NEW POLL is up on my profile! So if you haven't voted yet, please do so. Thank you!
~o~o~o~
With Christmas behind them and New Year nearing, Beth, Chloé and Ellen went out for a drink to force a moment of peace into their messy schedules of going to church, visiting parents and celebrating Christmas there.
As usual, they discussed everything that came into their minds over a nice cup of coffee.
"So I heard Matthew's back with Abel again?" Ellen asked.
"Yes, I know." Chloé said. "It's a lot better like this. He gets so cranky when he's sad. I couldn't take that grumping around one more day."
"It was his own fault for what I heard." Ellen said, raising an eyebrow at Chloé.
"Abel is not the easiest person, so he probably messed up."
"I have to ask though, Chloé." Ellen took a sip of her espresso. "What do you let them do when they are over at your house? Don't pretend, I know they have been. I just want to know how far you let them go in terms of...you know what I mean."
Chloé rolled her eyes. There Ellen went again, being paranoid about her kids' behaviour.
"There are clear rules in my house about boyfriends and girlfriends. They have to keep it decent, which means they can hold hands, kiss and cuddle a little, but again, within a certain boundary." Chloé said. It sounded a bit like she had repeated that in her head so many times she could dream it. "They basically can't do anything that would make them uncomfortable if anyone walked in on them doing."
Ellen seemed a little icky about the mention of kissing, as evident by the crinkling of her nose. "And Abel sticks to that?" She asked.
"More than that. I have never seen them doing any of the aforementioned. I've only seen them cuddling once, although that was more hanging against each other and complaining about how their brains were turned to mush from a physics and chemistry overload."
"Wait, so they actually visited each other to do homework?" Ellen seemed genuinely surprised by that.
"Yes, what else did you think they'd do?" Chloé sniggered.
"They are not as perverted as you think, Ellen." Beth added. "I don't know what you and Jonathan did when you were that age, but-."
"Let's not talk about that." Ellen quickly cut her off. No way she'd talk about that. No one had to know that she had never been the perfect, sweet, innocent teenager she liked to pretend to have been. "What about your house rules, Beth?"
"Pretty much the same as Chloé's. Although it's a bit hard to see how far they go since Arthur's actually really shy, and there might be someone walking in at any time. Not me, obviously, since I'm at work, but one of the other lads might. Or Graham, and that would probably end in some scolding."
"So you've got no idea?"
"Well, I have seen them kissing once, although that was rather rudely interrupted by Clover."
"Clover?"
"Ian's dog. An Irish wolfhound. Whenever she sees two people being affectionate she just wants to join in and get her share of cuddles." Beth giggled.
"That's a little creepy." Ellen cringed.
"Can you imagine their reaction to the lick they both got from her? I've never seen Arthur explode like that. It was funny, but I felt sorry for Clover."
"So...you've never really thought of kicking Arthur out?" Ellen asked.
"Goodness no. Poor thing." Beth said. "You're not thinking about kicking your lads out anymore, right?"
"No way."
"Good. That was pretty much what we hoped to achieve." Chloé sighed of relief. "So what are your plans for New Year's eve?"
"Not much. Just the same as always." Ellen said. "You know, lots of food and watching fireworks outside."
"Pretty much the same here." Beth said.
"Because I heard Abel and Matthew talking about spending New Year's eve together." Chloé just gave them the idea to see what the other two thought about it.
"We can do that at my house!" Beth immediately offered enthusiastically.
"Are you sure we should give them their way with that?" Ellen asked.
"Come on, Ellen. Don't be such a killjoy. It's fun for everyone."
"At least I can keep an eye on them to make sure they don't do anything I don't like."
Chloé rolled her eyes. She would categorise herself as control-freak, but even she thought monitoring her kids the way Ellen wanted to was too much.
It took some persuading, but Ellen eventually agreed on throwing the party at the Kirkland residence. Beth and Chloé didn't tell anyone that it was for the sake of keeping an eye on Ellen, as she was not completely comfortable with her two sons' recent spontaneous coming-out yet. As far as they'd know, it was just any other New Year's eve, celebrated with friends.
~o~o~
On the evening itself, the ladies had done their absolute best to make the evening as good as possible. Beth, Ellen and Chloé had all, either alone or with some assistance, spent a day in the kitchen to prepare all kinds of snacks and treats. From cupcakes with the most creative and colourful icings, to brownies, to powdered sugar-covered oliebollen, it was there. And in large enough quantities to feed the entire school.
For once, no one was actually having arguments. Though Scott made it rather evident that he'd rather been elsewhere. He was grumbling to himself, leaning back against the wall and looking out over the large group occupying the couches. "…stuck with my stupid gay brother and his stupid gay boyfriend and that gay porcupine and his gay boyfriend being all cuddly, that's fricken gay."
Abel caught just enough of that from a distance, but he knew Scott long enough to take all that with more than just a pinch of salt.
"Thank you, Captain McState-The-Obvious." He sniggered when he passed the redhead, four full Champagne glasses in his hands. He handed them out to León, Ian, Will and Judithe, but didn't take one for himself.
"Abel! Are you out of your mind?" Arthur hissed immediately. "You're not giving your little brother champagne. He's only just turned fifteen!"
"Psst." He mouthed back. "That one's fizzy apple juice. Don't tell him."
"You cheeky little bastard."
Abel patted him on the head just a little too hard.
"Little? You're the one here that's vertically challenged."
"Compared to a beanstalk like you, everyone is."
"I'd rather be a beanstalk than Emma Blackery's male clone."
Now Arthur looked really sarcastic.
"I've never dyed my hair pink."
"The red highlights you had did get a bit pink-ish after a few weeks."
"Great." Arthur deadpanned.
Abel snorted. "Funny how you didn't mention the teeth."
"I know how English my teeth are, thank you."
"More English than Lizzy." He joked, and got a smack to the shoulder immediately. He chuckled and went outside to smoke. There were people out on the streets already, lighting lighter types of firework as to prepare for the ones they were using later on in the night.
Abel was staring off into the sky at the few colourful explosions there already were. He lit himself a cigarette and inhaled deeply. He held that for a few seconds before blowing out a long string of smoke into the freezing winter air.
"Do you have a light?" Scott asked right beside him, somewhat unexpected.
"Sure." He lit the redhead's cigarette, and went back to staring off again.
"So I heard you're trying to get along with Arthy and his companion?" Scott asked.
"Yeah."
"Not easy, is it?"
"Easy enough not to lose my mind."
"Lost mine a long time ago." Scott admitted, chuckling dryly.
"Just about seventeen years and six months ago, I assume?" Abel asked.
"Yup. Not that I was sane before that. You've got a brother. You should imagine having four."
"The idea alone is giving me a headache." Abel complained. León...times four? Nuh-uh. Not happening. One squirt was enough to deal with. Although he was probably more of a bother to León than the other way around.
"Hey, don't you want to trade the twins?" Scott asked.
"Trade Matty for Al? I'd rather die."
Scott huffed. "Shame. Now I'll be stuck with that Alfred. Now Matthew is a great lad, but Alfred…ugh. He's a pain in the arse."
"Teh heh. Arthur can tell you all about that." Abel chuckled.
"Too much information." Scott bitterly hissed before inhaling very deeply, and blowing out the smoke through his nose. "Thanks, Porcupine. I'll never lose that mental image."
Abel patted him on the shoulder. "It could be worse."
"I don't want to know. Now come on in. My old man's got something you'll like."
The two discarded their cigarette butts and went back inside. It turned out that Graham himself wasn't so much into Champagne either, so he got a bottle of whisky for the ones who liked it. Scott, Abel and Willem were very grateful for that. They were getting their booze.
And right in time too, because it was only one minute to twelve. And the only good way to start a new year was a good glass of alcohol. Or fizzy apple juice pretending to be alcoholic.
With the clock counting down the last few seconds in the background, the entire company awaited the new year in silence.
5
Peter pulled León's ponytail, resulting in a chase around the room.
4
Alfred slung an arm around Arthur's shoulder.
3
The fireworks outside stopped.
2
Silence.
1
Almost there...
0
The first thing that happened to Abel in 2013 was Matthew grabbing him at the collar of his shirt and yanking him down into a kiss.
Had he seen that coming? No.
Did he mind? Not at all.
Matthew pulled back to admire the look of pleasant surprise on Abel's face.
"Happy New Year, baby." He said, smiling widely.
"Happy New Year, Knuffie." With the broadest smile on his face, Abel gave his boyfriend the tightest hug.
Way to start the new year.
A few minutes and a lot of handshakes, hugs and 'Happy New Year's later, everyone went outside to enjoy the fireworks. Willem had bought a good bunch of the stuff and made up for a firework-show half the street could enjoy.
While looking off into the sky at the gigantic explosions of colourful light, Abel snaked his arms around Matthew's waist and slowly pulled him back against him.
"You missed doing this, didn't you?" Matthew asked.
"Hell yeah." He confirmed this again by kissing his cheek a few times.
"You did get your cuddles from Fluffy, Vlekje and Snoetje in the meantime, right?"
"Actually…" Abel started awkwardly. "Fluffy died a week ago."
"Oh! Sorry." Matthew felt quite stupid for mentioning that now. "I didn't know that."
"Maybe I should have told you that..."
"Maybe? That's the kind of stuff you should tell me." Matthew leaned back a little bit more and covered Abel's hands with his own. "Ehm, why is your dad so trigger-happy with the fireworks?" He asked, just to change the subject.
"Because this stuff's illegal in the Netherlands!*" Willem said a little bit too enthusiastically when he lit another series of fuses with his cigarette. Another series of fireworks shot up and exploded seconds later high in the air in the most colourful seas of light.
"Riiight." Matthew said. "Now I'm scared."
"Don't be, Matty. The only person he can kill like this is himself."
Oh, yeah. Like that was any better. Adults were supposed to be responsible, right? Willem was far from that. He was your typical example of what parents were afraid of their kids would act like.
Matthew told himself not to look at how suicidal his boyfriend's father was acting and just enjoy the fireworks.
"Dad! Dad, can I do a few?" León asked, a little too jolly to be normal for him.
"Sure, kiddo." Willem said and handed him a slow burning fuse to light the stuff. "Glasses on, and there you go."
Say what?! Matthew was sure he'd seen the kid drink Champagne before and he was acting too happy and enthusiastic compared to usual. Was it a good idea to have him play with fireworks? Sure, he got the lighter kinds of stuff, but still. Those were fireworks!
"Funny how I got him drunk on apple juice." Abel said, frowning at his little brother.
"Say what?" Matthew asked.
"I thought he'd notice it wasn't alcoholic, but suggestion does the trick, it seems."
Matthew took another look at León, and then back at Abel. Okay, that changed the situation a bit. Still, it was hard to believe he was actually sober.
"Should we tell him?" Judithe asked, taking a questioning glance at her twin, and then looking back at her jolly little brother.
"Nah. I wanna see him with a hangover." Abel chuckled.
Judithe sniggered. "Don't forget it was my idea."
"Yeah, yeah."
Matthew shook his head. "You two are impossible."
"Thanks, Matty."
He rolled his eyes. Abel's hands were starting to feel colder now. Matthew stroked his fingers slowly to warm them at least a little bit. It was appreciated, as evident by the content hum he got in response.
"Do you have any plans for the upcoming year?" Matthew asked.
"Ehm…not breaking up?"
"Sounds like a plan. Here's another one: What about you quit smoking?"
"Tried and failed."
"You tried?" That one was a bit hard to believe.
"Yes, and then you broke up with me."
"So now you've got a reason to try again." Matthew turned around and put his hands on Abel's shoulders. He smiled, saying basically that he didn't really have a choice.
"If you promise not to break up with me again." He poked Matthew's nose.
"Consider it done."
"Pinky promise?" Abel asked, holding up his pinky.
Matthew snorted. "Oh, god. What? How old are you? Five?"
"What would that make you?"
"I don't want to think about that." Matthew shook his head.
"Still, Matty." Abel was still holding out his little finger, and Matthew reluctantly accepted.
Pinky promise.
The last time he'd done that was in primary school. Did he really just pinky swear?! That was so childish. He'd hear that for the rest of his life.
Much to Abel's amusement, it wasn't hard to figure out what was going on in Matthew's mind. It looked rather like he was about to blush his ears off, actually. Too adorable!
Perfect way to start the new year.
~o~o~o~
Translation:
Oliebollen = Oliebollen. Sorry, no proper translation. Just google it to get the idea, and realise that is what we stuff our faces with on New Year's eve in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Knuffie = Short for 'knuffeltje' meaning little cuddle.
*DISCLAIMER: Belgian fireworks are often smuggled into the Netherlands around this time because it's far more awesome than the boring-ass firecrackers you've got here. Yes, that is illegal.
When it comes to fireworks, please be responsible and don't be like Willem. =_=
So Happy New Year, dear readers! I hope to see you back next year with all your fingers still in place.