Sonja made a comment with a wave of her hand and Andrei launched himself off the couch, shouting at his mother in panicked tones. Milos laughed and Sonja added something else that sent Andrei scurrying into the kitchen, a look of horror on his face and his hands over his ears.
“Make her stop. Please, make her stop,” he howled, drawing closer to Lucas.
“What did she say? I haven’t understood a word for several minutes,” Lucas demanded, trying not to let panic overtake him. Every instinct screamed to pull Andrei into his arms, protect him with his body, but he still wasn’t sure what had been said. Had Andrei come out to his parents? But why were they still laughing and smiling?
“She said it was hereditary,” Andrei moaned.
“What?”
“Being bi.”
“Oh Andrei,” Sonja said, sounding exasperated while still laughing. “I was teasing. You know that.”
Lucas’s mouth hung open in shock, every thought in his brain locking up. Andrei had told his parents that he was bi and…they were fine with it.
“And the rest?” Andrei pressed, his hands still hovering near his ears as if not trusting what would come out of her mouth.
“Well, no, that was true. Your father likes men, too,” she said with a shrug. She turned her attention to Lucas and gave a little smile. “I told him that when we were in Las Vegas for vacation once, we had a great threesome with a very handsome man.”
Lucas’s teeth clicked as he shut his mouth and cleared his throat, reaching desperately for some hint of composure. “Swingers? Or poly?” Lucas asked, trying to sound casual when he felt like someone had hit him with a brick. He’d imagined this conversation going a lot of different ways, but this had never entered his imagination. Andrei whimpered, but Sonja ignored him.
“No, we just like a third partner on occasion.”
“How long ago was Vegas?”
Andrei groaned. He pressed his forehead against the refrigerator and gripped the front as if it could hold him upright. “It was two years ago.”
“Really, Andrei! You’re twenty-nine. It shouldn’t come as a shock that your parents have sex.”
“No, but maybe I don’t want to hear about it. Holy fuck!” He paused, scrunching his eyes closed and tightening his fingers on the fridge. “Or that you’re having it with other people at the same time.”
Lucas pushed the mental image aside and focused on the one aspect they were overlooking. With a firm hand on Andrei’s shoulder, he turned the man away from the appliance and cupped his cheek with his free hand, tilting his head so that he met Lucas’s eyes.
“Baby, they don’t care.” His voice wobbled and was rough as he pushed the words past the lump that had formed in his throat. “Everything is okay. They don’t care.”
Andrei laughed and then blinked when his eyes filled. “They don’t.”
This time he couldn’t stop himself. Lucas leaned closer, kissing Andrei, not caring that Andrei’s parents were watching them. He just needed to kiss this man, to hold him and know that his pursuit of Andrei hadn’t resulted in Andrei’s entire world shattering around him. Andrei eagerly kissed him back, wrapping his arms around his waist to pull Lucas tightly against him, his relief so strong that his entire body was trembling.
“Aw, you two are so adorable,” Sonja cooed, breaking them apart on a laugh as she came into the kitchen.
Andrei stepped back from Lucas, shoving one shaking hand through his hair, a blush painting his cheeks. Lucas was afraid to look in a mirror himself as his own cheeks felt hot. This was all new and awkward, but he didn’t regret it.
When Andrei turned back to face his parents, Sonja frowned and took both of her son’s hands. “Did you think we wouldn’t understand? That we wouldn’t love you, dragul meu?”
Andrei shook his head. “I didn’t know how you’d react. You and Dad never talked about things like this.”
“No, dragule. No.” She immediately pulled him tightly into her arms. Milos stepped close and held both his wife and son, forming a single unit as if their solid front could fight off the specter of pain that thought created. They slipped into murmured Romanian for several minutes, but Lucas didn’t need to understand the words to know what was being said. Love. Understanding. Compassion. Strength. Straight, gay, neither, both—they loved Andrei no matter what. And for a moment, Lucas was envious but happy.
When they separated, Lucas moved back to the coffeemaker and started pouring mugs of coffee, not that he even knew how many of them wanted it. He just needed to do something with his hands. He was replacing the carafe in the coffeemaker when he felt a small pressure on his arm. Sonja stood beside him, a question in her eyes. Lucas looked up to see Andrei with his back to them, talking to his father.