***

After Christmas, they worked on setting a date. It wasn’t until after spring came, and all the snow melted, that they started to make plans. In order to do what Danny wanted, he needed to speak to Jason’s parents. Unfortunately, getting him to agree was like the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Even after all these years, Jason hardly talked about them. He knew some things because they were brought up in conversation casually, but Jason refused to talk about them otherwise. Even when he had contacted them when Jason was admitted in the hospital, his mother was the only one who showed up.

She seemed tired, overly sweet, and defiantly a strong headed woman. She was pleasant enough to talk to, but he got this underlining feeling that she was super pissed off about something the entire time. Which made him super nervous just thinking about how he was going to approach them. So the situation resulted in him going by himself, hoping he didn’t start another World War.

Jason had no idea he had called his parents and arranged a meeting with them at their home during a week day. He could just imagine how Jason would react to his attempt to do this behind his back. He knocked on the door, taking in a deep breath to calm himself. Hopefully, things wouldn’t be too bad.

A younger man answered the door and he hesitated as the young man waited for him to speak. It was super awkward, Danny trying to avoid being rude. He had no idea who this man was, what was he supposed to say?

“Hello, my name is Danny. I’m here to see Mr. and Mrs. Carson?”

“Oh, Mom!” He shouted really loud, his voice reverberating through the house. He flinched from the sudden high pitch, surprised. “The boyfriend’s here!” The boyfriend? Wait, Jason had a brother?

He opened the door, indicating he could take his shoes off at the foyer. The house was relatively large, much larger than he thought it was going to be. When he thought about it, Jason didn’t mention what his parents did at all.

They walked into a large common room, a dining room table in the adjacent room over. The place looked super clean, which made him think they either cleaned a lot or hired cleaners. Still, it was nerve wracking as he looked around. Trophies lined the walls everywhere, certificates hung, and metals put on display.

Curious, he approached them and read the names on them. It was clear they had sections for different family members, but he was happy to see Jason had his own section. He smiled warmly as he looked at the numerous items up and down. They had met in college, but it was clear he was an amazing athlete.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Mrs. Carson stated as she came over to him.

“Thank you for accepting me here, I know it was out of the blue.”

“No thank you is necessary, you’ve been taking care of my little Jason.” At his age, he shouldn’t feel embarrassed, but he did.

They had mild conversation for a few minutes as the table was set. He was utterly shocked to find out that Jason had not one brother, but two, and a sister. Mr. Carson offered his greeting, but was oddly silent. His siblings were also silent, almost like they were holding back a wave of curiosity. He didn’t sense any hatred or distaste at all, so why did Jason avoid them so much?

As they continued their pleasant conversation over dinner, talking about menial things like current sports or business ventures, he noticed that Mrs. Carson was getting annoyed with the others. Perhaps it was their lack of conversation, or maybe she thought they were being rude by being quiet?

“So, why did you want to come over here?” the brother closest in age to Jason asked.

“Roger, don’t be rude,” Mrs. Carson scolded.

“It’s alright, actually, I wanted to talk to you about Jason.” The room became uncomfortable, like it was a taboo topic.

“Is he alright? I know he had that surgery a while ago, I hope his health isn’t in decline?” his mother asked.

He wasn’t sure how to answer that, Jason was never in an ideal condition, but he wasn’t always in the hospital or close to death.

“He’s been alright as of late. Actually, I’m not sure how to bring this up. I came here because I would like to ask for his hand.”

He figured if he had to ask and get kicked out, it was better just to do it now and get it over with. Mr. Carson spit his drink up and the siblings had wide smiles on their faces. He was utterly confused, seeming as Mrs. Carson didn’t seem surprised.

“Well, I don’t see why not. If my little Jason is happy being with you, then you have my consent.”

“Honey!” Mr. Carson objected. She shot him the most dangerous look he’d ever seen a woman give, and instantly knew where Jason got his threatening glare from. He shut his mouth, the siblings trying not to laugh at their father’s embarrassment.

“I have to apologize Danny. It wasn’t until a little while ago, after Jason had that surgery that I found out about everything. It was partially why I was admitted to the hospital myself. I couldn’t forgive myself for letting my boy go through that alone.”

“He wasn’t alone.” He spoke up, feeling he needed to ease her suffering even a little. He didn’t know why he should do that after everything, but he felt having her on his side was better than being her enemy. Her smile of affection and appreciation warmed his inner thoughts.

“I know, he had you, which is why I approve. You don’t need my husband’s permission, my say is the final say in this household.” Her threat was clear to Mr. Carson, who looked like he was sweating buckets.

The little sister, Clair, started laughing, unable to hold back her amusement. Even the brothers were snickering as they continued to eat.

“I remember when I first heard about it. We were all startled, I mean Jason never acted gay,” Clair commented.

“Just because he likes men doesn’t mean he’s gay,” the youngest brother, Erik, corrected. The arrogant look on his face was reinforced by the glasses he wore, and he secretly wondered how Jason would look with glasses.

“Why don’t we just ask the man who knows him best?” Roger remarked. Wow, this conversation was turning interesting really fast.

“Roger,” Mrs. Carson warned.

“As far as I know he doesn’t have interest in woman,” he chuckled.

“Called it,” Clair announced. Mrs. Carson rolled her eyes at them, giving up at stopping their discussion.

They started asking him a ton of questions about Jason, like what he was doing, where they lived, what he liked, and what his job was. He thought it was odd, that a family wouldn’t know such things about their own son.

“It’s nice having you here to tell us the things Jason won’t,” Clair stated.

“Yeah, now we can ask about him whenever we want. When are you guys getting married? Can we come to the wedding?” Erik asked.

“Of course you can.” Danny responded instantly, making an internal note that he’d have to sort things out with Jason later. He was going to be in deep shit, probably going to have to sleep on the couch.

“How is he, really?”

The sudden question asked by Mr. Carson made the room go silent, losing its cheer. He seemed sincere, and Danny knew about his conversation he had with Jason right before he had gone to the hospital. The older man looked like he was underweight, stressed, and lacked sleep. His judgment told him he should lie, play it off. However, looking at the sad state he was in, he didn’t have the heart to.

“To be honest, we had a couple of close calls. His anxiety causes him to overthink which brings on panic attacks. I don’t know how much you’re actually aware of his condition, but I can tell you if you truly want to know?”

The old man nodded silently, the rest of the family also seeming like they wanted to know. Would they be able to handle it though?

“He has cancer, it spread to his lungs and kidneys so he needed transplants. His transplants were a miracle in itself, there was no reason he should have lived through that.”

“What do you mean? I though Jason was just having surgery and it was risky?” Erik asked, looking pale.

“It was incredibly risky, he had a 15 percent chance to live through it.”

“But he survived, right? So he’s better?” Clair asked.

“It’s more complicated than that. He did survive, but he also died three times.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Mrs. Carson asked, totally unaware of that fact. He hated being the one to have to tell them all this, he should have convinced Jason to come. What was he thinking? This was a lot to unload on a family.

“His heart stopped three times during the procedure. That’s why he didn’t wake up for so long afterwards. The anxiety resulted from his PTSD after surgery. It didn’t help that he had a close call afterwards. He had forgotten to take his medicine and the result was his lungs almost collapsing in on him.”

He refused to look up, rubbing his fingers nervously. He wanted to make a good impression, not this. Mr. Carson stood from his seat, making him more nervous as he went to cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. He poured some and offered a glass to Danny before sitting back down again. Danny understood his intentions, it was his thanks for everything that had transpired. The old man was rather traditional, no wonder he hadn’t taken to Jason’s sexuality well.

“We had another incident a couple months ago, but it was minor. Luckily, we were able to get it under control with medication. We put him on the list for heart transplants, just in case anything happens.” Anything could happen, and all they could do was try to be prepared as much as possible.

“Jason was always too proud to ask for help. He’s been that way since we adopted him.” Danny paused, and looked at Mr. Carson stunned. He seemed to find it humorous that he didn’t know this about Jason.

“We were having trouble having children, so we decided to adopt Jason. He was six at the time, and was completely shut off from the world. I remember how hard it was just to get him to talk, much less indicate anything else.”

Danny did not see this coming, was this the reason why Jason didn’t want to meet them? Was he afraid of Danny finding out he was adopted? Why? “Does he know who his birth parents are?”

Mr. Carson gave a sad sigh, taking a sip of his whiskey. “Jason’s parents died in a car crash. Jason was really lucky his father had managed to swerve just enough to avoid the impact on Jason’s side. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be alive today.” It seemed Jason had more trauma than he thought, he had never mentioned the crash before.

“He never spoke about it. We tried asking him once, but he just said he didn’t remember anything,” Mrs. Carson admitted. “So we just let it go. I imagine that’s why he didn’t tell us when he got sick, he felt like a failure to us.”

The atmosphere was heavy, he wasn’t sure how to bring the mood up. The doorbell suddenly rang, surprising them all. “Were you expecting someone else mom?” Erik asked.

“No, I don’t think so. I told a couple others we were having a family gathering, so they may have been inspired to drop in and see my future son-in-law.” Danny could see the hearts floating around her without trying to envision it.

Erik went to get the door while the conversation shifted back to what everyone was going to do for the holidays coming up. He laughed at a joke, until he turned his head and saw Jason standing in the entryway.

Fuck, he was so dead.