Geeks - 8. Complications

CHAPTER EIGHT: COMPLICATIONS

Adam was a little tired from their activities in the middle of the night, but couldn't help but feel cheerful as he got up and ready for work. He showered, dressed and was preparing a light breakfast when his boyfriend stumbled in from the other room, sleep disheveled and wearing the sheet from the bed. Adam couldn't resist grabbing the knot holding the sheet together and pulling Mikeal close for a kiss.

"When do you have to be at work?" Mikeal asked when they parted.

"Eleven," Adam told him. "Hungry?"

Mikeal sat down at the small table and Adam gave him a bowl of fruit and some toast before sitting down to join him.

"What time do you get off?" Mikeal asked, slowly coming more awake.

"We close at seven," Adam said. "I always take full day shifts during the weekend if I can get them, since I can only work part time during the week. Otherwise, I wouldn't make any money."

"Oh." Mikeal looked disappointed.

"Do you have plans today?" Adam asked.

Mikeal shrugged. "Just studying."

"Why don't you grab your books and come study at the cafe where I work for a few hours?" Adam suggested. "We can catch a quick lunch together if you want, then I can drop you off at the dorm."

Mikeal glanced at him a little shyly. "You wouldn't mind?"

"No." Adam looked surprised. "Why would I?"

Mikeal shrugged. "I dunno. It's like your place."

"This is my place," Adam said. "And I like you in it. Work is just work. But I would like you there if you want to be there."

Mikeal nodded and hurriedly ate and showered. Adam made a detour by the dorm for Mikeal to pick his books up. Once at the cafe, Mikeal found a quiet table in the corner while Adam tied his apron on and started serving.

Mikeal got some studying done, but he found just being in the same space with Adam to be distracting. He spent more time watching Adam surreptitiously as he pretended to read his textbooks and notes. He noted, with mild surprise, the way that Adam would flirt a little bit with the female customers in the shop. However, when he came by Mikeal's table, under the guise of offering him more coffee, Adam would touch him, subtly. At one point, Adam stoked the back of Mikeal's neck, running his palm up from the top of his shoulders to the base of his skull, giving Mikeal goosebumps and almost shivering in pleasure at the clandestine gesture.

That didn't help his distraction.

He was almost relieved when Adam was released for lunch and they were able to leave the cafe. It was nice to hold his hands and talk openly as Adam lead him to a small sandwich shop down the street from where he worked.

"Do you want to do costumes for Halloween?" Mikeal asked while they were eating, licking some mustard off his lip.

Adam tore his mind away from the mental images Mikeal's innocent action had conjured up. "What did you have in mind? I thought you might want to do Star Wars."

"Well, we can if you want. Julie had suggested that we could join in with her and a few friends that are doing Alice in Wonderland."

"Hmm....interesting." Adam had never done Wonderland, even though some of his friends had tried to talk him into it. With Mikeal, it might be fun though. "What character is Julie going as?"

"Julie is the Queen of Hearts and her friend is going as Alice. When she talked about the group costume, she suggested the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat or White Rabbit."

"Hmm." Adam looked thoughtful. "The Mad Hatter wouldn't be hard. That's a pretty easy do it yourself costume. The White Rabbit or Cheshire Cat would be harder though." He drummed his fingers against his jaw. "How authentic does your friend get?"

"She does her own thing, most of the time." Mikeal said. "She'll make the costume from scratch, or buy something at the costume shop and alter the hell out of it. She won't look like a cut out from the movie."

"Cool." Adam said. "Well, who do you want to be?"

Mikeal, feeling caught off guard, shrugged. "I dunno."

"Hmm." Adam cupped his chin in his hand. "You wouldn't make a very convincing Mad Hatter, you are bit too shy and he needs to be outgoing and crazy. The White Rabbit, always in a hurry, always running...no, that doesn't suit you either. But the Cheshire Cat, a mysterious enigma...hmm that would suit you well, I think."

Ridiculously, Mikeal felt himself blushing again. No one had ever called him mysterious before.

"Anyhow, I'll scout around for some stuff to get a costume ready for you," Adam continued.

"Well, who will you be?" Mikeal asked.

"You choose," Adam said.

Mikeal considered. He knew the characters vaguely from when he read Alice in Wonderland a while back, to decide if it really was a pedophilic love poem like one of his classmates had said. "The Mad Hatter then,” Mikeal decided, because the description that Adam gave sounded like something he could pull off.

Adam nodded. "Sure. That will be easy enough. He leaned forward and kissed Mikeal, right there in the middle of the sandwich shop. Mikeal tried not to care, but he couldn't help the nervous dart of eyes to see if anyone had taken notice.

If Adam noted his reaction, he didn't say anything. After they had finished eating and had left the shop, Adam drove him home.

Mikeal was happy enough during the ride home, sitting in the front passenger seat with Adam's hand over his. His heart sank a little, when he saw his father's spotless white BMW sitting in the parking lot. He pulled his hand away from Adam's, who gave him a questioning look.

"Okay baby?" The concern in Adam's voice tore at him a little.

"Yeah. My dad is here."

“Were you expecting him?"

Mikeal shook his head, feeling a knot rising up in his throat.

"Well," Adam parked the car and gave Mikeal a smile. "I better not kiss you goodbye then."

"Not yet," Mikeal managed to croak out.

Adam winked at him as he got out of the car. "Call me later okay?"

"Sure." Mikeal did manage a weak wave before he jogged over to the BMW. It was empty. Which meant his parents were probably inside the dorm, looking for him. Fucking wonderful.

Sure enough, when he got to his room, he saw his father and his mother seated on his side of the room. His mother, Marigold, was seated primly in his desk chair, wearing one of her chic suits. His father, Jamison, was standing, hands in his pockets, watching C-Span on the room‘s tiny television. They turned as he entered the room, and his mother's gentle, small smile was, as always, eclipsed by his father's grin.

"Mikeal!" His father boomed out, crossing the room in two large steps and sweeping Mikeal into a strong hug, delivering an affectionate but bone jarring thump to his back.

"Hey Dad," Mikeal managed. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Your roommate said we could wait here for you before he went to class," Mikeal's father said.

"We were just passing through," his mother told him with the careful, overly casual indifference that told Mikeal she was lying, "and were wondering if you would like to join us for lunch."

Mikeal felt his heart sink even more, with guilt instead of dread. His parents had come all the way out to see him and he wasn't even remotely hungry. Not even enough to fake it.

"Sorry. I-uh-I've already eaten," Mikeal said.

"I told you we should have called first," his father said.

"Like I said, we were just passing through," Marigold countered coldly, raising an eyebrow at her husband.

Mikeal sat down on his bed, watching the two of them. His mother, while still beautiful and elegant at 59, was always polite and soft-spoken, but also had a tendency to be cold. It was a sharp contrast to his father, who was boisterous, prideful and a bit excessive.

His mother smiled at him. "How are you enjoying college, young man?"

Mikeal shrugged a little and offered a few comments about his classes to pacify her as she fussed over him in a fit of maternal affection. When she left to visit the restroom, Mikeal gave his dad a curious stare. "So why are you really here?"

His father shrugged. "She misses you. She never really had the empty nest syndrome when your sisters left for college, because you were there. Now your sisters are off living their own lives and you are in school here. She gets lonely."

"I wish you had called. I would have changed my plans."

"She wanted to surprise you. It's enough that she gets to see you and talk to you."

Mikeal still felt bad and when his mother returned; he took them both to the University Gardens, which he knew his mother would enjoy. She did; commenting on the flowers and plants, constantly bending down to smell them or take a closer look. Jamison endured it patiently, chatting with Mikeal or checking his smartphone.

"Mikeal, honey, you are coming home for Christmas and New Years, right?" his mother asked, straightening after studying a collection of goldenrod.

"Of course," Mikeal said.

"Well, then you'll be attending your father's New Year Ball!" His mother exclaimed. "There is a girl that you should talk to-"

"Mom!" Mikeal exclaimed. He hated when she did this.

"Mikeal, please, she's smart, she's ambitious and she is just gorgeous-"

"No."

"But she's-"

"No, Mom. Cut it out or I won't even go."

Marigold sighed and rolled her eyes. For just a flicker, she looked just like one of her stuffy socialite friends and for a moment Mikeal felt true dislike toward her. "I don't understand you, Mikeal. She's a lovely girl. You don't have a girlfriend yet, do you?"

"No."

"Well, then what's the problem? Can't you at least meet her?"

"I don't want to date her."

"Why not?"

Mikeal felt sweat gather against his back and under his arms. She had given him a perfect opening, a perfect chance to explain. To state it casually, like Adam had done with his parents. Because I have a boyfriend.

Five little words.

He took a deep breath and spoke.

"Because-" He saw the look in his mom's eyes, genuine, open curiosity and felt the words tumble against each other as he tried to bring them out of his mouth. He shut his mouth and looked away, at the stones lining the pathway and the slick green of grass blades tickling his ankles. "Because I don't want to date anyone right now. I'm-I'm focusing on school and girls are just a distraction. I want to wait until I get used to school and then maybe-" He couldn't continue, the lie felt so distasteful coming out of his mouth that he was almost gagging on it.

"I think you should meet her. She is just your type. And I'm sure you could find some time in your schedule-"

"What part of no is beyond your comprehension?" Mikeal snapped. His temper usually had a fairly long fuse, but the unexpected surprise of his parents being here, coupled with his own self-disgust for being too cowardly to tell his parents he was gay, was fraying his nerves. "If you keep nagging me about this, I won't go at all."

He winced slightly as his father's strong hand closed around his upper arm. "Unnecessary, Mikeal," his father said in a low voice. Then, more audibly, "Apologize to your mother."

"Sorry Mom,” Mikeal grumbled. He wasn't sorry about refusing her offer, but he was sorry that he had spoken rudely and had displeased his father...something that always ashamed him. He wanted badly to emulate his father's easy confidence and generous nature.

"Just meet her Mikeal," his father continued. "You don't have to start dating her, but it will make your Mom happy."

Mikeal sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine."

His mom graced him with one of her cold, distant smiles.

* * *

Mikeal lay on his bed that night, toying with his phone. He wanted to call Adam, but was worried about what to tell him. He had spent the afternoon with his parents, and aside from the one ugly incident with his mom; it hadn't been a bad visit. Seeing them had brought back of wave of homesickness, which he had expected, but he wasn't prepared for having to think about revealing his very new relationship to them. His mom trying to set him up with a girl was no surprise...she had tried before with poor results. But this time, when she had asked him why he was refusing, he had to scramble to find a reason.

Because he couldn't tell them the truth.

He was a coward, a miserable coward.

The phone rang in his hand and he almost dropped it. He turned it and checked the number, then flipped it open. "Hey."

"Hey baby," Adam's cheerful voice coming down the line was a comfort.

Mikeal smiled. "How was work?"

"Same as always. Sundays are always packed. How was your meeting with your dad?"

"It was actually both of my parents," Mikeal corrected.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. They just missed me apparently."

"Well, that's nice." Mikeal could hear the smile in Adam's voice. "Want me to come over?"

"I'm still studying," Mikeal said quickly.

Too quickly, and Mikeal could hear the shift in Adam's voice. "What's wrong?"

"They-" Mikeal looked down at his bed, picking at the blanket covering it. "They want me to meet this girl."

"Oh. I see," Adam said. "What did you say?"

"That I wasn't interested." Mikeal bit his lip. "I'm really sorry. I was going to tell them, but I couldn't. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry about what?"

"I didn't tell them I was gay."

"So?"

"I-I thought you might be upset. Since you told your parents and everything."

"Baby, what I tell my parents has nothing to do with what you tell your own folks. I have nothing to do with whether or not your parents know you are gay, that is something that you have to do when you feel it's right. If you decide to tell them at all."

"But if I don't tell them, what will happen if things start to get serious with us?"

"Well, then it would be a problem," Adam agreed. "But we can deal with that when it happens."

"You seriously don't care?"

"It's not that I don't care. But it's not something I have any say in. What you decide to tell your parents is your business. And I don't want you thinking that you have to tell them anything you don't want to because of me."

"Okay," Mikeal said softly.

"I'm not crazy about the meeting a girl part though," Adam added.

"I told my Mom that I wasn't interested. But when she asked why, I couldn't tell her the truth. I had to lie and I hate that."

"Do you think they would be upset?" Adam asked.

"I don't know," Mikeal said, taking a minute to actually consider it. "My dad...I don't think he would be angry." But he might be disappointed and that would be worse. "My mother though...she might get wound up about it. She was always asking why I wouldn't go out with girls in high school and was really pushing my sisters to marry and settle down."

"Is she a meddler?" Adam asked. He knew it was rude, but he knew Mikeal didn't give up information easily so he figured he would take advantage of this while he could.

"No, not really, but she wants to see her children trying to find someone and settle down," Mikeal said. "She had some trouble with my younger sister, because she was a bit of a party girl, but she eventually got engaged, so my Mom is happy. Once she gets me married off, she won't have anything else to do."

"Hmm....I guess she doesn't work outside the home then?"

"Nope. She's a good little trophy wife."

Adam raised his eyebrows. "Is that bitterness I hear?"

Mikeal sighed. "No, it is just...she can be a little too much sometimes. She's not mean or anything, but she's a little cold and she can be a little pushy too."

"Hmm," Adam mused that over. "It sounds like you might be a little closer to your dad."

"I am."

"Does that bug you?"

"Not really." Mikeal shrugged, even though he knew Adam couldn't see him. "It's just the way it is."

"Hmm. Do you want to have lunch tomorrow? Do you have time in between classes?"

Mikeal smiled. "I would like that."

"Okay. Meet you at one?"

"Sure."

When Mikeal finished talking to Adam, he went to Julie's room to tell her the costumes they had decided on. She was delighted to hear about it, but seemed slightly subdued, so he left her alone. He changed and curled up with his primary comfort, his books, losing himself in the familiar cycle of studying to block the evening from his mind.

* * *

Mikeal sat in the drama workshop, a place he had never been before, with Adam next to him. Adam was hard at work, constructing a top hat and Mikeal was watching with interest.

"The hat is the most identifiable symbol of the Mad Hatter," Adam was explaining. "When you are costuming, especially on a budget, you have to have something to focus the most time and money on. It's the thing that will identify you as the character you are modeling, even if the rest of the costume isn't 100% accurate."

"What will identify me as the Chesire Cat?" Mikeal asked, curiously, watching as Adam taped a piece of cardboard into a long tube.

"The stripes, probably and the grin." Adam taped the tube to a large circle of cardboard to make base of the hat. "You can buy a full on Chesire Cat costume, if you want, but they are going to cost a bit, and they'll be really really warm if we go out to a party or anything."

"Julie wants to show off in the dorm first, then head downtown," Mikeal reported. "One of her friends is doing a bellydance demonstration at a club that night and she wants to see it. And this place is having a costume contest too."

"Well, the costumes online look ridiculous, I think," Adam remarked, using a hot glue gun to cement the two pieces together. "But we can do that if you want. Personally, I think you are far too sexy to dress up in what looks like a pair of striped pajamas. You're a Cheshire Cat, mysterious and sexy." Adam took a break from his work to lean over and kiss Mikeal's neck. "I like the way you purr."

Mikeal laughed and pushed Adam away, his touch and the force behind it gentle. "I don't purr."

"You do when you're sleeping,” Adam told him, turning his attention back to the hat. He began gluing a length of fabric to the structure had just assembled; starting at what Mikeal had thought was the bottom. "Down deep in your chest. You can't hear it very well, but I can feel it when I sleep beside you."

"Great. I'll probably be one of those obnoxious sleepers who snore when I get older," Mikeal grumbled.

"Don't worry," Adam reassured him. "I'll just do what my mom does to my dad and jab you with my elbow until you roll over onto your side."

Mikeal snorted at that, and Adam turned his attention back to his work. He had spoken without really thinking, but he began to wonder what it would be like---being with Mikeal long term. John had been his only long-term relationship, and he had met him fairly soon after entering college. Adam had only had a few encounters with other people, boys and girls; mostly exchanging anonymous kisses at keg parties or clubs he had snuck into.

John had been the one to show him what it was like to be gay, how it was to love another man. He had been older and attractive and Adam had been a little dazzled at his attention. John had romanced him with sophistication and smooth words, had taken his virginity, and, for a short time, held his heart.

Adam had been lying in the bed with him, several months into their relationship, pliant in the aftermath of another fantastic orgasm, and had told John that he loved him. John, to his credit, at least didn't feed him any bullshit, but told Adam in very clear terms that he wasn't into exclusivity. Humiliated and deeply hurt, Adam had slunk away.

After that, Adam had dated a guy from one of his drama classes, but both knew it wasn't a relationship so much as sexual experimentation. That fling lasted a couple weeks and there were a couple more short term encounters, but so far Mikeal was the first long term relationship beyond his early disaster with John. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, but he certainly didn't want to change it. He liked Mikeal. He was smart and mostly honest, had a tendency to dwell on negative aspects of things, but everyone was like that sometimes. And Mikeal had a playful side. It was subtler than his or Julie's, but it was there all the same and Mikeal was fun. He wasn't a studious stick in the mud---Adam's early impression--and he was willing to try new things. That was important. The fact that he was completely unaware of how sexy he was didn't exactly hurt either.

Adam finished gluing the fabric to the sides and top, and then set it on the table to dry while he began to make the brim of the hat. Mikeal was watching intently, intrigued despite himself, as Adam fashioned a brim out of cloth and wire.

"How did you learn all that?" Mikeal asked.

Adam glanced up momentarily, smiling, then returned to his work. "Lots of places. The Internet, mostly. There are a ton of sites for costumers where people share costume ideas and projects. Then I learned some stuff from other cosplayers and at cons themselves. Hell, I even learned some sewing stuff from my grandma. And then I learned some more from being in the drama department. So, to answer your question, all over the place, I guess." He finished sewing the brim onto the hat, then wrapped a ridiculously large ribbon around the base of it. "Does it bother you?"

"No." Mikeal sounded surprised. "No, I think it's pretty cool."

Adam sat the hat aside and started working on a pair of black and purple cat ears for Mikeal's costume. "What about you Mikeal? What do you like to do?"

Mikeal shrugged a little. "I like to watch movies. Read. Stuff like that."

"What do you like to read?" Adam asked. He had cut the ears out of felt and started to sew the edges together. He would stuff them a little after that to help them stand up straight before closing them completely.

"Anything Star Wars related,” Mikeal answered. "I like science fiction, but I also really like to read nonfiction too.

"What kind of nonfiction?"

"History. Biographies,” Mikeal answered. "I like philosophy too."

"I think, therefore I am?" Adam said.

"By Descartes. Also translated as, I am thinking, therefore I exist,” Mikeal added. "In French, it is je pense donc je suis."

"If you are studying political science, and want to go into law, why don't you study Latin?" Adam asked, pinching off a little stuffing and pushing it inside the ears.

"I took Latin in high school,” Mikeal responded. "I wanted to study something different. And French is a pretty language."

"Say something to me in French,” Adam requested.

"Embrassez-moi, je parle francais,” Mikeal replied.

Adam pinned down the flaps of the ears and glued them together with the hot glue gun. "And what does that mean?" he asked.

"Kiss me, I speak French,” Mikeal translated.

Adam leaned towards him and did so.