakes his head, a small smile on his face.

"Look at that," he
murmurs. "Now,
I'm
new at something, and you're walking me through
it. Oh, how the tables have turned."

Theo just smiles affectionately,
doesn't mention how he actually kind of likes the fact that for once, Max is
the inexperienced one, and Theo is the one who has to calm
him
down. Not
that Theo has any previous experience with this sort of thing, either, but at
least Max is as new at it as he is.

"Just be yourself," Theo
says, absently smoothing those black suspenders between his thumbs and index
fingers. "You'll do fine."

Max raises a pierced eyebrow at
him, pointedly.

"Need I remind you," he
says, "that being myself is what generally fucks things over for me,
rather than the other way around."

Theo looks up at him, chews his
bottom lip for a moment. Then he cocks his head.

"Touché," he says. Then
he leans in and gives Max a quick kiss, as Max rolls his eyes. "But it's
also what made me fall for you. And it's what made Riley like you, so you've at
least got him on your side."

Max doesn't answer right away,
instead just looks at Theo, who raises his eyebrows hopefully. And Max sighs.

"Alright," he says.
"I'll do my best."

Theo decides to ignore the blatant
sarcasm, and instead nods.

"That's all I'm asking,"
he says. "And you'll do fine."

Max makes a grumbling sound.

"Yeah, well," he says,
"I must admit, I'm kinda nervous. Never really 'met the parents',
before."

Theo gives him a small, teasing
smile.

"Nervous?" he says,
having his suspicions confirmed. "You?"

Max narrows his black-lined eyes.

"Yes," he says, pointing at
Theo warningly. "And that does not leave this room."

Theo chuckles, but nods, all the
same.

"My lips are sealed," he
says. "No one will hear of your actual, human emotions."

"Better not," Max
grumbles, but quirks a small smile, all the same. Theo kisses him again, trying
to be reassuring.

"I love you," he says.
"Thanks for doing this."

"Anything for you, babe,"
Max replies, giving Theo a quick kiss, himself. "I love you, too."

Theo exhales slowly, leans his
forehead against Max's for a few moments, as though it will ground him.

"Ready?" he finally says,
and he hears Max exhale, as well.

"As ready as I'll ever
be," he replies, and Theo gives him one last, chaste kiss, before they
make their way out of the hall.

They keep their hands locked together,
fingers entwined, and Theo absently notices how Max's grip tightens just the
slightest bit, as they step into the kitchen. Amy is already there, by the
stove, while Riley is in the middle of setting the dining room table. The
dining room is connected to the kitchen, through an open, vaulted doorway, and
so he spots Theo and Max right away.

"Hi, Max," he says,
making his way back into the kitchen, and just as Amy turns her head to see who
her youngest son is talking to, Max replies.

"'Sup, Riley," he says,
and Riley gives him a smile, before returning to the dining room, a pile of
plates in his hands. Meanwhile, Amy turns around completely, and at least in
Theo's eyes, she is visibly startled when she sees Max.

"Hello," she says,
sounding awfully relaxed, considering. She turns to Theo, expectantly, as she
makes her way across the kitchen, and Theo clears his throat unnecessarily.