Lie Like You Mean It

“Hey…” I murmured to Zero as he snored soundly next to me. His limbs were strewn lazily over me. “Come on… wake up, you bum.” I told him. When he didn’t wake up to me shaking him, I pushed him off the bed and onto the floor.

I grinned down at him as he rolled over, alerted, to face his attacker. Then he slumped back onto the floor before pushing himself up onto his hands. “Huh…?” He groaned stupidly.

“It’s kind of your birthday, y’know.” I announced to him happily.

“And you pushed me out of bed?” He asked before standing up and pulling me to my feet, automatically forgiving me.

He hugged me to his chest affectionately before pressing a kiss onto my head. I jumped up onto him, wrapping my legs around his torso and throwing my arms around his neck. “Are you my present?” He asked warily.

“N-o…” I dragged out the ‘o’ and then snickered at him. “But, uh, this is part of it.” I told him, blushing.

I kissed down his neck before sucking his collarbone. He shrugged my face away from his neck and then brought his lips down to press against mine. He slipped his tongue past my lips and I had to stop myself from pushing it back into his mouth to be the dominant one; it was his birthday after all. He ran the muscle all throughout my mouth, leaving me breathless as he searched out the pockets on my cheeks and the underside of my own tongue. I held onto his shoulders as he supported my weight against him.
I’m sure we were kissing like that for at least five minutes before there was a vigorous knock on the door.

Finally! Someone knocks before coming in! Zero let go of me, unwillingly detaching our lips and disentangling our tongues from each other. I took a deep breath, trying to let the breath come back to me before answering the door.

“Zero! Please this is-” Then the door opened to Mina standing there, no sign of Michael. “… Important…”

Instantly, I knew something was wrong. “What?” I asked, still breathless.

She looked over to her twin before looking back at me. “Our dad’s back…”

“Shit.” Zero hissed, launching his fist into the nearest wall. “She’s not here too, is she?” He asked, his whole body looking tense.

Mina glanced everywhere but the space he occupied. “Uh… yeah… Michael’s distracting them because I thought you two might be-”

“I guess you kinda saved us, huh…” Zero told her downheartedly. I reached for his arm, wrapping my fingers around it.

Saved us from what? Then it hit me. “But I thought you said he wasn’t like that…”

Mina turned to me, a worried expression on her face. “Well, I’ve never heard him make fun of gays before… but… it might be different when it’s his son, you know?” She tried her best to explain; and for the most part, I understood.

“You guys coming?” She asked. I nodded before telling her we’d be down there in a few minutes. Then I turned to Zero.

“Do we tell him?” I questioned Zero. “I don’t think my parents will say anything about it unless we do.”

“Let’s wait and see what his little internet whore is like.” He growled more at the idea of the new woman his father was with rather than me.

I agreed and followed him out of the room and downstairs after throwing a clean shirt and jeans on.

“Dad.” Zero spat out to the two figures sitting on the couch. His dad, I recognized from that night Zero and I met and there was a woman with blonde hair on the couch next to him. Okay, so maybe she did look the part of a whore.

“What? Can’t I come see my children on their birthday?” His father asked before standing up to move over to me. I shrunk under his tall stature. “As for you, Michael’s been talking non-stop about you.”

He shook my hand. I silently thanked Michael for putting in a good word for me. Maybe it’d be easier to get him to accept mine and Zero’s relationship.

“Oh, Zero, Mina, this is my new fiancée, April.” Zero’s father said, regarding the blonde that was still sitting on the couch.

Zero tensed at my side and I instantly felt terrible because of the acute empathy I had for him. It was like, everything he felt, I felt.

“Well, thanks for telling us you’re going to marry her.” Zero growled spitefully and sardonically at his announcement. “Though, a little warning might have been nice; after all, we are your children, aren’t we?”

“Yes, but-” He cut himself off as Zero started walking out of the room, fuming. I followed right after him, feeling the need to be with him as I usually did.

“Zero…” I breathed his name carefully before he threw a fist into the counter.

“Married… really…” He shook his head before sitting at the table and resting his head in his arms. He grabbed my hand for comfort as I leaned over to place a kiss into his hair before sitting down in the chair next to him. “Bring it up on my birthday…”

“Uh, you still h-have my gift…” I reminded him. He looked up at me, smiling once again. He placed a hand on my cheek before slowly leaning in and pressing his lips slowly to mine. His hand went behind my head to massage the place where my spine connected to my head.

I was much too into the kiss to realize that we were being watched. I broke the kiss, being the first one to recognize the presence.

I looked up at the doorway, feeling my heart drop as I saw the blonde harpy standing there, her hand clasped over her mouth. “You two were…” She trailed off, apparently not able to find a suitable word for what was going on behind their backs.

“Wait!” Zero hissed, grabbing her arm and sitting her down in the chair across from us. She didn’t try to escape because, well, Zero was one: a scary kid and two: much taller and undoubtedly stronger than her.

“Are you planning on telling my dad?” He asked. She shook her head quickly in response to his question. For some reason, I found myself believing her.

“I have absolutely no problem with you two, really. One: it’s not my business, and two: I don’t want to be more of a bother than I already am.” Whoa… it was weird hearing her talk with the Australian accent she had.

“So you’re not going to give us some shit about how it’s ‘disgusting’ or ‘immoral’?” He questioned.

“I’m an atheist, so I don’t mind it at all.” She clarified. “You’re not ready for your dad to find out yet, are you, hun?” She tried to comfort him. He looked down at her, surprised.

For the ‘step-mom-ruining-his-life’, she wasn’t that bad of a person. I hoped, anyways.

“I don’t want to be separated from Nicolas, that’s all.” He told her, sitting back down on the kitchen chair.

“Listen, hun, you might not believe me, but I do love your father. The way I look and act may be indecent, but he accepts it because it’s me. I’m sure he’ll accept you, too.” She told us before leaving the room to go back to his father.

“So about your present…” He trailed off, looking up at me with a relieved expression. I grinned down at him before grabbing his wrist and leading him back upstairs to our room and making him wait patiently with his eyes closed as I searched through the drawers of my dresser for it.

“And don’t you dare laugh!” I growled at him before taking out the package I’d had the store carefully wrap. Mina had helped me pick out the size and color. She had told me that Zero wouldn’t care if it was jewelry, as long as it was from me.

I swallowed hard as I gave the box to him. His grin was even wider as he threw open the box lid eagerly to see what was inside.

I don’t think he knew what to say because he just kinda stared into the box dumbfounded then to me then back to the box as he pulled out the silver band, grinning like mad. Of course, his reaction made me blush insanely. He slipped it over his left ring finger.Not that it was meant for that finger.

“Is this your wedding proposal for me? A little early, don’t you think?” He asked me while he beamed at the ring.

“No! Don’t imagine things!” I told him before laughing.

“But you’ll marry me someday, won’t you?” He asked, still smirking. I looked at the ring and then to his face.

“If we don’t break up, of course.“ I said, chuckling again.