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Jack sat down on his sofa and took a few deep breaths. His heart was beating fast but nowhere near panic attack speeds. He clutched his phone tightly and looked at the contact card: Home. When Jack first talked to Eric about making their relationship known to his parents, he had a different idea in his head about how he was going to do it. That changed about a dozen times before he decided enough was enough and a phone call should be doable.
This was part of the reason why he was visiting Eric later anyway. If this call didn't go as planned, he could at least commiserate with his boyfriend. He pressed the phone number and watched the call start. Jack took one last breath and put his phone up to his ear.
"Hi, Jack," his mother said after the call connected.
"Hi, Mom. How are you? " he asked politely.
"I'm well. How are you, honey? I saw you have a few days off. Are you doing anything fun? " she asked.
He thought about the fresh snow they got and how the lake at Samwell was probably frozen enough to handle everyone's weight. "I'm going up to school to visit later."
"Oh, that's nice! Have you talked to Bitty later? How is he doing?" Alicia asked enthusiastically.
Jack laughed. "He's fine. I still help him with his French. If he ever tries to talk to you in it, just smile and nod. He tries his best but languages are not his strong suit."
"That poor boy. Don't chirp him behind his back," she admonished.
"Actually, I didn't call just to chat. Is Dad around? I need to talk to you both." Jack started biting his nails. He knew it was a bad habit and usually tried to curtail the habit but he gave himself a pass this time.
The sound of a chair scraping the floor came through the phone. "Sure. Give me a second."
Then he heard his mom shout away from the mouthpiece. "Bob, come here. Jack's on the phone! "
"Hey, Jack. How's it going?" Bob asked a moment later.
"Fine. I have something to tell you both," Jack said as he felt his heart rate jump again.
"What's up, champ?"
Jack swallowed hard. "I've been dating someone and we decided it was time to tell you. I would have told you sooner but I was nervous. I'm actually dating a man."
"You know we will always love you, Jack," Alicia said gently. "I'm glad you found someone and I'm glad you found the courage to tell us."
Bob had been making encouraging sounds while Alicia spoke. "I agree with your mother. I've always loved you, Jack, and that doesn't come conditionally. Do we get to know your partner's name?" he asked.
Jack started smiling and crying at the same time when his mother started speaking. "Yeah, his name is Eric."
There was complete silence and then pandemonium.
"Eric? Eric who? You've never mentioned an Eric," Bob said distressed.
Alicia was no better. "Jack, what's going on? How could you do this?"
If there was anyone else in Jack's apartment at that moment, they would have been part of a select club that had witnessed Jack's confused face. When he expected his parents to get worked up, this was not what he had in mind. He didn't understand until Bob asked, "What about, Bittle? Does he know yet?"
It dawned on Jack that he never used Eric's first name around his parents before. It was just 'Bittle' for the longest time and had switched to using 'Bitty' or 'Bits' more often. He started laughing.
"Jack! This isn't funny! You probably strung that poor boy along for a year now!" Bob exclaimed.
"I'm 100% sure Bitty knows about my boyfriend as his name is Eric Bittle," Jack replied.
"Wait, what?" his father asked.
Jack chuckled. "Bitty's first name is Eric. I'm dating Bitty."
"Oh, honey. That's a relief," Alicia said. "I thought we were going to have to have a talk about this."
"When I called today, I wasn't sure how this would go but this was the farthest from my mind," Jack said.
Bob laughed. "Now, that would have been a condition to my fatherly love. I was getting nervous about you nailing that down."
"Dad," Jack whined.
"I'm serious. I would have considered disowning you for all the lost Bittle pie. Either that or adopting him.
Alicia interrupted her husband. "Your father is just joking. I'm really glad though. You looked at each other like the other hung the moon at your graduation."
"Dad did encourage me to take a shot," Jack admitted.
"Well, I expect an invitation to dinner to officially meet your boyfriend," Alicia said. "You should get on the road."
"Huh?" Bob said.
"I'm going to visit my friends at Samwell today."
"Now, Jack. I know we did the birds and the bees conversation about women. Do we need to revisit it to include men?" Bob asked lightheartedly.
Jack was beet red. "Dad! Stop!"
"We just want you to be safe!" Bob said.
"I'm going now. "
"Okay, son. Let us know when you and Bitty have time for dinner. We're looking forward to it," Bob said and said goodbye along with Alicia.
When Jack told the story to Eric later while they were making a pie together, Eric asked, "But wait. Who's Eric though?"
Jack narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. "What?"
"What do you mean 'what'?" Eric started and then it dawned on him. "I'm Eric."