Elijah #4
“Someone please pass me the Brussels sprouts before I commit a crime at the dinner table,” I said in a tired voice. I loved my siblings and would do anything for them, but sometimes they really were assholes.
The next few minutes were filled with the sound of silverware scraping against plates and bowls as everyone got their food and began eating.
Marty’s eyes couldn’t decide whether to glare at Marshall or glance down the table toward Milo.
I could practically see the wheels in her head turning as she tried to connect the dots of Marshall’s appearance, Milo’s recent disappearance, and now the news that Milo was no longer with Raf.
That some of her kids were in the know was probably not helping.
“Do I at least get to ask what happened to your face?” she asked after a lull in conversation.
Milo sighed, and I waited to see what he would go with. “I got stupidly drunk and got into a fight with someone at a bar.”
Marty was aghast. “Milo!”
“Did you win?” Dom asked.
“Dominic!”
“What? I’m a professional fighter, Mom. That’s a totally normal question for me to ask.”
“Well, I hope you’re keeping your fighting to the ring and not some random bar!”
“You don’t know that, and for obvious reasons, I wouldn’t tell you if I was.”
“I have no idea if I won,” Milo said with a sigh, poking at the last bits of meat on his plate. “I was...pretty drunk.”
“Oh, Milo,” Marty sighed heavily. “That is not like you. Disappearing on everyone, even poor Eli, getting drunk and fighting?”
“I can promise you, it definitely wasn’t on my bingo card for the year,” Milo said, stuffing the last bit of meat into his mouth. “Shit happens, Mom.”
“And where were you?” Marty asked me, and I frowned at the tone of accusation.
It wasn’t like people didn’t treat me like I was Milo’s keeper, but that didn’t stop it being irritating.
As he had pointed out more than once, he was an adult who could take care of himself just fine without needing me to follow behind him.
Plus, it wasn’t like I didn’t have my own life.
We were close, but I wasn’t his keeper, and neither of us wanted me to be his keeper.
“Looking for him,” I said, because there was no answer that wouldn’t involve more questions.
Evading wasn’t going to help when Milo and I came here to lay everything out for the family.
If I avoided answering her question honestly, she would have thirty more ready until we were left with little room but the truth.
Marty tossed that around in her head for a while. “It’s just...strange. You two have never needed time apart before, but suddenly Milo disappears for days, and even you don’t know where he’s at?”
“Mom, he knew,” Moira said with a sigh.
“How do you know he knew?”
“Because he told me he knew where Milo was and that he was going to leave him alone for a little while. Something all of us would expect if we had to take some time to ourselves.”
“Fine, but why did he need time from everyone? Especially Eli?”
“There have been some...developments,” I said, choosing my words carefully and glancing at Milo, who was staring at his plate, not moving. “Things we didn’t see coming that...changed a lot for us.”
“That’s not very helpful, Eli,” Marty said, narrowing her eyes. “I want to know what is going on to make the two of you act so strangely.”
“We’re working our way to that,” I assured her softly, knowing she wasn’t being nosy, but was deeply concerned and trying to understand. “But you have to give us a minute because it’s not a small thing.”
“Clearly,” she said. “And what’s this ‘we’, because as far as I can tell, Milo has hardly said a thing the whole time we’ve been here, and you’re doing all the?—”
Milo’s head jerked up so sharply I jumped.
“Eli and I started sleeping together weeks ago, despite the fact that he’s…
straight, and we’re stepbrothers. It was just sex at first, really, really good sex that I never want to give up, but it was always going to be more for me because I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with him since I was fourteen.
I kept it quiet because it felt weird and wrong.
Except it hasn’t been weird or wrong at all, it’s been the greatest thing to happen to me.
I want to have him in my life for the rest of our lives in every way I can, at my side, as my friend, in my bed, and yeah, maybe get married one day if I can convince him to do that, despite how weird that would be because our parents are already married and that has a lot of weird implications.
And I disappeared because I panicked. Someone put our private business online to make us look like degenerates, and I’m pretty sure it’s the asshole we told to fuck off because he was being a pig.
So I freaked out about everyone knowing before we could tell everyone, and I abandoned Eli.
I’m sorry I worried you guys, but goddamn, can’t a guy have a meltdown in peace?
It was Eli I hurt doing that. I hurt the man I love and who loves me back , and all because I freaked out and didn’t make the right choice.
Are you happy now, Mom? Are you? Are. You? ”
Marty wasn’t the only one staring at Milo in complete shock.
Every head at the table, mine included, stared at him, mouths open, long enough that a fly could have flown in.
Even those I was damn sure had already known the truth about us were staring at him in shock, the funniest being Mason, who was generally the one saying things that made people gape at him.
But even Arlo, who was usually so weirdly unflappable, was gaping at Milo.
“Well,” Marshall said after clearing his throat and picking up his glass. “I think that covers the basics...and then some.”
“Oh God,” Milo groaned, dropping his face into his hands and giving a soft whimper.
“Was it really necessary to mention how good the sex is?” I asked him in a quiet voice, I hoped didn’t carry across the table.
Dad grunted. “I could have done without that detail myself.”
Not as quiet as I’d hoped. then
“Wow,” Mason said with a little laugh. “You guys really don’t know how to be normal, do you?”
“Mason,” I said in a soft voice. “Maybe the person who spent the first few months of his relationship with Jace literally beating each other like it was a form of fucked up foreplay shouldn’t be the one to talk shit.
And yes, I know about that. We all knew about that when we looked back and did the math after you two announced you were together. ..sorry, Jace.”
Jace scowled at the tablecloth. “If shutting Mason up with the truth means I have to be a casualty, I’ll take it.”
“Yes, shut up, Mason ,” Moira breathed.
“Alright, fuck all of you then,” Mason said with an indignant huff. “God forbid someone tries to lighten the mood.”
“There’s a time and place,” Arlo said softly, grabbing his drink.
It wasn’t quite a rebuke, but it was a sign that Arlo agreed with the consensus that Mason should shut his mouth.
Jace even grabbed Mason’s upper arm, drawing him close and muttering something I couldn’t make out.
Mason’s mouth turned into a grimace, but whatever Jace said had him leaning back in his chair, looking sullen.
..and a little guilty. Jace shot me a look that was hard to read, but I thought it might be apologetic, and I shrugged.
Everyone knew there was no controlling Mason, but even getting him to back off like that was a feat Jace should be proud of.
However, Marty was still staring at the two of us, completely frozen as she gripped her glass.
She either wasn’t aware of the side argument or chose to ignore it as she took in the news that Milo had blurted.
..more like vomited. If it weren’t for the fact that it would encourage Mason, I would have eventually been struck with laughter.
The sheer rawness and unnecessary detail from Milo had been sweet and hilarious.
I knew, of course, that he had every intention of making sure we spent our lives together, but it was still nice to have him say it openly to the family when we were bringing them potentially earth-shattering news.
“So,” Marty said, clearing her throat, quickly taking a drink, wiping her mouth, and setting the glass down a little roughly.
“Let me get this...straight.” She glanced at Mason, who gave her an eye roll and mimed his mouth being zipped shut before she continued.
“You and Eli have been having relations...for a little while...recently.”
“Yes,” I answered as Milo still refused to raise his head and look at anyone.
Marty stared at Milo, probably realizing, like I had, that Milo would be out of commission for a while, and turned her attention to me. “Okay. You...you’re bi now?”
“I don’t...know,” I began, uncomfortable at the question. “I don’t know what that has to do with anything.”
“Just...trying to make sure this isn’t like...some early twenties experimentation, that it’s actually...sticking around,” she said slowly.
“Jace?” I asked with a sigh.
“Uh...what?”
“You were ‘straight’ when you met Mason, right?”
“Umm.”
“And then even as time went on, even now, you didn’t stop and realize it was just an experiment, right?”
“Y-yes,” he said, and I felt a flash of guilt at putting him on the spot without thinking.
Jace had gotten much better about stuff like that, even admitting he was in a relationship with Mason.
He still struggled to admit he was anything but straight, though, the product of some wound or wounds I’d never asked about.
“But...I’m bi. I think that’s what she’s asking. ..and you said you didn’t know.”
“That’s a good point,” I said with a grimace and then looked back at Marty. “I don’t know what you want me to say here. Do you want me to admit I’m...turned on by Milo? That even at this moment, I’m sexually attracted to him? Do I need to explain in detail what I want to do?”