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Nicky pulled up to the house he’d been at only a handful of times. A place he knew well but only knew on the surface; like a hotel room where nothing felt at home, nothing felt inviting. Though perhaps that had never been much about the house but more so the people in it. Tilda, Aunt Tilda, was – or had been – a peculiar woman, if he felt like putting it kindly. He stayed in the car for a few minutes, looking up and down the street. There were no familiar cars in the street, hopefully meaning his Luther and Maria weren’t around. He had to keep repeating that in his head before he finally managed to get out of the car and walk across the driveway to his aunt’s house. Or what used to be her house, he supposed.
He rang the doorbell, waiting for a while. He rang the doorbell again, and waited some more. He pushed on the doorbell a couple of times now, fishing in his pocket for his phone so he could call Aaron and ask him where he was.
But then the door was pulled open by Aaron.
Or- not Aaron.
Definitely not Aaron because there was not a single hint of recognition on the familiar face in front of him.
Nicky put on a smile. “Hi, you must be Andrew? I’m Nicky, your cousin.” Between studying in and then moving to Germany Nicky hadn’t spent enough time in America to be towed along to the customary get together he would have met Andrew at. So far Andrew had stayed a mythical phenomenon.
Andrew just stared him down.
Nicky knew what was about to happen before it happened and he was about to slam his body into the door to keep it from slamming shut, when a second Minyard entered the hallway. Aaron rushed past his twin to reach Nicky and before Nicky had quite caught on to what was happening he was holding Aaron in his arms who was shaking with silent sobs.
Nicky held him close, rubbing comforting circles over his back and when he looked back at Andrew he caught his gaze. Andrew just stared him down some more which was wildly uncomfortable and Nicky had to look away. Still Andrew’s gaze burned and he felt like he was observed, like a hunter does its prey.
Luckily eventually Andrew left them in the hallway and he disappeared. Only then did Aaron untangle himself from Nicky, turning his tear streaked face away from him as he kicked the door closed and silently led Nicky into the house.
The house was a fucking mess, and that was saying something for Nicky’s standards. He trailed Aaron into the kitchen and when Aaron offered something to drink he opted to just go for a water since he didn’t figure they’d have a particularly stocked fridge.
He took a seat in one of the barstools as Aaron put the water down in front of him. “Hey, my condolences.”
Aaron shook his head, fumbled with his own glass of water. “I’m so sick of that fucking word by now.”
Nicky nodded. “Yeah.” It must be horrible, to be this young and lose your mom, the only family member you lived with for years, that abruptly. He supposes it was a lucky thing Andrew was around. “Wanna talk about Andrew instead?” Nicky said, trying to lighten the mood with a conspiratorial whisper.
Aaron huffed out some air which might be optimistically be mistaken for a laugh. “Yeah, this is your first time meeting him huh. That’s so weird.”
“Why weird? I guess I’ve not been around for a while.”
“Yeah, you’re going to have to tell me about Germany later. But I just feel like Andrew’s been around for ages,” he shrugged. “Anyway. Why are you here? Thought you abandoned us for Europe?”
Nicky shook his head. Why he was here was batshit crazy, really, but he might as well jump straight in. “Where are you going to be living now?” he asked.
Aaron pulled a hand through his hair. “Fuck it if I know. I’ve not been able to think about that at fucking all.”
“And that’s okay.”
“Your parents offered us a place to stay.”
Nicky nodded. He’d had exactly one phone call with his mom since Tilda had passed and she’d already said Luther wanted the twins to come live with them. She’d immediately asked Nicky if he wanted to come home and be a big brother to them. Nicky was pretty sure Luther hadn’t been in the room when she asked because he would never want a freak like him near young impressionable youths. “So I’ve heard,” he answered Aaron. “I’m here to offer an alternative.”
Aaron looked him in the eyes for the first time since he walked through the door. “What?”
“Come live with me.”
“Come live with you?” Aaron didn’t even have the decency to laugh at his proposal. “In Germany?”
“No. Well I guess we could, but taking you out of the country might be a hassle? I don’t know, either way I was actually thinking I could stay here. So you and Andrew could come stay with me if you wanted?”
Aaron stared at him, as flabbergasted as Nicky should probably be feeling right now as well, if he allowed those feelings to settle. Aaron opened his mouth, closed it again. Then, finally, “is that legally allowed?”
“It should be, if you guys allow me to be your legal guardian. Then yeah it should be legal.”
Aaron finally sat down. “You’re not serious.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
Aaron shrugged. “All of it. Why stay? Why take us in? Why go through the trouble?”
Nicky took a deep breath, having prepared himself for this conversation and desperately needing it to go well. “Do you know why I went to Germany?”
Aaron sat up a bit straighter, shifted around uncomfortably. “I overheard a phone call or two, maybe.”
Nicky let the silence stretch.
“They said- you know. That you’re… not straight.”
“I’m not.”
Aaron swallowed. “And that’s why you ran away?”
“Is that what they called it?”
Aaron raised an eyebrow. “That’s what I’m calling it. Are you not running away?”
Well. “Maybe.”
“So, why Germany? Did you really need to put a whole ocean between you and your parents?”
“First of all, yes. Second of all, not really. I went on exchange, to learn German and for the German student I’d be staying with to learn English.”
Aaron nodded.
“I fell in love.”
Aaron stared at him, dumbfounded. “With… a man?”
“With a man, yes, with the student I was staying with.”
Aaron gaped at him some more. “Is that why you’re going back to Germany?”
“Yes,” Nicky nodded. “Well, him and the bratwurst. But mostly him. But that’s beside the point, what is the point is that my parents are fuck-all crazy. They send me to conversion camp.”
Aaron raised an eyebrow. “Like- the ones that beat the gay out of you?”
“The ones that try, yes. And obviously fail. What do they think is going to happen when they put a whole bunch of gay dudes together? Anyway, my parents aren’t great. If you can’t love your own child for who he is you should hardly be taking in any more children.”
Aaron seemed completely stunned.
“You don’t have to come live with me, of course. I’m just offering the choice.”
“What, out of the goodness of your heart?” Aaron drawled, but his mouth wasn’t moving. Andrew silently moved through the room, coming up behind Aaron.
Nicky swallowed, but answered. “Because you deserve to know what you’d be getting into if you take my parents up on their offer. And you deserve an alternative.”
Nicky felt as if he was being judged for all his sins, right then and there, Andrew’s stare was ferocious.
“Do you have a place where we’d live?”
“Not yet. But we could find one, Erik – the exchange student – his parents gave me a shit-ton of money, they’re really generous. I’ll pay it back every penny of course but for now they’re willing to help out and get us a place. We could start house hunting right now.”
Andrew turned his look on Aaron, then shrugged. Apparently that was as much confirmation Nicky was going to get. Andrew hovered around in the kitchen, only opening his mouth occasionally, while Nicky and Aaron talked more about the possibilities, the choices they had to make and other things that needed to be arranged. When Aaron started groaning and complaining of a headache when the conversation turned too technical, he went upstairs and Nicky was left alone with Andrew. Andrew was practical and clear with what he wanted and they managed to figure a lot of things out.
A day later they set the process in motion. Nicky Hemmick would become the legal guardian of the Minyard twins.