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Francine always loved looking through the old family photo albums, and truth be told, she liked looking through Steve’s the best. He was her baby, the last child she ever got to hold as her own, the last person that ever completely relied on her. Who actually needed her. She hated seeing him grow up and becoming an adult, but at least she had these pictures to look back on their precious memories together.
The first picture in the album was one of Francine holding her little baby Steve in the hospital room on the day he was born. She had just been through 11 hours of labor and looked like an absolute mess, but she didn't care, she loved this photo. He was such a beautiful baby, looking so sweet sleeping soundly in her arms. She had the look of absolute, unconditional love on her face. Even way back then she knew that she was going to love this child know matter what, for the rest of her life.
The next pages were filled with various events from Steve’s childhood. A picture of him covered with cake with blue icing from his first birthday, him sitting in Stan’s lap as he read him “The Giving Tree” as a bedtime story, his first day of pre-k, and his very first sleepover with friends he made all by himself. He was so proud to tell his parents all the nice friends he made at school, and was elated when Francine suggested that they all spend the night so they could meet them. Stan was less excited about the idea, and stayed in his office all evening to avoid the children.
Francine took the picture out of the album and turned it over. On the back written in her neat print it said, “Steve, Snot, Toshi, and Barry, age 4.” God, had it really been that long ago? She hadn't heard much about Toshi lately, but she knew that Steve was sharing a dorm with Snot, and they said they were still good friends with Barry. 15 years of friendship, It was rather impressive. She wondered how much longer Steve and Snot were going to be together. At this point, her money was on forever.
Francine smiled to herself as she carefully replaced the photo and continued to flip through the album. She was approaching the awkward middle school to high school section of the book, filled with all the moments between 6th grade graduation to high school graduation. This was no doubt that this was definitely the largest section of the book. She skimmed the pages grinning to herself as she came across a picture of Steve with his first real girlfriend, Debbie. She was a nice girl, it almost made her a little sad that there was no chance they were never going to actually work it out. Their love was only a puppy love, but it was sweet nonetheless. The next picture was one of him and his friends at a party, then his first dance, his 15th birthday party.
Francine stopped as her eyes landed on a photo of Steve and Snot, she couldn't tell the date or where exactly they were at, but it was still a cute photo. They were sitting on a bench looking at each other and smiling like they were the only two in the world. Francine smiled softly, her eyes drifting to the other pictures. Steve smiling proudly showing his driver's license to the camera, him sitting in his first car, his junior prom, first day of senior year, and senior prom.
The memory of Steve's senior prom brings a lot feelings to Francine. Steve didn’t exactly have a girlfriend at the time, so he and Snot took two of their female friends, Angelica and Eva, and they all went together as ‘strictly friends’. But Stan was convinced that there was more going on. He got so excited, believing that Steve finally had a chance to get laid, throw a huge party, or just be normal teenager for once in his life, that he convinced Francine to take a weekend trip to D.C. to see the sights and shit. There was no way he was going to get in the way of Steve losing his virginity before graduating high school, hell, he even made Roger stay at Hayley and Jeff’s apartment for the night. But, Francine refused to leave until she got to take prom pictures of her precious baby and his cute little date.
“Come on you two! You’re standing a mile away! Get in close like your gonna bang while you’re half drunk at another kid's after party,” Francine encouraged as she took the pictures.
“Mother, I hate to tell you this, but there is no way that’s happening,” Steve stole a glance at Snot, then moved uncomfortably close to Angelica, wrapping his arms loosely (and awkwardly) around her waist.
“Mmkay, that’s good, now hands at the hips,” Francine instructed. The boys did as told, moving their hand to the girl's hips, trying to make it more natural looking and less like they had never touched a girl in their entire life.
Steve was hating this. He barely knew Angelica, the only reason he was going with her was because she was Eva’s girlfriend, and their parents wouldn’t let them go together if they knew their relationship status. Steve perfectly understood the girls messy situation, it’s not like he could exactly go up to his parents and say, “Yeah me and Snot are going to prom together because we’ve been dating for almost nine months! Surprise!” So he and Snot agreed to be their cover ups, in exchange for them being their cover ups.
Snot and Eva had known each other for quite a while, they could kind of pull off the cute young love prom poses, but he and angelica had the combined awkwardness of Tina Belcher. On top of that his mother kept berating them to scoot closer and smile more, it was driving him crazy! You could imagine his relief when Stan finally pulled Francine away, telling her that he had made reservations at one of the nicest restaurants in all of Washington D.C.
Francine hugged her baby boy, who was now just barely taller than her, and kissed him on the cheek, telling him to be safe and, under no circumstances, should he be doing any hard drugs. He rolled his eyes, promised that he wouldn’t, and told his mom that she didn’t need to worry, he would he home by midnight. She hugged him one last time before finally climbing into the car, waiting for Stan to take them to this restaurant.
Stan clapped Steve on the back and gave him a proud look, leaning into whisper, “I made sure to throw a few condoms in the top draw of you night stand,” then he pulled away and said, much louder, “Stay safe you two, We don’t need any babies around here anytime soon!” Steve turned bright red, and Snot smirked as he promised that he would make sure that didn’t make any babies tonight.
Francine almost laughed, looking back she should have realized it at that second. Or maybe she should have at least suspected something of the two boys. Then, maybe the next morning wouldn’t have been such a shock.
Stan had gotten horrible food poisoning from the ‘fantastic, 5 star’ restaurant, he was throwing up all night long. Francine demanded that they go home early. She went on about how there was no point in staying in a hotel so he could throw up all over it, but in reality, she just wanted to make sure her baby boy stayed out of trouble.
As soon as Francine got Stan into bed she walked into Steve’s room expecting him to be sleeping peacefully in his own bed, alone.
“Steven, sweetie, we had to come home a little earl-” She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her son and his best friend shirtless in his bed. Snot mirrored her look of utter shock.
“Uh, hi Mrs. S,” he muttered as he propped himself up on his elbows, reaching over beside him and tried to shake Steve enough to wake him up. He stirred, then rubbed his eyes, blinking tiredly and smiling at his boyfriend. But Snot wasn't smiling back at him like he usually did, he just jerked his head to indicate where Steve’s mother was standing frozen.
He looked over to where Snot indicated, quickly sitting up when he noticed him mom standing in his doorway, looking like a deer in headlights.
‘Hi mom,” he chuckled nervously, “hope you don't mind that Snot spent the night.”
“Oh, yeah! No problem! I'll just go make some breakfast. Pancakes good with you? Chocolate chip, or blueberry? I'll just make both, bye.” She rambled, turning around and exiting the room as fast as she could. She fell back against the door as soon as it closed, taking a deep breath to try to calm herself down, her mind was racing. Holy shit, did they have sex? Had they been having sex? Were they together? If they were, why was her son hiding this from her? She had always made sure to be supportive and accepting.
Maybe they weren't dating, maybe this was a one time thing. Yeah that was it, this was a one time thing. He would never keep something like this from her.
Francine took a few more deep breath then walked down the stairs and to the kitchen to start making breakfast as promised. She was finishing up the scrambled eggs when boys walked into kitchen, fully clothed this time, Steve wearing a band t-shirt that was most certainly not his.
“Morning, mom.” Steve was struggling to stay it as nonchalant as possible.
“Good morning, sweethearts.,” Francine said as sweetly as she could, she didn't want to make them feel bad, or like they had something to be ashamed of. “Grab some plates from the cabinet, there are some pancakes on the dish by the stove, and I just finished up the eggs.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Smith” Snot said, smiling and hoping that she wasn't too pissed at him.
Francine smiled back warmly, “You're welcome, hun.”
They all took their seats at the table, Steve and Snot sitting together across from Francine. Silence fell on the group as they all avoided thinking about the situation they were in 20 minutes ago.
“So, how was prom.” Francine tried at making some light conversation.
The boys glanced at each other. “It was good,” Steve looked around, “where’s dad?” He prayed that his mother hadn't already told his father what happened, he would never talk to him again.
“He's not feeling so well this morning, I don't think he'll be coming down to eat with us.” They just nodded in response, the room becoming quiet again.
Steve was getting more and more uncomfortable at the silence and purposeful ignorance of what was happening with him and Snot. He had wanted to tell his mom, but he was afraid she might tell his father, and even though he had grown to be more accepting of queer people, Steve knew his father would be disappointed to find out that his only son is bi. So he had kept his mouth shut, and it was beginning to eat him up inside. He just couldn't do this anymore.
“Me and Snot are dating,” he blurted out. Snot looked up at him with a mix of shock and concern, but Steve looked straight ahead, waiting for his mom’s response.
Francine frowned, “Steven Anita, I'm very disappointed in you-”
Steve sighed, “I know mom, and I'm sorry, but I lo-”
“-I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me sooner. How long has this been going on? Why did you feel the need to hide this from me?” Steve gaped at her, then turned to look at Snot.
Snot just grinned at him, “Told you she’d be cool with it.” Steve just rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his mother.
“Sorry, mom, I guess I thought you wouldn't be so chill with it,” he smiled at her gratefully, and she smiled back, as if she was saying ‘I love you’ without actually saying it out loud.
“I will always love and care for you, no matter what. You never have to hide who you are, or who you want to be with, from me,” Francine said reaching across the table to lay her hand on top of her son’s.
Francine smiled to herself as she quietly closed the photo album and placed it on the shelf next to Hayley’s. She glanced at the clock, it was almost 5:30, Stan would be home soon. And it was a Friday, Steve and Snot would be coming home in time for dinner with Hayley and Jeff, and staying all weekend until they had to go back to school on Sunday night. She would get to have her whole family together again, sitting around the table eating and talking and laughing. It was going to be absolute chaos, and it was going to be wonderful.