Time to see how Alex's parents will react, hopefully it'll be what you hoped for and don't forget to donate to nifty to keep reading this and other stories. https://donate.nifty.org/
Chapter 14
I woke up on Sunday morning with a sense of dread and foreboding. I really wanted today to be fine but I had no idea what to expect. The twins were due to come round early so we could go up to Josh's place and form a plan for later on. I told my parents that we were all going up there to help Josh out so he'd be done before the barbecue started, and to make the story more believable I took some decent clothes to change into later. The twins soon arrived and we set off to get the preparations started on the farm before my parents came over later in the afternoon.
"Hi boys, Josh is just finishing up in the stables." The twins started to head over as I hung back to talk to Bryan. "Are you ready for today?" He asked.
"I'm shit scared to be honest, what happens if they disown me?" I was actually shaking with fear at how today could go.
"Don't worry, they're your parents. From what you've told me about them they'll love you no matter what."
"I just don't want to lose them or Josh." I started crying and he hugged me for reassurance. "I'm just starting to get settled here and I don't want to lose all this." He held me as I sobbed and I heard footsteps coming up from behind.
"What's going on? Is he ok?" Josh asked his grandpa.
"He's just worried about his parents."
"Whatever happens we're all here with you." Josh said and I saw the twins nodding beside him. "We know it'll be a shock but I think they can handle."
"I guess." I replied. "If these idiots can handle it then I'm sure my parents can." I smiled at the twins.
"Hey! I resent that!" Luke protested then pointed at Sam. "He's the idiot, I'm the arsehole." Then gave us a sly grin. We spent the next few hours sorting the food, tables and drinks out, then Bryan fired up the barbecue to show us how men cook...with fire!
I met my parents at the gate when they arrived and escorted them to the patio outside the house where everyone was gathered near the barbecue. "Mum, Dad; this is Bryan and Lauren, Josh's grandparents. His mum; Alison and obviously you know Josh and the twins. Guys, these are Amy and Patrick, my parents." I stood back to watch them all get acquainted and saw they were starting to hit it off as my parents admired the property. I sidled over to Josh and whispered "so far, so good." Everybody stood around talking for a while and then when the food was ready we all sat down to eat. There was quite a spread but with four hungry teenagers at the table it soon started to disappear, as it did though I became more anxious as I knew the time for the news was fast approaching. Bryan could see my mood changing and gave me a nod as if to say `let's do this.' He sat back slightly and gave his glass a little tap to get everyone's attention.
"I just wanted to say it's been a pleasure getting to know Alex these last few weeks, you guys should be commended on bringing up such a bright, polite, witty and talented boy." He started as I flushed with embarrassment. I looked at my parents as they were beaming with pride and I could feel my cheeks burning more. "He's been a great asset to us as well in bringing Josh out of his shell as a friend and now boyfriend, so let's raise a toast to him."
"To Alex!!" The twins cheered as everyone raised there glasses while I tried to sink down further into my chair.
"There is something we need to make you aware of though." Bryan continued with a serious expression. "Josh has a rare condition passed down through my side of the family and we recently found out that he accidentally shared it with Alex."
My mum looked horrified and my dad was getting angry. "What type of condition? Is he going to die?" Then he turned to me. "What did I tell you about safe sex?"
"It's not as bad as it sounds..." I protested.
"Really? When somebody says condition it's usually a bad thing." He snapped then looked at Josh with rage in his eyes. "And you!! If you knew you had a disease then you should've kept it in your pants."
"Now wait a minute!!" Alison barked but Josh cut her off.
"It's not a disease! And I didn't even know it could be passed on!" He yelled.
"Well what the fuck did you think would happen with it if you had unprotected sex?" Dad shouted back.
"Dad that's not fair!"
"Quiet you! You're in enough trouble as it is!"
"We didn't have sex! It was just oral." Josh said that last bit really quietly as he didn't want to make things worse.
"Oh well that's fine then!" Dad shouted throwing his hands in the air then turned to Bryan. "Whatever it costs to get him cured I expect you to pay it!"
"ENOUGH!!!" I shouted as I stood and exploded out of my clothes. Everyone went silent as I stood there in my underwear with rags all around me. "This is what the condition did to me and if there is a cure for it I don't want it!" There was more silence as my parents took in the sight of their son looking like he'd just stepped onto the Mr Universe stage. I shrank again as I sat down, wondering what would happen next and feeling very exposed without many clothes on.
"Oh my god. What have they done to you?" Mum asked, finally breaking the silence. "That's not possible; my little boy can't do that, no one can. Are you telling me you can all..." Bryan, Alison and Josh all nodded. The twins looked at each other then shook their heads vigorously and I had to stop myself from laughing.
"So it's not going to kill him, but you've made him a freak?" Dad seethed.
"That's not fair dad!"
"Shut it! I'm talking to..."
"No goddamn it you shut up!!" I'd never spoken to my parents like this before and it surprised them more than I surprised myself. "Look I've been able to do this for a few days now and you've seen Josh around ever since we moved here and never thought he was a freak. We can hide this and if I hadn't told you today you'd probably never know, but I didn't want to hide anything from you."
"Can't you take it back? Make him normal again?" Mum pleaded with Josh.
"There wouldn't be a way to do that." Bryan replied before Josh could. "Believe me there have been times where I've wanted to take this away from Josh so he could have a normal life but it's built into his genes, the same way it is now with Alex."
"I wouldn't want to change it anyway; it's brought me and Josh closer together." I added.
"I just feel like I've lost my little boy." Mum cried. I crouched next to her and put my arm around her.
"I can't be your little boy forever and I wouldn't be anyway, I'm growing up and whether it's getting big muscles or growing a beard I'm not going to look like a little boy for much longer anyway." I moved to put my arms around both parents and continued. "Whatever happens, whatever changes I go through in life, whether they're physical or emotional, you're still my parents and I still need your support."
"You're right." Dad said. "We supported you when you told us you were gay and through the bullying so we should support you through this. Just do me a favour though."
"Anything." I said with a smile.
"Stay small and wear clothes in the house, I don't want to feel like a wimp all the time." He replied making me smile.
"You got it. Are you ok mum?" I asked turning to her.
"It's been quite a shock but whatever happens you're my son and I love you." I hugged them both close for what seemed like an eternity then felt some arms wrap around me and a head on my shoulder.
I looked around to see Luke's head there. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked trying not to laugh.
"I just wanted to be a part of this moment." We all released our hold and I saw Josh and Sam laughing their asses off at the way Luke had interrupted the tender moment as he walked back over to them.
I went back to sit with the twins and Josh while my parents apologised to Josh's family and asked loads of questions. We then took them on a tour of the farm and I showed them the statues and other items Josh had crafted. Mum really liked the panther statue and Josh said she could have it. Dad tried lifting it but nearly threw his back out. "I think we'll have to get this delivered." He smiled and Josh was happy to bring it over one day.
We sat around and talked until quite late when my parents reminded me it was a school night. I asked if I could stay the night with Josh and they agreed. I kissed them goodnight and hugged the twins, thanking them for their support then they left to escort my parents home. I sat outside alone, looking at the stars and thinking about what my future held when Josh came out to sit with me.
"So how was today? Was it everything you expected?" He asked.
"I don't know what I expected to be honest, I'm glad it's over and I can just get on with my life now." I said. He put his arm around me and I leant my head on his shoulder. "How do you think today went?"
"I knew it would be a surprise to them but I've got to know your parents a little this week and I knew they'd be fine when the shock wore off." He replied.
I looked into his eyes and felt my heart melt more. "What have I done to deserve you?" I asked and kissed him.
"You deserve the best and I intend to give it to you." He stood up and held out his hand for me to take, leading me into the house. "Come on, tomorrow's a new day and the start of our new life."
Epilogue
So that's the story of how I met Josh and started my new life with him. We've been together ever since and our bond has gotten stronger every year. Josh's grades improved dramatically in school as he gained the confidence to ask for help when he was struggling. The teachers also began to notice his artistic talents and a few years after we left they even commissioned him to make a statue of the school's founder to stand at the entrance. We stayed on at the farm and, as we wanted more independence, we had our own cottage built. Josh continued to create his sculptures and I created more artworks, including drawing some pretty famous comics, so we were never short of money.
The twins went on to college to study business and Sam finally realised his dream of opening a comic shop in town. Not only that but the two of them built up the shop to a point where they could open more stores further afield with a little help from our investments. Luke, loved seeing the world as he travelled around to meet suppliers while Sam stayed behind, loving his small town life. Sam did enjoy going to comic conventions around the world though with us joining him at as many as we could and we soon developed a love for cosplay. When you look like we could and you added costumes so people didn't always recognise you it gave you a lot of options, and Lauren loved helping us make the costumes look authentic.
My favourite by far was when Josh grew his hair out and went as Thor with me going along as Beta Ray Bill. We created a hammer from a large chunk of the heaviest metal we could find, condensing it with our strength so it looked like Thor's hammer but actually weighed close to a tonne. We'd occasionally set the hammer down to see if people could lift it and when they couldn't one of us would just lift it with one hand and say they obviously weren't worthy. People thought it was done with magnets or some other trickery but it was simply, incredibly heavy, although not a problem for either of us to wield easily enough. The biggest problem we had was getting it to the convention as we had to ship it in a container so as not to raise suspicions. It wasn't really the sort of thing you could take on a plane as hand luggage but it was worth the extra cost just for the fun it gave us.
Lauren lived on into her eighties until her body finally gave up on her. I met more of Josh's family at the funeral and was happy to see that it wasn't just his mum and grandpa who had the muscle genes. When we explained what happened to us I saw a few cousin's faces light up with hope. Lauren lived long enough to meet her great grandchildren at least. We had twins with a surrogate, who was extremely well paid for her trouble, and named them Samantha and Lucas after the twins who supported us throughout our lives. Sam also had a son with his high school sweetheart a few months before the twins were born and naturally didn't return the favour. The prick.
My parents have stayed on in town and love being grandparents. My mum and Alison have been getting on incredibly well since they first met, and Bryan has been a godsend in teaching the twins about their burgeoning strength. My dad on the other hand has been using them to help him lift and bend things for him when he's working. I remember one day finding a six year old Lucas holding up the car while Dad changed the tyre and when I reprimanded him saying Lucas wasn't a jack and he just responded by telling me it wasn't too late to change his name. Lucas also loved spending time with my mum as she had been a dancer in her younger years and loved nothing more than teaching the little boy how to move his body to the music. Samantha was different, she was a little quieter and a bit of a tomboy, making us laugh whenever she'd be made to wear a pretty dress and then hulk out just to see our reactions.
Thinking back over all this has made me realise what an amazing life I've had and it all started with moving to this little town and falling in love with the most amazing guy I'll ever know.
The End.
*** Author's Note *** Ok, so I know it says "the end" up there and it was actually the end of the story, at least until the idea for a sequel came bounding into my head. As I said before this was the very first, full story I ever wrote so the fact that it was so well received (both on here and on sites it was on before they got taken down) was quite a nice surprise. That being said, there will be a very short story involving these guys in the lead up to Christmas which will act as a bridging story for the much longer and, in my humble opinion, much better sequel that will be posted in the New Year. Thanks again for all the support and keep a lookout here for the continuation.