Chapter 45

Alex takes a while to calm down and when he finally rises from his boyfriend's chest he realizes that he just did exactly that what his brother just minutes ago explained as him being uncomfortable with. He blushes and stutters "Christian, I ... I am sorry."

Christian who purposefully looked everywhere else but at them just says coughing slightly embarrassed "It's okay."

An awkward but not bad silence spreads between them. Everything has been said but the topics were heavy and they feel that it is not easy to resume a normal conversation.

That's where Dana chips in. Lifting the bottle of wine she exclaims cheerfully "Now that everything is settled, let us toast to this." She fills every glass generously, hoping that the alcohol will ease the awkwardness. With a full glass in his hand Christian ceremoniously stands up "Mr. Smith, Mrs. Christiansen, thank you for being there for my brother. I am glad to know that Alexander has met kind people at his side for this huge step he decided to take." He looks at Alex. "And Alexander. I am glad we talked today. I hope we can be more open with each other in the future and will once again be a huge part in the other's life." He lifts his glass facing everyone "To a new beginning."

"Yes! To a new beginning", they all echo, and with a "Cheers!" they cling their glasses.

They talk a long time. Christian and Alex share stories of their childhood and they get each other up to date with talking about their jobs, university and how their parents are doing. In the middle of it Dana excused herself to pick up Peter and put him to bed but soon afterwards joins them again. After the second bottle of wine Alex starts talking about how he and Daniel met. Halfway through the third bottle Daniel exclaims as if he just remembered "By the way, who was that jerk you were in the movies with, Christian?" They already agreed to be on first name basis. Christian blushes in shame, remembering the incident. "That was a fellow law student. I go out quite often with him but I didn't know he was homophobe."

"I really wanted to teach that guy a lesson." Daniel shouts. But Christian butts in "Well, like I said, he is entitled to have his opinion." When he sees Daniel nearly charging at him, he allows "But he shouldn't have voiced it in such a hurtful manner."

"Mmmpf." Daniel isn't really satisfied with this but lets it go.

The rest of the evening is spent peacefully. They get Steven to drive them. It gets a bit awkward when Christian asks Daniel why he is also driving with them since he already was at home. "Oh, I will sleep over at Alex' apartment tonight since he has to take care of Zero in the morning." Christian blushes when he realizes that 'sleeping over' might include something more. Alex feeling the courage the alcohol gave him slaps his brother playfully on the arm. "Oy Christian, what are you imagining blushing like that? You make me blush, too!" He doesn't realize he just makes Christians suspicions even worse. Christian helplessly looks away, trying hard to keep himself from voicing what the little voice at the back of his head is whispering. But after a moment of silence he looks back at Alex suddenly totally serious. "Alexander, say.", he pauses, searching for words. "Are you happy? Are you happy with your current life?"

If Alex is surprised by the sudden question he doesn't show it. He just shows a smile that covers his whole face with eyes sparkling. "Yes. I am very happy."

"Good." Christian gives a little smile back and adds "Then I wish you both happiness. Next week I will support you. Are you going to bring Daniel with you?"

"Yes, I want our parents to see that I am happy and honestly I also need his support because I am really afraid about their reaction."

"It will be okay. With Daniel and me there you will be just fine."

"Thank you, Christian. You don't know how much this means to me."

They arrive at their parent's home where Christian is still living. "I will be going now. See you next week."

"Yes, good night, Christian."

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"Are you happy now that you two have talked?" Daniel asks the question even though the answer is obvious.

"Yes. It is a huge weight of my chest, especially after that horrendous encounter at the movies." He leans close to Daniel the alcohol making him forget Steven in the front seat. "Thank you for helping me. I couldn't have done it without you or Dana."

"You are welcome. I am just glad to see you happy."

Alex shows him a sly smirk "At home I will show you exactly how happy I am."

Daniel groans, feeling his member directly twitching at his lover's word. He leans in and whispers into Alex' ear, intentionally breathing into it, making him shudder, "Then I will take you up on that offer."

Meanwhile, Steven tries very hard to keep his focus solely on the road. He should speak with his boss about a car with a window that separates the front from the back row. But then he realizes that that might make them even more shameless since he wouldn't see them. However, he shudders at the thought that normally it was the driver's task to keep the car clean inside and out.

He would definitly not mention the idea with the separating window to his boss....

Steven clears his throat and says "Boss, we have arrived."

Seeing how his employee is very busy staring straight ahead Daniel realizes what he just made him go through. "Sorry about that Steven!" But his sincerity is betrayed when he says it chuckling. "You can take the day off tomorrow. I don't plan to go into the office."

Steven blushes even more. He has a very clear picture in his mind exactly why his boss will be out of the office tomorrow. He is glad when the two shameless lovebirds finally leave his car and he can drive home and get a drink to clear his head. He definitly prefers mafia business over knowing about his boss' love life.