“Snuggling my darlings in my childhood bed is kind of naughty. If my family weren’t home, I’d suggest we corrupt it.”
When Atlas’s bed suddenly creaked loudly under our weight, we all scrambled off.
“Okay, my bed nixed the corruption idea,” Atlas said, giggling.
“Damn, and here I was about to lock the bedroom door.” Another joke from Hugh. Yeah, I really liked that. He deserved to have someone who loosened him up and made him happy. It just showed how special Atlas was.
Hugh wrapped his arms around Atlas from behind and kissed his neck. “You’re going to have to make a painting for me. I’ll hang it over the fireplace.”
“Oh, I’m not that good. You don’t want that, not for something so visible.”
“What are you talking about? Because I want some art, too,” I said.
He eyed us both, back and forth, debating whether to argue with us or give in.
“Well, you can see what I’ve done back at my apartment. These are old. I painted them back in high school.”
I stood next to Atlas and wrapped my arm around his shoulder while Hugh still held him. “If they’re that good from when you were a teen, I bet your art is even more amazing now.”
Atlas’s face pinked as he gnawed on his bottom lip. “If you say so. You can decide for yourself when you see them. But don’t placate me and shit.”
“We wouldn’t do that, sweetheart,” Hugh said.
“We’d better head downstairs. Mom will have a lot of food for us to take home. Just warning you.”
“As long as I don’t have to cook,” I chuckled.
Before we headed down to say goodbye to his family, Atlas placed his hands on Hugh’s face and pulled him into a kiss. Then it was my turn. “Sorry, I needed that,” he said.
I loved that after our talk, Atlas had grown bolder with what he wanted from us.
I fingered his curls away from his forehead and kissed it. “You have a special family, sweet stuff. No wonder you’re special, too.” And he was. Hugh and I had quickly grown attached to him.
“Thanks. They’re a pain, but I love them.”
By the time we made it downstairs, Elena had a pile of Tupperware bagged up for us to take home. “I have enough food here to choke a horse. You all take dinner home. Eat it. Don’t waste it!”
“No, ma’am. We’ll eat it all,” I said.
“Good boy.”
We shook everyone’s hands, and Hugh and I grabbed several bags of leftovers, while they hugged and kissed Atlas.
The men headed back to the living room after all the goodbyes, but his mother walked us out.
After we got all the food loaded up in the car, Elena pulled Atlas into another hug and kissed both his cheeks before looking at Hugh and me.
“You be good to my boy, you here?”
“Mama!” Atlas cried out. No doubt he complained like that often when he was growing up.
Hugh and I laughed and promised we’d be good to him.
“And you be the good son I know you are. Work hard and make sure you help these good men stay organized.”
Atlas rolled his eyes as soon as he turned his back on her and climbed into the backseat of the car. “Bye, Mama.”
“Bye, boys! Drive safely.”
