Music tip:
Johannes Oerding – Alles brennt
youtube: watch?v=yt0FlrmJJn0

For You

Chapter 16:
Sooner or Later

[Still flashback]

"This is so unnecessary."
His voice wasn't as half as annoyed as Mitch had planned it to be, due to his tiredness. They had been in the car for hours now, but instead of letting Mitch drive to keep him awake and concentrated, Adam had vehemently refused to let him behind the wheel. After his little break-down the day before, his boyfriend had treated him with kid gloves and not backed down from his decision.

"You heard the doctor. I'm just following his advice."

"We could have gone to my house in Montreal."

"No plane flights, too exciting. Remember the one to Chicago this morning? You nearly collapsed again, so no. No more flights for you," Adam replied with a bitter smile on his face. With a loud sigh Mitch looked away from the window and towards the driver by his side. "So why couldn't we get to your house? It isn't as far away as my parents'."

Adam's voice was still bright and cheerful, only the slightly dimmed smile gave away his suddenly damped spirits. "A former classmate is currently staying there, fight with the parents."
Raising one eyebrow Mitch continued the conversation, "So you let him alone in your house?"

"Her. It's Alesa."

The suspicious look in Mitch's eyes disappeared, as he finally remembered.
"Oh, I know! You've told me once about her, didn't you?"

The smile on Adam's lips was honest and he seemed to be relieved about Mitch's reaction, while he stopped at a red light and turned to the Canadian. "Yeah. She moved back to Seattle, it's nice to get in contact with her again."
The light turned green again and Adam quickly gave him a short but lovely kiss, before he continued his drive through Ohio. To hide the stupid grin on his face, Mitch looked out of the window again.

"So, how long is she going to stay with you?"

"Dunno. She needed some time away from home. I hope she's able to sort out this mess quickly, her moods can compete with yours. – Don't hit me!"

"It's your own fault. What do you mean by that? I'm always cheerful! …Well, most of the time."

Adam obviously tried to stifle a laugh, before he cleared his throat and replied, "Well, it's a wonder that I didn't leave you at the roadside with you constantly glaring at me. What the heck did I do, darling?"

Mitch didn't want to fight, he was too exhausted for that after they had to leave the hotel suite this morning due to their short reservation. But Adam was practically begging for a little conflict and since he knew what usually was about to follow after a little hassle…
"It's obviously because we are driving to my parents right now, Adam!"

Adam took a few seconds to think about his words, before he carefully replied,
"You said you were visiting them at the end of the week anyway. So you don't want me to meet them?"
His brows were furrowed and all the cheerfulness gone – Mitch quickly laid a hand on his right leg, all thoughts about a little argument already forgotten. "No, that's not it! I told you they are ok with us being together, so I definitely don't mind you meeting them. It's just- all the time I'm telling my family how great this job is. I don't want them to see me like this now, because of something I seemingly always enjoyed."

Comprehension dawned on Adam's face and a nervous expression appeared in his eyes. "Well… I guess you don't have to worry about that anymore."

"… Oh dear god, you told them, didn't you?"

A shy laugh - way too adorable for Mitch to be angry about his boyfriend's actions – reached his ears, as Adam stumbled on his words. "Yeah, well… kinda. You know, I was worried sick, after the doctor looked at you. Jerome suggested taking some days off at your parents and you were out cold again due to the sedative the doctor had given you. I rambled while talking to your mother, she asked what happened and I spilled the beans."

The low chuckle was not what Adam seemed to have expected from Mitch and with a distrustful look in his eyes he glanced at the Canadian.
"You're nervous. Just now you rambled on and on… It's adorable," Mitch laughed and leaned forward to give Adam a quick kiss on the cheek. He visibly relaxed, glad that Mitch wasn't as angry as he had expected.

The yawn Mitch tried to suppress raised his attention again, while they stopped at another traffic light. Raising his hand Adam stroked Mitch's face before in turn giving a short kiss on his pale cheek.
"You should try to sleep. It'll still be some hours until we'll arrive," he whispered and leaning into the warm touch, Mitch slowly closed his eyes.

"Promise me that you'll take a break."

"Of course, dear. I want us to arrive in one piece."

"True. We are one piece, aren't we?"
And with a smile on his face, which hadn't been there for the past weeks, Mitch finally drifted off to sleep, feeling safe and secure under the watchful eyes of Adam.

"Mitch? Babe, you need to wake up."

He groaned and turned his face to the right side, where the voice he would recognize under a thousand had come from. "Not yet. Just a few more minutes, alright?" he mumbled and instinctively grabbed Adam's hand, as he reached for the Canadian. The happy laugh made him smile and as Adam told him to get up again, Mitch replied grinning, "Make me."

"Oh I would pay to see that."
The voice was too high to be Adam's. The grin slipped off of Mitch's face, as he quickly opened his eyes and stared into the very amused face of his older sister, standing near Adam at the side of the car.

"Shit, Marley?! What are you doing her-"
Against his assumption the situation became even more embarrassing, as Mitch tried to get out of the car as quickly as possible and nearly hit his head at the roof of the car, if Adam wouldn't have saved him awkwardly in the last second.
"Shut up," he mumbled half-heartedly due to her laughing about it, while they embraced each other. "So, don't you want to introduce me to a certain someone?" Her teasing, but excited voice made him smile and shake his head, before he finally turned to Adam. Mitch could tell that behind the friendly face Adam was incredibly nervous, so he took his hand to give him some reassurance.

"Of course. Adam, this is my older sister Marley, I told you about her, she's the annoying one-"
The punch on his arm made his boyfriend laugh out loud and satisfied Mitch turned to his sister, ignoring his own anxious feelings. It was alright, they already knew about their relationship. She was fine with it, no stupid comments… right? "So, Marley, this is Adam, my… boyfriend."

Mitch felt dumb about his worries, as his sister embraced Adam as openly as she had pulled him into a hug a few seconds before. "Nice to finally meet you. Believe it or not, Mitch can't shut up about you."
"Marley," he mumbled angrily and put a hand over his face, because a fine blush appeared on his cheeks. If she was already embarrassing him with little things like that, he didn't want to imagine what his mother would be like.

"Well, I hope for him that he can't," Adam replied with a teasing grin and raised an eyebrow, while staring at the quiet Canadian. "I bet you do. Let's get you guys inside. I'll help you with the luggage, since Mitch here is not doing anything for the next few days," Marley continued and went over to the back of the car to drag out Mitch's suitcase.

"Wait, what? I'm not lazy!" he protested and went to grab something himself, but Adam's arm around his waist held him back effectively. Even though Adam's grip wasn't strong, the emotions inside of his body were churning up and immediately melted every resistance. He went still and unconsciously put a hand on Adam's arm, while leaning into the chest of the other. For a second he couldn't care less what Marley thought, because moments like this reminded him again, why exactly he was willing to let Adam meet his parents. It all would work out somehow in the end, no matter how complicated things might be.

"You're not," Marley began with a soft voice and continued to study both of them in their little embrace with a smile on her face. "Mom said so. She wants to make sure that you're not doing something stupid again like stressing your body until you collapse." The silent disapproval was evident in her voice and in the look she was giving him, but something seemed to hold her back from saying it out loud. With another smile towards Adam she grabbed the suitcase and went through the open front door of the house.

"She's right. Your mom, I mean."
Adam seemed to wait for a response, but instead of answering Mitch sighed and turned his head, so that he could bury it in the crook of his boyfriend's neck. A low chuckle by Adam, then he absentmindedly caressed Mitch's right side with his hand and continued, "We are worried about you and you know that we have every right in doing so. Just let them care for you for a bit, it would ease my mind as well."

"If you say so," he murmured and relaxed further into the embrace while closing his eyes, "Guess I have no other choice and it might be quite nice to be spoiled for a while. You have to be careful, I might get used to it, you know?"

Adam laughed his wonderful and contagious laugh and pressed a kiss onto his temple. "Aren't you spoiled already by having me, Mitch?" To stop himself from grinning, Mitch bit his lower lip and answered, as he turned in Adam's embrace to watch him, "Really? With all your moods? Aren't you the one who should be blessed?" he joked and couldn't hold back the grin any longer, but Adam's reaction was more serious than anticipated. The fine smile on his lips reached his sparkling eyes and once again Mitch lost himself in the look Adam was giving him. "I am. Thank you for all of this here, Mitch. For telling them. For letting me be here… even though I kinda forced you to do so," he added light-heartedly and again Mitch had to laugh out loud.

"I love you, you know?"
A slow and deep kiss.

"Oh, I know."