Peter grinned as he held up the photo next to his line of vision. The scene of reality was an exact replica of the one he held in his hand. He smiled encouragingly at the stock-still people in front of him, then turned and marched to where he had rigged up the makeshift theater curtains. With one last look at the picturesque scene, he slowly raised the curtains.
On the other side sat his fifth-grade class and his teacher who had a clipboard in hand for her evaluation of Peter's show and tell.
The boy smiled at his audience, back turned to the people he had revealed to his companions. As soon as he got the go ahead from his teacher, he began the speech he had practiced and perfected for weeks.
"Good afternoon everybody. As you're all aware I'm Peter Kirkland and today I will be presenting my show and tell project. I decided to recruit some very special people for the occasion seeing as I chose to present my family."
The teacher scribbled something on her clipboard as Peter gestured to the scene behind him.
"I could've just shown you the original photo but I wanted a unique way of showing something so dear to me. What you are seeing is a recreation of a very significant picture."
He pulled the very photo out of his pocket and held it out for the audience to see. The people and positions were the very same, with the only exception being Peter, who instead of forming part of the scene, moved around it as he spoke.
He walked into the figurative frame and took a spot to the left of the picture, speaking all the while.
"This is my family. Papa, Mama, Uncle Matt, Lukas and Emil." He walked past each one as he said this, pointing them out.
He settled in front of the couple holding each other in their arms, his parents.
"This here is my Papa. He was born in Sweden but he's already been living here for a really long time. He sometimes mumbles when he speaks and he's very serious and rarely ever smiles. But Mama and I both know that he loves us very much and would always choose our company over being alone, except maybe that one time I broke a vase."
There was a soft chuckle from somewhere in the background and it made Peter's freeze a moment but nobody paid any mind to it as he shook it off and continued.
"This is Mama. He doesn't exactly like to be called Mama but I don't know what else to call him. He's from Finland but he left while he was still a child, though he likes keeping Finnish traditions alive in our house. He's very loving and always expresses his emotions unlike Papa. I think that's why they got married."
Despite their strict orders not to move, Berwald's arm tightened almost imperceptibly around Tino's waist, but Peter didn't notice so he kept going.
"They adopted me when I was six and have always taken very good care of me. But sometimes they need a break."
Peter moved away from his parent's chunk of the picture so that he could stand in front of another one of the participants, a tall, widely grinning man with a wild look in his eyes and hair that refused to listen to anyone, much less gravity.
For some unfathomable reason he had pulled down a huge axe, a family heirloom, down from its case and in the original photo had appeared with it slung over his shoulder. They settled on giving him a bat for the reenactment.
"That's where the rest of my family comes in, even though Mama doesn't approve of me staying alone with Uncle Matt since he doesn't count as adult supervision cause he's just a big child."
There's another chuckle from somewhere behind the audience but this time Peter firmly ignores it.
"Uncle Matt is Papa's brother but he's nothing like Papa. He's really funny and kinda crazy and we do all kinds of shenanigans when I come over to visit which is why I love hanging out with him. He's even trying to teach me Danish which is awesome.
And this here,"
Peter pointed to the man beside Matthias, who had his arms crossed over his chest and was staring at the 'camera' with lightly veiled contempt. If you looked closely though, there was the slightest trace of a smile playing on the edge of his lips.
"Is Lukas. He's technically my Uncle too, since he married Uncle Matt, but he doesn't answer if I call him Uncle Lukas so I don't. He's usually a little grouchy but Uncle Matt can always make him happy again, though he doesn't like to admit it; but he told me once."
Peter moved on this time standing beside a teenager, who hadn't been very comfortable at the time of the picture and wasn't particularly comfortable at the moment.
"Then there's Emil. He's Lukas' younger brother and he's pretty private and reserved. I like having him over anyway because he'll read me stories and his voice is nice so I don't mind that I could read them myself. He also cooks better than Lukas and I think his boyfriend is finally going to be visiting this Christmas."
Emil choked and fought to stay still.
Peter smiled nervously suddenly quiet. He reached up to rub his neck nervously before taking a deep breath.
"There's only one person missing from the picture."
Behind him his 'statues' blinked in confusion, glancing discreetly at each other. Peter tried his best to remain focused as he motioned his hand for someone to come forward. His classmates looked around in the same confusion until a coppery haired boy rose from the farthest seat, having been hiding there the whole time.
He was in the grade above and plentiful taller than any of the students including Peter. He made his way to the front, his eyes meeting Peter's, his focus undivided. He smiled.
He reached the place where Peter was awaiting him and took his hand, interlacing their fingers slowly, looking down on Peter with an adoring gaze and freezing as if someone had snapped a picture right then.
Peter looked back at him for a moment before turning to the rest of his classmates with a small, genuine smile.
"This is Marcello, the newest addition to the family. He's afraid he's not exactly going to fit in cause he doesn't look like us or act like us, but if there's one thing I'm sure of is that he'll fit in just fine. Because family is about love; and I love him and he loves me, so there's gotta be a spot somewhere on the family picture for him. And besides,"
Peter chuckled, looking down at their interconnected hands and then back at the rest of his family.
"There was always an empty space in the frame."
With that he stood on his toes and gave Marcello a quick peck on the cheek. The rest of his classmates, who had already been acclimated to the idea of homosexuality what with Peter's parents usually being participants in school activities, clapped enthusiastically, bringing the presentation to its end.
The bell rung and the students began packing their things and filing out, leaving the family behind. The teacher smiled at Peter and told him that his presentation had been excellent and that the juxtaposition of his traditions with the introduction of a new element had been brilliant for his age.
Peter's family slowly began to come out of its daze.
The first was Matthias, who came forward to mess up Peter's hair while laughing good-naturedly. Peter laughed as well trying to duck away from it, despite everyone knowing how much he enjoyed the attention.
"I always knew you'd bring home a boy one of these days. Hey," He tried giving Marcello a serious look but broke out into a grin halfway. "You treat him well, you hear me?" It was a serious message but he was smiling like he knew he had nothing to worry about.
Next was Lukas who, with his arms still crossed over his chest gave Marcello his blankest look, which still contained a twinge of scorn.
He gave Marcello an appraising look. It made Marcello shift a bit but then Lukas caught his eye looking on with a steady gaze.
"You hurt him and I will find you." He assured, before turning around and leaving with his husband trailing happily after him.
Emil just shook his head and walked off, seemingly still in shock. "Good God, he looks almost sixteen." He muttered, but said nothing else as he left through the door.
Finally, one of his parents responded.
Tino gave Marcello a slightly forced but obviously well-meaning smile as he reached out to shake Marcello's hand.
"Well, pleasure to meet you Marcello-"
"Vargas. Marcello Vargas. And it's nice to meet you too Mr. Väinämöinen."
Tino was surprised to hear his last name unbutchered but his smile became more genuine and he was surer in his grip on the boy's hand.
He dropped his hand and turned to his son.
"We'll talk about this over dinner okay?" To which Peter nodded quickly in agreement.
Marcello turned to Berwald but found he could not meet the man's eyes and quickly looked away. Instead he looked back at Peter and squeezed the hand he still held.
"I have to go back to class now but I'll come find you in the cafeteria."
He bent down and pressed a quick kiss to Peter's forehead.
"See you later, babe."
With that he was heading towards the door still waving at Peter, who waved back, until Marcello glanced up at the clock on the wall and his eyes widened.
"Merda!"
He sprinted out the door, leaving Peter still waving absentmindedly with a fool's grin on his face, before he remembered his parents were still there.
He turned with a sheepish smile towards his father, who's frown was more intense than usual.
Tino interrupted what was soon to become a staring match, coming between the two and taking Berwald's arm.
"Come on, honey, we have to get going."