I Know Him: Final Book in the Adopted by Jonathan Groff Trilogy

🌹Chapter LXXXI

<Via's POV>

The doorbell rings and Peach starts barking loudly. I stand up to get it, pulling her away from the door. Groff barrels inside, tightly hugging me.

"Jesus Christ, Groff," I laugh, pushing him off. "You haven't even been here for a second."

"Your point being?"

"Personal space, Groff." I wave him away, pulling Peach back. He takes off his shoes and hugs me again. "You want something to drink? Coffee?"

"A glass of water would be nice. I've had, like, three cups of coffee this morning already." He crouches down to pet Peach.

"I can tell." I walk to the kitchen and get two bottles of water. Groff sits on the chair while I sit on the couch.

"Where's Beth?"

"She and Loki went to pick up some last minute things for dinner. I thought Mark was supposed to be here with you."

"Well, Mark and I have... separated."

"Separated? You're getting a divorce?"

"Yeah. Caught him cheating. Twice." He chuckles and takes a drink of his water.

"Knew I should've castrated that bitch when I had the chance." Groff laughs and shakes his head. He suddenly chokes out a sob and puts his head in his hands. I stay silent, sitting back. "Do you want me to kick his punk ass?"

"No. No, I- it's not worth it." Peach trots over and puts her head in his lap.

"No one fucks with my family and gets away with it, Dad." Groff looks up at me, softly smiling. "Do you want me to kick his ass?"

"No. Just having you and Beth is enough for me." I smile and he smiles back, wiping off his face. "So, how's life?"

"Life is good. Better than it's been in... a long time. Forever, probably."

"Good."

"We're home!" Beth calls. Peach scampers off to the kitchen. I hear Beth setting the groceries in the kitchen. "Groff!"

 "Hey, Beth." She runs over and tightly hugs him. "I missed you, kid."

"I missed you, too! How long have you been here?"

"Ten minutes or so."

"Mom, where do you want--" Loki trails off. "Nevermind."

"You must be Loki," Groff says, standing up. Loki glances at me and I nod.

"Hi," they say quietly. Groff hugs them and they freeze in surprise. "Uhh..."

"I'm so happy to finally meet you. I've been waiting to talk to you for ages."

"Why don't you sit with Za and Groff, and I'll finish putting away the groceries," Beth says. Loki slowly nods and hands her something, walking over to sit with me.

"Loki, this is my dad," I say. They give him a small wave. "Groff, this is Loki."

"Hi. I'm Jonathan Groff. You can call me... Honestly, you can call me whatever you want."

 "You're Kristoff from Frozen, aren't you?" Loki asks. Groff nods, beaming. "I always thought he and Ryder should've gotten together in the second one."

"Well, I didn't have much control over that, unfortunately. But I like the way you think, Loki." Loki smiles, staring at their lap. "That's a cool name, by the way."

"Thanks. I picked it out myself." Groff nods and glances at me. Beth walks out of the kitchen and sits on my other side, kissing my cheek.

•••

"Alright, alright," I tease. "Back off, you animals."

"Presents!" Beth cries. I hand her a large box and she grins excitedly. I hand Groff an envelope, and Loki gets a gift bag. I pick at a small wrapped box with my name on it. "Wow, Loki."

"Is it good?" they ask nervously.

"It's gorgeous." I look up and Beth holds up a dark red, velvet dress. "Thank you, honey!"

"Via, what'd you get?" Beth asks. I hand her another box (a new laptop for her YouTube channel). "What'd you get?"

"A notebook."

"Well, that's useful, isn't it?"

"It's alright."

"Sorry," Loki says. "You were really hard to buy something for."

"I'll get some use out of it eventually." I hand them a large Amazon box. "Merry Christmas."

"What's this?" they ask nervously. It's so large that they have to put it on the floor to open it. I hand them a box cutter.

"Well, I have a friend who happens to be a costume designer for Broadway, and he was pretty interested in your sewing. So, he donated some materials to you."

"Oh..." Loki gasps. They pull out dark blue fabric, grinning. "This is beautiful."

"He wants you to make something out of it and show it to him."

"What?" I nod and they stare at the box. "I- I can't just use this. This fabric is super expensive."

"But it's free for you. So put it to good use." Loki quickly nods and puts the box off to the side. Beth nods to me and I hand Groff another present. "There's another present in your room."

They quickly run upstairs and Beth smiles at me, sliding down to sit on the floor with me. Loki shrieks upstairs, and I hear them quickly running downstairs. The practically tackle me with a hug, squealing.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" they squeal. "I can't believe you really got me a mannequin!"

"Mhmm." I lightly pat their shoulder and they grin at me. "It's yours to do as you please."

 "I promise I'll take care of it. It will be my baby."

"Enjoy." They stand up, skipping back to the couch. Groff smiles at them, and I open my present. It's a beautiful set of new headphones.

"I saw them at the store, and I knew you'd want them," Beth says. I kiss her cheek, smiling as I take them out of the box. They're the perfect shade of blue, and they're noise-cancelling.

"What happened to the headphones I gave you, like, ten years ago?" Groff asks.

"They broke after, what, two years? So, I've just been using fucking--" Beth sharply elbows me-- "Ow! Apple earbuds."

"I see." The oven beeps and Beth jumps up to check on dinner. "Thanks for the presents, Via."

"No problem."

"Thanks, Za," Loki says. "I'm taking my stuff upstairs."

"Okay, kid." They grab their box of fabric and awkwardly carry it upstairs.

"Thanks for inviting me," Groff says.

"It wouldn't be a good Christmas without you, old man."

"Oh, I'm old now, am I?"

"Like a fucking dinosaur."

"Via, profanity!" Beth calls from the kitchen. "And dinner's ready."