It All Starts with Tragedy

"Babe, is your stuff packed?" I shout from the bathroom.
"Yes, is yours?" Ashy yells back.
"Yup!"
I finish up my eyeliner on my eye lid and walk into the bedroom. Ashley is pulling on his shirt, he always waits last minute to put a shirt on. He turns and looks at me and says,
"You sure about this?"
He walks over and puts his arms around my waist pulling me closer so I rest my head in the crook of his neck.
"Of course, I'm just worried about you."
"Lets just hope for the best okay."
~Times Laps~ Outside Ashley's Grandparents' home.
Look, I put up a string front because I don't want Ash to know how scared I really am. Yeah, I said his Grandfather could say whatever about me and to me but that's because if I had to choose I'd rather have him bash and down grade me then Ashy. Come on Andy, man up!
"Ands!" Ash half yells
"Hu?"
"Babe, you spaced out."
"Oh, sorry." I replied
"It's okay baby." He smiles and kisses me.
"Come on." I whisper.
He turns and we start our walk up to the door. Gotta be strong. Gotta be strong. Gotta be strong. I reach over and grab a hold of Ashley's hand, he gave my hand a tight squeeze and knocked on the door. Not long after his grandmother opens the door and hugs Ash.
"Hello Ashley! I'm so glad you came!" She says cheerfully.
"Hi Grandma."
"Hello Andy." She says
I simply give her a nod and smile. For now she likes me, and is okay with Ash and I and I don't want to do or say something to change that. I don't need to make things hard for Ash, hell if I did, maybe he'd leave me. I don't like that thought.
"Andy?" Ash whispers
"Hm."
"You spaced out again, are you okay babe?"
"Yeah, everything's okay. I'm just a bit nervous."
"Everything will work out."
I just nod and tighten my grip on his hand.
"Ashley!" A male voice yells.
I look up to see a male about our age come over to us.
"Hey Brandon!" Ash replies.
The guy who I am guessing is Brandon half hugs Ash, it would have been a correct hug but Ash refused to let go of my hand to do so.
"How have you been Ashley?"
"Uh," he pauses and looks at me then back at Brandon and finishes, "Great, I've been great. How about you?"
"Oh, I've been good. Uh, Ashley who is the dude." He says pointing to me.
My whole body stiffens and I look at Ash with large eyes. Ash smiles at me and says,
"This is Andy, my boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?"
"Yeah, is that a problem?" Ash says
"Oh, no no I just didn't know that you were....yeah. Anyway, hey Andy I'm Ashley's cousin Brandon."
I simply smile at him but Ashley looks and me and lips,
"It's okay."
"Hey Brandon.....nice to meet you." I stutter
"Same to you, well Ash I'm gonna go. See you around. Bye Andy."
After he walks away Ashley beams at me. And we walk further into the living room where everyone is. Fuck. Don't mess this up Andy. I look over and see his Grandfather giving me a death glare.
~Time gap~ Like...two hours.
Not many people have made comments about the fact I'm Ashley's boyfriend. It's not that Ash didn't tell them because if they asked who I am he straight our tells them. It's time to eat and it looks like the only two open seats beside each other are across from his Grandfather. After we get our food Ash looks at me and says,
"We don't have a choice babe.....I don't know what we can do."
"Let's just sit down and get this over with and hope he doesn't do something stupid..." I retort
Ash nods and leads us to the seats. Ralph's eyes grow in size when he sees us sit down and Ash gives him a stern look. The whole time I eat I can feel his stare, feel his burning hate for me. It's not like I'm doing anything wrong, I'm loving and taking care of his grandson, you'd think he'd be happy his grandson found love...even if it's with someone like me.
"Andy?" Ash whispers
"Hm?"
"You okay, you keep zoning out and looking at your food like it's going to attack you."
"I'm fine babe."
He nods but looks at me with that "I know something's up" look. Just then Ralph speaks up,
"Can you not call my grandson that."
I look down and nod,
"Sorry sir..."
Ashley glares at him and says,
"No Andy, you don't need to be sorry. I'm your boyfriend, it's perfectly fine to call me that."
"Well some of us don't want to hear that-" Ash cuts him off
"Hear that what Papa? Homosexuality? No one else cares but you. No one else is throwing complaints." Ash says calmly.
I shrink a little and just look down. Ash puts his hand on my thigh and lightly squeezes it.
"You're all I have left of my daughter! I'm not going to let you mess up your life!"
He tenses at the mention of his mother but that just makes Ash madder.
"She has nothing to do with this. Your close minded thoughts do."
"I don't want to be reminded ever, certainly while I'm eating that my boy was corrupted by this...this...faggot." Ralph spats.
I move my fingers to my hip and begin to run my finger tips over my scars. Ash notices and lightly takes my hand off my hip and places it on his lap and runs his fingertips back and forth over my hand in a calming pattern.
"Ralph!" Cindy yells
"Don't call him that." She finishes.
"Well it's truth!" He fires.
"Popa! Fuck! Andy isn't a faggot but if to you his is then I'm a ragging faggot! I came here to see family, you promised you wouldn't do this! I wanted to spend the day with my family not listen to my grandfather throw insults at my boyfriend!" Ashley spats now holding my hand tightly.
"You don't even like that boy, you're simply confused. I can't help but to tell him what I think of him."
"I am not confused Popa and you know what? I fucking love this man more than anything in this world and more, I'd die for him and you may not like that but it's not changing!"
"Hey Andy, you gonna say something? You had no problem yelling at me before, come on say something!" Ralph teases.
"Stop that Ralph!" Cindy whisper yells.
"Leave him alone Popa!"
Ralph leans across the table and pushes my shoulder. I just cover my face with my bangs and look at Ash through my hair as I feel my bottom lip begin to tremble. He looks at me apologetically and quickly kisses my forehead, looking back at Ralph.
"You keep your hands off him!" Ashley's voice booms filled with anger.
Ralph reaches out to push me again but Ashley's arm flies out covering my shoulders and chest and he ends up hitting Ash's arm.
"Oh and Ashley how about you not kiss him in front of me." Ralph complains
"I kissed his fucking forehead! But damn if I'm going to be accused of full out kissing him then hell, why not!"
With that he looks at me and raises his eyebrow in the 'are you gonna slap me for this' look and I smile at him. He leans forward grabbing my shirt to bring me closer to him he connects our lips. I hear his grandfather groan but right now, I don't care and only focus on kissing Ashy. After about a minute he pulls away kissing my nose looking back at his grandfather,
"That, was kissing him." He spats with pride
"And guess what Popa? I loved it and if we weren't here I wouldn't have stopped!" He adds.
Now you can tell Ashley's fed up and is just going to piss off Ralph. I tried not to but I laughed at Ashley's comment.
"Well you shouldn't, it's a disgrace! And what's so funny fag boy?!"
I freeze at that, that name...I can't tell you how many times I got that in school. But instead of shrinking into Ashley like half of me wants to I reply,
"Actually, I saw Ashy's comment about kissing me pretty smart ass and funny. And that you're so insecure about yourself you have to try to get me to hate myself by calling me a faggot telling me loving Ash is wrong when I know damn well it's not. How odd it is that your sitting here pissed off more than Satan was when he was kicked out of Heaven simply because your grandson has found someone who loves and cares about him. I bet if I was a big racked overly tanned slutty female whose destined to cheat and break his heart in a week sitting here with Ashy, you'd be fine, sorry to inform you sir, that's sick. I'm a dude, I got a dick, yeah but fuck, why should that matter? So, yes i see this all funny but disgusting."
Ashley bursts out laughing and I smile as Ralph sits there astonished. I then hear Brandon clap. Ashley leans over and kisses my temple and says,
"Come on babe, let's go home. Tomorrow's Christmas, we don't need to spend our first Christmas together here."
"But Ashley I thought you guys were staying here for Christmas?!" His grandmother says
"I'm sorry Grandma, but I am not staying here with the way Popa's acting. I've spent Christmas alone in my car and that's be better then staying here tomorrow with Popa."
Still holding my hand he stands up, helping me up and we walk over to his now sad Grandmother and he half hugs her.
"I'm sorry Grandma, I want to stay but I can't."
"I understand Ashley. I love you."
"I love you too Grandma."
He turns to the table and says,
"I'm sorry for the scene, really I was told this wasn't going to happen. Have a good holiday."
This that we head out to the car after we're in he just sits there looking forward. I move his hair behind his ear and say,
"You okay baby?"
He leans on my hand a little and smiles saying,
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just shocked, I really thought he'd leave it alone for one night."
"I'm sorry..."
"You have to reason to be sorry."
"If I hadn't called you babe this wouldn't have happened...."
"It was going to happen eventually, I know it. And like I said in there, I'm yours you have the right to call me anything like that."
I lean over and kiss him and he smiles in the kiss. Pulling away he says,
"Lets go home baby."
I sit back in my seat correctly and we make our way home.
~Times laps~ Christmas morning
I wake up with a smile when I remember it's Christmas. When it comes to holidays, I can be as bad as a child. I look over to Ash to see he's still asleep, I'd get up but his arms around my waist so if I move he'd feel it. Hhhmmm....a good why to wake him. I get an idea and craal on top of him but just hovering over him so he doesn't wake. I lean down and begin leave a trail of kisses up his neck and he lets out a soft sigh but doesn't wake up. I make my way to his lips and kiss his slightly open lips, after about three kisses he begins to wake up and kiss me back. Eventually I feel him smile in the kiss and grabbing my hips pull me down onto him. It becomes a make out session, nothing extremely heated just a paced make out....does that make sense? We lay there kissing for a good fifteen minutes until I pull away for oxygen and whisper yell,
"Good morning and merry christmas!"
He laughs and replies,
"Good morning and merry Christmas to you too Andy."
I lay my head on his chest still on him and he adds,
"Oh and that was a great way to wake up baby."
I get cocky and looking at him I reply,
"Why thank you, I thought it was quite genius."
"You are so cocky" He says with a laugh
"Yeah but you love my cocky ass."
"Oh yes I do!"
I kiss him again and says,
"Come on, lets go make something to eat."
"Okay, get up."
"Maybe I don't want to."
"Really now?"
"Does it look like I'm moving to you?"
He takes a moment and then begins to tickle me.
"That's not fair!"
Eventually I get off him to get away from his tickling hands. He then stops.
"Looks like you got off to me."
"Dick."
"I got one."
"Smart ass"
"I have an ass but I don't believe body parts can hold intelligence."
I look over at him and just glare.
"Lets just go get food."
"How about we call the guys and see if they want to go out for breakfast?"
"Sounds like a plan."
He reaches over me grabbing his phone and texting the guys.

Pulling on my shirt I hear Ash come behind me and say,
"They said sure."
I nod and pull my shirt down.
With make up done and we're both ready we head to the restaurant we're meeting the guys at. For Christmas it wasn't very busy at all, we got a few odd looks walking in but hey fuck 'em. We find the table with the boys and CC jumps up and attacks us with hugs.
"Ashley and Andy!" He cheers.
"Hello CC."
I laugh. He lets go and we all sit down.

"Well, bye guys! Merry Christmas!" Ash yells as we leave.
After we get in the car Ashley looks at me and says,
"Now what?"
We really don't have plans, we were supposed to be at his Grandparents' house so we don't have any plans.
"Well, lets go home. I got you a thing or two.."
"Oh yeah, I forgot we never did the whole gift thing this morning."
We begin our drive home, which actually wasn't far at all. After we were in the house I went up stairs to grab Ashley's gift as he did the same for me. We both were down stairs at the same time he looks at me and smiles and I return it. We sit down on the couch and switch gifts.
"You first Andy." Ash states
"Why?"
"Because I want to give you yours first."
"Fine."
He smiles and hands me a small case with a pride filled smile. What in the hell could this be?
"Open it!"
I nod and take off the ribbon and open the thin box to see a signed Alkiline Trio CD. Oh my fuck!
"Oh my flying fuck, Ashy!" I yell jumping over hugging Ashley.
"Thank you baby! It's amazing, how'd you even get this?" I continue to rant
He laughs and after I stop hugging the air out of him he replys,
"I'm glad you like it babe, and I have my ways don't worry about it."
"Okay, your turn."
I grab his gift and hand it to him. He smiles and begins to unwrap the box. Jake said he'd really like it so I'm really hoping so....
"Andy!" He mumble yells
I look at him and say,
"Yes? Do you like it?"
He pulls out the bass strap and smiles. It's leather with studs and stitched black cowboy boots lining the sides, and with his name on it in the same fount as his Outlaw tattoo. He leans over and hugs me.
"It's amazing Andy, I love it!"
"Good, but that's not all....."
"What?!"
"Well the one is kinda mine but for you, I guess you could say.."
"What is it Andy? I'm lost."
I pull out the chain that's been around my neck under my shirt for the past month. It's a plain chain of mine from an old necklace of mine with a ring dangling off it. I swing it back and forth looking at him.
"What is that?"
"Have you ever heard of a promise ring?"
"Uh....yeah."
"Well, you see I wear this as a promise to you. I know we haven't been together extremely long but you know I love you. Damn Ash I'd be dead if it weren't for you. You mean so much to me, this ring around my neck is something to show a promise, that I'll always be yours, forever, that I'd do anything for you, I want to spend forever with you Ashy. I know it may be to soon to say that but I've loved you for years and don't doubt these words because I'd rather die right here right now in the most painful way possible then to ever lie to you. I'd do it all for you Ashy, yeah we've had some bumps in the road but they've only made us stronger, showed me how much you really do mean to me."
My eyes never left his the whole time I talked and watched as his eyes began to water. I smile softly leaning over kissing him on the nose. He smiles and pulls me down so our lips meet.
"Thank you baby, I love you too so so much. Here, give me that. That's not where that goes."
I look at him confused but give the ring and chain to him anyway. He leans over and pulls me into him lap so I am pretty much straddling him. He leans up and kisses me, I slightly open my mouth as an invitation which he gladly takes. Usually I'd fight for dominance but right now, I really don't care to. He pulls away and slips the promise ring onto my middle finger and says,
"You're mine, and I take pride in that."
Looking down at the promise ring he continues,
"Babe, one day....I'll put one here."
He says while running his fingertip over my ring finger. I smile at him lightly grabbing his jaw bringing his lips to mine and lightly kiss him.
"One day." I whisper.
"For eternity my love." He mumbles back.