I hope that you're continuing to enjoy the story. Sorry for the some of the proofreading problems, I don't have an editor so do my best to self-edit. Feel free to drop me an email with your comments. It's always great to hear from people. connectwriter@yahoo.com
Introducing his parents to Brad, and to his own true self, was a subject that was on Mike's mind a lot as he thought about their future together. Brad was just too big a part of his life to keep hidden away or denied. Even if he could, it just wasn't' the kind of relationship that he wanted with his family. He knew that they had sacrificed a lot for him, though not even he knew how much that really was.
It was interesting to him how being from such very emotional and demonstrative family did not make he himself that way, at least around most people (well, anyone but Brad.) Being brought up with such rock-solid confidence in a secure family gives one the ability to almost take it for granted and not have to act it out. Brad, however, showed him how it can work the other way and what damage can be done. What happens to a kind, caring son who is denied the basic love and affection that he should be able to expect.
Sharing this person with his whole family, making Brad part of it, was something that both Brad and his family deserved. But how could he make this happen? What would his parent's really think, both of himself, and of Brad? Both of them were bailing out of their Monday classes to make sort of a personal 3 day weekend, to give a good introduction of Brad to the family.
Hana, of course, wouldn't be an issue and would in fact be an ally. After Mike had come out to her she jokingly threatened to steal any cute guys he brought home. That first time that he had brought Brad home, before they were even out to each other, she whispered Mike that he had better get in his pants first or she would beat him to it!
They pulled up to Mike's place late on Friday night. It was still dark out and they paused in the car for a moment before getting out.
"You OK, pup. Don't feel like you have to go all out with me, you know. We can take it real slow."
"Thanks, I'm OK. We'll just see where it goes. It may be just a nice calm weekend, or a big blowup, who knows. I do know, though, that when they really get to know you, they'll love you. Who couldn't?"
"Well there's a few out there who have a some issues with me," and obvious reference to his family, "but your folks seem like nice people. I'll just be who I am, I guess. Oh, and I'll try to keep my hands off you, too," he said with a smile.
"Probably a good idea. Just baby steps with them right now. But when we get back to school you can put your hands all over me again. Lips, too."
Unknown to either of them, Hana was peering at them through the venetian blinds in her room. She was pretty sure of what was going on between the guys, but wanted to get final confirmation of her suspicions.
Mike had denied her romantic insinuations about Brad from the first time that he had brought him home back in January, but she knew better. Not only in the looks and attention that he gave to Brad even back then, but just the sense of his general mood. Like Julie, she often knew his feelings even before he did.
It's always the subtle things that give one away. As she saw the guys walking to the house together, each carrying a back pack duffle bag for the weekend. There was only the dim light of the front porch lamb available, she nonetheless saw them clearly enough.
Just as they were reaching the stairs, Mike reached his hand for Brad's neck to guide him in. But instead of just a squeeze or a pat, like a casual friend might do, she saw him just graze his fingers against Brad's skin. Just a slight touch. All the pressure of a feather. But it said practically as much as a passionate kiss about what kind of relationship they really had.
Waking up when she heard the car doors slam, Mrs. Kovar met the guys as they came in the door. Before they got to the door, Mike mentioned that his family takes off their shoes in the house, and he willingly obliged. Wearing socks around the house was his own style anyway, as Mike had noticed. Those thick, white socks that he like to pad around the apartment in were one of his signature characteristics.
Mrs. Kovar offered to make them sandwiches or heat up some leftovers if they were hungry, but Mike mentioned that the were both pretty tired and just wanted to put their things away and get ready for bed.
Unwilling to consider the couch as a place for Brad to sleep, Mike said that he should stay with him in his room. It was basically a pretty good sized attic space, but not a lot of it was very functional because of the sloped ceilings. To Mike's surprise, she had anticipated his request and told him that they had already pulled an air mattress out of the basement for them to use.
In spite of their fatigue she could tell that they were still in a great mood. They smiled, laughed and joked around, and seemed very attentive to each other. She thought that Brad must be a really good friend, as Mike was very considerate to him and was clearly trying to make him feel comfortable. To her, it was great that Mike was making a good friend, and handsome one at that. Maybe some material for Hana, she thought.
For Mrs. Kovar, this good humor was a sea change for her son, something she had not seen in a long time. He was never an ogre, but in recent years just seemed to be going through the motions, calm and deliberate but never excited. Maybe it was just late and she was imagining things, she thought. But there was something about him. See if it's this way in the morning, she thought to herself.
Brad looked around the house, trying to get a feel for the place that was part of shaping Mike's life. Every scent, crack in the wall or creek of a door, it was somehow part of Mike. Then he saw the mother lode - a collection of family photos on the wall in the foyer.
"Mike, is that you?" He said, pointing to a photograph of the family with the kids as toddlers, looking like they were at a picnic near a lake.
"yea, that's me when someone spent the time to dress me properly." He said, pointing to one of the photographs. Then he pointed to another, larger one nearby. "That's Hana, actually wearing clothes near water."
"I heard that!" Hana yelled as she came out of her room. "I know what modesty is for a women. By the way Brad, good to see you again. Has Mike asked to borrow any money yet, and has he-'
Mrs. Kovar interrupted. "Enough, you two. I'm sure that Brad is tired, and I am too, so why don't we all get to sleep right now. You two can make up in the morning."
"OK, mom, but I won't sell forgiveness, at least not cheaply."
Both Brad and Mike laughed. Not wanting to betray too much of an interest in the pictures, Brad turned away to join back in the conversation. But he really wanted to study them further and made a mental note to check them out when he would be less conspicuous to Mike's parents.
After chatting for just a few more minutes, the guys went upstairs with their stuff to unpack, followed closely on their heels by Tony, who basically pushed them both out of his way to race ahead of them into the room. When Brad and Mike finally made it up, they found Tony in the middle of Mikes bed, staking out his spot for the night.
"Off!" Mike ordered. Tony at first ignored him, then slunk off the bed onto the floor.
Brad reached over to stroke the disappointed pooch. "I know how you feel, guy. We're both getting kicked out of his bed tonight."
"Hey, Tony," Mike said as he also kneeled down to stroke the dog. "Don't worry, You can come up. It's just that I get in first and you get what's left over, remember?"
"That's not fair!" Brad protested. "How come I get kicked out and he get's the bed with you.?" He said this quietly, not wanting this particular question to be heard downstairs.
"Because he has the self-control to keep his paws to himself!" Mike retorted with a chuckle, as he pulled Brad back up and swung him around.
Both of the guys laughed hard over this one. In fact, they laughed over a lot of stuff before they went to sleep. Mike took time to ask Brad if he needed the bed, but he insisted on Mike using it to make sure that he got his sleep.
Hearing the laughing and carrying on upstairs gave was almost nostalgic for Mrs. Kovar as she got into bed beside her sleeping husband. She realized that it had been years, ever since high school, that she heard Mike laugh so much. It was like her old son was slowly returning.
Maybe, she thought, Mike has a nice girl stashed away at school. Only love does something like this to someone. Since Mike hasn't been forthcoming with information, maybe she'll pump his friend Brad sometime this weekend.
Saturday was going to be a busy day, mostly focused on studying. The trip home was mostly an obligatory one for Mike, he liked to come back at least every 3 weeks and was now a week overdue. They each brought a lot of schoolwork home with them and would have to be pretty focused on that, as finals were coming up soon.
It had been a couple of weeks since their difficult coming out to each other, and to each of them this was probably the best time of their lives. However, during that week after Mike's seizure, both of them had been so distracted that they had fallen seriously behind on their work and were still catching up. Also weighing on both, but more on Mike, was how he would start to "ease" his parents into who he was and Brad's place in his life.
But Brad had a lot at stake, too, though. It wasn't just that he was nervous for Mike, but was also anxious for himself to get acceptance to the family. Since he really didn't have one of his own, at least a family that functioned as one, he really hoped that the Kovars would accept him, too. He tried to catch himself, and not hope for too much. He tried to just focus on taking care of Mike and seeing him through this. But sometimes he couldn't help himself.
The next morning became lost to studying for both and them, and also Hana. Her school was in the state capital, about 2 hours away, but she also made it a point to come home every few weeks. The guys stayed upstairs studying, while Hana camped out in her own room. As opposed to the evening before, everything was quiet for at least the morning.
Mike's mom tried to serve him the special diet that is recommended for people with epilepsy, sort of a low carb-high protein regimen. Though usually the dutiful son, he was always resistant to this, partly a juvenile stubbornness born out of his struggle to fight his condition. Not the best course of action for his own health, but it did make him feel a bit more in control.
With only sporadic success with Mike, she nonetheless persevered. She was glad that he went to sleep last night much earlier than he usually did. But maybe that was just because he was really tired. She was a little surprised that he ate all of the recommended food at lunch, too, though one incident struck her as a bit strange.
Mike was about to reach for some reheated ravioli when his friend Brad gave him a funny look, rigidly staring into his eyes with a little smirk on his face. Almost imperceptible, at least to everyone else at the table, including Mr. Kovar and Hana, Brad moved the ravioli away and put a bowl of broccoli in front of Mike. It shocked Mrs. Kovar when Mike actually took quite a helping of the steamed vegetable, something he almost never did before. Even Mr. Kovar noticed this, but assumed that he was just getting adult tastes in food, which he silently applauded.
She wondered what had changed. He's sleeping earlier, eating the right foods, seems like he's in a great mood, seems to have a real good friend who he gets along with well. Maybe it wasn't love, maybe he's just growing up. Who knows. But whatever it was, it was great to have her son back.
After lunch the guys took a short nap, and then hit the books again for a couple of hours. The reward they promised themselves was a game of racquetball at the local Y before dinner, then a video at home for the evening.
The guys were now in the living room studying, with the TV off, and everything was calm and quite, until Mrs. Kovar asked if someone could get her some milk from the local store, just 2 blocks away. Hana saw her chance.
Before anyone could object, or even say anything, she raced out of her room, grabbed Brad's jacket out of the closet and threw it over to him.
"OK, mom, Brad and I will get it for you. I'll give him the tour of the neighborhood, since Mike hasn't seen fit to do that yet"
Brad was a bit bewildered, know knowing what going on. Mike, however knew his sister's scheming mind and made a futile attempt at a rescue. But before he could warn Brad, Hana had whisked him out the door. Not wanting to make a scene, but silently fuming at Hana, Mike could only look out the window at them walking down the street, Hana's arm wrapped inside of Brad's.
"So, Brad, how do you like it here at Kovar Estates so far?" she asked him.
"Oh, it's been great, Your folks have been really nice."
Still confused about what was going on, but definitely suspicious of her intention, he wanted to say something as innocent as possible.
"Room service OK?"
"Ha, yea. I'll be looking for the chocolate on the pillow when I get back" He laughed.
"How's your roommate? Does he snore?"
"No, he doesn't snore. And Mike doesn't either."
"He?" Hana replied.
"Tony." He said. She realized that she had a clever one here and gave a slight chuckle.
They walked arm and arm in silence for a few more moments, passing several more houses. The sidewalk was pretty narrow, so she sidled up very close to him. Brad was a bit nervous now about what was going on. He knew that Mike was out to her, but also knew that he hadn't said anything yet about them to her.
"So Brad....Nice day, huh? She looked around at the houses around them as she said this.
"Yea," he replied, trying to feign calmness.
"You'd rather be doing this walk with your boyfriend back there, wouldn't you?"
Brad was stopped in his tracks and pulled away from her. He could only stammer out some inane answer like "I'm not sure what you mean." Or something like that. He wasn't sure how Mike wanted to handle her but it was too late for consultation now.
Hana laughed. "You guys can't fool me, Brad. I know my brother and I know what's happening to him. He's never, I mean never, like this. He's flying on air. He's a new person, or should I say, the old Mike, what he was like years ago. Only Love does this."
"and I see how you guys look at each other. I think you know all about him, too. You make him follow that weird diet, and you probably made him go to sleep last night before his usual 3 a.m., didn't you?"
"Um, well, we were both tired and..."
"Cut it, Brad....save that for my parents." She said, laughing. "My brother is crazy about you."
Brad paused for a moment and gave her is crooked smile. The game was up.
"uh, how did you figure it out?" He asked.
"Well all the stuff I just said. But just to make sure, I watched you guys as you came in last night, and how Mirek lightly stroked your neck as you guys came up the stairs. He usually doesn't do that to the paperboy, so that sort of clinched it for me." She gave him an obvious wink.
"Guess we weren't very subtle, then, huh...kind of caught red-handed."
Then he got quiet. He just looked around for a moment, seeming to gaze nowhere in particular, but was obviously thinking. The he finally spoke.
`I'm crazy about him too, Hana. I guess I don't know what to say, except that your brother is everything to me. I really care about him. A lot."
"He's such a great guy. I don't deserve him. He's special, Hana."
She just smiled at him. "I thought so. You do something to him, Brad. Something good."
"Thanks. He does even more for me."
She regripped his arm and led them back on their way to the store, as they continued to talk, about the relationship and the Kovar family. Just before they reached the house, Hana stopped and by a large tree in front of the neighbor's house.
"Brad, this is great stuff to hear, but I do have to tell you one thing. And that thing is, if you hurt my brother, I'll hunt you down and fuck you over good. He's been through a lot, and doesn't' deserve a bad time from anybody, especially someone he cares about."
Brad didn't miss a beat. He wasn't' offended at all, and was in fact pleased that Hana cared so much about her brother. "Hana, Mike is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I know with his epilepsy we could have some tough times. God, seeing him suffer will kill me." He then spoke so quietly she could barely hear him. "But.... I would never hurt him. Never."
It was just what she wanted to hear. None of the unrealistic sappy love stuff that she hated to listen to. Her mother sometimes told her that she was 18 going on 60, but it was just the way she was.
By the time they made it back with the milk it had taken twice as long to make the trip as it should have. Mike had a pretty good idea of what had happened and wanted to debrief Brad as soon as he could. Mrs. Kovar, thrown off the scent again, thought maybe that Hana really had an interest in Brad.
The guys finally went off to their racquetball game during the afternoon and had a good chance to talk. Brad had filled him in on the conversation with Hana which put Mike more at ease, thinking it wasn't as much of an ordeal for Brad as he had feared. He knew that Hana wouldn't be a problem. Gay, of course wasn't the issue. But actually having a boyfriend was sure to be the kind of milestone that she wouldn't let go without torturing him. But she did not have permission to torture Brad!
The relief on this one small front seemed to give Mike some inspiration, along with a racquetball court that he know to be a bit "irregular," and he had his first victory ever over Brad,
"Hey, what happened to the champ tonight? Losing his magic touch?" Mike razzed him as he gave him another of his punches to the arm.
"Don't be to cocky from the home court advantage, dude. That floor was as dead as a doornail, but I guess you knew that, didn't you? We'll see how your 1 game winning streak transfers back to a real court."
The guys pulled their stuff together and headed home, Mike continuing to crow about his first victory, and Brad throwing the transitoriness of it back at him..
After racquetball Brad had jumped in the shower first. He was in the living room sitting on the couch next to Hana, along with her Dad, watching soccer on TV, while Mike stepped into the shower for his turn. It was a European game that they got by satellite, and the parents especially were keenly interested. Knowing this was his future and kind of laughing to himself about it, he asked a lot of questions to try to understand the rules. More importantly, he also tried to figure out who to cheer for. And who to cheer against.
As the second period opened, Brad heard a crash from the bathroom. He was about to jump off of the couch to see what was going on when Hana grabbed his hand and pulled him back down. Brad was frantic, thinking that something had happened to Mike. Somehow, though, he trusted Hana, and sat back down. She saw the fear in his eyes and knew that she needed to calm him down fast.
"Mirek!" she yelled out in the direction of the bathroom. "did you knock down the shower caddy again?"
They heard Mike call back, "uh... yea, uh, sorry!"
"He is such a klutz in the shower. He always does that. Really annoys me," she said as she rolled here eyes.
Then, turning to Brad she whispered in his ear, "but I'll bet you already knew that." And smiled to him as she poked him in the ribs.
Brad didn't notice any reaction from Mr. Kovar, and wrongly assumed that he hadn't noticed anything unusual in Brad's reaction. It just looked to Brad like he was completely focused on the soccer that he continued to watch.
After dinner, Brad found himself alone with Mrs. Kovar, helping her with the dishes. Without wanting to be too obvious, it seemed like a good chance to pump her for information about Mike. Not so much "the dirt," but mostly about what things Mike liked, especially food. It was a bit of a delicate balance, as he didn't want it to sound like daughter-in-law type questions, but nonetheless wanted that kind of information. He wanted to know how could he make his guy happy.
"He really likes all kinds of sausage, especially some white varieties. You can only get them at the West End Market though, and sometimes only on certain days." She continued on, enjoying the opportunity to talk about her son. The questions struck her as a bit odd, coming from a guy friend, but she just accepted it. Mike hadn't made a lot of friends since High School, and she wanted to make sure that this guy enjoyed himself at their home. And since he seemed to enjoy hearing about Mike, that's what she would do.
Brad was trying to remember everything she said, especially the foods. It would have been to too obvious to get a pencil and paper, but that's exactly what he wanted to do.
Mr. Kovar, Mike and Hana returned to the kitchen after a few minutes, and Brad moved the subject onto other things. He was a bit nervous, thinking that he may have been to obvious, so decided to make sure that he continued with completely neutral subjects.
While they were all milling around in the kitchen, Brad saw this as an opportunity to check out the family pictures and see Mike growing up. The were arranged somewhat chronologically on the wall, from left to right. He couldn't tell who was who in the baby pictures, but it only took a little aging to tell. He saw Mike the 2 year old sitting for the camera, at some kind of swimming pool when he was around 5 or 6, playing soccer probably when he was 7 or so, at some kind of celebration around the same age, some Junior High pictures, High School graduation.
It was fascinating to see his growth into manhood. At each age, Brad thought that Mike was as cute as a little boy could be. But what really struck him was how he always looked calm and self-assured, much different than Brad thought of himself. Brad knew, of course, what lay underneath the image in the pictures, but it spoke even more highly of Mike's struggle to overcome the effects of his illness.
"What do you think, Brad" Mrs. Kovar asked from behind, startling him out of his thoughts.
"Oh, nothing, just looking at the pictures. You've got a great collection here. Looks like you've kept pretty good track of everybody."
"I've tried. It is important for a family like ours, that's moved around a lot, to keep track of ourselves, and this has been a great way to do it. I'm anxious to get their college graduation pictures up here. That's their next milestone."
"Do you see that one there, Bradley?" she said, pointing to the celebration picture that Brad had noticed earlier, with Mike surrounded by friends."
"Yea, is that a Birthday celebration?'
"No but close. It was Mikes nameday when he was young. Back home, each first name is assigned a date in the calendar to celebrate anyone with that name. As you probably know, Mike's Czech name is Miroslav, which is in March. These are his friends as they were singing for him.
Mike was beaming in the photograph, and Mrs. Kovar's pride was understandable. He was introduced, in small ways, to the things that make a real family close.
"What about this one?" He pointed to a photograph of Mike when he was a little younger, hugging a puppy.
"Oh, that's him with his aunt's dog. That dog used to lick his face, then Mirek would lick him back. I had to put a stop to that!" She laughed out loud when she said this, not unlike one of Mikes laughs. It also put a smile on Brad's face, and he made a mental note to mention this to Mike.
In spite of Brad efforts at nonchalance earlier, she had noticed him studying the photos intensely. It was another curious thing about his behavior, this extreme interest in the pictures, especially anything having to do with her son.
She wanted to work in some question about whether he had a girl at school, but somehow the timing wasn't right. This conversation was about Mirek, her boy, and even the interesting speculation about hidden romantic interest wouldn't interrupt this. It was speculation, anyway.
After everyone retired for bed that night, Mrs. Kovar thought a lot about Brad as she brushed her hair. He was a really good-looking guy, and seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. She noticed that Hana had taken to him right away, which was a good sign. But it was almost too good, she thought.
Even Hana would have a bit of nervousness or anxiousness about a guy she was interested in, which she usually covered up by an unnatural boisterousness or rudeness. But she was a friendly to this guy as she could be, like she had nothing to risk because there was nothing to gain. But that didn't make sense.
Try to figure out situations like this was actually kind of enjoyable to her. She liked a good mystery story, and knew that often one simple fact explains so many unknowns. Every angle she tried about how Hana might fit with this guy just didn't quite fit. Why didn't she have an obvious romantic interest in him, he was just her type, smart, cute, ambitious. Was it his looks, something she didn't like? Couldn't be. Too old? No, way, he was only 3 years older.
And her son's good mood, too. She thought that Maybe he did have a girl at school, but if he did both guys were completely quiet about it.
One other curious thing was that her son seemed a little bit nervous around her. He was a bit evasive about things, and when she asked about his friend she sensed a forced casualness about it, like he was trying deflect any real serious questions.
She also noticed that after the guys had gotten upstairs and closed the door, that there was no creaking on the floor. That's how she could usually tell that Mike was still awake, and when he was younger would yell up for him to get to sleep. But even with 2 people up there, for a few minutes, there was not a sound at all, as if they were standing still. "What's happening up there?" she questioned to herself.
She tossed the facts around in her mind as she lay in bed. This guy was obviously a good friend to Mike, so Hana certainly shouldn't be afraid of him and should trust him. She had another question: Why was she so aggressive in dragging him to the store to get milk but didn't seem at all different or awkward toward him when they came back?
When she had finally finished with the hair, she quietly slipped back into the bedroom. Mr. Kovar was an early riser, so he was almost always asleep by the time she, a night-owl like Mike, got to bed. Her mind had cleared for a moment as she settled in and put her head on the pillow.
Suddenly, she sat up in bed, startled.
A thought had occurred to her, something that explained it all. Everything.