Lost in Translation

Chapter 33: Pelmeni Aplenty

———Anthony———

Sunday, June 30th, 2019

"Why aren't you answering your fucking— oh, ew," I said as I walked through my front door to find James on the couch with his tongue halfway down Marcus' throat.

"Oh, hey, Cupcake," James said casually while Marcus avoided eye contact. "We didn't expect you back from Ben's so soon."

"You would have if you had checked your phone," I grumbled as I threw myself onto the loveseat. James rolled his eyes as he pulled his phone out and started to read the 18 messages I had sent on the way here.

Now that I was away from Ben, the desire to protect him and his feelings was losing out to my internal panic. It was mostly my fault, but this morning was too much. Things wouldn't have happened this way if I had just gone home last night. My skin was starting to crawl, and my body was screaming at me to run, but I was forcing myself to sit still in the desperate hope that James could fix whatever was fucked up in my brain that made me like this.

"You blew him? He blew you??  Holy shit, Cupcake, that's a hell of a development," James said appreciatively.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go make a sandwich," Marcus said with an uncomfortable look.

"Keep reading," I prompted James as Marcus walked past me into the kitchen.

"Oh, fuck, that is such a shitty thing to do," James said, having evidently gotten to the "forcefully outed by his brother" part. "Are you ok?"

"I... no, not really," I admitted. "My gut is telling me to get the hell out of dodge, but I know that's not... not a great thing to do."

"You're right. It's not," James agreed. "Acknowledging that is growth, though." I huffed, unwilling to verbally acknowledge that he was right.

"Ok, how about this for a game plan: we'll go for a run today, get some of that energy out, and make a plan for a proper introduction to his family a week or two from now that you can adequately plan for and rehearse?" James suggested.

"I—yeah, that works, I guess, but James... that— his parents getting sprung on me wasn't the worst part. I..." I looked over my shoulder, making sure Marcus wasn't listening before continuing in a whisper. "I almost... I almost told him how I feel."

"Cupcake, that's not a bad thing," James said with a smile as he leaned over and patted my knee.

"Yes, it is," I hissed at him. "It's been two fucking months! That's way too soon!"

"You have been bonded for two months, but y'all's feelings go all the way back to high school," James said with a pointed look.

"That is not the same," I protested weakly.

"Ant, plenty of mated folks say they love each other right away," James continued. "Two months is not too soon." He was technically correct. Since most bonds didn't appear out of nowhere, lots of people confess their feelings right away, but I wasn't going to admit that.

"Too soon for what?" Marcus said, rejoining us in the living room with a sandwich in tow. James looked at me questioningly. I nodded before slumping into a puddle of my own despair. I texted Ben a few times to see how he was handling things while James caught Marcus up on the PG13, abbreviated version of events, but he did not respond.

"So, wait, the real reason you are brooding is because you caught feelings... with Ben, your mate, the guy you're dating?" Marcus said, looking confused. I shot him a weak glare, and he rolled his eyes.