Back Around Again

“Hurry up, ‘Trick,” Pete commanded, arms starting to ache from holding his jacket over the shorter man to protect him from the December snow.
“One second, Pete!” Patrick protested, carefully balancing the rolls of blankets in his arms to pull out his keys and unlock the door to their apartment. He finally opened the door and stepped in, closely followed by Pete, who immediately felt warmer. He closed the door behind him and smiled at Patrick, who returned his grin before both men turned to the small baby in Patrick’s arms. The boy was asleep, he had been since they had gotten into the car, and was breathing heavily.
“He still needs a name.” Patrick whispered, stroking the blonde curls atop the boy’s head and walking to the bedroom.
“I still like Bronx.” Pete pouted, following Patrick as he set the baby into his cot.
“Pete,” Patrick sighed, stretching and pulling off his jacket.
“What? What’s wrong with Bronx?” He demanded.
“It’s a place, Pete.”
“So’s Paris. And London, and Sydney…” Pete listed, ticking off his fingers as he did so. He was desperate to name the kid Bronx. As soon as he had seen him he’d wanted to.
“Your point?” Patrick raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
“People still call their kids that. Come on, what’s really wrong with Bronx? It suits him.” Pete insisted.
“I dunno Pete… I just kind of want him to have like, the perfect life and stuff, and it’s gonna be hard enough for him having gay parents, and don’t you think Bronx is the kind of name someone’s going to find something to make fun of?” Patrick stared up earnestly at him, worry in his blue green eyes.
“I guess so Patrick…”Pete sat down on the bed, Patrick joining him shortly after he did. “But, we shouldn’t not give him an undeniably awesome name just because of that. We’ve always said that we wouldn’t want our kid to like, not be able to deal with bullying, and the name shouldn’t really be that big an issue anyway. People are idiots, but we’ll just teach him to ignore all their crap.” Pete smiled and eventually managed to achieve a small smile in return from Patrick.
The blonde man nodded and gently pressed his lips to Pete’s before standing up and peering over the edge of the cot.
“It’s a nice name.” He murmured.
“It is?” Pete asked happily, standing next to Patrick and resting his chin on the other man’s shoulder.
“Yeah.” Patrick nodded. “Alright. Bronx.”
Pete’s eyes widened as Patrick gently stroked their baby’s cheek.
“Bronx Wentz.”
(____)
Josh dumped the last cardboard box on top of the large pile in the corner of the spare room and sat next to Oli on the floor.
“We’re done,” Oli said bemusedly, running a hand through his hair and smiling at Josh. Josh grinned back and took Oli’s hand in his own. It was a big decision for them, choosing to move back to England. Ashley had been distraught when he told him half a year ago, hanging up on him in anger after their first phone call. He had finally come around, promising that he and Andy would visit sometime around Easter, and constantly calling, emailing and Skyping.
“I know.” Josh looked proudly around the room, smiling in content. “Now what?”
“Now we…” Oli trailed off and shrugged. They had spent almost a week unpacking, because they’d start, and then get bored and give up in preference of watching a film or something equally as dumb.
“Hmm… When’s Tom coming, again?” Josh asked, referring to Oli’s younger brother. Although both men had wanted to return to England for at least three years after they initially started their relationship, but had argued for a good year and a half about where they were actually going to live: London or Sheffield. They had eventually settled on Oli’s old hometown, only because Josh knew how boring London really was, and Oli had told him that they could laugh at all the ugly sheep up North.
“Next Saturday.” Oli answered. “He won’t be much help, though. Tom literally doesn’t speak.”
“Right.” Josh said dryly. “I’m bored.” Oli chuckled at his boyfriend and gave him a light kiss on the nose. “Oli,” he whined, “I’m serious.”
“Well I don’t know what you want to. Do you want to watch another film?” Oli offered.
“No. I want to do something fun.” Josh crossed his arms and pouted childishly.
“Like?” Oli prodded.
‘I… Wow. We’re like my parents.” Josh turned to Oli in horror. “I cannot be like my mother now. I’m twenty six. When I’m sixty six, maybe. But I am too young-“
“Well you do appear to be going through a midlife crisis.” Oli prodded him, causing him to squeal and pull away from the other man.
“Shut up, Sykes.” He pouted again.
“You love me.” Oli grinned.
“Course I do.” Josh relented, leaning forward to connect their lips sweetly.
(____)
“Austin? What are you doing?” Alan looked down at his boyfriend, an amused expression on his face, as Austin leant on his knees in front of him, gripping tightly to the smaller boy’s legs.
“Don’t go. Not yet.” Austin begged, burying his face between Alan’s knees and tightening his hold on him.
“Austin… I’m just going to the bathroom.” Alan soothed gently, unwinding Austin’s long arms from his legs and pulling away. “I’ll be back in two minutes. I promise.”
“No… I need to talk to you.” Austin shook his head and pulled on Alan’s wrist.
“And it can’t wait until after I pee?” Alan clarified. When Austin shook his head, he frowned, starting to feel concerned about the other man.
“It’s really important, Alan.” Austin insisted.
“Okay then…” Alan bit his lip and looked down at Austin. He was wearing his glasses, something that he rarely did, but Alan had insisted he start lest he wanted to go completely blind, and Alan could see something that looked like… Fear in his eyes. “You aren’t breaking up with me, are you?”
“No! Far from it, actually…” Austin mumbled, digging around in his pocket desperately for the golden band he had purchased a few weeks ago. “Where is it… Oh!” Austin pulled his hand out from his pocket and looked up at Alan. “Erm, Alan, well you see… Well, I love you and stuff, and so I was wondering if maybe you’d marry me?” He bit his lip and then offered Alan a small smile, waiting for an answer.
“Oh my God, Austin…” Alan breathed. He looked down at Austin with tears in his eyes, nodding frantically. “Of course I’ll marry you!” He fell to his knees and joined Austin on the floor, smiling as he slipped the ring onto the thin, pale finger.
“There.” Austin murmured. He grinned at Alan, who returned the smile and pulled Austin towards him and into a passionate kiss.
“I love you, Austin.” He smiled once they pulled apart.
“I love you too, Alan.”
(____)
Andy followed Ashley off the stage, the sound of their fans cheering their names still ringing in his ears. The others (Jinxx, CC and Jake) had already started to make their way back to the tour bus, but Ashley and Andy were lagging behind.
“That was… Insane.” Ashley breathed once they sat back down on the bus.
“I know. I can’t believe we actually did it. We’ve started our first headlining tour.” Andy agreed.
“We’re actually going somewhere now. This isn’t just like, a side project. This is like, our lives.” Ashley continued.
“Well, what else could we really be doing?” Andy asked. “You were the only one that had a proper job before this anyway.” He said.
“I suppose.” He shrugged and snuggled closer into Andy’s side. Andy immediately put an arm around the other man, smiling.
“I love you, Ashley,” Andy said suddenly, for no reason other than the fact that he could.
“I love you too, Andy.” Ashley pressed a gentle kiss to Andy’s cheek.
“You guys! Quit the PDAs!” CC yelled from behind them.
“Shut up, Coma.” Ashley groaned, only half joking.
“Well at least go to your bunk or something.” He ordered.
“We’ve already done it there. I like to mix it up a bit.” Ashley winked as CC shuddered, pulling Andy up behind him.
“You are so gross, dude! And don’t go anywhere near my bunk.” He added.
“Already done it there too,” Ashley joked, grinning as Andy giggled.
“Ew!” CC shouted. “Wait!” He called as the couple started to retreat from the room. “Are you serious? Did you actually do it there? Dude?” CC began to whine.
“Idiot.” Ashley muttered.
“Are you going to tell him we didn’t actually do anything anytime soon?” Andy questioned.
“Nope,” Ashley grinned once again and pressed his lips to Andy’s. “Where to?”
“We haven’t done it in the bathroom yet…”
(____)
“Jack? Where are the- Oh, never mind, I found it!” Alex shouted, picking up a packet of cookies and pulling one out, shoving the whole thing into his mouth. He wandered out of the kitchen, cookies still in hand, and entered the living room.
“Jack?” He repeated. He had no idea where the other man was, and he was definitely in the apartment. “Where are you?” He listened carefully for a moment, and when he heard nothing, made his way into their bedroom. When he saw Jack wasn’t there, he started to get worried. What if he had been kidnapped, and was being held for ransom? Or what if he had fallen and hit his head and passed out and- Alex paused again when he heard a faint groan, and then a whimper.
“Jack?” He said a third time. He slowly walked towards the bathroom door and pressed an ear to it. The sounds got louder, so Alex turned the door handle, happy that it hadn’t been locked. He stepped in to see sitting in a corner under the sink, curled into a tight ball and rocking gently back and forth. There were tears streaming down his face and he was counting quietly under his breath. Panic attack.
“Oh, Jacky…” Alex murmured, approaching Jack and sitting on the floor in front of him, reaching out to awkwardly put an arm around the other boy. Jack flinched away, before meeting Alex’s eyes and letting himself crawl into his lap, still crying.
“I’m sorry , Alex…” He mumbled into Alex’s shirt.
“For what?” Alex frowned.
“For having an attack…”
“Why should you be sorry for that?” Alex shook his head and stroked Jack’s cheek. The panic attacks had become few and far between, so Jack started to become really shaken by them when they did happen.
“I feel like I’ve disappointed you or something.” Jack looked back up at Alex with watery eyes.
“Well you haven’t.” Alex argued firmly. “You’re doing well, Jack. Really well. And a panic attack here and there isn’t anything to be disappointed or ashamed about.”
“Okay…” Jack sniffled and dried his eyes, smiling at Alex. “Thanks.”
“It’s alright, Jacky. Do you want a cookie?” Alex offered, realising that he was still holding the packet from earlier.
Jack laughed and nodded, snatching one from the packet. “Love you.” He muttered, then putting the biscuit into his mouth.
“Yeah, me too.” Alex laughed.
(____)
“Kellin? What’s the problem? Why are you so nervous?” Vic asked his boyfriend.
“They are your grandparents, Vic. That’s why I’m so nervous.” Kellin replied, patting down his hair once again.
“Stop it. It’s going to go flat.” Vic scolded, fluffing up Kellin’s hair again. “And you don’t really have to impress them. They’re too old to care.”
“But still,” Kellin whined. “What if they honestly don’t like me?”
“Who cares? We’ve been together for five years Kells. Them not liking you isn’t going to make a difference. But why wouldn’t they? They were happy when Tony invited a porn star to dinner.” He shrugged and tugged on Kellin’s arm. He pressed the doorbell and waited for a moment, drawing small circles on the back of Kellin’s hand in an attempt to calm his down, until his grandmother opened the door.
“Abuela!” He greeted happily, pulling her into a tight hug.
“Vic,” she smiled gently, peering over his shoulder to look at Kellin, who was staring at his shoes. “Kellin, yes?”
“Erm… Yeah- I mean, yes, sorry.” Kellin stammered, following Vic into the large house.
“Welcome, then!” She smiled at him too and led the young couple into the living room, where Vic’s grandfather was seated.
“Hola, abuelo,” Vic said, nudging Kellin to say hello.
“Um… Hello.” He murmured.
“Hola boys!” The old man said happily. “Sit, sit.” He gestured to two arm chairs, which the boys took happily.
“So you’re the infamous Kellin we’ve heard so much about,” Mrs. Fuentes smiled as Vic blushed. Kellin nodded. “Well, tell me all about yourself.”
--------
“I told you,” Vic said smugly as the couple climbed back into their car. The meeting had gone amazingly, in his opinion. His grandparents had adored Kellin when he finally came out of himself a bit, and even looked upset to see him go. As they left, his grandmother had hugged both boys and muttered ‘If you don’t marry this one soon, Victor, I will.’
“Yeah, whatever. I like them.” Kellin decided as he backed out of the garage.
“Well we can’t break up now. They’ll be too upset.” Vic joked.
“Not that I was planning it anytime soon. Anytime at all, in fact, so don’t get any ideas, Fuentes.” Kellin grinned as Vic laughed.
“I’m not suggesting anything.” He raised his hands in defence. “I love you.”
“I love you too, babe,” Kellin smiled happily and continued on their journey home.