Connor was, apparently, very averse to introducing Theodore to his family. Given the lengths Connor had gone through in the past to keep Theo and his family apart, this didn’t necessarily surprise Theodore, but he didn’t really, fully realize how opposed Connor was to the introductions until they were actually headed to the airport. Connor had been getting antsier and antsier as they got ready. As they made their way to the airport, he combed his fingers through his hair so many times that Theo actually worried he that he might be causing premature balding.

While they were sitting in the airport, waiting to board their plane, Connor was bouncing his legs like he was Tigger on ecstasy. He kept looking around and drumming his fingers against his knees and, quite frankly, Theodore just kept thinking that Connor was lucky he was a white guy wearing khaki pants and a button down because anyone else acting that suspicious in an airport would get escorted out.

Theodore placed a hand on Connor’s knee, stilling it. “Connor?”

“Sorry, I’m just nervous.”

“I get that, but can you try to be nervous without acting like you’re on drugs?”

Connor slumped back in his chair and for a moment he was still. Then, his fingers started to twitch again. He starts to bounce on the balls of his feet again. A grandmother-type in a paisley coat started to watch them, one eye raised skeptically.

Theodore stared at the floor in front of him. There were a few saltine crackers that someone dropped and a parade of people stomped into crumbs. He placed his palm back on Connor’s knee and asked, “Are you more worried about them meeting me? Or me meeting them?”

It was the sort of question that Theo knew he shouldn’t even ask. He was hoping that Connor would say he was worried about Theo meeting his parents and not the other way around. Then, Theo could say, “Don’t be! I love everyone!” and it would be true and possibly even comforting. Connor didn’t say that, though, and if Theodore was being honest, he hadn’t really expected him to. Connor didn’t even pause before the words came out, “Them meeting you.”

A beat later, Connor tried to backpedal. “Wait, I mean...I am worried about them meeting you, but not because you’re you, you know? You’re the best. They’re going to love you. I just…”

Theodore had to really try to hear Connor over the whirring in his ears and the fogging in his eyes. He thought, for a moment, that he might have forgotten how to breathe. Connor knocked his knuckles against Theo’s arms, not hard, but still probably harder than he’d intended.

“I’m sorry,” Connor mumbled. A tear slipped down his cheek, but just one, and he wiped it away as quickly as it fell. Theo looked back at him and squeezed his knee. Connor repeat himself, “I’m sorry.”

Theo leaned back in his chair and took Connor’s hand in his. He rubbed his thumb over Connor’s knuckles and Connor brushed another tear off of his cheek. Quietly, Connor confided, “I’ve never done this before.”

“Done what?” Theo asked. At first he thought Connor was talking about flying but that didn’t make sense because he got to New York somehow, and he didn’t have a car.

“I mean,” Connor said slowly, “None of my exes ever met my family. Not in a boyfriend capacity at least. My first boyfriend went to our church, so they all knew him, but our whole thing was a secret, so…”

“Oh,” Theo said. He frowned. He wasn’t sure what to say after that, but it seemed like he ought to be saying something.

Connor resumed bouncing his knees for a bit before finally saying, “I’m sure it will be fine, though.”

They were both a bundle of nerves for the full three and a half hour flight. Connor held Theo’s hand the entire time: the more nervous he got, the clingier he was. Their flight headed out at just after five, but because of time zones, they arrived at 7:40.

When they finally got off the plane, Theo carried their bags and followed Connor who was supposed to be looking for his sister. Connor, though, was literally shaking and he kept glancing around without really seeing anything. Finally, someone called out, “Connor!”

Theodore was the one who glanced in the voice’s direction. There was a short, redheaded girl in a green plaid coat waving enthusiastically at them. Theo grabbed Connor’s elbow and led him over towards her. The girl wrapped her arms around Connor and, at first, it didn’t seem like he was going to respond at all. Then he blinked and hugged her back.

“Hey, Elaine,” he said with affection, kissing her temple.

“Hey, Dwayne,” she laughed.

They hugged for a long while. When Connor broke away, his eyes were bright and he was grinning. It was as if the hug had recharged him. Excitedly, he said, “Katelyn! This is--”

“Theo,” she finished for him, extending a hand in Theodore’s direction. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

“He…” Theo’s jaw had slackened and he had to swallow before continuing. “He told you about me?”

“Yeah! Of course. Like, after you guys first met? Before you were dating or whatever. He’d call me and he wouldn’t shut up about you and then he’d groan about how you probably just wanted to be friends or whatever because he was just some dumb college kid.”

“Katelyn,” Connor hissed, but Theodore was grinning. He wanted to hug her. He wanted to kiss Connor, despite being in front of Connor’s sister. He thought he probably shouldn’t get too excited. It was too precisely what he wanted to hear that he was worried it wasn’t real. Like, maybe it was a line that Connor had fed her. Connor was good at staging things, he’d built a whole career, or more accurately three whole careers, around it. At least three. Maybe more.

Theo felt a bit like a kid, who had been begging his parents to get him a dog, only to have a dog wander into his yard and his previously reluctant parents agree to let him keep it. He was ecstatic but worried. Because...maybe the dog really belonged to somebody else and eventually its owners would claim it. Or maybe his parents would change their minds. Or maybe they hadn’t really meant that he could keep the dog in the first place.

“Yeah, this is Theo,” Connor said, wrapping an arm around Theo’s back and pressing his lips against Theo’s jaw, right where his beard began. “Theo’s the best. And Theodore, this is Katelyn, my younger-older sister.”

“Younger-older?” Theodore repeated.

“Yeah, like, both of my sisters are older than me. But she isn’t as old as Elizabeth, so she’s the younger-older one,” Connor explained. He grinned, and his whole grin was a laugh, and it was all such a quick turn around from the angst and nerves from the plane ride that Theo was almost just relieved.

“I see,” Theo said. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He reached out to shake Katelyn’s hand, but she seemed to have changed her mind, and just hugged him instead. Then she nodded at the boy standing behind he and said, “Oh! And this is Dylan. He’s my fake boyfriend, though, so you’ll have to call him Jason, okay? In front of my parents at least.”

“Right,” Theo said, extending a hand at the boy. He was a stretch of a person. He probably had an inch or two on Theo, but he looked even taller than that standing next to Katelyn. Theodore was thankful that Connor had explained the whole fake boyfriend thing to him before they arrived. Otherwise, he would have probably thought it was a joke. He had actually thought that Connor was joking at first. The whole thing was ridiculous and, as several made-for-tv movies might suggest, doomed to fail.

After Connor and Dylan shook hands, he fell into conversation with his sister. Theo and Dylan looked at one another uncomfortably for a moment while they were outside of the conversation that was happening.

“So, uh,” Dylan started. He scrubbed a hand over the nape of his neck. He was so tall and golden and his face was 90% angles.

“Dude. You are really pretty,” Theo observed. “Are you straight?”

“Yeah,” Dylan laughed.

“What a waste,” Theo said, tsking. It was a joke, but it was also kind of true. It seemed like girls could carry all of the pretty in a straight couple. Dylan laughed at that, but Connor shot Theo a look.

“Don’t hit on other guys right in front of me,” he scolded.

“He’s straight, so it doesn’t count,” Theo countered. Katelyn was smiling between all of them. She looked delighted. Connor slipped an arm around Theo’s back and kissed his cheek, near his left ear.

“Counts,” he whispered. Theo laughed. It was all so nice. Being around Katelyn seemed to put Connor at ease. Perhaps he was just okay now. Maybe Katelyn was the only one whose approval Theo needed to meet anyway, and she seemed to like him just fine. The four of them started walking towards Katelyn’s car together. Connor took the opportunity to give Dylan a once over. Then he turned back to Theodore and scolded again, “Yeah, that definitely counts. Don’t flirt with people who are prettier than me in front of me. Sheesh.”

“You’re dumb,” Theo told him. “Nobody is prettier than you.”

During the drive to their parents’ house, Connor’s nerves returned and he kept trying to convince Katelyn to delay their arrival. Every couple of minutes he’d suggest a different place they could go. A coffee shop they frequented in childhood. A bookstore. Their friend’s house. Katelyn ignored all of his suggestions.

After awhile, Dylan swiveled around from the front seat and told Connor, “Hey, so, I really like your mixes. I follow you on soundcloud apparently. And YouTube. And--”

Connor interrupted him by turning his attention to Katelyn, who was gripping the steering wheel and pinching her shoulders forward tensley. “What the heck, Katelyn?”

“I just,” she mumbled into the steering wheel. Dylan glanced furtively between Connor and his sister. She straightened her back and said, “I only told him!”

“What about that jerk you just broke up with?” Connor demanded.

“I never told him! I never even told Jessica! I’ve only told Dylan, I swear, and I didn’t mean to! And look at him! He’s super trustworthy! Aren’t you, Dylan? You won’t tell anybody, will you?”

“Uh, yeah, I won’t say anything,” Dylan said. He sounded pretty sincere about it.

Connor ignored him, though, and just groaned, “Katelyn,” splitting the syllables of her name and dragging out the n like Kate-lynnnnnn.

“You told Theo!” She argued. “Like as soon as you guys started dating.”

“That’s different,” Connor cried. “For one thing, it was me telling. For another thing it was Theo I was telling it to!”

He seemed to think for a moment and then added, “You should treat telling people about Knight Rocker like it’s the oath.”

Katelyn’s eyes met Connor’s in the rearview mirror and she gaped at him. “Like the oath? For real?”

“What’s the oath?” Dylan and Theo both asked in unison. Katelyn started to answer, “Oh, when Elizabeth was in high school, she made Connor and I--” at the same time, Connor said, “None of your business.” As soon as she processed Connor’s response, Katelyn blushed and clamped her mouth shut.

“Oh my gosh, sister! Were you just about to tell them about the oath? What has gotten into you?” Connor scolded, but now he was laughing so whatever the oath was must have been tied to some sort of inside joke.

“Right,” Dylan said. “Well, anyway, it’s fine. I won’t say anything. And if I did no one would believe me. I mean honestly? I was pretending to be this girl’s boyfriend and you’ll never believe it but it turned out her brother was Knight Rocker! No one would ever believe that. It sounds super made up.”

“Thanks, man,” Connor said, before turning back to complain about his sister’s untrustworthiness. They spent the rest of the car ride talking over one another, playfully bickering.