“This is my Uncle Jamie and Auntie Kaye. Auntie Kaye is my dad’s sister. And this is my cousin Theo and his husband Sam.” Lee introduced. “This is Kloh, my best friend and Dex’s boyfriend. FYI, I came first.”
The group laughed as Kloh rolled his eyes.
“Hi, I’m Kloh. Pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand.
“Nice to meet you.” Jamie shook his hand and smiled.
“Kloh, what a pretty name. My brother has told me all about you.” Kaye moves closer and pulled him in for a hug instead.
“Forgot to mention that Auntie Kaye is a big hugger. One of these days she’ll smother someone to death through hugging.” Lee commented as sighed wistfully.
“You little brat. I remember the time where you cried if I didn’t hug you.” Kaye fake scolded Lee and pinched his cheek when she let go of Kloh.
Lee swatted away the hand as everyone laughed at them. After they greeted each other, Lee quickly took Kloh to introduce him to someone else who came in. Kloh smiled and was gladly pulled along as they made their way through the people inside. He was introduced to Dahlen’s younger brother Deacon and his husband Harper. They had a two year old girl named Mia who immediately took a liking to Kloh.
“Hug!” Mia exclaimed, holding out her chubby arms to Kloh.
Harper and Deacon were surprised but held her out to Kloh. Kloh easily took the chubby ball of sunshine into his arms. She made several happy noises and held onto Kloh’s shirt. Harper smiled softly at them.
“Hey! She always cries when I pick her up. This is favoritism.” Lee pouted.
“Maybe because you always look terrified of dropping her.” Deacon teased him.
“Because I am. She’s so squishy.” Lee continued to pout.
Still holding Mia, he was taken around the room. He met Lane’s parents, Micah and Issac. And Dahlen’s parents, Sofia and Garrett. The four elders sat together. They warmed up to Kloh the moment they found out he was dating Dex. Dr.Yves also came with his very pregnant partner Vega. The house was full.
Whenever he was introduced, the first question they asked was how he and Dex met. Lee laughed each time as Kloh looked away. Clearly they couldn’t tell the full original story. He instead just said that Lee introduced them. The grandparents on both sides reminded him of his own grandparents. He spent most of time talking with them as he carried Mia around.
Occasionally Kloh would look around just to find Dex in the crowd. After making eye contact he would blow a kiss his way making Dex grin back at him. This continued until Dahlen announced dinner was ready. Still holding onto Mia, Kloh sat beside Dex. Three circular tables were placed in the living room. The couch was moved out making the space freer. Along one side was a long table filled with food. Because there were so many people, Lane and Dahlen decided to do a buffet style dinner, where everyone filled their own plate then found a place to sit. Quickly everyone grabbed a plate or two of food and found a place to sit. Mia refused to leave Kloh so Harper could only give him a sorry smile and set a small plate of food for her next to Kloh’s. He sat by them with Deacon.
“Alright. Everyone got a plate?” Dahlen asked as he stood at the table Kloh was at.
Various sounds of acknowledgement filled the room. Dahlen nodded and smiled. Lane stood as Dahlen took his seat.
“As per tradition before we eat we’ll have someone say a few words of thanks. And since we have a new addition to the family and dinner this year,” Lane turned to Kloh, “Kloh would you please say a few words for us?”
“Me?” Kloh pointed at himself and looked around the room.
Everyone was smiling and grinning at him. Lee snickered beside him and Dex patted his shoulder in consolation. They had all been randomly chosen before and quite frankly were grateful that it wasn’t them this time around. Lane winked at him and waved for him to stand up.
“Oh um okay.” He pushed back and stood up with Mia in his arms.
She cheered as they went up and happily babbled to the room. A collective aw sound filled the room. Kloh smiled down at her and booped her nose. She laughed and grabbed his finger. Harper smiled up at them. Kloh looked around the room and cleared his throat. He wasn’t exactly sure what to say.
“Well, first of all, I’m thankful for being invited to this wonderful dinner. Thanks for having me.”
“Of course.” “Welcome, welcome!” “Glad to have you here!” Multiple people replied to him.
He smiled and continued, “There are a couple of things I’m thankful for this year. First being my wonderful boyfriend Dex. I’m so grateful to have met you and sincerely wish that we’ll stay together forever.”
“Awwwww!” “Gross.” “Ahhh young love.” “Okay cool guy, I see you.” “My baby is all grown up.”
Dex blushed as everyone catcalled him and gave him various looks and exaggerated winks. Kloh laughed and pinched Dex’s ear. He was quickly swatted away. They laughed again and Dex covered his face.
Kloh grinned and continued. “Next, I’m grateful for my friends Lee and our group of Os. Thanks for watching my back and being there for me. Also to Dahlen, Lane and Dr.Yves, I know we met at a very strange interval in my life. But thank you for taking it in stride and helping me. You’re all wonderful people and amazing role models that I look up to.”
The three smiled at him. Lane even stood and bowed. Dahlen rolled his eyes and tugged him back down into his seat. Once again the room laughed. Kloh bounced Mia as he continued with a smile.
“It’s been a strange couple of months to say the least.” He laughed. “But in that time I’ve managed to find the love of my life.” He winked at Dex. “A family that actually cares for me. New friends that taught me new things. Old ones who held me up when I was down. I’ve become quite literally a whole new person and I’m thankful for everyone who supported me through this transition. I hope everyone has someone they are thankful for and are thankful for them. I hope you have someone who will always love and care for you the way I do. I’m not sure what more to add to this. Again, thanks for having me and let’s enjoy this food before it gets cold.”
“Yay!” Mia screamed at the end of the speech.
Kloh laughed and everyone joined in. Everyone cheered and started to dig in. Kloh sat back down. Dex kissed his cheek and whispered ‘good job’ to him. Lee gave him a fist bump. Mia happily patted Kloh’s chest filled with the surrounding positive energy. She babbled as if she was having a conversation. Harper indulged her and responded to her babbles. Kloh took a second to embrace everything. Everyone looked happy. Laughter and good conversations filled the air. It felt warm and inviting. This was a family.
A flash of his mother and her new family appeared for a second. They were a family. And he wasn’t a part of it. The feelings from earlier pushed forward. He could still vividly see the four smiling and happily cooking together. He couldn’t even count the amount of times he imagined a situation like that. He smothered them as Lane passed him a plate of food.
“We know you’re not good with seafood so Dahlen made you a separate fried rice with chicken instead of shrimp.” Lane said and placed the plate in front of him.
“Oh, thanks.” Kloh said, a bit surprised.
“Of course hun. Eat up, there’s more in the back. Plus, you didn’t hear this from me but he made you a peach cobbler too. He might play it off later but it was specially made for you.” Lane whispered.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Mbg wf?” Bibt jrxfv, mbcoerfv.
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As he was processing that smile, Lee appeared with two plates full of food.
“Oh Kloh I got you a corner piece of corner bread. Here let’s switch. The corner part is much tastier.” Lee said and swapped their pieces.
Without waiting for Kloh to speak, he then bounced over to his grandparents table and sat with them. Dex looked over and pushed Kloh’s plate closer to the man.
“Eat Kloh. You haven’t eaten all day.” Dex worriedly said and took a spoonful of rice and held it up to Kloh.
Kloh obediently opened his mouth and ate what he was fed. Dex smiled and wiped his mouth, then urged him again to eat before turning back to his conversation with Theo. Kloh’s heart fluttered.
Kloh looked down at the plate for a minute. He blinked slowly. Then he felt a tiny hand on his cheek. Mia patted his face and babbled. He blinked again and realized that his face was wet. He was crying. Why? He wasnt exactly sure. Mia continued to babble and smoosh his face as if asking if he was okay, unintentionally wiping the tears away. He sniffled and wiped his face quickly before anyone saw. He smiled at Mia and kissed her cheek which made her squeal happily. Who needed Aida anyway, he thought. Clearly he had a family already. And they cared for him.
~~~
“How are you feeling?”
Kloh looked back towards the back door. Standing in the doorway was Beau. He leaned against the doorway, arms crossed.
“Pretty full.” Kloh laughed a little and patted his stomach.
“Same. I forget how much food gets made every year.” Beau chuckled and stepped out to join him.
Kloh was sitting on the back porch facing the backyard and guesthouse. Beau sat down next to him. In his hand was a six pack of beer. He passed one to Kloh, who was surprised but took it.
“Previously I did promise you some time to freak out and we never got to it.” Beau said and opened his bottle.
“Yeah, life got busy.” Kloh opened his and took a sip.
“It did, didn’t it.” Beau took a swig. “How are you and Dex doing?”
“Pretty good. He’s perfect.”
“Of course he is. It runs in the family. Just look at me.” Besu grinned and laughed.
Kloh rolled his eyes. “I don’t know about you but I can see it in everyone else.”
“Then you need your eyes checked.”
“Maybe.” Kloh laughed.
“How’s alpha life treating you?”
“Okay. Not that different to when I was an omega to be honest.”
“Really?”
“Maybe it’s because I’ve started in an environment where no one knew me before the change. Plus everyone who did know me took it very well.”
“Well that’s great. I’m glad.”
“Yeah, me too.”
They sat quietly for several minutes. Kloh took slow sips of his drink. Behind them the gathering was slowly ending. The grandparents had already headed to bed in the guest rooms. Everyone else was having a late drink. Mia was fast asleep in her crib. They both looked forward and drank quietly.
“Kloh?” Beau asked.
“Yeah?” Kloh replied.
“How are you, honestly?”
“At the moment?”
“Sure.”
“Not ideal. Still pretty happy though. Rather not elaborate.”
Beau took a swig. “Fair. I have some news for you. Wanna talk about that instead?”
“Sure.”
“I think we might have figured out who dosed you a while back.”
Kloh turned to look at Beau, “Really?”
“It took some time to get access to camera footage. Can’t tell anyone how I did it though. After watching several hours of footage I found you at the party. The person who made your drink checks out so far. It looked like the server was the one who slipped something into the drink.”
“The server?” Kloh scrunched up his brows.
The server? He could vaguely remember what the server looked like. But he was sure he didn’t know who that person was.
Beau nodded. “We did a background check. His name is Peter. He’s a beta that does a lot of odd jobs. We didn’t find any direct connections to you.”
“So a random beta named Peter dosed me? Interesting. Maybe he got the wrong person?”
Beau shrugged. “Maybe? Do you know the Commodore family?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Unfortunately he knew a whole family of Commodore’s.
Beau turned to him with an arched brow.
“You know the Commodore’s? How?”
“If we are talking about the same family, they used to be my neighbors.”
“Jasmine and Layla Commodore, owners of Commodore Enterprises.”
“That’s them. Their son Alexandre went to school with me and Lee. I even dated him for a while.” Kloh took a deep drink.
“You dated a Commodore?”
“To be fair I didn’t know who his parents were. He mostly lived alone. His parents were never there.”
“Alright, I didn’t expect that answer. Can I ask why you broke up?”
“A difference of opinions and life paths. We weren’t a good match.”
“Did you end it or did he?”
“I did.”
Beau nodded slowly. “All of a sudden things make a little more sense.”
“In what regard?”
“Someone kept blocking us from seeing the footage, we think it was them. It was very weird. Usually in situations like this, the school is very forthcoming. But we kept getting stopped. Luckily I have friends in higher places than they do.”
“Interesting.”
“Right? Also, Peter works primarily for the Commodore’s. Most of his odd jobs are from them.”
“So there is a probability that someone, probably Alexandre, hired him to, what, drug me?” Kloh laughed.
“With this new information then yeah. That’s exactly what it seems like.”
“Oh.” Kloh finished his drink and took another.
Beau looked at him.
“You seem a lot more calm than you should be?”
“Oh? Do I?”
“Yeah.”
“Would you prefer if I freak out?”
Beau thought about it for a second then shook his head. “No. Not really.”
Kloh laughed a little and leaned his head back. He sighed and looked up at the sky. A memory that had been buried bubbled up to the forefront of his mind. It was something he never talked about. Something that only he, Alexandre and Lee knew about. Actually the first few days after he was drugged, he considered that it would be a similar situation to that time. But at the same time he couldn’t even fathom that it could possibly involve Alexandre. After all, they hadn’t seen each other in months. Plus they didn’t go to the same school. But now, things were adding up a little too well.
Beau stared at the young alpha for a moment. He wasn’t sure what Kloh was thinking but his reaction gave Beau a weird feeling. He wanted to pry a little deeper but held back. He had an inkling, a theory, that he wanted to prove. However, this wasn’t the best time and place for the kind of conversation he wanted to have.
“There’s no direct proof. Nor is there a motive so this is all just speculation. I’m sure this kid has nothing to do with it.” Beau turned back and finished his drink.
“Yeah, maybe.” Kloh muttered.
“Don’t worry. I’ll figure it out.”
“Thanks. I really do appreciate the effort.”
“Of course. Like Dad said you’re family now. I’d do anything for my family.”
“Glad to be a part of the family.”
Kloh smiled and hummed softly. The door creaked open beside the two. They glanced over and saw Dex. He was holding a plate full of deserts and two forks.
“Hey.” He smiled at them.
“Hey.” Kloh smiled back.
Beau rolled his eyes and stood up.
“We’ll finish this later, Kloh.” He patted the man’s shoulder. “See y’all inside.”
Beau ruffled Dex’s hair. Dex glared at him but ultimately didn’t say anything. The door closed behind him and then the two were alone for the first time that night. Dex sat down next to Kloh and held out a fork.
“Pa told me to make sure you got some of the peach cobbler.” Dex said as he scooped up some and ate it.
Kloh joined him and ate a mouthful. He hummed happily. It was really good. Cooked to a perfect crisp and softness.
“It’s delicious. I love peach cobbler.”
“It’s much better than the first couple of attempts.” Dex agreed.
“Attempts?”
“Yeah, it was his first time making it. I actually wasn’t sure why he decided to try it. Usually he’d just make a classic apple pie. But he said this year he wanted to try something different.” Dex explained.
Kloh’s heart warmed and suddenly the dish was a thousand times better tasting. A small smile graced his face as he continued to eat.
“Feeling better?” Dex asked.
Kloh nodded.
“Good. I hope everyone wasn’t too much. They can sometimes be too much to handle at once.”
Kloh shook his head. “No, they were great. You have such a big family. It’s nice. I had fun.”
Dex smiled. “I’m surprised Mia liked you so quickly. Normally she’s wary of new people.”
“What can I say, kids love me.” Kloh laughed.
Dex chuckled. “Well I’m glad you had fun.”
“Me too. Usually I spend holidays with friends like Friendsgiving. Occasionally I’d join Donny or Noe. This was a nice change. I enjoyed it.”
Kloh burped and set his fork onto the empty plate. He patted his full stomach. Dex set the plate on the other side of him. Reaching out he patted Kloh’s stomach. Kloh looked over and smiled. Dex’s heart warmed. He scooted closer and Kloh leaned his head onto Dex’s shoulder.
“Dex?”
“Hmmm?”
“I love you.” Kloh heart quickened as he said the words.
“I love you too.”
~~~
Author’s Note
Yall its been a rough two days. I cut my finger. There was blood, lots of pain and I just couldn’t. Ugh it took longer to finish and edit this chapter. 😪 it’s not fully what I wanted but hey. Next chapter will be better.
Happy May 🎉🎉🎉 it’s my birth month y’all. Yay Taurus season!!!!
Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. _(┐「ε:)_
ahh~ this chapter was so wholesome
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
I can think of a few times when a Mia made it easier to cope with a big family thing. Angels 😊
Thanks for the chapter. BTW you miss numbered the chapter this is 24 not 23
Fixed. Thank you 💙
Happy May!
Thanks for the chapter! I’m excited to start getting some answers