Who: Aaron & Adrian Where: Cherries When: Saturday night 7/14 Warning: child abuse mention Status: complete
Adrian wasn't sure how he had expected to get through a bachelor party without taking a shot. Peer pressure was so ridiculous when thinking about it hypothetically, but it was no joke when surrounded by over a dozen guys who all wanted the same damn thing. The whole vibe in the club felt weird to him but not necessarily in a bad way, even if he hated the Girls, girls, girls song currently playing and felt like the girl on stage - although pretty - had stepped straight out of a bad music video. It was all a little blurry and muted now anyway and he felt a bit like he was walking on a wavy floor as he headed to the stage to find Aaron. He had no intention of staying much longer, worried he'd end up drinking more and passing out before he even got back to Kane's, but it felt wrong to leave without smooching on his future brother in law some. The girl on stage was wiggling her toes in Aaron's face when Adrian joined him and he couldn't help but laugh, it was all so surreal. Aaron and his friends were enjoying it at least, one of them singing along like the damn song really meant something to him. An anthem to girls. Adrian would probably relate if he was straight. This was a filthy temple of feminine beauty and it was completely wasted on him. Thankfully there were plenty of other guys there to soak it up and he draped his arm around Aaron's shoulders, planting a big kiss on his temple. "You good, man?"
Aaron was having a ball, even if reality was currently pretty hazy for him. He was happily drunk, enjoying the cheesy music and all the pretty curvy bodies on display. He knew they were sexy dancing women and that was hot on some level, but it felt a little different to watch strippers now. He didn’t want to grope or fuck them anymore, all the visual stimulation just made him eager to see Mila again. It was just part of the fun of the night, drinking and yelling songs with his boys. Aaron instinctively slung his arm around Adrian’s waist before he even fully realized who it was, laughing with delight at the smooch before he looked over with barely-open eyes. “Adrian!” he exclaimed over the music, grinning. “Yeah, m’good! I’m great! Gotta piss, but good! You, you good?”
It was easy to see why Mila loved the guy, especially now with booze in his veins and Aaron holding him like he was. Adrian had nothing but brotherly feelings towards him of course, but all the love and warmth still brought to mind the idea of being so openly affectionate in public and how amazing it must be to just pick up some guy at a club and not give a shit who saw them. He'd had a taste of it with Kane, but he'd still felt like he had to be on full alert in case anyone knew him. "I'm a-okay," he agreed enthusiastically, looking up at the stage with mostly fake appreciation, a mask he was pretty used to by now. "Hard not to be," he added. "I'm glad you're having a good time, hope we weren't too rough with you today." He grinned, mostly teasing of course, unable to help but laugh at the memory of Aaron flailing as they pushed him off onto the mattress he thought was the abyss below.
Aaron wasn’t questioning Adrian’s interest in the dancers onstage in the slightest -- he could barely see straight at the moment, much less be able to discern any subtle hints in Adrian’s expression. Aaron was just full of a lovely glowing feeling and he wanted everybody to be having a grand time too, so Adrian’s answer was a good one in Aaron’s book. “What? Naw, you’re all great, everything’s great!” he declared, the words coming out kind of slurred. Being fake-arrested and then fake-pushed-off-a-bridge had been terrifying but in a drunk-fun way, and Aaron was feeling no pain and holding no grudges. He’d loved all of the attention, the effort put out for him. He squeezed Adrian against his side and then turned them to start a weaving path toward the men’s room. He needed to piss and Adrian was coming with him, because leaning on him was making Aaron much steadier. “Bathroom!” he explained belatedly.
"Oh, okay," Adrian said distractedly as he let Aaron pull him along and the two of them did very little to keep each other steady - quite the opposite. It was a small miracle they made it to the bathrooms without breaking anything or falling over but they got there and Adrian leaned against one of the stalls, trying to see his phone screen while Aaron went about his business. It was all pretty blurry but in a kind of a fun way. Aside from that one night at Toby's birthday party, he hadn't been this kind of drunk since he was a teenager. It seemed fitting to be this drunk at his brother-in-law-to-be's bachelor party and he'd decided to just roll with it and enjoy it while he could. Everything felt kinda nice, like it was all coming together somehow, pieces falling into place in satisfying ways and people accepting him and making him feel like he belonged in a group again.
The world was all topsy-turvy anyway, so Aaron wasn’t really bothered by all the tilting and zig-zagging they ended up doing. Neither of them fell to the absolutely disgusting floor, so that was a win! Aaron released Adrian once the restroom door swung shut and blocked out some of the thudding music. He half-stumbled over to the urinals and unzipped, letting out a deep belch as he pulled his dick out to let off the pressure in his bladder too. “I don’t even like strippers anymore,” he said. Adrian hadn’t questioned him on it for a second, he seemed to be having fun here just as much as the rest of them, but Aaron still felt compelled to say it. Slur it, more like. “Mila’s boobs are th’ best boobs. But she said I could look, yanno?” He sighed with relief as the piss finally started.
Gay or straight, that was the most relatable thing Aaron could have said and Adrian grinned to himself, even if he had no new messages on his phone. "You're allowed to look 'cause it's kinda an obligation, bachelor and all," he told him. "It's like the epipheny of... epipen? Pinnacle! Pinnacle of marriage?" That made sense in his head until he tried to put it into words and he shook his head like an etch-a-sketch to clear that dumb thought. "Obligation boobs. You never have to do this again if you don't wanna." He squinted at his screen again, weirdly disappointed that Kane hadn't sent him anything. It was ridiculous how he could feel so secure with this guy until they were apart.
‘Obligation boobs’ made Aaron crack up, and he was glad he was at a urinal and not trying to aim into anything smaller with his body shaking with mirth. He knew he could’ve said no to a strip club for his bachelor party, but to Aaron it was important that all of his favorite guys had a good time together too, and boobs were kind of part of the tradition. He didn’t know that he would never want to see strippers again, but he probably wouldn’t casually wander down here every few weeks or so like he’d done for a lot of his adult life. “Gavin’s next,” he declared as he finished up and zipped his jeans. Aaron was sure in a fuzzy way that Gavin didn’t want a bachelor party, but that didn’t matter at the moment. “Caden got outta havin’ one, asshole. Then it’ll be you.” He wiped his wet hands off on his jeans and turned to grin at Adrian. “Last single brother.”
Adrian's face tried on a few expressions as he tried to digest that idea, from amusement to vague horror to skepticism with a few random stops on the way. "Yeah I don't think I'm ever getting married," he said, laughing through the last couple of words. The real reason and the 'official' reason were kind of overlapping in his head and weirdly, the official reason made more sense. He could get married even if he was gay, that was legal now - but the lie kind of implicated getting married to a woman and having kids and fulfilling all those obligations society had to him and that was not going to happen, even if he had been straight. He had no idea how this curse would manifest if he got someone pregnant, the thought alone was terrifying but thankfully most of that terror was completely muted now. On some level he also didn't want things to get too heavy so he thought to tack on: "I'm not opening myself up to prank vengeance."
“What, no,” Aaron protested, drawing both words out before he giggled at the prank part. It was a silly reason not to get married, but it wasn’t like they were having a serious conversation. Aaron slung an arm around Adrian’s shoulders to hug him with rough love. “That’s what I said too, man, and then Mila. You’ll find a Mila too. ... not like a sister, but y’know. A person.” Some awesome girl would come out of the blue and blow Adrian’s mind, Aaron felt sure of it. He was too nice and cool and good looking to stay single forever. Aaron patted Adrian’s cheek, still grinning drunkenly at him. “Baby girl needs baby cousins, y’know?” His daughter would have Jasper and Amelia of course, but Caden was never having kids and Gavin probably wasn’t having any more. Maybe Kat would come through in the next few years, but maybe Adrian would too. Aaron just wanted to see everybody happy.
This was all objectively so funny and so sad at the same time, Adrian decided to focus on the former. "That little girl is gonna be so loved," he murmured and maybe Aaron was right, she was going to need cousins to keep her in check before the adults in her life completely ruined her by spoiling her. "It's too late for a big brother but you should get her a brother anyway, soon as possible." He slipped his arm around Aaron's waist and furrowed his brows in thought. "I feel like I should be giving you sage advice right about now," he murmured. "But I just feel fucking stupid tonight." He snickered again and tapped his phone against Aaron's chest. "I'll give you a good one at the wedding... Okay not a good one. Adequate one." The music outside revved up again, more metal this time and he felt a weird sense of nostalgia with the onslaught of sensations and sounds, though he wasn't even sure what for. "I'm never getting married, man. You and Mila gotta make a bunch of kids to keep mom off my back, okay?"
Mila would probably strangle them both for plotting for a second baby when she hadn’t even had the first yet, but Aaron wanted a big family with some boys mixed in there, so that sounded good to him. “Okayyyy, we’re gonna have so many kids, dude,” Aaron reassured him, patting Adrian’s back. “Mila’s so sexy.” There was way more to having children than his attraction to his soon-to-be-wife, Aaron knew that, but his drunk brain could only really focus on how hot she was and how much he wanted her all the time. God, he loved Adrian -- and Roxy to some extent -- but he was looking forward to having the house to themselves. “Why you think that, though?” he asked, his brow furrowing with some concern. He petted Adrian’s dark hair again. “You’re a motha’fuckin’ catch, bro -- sexy and cool like your sister ... or you jus’ don’t wanna? S’okay, you don’t gotta. I just love you, s’all.” Aaron smooched Adrian’s cheek.
"Aww I love you too," Adrian replied happily and yeah it felt good to be told he was sexy and cool from someone he wasn't fucking and who had no interest in fucking him. He really didn't want to bomb the mood by reminding Aaron he was pretty much a freak of nature now and maybe he should have just said he didn't want to, Aaron had given him a pretty good opening to do just that. Instead he waved his hand dismissively and tried to sound as casual as he could as he told him it was the whole wendigo thing. Only that's not what came out of his mouth. What did come out was, "It's the whole gay thing," like it was no big deal and for a few seconds he didn't even realize he'd said it, grinning faintly at Aaron and wrinkling his nose because yeah, that made sense. He didn't want to pass down some monster genes... Only, no. Being gay had nothing to do with genes and he opened his mouth to speak again, coming up short as he scanned Aaron's face to see if it was possible that what he'd just said hadn't registered.
Adrian hadn’t said a lot -- except that he loved Aaron back, which always gave him a thrill deep inside, no matter who was saying it -- so it definitely registered. Aaron’s face went slack with sloshed confusion, his wheels grinding to an almost audible halt. The gay thing? Like ... Adrian didn’t like gay people getting married so he didn’t want to do it himself? That didn’t seem to make sense, Adrian had never seemed like that kind of bigoted guy. Was it gay to get married? In the insulting sense? Aaron didn’t think he’d ever heard Adrian call anything ‘gay’ in a bad way, so that didn’t track either. “Wait ...” he murmured, his brow furrowing in concentration as his alcohol-soaked brain tried to connect the dots. “What, like ... what gay thing? Are you gay, man?” It seemed so implausible because Mila would know that, right? She would’ve said something, especially when they were trying to set Adrian up with girls, wouldn’t she? Aaron fully expected Adrian to laugh and call him an idiot and clarify what he meant.
That was probably what Adrian should have done; laughed and joked and squirmed his way out of it, but Aaron looked so sincere, his own mind was so foggy and his reactions felt so slow. He didn't even panic - yet - just looked back at Aaron with a similarly baffled expression. "No?" he mumbled, then grimaced faintly. That hadn't been convincing at all. Had he just come out to Aaron of all people? Mila would kill him if he didn't tell her first, and that was the optimistic scenario where she wouldn't freak out about the whole thing in general. "Maybe?" No, that wasn't even convincing. He was absolutely gay, checking his phone for messages from a guy he was fucking. Fuck. "You can't tell Mila," he near-whispered. "Or anyone. I don't know why I said that, shit."
The question-answers hadn’t been convincing, but Aaron wasn’t sure until Adrian told him not to tell anyone. Because that was definitely a ‘yes.’ He was too busy trying to wrap his head around that to think about anybody else at the moment. Adrian was gay?! No wonder he hadn’t seemed interested in dating anybody. Had Mila known? No -- Adrian said not to tell her, so that meant she didn’t know. Did anybody know? “What? Ohmygod, dude, like ... really?” Aaron asked, then laughed a little. “Holy shit.” For a second he thought Adrian had to be fucking with him again, playing a prank on him, but something about the look on his face killed that notion, even when Aaron’s vision was all blur-swirly. “Wait, nobody knows? Mila don’t know -- nobody? Aw man ...” He clenched Adrian in a tighter hug. “No way, it’s okay.”
There was some teenage-like part of Adrian who felt like this didn't count since they were both so drunk. Tomorrow was a different world for some different him to worry about so all that really mattered was that Aaron didn't care in the here and now. "I don't know if Mila would be weird about it, you know? My mom? She'll die if she knows. Or... maybe not die but she'll-" he trailed off and waved his free hand around again in emphasis. "She'll not be okay, at all. So shh." He put his finger up against Aaron's lips with an earnestly concerned expression. Aaron could keep a secret, he had to be able to or everything was going to go south real fast but Adrian wasn't really thinking about that, he just tilted his head and let the acceptance actually get to him. "You're cool with it?"
Aaron kissed his finger without thinking twice about it, just because it was on his lips, nodding a bit as he did so. He never talked to Maria Moretti on his own, he was pretty sure she still didn’t care for him or the fact that her daughter was marrying him, so there wasn’t really any danger of him letting it slip by accident. He definitely wouldn’t do it on purpose -- if he even remembered this conversation when he sobered up. Aaron hoped he did, because this seemed important for someone to know. “A’course I’m cool with it, what?” Aaron said with a titter, and thumped Adrian on the back. “I love you dude, an’ you’re you, you know?” That seemed like it should be obvious to Aaron, but maybe it wasn’t. “I won’t tell though. Promise.”
Adrian had to laugh at the little kiss, it was so earnest and honestly funny, but maybe it was more relief than amusement. "I love you too man, you gotta stay with Mila forever, you know that? You're family and I don't wanna lose you." He closed this weird thing they had going into a proper hug, squeezing the big guy affectionately. "Not gonna turn into a sappy drunk but thanks, man. I love you." And that was true, he didn't think he could love him more than he did right now. He'd never really worried about Aaron's reaction to him coming out, it was always Mila he worried about the most, but Aaron followed Mila so if she got really weird about things, their friendship would be awkward as well.
Being gay had never been an acceptable option in the Lucas household, that had been made very clear to all of them very early on, but none of them had really been overly homophobic to the people around them. At least Aaron hadn’t. He’d even had a couple of gay friends in high school, and he was ninety percent sure he’d made out with one of them at a party once when he’d been very very drunk, but he didn’t quite remember. He didn’t want to make out with Adrian though, even though he had pretty lips. Adrian was his brother now, even if it wasn’t official yet, and Aaron was going to love him like a brother. If Gavin or Caden had come out, they would’ve gotten the same drunk hugs. Aaron squeezed Adrian back and thumped his upper spine a bit more. “Not goin’ nowhere, you’re my bro, man,” he murmured with a little huff. He pulled back to grin at Adrian again. “So you got a boyfriend or what? That where you keep disappearin’ to?” It wasn’t Aaron’s business, none of this was, but he was curious anyway.
Even if Adrian had wanted to deny it, the grin on his face was a clear yes and he ended up laughing at how transparent and bad at lying he was tonight. It was probably a good thing it was just Aaron and not someone else. "It's complicated," he said and wondered if it was really that obvious that he was always sneaking off somewhere. He had hoped it looked more like him giving Aaron and Mila some space and working a lot but... maybe they'd noticed the number Kane did on his neck. It was kind of crazy that the first person he told was Mila's fiance, out of all the people he could have trusted with this. Toby didn't count, he had read his mind before Adrian ever had a chance to open up to him on purpose. "I wasn't gonna tell you, I probably shouldn't have... Things are easier when they're less complicated." No that was a downer and he cringed a bit at himself for seemingly trying to bring the mood down. "I never thought you'd be this cool with it but you're just... You're so cool, Aaron."
Mila and Aaron had suspected that Adrian was seeing someone on the down low. He personally hadn’t noticed any hickies or sex-smell when Adrian came home, but he hadn’t been paying a lot of attention either, caught up in wedding and baby plans and working and all that. Adrian could’ve just been hanging with friends a lot ... but now he knew for sure! Not a secret girlfriend, a secret boyfriend, which was even juicier. Aaron tittered a bit at being called cool so much, his cheeks actually flushing slightly. “Nah, stop,” he murmured through his grin. “M’not gonna be a dick to you, man ... ‘less you told me like, you fuck fish or somethin’.” He giggled. There wasn’t much that Adrian could tell him to change how Aaron felt about him -- maybe if he’d come out and said he was attracted to kids or something similarly horrible, but that was laughable. Adrian was a good person, and being gay didn’t change that at all. “Naw, jus’ want you to like, be happy, you know? Man, woman, complicated, simple ...” Aaron waved a hand dismissively. “M’glad you said it. ... Aww dude, you’re okay with bein’ here with all the titties though, right? Damn, sorry ...”
The fish fucking comment coaxed another laugh out of Adrian and he winced as he stopped himself from trying to imagine how that would even work. Maybe with mermaids? "I'm having a great time," he promised and he had to laugh again at Aaron's apology, as if it had been his idea to bring him here to spitefully show him breasts. It was good to laugh too because he'd been feeling himself sliding deeper into sappy territory and that wasn't the kind of drunk he wanted to be tonight. "I wasn't going to get drunk, your friends are very persuasive," he murmured, patting Aaron's cheek. "So I'll probably ditch out soon and get my... you know. Not-quite-boyfriend to pick me up. Your brothers are gonna take good care of you. They're not as bad as I thought they were."
Aaron’s sleepy eyes widened with delight and he grinned like Adrian had said a celebrity was going to stop by. The comment about his brothers sailed right over his head. “He’s comin’ here? I wanna meet ‘im,” he said. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable request when he wasn’t even thinking that Adrian didn’t want him to know he was gay in the first place. Nevermind that he wasn’t in any shape to make a good impression on anyone, and actually meeting the guy would make it harder not to tell Mila what he now knew about her brother. “Hey, hey,” he went on as another thought popped into his head. Aaron curled his fingers in the front of Adrian’s shirt to pull him a millimeter closer, his expression turning more serious again. “I got one’a your secrets ... it’s gonna be okay ... you want one’a mine?”
"Yes," Adrian half-hissed because that seemed only fair. He just hoped it wasn't a bad secret though that was probably asking a lot. Most secrets seemed to be bad and he'd crawl out of his own skin if he had to keep another bad secret from Mila - especially if it concerned her. "Like blood brothers," he added solemnly. "Or... security deposit." He squinted as he considered it for a second, then turned his attention to Aaron who really didn't seem like the kind of guy to have a lot of secrets. He had such an honest face! But Adrian knew looks could be deceiving. He turned his attention briefly to the door, just in case both of them had somehow missed it opening but they were alone in there and it was too damn loud out in the club for anyone to listen at the door.
He didn’t really care if half the club was in there with them, Aaron was just focused on Adrian. The inside of his head was all jumbled up and nothing had the same weight it usually did when he was sober, so he wasn’t having second thoughts about telling Adrian something he’d never told anyone. Adrian had just done the same thing, and fair was fair, after all. Plus he liked the idea of being blood brothers, even if they didn’t actually shed any blood. Adrian had drawn his blood when they first met though, so maybe that counted? “Yeah, yeah,” he agreed, grinning briefly. Then Aaron leaned in closer again to stage-whisper toward Adrian’s ear. “I was like, eight when I had m’first sex. An’ she was like, our age. Older, maybe.” Aaron snickered and shook his head like it was just a silly thing kids sometimes did. But it was a sex-secret just like Adrian’s, so it seemed on par with what he’d just learned about his brother in law.
"What?" Adrian asked slowly and he could very nearly feel himself sober up as he tried to figure out if he'd misunderstood what Aaron was saying because the look on his face had no connection to the words that came out of his mouth. He'd heard about guys having sex for the first time at twelve, bragging about it like it was an achievement and not disturbing as hell - but eight? "Wow," he whispered, at a loss for what to say. He didn't want to tank Aaron's mood if he didn't realize just how fucked up this was, didn't want to get into some serious conversation that might fuck his new brother up so he just grabbed his shoulder firmly. "I won't tell anyone," he said firmly but he filed this away to be talked about later, when they were sober, when he was more capable of walking a thin line. "Who was she?" he asked, not so sure Aaron would ever tell him that if he was sober but he felt like he had to know. If it was someone who was still close to him, it'd be someone who might be around his niece.
It was something that had probably affected Aaron for a long time but he’d never really dealt with it. It was just something that had happened ... quite a few times. He couldn’t quite remember how many. It hadn’t just been sex either, there had been a gradual ramp up of activity that had warmed him up to things he hadn’t understood at the time. Maybe he still didn’t fully understand it, but he’d kept his multiple promises to that woman to never tell a soul. Until now at least. “Old babysitter,” Aaron said with a wave of his hand. He was pretty sure she’d moved away a long time ago, or died or something. He hadn’t really thought about her as a person in years. “Gavin ‘n Caden might remember her, but ... she didn’t like them like she liked me.” He huffed and smiled a bit like that was something to be proud of too. Aaron had always craved approval and affection, and he’d been taught one way to get it very early. “They don’ know shit though, so ... blood brothers.” He patted Adrian on the back and grinned easily. “I wanna ‘nother drink.”
"Let's get drinks," Adrian said and forced a smile before pulling Aaron in for another hug, tighter than before as his drunken mind decided to bury this for now. He wasn't at all equipped to deal with it, he just knew that having someone overreact could be as traumatizing as the event itself, if not more so if Aaron hadn't quite pieced together how fucked up this was. Adrian had a feeling he knew, but denial was sweeter than facing something that could be so traumatic. "Blood brothers." His secret was so tame in comparison, but also so different. His secret was something he was that could blow up his world - Aaron's was something that had been done to him. Either way, in a family like his, Adrian didn't expect anyone to be super understanding or capable of dealing with it so he was going to have to be the one to sit down with Aaron and work this out.
A weird wave of emotion rolled through Aaron when Adrian hugged him, and he squeezed him back as his throat felt tight for a moment. It passed though, the alcohol dragging the trauma back down into the abyss of stuff he avoided thinking about. They were extremely different secrets, and Aaron would see that once he sobered up again, but for the moment it felt like bonding, and he was always hungry for that. He gave Adrian another smile once they parted, and he didn’t have to force it. It was his bachelor party! He was about to marry the love of his life and become a dad, something he’d always wanted ... he had all of his brothers around him, blood related and not, life was good. Aaron patted Adrian’s face one more time, then let him go so they could leave the restroom and get back to having fun.