70mtt and Lauren_StDavid are super! Thank you again for helping me improve this chapter!
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C2 - SATURDAY/CHRISTMAS, THE DAY AFTER
Mike felt light as a feather, what with the euphoria in this new state coupled with letting responsibility stray for the time being.
They sailed down the highway at a good clip, not much traffic on the road. Eventually, every few minutes, Micky would look over his direction with an impish and very pleased grin. Weirded-out cautious about this wonderful thing they'd both stumbled upon, at first he had tried to suppress his reaction, but seeing that Mike had a just-discernible matching grin adorning his face caused him to drop the coy act soon enough.
They were satisfied to, again for now in Mike's case and against his better judgement, simply enjoy whatever this was. It couldn't have been more out of character for him to put off thinking about the future, but he knew such thinking would turn to worry and throw a gloomy attitude on what he wanted to be a good day for Micky and his family. And, knowing he only had so long like this with Micky, he had every intention of living in the moment.
It was almost an hour after they left the pad when Mike pulled his apple red Pontiac up to the curb in front of Micky's well-kept suburban childhood home. Before the curly-haired man could sprint out of the car in glee, he felt the weight of a hand on his arm. He looked back to catch the abruptly and incongruously serious look on Mike's face.
Damn it. Micky is naturally so honest. And he wears his heart on his sleeve. How could he be expected to keep something like this a secret? But there was nothing to be done for it at the last minute apart from asking him to keep a handle on himself. "Don' say anything about...", with a flick of his eyes, he left unspoken their new, temporary dynamic. He most feared Micky's potential reactions, conscious and unconscious, to what Micky had mentioned to him the evening before about all the random life questions his mother would be expected to unleash upon him.
It took half a second for Micky to register what Mike had meant. He furrowed his brow just a bit Why would I do that? while shaking his head once. "I won't." Brushing it off with a goofy look, he hopped out of the car and bounded up to the door with only marginally less enthusiasm than expected. Mike followed behind him laden with their overnight bags in his left hand and a sack full of cleaned tupperware from Thanksgiving to be returned along with his guitar case in his right. Micky, assuring him it would be no bother at all, had talked him into them staying over tonight since Micky had missed doing so last night. The idea didn't put Mike out; he wanted Micky to enjoy his time with his family, after all.
"Micky!" The multiple, echoing shrieks of his name emanated from inside the house. Before he knew it, the screen door was flung open, and his sisters were attacking him. They were even more happy and bouncy than he was. Once they backed off a bit, his remaining parent enveloped him in a hug which he returned gladly with a kiss to her cheek. "Hi, Mom!"
"We're all so glad to see you. And you as well!", she greeted, setting her sights on her son's tall, quiet friend keeping to the background.
"Hello, Mrs. Dolenz.", Mike replied, tensing when she went in for a hug. He had never really been hugged for no reason before moving into the pad with the guys, so he was still getting used to it. But despite everything he was carrying, he put forth the effort to make a reasonable rendition of a hug so that she didn't seem to notice a bit. The smirk on Micky's face when his mother fawned over him was not lost on him, and he acquiesced the point about chicks digging him, or at least this "chick" in what was a more platonic or motherly way.
It was true, the other guys had been trying to fix him up with girls since he'd known them, and he had shown mild interest before. It had been expected of him. "Before" was when it hadn't yet sunk in with him all those months ago that he definitively had a thing for his best friend and roommate. With the "after" came a far less than tepid interest in anyone else. He would shrug just to get through the queries about the lack of dates and through the suggestions of what to do to get into the game which he would then ignore. Yes, he could admit now that he'd been suppressing a crush on Micky. But it wasn't as though he had been pining over him or anything of the sort; he just couldn't seem to shake off even the vague thought of Micky in order to let him be interested enough in anyone else. He hadn't realized it at the time, but he had unknowingly been comparing anyone he might've gone out with to Micky in various ways, which is to say, they simply weren't him. Micky took up space in his head. When he first noticed he was having weird feelings about his friend, he had assumed that he'd get over them after a week or two and move on without another thought on the matter, that maybe it was just a bug he'd picked up that was temporarily messing with his head. But, to his confusion, that didn't happen. He never had gotten over those feelings, and now, at this much later date, those feelings having become progressively intrusive, his conscious mind couldn't even let him begin to entertain the idea of being with anyone else.
Mike let out a breath when he caught Micky beaming brightly at him from near the screen door. Sure, Micky had smiled at him a million times before that's just who he was, and that was part of why Mike felt the way about him that he did. Micky was naturally ebullient and smiled at everyone, even people who didn't like him. But this... this time, like a number of other times in recent months he could suddenly put a mental finger on if he'd let himself, it was something a little different, something more, something special just for him. It had a magnetizing effect on every cell of Mike's body. The new strength of it forced him to look away, both from not wanting to be obvious about his reaction and from the self-consciousness at garnering attention, and such positive attention at that. He had never felt this strong of a feeling before, nor had he ever been doted on in his life, and he didn't know how to handle himself. He was naturally tempted to duck for cover somewhere and hide out until everybody had forgotten he was around.
But this wasn't the place or time where that was likely to be possible, and he was promptly brought out of his internal distress by someone talking, speaking to the both of them. It was Micky's mother who was glancing between the two boys. Oh, she's still standing next to me. And she's looking at me., his brain caught up.
"I had them head straight out here without looking under the tree to say hello to you boys, but they are quite eager to see what Santa brought them.", she said, lovingly stroking her seven-year-old daughter's hair who, with a bounce, smiled up at her with 'Oh please oh please oh please' eyes. The younger two of the clan were still keenly awaiting the magic whereas Coco, at fifteen, was old enough both to know where it came from (but no less thankful) and to know to keep her mouth shut to not spoil the fun. "So go on in before they combust.", she good-naturedly shooed them all inside.
And combust they did moments later in a swirl of squeals with wrapping paper flying and chatter unceasing.
"Please get comfortable. I'll take your bags to the other room.", she said over the excitement, taking them and the sack without giving Mike a chance to argue about it beyond a negative beginning grunt of a word. He sat his guitar case, the only carried item with which he was still burdened, down on the carpet next to a comfy-looking chair, then spied the coat rack and removed his fringed jacket onto it while Micky went further into the family room with his sisters to see what they had gotten from the jolly old man which was, in truth, his mother helped out a bit by him.
As compared to her sisters, who were just as satisfied with the wrapping paper they'd torn up as they were with their gifts, Coco took more time opening her present which turned out to be a 35mm camera along with some film. She'd mentioned to her mother developing an interest in photography a few months prior, having a friend who was into it, and her mother must have remembered. Quite pleased and increasingly intrigued with the gift, she looked it over from every angle and then started reading the instructions.
After the excitement died down a bit and Janelle had gotten her fill of the kids enjoying what they'd gotten, she went to the kitchen, put the tupperware up, and fixed breakfast. "Food's ready!", she called out into the family room awhile later.
Mike and Micky were the first in the door, the other three understandably still a little distracted. "Thank you, ma'am.", he automatically filled in the respectable designation for her.
"Janelle.", she gently corrected him, momentarily placing a kind hand on his arm before turning to the counter.
And the next thing he knew, he was seated between her and Micky at the table, a mouthwatering plate of bacon, eggs, and buttered toast appearing in front of him courtesy of her hand. "Thank you." He left off her name, not quite finding it easy to get that familiar with an elder he'd only met briefly once before.
Micky spoke up in-between shoveling in mouthfuls of eggs. "I think Coco likes the camera."
"I really think she does. Thank you for helping with that.", she gave him a warm smile.
"'Course!"
The girls started appearing in the room with them then. "No toys at the table, Gina.", Janelle admonished, seeing her youngest enter with one of her presents.
The little girl in question stopped right before she got to her chair, put her new doll behind it, and seated herself as if that were the obvious solution to the problem.
"Will we see Grandma and Grandpa today?", asked Debbie.
"You absolutely will.", her mother confirmed to eager noises from the younger ones around the table. "Early this afternoon. So Mike," she turned her focus to him, "I'm sorry to hear you missed your flight back home."
"Oh, uh, thanks. That was my fault."
"He at least got to talk to his mom yesterday.", Micky offered.
She felt badly that Mike couldn't be with her today. "She's in Texas, isn't she?" And the conversation continued on from there, Janelle querying Mike with interest as to how his mother was, what she did for a living, and where in Texas she was, since her own parents were from there as well. And more questions about his life stemmed from his answers. She was glad to get to know more about her son's best friend who seemed like a perfectly nice person.
After they ate, Micky ran off to play with his little sisters who had been all but begging through breakfast to be excused early. Mike hung back to help clean up the dishes that had been abandoned on the table and countertop by those eager to engage in more exciting childhood activities. It was what he often ended up doing at home as well, so he didn't think twice about it.
"You don't have to do anything.", Micky's mother tutted as he started clearing off the table. "The girls won't mind if you hang out with them." She looked over at those she was referring to and made a face, wishing she would have stopped after her first sentence due to realizing her fifteen-year-old in particular probably would not mind spending time with a good-looking boy like Mike in spite of him being far too old for her.
He followed her line of sight to Coco, who was aiming her camera at her siblings, and his attention went from there immediately over to Micky who was already on the floor of the family room surrounded by the two younger girls showing him this and that. An absent-minded smile crossed his features as he watched them. Micky had once said he wanted a bunch of kids some day, and it looked to Mike like he was getting in some good practice here with his little sisters. "Nah, that's okay. I'll help you first and then see what they're up to."
Observing, she saw something there, but she wasn't about to voice her speculation out loud to him. It wasn't that he was a total stranger to the family, having visited along with Micky and the other two boys once before, but they were hardly close enough to get into topics that personal. "Well, thank you.", she commented regarding his offer before taking a plate from him. "Micky always speaks very highly of you, and I don't disagree with him."
Embarrassed, Mike ducked his head and mumbled out some nonsensical and possibly somewhat self-deprecating syllables while cleaning off the table.
She just grinned at his shyness. His personality seemed night and day from her son's and yet complementary all the same. Glancing back at the merriment coming from the other room, she commented, "Last Christmas wasn't the easiest. It's so good to see them all smiling again."
Mike agreed and found words then, a protectiveness coming over him. "It was hard seeing him down. He's always so...", he trailed off, then shrugged with a renewed small smile of his own. "You know. Him."
She knew very well. "I appreciate you keeping him safe and in good spirits for me. I worry about him."
He nodded once, understanding well the worrying about him part, not only in the general sense but also ever since he lost his dad whom he was close to; Mike wasn't always sure, especially early on with that, if he was happy or if he was just acting, and Mike would go out of his way to get his mind off things. "He's doin' just fine.", he replied with confidence.
"Micky tells me you're the best guitar player he knows. And the best songwriter.", she said, changing topics.
He blushed, looking down. "Well, I haven't made a living off it yet, but I'm tryin'. We all are."
"I'd love to hear it. Why don't you play some for us later?"
Before they had left the pad, Micky had convinced him to bring his guitar along specifically to help him entertain the family with a few songs. "Sure, I can do that." He then developed a gleam in his eye from her question and kind of laughed fondly. "Micky'll sing overtop it."
"No doubt.", she laughed as well, understanding what he meant and also appreciating, in both senses, that it could very well happen.
He would gladly pay to hear Micky sing if he didn't get to hear it for free every day of his life. He could sing me the phone book, and I would listen to every last note., he thought, eyes distantly focused for a moment, the corner of his mouth unconsciously tugged up. "His singing is better than my playing."
She cocked her head, not quite sure of that statement based on what her son had told her about Mike's talents. "Then I look forward to hearing you both."
Just then, a snap was heard and a flash was seen, at which they turned their heads to find Coco in the doorway, her camera now aimed at them.
It wasn't long before Janelle's parents came over to see her and their grandchildren and give them some gifts of their own, and more family photos were taken. Friendly introductions were also made between them and Mike. While he was perfectly comfortable around Micky and to a certain extent was getting comfortable around Micky's mother and sisters, he felt once again tempted to hide away in a corner, this time due to feeling as though he were intruding on private time. The family wouldn't have that, though, and they were all sure to include him in their discussions. Janelle began by telling them that Mike was also from Texas, and another series of questions followed from there, such as where he grew up and what he thought about life out here on the west coast.
Micky was clearly amused by Mike getting all the attention, and Mike responded with a knowing, unoffended eyebrow raised his direction. Then the young Texan was jarred out of easy talk by Micky's grandpa who commented, "I'd expect a young man like yourself to be back with your family on Christmas, or with your girl's family."
After the first half of the presupposing comment, Mike frowned a bit, and after the second half, his cheeks flushed mildly in alarm. But before he could reply, Gina entered the conversation. "He missed his flight!", she supplied eagerly, looking around to see if the others were proud of her for her listening skills. And her being small and cute, they responded in the affirmative.
All the pressure was taken off of him to respond when Janelle cut in for him. "Gina's right," she agreed. "Mike wasn't able to get home this year, unfortunately. That's why Micky invited him to stay with us for Christmas. Which makes me think it would be fun to share with him some photos of our own family holidays." Micky lightheartedly groaned while she went over to the built-in bookshelf there in the family room, pulled out a well-worn family photo album, and proceeded to embarrass him in front of Mike who found charming each of the photos he saw of a younger, adorable Micky. Commentary by the others faded into the background. The two boys' eyes met with a grin Micky's abashed, Mike's delighted with every page turned. And with every photo and accompanying story his mother told of each of the memories Mike had never been present to experience, the essence of who Micky was worked his way into his heart further. He wished he could have had family gatherings like these when he was growing up but was grateful to be able to experience this one with Micky now.