THESE are your parents?

Oh God. Please no, Nikkolai thought to himself. Seth wasn't stupid enough to announce that he was gay, was he? No matter how many hints he dropped to his parents, they'd never figure it out, just as long as he didn't say anything directly related to his sexuality.

Dammit. He was elaborating. Nikkolai felt his stomach churn and simply stared at his plate, taking tiny mouthfuls. For some reason, he wasn't exactly feeling hungry. Maybe it was the tense atmosphere, maybe it was the secrets, maybe it was the fact that his family hated his boyfriend and would hate him too if they knew their relationship - but hey, it also could have been that he just wasn't hungry.

"The food's great mom," he said, looking up for a brief moment before engrossing himself once again with his food. Whatever Seth said, he would just have to back him up and make sure his family didn't kill him. That's what people did when they were in love.

Liz was still perplexed, Melissa was playing Nikki's game and not looking at anyone, and David was staring at Seth with cold, hard eyes. Liz made a soft sound of confusion, wishing Seth would go on. "Really, dear? Why not?" she asked. "Are they not your type? Are they not very nice in Italy? I hear the girls in Europe... well nevermind." It wasn't appropriate for the dinner table.

Nikkolai spared a glance at Seth. If he wanted to tell them... then... he could, just as long as he knew what he was getting himself into.

"I'll be fine," Nikki said meekly, his words meshing together somewhat from how quickly he said them. Ugh, he just wanted this dinner thing to be over with! Why did they have to eat dinner as a family? Why did they have to talk to each other? Life would have been so much simpler if they didn't have to.

"They'd be more 'my type' if they were guys."

Silence. Dead silence. Rock hard, unbreakable silence. Liz stared right at him, eyes somewhat wide and mouth agape. She turned to look at her husband, who appeared to be equally as shocked, and tried to figure out something polite to say. But... there was nothing.

"You're... gay?" she confirmed, looking back at him. Disgust was suddenly apparent in her voice and in her visage, and she suddenly felt a little sick to her stomach. "Like, you're not into women? Seth... you can talk to us, you know that, right? You seem like a very troubled individual... I don't know if I want Nikki hanging around with you anymore, the last thing I need is for my son to end up as misled and confused and messed up as you."

Nikkolai cringed inwardly, wishing he could say or do something, but he couldn't bring himself to look up.

"... You brought a queer into this house?" David suddenly spoke, looking at Nikkolai. "You brought a fag in this house? What the hell is wrong with you, Nikki?" He rolled his eyes and then turned to look at Seth. He, unlike Liz, had no problem saying the more cruel things that he knew they were both thinking. "You, young man, are going to hell. You realize that's a sin, don't you? This is why I hate Muslims and gays, they think there's absolutely nothing wrong with the way they think," he said with nothing but utter contempt. "What the hell would you even want with our son, huh? What, are you trying to make him like you, make him spread AIDS like the rest of you people?"

"That's not true," Nikkolai suddenly said.

"Nikkolai, sit there and be quiet and let me handle this," David barked, causing the young blonde to sink a little in his seat.

"Erm, yeah... excuse me," Melissa said, standing from the table and doing as Seth had asked of her. She didn't want to be there for the conversation, or somehow get her brother and his boyfriend in even more trouble for what she'd discovered them doing earlier. She made her way out of the room, wondering if it would even be a good idea to eavesdrop. This conversation sounded like it was going to get ugly.

Nikkolai couldn't believe how absolutely calm he was being. He didn't seem phased at all by their ignorance or the prejudice, but then again, Seth had always been stronger than he was. Still, he was grateful for the calm demeanor - it made things seem a little less dreadful than they already were.

Liz had absolutely no idea what to say. Unlike David, she felt the need to help him, not ridicule him. Something awful must have happened in his past to make him like this. "Seth... are you sure you're gay? If you've never had a girlfriend then certainly you can't know! You're young still, you can't possibly know what you want in life at your age. God wants you to lead a good life, dear, He doesn't want to see you go to hell for your sins. He;s very forgiving; you should try talking to Him sometime."

Nikkolai sighed audibly. This was getting ridiculous...

David exhaled roughly, gnashing his teeth together and lifting his brows. "You really think you're funny, don't you?" he said. "Wipe that smirk off your face, it makes you look like a pretentious little prick. You don't know anything, so you should shut your mouth and learn something instead of trying to get the last laugh."

With every word that he kept saying, David became more and more certain that he hated this kid. "I'm not wrong at all," he said. "You'd know that if you actually read the Bible and accepted the word of God. I'm just trying to save you but hey, if you'd rather burn I really, honestly don't care. Go ahead, go screw around with and rape every guy you see, go wear your little dresses and makeup, go molest little kids, but it's not happening in this house and you won't subject Nikki to it. I don't give a damn if he's almost eighteen, as long as he's living under this roof he'll do as I tell him and think as I tell him; he's my son and he'll have to live with it."

Nikkolai chewed on his lower lip, trying to restrain the sudden anger and hate that was surging through him. He didn't care what his father said to him, or did to him, but when he turned the stereotypes on Seth and tried to make Seth look like the bad guy then he couldn't take it.

"Can you both just shut up?!" he finally said, his voice shaking somewhat. Before they had an opportunity to interrupt him for speaking like that to them, he continued on. "You're both so fucking ignorant and afraid of anything that's different from you! So what if his dad's Muslim, or he's Italian, or if he's gay?! Isn't there more to him than that?! You're both content to just sit there blinded of what an amazing person he is and how good he is to me just because of three minor details?! Are you both insane?!" Oh wow. This felt really good.

"Nikkolai Aiden..." David nearly growled.

"I'm not done!" Nikkolai cut him off. He looked at Seth and finally decided that enough was enough; he grasped his hand and entwined their fingers, offering a gentle squeeze. "Dammit, I'm gay. I'm gay, okay?! And I'm in love with him! I'm in love with him..." The weight from the burden was gone, the fear that had built up from staying cooped up inside the closet dissipated - and there was a sudden weightlessness that came over him and he smiled. It was a relief to finally be out, to finally not have to be afraid...

And David and Liz were completely, utterly silent.

Nikkolai didn't even care when Seth pressed his lips to his own, and he returned the gesture of affection without so much as a second thought. He didn't care - let his parents see, let his siblings see, let the whole world see, he didn't care! He just didn't care anymore, and it had to be the most liberating feeling he'd experienced in his life. They were in love, and he was sick of hiding it. He was sick of having to make up lies to tell other people when he spent the night at Seth's apartment, or having to refrain from showing affection when they were in public together. It was done, it was over, they were a couple, they were in love and if the world didn't like it, then the world could go fuck itself.

"A lot better," he responded with a soft giggle. All the pent up emotions, all the frustration was gone. It was so wonderful to finally be free of it all; it felt like there was absolutely nothing that could stop him now. He rested his forehead against Seth's, closing his eyes for a brief moment before looking at their hands and smiling.

David and Liz couldn't even think about the rest of what Seth had said - all they could even focus on was that their son was gay. Their son, their sweet little boy, was gay? All the plans they'd had, all the things they were excited for him to experience - marriage, having children - he had just flushed it down the drain because he was 'in love' with that Seth kid? Did either of them even really know what love was?

David stood from the table at that point, knowing what had to be done. He appeared nothing but calm as he moved around to the side of the table and grabbed Nikkolai's upper arm, pulling him from the seat and yanking him out of the room. At first Nikki was shocked, but it quickly melted into anger as he attempted to struggle against his father as he was pulled down into the opposite hallway. The blonde teen was finally shoved against the wall, with his father grasping him by the shirt collar, trying to keep his courage together. The last thing he needed was for his burst of bravery to falter; he needed it if he had any hope of getting out of this house with his morale in one piece.

"Dammit, Nikkolai," David began, looking down at him with nothing but anger, hatred, and disappointment. "We expected so much more from you! We raised you to know this was wrong! What the hell is it with you and your rebellions?! Is it really not enough that your mother and I do everything for you and you're just an ungrateful little snot to us?! We've done everything, given you everything, even sent you away to that school - and this is what you do, you decide you're gay? What the hell happened to you when you were away?! And where do you get off talking like that to your mother and me? You'll break her heart, you know you will! You should be thankful you're even alive right now, and you better hope you don't ever speak to either of us like that again! You may be almost eighteen, but you're still a kid, and you're still living in my house and as long as that's the way it is then you better shape up and realize how good you have it. You don't know what love is, you can't know for sure that you're gay, and you can't know that the faggot in the other room isn't using you for his own sick pleasure! You won't go to hell, not on my watch, are you listening to me? I'll make sure you don't go back to that school if that's what it takes! Your mother may start feeling bad for you but I won't... so stop pulling your shit and learn how to be a fucking man."

Throughout the course of his father's speech, Nikkolai had been forced to look away; his stare was too cold and he couldn't bare the way that he was looking at him, like he was some sort of demon in this house. "I can't stand you..." Nikki finally said, looking back at him. "I can't stand you, or mom, or any of you! Seth didn't do anything to make me like this, and he would never use me! And you know what?! Fine! If that's the way it'll be if I'm living in this house, then I won't live in this house, I'll move out and you never have to see me again! You can pretend I'm dead for all I care! I don't care if I go to hell, I don't... I won't live a lie anymore... Seth's my heaven and I'm fine with that being the only heaven I ever get."

He couldn't even believe Nikkolai was actually talking back to him. Even more so, he couldn't believe his mind was actually tainted like that. Too dumbfounded to speak, David lifted his free hand and brought it down against Nikki's cheek, the force enough to whip his son's head to the side and leave a loud sound resounding through the hall.

"Why do you let them fight like this? Don't you care for your child's happiness?"

The words could hardly reach her - her eyes were fixed upon her husband and her son. It felt like there was a hand clenched around her heart, suddenly trying to break it in whatever way possible. Nikkolai had never acted like this, he'd never spoken back to them, he'd always been good, she'd never had any complaints... what had happened to him? Had it always been like this for him?

She sighed softly, standing up as well and tearing her attention from her family to look at Seth. "I do want him to be happy," she said. "I just can't believe that he's happy... like this." He was giving up so much just to be with this boy! Nikki was practically giving up his family, their religion, any chance of salvation, marriage, children... but more importantly he was giving up acceptance. She knew there were people in the world a lot more tolerant than her and David and the rest of their neighborhood, but there were also people a lot worse. She didn't want to get that call telling her that Nikkolai had been beaten to death and had been dumped off somewhere on the side of the road...

A distinct numbness had taken over him when he'd felt the back of his father's hand whip across his cheek. His head remained turned to the side, a look of pure surprise mixed with the remnants of his fierce anger written across his face. He... he'd slapped him; for the first time in his life his father had actually been angry enough to hit him and had gone through with it! And his mother wasn't doing anything to defend him... why had he been put into this family? Why these people? He wasn't like any of them, he couldn't stand them, and by now it was pretty clear that the feeling was mutual!

He could barely feel it when David was finally forced to let go of him, but he couldn't help but smirk smugly at the way Seth was protecting him. "Nice one," he said, his smirk slowly turning into a grin. He stepped away from the wall and moved closer to his love, touching his shoulder lightly. "We're... we're leaving, we can't stay here," he decided. "Can you drive, babe? The keys are in the car, I'll go get your things while you start it." Sighing deeply, Nikkolai looked at his father one last time and moved swiftly through the other rooms to get to the stairs, ignoring his mother calling after him and running straight to his door. Before he even paid attention to Seth's belongings, Nikki pulled out a suitcase of his own from underneath the bed and opened it.

If they didn't want him, then he would leave, he didn't care. He'd just live at the school, he didn't care if he didn't have a home to go back to. It wasn't like this place could even be called home anyway. Home was somewhere people cared about you, somewhere you fit in - and this sure as hell wasn't it. At the moment Nikkolai didn't bother with being neat, just throwing random clothes and a few other belongings into the suitcase. He wouldn't be able to bring all of his possessions thing time, but the fact that he had even packed would hopefully make an impression.

Not wasting too much time, Nikkolai grabbed everything and bolted out of his room and down the stairs, out the door within a matter of seconds. He didn't bother saying goodbye, there was no point in it - he could call Melissa later, since she and Anita were the only people in this fucked up family he even liked. He opened the backdoor of the car, throwing their stuff into the backseat before he slammed the door shut and made his way around to the passenger's side, opening the door and sliding in.

"I'm so sorry," was the first thing he said, the only thing he could even think about saying. "So, so sorry, Seth. I didn't think it was going to get that bad, I'm so sorry..."