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totallyuseless-ugh · 2 years

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Hodge means Family for everyone

Days were getting shorter, yet the streets were brightening up along for the cold season. CJ figured it was to compensate the darkness that always came with winter. Personally, they did not like any of the cold months. It always meant wearing dozens of layered clothes, most colours temporarily disappearing to be replaced with only dark and muddy tones, and most importantly, the cold itself making it impossible to do anything.

But at the same time, they could still often appreciate the more slow and quiet times of the year. Not just for their unique themes, like how the snow made everything look almost innocent and pure. These seasons gave CJ a chance to slow down themself and reflect.

They have never been a fan of the whole Christmas aspect of the holidays since getting into college either though. It had simply lost the sweet and innocent feeling of receiving gifts and spending time with the family, as they now head to stress out every December themself over the gifts to buy.

Meanwhile Darnell absolutely loved all the things CJ disliked about the cold seasons and their holidays. But despite these differences, the couple still could enjoy the first holidays they would spend together. Both had decided to visit their families on the remaining Christmas days, reserving the 24th just for each other.

However, the year after didn’t give them the chance to repeat this. Karen had already invited Darnell in advance for a holiday dinner, together with a plus one if he wanted. It wasn’t anything new for her to say, Pico and the rest of the Flintsons have practically become an extension of the Hodge family. Thus, they often liked to celebrate some of the holidays together every now and then.

Karen always offered for Darnell to bring someone with him to these dinners, expecting to see the redhead he has known since childhood.

But he couldn’t do that this time. Not because Pico wouldn’t be able to come. Darnell didn’t want to leave his partner alone. At the same time though, Darnell knew bringing someone new to the family dinner would lead to questions. A lot of questions.

Who is this person? What do they do? How long do you know each other for already? Why haven’t we heard of them before? Do they have a partner? What about you, Darnell?

Darnell, are you gay now?

Not that his family was bigoted and intolerable towards queer people. After all, Pico was out and never hesitated to show off his boyfriend Keith. Same for Nene, telling people of her identity like it was no big deal. None of the Hodges have ever said a bad thing about the two for either of these things.

But neither were actually part of the family.

If Pico had been ‘kicked from the family’ for dating guys, it wouldn’t affect him seriously.

If this happened to Darnell, he would lose connection to probably all of his relatives. His parents, siblings, uncles and aunts, cousins, grandparents.

CJ could only imagine how scary this must be for him. They reassured Darnell that it would be okay for them to keep quiet about their relationship for a while longer. That for this first meeting, it would be alright to pretend they were just close friends and give him more time for figuring out how safe it would be to come out to his family.

While Darnell was already used to the sight was CJ almost overwhelmed to see how heavily decorated the Hodge family home was. Not just from the inside, but the front yard was very impressive too. It was clear that a lot of time had been spent on decorating.

Darnell wanted to take another deep breath before entering, but Karen opened the door before he got the chance for it.

“Nelly, darling! C’mere!” She laughed excitedly and pulled her son into a tight hug. Once she let go of him again turned Karen to look at the new guest. CJ tried their best to smile naturally, despite feeling like their boyfriend’s mother was about to judge them for their appearance. Sure, they were already used to people judging them for this. And even though their outfit was rather neutral and formal compared to their usual style, they couldn’t help but worry about making a bad first impression.

Her smile didn’t disappear for even a second though. It even grew a bit wider when looking back at them, opening her arms up for another hug. “Welcome to the Hodges, honey!”

CJ greatly underestimated her strength when accepting the offer. They had to suppress a loud choking sound and keep their gasps for air afterwards quiet.

“Come on in, the others want to get to know you too after all!” She chimed before turning around to head back into the living room. Darnell just grinned and soothingly rubbed over CJ’s back as they were still trying to catch their breath. “Do you hate me yet for bringing you here?”

They shook their head, chuckling weakly as they slowly stood up straight again. “I could never. A warning would’ve been nice, though.”

As the couple left the cold outside to warm up indoors instead noticed CJ the plethora of sounds. It was a wild mix of Christmas themed music, chatter, laughter, and excited children squealing. Occasionally, the sound of heels on wooden floor also got muddled up into the ambience noise.

Darnell walked ahead, letting his partner follow behind him. He didn’t mind acting like a decoy, he knew that CJ didn’t want to be the centre of attention for such a large group of new people. Their private self was far from being as confident around strangers as their stage persona.

Luckily, all of Darnell’s family first greeted him before each introducing themselves to his ‘friend’. However, CJ still struggled to tell the twin sisters apart. Their outfits were just too similar, almost like they wanted to cause confusion.

Overall, there was a nice atmosphere in the home, and CJ actually enjoyed getting to know all of the Hodge family. But after a while, they actually preferred to go into the kitchen to be with just Darnell and Karen. She was busy cooking a large meal, though it was mostly done already, giving her more room to get to know the young guitarist.

“So.. you’re one of Darnell’s new friends?”

“I mean, if.. two years counts as new to you, yes.”

Karen gasped almost offended, “Two years? Nelly, why am I only getting to know them now?!”

Darnell sunk a little into his chair and shrugged. “I’m not twelve anymore, I don’t come here just to tell you about all the new people I met..”

The sight of his embarrassed, slightly reddish face was adorable to CJ. They rub his shoulder a little as comfort and try to redirect the conversation to something else. “Your house looks amazing, Mrs Hodge. It must’ve taken a long while to decorate this all.”

“You have no idea, I was probably streaming a whole week, three hours each day,” Karen sighed dramatically and swung her wooden spoon around before using it to stir one of the pots again.

The mention of streaming made CJ furrow their brows. “Mom posts a lot on insta ‘n stuff,” Darnell explained in a low and almost raspy voice. “Also livestreams when she decorates for Christmas. Kinda became a tradition.”

That certainly impressed CJ. Not only was Karen a housewife, she also found the time to tend a social media presence. Now that they knew this, the decor of the house did remind them of the typical Pinterest style.

She hummed in response to her son’s words, like she was confirming everything he said. “That’s right. It’s a lot of fun for sure, not just sharing my ideas, but also chatting with people in the meantime.” Karen paused for a second, contemplating something before shaking her head with a grin. “Do you live around here, CJ?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m living by myself since last year, a couple blocks away from Nells.”

“And Nelly, Pico has a boyfriend now, right?”

Darnell looked over at her confusedly. “Yeah, why?..”

“Then you both could just move together! If Pico moves to live with his partner?”

CJ and Darnell’s eyes grew wide, staring at each other like they were trying to figure out if they’ve been caught. Karen shrugged with her back still turned to the couple, “I mean, if you two already spend a lot of time together, that would be perfect! After all, Lucas and Susan moved together too.”

“Mom, Lucas is married, and he has a daughter. CJ is my friend.”

“And so is Pico, yet you both already share an apartment.”

While the two were arguing back and forth was CJ still trying to process everything. Something didn’t feel right, Karen must be doing this on purpose.

Darnell eventually huffed, crossing his arms almost like a stubborn child. He refused to say anything more, just to end this conversation. But his mother took this as a win, grinning to herself almost mischievously. “Also, CJ?”

“Huh?-“ they blink a few times as they try to snap out of their thoughts.

“Did you know your instagram account isn’t set to private?”

It took them a moment to figure out why she would bring this up. “Why is that-“ Then realization hit them. Thinking that only their closest friends could see their posts, CJ had uploaded some of their favourite pictures together with Darnell. Their entire face turned red as Karen finally looked at the couple sitting in her kitchen. Her hands rested on her hips, and the knowing smirk on her face had become an unamused expression.

“How long did you plan on hiding this from me, Darnell?”

Karen always called her kids by some type of nickname when talking to them. But when she was genuinely upset, she would use their first name. Though it was still better than hearing his full name from her. That would be the equivalent of a death sentence.

Regardless, just hearing ‘Darnell’ was enough to make him nervous. “Mom, I just..” Karen raised her eyebrows as she waited for an answer. The noises from the other room were still ongoing, yet he couldn’t help but feel like he was stuck in an awkward silence. “I was terrified of telling everyone... especially dad, and even more so today.”

Darnell was growing quieter and avoided looking at either of the two in the kitchen with him. It hadn’t happened a lot since getting to know each other, but for the few times CJ had witnessed their boyfriend behaving this way, they couldn’t help but feel bad. They turn back to face him properly and took both his hands in theirs as a silent comfort.

Karen knew her son well enough for her to tell that he was genuinely scared about this for who knows how long. She eventually sighed, relaxing her shoulders before walking over and letting him rest his head against her. “Hun, why would you think that we’d get upset over this?”

“I didn’t want to disappoint you.. Lucas is like, everything you want for us. And I thought if I didn’t come home with a girlfriend, then you’d think I did it out of spite..”

Although his face was half buried into Karen’s side by now, CJ could still see a slight glimmer of tears trickling down Darnell’s cheek. Their heart sank immediately. This wasn’t the first time they had seen them cry, but it was the first time he was crying around them because he was actually upset. Not from an emotional movie scene. Just genuine fear and worry.

CJ didn’t notice that they were also starting to tear up until Karen gently held their shoulder and let them lean against her for comfort as well.

“Nelly, you could never disappoint me,” she eventually spoke again in a soft voice. “Especially when you’re happy.”

“But I wouldn’t be livin’ like Lucas then..”

“Oh baby, you absolutely can if you want. We don’t live in the 70s or som’. If you wanna marry them, then nobody would stop you. You wanna raise kids? There’s plenty of ways to adopt.”

As much as they were glad to hear Karen comforting their boyfriend, they couldn’t help but feel just a tad uncomfortable. CJ definitely loved Darnell like no one else, but marriage never was a thing they ever wanted. Just the thought of ever marrying someone made them feel nauseous. But now was absolutely not the time to say this, not when Karen was trying to reassure Darnell.

Her words seemed to be effective, seeing how Darnell soon wiped away the tears and sat upright again with a wobbly smile. “Thanks, mom. This really helped..”

“Of course, Nelly. Now, do you two wanna help me bring our dinner to the table? I don’t wanna leave anyone starving after all,” Karen pointed at the pots on the stove with a little grin. The couple nodded and soon after got up to help her carry everything into the living room. Nobody was aware of the emotional moment they were just in, so all the remaining family had to say was how they couldn’t wait to finally dig in.

Once everything was ready sat everyone down around the large dining table. Susan and Lucas tried to have their daughter Angela quiet down as the rest awaited Tyrone and Karen to have a toast as they did every year. “We’re glad to have you all gathered here with us to celebrate the holidays. While all of you are growing older and more independent, it is always a joy to spend time together again. “On this holiday, we are happy to see new faces that let our family grow. The Hodge family has an open door for everyone after all.” Karen smiled at Darnell and his partner, to which CJ smiled right back and nodded their thanks to her as Tyrone continued the little speech.

“And when you have something as wonderful as this, there is nothing else to wish for.” He looked around the table at his family, feeling very much pleased and accomplished for building a life that lead to this moment. “Christmas is the season of giving, and I already have gotten my gift,” his wife then continued for him. “It's the best gift I could ever ask for, having you all here, happy and healthy. That being said, I wish for us all that next year will be just as joyful as this has been. Now let us celebrate!”

The table clapped for the two, even Angela tried to smack her hands together like everyone else despite not knowing what for. She did, however, understand that it was time to eat right after though and squealed excitedly as her father Lucas got up to prepare her a small plate.

As the meal was being distributed among everyone present set the same chatter back in as earlier. Darnell was happy to talk and laugh with his siblings like they all still lived together, like nothing had changed over the past five years. Seeing him like this, no longer panicked but just enjoying himself, made CJ happy themself.

Although he didn’t tell all of his family yet why CJ was actually sitting at the dining table with them this year, it certainly was good to know they weren’t a complete secret anymore. Darnell would still take his time with coming out to his father and siblings. But having his mother know already made it a lot easier, especially since she supported him wholeheartedly as she always did.

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