La Maison 2: Differences (Complete: BDSM mxm)

Some time later: Ellis

A/N: so this is it. Last chapter 😭

Enjoy

"Are you nervous?"

What a question! Of course I'm nervous, barely able to stop my hands from physically shaking. We agreed that my father – my father! What the fuck? – was going to come to Suzu's house – our home. Nikki and Landon borrowed a car from Suzu and went to get him from the airport. I know Nikki was really excited at the idea of him coming, though he's been trying to hide it from me, because I, on the other hand, have not been doing a great job of hiding my concern.

I have to remember that, other than impregnating my mother during an affair, none of what has ever happened to me has been his fault. But, somehow, I'm still scared, as if he's going to enter the house and start beating me for being a terrible son. He won't. Nikki has been careful to tell me he's a good man, that he's kind, and loving.

I change five times between Nikki messaging that his flight has been announced and when there's finally the knock on the door and I hear Allie moving to answer it. I hear Nikki introducing Allie to his father – shit, my father – and that man being surprised that we have a butler (reminds me of me, to be fair), before Allie leads them to the living room.

Suzu sits on one of the couches, looking calm and so beautiful, while I stand by the cold fireplace, undoubtedly looking the opposite of calm.

"Ellis," that man says – my father – looking at me with, with hope, perhaps? He's very tall. Probably almost as tall as Suzu, lean, with brown hair grayed at the temples. He looks handsome, and distinguished. His glasses make his eyes look very large and round, and give him the air of an absent-minded professor.

I don't know what to say to him. I can't call him Dad, obviously. I just stare, trembling a bit.

"Mr. Anderson," Suzu says, standing to shake his hand, "welcome to America. Or back to America, I guess?"

"Yes. Hello. Please call me Brian, er...?"

"François Girard. I'm Ellis' boyfriend."

"Well, it's wonderful to meet you." He shakes more enthusiastically, smiling in a way that makes me feel a little safer, a little more relaxed.

He turns back to me, his smile more secure now.

"It's wonderful to see you, Ellis. You look so much like Nikolai."

"It's, er, good to see you, too."

We sit, then, Nikki next to Brian, Landon taking an armchair, while I sit too close to Suzu, needing his strength. I see Brian's eyes flick to my collar and away. It's a delicate piece that looks like a necklace to anyone not in the know, though the look makes me wonder if he might be more in the know than I'd assumed. I won't be embarrassed though, not of that, not of what Suzu means to me. He doesn't ask about it though, just asks me about my school, and my piano playing, while Leeanna brings in afternoon tea, and he looks even more gobsmacked at us having a housekeeper, too, though he makes no mention of it.

Slowly, it becomes less uncomfortable, as I become more used to simply calling him Brian, and I relax into knowing he isn't going to ask me anything awkward. I know Nikki warned him off mentioning my mother, which I'm grateful for.

We've been talking for hours, and I'm surprised at how quickly, and easily, the time vanished, when he takes my hands in his, leaning forward.

"I should have known that you would be artistic," he says with a wry smile, "Nikolai has wonderful talents too, and I think it must have come down my line, even if it skipped a generation in me, he certainly didn't get it from his mother." It's the closest he's come to mentioning my mother, but he doesn't, just looks sheepish.