Unexpected Liaisons - 21. Airports and Hangovers

It was not a happy groan that greeted Zupan as he wheeled into his twins room, opened the curtains and then unceremoniously whipped the covers off the bed.

“Fucking Jesus shitting Christ!”

“Good morning to you too,” Zupan smirked, “You kiss our mother with that mouth?” he knew that it was his fault that his brother felt like he’d been run over by a freight train and then dumped in the sea. Mostly because Zupan had ordered up all the drinks, been really devious about not actually drinking his own drinks, thus staying sober enough to make sure his brother got really well and truly hammered, and then Issac had thrown him in the sea. It had been a great night.

“How are you even alive?” Zoltan rolled over and buried himself in his pillows, “You should be groaning and demanding that I bring you paracetamol and orange juice.”

“I’m secretly a god,” Zupan grinned, and leant over the bed to start tugging at his twin, “Come on little brother, breakfast time.”

“No. I’m going back to sleep.”

“Sure.” Zupan wheeled himself fractionally out of the way before he finished speaking, “It’s not like your flight leaves in four hours or anything.” The words had the desired effect, and Zoltan was up and bolting for the bathroom at top speed. There was nothing like leaving the country indefinitely to make his brother wake up and smell the bacon. Zupan left the bread toasting gently on the hot plate, put the bacon on low and put the half fried sausages in the oven before wheeling back to his room.

Zander had been giggly and silly after his third cocktail hit home, and Zu wondered how the little guy managed to pack away so much alcohol into such a small slender body. Bay had kept everyone fully liquored up, and various flavoured alcoholic substances mixed up with juice and sugar and poured over ice made his boyfriend super sweet and very hard to resist. Now Zander slept soundly, long limbs tangled in the covers having spread-eagled himself to take up as much of the bed as he could. Zupan reached out and rubbed his palm over Zander’s short buzzed hair.

“Hey baby. Time to wake up.”

Zander made a soft sleepy noise, his hand sweeping out to find Zupan. He groaned.

“Why aren’t you in bed with me?” he voice was thick with the aftermath of drinking, “Babe…”

“Gotta take Zoltan to the airport Zan. I got breakfast if you want it.”

“Dear gods no.” Zander managed to lean up on his elbows and gave his boyfriend a half smile, “How much did I drink last night?”

“Plenty.” Zupan grinned, watching his boyfriend reel back through his hazy memories, “I remember going with you to the bathrooms… fuck. We had sex in the pub didn’t we?”

“The bathrooms of the South Alaska have never seen so much action.” Zupan brought his boyfriend’s knuckles to his lips, “Don’t worry babe.”

“Everyone’s going to think I’m a total slut!” Zander hid his face in his pillow and wailed, “This is so embarrassing!”

“You’re not a slut. No one thinks that of you.” Zupan kissed up his arm, licked the inside of his wrist, over the love bite he’d left there. “And no one is gonna talk shit about my man.” Zupan rolled back so that Zander could sit up and swing his legs out of bed, “Have a quick shower babe, then breakfast. Big day today.”

An hour later, the three of them were dressed, packed and Zupan had loaded himself and his chair into the car. Zander sat in the back and Zupan thumped the horn, waiting for his twin to finish saying goodbye to the house.

“You’ll miss your flight!”

“Two minutes!”

“Fucking hell Zol. Will you quit stalling and get yourself in the fucking car already?” Zupan started the engine and put the car into first. Zoltan just made it into the front passenger seat before he started rolling off the drive.

“Jesus bro. You never got any less fucking crazy huh?”

“Nope. Airport time!”

Zupan loved to drive. It was less fun having to use hand controls, but it still rocked to roll the sunroof back and turn the music up. Even after the accident that had cost him his spine, Zupan couldn’t be accused to driving like anything other than a maniac. He kept the car just above the speed limit, threw the wheel around corners and had Zander hanging onto the back of his seat and nearly screaming in his ear in excitement and fear. Zupan squealed the brakes when they finally came to a halt at South Terminal, leaving rubber on the tarmac.

“Right then.”

Zoltan walked with his brother and his boyfriend into the departures lounge, all three scouring the boards for Zoltan’s flight number.

“There.” Zander spotted it first, “You have about half an hour until check in closes.”

“Zoltan!”

Zupan felt his heart clench, a cold chill like a bucket of ice down his spine. It wasn’t hard to spot the figure who had spoken, a tall, slim woman pulling behind her a big man, greying with a slight paunch, who was as tall as Zoltan. Zupan’s twin embraced his parents in a hug.

“Mum! Dad! I didn’t think you were gonna make it.”

“And miss our son going off the see the world? Never.” The twin’s mother pulled away from her son to approach Zupan, “Did you drive up hun?”

“Yeah. Er, hey ma.”

“You got more tattoos?” His mother clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes, “Why am I not surprised?”

“Ma,” Zupan felt hot suddenly, and he grabbed for Zander’s hand in a sort of blind panic. The boy squeezed his fingers back, the other hand on the back of his neck, gentle and reassuring, “Ma. This is Zander.”

“Nice to meet you,” His mum held out a hand which Zander shook. Zupan hadn’t actually wanted to let go, and wrapped his fingers around the boy’s narrow thigh. “Why didn’t you just take a taxi darling? You know how I feel about you driving.”

“Mum!” Zupan thumped his thigh in frustration. “Can you just pay attention for ten seconds? This is Zander. I love him.”

“Oh.” Her smile faltered, and her grey eyes took on an unreadable quality, “We’d better see your brother off.”

“Well that went well.” Zupan went to fold his arms over his chest, but found Zander slipping into his lap. The boy hugged him.

“Give them time. We’ll say goodbye to Zol and go for coffee or something. It’s just a shock yeah?” Zander kissed his neck with too-soft lips, “Come on big guy, let’s go watch your bro go off and live without decent sanitation for the foreseeable future.”

Zoltan checked in his baggage, got his boarding pass printed and together they walked and wheeled to the gates where he was going to have to go through, get scanned, and vanish to the other side of the world. Zupan hugged his brother tight, and was surprised at the pain in his chest.

“You know I think you’re a stupid fucker for doing this, right?”

“Yeah bro, I know.” Zoltan looked like he might cry, which made Zupan suck up his own sentiment and grin, “I’ll look you up whenever I get internet yeah?”

“Yeah. Go woo all the pretty girls Zol. We’ll keep you drinking spot open for you.”

Zoltan hugged Zander quickly.

“Look after the big lug for me yeah?”

“Oh no worries there.” Zander smiled like the sun, “Go on now, you’ll miss that damn plane.”

“Flying with a hangover,” Zu leant back in his chair, “I’m proud of you bro.”

After that there were hugs and kisses from their parents and Zoltan got in the line to be scanned. He put his bag on the conveyor belt, stepped through the gate, took his bag. He waved, his grin huge, and then he was gone.

Zupan let go of the breath he’d been holding. It was weird, like relief and sadness mixed together. They’d been apart before, all the trips abroad when playing murderball had become a career rather than a hobby, but not knowing when Zoltan was coming back, or if he was ever coming back, was different. The rugby player was glad that Zander was already holding his hand, because it made it easier to cling emotionally to the boy he loved. Zoltan was gone, crossing the world to do great things and fall in love, and for half a second Zupan cursed him for going, because now he had to deal with his parents. But he didn’t have to do it alone, because Zander smiled his beautiful smile and invited everyone to sit down for coffee.

Zander went to the bar to get the drinks, and Zu tried to go with him, but a firm push on his shoulders told him to stay and speak to his parents. Zupan sighed and crossed his forearms on the table. Somehow, he always felt like a child around his parents; a thirty-two year old rowdy teenager.

“So how did you two meet?” His father asked with a raised eyebrow. Zupan knew he was following the boy with his eyes, “He doesn’t exactly look like the sporting type.”

“He’s a friend of Issac’s boyfriend. Bay.”

“The running boy?” Zupan wasn’t surprised that Zoltan had updated his parents on everything that matter to their mutual best friend.

“Yes. Dad, I love him.” Zu sighed heavily. Somehow he felt he was getting nowhere with this conversation. Zander came back, shared out the drinks and sat down in his usual seat. Zupan wrapped an arm around the boy’s waist and pulled him closer. For a small second he missed Zander’s long hair and the ability to bury his face in it. “I’m gay.”

“Well that’s nice dear.” His mother sipped her coffee and sighed, turning to her husband, “I’ll look forwards to when he gets over this one.”

Zupan growled, but Zander laid his hand over Zu’s fingers.

“Babe…”

“Our son has always been very prone to fads.” Zupan really growled this time, “He tends to pick up and drop things fairly regularly.”

“Mum!”

“Well it’s true honey. There was quad biking, but you dropped that, Frisbee, then BMX, then dirt biking…”

“I was nineteen!”

“And then you used to go and do that awful off-roading nonsense when you finished college.”

“And then I broke my neck and ended up being quadriplegic! Fuck, mum…” Zupan thumped the table, coffee splashed from mugs and Zander yelped and grabbed his hot chocolate. He could feel himself losing his temper, which was exactly why he had put off speaking to his parents for so long. “I’m gay. I love Zan. I want to marry him someday.” Zan made a squeak of surprise, but Zupan ploughed straight on, “We live together. And it would be really nice of you could accept that without acting like I’m still a child.”