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 Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 8:42 pm
It was almost a year since he’d first met Caspian, and over four months since they decided to get married, and Michael still had yet to meet Caspian’s family. He didn’t want to rush Caspian into it if he wasn’t ready for his family to know, but they were kind of getting married and Michael kind of wanted to at least meet them prior to that.
“You know you can’t keep me to yourself forever, babe,” Michael said as he lounged on the couch, a book in one hand and his other arm over Caspian’s shoulder and chest as his fiancé curled up against his side, playing on his phone. It was still relatively early in the day, Michael being a bad influence and convinced Caspian to skip school to spend his birthday at home with him (while Peter went to school, instead). And then of course to go out that night. Michael had already taken the last two days of the week off.
The morning had been spent lounging around in front of the television with a breakfast (more like brunch) of eggs and bacon and toast and coffee. In fact, they still hadn't bothered changing out of their pajamas, Michael still in his lounge pants and a teeshirt, his hair more of a mess than usual.
“You’ll have to let me meet your mom and sister at some point.” Not that he minded Caspian keeping him to himself. In fact he thought it was kind of cute, but the reality of it was that they were going to all be related and he would like to meet his future in-laws before they tied the knot and gave them some reason to resent him.
“Do you think they won’t like me?” he prodded, knowing that wasn’t the case (or at least he hoped it wasn’t), mostly just wanting to get Caspian to start talking to him. If there was some underlying reason as to why Caspian wanted him to be kept secret, then that was fine, but otherwise he would have to meet them. Sooner than later, preferably.
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Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 10:56 pm
It wasn't so much that he was trying to make it so Michael didn't meet his family. It was just that - well - he was trying to make it so Michael didn't meet his family. Mostly. There wasn't anything wrong with them. And, well, his family knew about Michael, at least.
Caspian scored another ten points on his game and made a sound that was halfway between a snort and a groan of exasperation. His head was tilted so that he was resting it against Michael's inner shoulder, the warmth of Michael's arm around him a familiar and welcome weight.
"Can too," said Caspian delicately. He nabbed another ten points. "You totally don't need to meet them, I'm enough, that's all."
He missed making the last basket and the screen revolved back to the home one. Caspian made another noise and hit a button, tilting his head back so that he could look at Michael upside down, his hair falling all over his face, and Michael's chest.
"It's not that, everyone should like you," he said. "I just think it's better this way."
Maybe. Caspian hit a button on his phone and there was a sudden, vibrant noise. It took him a moment to realize that it was ringing, not just an in-game sound.
"s**t - "
He hit the button without looking at the caller ID.
"Hello?"
A pause. Then -
"Oh. Hi, Mom."
Caspian began to slowly, carefully try and extricate himself from his fiance's arms.
Abort mission abort mission.
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:16 pm
Whatever Caspian had against his family meeting him, he wasn’t entirely sure. Then again, he’d held off on his own family meeting Caspian until, well, they didn’t really have a choice. His family kind of barged in on them at the mountain cabin the morning after Michael (and he swears it was Caspian, too) proposed, and they agreed to get married.
The first time he introduced Caspian to his family, it was as his fiance. Which, it was surprising enough that Michael had gotten close enough to someone to even date them, or consider himself in a relationship with them, but things worked out the way they had, and Michael would not want it any other way.
He glanced down as Caspian leaned his head back to look up at him, snorting softly in amusement. Michael was just about to ask if there was anything Caspian wanted to do on his birthday, when his phone rang. And Caspian answered.
And it was pretty obvious that he was trying to escape.
Michael tightened his hold over Caspian’s shoulder and chest to keep him from running off, the book from his other hand set on the table beside him so he could reach over and make an attempt to pry the phone out of his fiance’s hand.
“Yes, thank you, I’ll give this back in a minute,” he gently explained as he gripped tighter to Caspian’s arm so he wouldn’t do something crazy like, oh, maybe chuck the phone across the room in a crazy attempt to prevent him from taking it from him. He wouldn’t put it past Caspian to do something like that.
Finally, once he’d managed to pull the phone free, he kept his arm tight around Caspian’s shoulder and held the phone up to his own ear.
“Hello? Zoe Lyons? Sorry to interrupt, but I don’t think your son would ever introduce us otherwise.” Was he grinning as he spoke? Absolutely. This was quite amusing for him. Anything that made Caspian squirm was amusing.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:04 pm
Michael's family was one thing; Caspian still felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of the Gallos, because his own was minuscule in comparison, even if there was no actual competition going on for size of families. At least Peter was semi-normal, even if Caspian wasn't about to tell him that anytime soon. And at least Chris had seemed all right, and his parents were - friendly.
It had just been a little daunting that Michael had had to introduce Caspian as his fiance rather than his boyfriend, a difference that still made Caspian's heart flutter with pure, unabashed pleasure more often than not. He was more than a little excited to be able to say husband, too.
Michael's arm had deliberately tightened around him as Caspian squirmed to try and get free. He pushed at him, and said into the phone, "No, uh, Mom, it's okay, everything is fine and dandy, I'm all right, I promise, sorry I forgot to - hey!"
The phone was yanked unceremoniously out of his fingers. Caspian gave a squawk and made a wild grab for it, Michael and him having a silent but furious fight for all of three seconds before Michael emerged as the triumphant victor, the phone held up over Caspian's head.
On the other line, in a dry toned voice, Zoe Lyons said, "Ah, Michael, is it? Nice to finally talk to you."
She had a low voice, a little rasping, as though she'd had a few too many cigarettes, though she'd never smoked a day in her life. There was a cluck of her tongue as she added, with a small sigh, "I suppose at some point I'm gonna have to meet you, but for now we can talk. Tell me about yourself, Michael. What's this I hear about you marrying my little s**t of a son?"
At present, the little s**t was still trying to reach for the phone, Caspian wearing a look of outrage.
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Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:26 am
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a grin when she guessed correctly that it was, in fact, Michael on the other end of the phone. “Oh, wow. I’m surprised he told anyone that we’re engaged. Well, that’s good. I was afraid I would have to break the news. Apparently he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to introduce me to anyone.”
He was more amused over the fact that Caspian kept attempting to get the phone back from him than anything else, and he kept his arm around him as best he could, before shifting to lean over him on the couch, pushing Caspian down into the cushions.
Not to hurt him, of course, but Michael was about twice Caspian’s weight and had no problem using that to his advantage. All he wanted to do was pin him down to keep him from escaping.
“You don’t have to meet me if you don’t want to,” he said with a small laugh as he reached out to playfully ruffle at Caspian’s hair, thinking his attempt to stop him was quite endearing. As much of a brat Caspian was, Michael had really grown to accept that it was just part of who he was that made him Caspian. And Michael wouldn’t want to change that.
“Well, I’m not really sure what’s interesting enough to share,” he explained with a thoughtful frown. “I served in the Navy for a few years, primarily as a pilot. I don’t have any criminal record, although you’re welcome to run a background check if you’d like,” he continued with an amused glance in Caspian’s direction. “I’ve got two younger brothers, I like sailing and everything water and beach related, I’ve been teaching a high school elective class on engineering and mechanics for the past five years. And I haven’t told Caspian yet, but this is my last year teaching, because next year I’ll be going back to school for myself.”
There was a pause and then, “How do you feel about being on speaker? Or even video?” He thought he could at least ask, for Caspian’s benefit.
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Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:40 am
"He didn't mean to tell me," said Zoe dryly. From the other end of the line, there was the sound of chair wheels moving across the floor. "I only managed to wrangle it out of him because he kept mentioning some guy, and I put two and two together, since Caspian never talks about anyone he's not interested in. Which is to say, he's never talked about anyone before you."
Caspian made a soundless squawk of outrage as Michael shoved him down, arms and limbs flailing in an attempt to both get free and get the phone away from his fiance. Neither one of these were actually working at the present moment, but he wasn't about to stop trying just because Michael was being a big jerk.
"Give me that - "
Caspian made a grab for the phone, even as Michael was ruffling his hair. On the line, Zoe said, "No, no, I definitely want to meet you. Preferably before the wedding, actually. When is that, by the way? I don't trust my son to give me a legitimate date other than February 31st."
Meanwhile, Caspian was trying to knee Michael in the stomach. Or possibly elsewhere, depending on how low his attempts went.
"So you're a military man and a family man," said Zoe, now sounding amused, though her tone was still just as dry, as though she was possibly entertained by all of this, or possibly knew exactly what Caspian was doing in the background. "Good to know."
Caspian had frozen underneath Michael, however, eyes wide, staring up at Michael. He hadn't known about Michael's decision to go back to school; he'd encouraged it, but Michael had been struggling to figure out what to do for months now, possibly even years; he hadn't heard that there was a decision that he'd come to.
Zoe said, "Either works. I'm assuming Caspian is trying to take the phone away, so you may as well put both of you on the line."
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Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 2:45 pm
Michael knew that he’d caught Caspian by surprise with his comment about going back to school. And the look on his face (despite the fact that Caspian had just been trying to kick and hit and knee at him to get his phone back) prompted Michael to lean down to steal a quick kiss from him.
“I was going to tell you tonight,” he promised with a small smile at his fiance, holding the phone away from his ear so he could work on switching it over to video chat. “I got my acceptance letter to DCU about a week ago. You’re going to have to put up with me going to the same school as you, sorry.”
Michael held the phone out above him so he could continue to lay partially on top of Caspian to keep him pinned down, lest he got the idea to try and take the phone away from him still. He flashed a smile in the direction of the screen, holding it up for Caspian’s mother to see them both. Which included a somewhat crumpled looking Caspian because Michael had refused to get off of him just yet.
Hey, if Caspian was going to be a brat, then he was going to be a brat right back.
“Hello, nice to meet you,” he said with a grin. “And yes, he was trying to get the phone still. He gets kind of violent at times when he doesn’t get his way immediately,” Michael pointed out, although he was sure it was nothing new to Caspian’s mother. “Next time you’re in town we should go out to dinner,” Michael offered, although he knew he might end up getting Caspian more flustered than really necessary. But this was what he got for avoiding letting his family know about them.
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Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 4:49 pm
The quick kiss made Caspian's face flush - it was his mother on the phone, after all - but it at least mollified him slightly.
Slightly. He made another grab for the phone, even as Michael fiddled with the settings on it, his heart pounding in his chest. A swell of pride and happiness was about to burst through him, pure delight at Michael's decision - though Caspian couldn't exactly do anything when they were now on a video chat with his mother.
Zoe was a slender woman with short, dark hair cut into a pixie cut. She had the same blue eyes as her children, the same narrow face and the same sort of impish smile tugging at her lips. Dressed in a dove gray suit, she surveyed the pair of them with a critical eye, her lips pressed together as though attempting to hide back her amusement.
It didn't really work.
"He used to throw the biggest tantrums as a child," said Zoe with a sigh, at the same time that Caspian said, "Mooooooooom," with the same sort of exasperated rolling of his eyes that was usually reserved for Peter. "Really? Really?"
"Dinner would be lovely," said Zoe breezily. "I'll be in town next week. Tuesday work for you?"
"Mooooooom," said Caspian.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 5:00 pm
"Used to?" Michael said with a small laugh, holding the phone up for Caspian’s mother to see the both of them easily, his arm still around his fiancé as he practically laid on top of him to keep him from escaping. He did make sure to shift just a bit so he wasn’t crushing him completely, but he was sure it wasn’t the most comfortable position.
"I can’t imagine that," he lied, knowing that Caspian was already uncomfortable with everything, his own fondness for his fiancé probably stupidly obvious even as he spoke to his mother. He knew Caspian had wanted to keep him to himself, but this was something that had to happen, eventually. Or at least that’s how Michael felt about it.
"Yes ma’am, Tuesday works for me. I think Cas has class that afternoon, but we should be ready by dinner. Is that okay?" Michael asked Caspian now, wanting to make sure he was okay with everything and that he wasn’t interrupting any volleyball practices or other things he needed to do.
There was a pause and then Michael made sure once more that Zoe Lyons could see both of them in the video chat, drawing in a small breath as if to try and settle himself.
"I want you to know that I’m serious about wanting to marry your son," he said, his smile still there but it was a bit more subdued. "He’s good for me, and I love him, and I promise you will never have to worry about him being unhappy because I’ll do whatever it takes. He makes me happy, too."
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 8:51 am
"Miiiichaellllll," Caspian said now, substituting his fiance's name for his mother's, even as his mother was laughing, the corners of her lips quirking up. That same smile that was so reminiscent of her children was mischievous now, her eyes twinkling. It was clear that she knew exactly what Michael was - and wasn't - insinuating.
"I assume you've handled your fair share of tantrums, then," Zoe said blithely, and Caspian gave a squawk of protest and outrage, still trying to push Michael off of him. It was failing, of course, completely, because Michael was unfairly larger and stronger than him.
Caspian just gave him a mutinous look at the mention of dinner. "No," he said, because, well. He was Caspian.
But the stubborn streak was melting a little at Michael's words, Caspian's expression shifting, softening, a flush spreading across his cheeks. he stared up at Michael, his heart pounding in his chest, and felt the warmth of it all spreading further over him, curling around his heart.
Zoe's smile had also shifted; it was quieter now, gentler.
"Good," she said, and her tone was brisk and neutral. "I'm glad to hear that, Michael. Dinner sounds lovely. Maybe we should invite your sister, too."
"No," said Caspian, now sounding horrified.
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Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 9:16 pm
He let up a little, but only because he was concerned about actually hurting Caspian, even though he was just messing around with him. Michael was still very aware that he was nearly twice Caspian’s weight, and had nearly a foot on him in height. But Michael was convinced that it was their differences, both physically and with their personalities that made them good for each other.
Michael could see the way Caspian was looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and although he didn’t look away from the phone, he reached with his other hand, out of view of the video, to grab hold of one of Caspian’s, linking their fingers together.
It was difficult not to just turn and smother Caspian with kisses, but he felt as though his fiance was being punished enough, what with him forcing him to have a video conference with his mother, after Michael had known he didn’t really want the two of them to meet quite yet.
“I don’t mind taking things one at a time,” Michael spoke up, shifting a little on the couch to get more comfortable. “Just you, me, and Cas, if that’s alright?”
Michael might have forced Caspian to let him sort of meet his mother, but he wasn’t going to force him to let him meet his sister at the same time.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 2:06 pm
Michael wasn't actually hurting him, but Caspian knew him too well and knew that he was letting up out of legitimate concern for his well-being. He gave his fiance a pointed look, sticking out his tongue, then realized that they were still on FaceTime with his mother.
Fingers closed around his. Caspian curled them together, feeling his heart warming, wanting very much to bury his face into Michael's shoulder and hug him, but he couldn't do that - yet - so instead he just settled for holding tightly to his hand, soothed by the contact.
"That's fine," said Zoe lightly. She turned in her seat, speaking to someone out of view of the phone, and there was a shuffle of papers; clearly she was still at work, especially if her clothing was any indication of that. After a few seconds, she swiveled back to look at them.
"Dinner on Tuesday, the three of us," she said. "I'll pick the place and text Caspian the details, and if he doesn't tell you, then I'll remind him I have photographic evidence of all the terrible things he did as a child, and also the traditional pre-wedding diaper baby pictures."
"Mom," said Caspian, in a half strangled voice. "Seriously."
Zoe blew a kiss, grinning, and the resemblance to her children was suddenly immediately striking.
"See you Tuesday, then!" she said breezily, and the screen went black.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:44 pm
”See? That wasn’t too bad. Your mom seems nice,” Michael hummed in amusement as he lowered the phone once the call ended, gently tossing it onto the coffee table so he could properly shift and twist himself to turn around, pushing Caspian the rest of the way down onto the couch.
He frowned a little as he went to kiss his fiance, realizing that he’d misjudged how far he would have to lean over to be able to reach his face, and instead had to settle on kissing the side of his neck instead, his hand still grasping tightly to Caspian’s.
“Are you mad at me?” he wondered, mumbling against Caspian’s neck. “I’m sorry I took your phone. And didn’t tell you about deciding to go to school yet,” he tried, hoping that he wasn’t going to be in too much trouble for the stunt he pulled.
“I really was going to tell you tonight,” he said, pushing himself up some to give Caspian room to breathe, propping his chin on his hand, his arm wedged between Caspian and the back of the couch.
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Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 8:52 am
"She seems nice, sure," said Caspian, allowing Michael to squash him back into the pillows of the couch. He shivered a little as lips pressed against his neck, his free hand rising to absently smooth through his fiance's hair.
A sigh escaped. "I'm not mad," said Caspian, after a moment. "Well, not really. I can't really ever be mad at you."
This was an outright lie, because he'd been mad at Michael several times in the past and within the last few months, even. Caspian turned his head to look at him as Michael shifted again, air rushing back into his lungs at the abrupt lack of pressure bearing down on him.
"You're really going back to school?" Caspian asked, his eyes finding Michael's and holding onto them. "Like, for real, for real?"
He reached out, idly tracing fingers down the front of Michael's shirt, tugging a little at the collar.
"You're not just saying that?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 11:57 pm
He liked the feel of Caspian’s hand in his hair. It was something that always seemed to soothe him. He met Caspian’s gaze up at him with a smile, seeing the speculation in his eyes, as though he wasn’t quite believing what he was hearing but wanting to.
“I’m really going back to school. Like, for real, for real,” he confirmed, his smile widening at the incredulous look on Caspian’s cute face. “I’m not just saying that. I got an acceptance letter about a month ago,” he admitted a little sheepishly, his hand reaching up to take hold of Caspian’s hand as he traced his fingers down his shirt, lifting it up to his mouth to kiss.
“Not just me. Peter got accepted too, although that’s not all that surprising. But I promised myself that I would keep teaching until Peter graduated, so I guess skipping a year of high school counts,” he shrugged one shoulder, gently shifting Caspian’s hand in his, pressing his thumb to his palm and stretching his fingers out. It was more of an absent gesture than anything.
“It’s not really a birthday present, but... I thought it might be something you’d like.”
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