Best + Bitter = Better

Thirty Five days after

Something Geoff forgot to note yesterday is the decorations. Awsten has always been a very Christmassy guy, but he never knew why... now he does. The entire house is covered in sparkly things. There's tinsel along the edge of the ceiling in every room, tinsel on the banister, tinsel surrounding every frame, mirror and light fixing. There's baubles hanging down from the ceiling, that Geoff has to duck under when he entered the dining room.

Dinner with the Knights' is more amazing than Geoff could ever hope. While he is still a little self conscious, they've made him feel so at home.

"Thank you, Mrs. Knight. The food is wonderful." He smiles at Awsten's mother. It's true, he's never had food as good as this before.

"Awe, thank you, dear. It's been a while since someone complimented my food." She says, giving a pointed glare to her husband.

The conversation flows amazingly well and Geoff is included in it 100%. Subjects vary from uni to hobbies to future plans and, because Geoff is so comfortable, he doesn't have any trouble answering any of them.

There's a knock at the door that startles the flow of conversation. They all look confusedly at each other. Awsten excuses himself to go get it. Because the dining room is next to the entrance hall, but blocked by a wall - they can hear but they can't see.

The door opens and then they hear shouting. The shouting sounds familiar to Geoff, so without hesitation he jumps up from his seat and runs to the door.

There, he sees Mark. Not this shit again. "How could you leave and not tell me? You were staying at that pricks house and then you just fucking left. Now, you are coming with me, so we can spend some time together and you are going to enjoy it!"

"No, he isn't." Geoff interrupts. He places his shoulder just in front off Awsten's, to shield him slightly.

"Like you can tell me what I can and can't do!" He yells at Geoff. "Wait, why is he here? Are you cheating on me?" His voice slows as he shouts at Awsten, it makes him seem more ominous.

"No no no! It's nothing like that, babe, I'm with you! I swear!" Awsten pleads with Mark, but he's having none of it.

Before Awsten knows it, Mark has swung a punch at him and hits his face. He falls backwards and falls onto the floor. Mark goes to injure him further, but the rage in Geoff causes him to throw a punch too. A hard one straight at his nose. While Mark is in a state of shock, Geoff opens the door and pushes him outside. He shuts and locks the door, then turns back to Awsten. He is sitting on the floor crying with Gracie beside him, trying to comfort him. Geoff wants to cry at the sight.

"Oh, baby." He hums as he crouches beside him and tucks some hair behind his ear. "I'm so sorry, I should have seen that coming." He kneels closer to Awsten and opens his arms, "Come here." He mutters softly.

Without hesitation, Awsten dives into his chest and sobs. Geoff strokes his hair in silence while Awsten just cries. "Hey, baby. We should get you an ice pack, yeah?" Geoff whispers. He turns to Gracie who is knelt watching them with a fond smile, "Can you get an icepack please?" He asks and she gets up immediately.

"We'll give you two some space." Mrs. Knight states.

Geoff doesn't know quite how to apologise for ruining her evening. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ruin anything." He apologises and hopes that what happened doesn't cloud her views of him.