Meeting the Family?!

Army POV

It had been about seven months since Aloha and I got together. Since I found his cute notebook which I still made him keep despite his complaints. He kept it anyway. It was then that we had to talk about something. Parents. Yes, our parents. It's not that I had anything against Aloha meeting my parents or the other way around...it's just nerve racking. What would my parents think of ME? That was my biggest question.

So, when we finally got both family's together, it was a little terrifying. It was only our parents and siblings. Aloha has an older sister named, Coral and his mother's name is Sandy, his father's name is Splatter. My mother's name is Mei. My father's name is Camo Stealth. I have two older siblings, a brother who's a good four years older than me and his name is Manu. And a sister who's only two years older than me, Kami. Coral and Manu are similar in the speaking way of they have a sibling four years younger than them.

When the time came for me to meet Aloha's parents and for him to come out to them, I couldn't help but fidget endlessly. He agreed to go first because his parent's were usually somewhat laid back. He told me not the mention the endless parties and drinking. He said definitely NOT to mention the drinking. Or the few times, once or maybe twice, when he's vaped. He stopped himself because I didn't like the vape. So, he didn't do it more than just once or twice. I don't know. I'm pretty sure it was once but Aloha think's it was twice.

I wasn't sure anymore. I didn't really care either way. My parents and brother would be here in two hours. So, I hoped this wouldn't last too long. Aloha tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to face him. He smiles at me.

"I promise, they're nice, they don't bite~!" He teases. I nod.

"I know that, Aloha, I do. But, I can't help feel nervous, will they feel any different about you?" I ask. "Now that we're...together," I whispered the last part.

"What?" He asks. "No, no, no. They won't. They aren't like that, quit trying to impress them and just be chill, ok?" He asks, giving me a reassuring smile. He wore his normal outfit but without the blue button up, he ditched it back in his room...which felt more like our room now.

I helped him pay rent here anyway. It's not like I lived anywhere special. My team and I lived together before but Aloha didn't like being alone so I stayed here. I've pretty much moved in with him. I rarely ever leave him alone because he hates it. I've always been afraid to leave him alone for too long. Afraid of what he could tell himself or do to himself.

A knock interrupted my thoughts and Aloha went to answer it. His family stood there. He opened the door and let them in, while I double checked everything. Nope, we cleaned it to the perfection. So long as nobody went into our room it was fine. Aloha locked the door anyway.

His family walked in and they greeted Aloha who happily greeted them back. Just be normal! Be normal! It's just Aloha's family...it's just your boyfriend's family who could judge you unworthy of their son...oh my cod, stop. Army, stop. What would Aloha think if he knew what I thought? He would probably think it was ridiculous and tell me to be chill about it. Now that I think about it, that's something he would do, isn't it? Aloha walks in and gestures to me, waving me over to him. I walk over to him and he leads me into the living room I knew so well.

His family wasn't being snoopy or anything. They looked pretty relaxed, calm, even.

"Hello, you must be Army! I'm Sandy! That's Splatter, my husband, and this is our girl, Coral." Sandy explains. I looked around at them and waved. Coral's coral was pink, like Aloha's, Sandy's color was a peach color, Splatter's color was a deep, dark pink that faded into a peach color. They all had a sorta calm feeling about them. Aloha smiled at me.

"Yes, ma'am, I would be Army," I say, smiling at them. We all sat in the living room.

"It's so nice to meet ya~!!" Coral chirps in a sing-song voice. I look at her surprised before looking to Aloha who took a moment to realize what I was thinking and an embarrassed blush spread across his face. Do they know that he talks like that too...in a singsong voice and that he...flirts? Or that he used to?

"I-I'll explain..." He mutters to me. I snicker.

"What? Do they not know?" I ask him, out loud. He glares at me.

"Know what?" Coral asks, confused.

"Uh, n-nothing!" Aloha says, I pull out my phone teasingly. "D-Don't Army~!" He whines. I stop for a moment, staring at him. He grabs my phone, sticking out his tongue at me, with a devilish look.

"Ack! You did that on purpose! Cheater!" I say, glaring playfully at him.

"Aww, so what are you two?" Sandy speaks up.

"I dunno ma, 'loha's def touchy with 'em!" Coral teases.

"No teasing your brother, Coral. You know better. But, what are you two, if you don't mind us asking?" Splatter asks, speaking for the first time. His voice was dark and deep. Much deeper than Aloha's. Obviously he had more of a lighter voice. It suited him better. I couldn't imagine Aloha with a deep voice. I looked to Splatter.

"Um...well...do you want to tell them or should I?" I ask Aloha. He looked nervous but said, "I'll do it." Despite the obvious look on his face that said, he did not want to do it. "You sure?" I ask. He just nods.

"Okay, so, first things first, I am...gay..." Aloha says to his family who didn't look hateful or resentful.

"Oh! That's wonderful!" Coral says. "Oh, I'm so glad you found out who you like, Aloha!" She says. "So, who is this-" She cuts herself off. She pauses for a moment looking to me then Aloha then me then Aloha. "IS IT ARMY?!" She screams.

Aloha hides his face behind his hands, blush across his face, but he nods slightly. Coral started fangirling, she jumped up onto her feet and squealed.

"Woah..." I muttered. "She's a little...crazy."

"THAT'S AMAZING!" Coral screams. "Wow! I didn't know you to could be so amusing! You two are adorable!"

"Oh, you know what else is amusing?" I ask her. She looks to me. "The way he's acting right now," I tease. He glares at me. Coral notices and makes an "ooh" noise.

"How does he usually act?" She asks. "Tellllll mmeeee!!!" She begs.

His mother, Sandy started laughing at Coral's reaction. Splatter chuckles, shaking his head and saying, "This is normal, Army. This is our crazy family." He tells me. I snicker and nod.

"Oh, I know! I'll tell you Coral! Shall I get Diver on the phone?" I ask, looking at Aloha who jumped at me. I dodged him and called Diver. He kept trying to take my phone but he was failing horribly. He tried to reach across me as I held him so he couldn't tackle me. He was just barely out of reach...I put it on speaker.

"Yo'! Whatssup Army~?" Diver asks, whistling over the phone. Sounded like he was outside, I could hear the wind. Maybe he was driving? No, maybe he was at the beach, that sounded more like him. To be at the beach.

"You're on speaker. Can you tell Coral here how Aloha normally talks?" I ask him.

"NO! DIVER I SWEAR TO COD-! I WILL KILL YOU!" Aloha shouts to his friend who snorts and starts laughing. "I SWEAR ON IT!"

"HAHA! Now, I DO wanna do it! 'Loa never acts like this! HAHA! He's usually all like a singsong bird, almost. He likes to flirt too." Diver tells Coral who looks completely shocked.

"WHAT!? ALOHA FLIRTS!? HE'S SO SHY AT HOME!!" She screams, pointing at Aloha. "WHO ARE YOU? WHEN DID YOU BECOME SO CONFIDENT?"

"Ugh...I'm getting you back for that..." Aloha whispers to me. "Just you freaking wait."

I released him and he crosses his arms, having to explain to Coral why he's so confident all of the sudden even though the entire time I've known Aloha he's been so overly confident and friendly and sweet...oh cod. I need to stop before I go on a full on rant of why he's so amazing. I sigh, shaking my head.

"I can't believe it! You really flirt!?" Coral asks in disbelief.

"It's true!" Diver says, "In fact~ He used to flirt with anyone he laid his eyes on that he thought was pretty. Got him in some trouble, too. He doesn't flirt anymore, obviously, but he does shoot Army some comments sometimes. And before he denies it, either of them, he does. Aloha literally went on and on with the flirt lines the other night."

Aloha's seemed to have a mini panic attack and he shook his head rapidly at me. I turned off speaker and talked to Diver, "Ha, well, that's all I called you for," I tell him, knowing why he was freaking out. I didn't want his parents to know, either. About how I stayed over and how we got drunk underage, how we slept together...my face got a little heated at that thought.

"I figured as much. Hey, tell Aloha, don't forget about the turf tomorrow, 'kay?" He asks.

"Okay, wait- he has a turf war tomorrow? He never told me about that," I explain to Diver.

"Oh?" Diver's voice cracked. "Did he not? Welp, BYE!" Diver yelps and hangs up on me. I pull my phone back and stare at it weirdly. "Um...okay?" I say, putting it away and forgetting about Diver for the time being.

Coral was fangirling over her brother. "Can we meet the S4? What about your team? How long have you two been together? Are you still friends with Straw Hat? When did you two meet? Is Army on the S4? Is that how you two met? How long have you been in love~? Do you still flirt? Do you still throw parties? Can I come to one? Why don't you ever invite ME to one of your parties? Huh?" Coral asks a million questions.

Aloha stuttered, "I-Umm...c-can you ask only one q-question at a time?" He asks her. I chuckle, watching Aloha try to calm down his sister.

"You know, it surprises me." Splatter says, to me. I look to him.

"Pardon? What does?" I ask him.

"You. You surprise me. To me, you seem like a straightforward no playing around type of person. It kinda shocks me that you're the one to put up with my boy." He explains to me.

"Ah, Aloha? I didn't at first...he was annoying and I didn't understand him...I thought maybe I could avoid him. I could just pretend he wasn't there. But, not too long after that, we spoke. He was nice, really nice. But, I didn't know I didn't just wanna be friends...so I avoided him and put up a fight with him," I admit, shrugging.

"Put up a fight?" He asks, curiously. "How so?"

"Ah, yes. I would pretend to hate him. Tell him to go away or stop talking to me. I'm so glad he's stubborn," I say. Splatter nods slightly.

"So, how did you find out...? Who confessed first?" He asks, generally curious.

"Ooh, please do tell. Who did?" Sandy asks, poking into our conversation. Coral and Aloha were still at it with the questions that seemed endless. I smiled a little as Aloha sighed and continued to answer his sister's questions. She was practically jumping through the roof with how excited she was. Aloha just acted as if this was normal.

"Actually it was me," I admit to her. "I...found his notebook. I shouldn't have been going through his stuff, I knew that. But, I had come over to his house because I thought I scared him off earlier that day, and I found out he hurt himself so I decided to help. Then, I went off to put up the medical supplies and saw his notebook on his bed, I picked it up and read a few pages...I found out that he had fallen for me. That's why he chose to stay around me so much."

"Ah, I see. So, you asked him?" Sandy asks, curiously.

"After I calmed him down. He thought I would hate him forever," I corrected Aloha's mother.

"That sounds like him. He freaks out over even the littlest things." Sandy laughs.

"No, no, no! You can absolutely NOT do that! CORAL! NO! STOP!" Aloha shouts, chasing after Coral who darted upstairs.

"Is she going after the notebook!?" I ask Aloha who shouts in response, "YES!"

"I have it, Aloha! Just keep her out of our room!" I tell him.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!? DID YOU SAY 'OUR' ROOM!?" Coral screams at the top of her lungs, peeking over the railing of the steps. Aloha ran past her, slamming shut our door and locking it closed. He then walked down past her, sticking out his tongue. She glared, following him down the steps in defeat.

Aloha walks up to me, I pull the notebook out from behind me. I had kept it in the kitchen, right where I can see it. In plain sight but not too obvious. Too bad Coral didn't know that.

Aloha POV

They hung out for a while longer, we talked and the such. Then, they had to go. They were meeting up with our family members for someone's birthday. I didn't know who's. Eventually I was watching them leave, waving. Army and I then rushed inside, cleaning up even more. My family, it was okay to leave the house, "OK" but not with Army's family. We cleaned it until it was spotless.

I collapsed onto the couch, sighing. "Are we done?" I ask Army. He nods, sitting down next to me. I leaned on him slightly. He didn't move away. I pulled out my phone, he watched, as I scrolled through social media.

(WARNING: IN THIS FOLLOWING PART OF THE STORY, IT WILL BE TALKING ABOUT HOW A RELIGIOUS FAMILY THINKS THAT BEING "GAY" IS A SIN. I'M NOT SAYING THAT ALL PEOPLE ARE LIKE THIS. I DID NOT GROW UP WITH RELIGION IN MY HOUSE-HOLD BUT HOLD NOTHING AGAINST IT. PLEASE, DO NOT ATTACK ME FOR "ASSUMING ALL RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ARE LIKE THIS". I'M NOT ASSUMING EVERYONE IS LIKE THIS, YOU CAN BE RELIGIOUS AND BE A SUPPORTER OR LGBTQ+! I'M NOT SAYING YOU CAN'T OR THAT IT IS A SIN. I JUST WANTED TO GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY. THANK YOU.)

We stayed still for about five minutes, scrolling until a firm, loud, knock came at the door. Exactly two knocks before silence. Army stood up and I put away my phone. "Get ready." He says. I nod, and follow him to the door. He opens the door. His parents were more alike than mine. I couldn't help but stare, it's a good thing they didn't notice me at first.

"Hello, Mother, Father. Hello, Sister, Brother." Army greets them stiffly.

"Hello, Army, it's good to see you again. So, who's house is this? We've been to your home before." Mei, his mother, asks.

"Um, Mother, we're at Aloha's house. Oh, this is Aloha, by the way." Army moves out of the way, revealing me. I go stiff and wave awkwardly.

"H-Hello..." I say, smiling nervously.

"Oh, hello there. I'm Mei, this is my husband Camo Stealth, this is my oldest boy Manu and my girl Kami. It's nice to meet you, Aloha. May we come in?" She asks. I nod, Army opens the door for them and I lead them to the living room. Mei smiles a bit, looking around at the decoration of my house.

Why was I so nervous? I need to calm down. Army shut the door and walked up to me, whispering, "You okay? You look a little pale?"

"Oh, I-I um...I'll be right back, I promise. Why don't you start some tea or something?" I ask him. He nods, smiling at me.

"You remembered? That I told you my family drank tea but not me." He tells me.

"Of course I did. I remember a lot, wether you think so or not. I'll be right back," I whisper to him, rushing off upstairs. He watched me go before heading to the kitchen to start the tea. I could smell the scent. It was strong.

I went into my room and into the bathroom. "Okay...calm down," I tell myself, taking a deep breath. "They aren't mean. You don't know that. Just be yourself. It's fine," I tried to convince myself of this but I wasn't even listening to myself.

I took five minutes to myself to calm my nerves before heading downstairs.

"There he is! Aloha! I really like your house! It's so pretty in here!" Kami compliments me, smiling generously. My eyes drifted to Army who smiles encouragingly at me. I look back at Kami and smiled.

"Thank you," I reply. "I got it at one of the local stores. My team and I like to go shopping a lot," I admit to her.

"Ooh, which one? I'll have to check it out if it's local!" She says.

"Oh, here," I say, pulling out a piece of paper and scribbling the name down on it before handing it back to her.

"Thank you!" She says, smiling and putting the paper in her pocket.

"So, why did you actually invite us here Army?" Camo Stealth interrupts.

"Oh, well, I have news for you." Army says, fiddling with his hands. "I have to tell you something because Aloha's already done it. So, I have to tell you that I'm not...s-straight." Army blurts. There was a tight, uneasy, almost stiff, silence that took over the room. The whistle of the teapot shattered the uncomfortable silence and I quickly stood to go get it.

When I came back, Mei finally spoke. "You're not straight? So, you're...gay?" She asks. Army didn't respond for a moment, thinking about it.

He seemed to gather all of his courage into this as he said, "Yes, Mother, I am gay. I have a boyfriend already to. And nothing you say will change my mind." He replies, firmly. She seemed a little taken aback by his confidence.

"Oh..." She mutters. "Well, I suppose that...I cannot change your mind. But, I still don't approve of it, don't get that idea." Mei says, huffing. I couldn't keep the clear annoyance off my face as I handed out the tea.

"Gay? Mother, isn't that...a sin?" Kami asks. Mei nods.

"It is, but, since your brother moved out, I no longer am able to control him. Who's this boyfriend of yours?" She asks.

I stayed quiet, keeping my head down for a moment. Army hesitated. "It's me," I say, speaking up, breaking the silence.

"Oh." Mei says. "Well, I didn't expect that. I...Army, I love you, and I won't change your mind. While I may not support these actions I still won't stop you from doing it. If you really are in love with him then you do you. I refuse to stop you...because I love you and I am your mother." Mei tells Army, smiling sweetly at him. He smiles back at her.

"Thank you." He says.

Camo Stealth and Manu kept quiet. As if they weren't even there in the first place. I wondered why they were so quiet.

"Well." Camo Stealth spoke up.

"Sir?" I ask, turning to Army's father.

"I don't agree with it." He replies roughly. His voice was deep, much deeper than my father's voice. It was a tad bit scratchy but most of all, intimidating.

"Oh...?" I ask, my voice quieter than normal. Why am I so nervous around this man? More importantly, WHY IS HE SO TERRIFYING?

Army's dad was taller than me, and Army, by a good foot. Army and I were relatively the same height to some extent. By a few inches...but this man towered over the both of us. I felt myself instinctively back away just a tad bit.

It wasn't noticeable. "No, I don't agree with sinning just because it makes you happy. That's like saying that a murderer can murder people just because it makes them happy. It's still wrong, is it not? I thought we raised you to know these things, Army." Camo scolded slightly. I frowned, looking over to Army who seemed unaffected by these words.

"Everyone 'sins', Father. I just chose to sin because I couldn't help but love a person, is that such a terrible thing that you have to go and scold me for it? I thought maybe at least you could deal with it, but no, you don't." Army says, obviously annoyed with his Father. I wondered if they always had a relationship like this...this tense air and harsh, cold, words.

It was nothing like what I knew back at home. Was this religion really supposed to get in the way of Army's happiness? Is it not his choice and his choice alone to chose to believe or not believe in this? I suppose it was, but, hell who was I to speak? I didn't grow up with it...I had nothing against it, I had nothing for it. I was neutral. I suppose you could say growing up without it means I don't understand the conversation much...

I probably shouldn't say anything unless this starts to heat up.

"Whatever." Manu spoke for the first time. "Isn't that why he left home in the first place? To run off to do whatever he wanted?"

Kami looked at Manu. Then, she pulled out her phone, sensing a fight and put in her earbuds.

I didn't say anything as Army crosses his arms and scoffs, "You're right. I left so I could do as I pleased, Manu."

"Ya, I'm glad you didn't bring that weirdness home." Manu shoots back. "I'm surprised though."

"What?" Army asks.

"That you are with a party animal. I can tell. Look around, Army. You can clean as much as you like it reeks of Alcohol and btw, Army, I took one look at...um-" Manu's voice cuts off.

"Aloha?" Army replies, sighing in annoyance at his stupid brother.

"-Sure, whatever, Aloha and knew." Manu finishes. "Not to mention the outfit choice. You can't tell me he's not either very happy all the time- optimistic, is it?- or a party person."

"Manu, does this even matter? It's not even any of your concern if he does or not-" Army was cut off by Manu. Mei kept quiet, ashamed.

"No, it's none of my business but it's still disgraceful, don't you think so?" Manu asks, smirking brightly at Army who looked a little stunned.

"I think you're wrong," I reply.

"Huh?" Manu turns to me. "You do, do ya? Well, then, it's a good thing I didn't ask you if-" I cut him off quickly and rudely.

"I don't care if you didn't ask me. This is my house and you don't get to tell me in my house what to do or if I'm not in a conversation. If it happens underneath this roof, it is my concern. If you really wanna talk about a disgrace, I'd think it'd be you, huh? Still living with your parents, are you?" I ask, smiling at him. He stands up, I stand up too.

"I'd like you to leave, now, Manu," I say. Kami notices and stands up too. "Are we leaving?" She asks. Everyone ignores her.

He glares. "What about them?" He scoffs, nodding to his family.

"Are you not old enough to stand outside for ten minutes by yourself? Geez..." I mutter. "Go on, now, get out," I say. He glares but walks outside with Kami on his heels.

Army smiles at me. I smile back.

"Well, this conversation has been really...nice, to say the least," I say, turning to Army's family. The dad scoffed and got up, stomping to the door before slamming it shut behind him.

"Ack! I'm so sorry they acted like that!" Mei apologizes. I nod.

"It's fine, I don't really mind. I just hope he didn't break my door..." I turn to the door. "It seems to be fine."

"Hah...well, Army you have fun. I love you, but, I must be going before Manu does something he'll regret. I always have to keep them in line. Aloha, It may be against my religion but...I really do hope you both always find prosperity and happiness." Mei then waves and leaves.

There was a moment of silence. A comforting silence. I turned to Army who laid back into the couch, sighing and muttering a "finally". I snickered.

"What? Did you not like that?" I asked him.

"No, not really." He replies.

Army POV

"Why not?" Aloha asks me. I turned to him.

"I don't like talking to Manu or my father, they are...jerks to put it the nice way. Oh, Diver said you have a turf war tomorrow, before I forget," I tell Aloha. He looked confused for a moment. "You do have a turf war, don't you?" I ask him. He then smiles and nods.

"Oh, yeah, I just forgot~!" He chimes, standing up.

"And where are you going?" I ask him, watching him start up the stairs.

"Nowhere~" He replies, I heard the door to the bedroom unlock and open.

"Sure," I say, standing and heading to the kitchen. What time was it anyway? I looked to the clock. Shoot. "ALOHA!" I shouted. "WE'RE LATE!"

"Late? Late for what?!" He shouts from upstairs.

"JUST HURRY UP AND COME DOWN HERE! WE'RE LATE!" I shout once more, pulling on my boots.

I heard rustling upstairs before he darted down the stairs, buttoning up his blue shirt. He had his shoes on now and was ready to go. He was still fiddling with his shirt by the time he reached me. I sighed and helped him out.

"Come on!" I tell him, pulling him out the door. He barely managed to close and lock the door before I pulled him away. We ran down the block, taking the short-cuts.

"What're we late for?" Aloha asks.

"It's six forty-two pm. We're supposed to meet up with Mask and Skull twelve minutes ago!" I tell Aloha who says, "Ooh."

Aloha then pulls out his phone and calls someone, I assumed either Mask or Skull. He had it on speaker. It rang two times before someone picked up.

"Where are you, Alohaaaa?" Mask's voice comes from over the phone.

"Um, late." Aloha replies. "We got held up."

"We? So, your with Army too? What do you eeevvveeenn mean you got hellldddd uppp??" Mask slurs, clearly annoyed.

"Family issues," I chime in.

"Family?" Skull asks, from over the phone. "You met each other's family today?" He asks for clarification.

"Yes." Aloha answers. "We're almost there, we're sorry!"

"Don't be sorry, I don't care. Mask was hungry anyway so we went to grab snacks and I got candy for us both. I don't really care." Skull replies.

"Candy again? Do you ever eat real food?" I ask him.

"No." He replies.

"How do you not have cavities?" I ask, confused. Aloha seemed confused too.

"I dunno." Skull says.

"Whooo caarresss?" Mask slurs.

"We'll be there in five, maybe less," I tell them.

"Suuurrrreee." Mask replies.

Aloha hangs up the phone, not wanting to hear what Skull had to say. He smiles at me and we race down the empty streets to where we were going to meet Skull and Mask.

Skull POV

We only had to wait three minutes before Aloha and Army both walked up to us. They managed to give Mask a heart attack, he yelled at them both for about five minutes before we actually started. We were nearly thirty minutes past time. So, we stayed out later than we meant to. It wasn't anything special, just strategy and the such. Nothing too big. We all just talked strategy before Goggles saw us and started talking to us.

"No, we aren't going to a turf war today," I replied for the twentieth time.

"Why not?" Goggles asks, urging us to.

"Because, it's getting late." Aloha replies, yawning. He looked purely exhausted. Army snickered, smiling at his boyfriend. Aloha grumbled something setting his arms on the table and laying his head on down.

"It's only eight-thirty!" Goggles urges. "We can only do a private one or training but wouldn't it still be fun?" He asks. "Pleassseee?"

"Goggles! Quit bothering them!" Rider scolds, walking up to the group.

"Rider! Hello!" Goggles turns around to do his normal trick but Rider pinned him to the ground in one swift movement.

"Not happening." Rider growled, grabbing Goggles by the back of his coat and dragging him away. Goggles waves at us. Rider didn't stop dragging him. I watched, amused, as Rider dragged Goggles all the way to where Team Blue was at. They scolded Goggles, probably for running off, I assumed. After all, he was alone, talking to us, S4.

"We'll be leaving, if that's all?" Army asks.

"Yeah, that's all. I'm tired anyway..." I mutter, standing up with Mask at my side. Army and Aloha stood, though Aloha didn't want to, and they left. Walking away. I watched them leave until they disappeared behind a building, heading back to the resort, to their house, before I turned on my heels and walked away with Mask following me.