Life Support {ManxBoy} | Mature Content

Chapter 07

Chapter Seven:

Beth stared at her son from the doorway of his room, trying to make sense of what he was doing, her own mother standing rather noisily behind her. She didn't bother say anything to her mother, knowing full well the older woman would have a mouthful of things to say in response. That wasn't unusual, however, what was odd was she had never seen Cyro pack so many clothes into his suitcases, and he had never gone on extended trips without telling her well in advance. Be that as it may, no matter how much she searched her memory she couldn't remember him saying anything about a trip.

"Cyro, dear, why are you packing so much stuff?" Beth jumped slightly as Ella, her mother, Cyro's grandmother, spoke up suddenly from where she stood behind her. He looked up at them for a second before looking back at his suitcase pondering if he was really packing a lot of stuff. In truth, he probably wouldn't need it all, just clothes and school stuff.

"I'm moving, Gran, isn't that great?" Cyro replied forcing a smile, it was odd that he couldn't seem to smile naturally over this. He'd accepted the offer freely, it wasn't as if Vance had twisted his arm and told him he had to do it, so he was lost as to why he couldn't be more happy about it. He was getting ahead with this, he could be free in from Vance in ten years if it was really awful, not that it seemed like it would be.

Vance wasn't really a bad guy when Cyro thought about him, he was intimidating and certainly irritating but more than anything he just seemed to prefer distancing himself from people. Which would be a good thing if they were just going to divorce in ten years. He couldn't imagine how hard a divorce would be in a real marriage, one with feelings and memories of what things were like before it went downhill. He wondered if maybe it would be hard even if he and Vance just treated it as a deal, shuffling things around in his suitcase he couldn't help but wonder if maybe he should be looking at this deal as a real marriage and not just a way for Vance to get his daughter back.

He sighed, taking a few things out of his suitcase, deciding he really didn't need them if he was going to be moving into someone else's home. His mother and grandmother stayed glued to his doorway watching intensely til he sighed once more and began telling them what had happened to make him move out of the house. He was careful to pick and choose what he told his family. Letting them know the truth that he was getting married to a man but leaving out the reason for it while also lying about how long he'd known Vance.

"Well I'm glad you're getting married, I always worried that you weren't listening to me when I said God would never forgive you for sex outside of marriage but I know that you haven't been having sex behind my back. I'm so happy for you, I'm sure it'll be great we'll have it at our church and invite the whole congregation. I can't wait to make that old woman eat her words about all gays being shameful whores because my son is no whore and-"

"Mom." Cyro whined shaking his head as he finally turned to face her and his grandmother. "We decided not to have a wedding, we went to the courthouse and got everything done this morning."

He felt slightly bad as he watched his mother pale at his response. Walking over to the women in the doorway his extended his hand out, his grandmother grabbing it immediately to inspect the ring now placed on his finger. His mother seemed to struggle for words as she looked over to his grandmother, obviously hoping she would say something but the older woman said nothing. Instead, she stepped closer taking his hand from his mother's grip to look at it, as his mother finally able to collect herself.

"What, Cyro, how could you? You haven't even introduced us to him. I could understand waiting until things were serious but waiting until after you're already married, why?"

"The boy can make his own decisions Bethany." His grandmother tsked, she looked at him for a moment her expression unreadable for a while then she shook her head and sighed. "We can't expect him to want to stay here and take care of us forever, he wants to do what young people do, have his own life, ya know."

He couldn't help but feel as if his grandmother had just dropped a giant bag of guilt on him, and it certainly was heavy. He had no idea what to say to that, he had never really thought of living with his mother and grandmother as him taking care of them, he always just saw it as a cost-effective way to get through college. Thinking back on it though the only reason he had never gotten a job once he started college was because his grandmother had insisted that it would be a bad idea. So maybe all this time they had viewed it as him being around to take care of them.

"I never really thought you two needed taking care of." Cyro admitted as he twirled a strand of hair around his finger, his mind working rapidly to think about the things he did around the house and what kind of hole he'd be leaving if he left home. "Maybe we should get you two a housekeeper or something like that, to pick up the slack once I'm gone?"

"And who would pay for that?" Ella asked arching her eyebrow in disbelief before shaking her head and continuing. "I don't need a housekeeper I'm more than able, thank you though dear, just try and make sure not to forget us too quickly."

"Gran, I would never forget you or mom and I'll be bringing him and his daughter over to meet you as soon as we get settled, I promise." Cyro stated finally turning back to pack as his mother began asking questions about Vance and his daughter. He thanked god for his mother's overwhelming love of the idea of grandchildren to distract from the awkward guilt that his grandmother seemed to be projecting. Soon his grandmother rejoined the conversation sitting down on the bed next to his suitcase as she fired off her own set of questions about Maxine, the awkwardness seemingly evaporating from the room.