THESE are your parents?

He wondered, as they drove down the long highway with flat, deserted land on either side of the vehicle, if it was too late to go back to the Islands. Sure, they'd already taken the plane ride and had already spent money on this, and his family was already so excited to see him and meet his new friend, but they must have still had the option of turning around. Nikkolai groaned inwardly, a sense of dread covering him and forcing his stomach to roll unpleasantly. As much as he didn't want to do this, it was unfortunately a necessary evil. The only way Seth would understand would be to meet them, and besides, it was better to meet them now before they knew about anything rather than have them hate him off the bat because he'd ruined their poor, innocent baby boy.

What a load of bullshit.

Nikkolai couldn't help but smile when Seth leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek, although his words of encouragement did little to alleviate his anxiety. "I hope so," he said with a deep breath, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth and trying to retain some amount of optimism. What could really go wrong? His parents didn't know he was gay, or that Seth was, and there was no way they knew they were a couple; they were too dense to even suspect something so supposedly obvious. Homosexuality didn't exist to them, not so close to their family or their community - it was something other people dealt with. "Just... brace yourself, because I'm nothing like them." He laughed lightly, but it was truer than he wanted to let on, and he was actually rather ashamed of that.

It wasn't like his parents were bad people, or abusive, or alcoholics, or drug addicts, or anything else so tragic, or like his sisters were absolute brats (although they could be) — they were just... how could he put this... over-religious? Fanatics? That worked well enough, he supposed, but even those words didn't seem strong enough. At all.

"We should be there soon," he said, glancing to his lover for just a moment and forcing a smile before returning his attention to the road. Oh, good old Kansas, it hadn't changed a bit! Ugh. It almost made him sick to his stomach to know just how all the people in this neighborhood would react if they ever found out the truth. Despite the fact that they wouldn't if he could help it, it still felt like there was a stamp in bright red letters on both of their foreheads that would let everyone know.

Within a few minutes Nikkolai pulled the car up the driveway, looking up at the white house with some degree of reluctance. They'd past the point of no return - past it, stomped on it, obliterated it into dust. From here on out there was no going back. Nikkolai watched as Seth got out of the car, pulling the keys out of the ignition and removing his feet from the pedals. He stayed seated for a few moments, gathering himself and taking a deep breath. From here on out they just needed a substantial amount of luck.

"Yep, this is it," he replied, closing the door behind him as he stepped out of the car. He pocketed the keys, knowing there was no need to lock the doors. "Mom and the girls should be home, dad won't be yet."

And in all honesty, Nikkolai was glad of that. His mother and his sisters were at least reasonable; it was his dad that he worried about. Stuffing his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't be tempted to take Seth's, he walked up the short stone sidewalk that led to the front steps and opened the front door, finding it unlocked like it usually was. He stepped in the familiar living room of his house, somewhat comforted to be in such a familiar place. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad.

"Mom, we're here!" he yelled, taking his shoes off and walking across the hard wood floors in search for her. He gestured with his head for Seth to follow him, although he didn't have to look for long before he found her fixing one of the curtains with a baby propped up in her other arm leaning against her waist.

"Mom?"

She turned immediately, her eyebrows lifted at first before the expression of shock melted into a wide spanning, genuine smile a she left her task and walked as quickly as she could to her son. She pulled him into a hug, both of them careful not to squish little Anita between them. Nikki laughed as he felt her hands grabbing at his long blonde hair, and couldn't help but smile warmly at her exclamation of "Niko!"

He ruffled the little tufts of hair Anita had and kissed her forehead, taking her from his mother while she went to greet Seth. He was somewhat worried when Liz pulled him into a hug, but figured it was nothing more than a motherly gesture, something she figured she was just allowed to do since he was apparently so close with her own son.

"What's your name again, dear?" she asked, pulling away with an embarrassed smile on her face. "I can't remember. If Nikki had called me and told me you were coming maybe I'd know..."

"You know it's dangerous to drive and talk at the same time," Nikkolai responded, keeping a careful eye on both of them and on his sister at the same time, smiling at how happy she seemed to be to see him.

Liz rolled her eyes and shook her head, wisps of blonde hair falling into her eyes that she neglected to brush away. "How was the plane? And the car ride? Was there a lot of traffic? How long have you two been friends?"

Nikkolai groaned audibly. It hadn't exactly occurred to him that she would drill Seth like this.

Lizzie blinked as he kissed both of her cheeks. Hugs were informal and always welcome in the house, but kissing was something she considered to be a bit more affectionate and personal for when people knew each other better. Somewhat more formal, she supposed. She stared blankly at him when he began to speak in a different language, not understanding a single word of it. She glanced back at Nikkolai, who seemed just as surprised that he hadn't spoken in English as she did.

"Um," she began uncertainly, biting her lower lip in nervousness. She averted her eyes, only to return her gaze to Seth as she stared up at him. What was she supposed to say? "That's nice." She cocked her head to the side and grinned, clearly confused. Nikkolai hadn't told her this guy couldn't speak English - how were the two of them even friends if he couldn't even speak?!

But she sighed in relief and placed a hand over her head when he slipped back into English. Liz laughed at herself and lifted her eyes upward as if thanking a higher power before looking back at the boy in front of her. "Oh, Seth, you scared me," she said honestly. "Goodness, you shouldn't do that! People in America speak English, dear; you don't want to look Anti-American, do you?" She shook her head and rolled her eyes, mumbling the word "Boys" under her breath.

Nikkolai panicked when Seth began to speak in Italian, the shocked look that his mother had seen on him turning into a pleading, somewhat exasperated expression after she turned around. He didn't have time to concentrate on this however when the baby yanked at a long lock of blonde hair, causing him to yelp. "Anita," he whispered harshly. "Come on, don't abuse me." She merely squealed in amusement.

Mrs. Virendra smiled at her daughter's antics before turning back to address Seth. "Can I get you anything? And what language was that, anyway? Spanish? I didn't know you were Mexican."

On the inside, Nikkolai was bashing his head against a wall.

"Seth, here, this is my little sister," he interrupted in an attempt to save them both, walking closer to Seth and propping Anita up in his arms a little so she could see him better. "This is Sethy, what do we say, hm?" he leaned his head close to Anita's, grinning and using a slight cutesy-falsetto voice to speak with her. Anita stared blankly at him before turning to look at Seth, looking rather puzzled.

"Oh, Italian!" Liz said with a nod, understanding now. The languages were similar enough, and it wasn't like she spoke any of it anyway so it didn't matter. As long as he didn't speak any more of it, then it wouldn't matter It was just a harmless joke and hopefully he'd realize no one in this house spoke anything other than English. Her eyes widened though when he said he was from Italy and she smiled. "Really? I hear it's beautiful there. What city are you from? Ooh! Do you know the Pope?!" she asked, suddenly becoming excited.

Ignoring his mother and the stupid questions and small talk she seemed to be creating, Nikkolai merely looked between his lover and his sister. Knowing the Pope, this was going to become ridiculous sooner than he'd thought. It was bound to happen, but he hadn't thought it would be within ten minutes of their arrival. He grinned when Seth slipped into Italian again; he loved it when he spoke in his first language, even if he didn't understand a single word of it.

Anita squealed as Seth took her hand, her puzzled expression turning into one of extreme delight. She wriggled in Nikki's arms, slapping her hand against Seth's palm and laughing. Nikkolai smiled at this and kissed the girl's head, muttering, "I think she likes you," so only Seth could hear.

Mrs. Virendra knitted her eyebrows when Seth used that foreign language again, sighing a little. "That's going to become frustrating," she said, trying to keep a smile on so he wouldn't think she was trying to be hostile. That was hardly her intention; she just wanted to be able to understand what he was saying. "I know you're from Italy, but please try, Seth?"

At the close of those words another younger girl came running into the room, only to stop and peer curiously at the stranger. She'd known Nikki was bringing a friend, but he was still a stranger. "So you're that guy," the pre-teen said, stating the obvious as she walked forward. "Did mom pull out the Bible yet and try to read it with you?"

"I'm not that bad," Liz said, rolling her eyes. Nikkolai bit his lip and tried to suppress laughter; Melissa had become just a tad more blunt since he'd left.

Liz raised an eyebrow as he told her where he was from. She was expecting a larger, more well-known city, like Rome or something. "I don't know where that is," she said. She figured it wasn't important, though; it was probably just some small village that was nothing more than a speck on a map. It wasn't like she or the rest of their family was going there any time soon, anyway - or ever - so she shrugged it off.

She seemed disappointed, though, when he said he didn't know the Pope. Well, at lease he'd been to the Vatican, right? "What religion do you practice, anyway?" she asked. It was dangerous territory, especially when he had been here for such a short time, but she figured it was a mostly harmless question. She trusted her son to befriend good people, so even if Seth was a little questionable so far, she knew Nikkolai wouldn't have been such good friends with him if he wasn't a good person.

Anita giggled as Seth tickled her nose, reaching both her hands out and latching onto his index finger with as much force as she could muster. Of course for a baby that wasn't very much, but she didn't realize that. When he said his name again to Melissa, Anita waited a moment before exclaiming "Sef!" in the hopes that was close enough.

Nikkolai cringed at his mother's question. That was not somewhere he wanted to go right now, even if it was just his mother. She was, luckily, the less worse of his parents, but she was still judgmental and, well... ignorant.

Melissa nodded as he said his name, but wrinkled her eyebrows when he kissed her on each cheek. "I thought only French people did that," she said before lifting her sleeve to her cheeks and proceeding to wipe each one of them. "Gross, I have your germs on me now. Make sure you don't do that in front of Dad, he'll freak."

Nikkolai rolled his eyes. Typical eleven year old, but the warning she gave was true at least.

Nikkolai moved his gaze to Seth as his voice lowered, feeling inclined to hear what his boyfriend was saying even if it was under his breath. He smiled somewhat at the mention of sunsets, although unfortunately it was something small and for the most part concealed so no one would think anything. "We should go back there some time," he said quietly, his voice barely passing through his lips. He wanted so badly just to hold Seth's hand, just for that one small, meaningful gesture... but he knew it couldn't happen, not in front of everyone else.

Panic ran through him when he mentioned his father's religion. That was bound to strike a nerve in his mother, let alone his father! He bit his lip and looked down, not even wanting to see the look on his mother's face when she heard that. Maybe the fact that his mother was Catholic would save him.

A look of pure confusion etched itself in Lizzie's face. Islamic...? She was silent as she stared at Seth, looking him up and down. Islamic? The fact that his mother was Catholic didn't even process in her mind, all that she'd heard had been that one word. Stereotypes (which she thought, of course, were truth) popped into her head all at once and she suddenly became very, very worried.

"That's a rather violent religion..." she said warily. "I mean, isn't it? People commit suicide when they're Islamic and kill other people too. And... don't they sacrifice children?" Her gaze shifted to Nikkolai. Maybe there was cause for concern; he was so young, maybe sending him off and away from his family had been a bad decision after all. "And you said you were Italian, not from the Middle East..."

Nikkolai wanted to shoot himself. He sighed softly, glancing at his mother and then to Seth before his focus went to Melissa. The girl said and did nothing to condone her mother's words, but she didn't do anything to reject them, either. Instead, she decided to answer Seth's innocent question. "He's at work, but he should be home soon," she said.