Chapter 10 #5
“And you’re a giant homophobe,” Beckett said accusingly, another clever attempt to get a rise out of Jackson. It worked remarkably well. His older brother gasped, looking panic-stricken as he lifted his hands defensively.
“What? No! It’s cool! I love that you like dudes—”
“You love dudes?” Beckett asked, pretending to be shocked. “Does Katerina know?”
“What! No, I don’t like dudes, I’m just saying it’s cool that you do,” he replied hastily, looking back and forth between Beckett and Hayes.
“You just find it disgusting when we kiss,” Beckett surmised as he crossed his arms over his chest and frowned.
Hayes fought the urge to roll his eyes. The fact that Jackson was playing right into his younger brother’s hands was further proof that his family didn’t know Beckett Thérault quite as well as they thought they did.
“No! I just didn’t want to walk in on something—you know—”
“Right, ‘cause gays fuck in inappropriate settings all the time,” Beckett stated with a sneer, clearly having too much fun torturing Jackson this way.
“What!” Jackson sounded horrified, raising both hands in front of him again.
“That’s enough, Beckett Thérault! Stop yanking your brother’s chain! He’s going to have a panic attack,” Ma Thérault chastised as she appeared from behind Jackson. She chuckled as she peered around Jackson’s massive shoulders.
Hayes thought Beckett might pull away from him at the sight of his mother, but he didn’t. Instead, he burrowed deeper into Hayes’ arms.
“Ah—Maman! I was just having fun,” he said, like she was ruining his good time.
“Fun?!” Jackson replied, outraged. Then he gave Hayes a pleading look and asked, “You know I’m not homophobic right? Like—I wouldn’t, you know, bang a dude, but I think it’s great that you do.”
And if that wasn’t the clumsiest show of support Hayes had ever witnessed he didn’t know what was.
“Don’t worry, Jack—we know you’re just a regular moron, not a close-minded one,” Beckett reassured his older brother with a playful smirk.
Jackson opened his mouth to argue, but his mother put a hand on his forearm to get his attention.
“Katerina was looking for you,” she said, and whether it was true, or just a way of distracting him, Jackson responded quickly. He shot Beckett the middle finger, stuck out his tongue at him, and raced out of the room to go find his wife.
“Don’t mess with your brother like that,” she censured mildly, as if she’d said it a thousand times before.
Hayes couldn’t tell from where he was standing, but he was certain that Beckett had just rolled his eyes at her.
She paused to scrutinize them and then smiled thoughtfully. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”
For a moment, Hayes thought she might be talking about Franklin, but there weren’t any traces of sadness. So she had to be talking about him and Beckett.
“It seems obvious now,” she remarked with a nod and then gave a sigh of contentment.
“Ah, Ma, please don’t embarrass me,” Beckett pleaded, distinctly uncomfortable to be the center of attention regarding his relationship with Hayes.
“Shush,” she replied, ignoring his request. “I’m just saying your love is obvious,” she pointed out, matter-of-factly.
Beckett shivered with disgust as she expressed her views, which made Hayes hold him that much tighter.
Hayes understood why his emotion-averse boyfriend found her views cringe-worthy, but personally—as someone who’d been accused of having no emotions far too often—to be told his love was obvious meant more than she could possibly know.
“I feel a little daft now, honestly. I should have known you two were head over heels in love when you were here at Christmas last year.” Although she was addressing both of them, her gaze was steadily fixed on Hayes.
“We weren’t officially together that Christmas,” Beckett said.
“Maybe—but he already loved you,” she said, and there was no mistaking which “he” she was talking about.
Surprisingly enough, Beckett didn’t offer any clever rejoinders. Instead, he just looked up at Hayes with eyes narrowed speculatively, not entirely sure his mother was correct on that point.
Hayes remained silent, simply nodding his acknowledgement of the truth of her observation as he tightened his hold on Beckett.
“Well—I didn’t come in here to embarrass you. Dinner’s ready,” she announced with a wink and left the room.
“Sometimes—I think I’m pretty cool, calm, and collected. But then she pulls this shit,” Beckett whined and snuggled closer.
Hayes laughed and gave him a quick kiss before pulling him towards the dining room, holding his hand the whole way.
The family gathered at the dinner table, sitting in their usual spots.
At times, grief would make itself known when someone made a reference to Franklin or the cops, but it wasn’t as soul-crushing as it had been earlier in the day.
Beckett and Hayes did their best to steer the conversation into lighter territory and keep everyone entertained with stories about some of their wilder moments, both on and off the job.
The babysitting gig and Operation Raccoon Roundup were the highlights of the evening.