“Any other questions?” Marcus quizzes them, and they both look at each other before shaking their heads in unison.
“Actually, yeah, I do,” Cameron states. “Can we go up to the rec hall now?”
“Will you have Brody back at a reasonable hour and not let him get too sugar amped? Don’t think I didn’t notice what you two brought back from the store earlier. Cripes, that candy stash had to weigh somewhere in the metric tons,” Marcus replies. “I’ll remind you that you’re the one sleeping in a tent with him tonight. You want him up, yakking your ear off all night?”
Brody dramatically scoffs, and Cameron chuckles. “I won’t be able to hear him with my hearing aids out, but sure, I can do that, Mr. Antonucci.”
“Hey! Cut it out with that,” Marcus teases. “Call me whatever you want—besidesthat—just don’t call me late for dinner.”
Brody shoots out of the chair like a rocket. I just barely catch him before he whizzes off after Cameron. “Baby, please be safe up there. Listen to Cam when he says it’s time to go, please?”
He sighs dramatically. “Yes, Mom,” he drawls, his tone laced with exasperation. “And don’t accept any drinks from strangers, and always keep my eyes open for people behaving strangely.”
I cross my arms over my chest and sit back, poking my tongue in my cheek. “Well, pardon me for wanting to make sure nothing happens to my son. Just so happens I love him very much, and don’t want anythingbad to happen to him.”
“Brody, don’t give your mom attitude,” Marcus pipes up, always sticking up for me. “You know the rules. Now apologize to her and then scram before I change my mind about letting you go up there.”
Brody dips his head and looks back at me apologetically. “I’m sorry, Mum,” he says and signs at the same time.
The words come out sincere. The hug he gives me afterwards also shows me he feels bad. It’s not often that he gives me any sass, and so I have to chalk it up as not knowing how to properly process everything before running off to go do what everyone else his age is doing instead.
I cup the back of his head and whisper in his ear. “I love you, hun. Your safety will always come first for me though.”
“I know. I love you too, Mum.”
After the two of them scamper off, I turn my attention back to Marcus and Caleb. Caleb is leaned forward, absentmindedly twirling the poker stick around in the bed of coals beneath the fire. Marcus is leaning back in his tipped-back chair, one leg lazily crossed over the other, scratching at his facial hair.
He puffs out a long breath after a few beats of silence. “Well, that didn’t go how I expected at all. Better than I thought though.”
Caleb and I nod in agreement.
“Why do you suppose kids get it better than adults do?” Marcus hums, gazing up at the stars that dot the sky behind the tree tops.
Caleb snorts, tapping Marcus’ arm to get his attention. “Because to them everything is still fairly simple. Love is love. Why complicate it with preconceived prejudices, radical politics, and other bullshit? That’s the kind of stuff we get into as adults. Love, at its very core, is an inherent need. When you start adding all that other stuff into the mix, that’s when you get biases on who you can love, how many you can love, and so on and so forth.”
Marcus scoffs. “Tell that to my parents.”
“I’d do it right now, if you wanted me to. Hell, we can video chat with them. I’ve never met them, but I’m not opposed to setting them straight—or, I guess, gay… and polyamorous.”
Marcus and I both chuckle. “Neither of his parents know sign language,” I explain. “And, I’m sorry, but they scare the pants off me. I don’t want to get on their bad side by interpreting for you for that conversation.”
“Nah, I do want to tell them eventually though,” Marcus states after a few beats. “All this opening up I’ve done this past weekend has emboldened me, I guess. I know I need to,” he sighs.
Caleb shrugs. “You’ve told the main person it matters to the most, and he took it well. That’s all that matters. Everything else is what it is and will be what it will be.” He pauses, biting his lip. “Marcus, I’m proud of you.”
Marcus leans over, pressing a kiss on Caleb’s lips. “Thank you, C. That means a lot.”
“You know what you and I haven’t done in years?” Caleb asks Marcus.
“Um.” Marcus chuckles. “Many things? Deep throating one another, for starters.”
Caleb doubles over in silent laughter. When he finally reins it in, he signs, “Well, yeah. That too, but I was thinking about how we used to just fuckin' dance, for the hell of it, to eighties music while we were out at bonfires on the beach…”
Marcus looks as though he’s lost in a memory for a moment, before he hops up from his chair and goes digging around in Brody’s tent for something. When he returns, he’s got a wireless speaker. He nods towards Caleb’s phone.
“Queue something up, DJ,” he remarks.
Caleb thumbs through his phone, appearing thoughtful in his selection process. Finally, it seems he’s settled on something. When he sets his phone down, rising to a stand beside Marcus and extending an arm out as an invite to a slow-dance, Foreigner’sI Want To Know What Love Isstarts playing.
