Not Ashamed

'Chapter Fourteen ✓×

Axel and I walk upstairs, finding a tall man with blond hair like Axel and Bailey's, holding Bailey in his arms. She's too old to be held like this, of course, but neither Bailey nor Mr Tomas are complaining.

"Axel!" Mr Tomas smiles widely, fondness glimmering in his eyes as he lays Bailey back onto her feet. He pulls Axel into a hug. He hugs Axel so tight he picks him off his feet, making Bailey and Axel laugh out loud, and me quietly chuckle into my hand.

"Dad! Put me down!" Axel laughs. Mr Tomas puts Axel back on his feet, still grinning.

"Sorry. As long as I can lift you, you're still kids," he replies, making me smile. He notices me, welcoming me with kind eyes. "Well well, this is a new face. Axel's friend, I assume?"

"Yes, sir," I reply awkwardly.

"Sir? Axel, where did you find such a proper boy?" He asks, making Axel raise an eyebrow my way. "Don't be silly, son. Call me William. And my wife, call her Mia. I swear, if I hear Miss or Mister tonight I'll take my eyes out with a turkey baster."

"If you do you have to wash it!" Mia calls from the kitchen.

William groans playfully. "Then it's not worth it."

Bailey grabs her dad's hand, trying to pull him down the hall.

"Dad! Dad, look! Come on, mom let me paint my room!" She squeals. William kicks his shoes off quickly and follows Bailey down the hall.

"She paints her own room?" I whisper to Axel in astonishment. Axel nods.

"Yep. When she was younger she painted up the hall with finger paints. She cried when mom said she wanted to take it off, so it stayed until she found something more interesting. Now, she gets free range to paint her own room once every so often."

"Wow."

Axel smiles at me, patting me on the back.

"Don't worry, when you get your own place you can draw Steven Universe characters all over your walls too."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"C'mon," Axel says, taking my hand and opening the front door.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going out!" He calls, ignoring my question. He gives me a cheeky grin and pulls me outside with him.

"Axel," I laugh, "where are we going?"

"Shut up and come on."

We walk down the cute, peaceful neighborhood, Axel grinning knowingly while I stare at him with affectionate confusion.

He leads me to a small playground with multicoloured equipment. He excitedly pulls me over to the monkey bars first.

"I couldn't do these when I was younger," he explains amusingly. I smile at him as he tries the monkey bars, having to fold up his legs so his feet don't scrape across the gravel. He makes it half way across before he squeals and jumps back to his feet.

"What happened?" I laugh. Axel stares up at the bars.

"There was a spider!"

I shake my head at him. "Don't worry, I'll save you."

I climb halfway across the monkey bars, finding the spider crawling around on the bars. I let go of my right hand, holding myself on with my left hand. I hold a finger out to the spider and it crawls into my hand. I swing my legs so I can let go of my right hand and grab the next bar in a flash. Axel gasps.

"Oh my god, you are not going to do the rest of those with one hand!" He breaths. I smirk, taking the challenge.

I make it all the way across with one hand, the palm of my left hand sore from the bars. I let the spider crawl off my finger and onto a different part of the playset. I hop off the set, bowing to Axel as he claps for me.

"Wow, my knight in shining armour!"

He runs over and hugs me tightly, his arms around my neck. I laugh into his hair. When he pulls away, he stays close, with his hands placed over my collar bone. That distant, thoughtful look is back on his face.

"Finn," he says. "believe it or not, this isn't the only reason I brought you here."

I laugh quietly. "Oh really? I thought for sure you brought me here to show me your sick monkey bar skills."

"I think we should talk, and we very well couldn't do it in the house. Bailey will more than likely be all over you all weekend. You've got a very likable personality."

I shake my head. "No, I don't. But carry on."

"Well, I like you, and I feel I've made my feelings quite clear. I've been a little insensitive with you when it comes to this topic, and I just think we should put everything out in the open."

I pause, exhaling. I step back a little, Axel's arms floating back down to his side's. He has a hopeful look in his eyes that makes me want to choose my words very carefully.

"Axel, I've only ever liked one other guy, and I didn't do anything about it. I let him slip through my fingers and I never saw him again. I don't want that to happen with you. You're so... you're just incredible, and I don't know how to deal with incredible. I know nothing about incredible. I've never even been close to incredible. And then you came along and made me question why I've let my life be so mediocre, and so devoid of incredible. I just don't want to mess this up, and messing things up happens to be my specialty."

"All that should matter is that we both like each other. Who cares about anything else?"

"And if this all ends in flames?"

"I'll help you clean up the ashes."

I smile, breathing a sigh of relief and terror. With thoughts bouncing off the inside of my skull, I nod.

"Okay," I say. "What does this make us?"

Axel grins ear to ear. "Boyfriends?"

I hug him, which clearly catches him off guard. "Boyfriends."