A deep breath, and Misha eyed Gabriel by his side, who responded with an encouraging smile. Somehow, his partner had managed to free up his schedule and accompany him to his parents' for the dreaded supper. Yuki, too, had a day off and stood beside Masha.
"You're knocking, or I'm knocking?" her sister asked him, and Misha felt his body stiffen. He pursed his lips and glared at the door, as if it were his worst enemy. "Alright, fine, I will."
"Wait, Masha—!"
Masha didn't wait, banging on the door instead. They couldn't stand on the doorsteps forever, especially when the temperature was freezing. A few strands of Misha's and Yuki's hair had already started to gather frost, and their noses had turned red under the cold wind's mistreatment. They had to knock at some point, anyway, so they might as well get over with it now.
Even if Misha knew that, it didn't make it any easier, and he felt his heart leap into his throat when rushed footsteps echoed, and his mother opened the door with so much strength that it almost fell off its hinges. Yet, despite the grand entrance, once her eyes met her children's, no word came out of her mouth.
Ultimately, it was his father who gently pushed his wife aside to allow them to come inside. He nodded to the group, saying, "Dinner's ready. Let's go sit at the table, alright?"
Neither Misha nor his sister felt like answering aloud, so they nodded and entered the house in silence, refusing to look at their mother.
The warmer temperature prickled his skin as Misha slowly removed his coat and boots. Then, he turned around to take Gabriel's coat to hang it in the closet. Masha did the same for Yuki.
A delicious smell wafted to his nose, and Misha heard his stomach rumble. He froze for an instant, eying his sister, as if to ask her if she could smell the same thing as him. Her answer was a slow nod.
Apparently, their mother had prepared one of their favorite meals.
Unsure what to think, Misha scrambled closer to Gabriel for comfort. Maybe the nervousness was trashing his bowels too much, for he felt a soaring pain bubbling up in his stomach. Even if his mother seemed to try to make an effort, he hadn't forgotten the words that had left her mouth the last time. No matter what, it wasn't something he could forgive with the snap of his finger, and certainly not just because of a simple meal. Still, maybe not everything was lost.
Sitting between Gabriel and Masha, Misha stared at the pot of beef bourguignon. It looked delicious, and he had to watch himself not to drool at the sight. He pretended not to hear his partner's muffled chuckle and his sister's exasperated sigh.
Come on, guys, I know Mom is trying to bribe us, but this looks so frigging good. How the heck am I supposed to stay impassible to delicious food?! Don't ask for the impossible!
His father cleared his throat, and Misha snapped out of his thoughts. Finally, he consented to shift his attention from the food to his parents. "My condolences for your loss, Gabriel. I know I told you over the phone, but I wanted to tell you in person, too."
"Thank you." Gabriel nodded, but didn't say anything more. His kind smile didn't falter, either.
"How about we start to eat?" Masha scratched her cheek, breaking the awkward atmosphere that was trying to shroud the dining room. She added for good measure, "I'm starving."
"That sounds like a lovely idea." Her mother smiled stiffly, and sounds of clatter and cutlery filled the room as people started to serve themselves. At first, the pot was filled to the brim, but now over half of it was gone.
Silence settled in the room once again, and Misha focused on chewing on his beef. The atmosphere felt so uncomfortable that he wanted to bury himself six feet under. On the bright side, the food was delicious, as expected. He hadn't inherited his culinary skills from the neighbor, after all.
The stalemate lasted until his mother spoke, "I'm sorry for what I said last time. It was rude and insensitive of me."
Misha stilled mid-movement, a silly look on his face as the fork hung just below his mouth. He couldn't help but wonder if his ears were playing tricks on him, but his mother continued, her eyes locked onto her plate, as if she could not face them.
"Your father has insisted that I sit and learn more about, well, gay people and LGBTQ communities these past few weeks. He brought up documentaries and research papers. We visited a lot of places, too, and talked to a lot of people. I now understand that what I said was out of place and not true in the slightest. My ignorance can't excuse what I've said, but if you're ready to give me a second chance, I'd like to learn more about your orientation. I can't say I agree wholeheartedly with it, but I want to accept it. You're my dear children, no matter what, and I don't want a rift to be created between us because of this."
Momentarily forgetting how to speak, Misha stared blankly at his mother's lowered head. What did she just say? His brain was still processing her words when his mother scratched her nose and added, half-jokingly, "I guess I'm just sad we won't get grandkids."
"About that," Yuki spoke, drawing everyone's attention to her, including the Lesskov siblings, who seemed to be at a loss for words, "insemination is always a possibility. Nowadays, you don't need to go through the conventional route to make babies. If needs be, I can always bear Misha's, and Masha Gabriel's. Having kids isn't impossible for LGBTQ couples. It's only more difficult."
"Yuki," Masha mumbled, her cheeks flushed red as she buried her face into her hands, "I don't think that's the right time and place to talk about such things."
"But you do want to have kids, don't you?"
"Yes, I do! But!"
"If Gabriel and Misha aren't interested," Yuki continued with her usual factual but calm tone, "we can always go to a sperm bank instead. We're already in our mid-twenties, and the longer we wait, the harder the pregnancy will be for our bodies and the higher the chance of complication might arise. It's a process that also takes time, and—"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Misha waved his arms around, interrupting his sister and her girlfriend. "Who said we weren't interested?! I want a mini Gaby!"
"Misha, how about asking my opinion first?" Gabriel's mouth twitched, and it twitched even more when his partner offered him puppy eyes. "You're not taking into account all the implications that having children and coparenting imply, are you?"
"Of course not. That's your job."
A sigh resounded as Misha got lost in his daydreaming, willingly disregarding the fact that this was just a proposition for now, something they would need to discuss in depth before going through with it, that is, if they ever did. For a moment, he even forgot that his parents sat in front of them, not even realizing they wore a shocked expression on their faces, one that seemed to say they had received the greatest shock of their lives.
"I guess we still have a lot to learn," his mother eventually muttered through an awkward cough. She pinched her lips and hesitated for a moment before ultimately asking, "So, Gabriel really is your boyfriend, Misha?"
"Yes!" Misha proudly puffed his chest out, still too excited by Yuki's proposal to care about everything else, even the anger he was supposed to hold onto.
"Isn't he, erm, a little too old for you, though…?"
"Oh mom, not you too!" Misha rolled his eyes. "It took everything before he agreed to date me. Don't go putting weird ideas in his mind!"
"Sorry, it's just that it felt a bit, you know?" His mother carefully eyed the smiling man, and the words got stuck in her throat for a second. Still, she forced them out. "Like he's taking advantage of you. You've known each other forever, too…"
"Taking advantage of me? How?" Misha frowned, annoyance showing on his face. "He's nothing but caring."
Now visibly uncomfortable, his mother's cheeks started to turn slightly red. "I mean for, you know, bed matters…?"
"How could he be taking advantage of me when I'm the one fucking him?" Misha frowned, trying to understand what his mother implied.
His father choked on his food, and his sister was bent in two, laughing so hard tears were welling in her eyes. What the heck is wrong with them now?
"Misha." Gabriel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose under his glasses. "I think that was too much information for your parents."
"Eh?" Then realization struck. "Oh, shit! Forget I said anything!"