by Aiden Bates
“Mami’s there with Mitch.”
28
Marcos
“Okay…” Oliver said, like he didn’t know what else to say. “Did she, um, say why she was at the house?”
“I don’t know! She just said she was with Mitch and that I should go over there now.” I shrugged hard because I was just as confused about the whole thing as Oliver.
It wasn’t fair. Mami could always tell what Pedro and I were up to, and there was no point in lying to get out of trouble because she’d see right through us in a second. But, even after all these years, I had no idea what Mami was up to when she was up to something.
“I’m just not a good liar,” I mumbled out loud.
“Nope, you’re not,” Oliver agreed, like he understood we had all just gotten caught. “You’re really not.”
I covered my face with my hands and sighed deeply as I thought about what I would have to deal with from my mother if the truth really had come out. Oliver took one of his hands off the steering wheel and put it on my shoulder.
“Hey, whatever it is, we got the extension for Pedro, and the baby is on the way. Maybe this will convince her of the lengths you were willing to go to, to make her see things differently? Maybe this will make her reconsider, right? I mean, you and Mitch might not be getting married, but the baby is still Pedro’s family, and everything else is still true, so maybe if—”
“My mami has never reconsidered anything in her life,” I said, shaking my head. “Well, just the one time, but that was at the restaurant with Mitch and only because Mitch was doing the talking.”
“Well, Mitch is going to be at the house to do the talking this time, too. Knowing Mitch, he’s probably done an awful lot of talking already,” Oliver stated.
Well, okay. That was true. I could hang on to that, at least until we got to the house. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, just as Oliver stepped on the gas to get us there quicker.
“My mother has also never reconsidered anything in her life. Doña Mercedes, the lady they hired to take care of me was nicer, but she was not someone to change her mind about something, either,” Oliver said, trying to make conversation, I guess, to distract us both.
“Old mamas and tias and doñas, right?” I threw my hands up in frustration, but also a little relief that Oliver and I had this in common. “Always judging, always in your business, and always one hundred percent right about everything.”
“Fucking, for real,” Oliver agreed, but then said nothing else until we got to the house.
“Um, hi. What are you doing together?” Mitch asked, as soon as he opened the door. I assumed he must have been waiting there for us.
“Long story,” Oliver answered, brushing past Mitch and into the house.
“Mami just called me and said to come here,” I said. I did not brush past Mitch. I kind of awkwardly waited at the doorstep for Mitch to give me permission to come inside. The question he asked Oliver also gave me pause. “Didn’t you know I was coming?”
“No…” Mitch threw a confused look over his shoulder. “She told me she wanted to meet Oliver…”
“What the hell? Mami’s running game on everyone. Let me in,” I said as Mitch stepped out of the way to let me through, closing the door behind me.
“Ah! Good. You’re here. Now, we can all talk and tell each other the truth,” Mami said from the couch she was sitting on in the living room. “Come here.” Mami pointed at me, and then at the seat next to herself. “Sit.”
“Mami, listen,” I said as I quickly sat down. “I can explain. It’s hard, but I can explain. I didn’t want to lie to you. Like, you know I don’t like lying, I’m not good at it, and you always caught me when I tried, but, listen. I’m sorry. I’m very sorry, but I had to do something. I couldn’t just—”
“Marcos,” Mami said.
“I couldn’t let you do it. I couldn’t just give up on him, you know? I had to—”
“Marcos,” Mami repeated.
“I had to think of something. I had to save Pedro because I get everything you were saying at the hospital about me not really living while Pedro was like that. I see that now. But, here’s the thing. I don’t think we have to pick! I’ve been learning I can try to live my own life while at the same time—”
“Mijo,” Mami said and I immediately knew to shut my mouth.
“Mijo,” she said again, this time more gently. She pulled me in close so she could wrap me into a hug as she patted the back of my head. I let myself melt into the hug, feeling my tension drain as I realized this wasn’t the reaction I’d been fearing. This was a good reaction. Far better than I could have ever hoped for.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“I know, mijo,” Mami said, pulling back and releasing me from the hug. She cupped my cheek, and sighed. “Your heart is just too big for your body, that’s all.”
I nodded, pressing my cheek deeper into her hand. Mami was actually okay. I hadn’t completely torpedoed my relationship with her over this. If nothing else turned out right, at least Mami and I were going to be on speaking terms.
“Please don’t take it back. Please don’t sign the papers. Don’t take him off—”
“No, mijo, how could I?”
I heard her say those words and closed my eyes. Hardly able to believe them. I’d done it. We’d done it. Mitch, Oliver, me, the baby, Mami, Pedro, we’d all done our parts to keep the family as intact as it could be right now. It was a day for crazy plans to miraculously work, I guessed.
“But,” Mami said. “You’re right. One of the main reasons I was originally going to turn off Pedro’s machines was because Pedro is neither living nor dying, and neither were you. You said earlier you were learning that maybe there could be a balance between your brother and you. Well, you had better find that balance and keep it because I know if your brother were here, he would tell you that you have a family now. You have a responsibility, and you need to make sure you’re stepping up.”
It was my turn to pull back as I opened my eyes to take in the sight of Mami as continued talking about Mitch, Oliver, the baby and me. Talking about us as a family. A family I needed to take responsibility for.
“I know, Mami. I know,” I said to her. “And…” I turned to Mitch and Oliver. “And, honestly? I think I’ve always known. I knew it wasn’t right to ask Oliver to give me space at the hospital. I didn’t even really want space. I just… I can’t figure out how to not be scared that, while I’m here, something really bad might happen to Pedro. I know I couldn’t do anything about it even if I were there, but I’m just… I’m scared he’d be alone when he went.”
“I was afraid of that, too. I’m still afraid of that,” Mami explained. “But your father and I can’t abandon each other or our lives to be with Pedro, just like your father and I can’t ask each other to stop being afraid. I think that’s what we all have to see in this. The beauty of family is that you can be afraid, or sad, or angry and that you can still be loved at the same time. I think that’s the key to finding that balance you were talking about.”
Mitch nodded from where he was standing in the kitchen, agreeing with Mami, and Oliver shrugged like the answer was obvious because he had already told me so.
Yeah, of course, I felt like Pedro would say if he could be here. Do you love your parents less when you get married or your partner less when you have a baby? Family is meant to grow, dude, not shrink. It makes it complicated, but that’s the price you pay for having a ton of people who you love and who love you back.
Oh. Well. It made sense. It made sense to everyone I knew, and that made it easier for it to make sense to me. There wasn’t a way to make the fear of losing Pedro go away or a way to make the love for Mitch and Oliver not pull me away from the hospital. It was just going to have to be okay. And now, I guessed, it would be.
“Okay,” I said to everyone in the room. “Okay. I suppose that’s what we all have to do then. Just…be together, through the good and the bad. Right?”
>
“Exactly,” Mami answered, patting my lap. “And since you’re going to be a family, I should do what I came here to do.” Mami reached for an enormous plastic bowl that was sitting on the table and pulled back the lid. “Ven, Oliver. Come here.”
Obediently, Oliver came closer and looked kind of uncertainly into the bowl.
“Oh, wow,” he said, a little nervously, still staring down into the dish. “I actually don’t think I’ve ever had one. My mother didn’t cook, and I don’t think Doña—”
“I know. Mitch told me,” Mami said. “Take it. You’ll like it. You’d better like it. I’m going to show you how to make them, if you want to learn.”
Oliver reached into the bowl, withdrew a steaming tamale, unwrapped it, and broke off a piece into his mouth. His eyes widened and he looked down at Mami who just shrugged as though that was the reaction she’d been expecting. She waved him closer and held out her arms, prompting him to bend down and hug her with his free arm.
There was never going to be any clearer sign that Mami had accepted both Oliver and Mitch as my omegas, so I guessed this was it. This was my family coming together as much as it possibly could without Pedro. And if this was my family then this was my cue to step right up.
“Okay. Well, just to make it official,” I said, clearing my throat. “Mami, this is Mitch, and this is Oliver. They’re my omegas and my baby’s parents.”
Mami seemed to take this as the formal introduction she deserved and clapped her hands together. “Well, mijos, it’s very nice to meet you, and it’s a good thing, too because the wedding is going to need a lot more planning now with three grooms instead of just the two. Right, Mitch?”
“Oh, thank god,” Mitch said. “Actually, now you know the whole story, you should also know I was just agreeing with everything you said about the wedding earlier because I really don’t have a clue. Marcos is useless, and the only good taste I have is in men, so you definitely want to plan things with Oliver.”
“Colors?” Mami asked with a tilt of her head and an arched eyebrow.
“Burgundy because Marcos and I are tan, and then like an olive or forest green because Mitch is so red,” Oliver said as he chewed thoughtfully on his tamale and as Mitch made a little gasp like he was offended. “A rich gold, a light taupe, burgundy and green? Doesn’t matter if it’s spring, the gold and taupe as neutrals will make it all seem less heavy.”
Mami nodded once in agreement. “I like him.”
Mami hashed out more details with Oliver, asked Mitch more about how the pregnancy was going, and just got to know them better little by little for an hour or so more. But it was late, and we’d just gotten back from Charlotte. Also, being pregnant had made Mitch sleepy, so eventually she got the hint and left us to rest.
“Do you want me to take you back to the hospital?” Oliver asked after Mami was gone and the three of us stood in the kitchen. Mitch and I leaned on the counters drinking tea while Oliver ate half of his fifth tamale of the evening.
I sighed heavily. “I’m not really sure, to be honest. I really, really want to go so I won’t be scared, but I also want to be here. Same as always, I guess.”
“You want us to go with you?” Mitch asked as he sipped tea and watched with some concern as Oliver wolf his food down. “We can’t bring Pedro here, but we could all go spend the night with him over there, maybe.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to start that with you guys. That only procrastinates the whole ‘learning to live with things’ deal. I’ll just do what we were all talking about earlier and stay here now, and then go stay with Pedro during the day when I can. Anyway, the baby is going to be here sooner rather than later, so I ought to practice balance before things get even more complicated, you know?”
“And a complicated wedding to rework,” Mitch added sarcastically. “Now that we have a slightly different plan and a new color scheme that’s supposed to be more flattering, apparently.”
“Mitch, you are red. It’s the truth and you need to get over it,” Oliver stated like there was no possible argument. “You’ll thank me when you see yourself in the bowtie, I promise.”
“Really? Why don’t you tear yourself from the tamales long enough to come say it to my face, huh? Can you manage to tear yourself away from the tamales, Oliver?”
“Hey!” Oliver said, swallowing the last mouthful down. “Shut up.”
“Make me.”
“Come here, then.”
Mitch let himself be pulled closer to Oliver until Oliver was able to make good on his “threat,” shutting Mitch up with a kiss.
It warmed me up to see them playfully bicker. Mitch put his cup of tea down on the sink to fully embrace Oliver, but then waved me closer with his hand. I put my mug down as well, and then walked over to where my omegas were holding and kissing each other, each time with a little more heat. I opened my arms wide and wrapped them both into a bear hug.
Mitch pulled away from Oliver, got up on his tiptoes and kissed me, softly and gently. Once Mitch was done, Oliver repeated the same motion, going to his tiptoes and kissing me. This time, though, the kiss was deeper, more of a promise of good things to come.
“So. Since you’re staying the night after all…”
29
Mitch
I’d started giving up on the idea I’d ever have this again. Oliver was behind me, pressing his hard cock through the layers of trousers, jeans and boxers into the cleft of my ass. At the same time he slid his hands under my shirt while I leaned back slightly against his chest and kissed Marcos until I couldn’t breathe. Oliver buried his nose in my hairline near the back of my ear, and Marcos held my hips. Between them, I felt completely consumed. For all my experience, I’d never really understood all the food analogies in sex. I mean, sure I understood mouths and tastes and seductions. I got that part of it. But right now? I wanted to be devoured by them. I wanted to take and be taken from, and if it didn’t happen, I was going to die.
Oliver snaked his left hand between Marcos’s body and mine to rub at our clothed cocks, and suddenly everyone had on entirely too many articles of clothing for what I wanted. I pulled back from Marcos’s mouth to moan as he sucked a path down my jaw and neck.
“Tell us what you want,” Marcos urged me.
God, what didn’t I want? The harder problem was narrowing it down.
While Marcos waited, Oliver caught his eye, and seconds later they were kissing over my shoulder, Marcos threading his fingers through Oliver’s curls. The two of them were so fucking gorgeous. I could spend forever just like this.
Oh. Yes.
“I want to watch,” I blurted. “I want to watch you fuck Oliver.” Oliver for his part flushed as he pulled back to study my face. I could see the eagerness there whether he wanted to admit it or not.
“Is that all you want?” Oliver asked shakily.
“Not hardly,” I said.
Clothes were left behind us as we made our way to the bedroom. Oliver stumbled in his eagerness to get his pants off, and Marcos and I nearly collapsed laughing at him as he huffed and finally freed himself.
I hadn’t remembered feeling this light in weeks. It was like a dense fog had finally, finally cleared and all I could see was them. Oliver and Marcos descended on me as soon as my back hit the mattress, kissing and lapping and touching everywhere they could. Marcos ran his hands up and down my sides and neck, taking detours to tease my nipples into stiff peaks before sucking them into his mouth, one and then the other, flicking them with his tongue and nipping them with sharp, white teeth.
Oliver was busy between my thighs sucking bruises into the soft, tender skin, pinning me to the bed so I couldn’t writhe nearly as much as I wanted to. He was going slowly in a path up one leg only to start over again near the inside of my knee on the other. It was torture. I never wanted it to end.
“Fuck, I missed you both,” Marcos murmured, gaze now caught on watching Oliver trail back up my thigh.
“Mmmm,” I g
roaned, reaching up to tangle a hand in Marcos’s short hair. “Better make up for lost time, then.”
I wanted to keep teasing him, had plans to do just that, but it was absolutely impossible because at that exact moment Oliver decided to wrap his mouth around the head of my cock, sucking at it greedily. So, while I’d hoped for more banter, I only got as far as a broken cry as I dropped my other hand on Oliver’s head. Oliver was unphased, lavishing me with attention as I writhed in Marcos’s arms.
But I had an objective. My mind was still full of the idea of seeing the two of them. I came up with a plan.
“He’s gorgeous like this, isn’t he?” I whispered to Marcos, glancing down briefly at Oliver. When I looked over at Marcos, I could see his gaze was still fixed on Oliver’s rosy mouth, now stretched wide around my cock.
Marcos nodded. Now, for the temptation.
“I want to watch you fuck him,” I murmured. “Here’s a secret. Oliver loves to bottom. Begs for it like you wouldn’t believe. I promise.” I watched Marcos’s throat swallow, his eyes darkening.
“Would you like that, Oliver?” I asked, a bit louder so Oliver could hear me.
Oliver popped up, his cheeks fever-flushed and his lips glossy with spit. “What?”
“I was telling Marcos how much you like having someone inside you. Would you like that?” I repeated.
Oliver looked flustered for a moment and then nodded his head. He looked conflicted.
“Don’t feel like you have to do anything on my account,” Marcos said.
“No!” Oliver exclaimed, only afterward looking embarrassed by his outburst. “No, holy shit, yes. I want that. It’s just…”
“It’s just…” I tilted my head, waiting for him to finish.
“I want to fuck you, too,” Oliver admitted, looking at me.
“Oh? Is that all?”
Oliver looked confused. “What do you mean is that all? How are we going to do that?”
“Yeah, how are we going to do that?” Marcos asked.
