Bent (Boyxboy)

Chapter 18

Danny froze at the door for a moment, stunned by the fact that Sebastian and his family were standing outside his door. Danny had no idea why Sebastian would be here, considering that his parents only liked to have "high class" guests over. Danny quickly recovered and stepped aside to let the three of them into the house, and fixed his smile back on to his face. He was even more surprised by the fact that Sebastian didn't have any reaction to seeing Danny at the door, but he was now more in control of his face.

"Welcome, welcome," Danny heard his mother say from behind him as Danny shut the front door. The fake cheeriness in her voice sent shivers down Danny's spine. This was not going to be a fun night. Danny sighed and went to stand next to his little brother Philip who was showing his best smile to the guests as their parents went about the introductions for them. To Danny it was fairly redundant until it got to Sebastian. They were all shaking hands as each was introduced to the other, Danny and Philip had already shaken hands with Sebastian, when Danny's parents went to shake hands with Sebastian, he just smiled and nodded.

There was this weird look Sebastian's face that made Danny wonder what exactly he was thinking. Danny's parents' smile faltered and Danny could see a flicker of malice in their eyes. He was glad that Philip didn't notice, but Danny had swallowed hard as they quickly went back to their forced smiles.

"Please, let's get away from the door and out on to the back patio," Danny's mother said as she gestured for Sebastian and his family to follow her. Danny's eyebrows shot up considering that Philip and him hadn't been out on to the back patio for leisurely purposes in years. Of course Danny and Philip had been out there to clean it and keep it well maintained but other than that they were never allowed out there. The only issue was that Danny hadn't cleaned the back patio in a couple of weeks. As Philip grabbed onto Danny's arm as they turned to follow behind Sebastian and his parents. That's when Danny noticed the Band-Aids and dirt on Philip's hands and around his fingernails. Guilt wracked Danny's body and twisted his stomach into knots as he realized that Philp had to clean it up all by himself.

Danny hugged Philip closer to his side with his unoccupied arm as he frowned. Philip just smiled and hugged onto Danny's arm tighter. Danny perked up his head when he noticed that Sebastian had watched their exchange, and with his parents now far enough away from them he was able to glare at Sebastian. The reaction that Danny received was not the one that he had been expecting. Sebastian just sighed, his eyes looking tired and a bit sad, and went to catch up with his parents. Danny was left standing there dumbfounded for a moment before Philip started to tug on his arm.

Danny slowly followed behind Sebastian, his feet dragging slightly in exhaustion, he could even tell Philip was pretty tired by him yawning. They knew though that napping was completely out of the question. Once they were out on the back patio, with the door shut securely behind them, was when they were awkwardly left out of conversation. Both Danny's parents and Sebastian's parents kept trying to draw Sebastian into conversations but he would only reply in a flat only what was necessary. Sebastian's parents did try a couple of times to bring Danny and Philip into the conversation but Danny's parents would butt in before their were able to respond.

Sebastian's parents seemed to be a confused and thrown off by his parents doing this, but Danny knew why. His parents just didn't want either of them to say anything that could incriminate them or make them look bad. Danny had barely noticed that Sebastian had wandered off towards the back garden, he probably wouldn't have even bothered to approach him if Philip hadn't have ran off towards Sebastian. Danny quickly followed as his protective older brother instincts kicked in. Philip was holding onto Sebastian's pant leg as Sebastian stared at the flowers in the garden. Philip noticed Danny's approach and smiled at him before turning back to look at the garden with Sebastian.