Mark stood silently at the gate waiting for Aaron and Fred to exit the plane. He still wasn't sure what he thought he'd seen on the plane. He thought maybe he'd had one too many glasses of champagne, or that weird first-class curtain had been distorting things. But then he'd moved it aside and knew he wasn't hallucinating.
There were two of his lifelong friends cuddled together like a couple of lovers. Mark had to question whether he had really seen Fred caress Aaron's face. Or whether Aaron had actually fucking kissed his fingers in response. He sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands.
Fred came through the gate with Aaron close behind. Aaron was yawning widely, and Fred looked exhausted. Mark wondered suddenly where the fuck that backpack had come from and why a blanket was hanging out the top of it.
"Hey Mark! How was your fancy flight?" Fred asked. Mark crossed his arms.
"Well pretty good, pretty good," he started. "I got up about halfway through to come back and see how you guys were doing."
Fred's smile faltered for a second, but he caught it quickly. If Mark hadn't been paying close attention he might have missed it.
"Oh, yeah, well," Fred said. "We mostly slept." Aaron was standing behind Fred, face blazing red. Mark nodded glancing between the two men.
"Yeah, well, it did look pretty comfortable. At least from where I was standing." Mark raised his eyebrows. Aaron's face flushed more deeply if that were even possible. This time Fred sighed, and he dropped the facade.
"Come on man, can we not do this here? We just got off a long ass flight. Give me a break." Fred's voice had lowered to a murmur. It had a warning tone to it, a tone that Mark had heard on several occasions throughout his life, when Fred would feel the need to defend someone important to him, his mom, his sister, his girlfriend. But it was never a tone Fred had used to defend Mark or Aaron before. Mark knew in that moment that what he had seen was, in fact, an accurate representation of what was going on.
"Jesus Christ, you guys," Mark muttered quietly. "What happened in Vegas?" A long pause followed. Fred's eyes blazed at Mark with warning.
"Listen, we'll tell you alright?" Aaron suddenly spoke up. "Just not here and not now. I'm too fucking tired." Mark stared at both men, looking from one to the other. Finally, he let out a sigh.
"Fine, fine." He held up his hands in surrender. "But Fred, you tell me on the way home, we carpooled here. I'm not riding with you for 45 fucking minutes home acting like nothing is different."
Fred looked at Aaron and put a hand on his shoulder. The three men had planned to carpool all together, but Aaron's work schedule had been so crazy on Friday he had driven to the airport on his own. He'd almost missed their flight out to Vegas.
Aaron held Fred's gaze for a minute then shrugged.
"It's fine. Probably we should tell him together, but I... I can't here. You tell him Fred," Aaron lowered his gaze to the ground and started towards baggage claim to pick up his golf clubs. Fred sighed deeply and glared at Mark.
"Oh, what the fuck?" Mark asked, spreading his arms out.
"Let's just get our clubs, I'll catch you up in the car," Fred said and began to follow Aaron.
"Oh, my god," Mark muttered and followed behind Fred.
~~~~~~
Fred pulled up in front of Mark's townhouse. He saw the front curtain twitch and there was Kate waving at them from the window. Fred sighed and waved out his window over the top of the car at her.
"I have to tell Kate," Mark said. Fred sighed again and scrubbed one hand over his face.
"Sure, fine. I'll let Aaron know," Fred said. "But no one else alright. Don't let her tell her fucking sister. Everyone will know then." Mark frowned.
"I'll tell her to keep it quiet," Mark paused.
He had been shocked into silence while Fred related what had happened in Vegas. He felt like an idiot for not noticing and that made him realize just how distracted he'd been during the entire trip. A wave of shame had washed over him for being so checked out, but Fred didn't seem upset about it. Mark sat for a moment longer in the car.
"What do you think your folks are going to say?" Mark asked. Fred grimaced at the question.
"I've been wondering that," Fred admitted. "I think my dad is going to be OK eventually. But my mom and Jennifer..." Fred trailed off.
"Jennifer's going to be a bitch about it," Mark said. Fred nodded.
"Jennifer's a bitch about everything," Fred said. Mark shrugged.
"She's your sister though."
"She is my sister. I just... Fuck. This is going to be really fucking hard," Fred admitted finally. "It all seemed so easy in Vegas."
Throughout the last couple of days, he'd convinced himself it would be fine. But he knew it wouldn't. They were going to lose friends, family was going to cut them off, he might not get to see his nephews ever again if Jennifer really lost her mind about this whole thing.
"Look, man. We've been friends our whole life. I feel like I know you and I know Aaron. This is...really surprising to me. Especially after what a womanizer you've been your whole life. I think there's going to be a time of adjustment. It's going to be weird for a while," Mark said. Fred felt tears sting his eyes and a wave of anger followed at the feeling. He pushed it back as Mark continued.
"With that said, you and Aaron are my best friends. If this is what you both want, I support you. I can't say I understand or that I get it. I absolutely do not. But I trust you guys." Mark sighed as he finished. One tear rolled down Fred's cheek and he swiped it away quickly. He sniffed loudly and held out his hand.
"Thanks man, that really means a lot," Fred said. Mark grabbed his hand and pulled him into a quick hug.
"Better go. Kate's probably wondering what we're doing out here," Mark said. Fred nodded, sniffed again, and popped the trunk.
Mark got out of the car and saw Kate standing at the open front door of their townhouse. She waved again to Fred as Mark pulled his bag and clubs out of the trunk.
"Hey Fred!" Kate called.
