Gaijin No More

Cody's POV

Aiden seemed to be little distracted, I noticed. He spaced out a lot, not paying attention to the movie. When I asked him something he gave short replies, sometimes only grunting something incoherent. I argued with myself a long time whether I should ask what he was thinking or not. In the end I decided to just ask.

“Aiden? Are you okay?” I whispered, trying not to disturb the other people in the movie theater.

“Hm? Oh yeah, I'm fine,” Aiden mumbled but he didn't convince me.

“You sure? You seem to be a little unfocused.”

“It's nothing, just drop it. Okay?” he snapped, catching me off guard. I don't think he had ever used such a harsh tone with me. Something must really bug him, and I take it my asking didn't help the matter.

“Okay. Sorry,” I said softly and turned my attention back to the movie. I heard Aiden sigh next to me and one of his arms wrapped around my shoulders.

“No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that,” he apologized, regret evident in his voice.

I turned my head and smiled a little. “It's okay, really. I didn't mean to pry.” Aiden wrapped both of his arms around me and placed his face against my shoulder.

“It's my mom,” he mumbled, the words partially muffled by the fabric of my shirt.

“What about her?” I urged him to continue, wondering what about his mom had made him so absent-minded.

“I told her we're dating before I came to pick you up.” My mouth opened in small 'oh' as I realized what the problem was.

“I assume she wasn't happy about it?” I asked with slight hesitancy, a bit frightened of what this would do to our relationship. Would we have to end it here or what?

“No. She said I wasn't allowed to see you anymore.” A lump grew in my throat as tried not to panic. Did this mean we were over? Could we still be at least friends?

“Oh,” was all I got out of my mouth, my mind not really finding anything better to say. Aiden lifted his head abruptly from my shoulder, fixing his brown eyes on me.

“I am not going to listen to her,” he said firmly, sensing what was going on in my head.

“But she's your mom. What can we do? I don't mean I want to break up with you, but is opposing your mom wise? I don't want things to get ugly between you,” I reasoned, not sure what would be the best solution for the situation.

Aiden took a gentle but firm hold of my chin and forced me to look him in the eye.

“Cody, I want to be with you. Sure it sucks when my mother is acting like a narrow-minded bitch,” he said, making me flinch when he called his mother a bitch, “and as much as I love and respect her, I won't let her separate us. She will come around, once I get her to see things from my point of view. Not all parents can be like your dad.” I smiled a little at this.

“You mean like toddlers in a grown man's body?” I joked, making Aiden roll his eyes.

“Actually I meant open-hearted and able to accept different people but that works too.” I laughed quietly, though I was still a little worried. I hope everything would get sorted out and Clara would learn to accept us and not start hating me.

We sat in silence for the rest of the movie, though we both had already gotten lost with the plot. I guess Aiden noticed how I was still worrying over his mom since he pinned me against his car once the movie ended and we were out.

“Seriously Cody, stop. I promise you there's nothing to worry about. I'll talk to her again tonight and I will make her understand. This is just a small setback, which we will easily overcome.” I broke into a genuine smile once Aiden had finished his little speech. Maybe I was overreacting.

“Okay, I won't bother my head with this issue anymore,” I promised, sealing it with a kiss.

“Good boy. Now let's get you home so I can go and talk some sense into my mom,” he said, and gentlemanly opened the door of the passenger's side. I shook my head at him but grinned nonetheless.

Aiden's POV

Now that I had ensured Cody that everything would be alright, I made my way back home with mixed feelings. I didn't know what was waiting me at home, but I hoped we'd be able to go through this with minimal fight and bloodshed.

Once I had parked my car on our driveway, I sat for a moment in the car and cleared my head a bit. With a sigh I climbed out of the car and made my way to the front door, opening it quietly. Immediately my mom marched from the living room with a cold expression on her face.

“We need to talk, young man,” she said and gestured me to follow her. I obeyed and soon I was sitting on the couch, my mom and Steward seated on the opposite couch. I felt like a naughty child who was waiting for a lecture. Maybe in a way I was, though I had done absolutely nothing wrong.

“I think we had a little... misunderstanding earlier,” mom started, her face softening. “Would you please explain me what exactly did you mean when you said you were... dating this Cody.” I rolled my eyes inwardly at her words. I thought I had been very clear about it.

“I meant exactly what I said, mom. We are dating. Like a boyfriend and a girlfriend. Except we are both guys so it would make a boyfriend and a boyfriend.”

“I see. Now please enlighten me, how did it go to this?”

“Well, y'know. When a boy meets a girl and they begin to have feelings for each other they get together. That's pretty much what happened to me and Cody.” Am I the only one who sees this conversation incredibly pointless?

“But Aiden, honey, you are not... gay.” I could see she was reluctant to say that word.

“Do I have to be? Shouldn't it be only the feelings that matter?” I said matter-of-factly.

“Sometimes it's just not appropriate to give in to all feelings.” Meaning that homosexuality is wrong. “Besides, are you sure about your feelings? This could be just a phase, something that will pass. You're young, I understand you want to explore things but I think this is a bit too much. Dating another boy...” I tried really hard to control my growing anger, knowing that losing my temper was not wise.

“Mom, I care about Cody a lot. I want to be with him. I want to kiss him and hold him like I've done with girls and I want to continue being with him. I am absolutely positive this is not just a phase or me wanting to experience things. Cody is good to me and I hope you could see that too,” I explained in calm and collected tone, acting like a civilized adult, hoping it would help mom understand how serious I was about this.

“I think he has a point Clara,” Steward piped in, “Aiden is clearly serious with this whole thing. I think we should give our support to him. Besides, being gay is not so different from being straight. In the end it's all about love.” Thank God there was one smart adult in this house.

Mom groaned and held her forehead, obviously becoming confused and frustrated.

“I'm having a headache. We'll talk about this later,” she said and left the room. Well, at least we didn't start yelling at each other.

Steward looked at me with an encouraging smile on his face.

“Don't worry Aiden. She'll get through this soon enough.” And then he followed his wife to upstairs leaving me alone in the living room.

“So now you are a fag,” Josh snickered as he appeared from behind the corner. Fucking eavesdropper.

“So what if I am?” I challenged, not in the mood for his picking. “And don't use that word, it's degrading.”

“I never would've thought you'd become a cocksucker out of all people. Is Cody such a good lay you are willing to ruin your reputation for him?” That was enough for me. I jumped up from the couch and took after Josh, who was now trying to run away from me.

“Get back here you fucker!” I growled, angered that he would speak of Cody in such vulgar terms. I was stopped when Liz came put of nowhere with a furious look on her face.

“This is so unfair! You won't let me date Cody but go and do it yourself! You are one selfish bastard Aiden!” she screamed and marched into her room, slamming her door behind her. I stood in the corridor with irritated face. What was wrong with my family?

I felt a tug on my pant leg, so I dropped my gaze to look down. Ellie stood there with a storybook in her hand.

“What? Are you going to argue with me too?” I asked, fully expecting her to throw a temper tantrum like the others had.

“Read me,” she demanded instead and tugged my leg again. I rolled my eyes at her but followed her to her room anyway. At least there were two people in this house who weren't against me.