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Geno has a habit of muttering under his breath the name of the object he is holding or the English word for the action he is doing. James catches himself picking the habit up a few months after Geno moves in with him. The only difference is that James mumbles the Russian word, much to Geno’s delight. Geno even brings home books for James to read that will help him learn.
Geno is off in Russia visiting his family for the offseason, leaving James to entertain his own family in Pittsburgh. James’ mom, dad, and brother are in town staying with him for the next 3 weeks, and he thinks he just might go insane. It was one thing packing half of Geno’s cloths and belongings into two duffle bags for him to travel home for 5 weeks, and a whole other thing packing his stuff away in boxes before his family arrives.
James had a really difficult time all but erasing Geno’s presence in their home. Geno is a “nester.” He decorated and furnished and crammed stuff in every possible corner of the home. It was quite the extreme opposite to James’ sparse décor prior to Geno moving in. It took a toll on James emotionally to box up all the things Geno has lovingly acquired over the past few months. Especially the kid’s toys up in the third guest room that he had brought home with a hopeful glint in his eyes. When James sighed and shook his head, Geno had steeled his expression and said, “Duper and Kuni’s kids will like when they come visit.”
It’s an early Monday morning, the kind of bright sunny morning that makes James want to get out and do something with his day. So when he wakes up to the sunbeam shining in on his face, he grins and stretches in the bed, reveling in all the space not taken up by long hot limbs. After his back pops and his muscles feel loose and comfortable, he throws the covers off and gets up. He mutters the words for bed, morning, sunshine in Russian as he makes his way to the bathroom.
After he is dressed and his hair combed, he bounds down the stairs saying stairs, downstairs as he descends. He pauses at the bottom of the staircase, thinking briefly that he heard someone walking around. He brushes it off and continues towards the kitchen, his family never gets up this early.
He murmurs to himself the Russian words as he puts a bagel in the toaster and roots a yogurt out of the fridge. He startles so badly that he almost drops his yogurt as his mom’s voice reaches him, “Are you speaking Russian?”
“Uh…no?” His mom clearly doesn’t believe him and he hesitates. She asks him why he was speaking Russian and he scrambles for a response. “Maybe …maybe this is a discussion to do as a…family?” He says, avoiding her eyes. She turns on her heel and disappears.
Just as his bagel pops up from the toaster, she returns. His dad and brother are yawning behind her. “It seems that James has something to tell us. As a Family.”
He tries to swallow the lump in his throat as his eyes bounce between the three of them. How do people do this? His dad waves a hand at him, in a ‘get on with it’ sort of way.
“I… I guess there is no painless way to say this.” He takes a deep breath, “I’m gay. I’ve been dating Geno for about a year now.”
His mom covers her mouth with her hand, staring at him with wide eyes. His dad blinks a few times then walks away. His brother growls and tosses his head back. “I can’t believe you woke me up for that, I’m going back to sleep.” He says as he heads for the stairs.
“Honey…” his mom whispers. “Are you sure? This is so sudden… Maybe you just haven met the right girl yet?” James sighs and looks at her disdainfully. “No, Mom. I’m very, very sure. Geno is the right guy. There is no “Right Girl” for me.” Her eyes well up and he instantly feels guilty, even though the logical part of his brain screams at him that he has nothing to be guilty for.
She goes upstairs as well, leaving him alone in the kitchen. He doesn’t feel hungry anymore. He grabs his phone and heads for the front door, deciding to jog to the park and call Geno from there.