Unexpected Liaisons - 15. Tears and Tantrums

The half idea in his head was to head straight to the South Alaska and get totally wasted, and that plan was great expect that his twin and Bay would both be there and that would definitely hinder his ability to pour whiskey down his throat until he passed out. Zupan didn’t get much of a chance to think about his decision anyway, because it took Zander less than a minute to catch him up.

“Zupan!”

Zu ignored him and kept rolling. He was way too pissed off to enter into a conversation with someone whose opinions he actually cared about.

“Zu!” Zander grabbed the back of the chair and half pulled him around. The skinny young man halted any further movements he might have made by falling to his knees and hugging Zupan’s useless legs, “Will you stop already?”

“I don’t wanna hear it!” Zupan growled. His shoulders shook and he still felt like hitting something. There was no way he wanted to hear the boy he loved, Shit, and saying that in his head suddenly hurt, defending those bigoted little shitheads.

“You don’t want to hear what?” Zander looked shocked, “You think those were the friends I invited you to come and meet?” Zupan felt his flame-hot rage begin to subside in the face of Zander’s rising anger, “Babe they’re just guys who I sort of know from going out and being in clubs.” He saw Zupan’s sceptical look, “I wouldn’t stop to piss on them if they were on fire. And now they know that.” He scowled when he spoke and suddenly Zupan wished he’d hung around long enough to hear what his boyfriend has said to the sorry specimens in the club. He bet it had been sharp enough to cut glass. “Zu, babe, talk to me.”

“You…” Zupan could hardly believe the words coming out of his mouth, and his vision was getting blurry. He hadn’t cried in years, “You’re not mad at me for throwing that guy?”

“Mad?” Zander was kneeling up now, lifting and wriggling his way into Zupan’s lap, his apparent new favourite place to be, “Babe I’m proud of you. You defended me, and yourself, and us,” He touched his hand to Zupan’s chest and brought it over his own heart, “Hell I would have hit one of them if I thought it would do any damage.” He grinned in a cute self-depreciating sort of manner, and Zupan found him hugging the boy against his chest hard. He nuzzled into Zander’s super fluffy hair. “Babe? Are you crying?”

“No.” Zupan managed, bring his hand around Zander’s cheek so that the boy couldn’t pull away from him and see that he was lying, as though it wasn’t obvious

“I love you.” Zander whispered to his collarbone, “Nothing and no one is getting in the way of that.”

Zupan hugged him tighter, then took a deep breath and dragged his hand over his eyes.

“You still want me to meet your friends?”

“You want to?” Zander looked shocked.

“Yeah,” Zupan shrugged, he wanted Zander to be happy, “But they ain’t going to let me back in there though are they?”

“No.” Zander had his phone in his hand in a flash, “You sure babe?”

“Course. Whatever you want.”

Zander kissed him, tasting like the colour pink.

“Billy? Yeah, no we’re not there. Can you guys meet us at, hang on… Babe what’s that pub you like that does the cool looking cider with the pretty label?”

“The Eagle?” Zupan nuzzled his boyfriend’s neck, trying to make up for his earlier tantrum

“Yeah. Can you meet us at The Eagle?” Zander was whispering against his skin, lips moving over his cheekbone, “We’ll be five minutes. Thanks hun.” He shut the phone away, “So you going to give me a lift then big man?” Zander wriggled in his lap, hooking his legs under Zupan’s calves.

“You lazy little creature you.” Zupan ruffled his hair and then turned the wheels of his chair to start heading towards The Eagle in town, “I think I spoil you too much. You’re not embarrassed about being seen with me are you.” He didn’t phrase it like a question, it was so deliciously obvious that Zander wasn’t embarrassed by him. He squirmed in the most interesting ways.

“Do you have any idea how awesome it is to be able to go for a walk with your boyfriend and sit in his lap and snuggle at the same time?” Zander was kissing his neck again, fingers tickling over his abs. “It’s like my new favourite thing to do,” He paused, chewing gently on his lower lip, “OK, second favourite thing.”

“Now why do I think I might know what that thing is babe?” Zupan checked at the road before rolling them across, “You bad thing you.”

“It’s not like you don’t like it an’ all,” Zander managed to wriggle a hand between them and squeezed the silk covered bulge in Zupan’s new underwear, “You look really good tonight babe.”

Zupan grinned, he couldn’t help it, and tried to concentrate on steering.

“I’m gonna have to dress up more often aren’t I?” Zupan tutted, “Will there be more underwear?” When Zander nodded, he groaned, “Damn it. Here we are pretty boy.”

Zander hugged Zander round the neck and wriggled. He was obviously staying exactly where he was. Zupan wheeled them through the doorway and into the orange lit jovial atmosphere of the pub. The Eagle had been their go to hang out before the South Alaska had gotten going, and it had kept the same landlord’s for as long. They were nice, normal, tolerant people who believed in decent food and good alcohol.

“I’ll get you a drink yeah babe?” Zupan lifted Zander easily from his lap as though he weighed nothing. The blond twink smiled at him, ran a hand through his hair, pulling his fringe from his face, and for a moment Zander saw the slightly harder image of the young man from the swimming pool, the boy he saw coming out of the shower in the mornings, the sweat soaked figure who sat astride him on his bed with his fingers plastered against his skull. It was a good image. He got drinks at the bar, the cider with the pretty label as Zander had called it, and wheeled himself over to where Zander had removed a chair for him.

“Oh Zan…” The speaker was a skinny blonde boy with violent pink highlights in his hair and a big grin, “You really weren’t exaggerating for once.” Zupan felt his fist tighten until the tone of the boy’s words got through to him, “No offense or rudeness dude, but you’re definitely the hottest guy he’s ever brought to meet us. Well done Zander.” He reached his hand across the table, “I’m Emmet, you must be the famous Zupan.”

Zupan shook his hand, and made sure to grip as hard as he could.

“Good lord, you’re arms are huge!” The Asian guy sitting next to Emmet put his hand over his mouth when he smiled, “Maybe I should trade you in for a real man Em?” Emmet set straight to tickling the smaller man and Zupan realised with a shocked that they laughed just like he and Zander did.

“Zu…” Zander was saying his name all soft and low, “This is Kim, Emmet’s better half-”

“Hey!”

“Oh shut it, you know it’s true.” Zander was smiling, and everything was genuine and happy, and Zupan realised that he wasn’t trying to impress anyone. “And Billy, who you know.” Billy raised a hand in greeting and Zupan tried his best not to look scary. “Tony, we’ve known each other since school I suppose, “ Tony was very laid back looking, and had bands of words tattooed up his arm, “And Monty… we like to think of him as our alcohol based sponsor,” Monty was about thirty-five, and dressed like a twenties mod in a tweed suit, “We keep tricking him into picking up the tab.”

“Only because his husband doesn’t drink,” Billy chipped in, “He pays for us to drink and then goes back to his great big house and laughs about us.”

“I do not. I use you as educational life lessons for the kids.” Monty checked his pocket watch and smirked, “At least I can stop my year eleven’s from making all of your mistakes.”

“Mean.” Kim pitched in, “I don’t make mistakes.”

“You mean except that thing hanging on your arm?” Tony muttered around his beer bottle, earning himself a girlish slap on the bicep for his trouble, “So Zander told us you play… murder something? We all gonna wake up dead tomorrow is it?”

“Murderball. Quadriplegic wheelchair rugby.” Zupan smiled, he knew he could talk about his sport for forever.

“Zu’s an Olympian.” Zander said with a grin, like he was the luckiest boy in the world, and Zupan felt his heart sort of explode with love as the little blond starting boasting about him, “He’s amazing on the court, he can hit like a freight train…”