Rejuvenate | Spruceworth 5.2

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

~Holden~

       Grant had been staying over at our house for a few days now. He said he didn't feel comfortable enough to go to his home after his mom got mad at him for being pansexual and after he got high off of cocaine again. She already refused to help him through his addiction and now, she didn't even agree with him being pansexual.

       I felt horrible for him. My parents always accepted my sexuality. Sure, they didn't accept my relationship with Shaw for a while but at least it wasn't them not agreeing with me being gay.

       Grant felt bad that he had been staying here for a few days, feeling like he was getting in our way. We kept telling him that he wasn't and he was welcome to stay as long as he wanted, even when the kids were coming back to stay here, which was actually happening today. Shaw already left to go to Kendra's house to pick them up.

       Grant was lying on the couch right now, watching TV. Gibson was lying on top of Grant's back, sleeping peacefully. Gibson really liked having Grant around despite just meeting him a few days ago so Gibson's attitude definitely made it easier for Grant to stay here without feeling like a burden.

       The front door opened and Shaw walked inside with Mercedes, Lucian, and Castiel. I gestured to Gibson sleeping on top of Grant so Shaw told the kids they had to be quiet since their little brother was sleeping.

       Castiel was first to notice Grant so he walked over to the couch. "Who are you?"

       "Grant," Grant said.

       "I'm Castiel. Want to play a game with me?"

       "No thanks."

       Castiel frowned. "Okay..."

       Even though Castiel wouldn't purposefully annoy Grant, I didn't want him to bug Grant too much so I said, "Castiel, why don't I make you an after school snack."

       Castiel nodded and hurried over to the kitchen, climbing on one of the stools at the counter. Mercedes and Lucian wanted a snack as well so they walked over and got on the other schools. Shaw came here as well to help me with the snacks.

       "Daddy, who's that guy on the couch?" Lucian asked.

       "That is Grant," Shaw said. "He's staying here for a while."

       "Is he okay?" Castiel asked. "He seems sad."

       "He's just tired," I said. 

       "Is he tired like Daddy was?" Castiel asked.

       Shaw furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

       "When we were younger," Castiel said. "You couldn't see us a lot because you were tired and sad."

       I knew Castiel was talking about when Shaw was addicted to drugs and alcohol. Judging by the look on Shaw's face, he knew it too, especially because he stopped making the snack for the kids.

       Shaw hesitated for a while before sighing and saying, "Look, things are a lot complicated for many people. Sometimes, people take don't feel so good so they do use something that helps with that but after, they still don't feel good. But everything is okay with me now. And I'm helping Grant so everything's going to be okay with him. But while he's here, he might just need his space too. Try not to bug him too much."

       "Yeah, Lucian," Mercedes said. Lucian glared at her in reply.

       While Shaw and I were still making snacks for the kids, Gibson ended up waking up. He started climbing all over Grant, laughing as he was doing it. I couldn't tell if Grant was getting annoyed or not but I still walked over and picked up Gibson so he could leave Grant alone.

       Gibson started squirming, trying to get out of my grasp as he pointed to Grant. "Gah! Gah!"

       "Not right now," I said which caused Gibson's bottom lip to start quivering.

       "I'm fine with it," Grant said. "I have two younger brothers."

       "Are you sure?" I asked.

       "Yes, I'm sure I have two younger brothers."

       "No, I mean are you sure you're fine with Gibson playing with you? He gets very energetic."

       "I'm sure."

       I placed Gibson back on the couch and he immediately started climbing all over Grant again, thinking it was the funniest thing ever. Grant really didn't seem annoyed by it at all.

       Shaw was done making the other kids snacks so I sat down on one of the couches in the living room to watch TV as well. Grant's cell phone suddenly beeped with a message so he grabbed it to read it and when he did, he locked a bit shocked.

       "What is it?" I asked.

       "It's my mom," Grant said. "She said she's sorry for what she said when I came out and that it's okay for me to be pansexual." He sent a message back and got another one in reply. And that second one was something horrible considering he scoffed and then dropped his cell phone on the ground. "Never mind. She's still homophobic."

       "But she just said it's okay for you to be pansexual," I said.

       "Yes, and when I asked if she meant that, she said she did because in the end, I'm still attracted to girls," Grant said. "And if I really loved her, I would marry a girl. How could she say that? I have no idea who I'm going to marry. Yeah, I could marry a girl but I could also marry a very amazing guy who I love more than anything."

       Mercedes must have been eavesdropping because she said, "Tell your mom to suck an egg."

       "Mercedes," Shaw said in a warning tone.

       "What?" Mercedes asked. "There's nothing wrong with two guys getting married or two girls getting married. All that matters is that they're in love and make each other truly happy. And you're married to another guy. You should support Grant's mom sucking an egg."

       "You shouldn't be saying that," Shaw said.

       "But she's right," I said.

       "Excuse me?" Shaw asked.

       "Not about the sucking an egg part," I said. I looked at Grant. "About the part where Mercedes said that there's nothing wrong with two guys are two girls getting married. All that matters is that you're in love and happy. And if your mom truly loves you, she'll be happy if you end up marrying a guy."

       "I don't know," Grant said. "Maybe I will marry a girl. Make things easier for me."

       "You shouldn't say that," I said. "It's not about what's easy. It's what about what you truly want. You don't know who you're going to marry. I mean, I've known Shaw my whole life and had no idea I was going to marry him. Not only that but my parents were so against me and Shaw when we started dating. They were horrible about it, to be honest. But the more time that went on, they started to accept it. My dad did by the time Shaw wanted to propose to me. It just took my mom some time. And now they both fully do and they love Shaw being part of the family. Anyway, my point is it might take her some time to accept it but she will eventually."

       "I really don't think she will," Grant said. "It's just not who she is. She doesn't even want to help me out right now."

       "Do you want me to talk to her?" Shaw asked.

       "You can try but don't expect any positive outcome."

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i really missed shaw and holden <3

sorry for the long wait between updates.

and dang, i wonder what grant's mom reaction will be like if he married a guy. but alas, we'll never know.