fic idea before you close your inbox 😭😭 but I think Fabian meeting Ryan’s sister/parents for the first time could be so cute
i need to put together a spreadsheet of all the characters' families istg asdfgsdf
my prompts are currently closed as I am working through my backlog, but my ask box is open for yapping or headcanon requests <3
Ryan was nervous. Visibly so.
Fabian hadn't seen him this fidgety in a while, his big hands shaky with nerves.
"Hey." Fabian reached for his arm, squeezing it. "It'll be okay, yeah? They love you, I love you, we already have something in common."
Ryan gave him a shaky smile.
They were waiting for Ryan's parents. Fabian had already met Ryan's sister Colleen, which had gone well. Fabian thought, even if he was an alien with four arms, Colleen would have been happy to meet him just because Ryan was happy. So hopefully, Ryan's parents carried the same energy.
He knew why Ryan was so nervous; his parents, from what Fabian knew, were decent people, hardworking and, for a lack of a better term, normal. However, they were also a bit old-fashioned. Not in a malicious way, but still. After Ryan had shown them a photo of Fabian a while ago, his dad had asked, with genuine confusion, why he wasn't just dating a girl if he was okay dating a boy who wore make-up.
Fabian had kept it casual today, for Ryan's sake. And maybe, just maybe, because he also wanted his in-laws to like him.
"There they are," Ryan breathed.
They were in the most un-pretentious restaurant close to Ryan's apartment Fabian could find, and Wendy and Richard Price fit right in. They were both very tall and overall large; Wendy looked like a woman who had spent her days working hard and taking care of her family, with rosacea on her cheeks and fluffy, strawberry blond hair styled in a way that was several decades out of style. A big smile spread on her face when she spotted them. Her husband was just enormous, which didn't surprise Fabian at all, considering Ryan must have gotten it from somewhere. He had the look of an older man who used to be extremely muscular about him, the mass of his bulk fading and being replaced by a comfortable layer of fat, but still muscular enough that it made him look like he could rip a tree from the ground with his bare hands. Dad strength. He was bald, but had a thick, red beard streaked with a lot of white. They were both wearing plaid, matching adorably.
"Oh, Ryan!" Wendy exclaimed as they made their way over to the table. Both Ryan and Fabian had risen to their feet, and Fabian was starting to feel like some kind of tiny fairy between these three massive people.
"Hi, mom," Ryan mumbled, letting her pull him into her arms. Wendy hugged her son, first cupping his cheeks, then kissing them. Ryan blushed, winding out of her embrace after a moment.
"Leave the boy alone, Wendy," Richard grumbled good-naturedly behind her, then pulled Ryan into his own, very manly hug. There was a lot of back-slapping involved.
Meanwhile, Wendy moved on to Fabian, her warm smile wavering and turning almost... shy?
Fabian quickly stuck out his hand. "I'm Fabian. It's so nice to finally meet you, Mrs Price."
Her unsure expression stabilized a bit, and she shook Fabian's hand with a firm grip. "It's so nice to meet you, Fabian! And please, call me Wendy!"
"Thank you, Wendy." Fabian gave her his best smile, and her own broadened. Middle aged women usually liked him. Middle aged men were a different story.
Fabian turned his eyes to Ryan's dad, hovering behind his wife, and stuck out his hand to him as well. Richard took it, Fabian's hand completely disappearing in his enormous bear paw. "Nice to meet you, sir," Fabian said very politely. Behind his dad, Ryan gave him a weird, slightly pleasantly confused look.
Richard seemed to appreciate it. "Nice to finally meet the person our son's crazy over," he said gruffly.
"Dad," Ryan grumbled. Fabian noticed that they carried the same tone.
They sat down, the booth fortunately large enough to fit three members of Novia Scotia's largest family plus Fabian. The server came and took their order. Fabian knew Ryan had looked up the menu beforehand to feel more secure.
They made small talk about the flight, the city and the hotel Ryan's parents were staying at. The conversation was pleasant enough, and Fabian secretly enjoyed not feeling like he was under a microscope like he usually did with his own parents (when, or rather, if, they managed to stop talking about his sister for long enough so Fabian could get a word in).
"You're from Halifax originally, right?" Wendy asked Fabian.
Fabian nodded. "I came to Toronto for university."
Richard leaned in, pretending like he was only talking to Ryan. "Got yourself a smart one, eh?"
Ryan, with a little smile, replied, "Yeah. He's smart as hell."
Fabian gave him a smile, resisting the urge to kiss him, and felt himself blush.
"What did you study?" Wendy asked, sounding genuinely interested.
"I got a music degree," he said, keeping his voice carefully neutral. His own parents had criticized his choice endlessly, and Fabian still felt a lingering sense of resistance from it.
"Yes, Ryan told us you're a violinist!" Wendy gestured to her son.
"And a singer," Ryan intercepted. Fabian felt his blush, which had just subsided, come back.
"Classically trained, eh?" Richard said with a little smile.
"Yes," Fabian confirmed, then added, "Although my parents still think I should have gone to law school instead."
"No!" Wendy protested, "Music is wonderful! And the violin, so cultured!" She sounded like she meant it, and it was very sweet.
"So, your parents," Richard said, and his tone made Fabian steel himself. He could feel Ryan, too, freeze up slightly. "What do they think of..." He trailed off, gesturing back and forth between Fabian and Ryan. "...this gay thing?"
"I think they pretty much suspected I was gay from the second I raided my mother's make-up bag at three years old, and knew I was gay when I chose music over hockey as a teenager," Fabian answered honestly. Richard nodded like he appreciated the honest answer. "We're not very close, unfortunately, so they haven't met Ryan yet. But it has nothing to do with the gay thing." He gave Richard a small smile.
"Well, that's a shame," Wendy said very seriously, which Richard just nodded solemnly as if he was rolling the whole thing around in his head. "I mean, to be quite honest, we were surprised when Ryan... you know, came out to us," she added, "We didn't expect it, I think."
"Mom," Ryan said, sounding horrified, but she gestured towards him.
"You were always so... just, such a boy." Fabian felt Ryan wince. Under the table, he placed a hand on Ryan's knee in support. "Goes to show you it's just, y'know, not about all that."
"You were quite sensitive as a child," Richard added.
He still is, Fabian wanted to say.
"Either way," Wendy added, "I think it's best to just let your child be the way he or she is."
Fabian couldn't help but smile. This was so much kinder than his parents, who had talked at him at length about how they had no problem with him being gay, but always landed on all the other ways he had failed them in the end.
"I think you're right," he told her.
She nodded, then sighed happily. "It will be so nice to finally have someone with some musical talent in the family." Fabian felt his heart flutter. "You know, for Christmas and such!"
"Yes." Richard leaned forward, giving Fabian a very serious look, "Can you play Silent Night on your fiddle?"
Fabian leaned in, and conspiratorially said, "And on the piano."
Richard lightly slapped the table. "Fantastic."
Much later, Fabian was lying in bed, Ryan's head on his stomach. Fabian carded his fingers through his hair.
"That went well, didn't it?"
Ryan pulled a face, turning his head to look up at Fabian. "I'm sorry about them."
"Don't be. I like them. They're nice." Fabian trailed his fingertips across Ryan's eyebrows, then down the bridge of his nose. "They're just... honest." He gave Ryan a grin. "Not woke like us city folks."
Ryan snorted. "No, they're really not."
A moment of silence fell over them, then Fabian spoke up again. "When I came out to my parents, my mom e-mailed me a bunch of articles on queer rights and safe sex, followed by another article about how a career in music wasn't feasible for most people." He swallowed. "I don't care if your parents don't understand the intricacies of queer identity. I care that they obviously love you."
Ryan exhaled slowly. His eyes were closed as he was enjoying Fabian's gentle touches. "They liked you," he said quietly, "I could tell."
"Yeah?" Fabian asked with a smile.
"When you went to the bathroom-" Ryan's face split with a soft smile, "-my mom said-" he pitched his voice higher, "'He's so pretty, how did you convince him to go out with you with all that scruff on your face!'"
Fabian giggled. "Little does she know, I love the scruff."
Ryan opened his eyes. "Thank you." Fabian knew he wasn't just referring to the scruff thing.
Fabian curled his body down, and kissed Ryan in lieu of a reply.
