#part of it is luck and part of it is Mr. Marty's Dad is crazy good at turning situations around

[awesomebutunpractical]

Marty's father is a frustrating combination of extremely gullible and extremely lucky - the man never has to learn his lesson.

"And you said it was a scam." He says with a gleeful squint towards his very "it WAS!' son.

[vestsfriends]

Divided But United (an Andi Mack HP AU Fanfic) Chapter 3: “A Common Enemy”

Pairings: Jonah Beck/Cyrus Goodman, Andi Mack/Walker Brodsky, Buffy Driscoll/Marty, Reed/Kira, Amber Kippen/Iris, and many more to come.

Characters: Andi Mack, Jonah Beck, Cyrus Goodman, Buffy Driscoll, TJ Kippen, Amber Kippen, Walker Brodsky, CeCe Mack, Bex Mack, Bowie Quinn, Pat Driscoll, Iris, Reed, Lester, Kira, Kaitlin, Kip, Natalie, Gus, Leo, Libby, Dr. Metcalf, Coach Rez, Mr Coleman, and many original characters.

Word Count: 2578

Taglist: @andimackshitposts @pastelnightgale @dociousjonah

“Jonah?”

“Wait- huh?”

The four teens faces were absolutely dumbfounded. They all remained jaw-dropped, staring at each and every one of them with confusion written all over their faces. The silence soon became quite unbearable so Buffy took the initiative and broke it.

“You guys,” she gestured her hand over to Jonah. “He’s the guy I was telling you about yesterday, he was the dude I met outside of the Quidditch supply outlet!” Buffy enthusiastically waltzed over to where Jonah stood, punching his shoulder in a friendly way.

Andi followed after her friend, her dark copper eyes sparkling in the morning sunlight as she made her way over to Jonah with his overloaded cart of items. Andi pointed to the young owl sleeping soundly inside of its small cage. “And I met him inside of Eeylops Owl Emporium, I helped Jonah pick out his new pet owl right here.” She smiled and raised her head proudly.

Cyrus lifted his eyebrows. “Really? It’s such a weird coincidence that we all met Jonah yesterday in different parts of Diagon Alley.” The dark-haired boy shifted to face his childhood friends and add on his own story of how he met Jonah. “Remember when I told you guys last night that there was someone in Ollivanders who was able to get their wand after only just the second try?” Cyrus’ compliment made Jonah feel a light blush begin to creep onto his cheeks. The green-eyed boy started to rub his lower neck, which, fortunately, nobody seemed to notice him doing.

Andi and Buffy nodded their heads in unison, signaling Cyrus to continue. “That ‘someone’ was Jonah,” he smiled at the blushing boy who was relieved to hear that Cyrus didn’t touch on the part when Jonah’s entire face was covered in ashes. “And I was lucky enough to see him again today.” Cyrus’ eyes now remained fully on Jonah’s even after he finished his recall of their first meeting. The girls took notice of the loving gaze Cyrus was giving Jonah, but they decided to not mention it.

For Jonah, he found the current situation oddly strange, but quite beneficial on his behalf that he had already made new friends before even entering his new school. He never felt so at ease, to him it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. The few previous months leading up to the present had been beyond nerve racking for him. In past years, Jonah had a continuously rough time with making friendships and sustaining them, so he did not have that many. Yet, despite his bad luck, his parents always reassured him that he would “meet the right people” at Hogwarts. Jonah was now definite that the people standing before him fit the description perfectly.

Jonah’s trip down memory lane was cut short by Andi. “I think it was destined that we all meet,” she predicted, confident that their meetings were not just a mere coincidence. “The universe set us up so we could all be friends.”

Buffy rolled her eyes in a huff. “I think your dad is rubbing off on you too much.” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the short-haired girl. “He literally thinks everything on the planet is spiritual, including plants and inanimate objects.”

Andi shrugged, a chuckle escaping her lips. “Well, he is the professor of herbology.”

“Your dad is one of the Hogwarts professors?” Jonah asked. “Cyrus was just telling me about that earlier.”

“See, I told you, I don’t lie,” Cyrus chirped.

Jonah was opening his mouth to retaliate before all four teens heard a loud rumbling sound echoing in the distance that began to come closer and closer to the platform. A horn sounded, the volume rising quickly as it traveled on the train tracks. Jonah, Cyrus, Andi and Buffy saw a huge puff of smoke leave the smokestack before they brought their attention upon a large rusty red and gray lined express train exit through the smog. The Hogwarts Express was such an old vehicle that the paint along the sides of it were wearing away, giving the train a very filthy and chipped exterior. Nevertheless, the four soon-to-be-Hogwarts-students jumped to the front of the line before any other students could.

“We’re going to find a compartment together, right?” Jonah was a little shy to ask. He definitely did not want to mess up his words around his new friends, but he did not want to seem too clingy either.

Cyrus turned to look at Jonah. “No, we’re all going in separate cars.” He stared blankly at the anxious green-eyed boy and blinked very slowly at him before his expression altered. “Of course we’re gonna go together!” Cyrus shook his head and laughed, gripping Jonah’s shoulder. “We’d never leave you by yourself.”

“All aboard!” The conductor announced from the train.

The four teens carefully stepped onto the old fashioned train, overwhelmed with excitement that in a few hours they would be arriving at Hogwarts. They each handed their train ticket to the conductor politely, then all walked together to find a car for themselves. Any other passenger riding on the train would say that the four adolescents looked like a pack of animals, seeing as they were walking side by side as if they had been inseparable since birth.

“Here, do you guys want to bunk in this one?” Buffy pointed to a train car that was clean, and appeared to be slightly more expanded than the others, which was perfect for the four of them and all their luggage.

“Yeah, sure.” Jonah agreed as he followed Buffy’s lead.

The four friends set down their bags onto the floor of the train car and sat on the cushioned seats. Buffy sat by the window with Andi sitting silently on her right, and across from them sat Jonah, eagerly peering out the window, with Cyrus to his left. Although it didn’t seem like it from how calmly Jonah sat down, the green-eyed boy was more than delighted to have Cyrus sitting so closely to him on the cushion. And because of that, only Cyrus noticed that Jonah’s ears had turned red.

“So, guys,” Buffy broke the ice. “What Hogwarts house do you guys think you’ll get into?” She glanced upon her friends with a wild grin.

Andi replied to her friend first. “Mmm maybe Gryffindor or Ravenclaw for me.” She looked up at the ceiling deep in thought.

Cyrus nodded his approval. “I think I’ll probably get into Hufflepuff,” he wasn’t exactly sure. “I don’t think any of the other houses fit me honestly.”

Buffy, Andi, and Cyrus all turned to Jonah, who was staring intently at the dusty floor, awaiting his response. He snapped out of his thoughts and quickly apologized. “Oh, uh, I’m s-sorry,” He avoided their eyes and his attention fell on his hands, which were visibly shaking. “I don’t really know.”

“Hey,” Cyrus spoke softly, carefully inching his body closer to Jonah and placing a hand over his. “Are you alright?”

Jonah sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment. “I wish I was.” The boy paused before continuing, “I have really bad anxiety, so whenever I make even a small mistake, my mind freaks out.” Jonah gripped his hands tightly, as he opened his eyes again. “I just want to impress you guys but I’m just not cut-out for making friends.”

His confession seemed to simmer in the air before the other three teens registered it. Jonah turned to see a pained expression written all over Cyrus’ face. Buffy and Andi shared a glance with each other and a faint smile appeared on their lips along with a glint of solemn in their pupils.

“Jonah,” Buffy’s voice was gentle and comforting. “You don’t need to impress us, we already like you for who you are. It doesn’t matter if you have anxiety or not, everyone has their own issues that they have to deal with.”

“Hell, I used to have panic attacks too,” Cyrus chimed in, wrapping an arm around Jonah’s shoulder and pulling him closer to show his support. “I used to become a literal human waterfall, I looked so soaked.”

Jonah cracked a small smile. “Thanks you, guys.” The three teens nodded in return, their conversation now shifting back to a much lighter topic. They chatted about their home lives and caught Jonah up with all the crazy adventures Buffy, Cyrus, and Andi had experienced in their youth. They all bonded, the four of them growing closer despite only meeting Jonah the day before.

Many minutes soon passed by, the four teenagers unaware of how long they had been talking, and an announcement sounded over the speaker from the conductor. He informed the passengers on the train that the they would be arriving at Hogwarts very shortly.

Jonah immediately perked up. “Woah, has it been two hours already?” The green-eyed boy was shocked at how fast time had flown.

Buffy raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “Psh, apparently. Wow, who knew that talking about our insane backstories would take so long.” Next to her, Andi held back her laughter.

“Guys, we’re literally going to be at Hogwarts in a few minutes…” Cyrus told his friends. “How are you not freaking out right now?”

Jonah patted his friends’ shoulder and chuckled. “Trust me, I am. But I’ve been ready for this moment for a long time.” He gazed off into space, starry eyed. He was recalling the time when he told everything he wanted to do at Hogwarts to his parents. The green-eyed boy sighed happily.

Suddenly, the Hogwarts express train came to a halt. The moving lands of green trees and bushes that they had seen during their trip were now gone, the only color that filled the space outside of the train was black except the dim yellow light escaping the crescent moon. It was now late evening, and the sun had long set, but the first-year students hadn’t lost any of their energy.

Andi, Cyrus, Jonah, and Buffy filed out of their compartment, following the other first year students who were exiting off of the train. They remained in a huddle, until a staff member from Hogwarts escorted the kids down a shady pathway until they came to a fleet of small boats.

The four teenagers’ attention drifted away from the sparkling lake up to the large school that stood behind it. Jonah audibly gasped, drawing in the cold air that was surrounding him.

What they saw was extraordinary, nothing like any picture they had ever seen in The Daily Prophet. Hogwarts was even bigger than they imagined, it’s pillars standing wide and tall, nearly scraping the tops of the clouds. It appeared to be illuminated from the inside, a multitude of colors beautifully bouncing off its bricks giving the school a bright exterior. The gigantic building didn’t even seem like a school, more like a castle for a royal family to live in.

The Hogwarts gatekeeper motioned the group to keep moving as the students arranged themselves into the many small boats. The four teenagers rode across the lake in silence, but occasionally grinned at one another with excitement.

~

After a short while, the boats stopped at the shore. The students were ordered back into a group as they followed the gatekeeper of Hogwarts down a twisty path to the entrance of the school. Many of the other first-year students within the group started talking quite loudly behind them, slowly separating from the rest of the group.

“Can you believe it? We’re going to be Gryffindors together, Natalie!”

“I’m going to become a seeker as a first year, just like Harry Potter!”

“We haven’t even been sorted into our houses yet-”

“Becca, you can’t be serious…”

“Hah! Like they’d pick you to be seeker, I’m the one who’s had three years of flying camp on my resume.”

Three male students that Buffy, Cyrus and Andi were unfamiliar with laughed at a student in a mocking manner. But Jonah had found something strangely familiar about the three boys.

Those were the guys from outside Eeylops Owl Emporium...

Jonah immediately felt his face constrict. He realized that the three boys must have been making fun of the girl, and despite his major anxiety, he was never a bystander when someone was being bullied.

Jonah marched straight over to the three bullies without any second thought. “Hey! Stop it, you’re making a scene for no reason. You shouldn’t make fun of other people for what they want to be.” The green-eyed boy glared at the three bullies.

A blonde-haired boy who appeared to be the leader of the three, stepped forward. “Oh yeah? Do you even know who I am, kid? I’m Reed Greyson, and you’re going to regret saying that.” His mouth formed a smug smile as he glanced down and looked over Jonah’s hand-me-down robes. “Plus, the last time I checked I didn’t take orders from a low-class child who can’t even afford decent clothes.” He high-fived his two friends while cackling.

Jonah opened his mouth to fight back before his three newly-made friends came up from behind him to back him up.

Cyrus grasped Jonah’s shoulder and stared very intensely into Reed’s eyes. “Congrats Reed, you have a lot of money, so what? Just because you’re wealthy doesn’t mean you can buy yourself a better attitude.”

Cyrus’ comeback earned many “Ooh’s” from the other students, along with a few kids laughing. Reed was not pleased in the slightest.

He walked up to Cyrus, his clean sleek shoes roughly stomping against the dirt. Nobody knew what he was planning on doing because his revenge was cut short by the gatekeeper telling the students to quit fooling around and catch up with the others.

Reed slowly backed away from Cyrus, but not before letting out a grunt and glaring daggers at him and Jonah.

Andi, Buffy, Cyrus and Jonah turned to each other after Reed and his friends walked away. Jonah buried his face in his hands.

“I can’t believe I just did that.” The green-eyed boy was angry with himself. “I haven’t even taken a step inside the school and someone already has it out for me?” Jonah groaned.

Buffy came up on Jonah’s left side. “Don’t worry dude, we will won’t let Reed touch you,” she assured him. “And if he tries, we’ll beat him up.” The curly-haired girl cracked her knuckles.

Andi and Cyrus nodded at Buffy’s claim. They were ready to defend their friend’s honor no matter the cost, as long as Jonah was okay.

Cyrus went over to Jonah’s right side. “Also, I’m pretty sure that idiot’s getting into Slytherin anyway,” he predicted. “He’s more cunning than anyone else I know. Plus for some reason all the bad people end up in Slytherin.”

“True,” Andi agreed, turning to Jonah. “So you should probably avoid any Slytherins as best as you can.” She squeezed Jonah’s shoulder once she saw the frightened look on his face.

“No need to worry, Jonah,” Buffy chuckled. “The only times when you’re going to see any Slytherins are in your classes and in the hallway.”

Jonah exhaled the breath he was holding in. “You’re right. I just hope at least one of you guys end up in the same house as me.”

Cyrus shrugged. “Well, even if we don’t, we’ll still all hang out, right?”

“Right.” The other three responded in unison.

[the-shawfords]

Chapter 1

Jamie Shawford

“No, Marty McClaren. I said no. I can’t go on about some tennis racket that I’ve never even heard of,” Jamie Shawford groaned into the phone. The life of a famous tennis player was rough, said no one ever.

She stood just outside an exclusive indoors tennis court with her favorite racket tucked under her right arm, and the phone against her ear. Jamie was dressed in short cut white shorts, and a matching shirt with blue trim. It was among one of her favorite outfits to train in, and she specifically chose it when practicing indoors. The glass she was leaning on pounded occasionally when tennis balls hit against the other side, a sign that the other players were still practicing.

“It’s the perfect time to make people hear of it,” Marty argued back. “Plenty of rackets owe all their fame to a tennis player. It's three sentences, please cut me a break.” Marty was practically begging. Marty McClaren was the ever capable manager. Jamie relied on her not only in a professional way, but in a friendship way as well. Jamie was pretty sure when they were both old and gray, they’d still be friends.

“I just don’t have it in me to lie like that.” Jamie was laughing now. The exasperation spilled over in Jamie’s voice and she was well aware of it. Marty rarely begged for anything.

Jamie was sure Marty had more to say, but before she got another argument in, Jamie’s phone buzzed with another incoming call. Jamie pondered the caller I.D. for a moment before deciding to pick it up. Jamie set down her racket and switched the phone over to her right ear.

“Marty, my brother is calling. I’ll call you back in a few.” Jamie didn’t wait to hear Marty’s response back before clicking the accept button. There were a few grand moments of silence before one of her youngest brothers spoke.

“Jamie, it’s Andy.” There was a pause. “Dad- dad passed away last night. I just thought you should know.” Andy’s voice was quiet. Andy and Jamie had never been close. With almost a fifteen year age gap between them, Andy had barely been able to speak before Jamie got kicked out of the Shawford house for good.

Jamie couldn’t form the words she needed. Couldn’t manage to even get out a lousy “I’m sorry for your loss”. Because it wasn’t her loss, was it? She spent years wishing for that man’s death. She wasn’t upset about their father dying because he had never really been a father, had he? Not to her, at least. No, Jamie wasn’t sad. She just was shot speechless.

“I’ll come home.” Jamie finally managed to choke out. For all the days she wished that man would drink himself into a grave, Jamie never actually thought it would happen.

Daniel Shawford

As far as allnighters go, Daniel set the record for the longest time spent awake and simultaneously working on a thirty six page essay at six days. Granted, intermittent naps and coffee breaks were allotted, but rare.

In the back of Daniel’s mind, he thought about scrapping this crappy idea and rewriting an essay about why no one should ever stay up this long. Or better yet, why procrastination was the only real sin in this world.

Daniel rubbed his eyes. His brain was fogging up with undeserved sleep as he stood to brew another pot of shitty coffee. If he had known double majoring was going to be this hard, Daniel would have stayed at home like his younger brothers.

Once the coffee machine was doing its job, he popped the fridge open and peered inside. Daniel hadn’t eaten food in quite a while. There was no time to waste eating. With drinking coffee, he could type one handedly at the same time. Eating? No such luck. He spotted his roommate's energy drink in the back corner, and muttered darkly to himself as he pulled it out.

The coffee machine dinged to alarm Daniel it was finished doing it’s duty for humanity, and Daniel poured himself half a cup in an old mountain dew bottle, and then cracked the energy drink open and poured the other half into the bottle.

“If I die, I die.” Daniel shrugged and quickly downed the coffee-energy drink mess. There was truly no taste like it, but Daniel was too tired to taste anything but the bitter black coffee. He missed those stupid sugar coffee drinks he couldn’t afford anymore. After chugging an entire bottle of the forbidden mix, Daniel felt ready to sit down again and continue hating ever word he added to this stupid essay.

Daniel checked the date. It was officially May 6th, 4:22. It was due in four hours and he still needed another four pages to meet minimum requirements. And Daniel hadn’t even edited or read over a single word written yet. This teacher was going to have a field day with his paper. But turning in whatever crap he wrote was better than getting a zero for not doing it at all. At least, that’s what Daniel told himself.

His phone rang and startled Daniel off his chair. It was so loud in the silent dorm room that he had jumped out of his skin because of it. On the way down, he cracked his forehead against the arm of his chair, and let out a string of unprotected cuss words. Daniel grappled for the phone as he helped himself up.

“Andy? It’s four in the morning. Are you okay?” There had been a few times in the past that Andy or Ryan had called and needed a place to stay. Usually they called Matt though. He was much closer than Daniel was. It would always be alarming for his youngest twin brothers to call him at such an hour. Daniel had college friends who called him at all hours of the night, but none would worry him like this. Daniel knew their father, and knew their history.

“Is Matt not picking up his phone? I can come and get you.” Daniel really couldn’t come get them, but he’d call Matt until he picked up the damn phone. He was probably staying over at Patricks… Daniel shook the thought from his mind.

“No…” Andy’s voice was shaky. “It’s dad. He-” Andy sniffled a bit. Daniel shot up from his chair. It was partly fueled by anger, but most of that energy came from his crazy coffee concoction.

“Did he hurt you?” Daniel practically bellowed into the phone. Personally, Daniel had never been hit by his father. But all the blood drained from his face when he remembered how his drunk father beat up Matt for being gay. Or Jamie… for being a she instead of a he.

“No, Daniel,” Andy said almost exasperated. He was talking through tears now. “He’s dead. He died and mom doesn’t want you to know. Or Jamie, or Matt even.” Andy was whispering into the phone now, like he didn’t want anyone to know he was talking on it. It clicked in Daniel’s mind.

Andy was calling his older brothers to tell them what happened because their mother wouldn’t. Daniel wasn’t sure how to take this news. He was numb, really. What else was he supposed to feel? He stared at the unfinished essay that had stolen six nights of good rest from him. Was God finally taking pity on him?

Once off the phone with Andy, Daniel formatted an email to his professor saying he was unable to finish the essay because of his father’s death. He requested a week of extra time and promised to finish it by then.

And then, unceremoniously, he closed the laptop and passed out in his chair.

Matt Shawford

Matt Shawford was suffering through yet another family lunch at the Colgait house. Lunches were a ritual for the Colgaits in a way Matt had never seen a family do before. Not that he was complaining though… lunch is the best. In-laws are the best. Sometimes.

But right now? They were freaking him out.

“Well when you get married, you’re going to hyphen your names, right? Shawford-Colgait is nice, isn’t it?” It wasn’t. But Mrs. Colgait, Patrick’s mother, was undeterred by Matt’s unnerved expression. Jonathan Colgait Senior cut in.

“when you adopt, will the kid get to share the hyphenated names? Or hyphen with its original last name? That’s a lot of names there.” Jonathan Senior was as old as the hills, but managed to be more open-minded than most people in this town alone. Jonathan Senior sees family values as the most important part of his life, and the rest of the Colgaits believed that too.

The problem is, Matt isn’t ready for those kinds of talks. He isn’t ready to discuss kids. Hell, Matt was barely able to say yes to Patrick when he asked Matt to marry him. Matt worries about everything. What if his father comes out of his five year silence to stop the wedding? What if getting married at twenty three is too early? What if he decides he doesn’t want kids and becomes a huge disappointment to both his family and Patricks? The panic must have been evident because Patrick gripped his hand under the table.

“We’re not really ready to-”

“I won’t hyphen. I’m taking the Colgait name when we marry,” Matt paused, as if he were only just now remembering his manners. “If that’s okay with you.” He added. His declaration seemed to shock everyone, even himself. Jonathan senior choked on one of the roasted carrots. He beat his hand against his chest as he struggled to catch his breath.

“Are my ears hard of hearing,” Jonathan senior coughed and beat his chest with his fist again, “or did you just say you're giving up your father's name?” Jonathan Colgait slammed his hand against the table as if he were disgusted by the idea. Even if Jonathan Senior was open-minded, he didn’t approve of such effeminate behavior.

“You are your father’s son. A man. It’s not right to give up your family name.” Jonathan Senior admonished. Jonathan Junior, Patrick’s father, cleared his throat. Matt was sure he was going to step in and defend him. Matt couldn’t have that.

“I’d be honored to take the Colgait name any day over my father’s. If he were even half the man you are sir, I might have considered a hyphen.” That’s the proper amount of ass-kissing to give to your father-in-laws parents. Patrick’s grandfather looked thoughtfully at Matt, and then smiled a yellow toothed smile.

Matt Shawford hated his surname. It said he was related to his father, and Matt didn’t want anything to link him to that man. His father’s son? Matt would rather die. If there was one thing Matt promised never to become, it was him. And since he was technically kicked out of his home, Matt technically didn’t have to keep his father’s last name. That might have been the best thing about getting married - other than the lovely man at his side squeezing his hand reassuringly. Someday soon, He’d be Matt Colgait, married to Patrick Colgait of Colgait and Sons Organic Farms Co.

Jonathan senior set down his fork like he no longer needed to wield it like a pitchfork. He sat quietly, glaring a whole into the nice white table cloth. Perhaps the ass-kissing Matt offered really did a number on the old man.

“Your daddy…” The old man paused. He looked a hundred years older as he chose his next words carefully. “He’s a diligent worker, and strong willed, but a good man? He is not.” The rest of the family members nodded agreeably. Matt was sure Daniel and Jamie wouldn’t blame him for leaving the family name. The Shawfords valued family names like any true conservative catholic family would, but somewhere along the way, Matt had lost that. He lost the pride that made his name feel good to say aloud.

Matt smiled appreciatively before diving into his own roasted carrots. They were organic, afterall. He glanced at his phone when it started vibrating under the table. It wouldn’t look good that he brought his phone to the table with him, and decided to ignore it. Whoever it was, they’d leave a message if it was important.

Only, as soon as he declined the call from his brother, it came again. Matt glanced at the Colgait family, apologized, and stood. He took the phone call to the front porch.

“It better be important Andy!” Matt growled into the phone.

“Would I call during your all important lunch if it wasn’t?” he growled right back. But Andy’s growl and normal sarcasm cut shallow when Matt heard the crack in his voice.

“Andy? What’s wrong?” Matt switched from being angry to being concerned on a dime. It wouldn’t have been dad, right? Dad had no reason to hit Andy… but what about Ryan? Matt rubbed his temple as he started overthinking everything. Ryan struggled with talking on a normal day. What if he chose to stay silent at the wrong time and got himself hit? Matt started pacing.

“It’s dad,” Andy said slowly. Matt was about to abandon his all-important-lunch to throw himself in the way of dad’s blows. Nothing in Matt’s life was more important than his younger twin brothers. “He died yesterday night. Mom didn’t want me to tell you guys, but… you deserved to know.” Andy finished. His voice came out steady, like he’s had this conversation a million times by now. And Matt figures that he must have. Matt wondered what Jamie and Daniel’s reactions were.

“Listen, I normally wouldn’t ask this but dad usually picks us up from school on mom’s chemo days but…” Andy couldn’t finish. Matt didn’t realize he was nodding through the phone until Andy asked if he was still there.

“It’s no problem. I’ll be there.”

While Matt was panicking on the front porch, Patrick had a strong word with his family. He set down his fork, and glared up at his parents, and his grandparents. As the youngest child of the Colgait family, that glare didn’t have much of a scare factor to it.

“I told you to lay off the kid thing. He’s not ready to think about that kind of stuff yet, and honestly, neither am I.” Patrick tried to sound angry. He wasn’t, not really. Unlike the Shawford house, the Colgaits were warm, loving, and took you in any shape you turned out to be. Meaning, they didn’t care that their youngest son happened to like guys.

“We’re just trying to make sure we have grandkids. Your older brother is about as interested in marriage as that toaster over there,” Grandpa Colgait admonished. Luckily, Patrick’s older brother Johnny wasn’t here. Patrick sighed. His grandpa wanted to see grandkids before he died, and that wasn’t a lot to ask, considering. Patrick figured he would marry Matt, get their own place off the farm, and maybe, MAYBE after a few years adopt a kid. Patrick was pretty sure he couldn’t do surrogacy in any capacity. Women are scary.

“I know, but… you’re going to scare him off with talk like that.” Patrick tried to explain. The amount of effort that went into even getting Matt to date him was off the charts- not that it wasn’t worth it. Patrick loved Matt, and was glad they’d met when they did.

Matt burst through the door with the phone still to his ear. The nice clothes he wore to the nice lunch were rumpled and there was sweat on his forehead from all the worry.

“Patrick, can I borrow your car?”