Master's Boy (mxb)

Chapter Thirty-Six

Robert's POV

My parents both glared at me with an equal amount of distaste.

"I don't agree with your father," my mother continued mercilessly. "I don't think that it's the boy that's dragging you down. I think that you are not being a very good man."

Shit. That was my biggest fear, with Jerry, but I tried not to let her words get to me.

"There is an abuse of power when an older person dates a younger person," she continued. And she was right, of course. "This boy would be better off dating someone his own age."

I didn't know how to argue against her statement, because there obviously was a certain amount of power that an older person had over a younger person. Or, at least, there could be. If I wanted to tie Jerry to me by buying him things and saying he owes me, I could. If I wanted to demean him by stating that I knew more and had more valid opinions because of my age, I could. But I wasn't.

"I disagree," I decided, and I meant it. "I understand why you have concerns. They're valid. But the truth is that Jerry and I have a healthy, balanced relationship."

My dad scoffed. "I simply do not understand what is appealing to you about an adolescent."

"I don't expect you to understand what draws me and Jerry together." It was way too complicated, and way too rated R. "I don't even expect you to like it. I would just appreciate if you didn't make him feel badly."

It was a losing battle. I could already tell that they'd made up their minds, and that hurt a little bit. But I could also live with it.

My parents and I had a rocky relationship anyway. I'd long ago stopped trying to please them. I'd even longer ago stopped trying to convince them that a 'nice woman' was the right choice for me romantically.

Neither of them had answered and the silence was awkward. Thankfully, I'd already eaten and had full ability to leave.

And Jerry was waiting for me at home, probably looking adorable and feeling lonely in my big, empty house. So why stay?

"I think I'm going to get going," I said light-heartedly. "Can we put this behind us? I've only been dating Jerry for a month now, so there's no point in getting upset right now. I can understand if you thought I was getting married to the wrong man, but this feels like an overreaction to me."

They both looked unconvinced.

Finally, Mom cracked. "Fine. Maybe we can go out for dinner together."

Dad scoffed.

"Maybe," I decided. "I hope we can. But I'm not letting you near him until I'm positive you won't say anything hurtful, so let's hope that dinner can happen soon."

I stood up, grabbed my shit, said goodbye, and stalked out.

It wasn't that I hated my parents, or even that I was mad at them. I understood their reasoning. In the beginning, I'd had the same thoughts. But now I knew better than to judge my relationship by a simple number difference; our relationship had positives, and it would probably have negatives in time, but they were because of who we were, not our ages.

The sound of blasting music greeted me by the time I got back to my house. I shook my head and tried to practice my stern face, but it always failed when I was face to face with Jerry.

My neighbors had definitely began to hate me ever since I started dating my darling boyfriend.

I opened the door to a musical performance of a lifetime, in which Jerry was air-strumming a broom and twerking. He belted out the lyrics to a Harry Styles song like his life depended on it.