You Smile Brighter Than You Should (Kellic) Boyxboy

Chapter 29

"You're a stupid boy Kellin." Mom rants.

"I know Mom." I sigh.

"I warned you. I said, keeping things from each other will ruin a relationship!" She shrieks.

"I know Mom." I repeat.

She goes to yell at me some more but Vic thankfully interrupts.

"Uh, Ms. Bostwick. The important thing is that we're back together. See, no harm done."

He kisses my cheek to assure he and she nods sighing lightly.

"I know, I know. I just don't want anything like this happening again. You boys deserve happiness." She smiles lightly and I nod before kissing her cheek.

"I know, Mom." I say softly.

She ruffles my hair and I lean into Vic who has his arm wrapped around my waist.

"This is a really nice house, Vic. Your parents must have quite a bit of money." Mom says looking around at the mansion.

"Well, my brother has the money. I own the house. My parents basically have nothing." Vic shrugs with a smile.

Mom gives him a confused look and I make a mental note to explain it all to her later. But Vic is right when he says that his parents have nothing. They don't even have children anymore. Mike had told us that he had gotten a restraining order against his mom while Vic was at college. She had apparently been really clingy to Mike even though he wanted nothing to do with her. Eventually he got sick of her shit so he went to court and got an intervention order against her. She had to move out of the house, seeing as it's in Vic's name. She was basically thrown out on the street with very little money but Mike said that she deserved it. I guess he really does care about Vic a whole lot.

"You can move in, if you want." Vic smiles and it takes me a while to comprehend what he just said.

"Oh, don't be silly." Mom brushes it off, with a disbelieving laugh and a dismissive wave of her hand.

"No, I'm being serious. You should move in. You and Kellin. There's plenty of space. And that way, you can see Kellin more because he practically lives here. Besides, you're like a second mom to me." Vic explains and I look at him shocked and wide-eyed with my mouth slightly agape.

"Yeah, we only met today but you're already like a second mom. You should move in." Mike says from across the table, grinning.

"Vic, Mike, I'm flattered." Mom breathes. "What do you say, Kellin? Do you want to live here?"

I'm in so much disbelief that it takes a lot of will to answer.

"I-uh, oh my gosh." I breathe. "That would, that would be amazing."

Vic grins at me before kissing my cheek.

"Then it's settled. Move in whenever you guys feel like it." Vic grins and I throw my arms around him, hugging him tightly.

He chuckles and kisses my forehead.

"Sell the house. I'll pay off your mortgage and whatever other debt you have." Mike offers and I pull away from Vic.

I look at Mom who's on the verge of tears.

"Honey, you don't have to do that." She sniffs, pulling out a handkerchief wiping her eyes.

"I want to." Mike nods. "When Vic and I were younger, we had just moved here from Mexico and it was hard for our parents to find jobs. We lived in poverty for a few years before my father's painting business kicked off. We know what it's like to struggle. If Vic and I's uncle hadn't passed, then we wouldn't have a luxurious life. It'll be nice to share his legacy with someone for the greater good. He would be proud of us for it and I like the thought of that."

"Thank you boys. You've done so much for me and my son. Thank you so much." She cries and I wrap my arms around her to comfort her as I tear up a little myself.

They don't even know how much this really means to us. My mom won't have to work as much now. We'll actually get to have some time together. She won't have to stress about paying bills and whether or not she can feed us.

"That's what family's for." Mike smiles lightly.

After that I can't stop the tears from falling. Family? I haven't had one of those since dad left. I let go of my mother and turn to Vic before wrapping my arms around his neck tightly as I cry into his shoulder.

"I love you so much." I sob and he rubs my back comfortingly.

"I love you too, Darling." He replies.

I soon calm myself down and we all just sit in content silence as Vic holds me tightly. Mark then enters the room and Vic kisses my forehead, letting his lips linger before he lets go of me.

"Food's ready." Mark smiles placing plates in front of everyone.

I look down at the dish, immediately knowing what it is. I turn to Vic looking at him shocked.

"Are you kidding me, Vic? This is your doing." I ask looking from him to the snails on my plate.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't resist." He laughs and I pit up my fork poking at the escargot, making sure that they're not still alive.

"Try it. I promise you, it tastes good." Vic urges.

I look at it sceptically and pick up a snail. I grab my fork and scrape the meat out of the shell. I dip it in the butter sauce before I put it in my mouth and eat it.

"What do you think?" Vic asks hopefully.

"Okay, it's actually really good." I smile before eating some more.

"I told you so." He murmurs before kissing my cheek.

I look towards Mike who's pushing the food around on his plate. I gently nudge Vic in the ribs and gesture towards Mike. Vic frowns when he notices that Mike's not eating.

"Mike, you going to eat?" He asks and Mike nods forcing a smile.

He begins eating and Vic physically relaxes.

"He'll come around." I murmur and Vic gives me a half smile.

"I hope so." He nods.

From what I saw before I left, Mike still has trouble eating. He's usually okay. He just needs a little nudge and he's fine. But then other days he blatantly refuses to eat anything. Then Vic ends up guilt-tripping him into it and he eats. He's definitely getting better though. He's having less and less days where he doesn't want to eat. He hasn't, as far as I know, self-harmed since he woke up either which is pretty great. He hasn't gone back to school and I'm not sure if he will. I do understand that he talked about it with Vic but it's none of my business what they decided.

That's something that I'm getting better at these days; minding my own business. I'm just not all that nosey anymore which in my eyes in an improvement.

All in all, I'm really happy for Mike. From what I've heard, he's come such a long way. The kid had tried to kill himself for fucks sake and now look at him, he seems pretty happy.

Suddenly, a thought crosses my mind.

"Vic, I have a show to play tonight. If you don't want me to then I won't." I murmur to Vic.

"And have you let all those kids down, I don't think so." Vic grins. "We'll all come watch."

"Really?" I ask.

"Mike, Ms. Bostwick, do you want to see Kellin play a show tonight?" I ask and they both nod eagerly, neither of them having been to a show before.

"Then its settled." Vic nods.