((What am I doing awake at this hour you ask? wRiTing of CouRsE wHat eLse wOulD I be DOinG?))

It seemed like eons before Scott finally pulled away. He looked up at Vincent, smiling. "Thank you," he whispered again.

"You're very welcome," Vincent smiled back down at him, gazing at him for a moment before he let go of him.

Andrew was looking at his son, as if he was still adjusting to the sight of him having openly kissed another man.

"Who wants dessert!?" Robin asked cheerily.

"Sure," Scott said, smiling around at the family.

Everyone sat back down at the table. Scott let his head rest on Vincent's shoulder, "I'm so happy this went well. I've been nervous about it since Vin and I first started dating."

"What were you expecting?" Linda asked, "That we'd just throw you out on the street?" She put on a somber expression and a deep voice, "I used to have a twin, but we don't talk about him anymore."

"Well, kind of, actually," Scott shrugged sheepishly, "Honestly, I'm surprised you all took it this well."

"We're still waiting for the shock to sink in, dear," Robin said, scooping a huge blob of butterscotch ice cream into a bowl, "If we wake up in the middle of the night screaming, you'll know why."

"How encouraging..." Scott muttered.

"Well, actually, this takes a lot of pressure off of me," Robin smiled, "Here I was worried that we wouldn't have enough bedrooms, but you two can just share a bed, right?"

Scott's eyes widened marginally, "Oh, um, no, no. We'll just go back home."

"At this time of night, are you kidding me?" Robin tsked, "Knowing our family, we won't be getting to bed until 10:30, and I'm not having you drive all the way across town. You'll have an accident. Plus, then there's no pressure for you to not drink all night." She chuckled lightly.

"Oh no. No, no, no. Me and alcohol? I-I... Not in the present company," He glanced at Vincent.

"Oh, come on. Nobody said you had to get wasted. Just help relax the nerves a little," Linda leaned back in her chair, grinning.

Scott shrugged half a shoulder noncommittally and took the two bowls of ice cream his mother gave him, giving one to Vincent, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

He scooped up a spoonful of ice-cream. In his typical fashion, it was virtually overbalancing with the amount of ice-cream on it. He narrowed his eyes, "I dare anyone to finish their bowl of ice-cream before me."

"Alright," Vincent said from beside him, "You're on."

"My money's on purple," Linda said.

"Our money's on Scott," Robin, Andrew and William said at once.

"Oh, come on, at least I'm encouraging him. Even if he has no chance of winning," Linda grinned, then pretended to wave a flag, "Gentlemen, scoop your ice-cream! Three, two... one!"

Scott and Vincent both shoved mouthfuls of ice-cream into their mouths.

Scott swallowed virtually instantly, scooping up another spoonful.

Vincent looked at him and his eyes widened, he sped up, shoveling more ice-cream into his mouth, but Scott was already a few mouthfuls ahead.

"How-" Vincent ate more ice-cream, "Do," - more ice-cream - "You," - another spoonful - "Do that!?"

"Guess I'm," Scott had half finished his bowl by this point, "Good at," - he scooped up more from the rapidly emptying bowl - "Swallowing." He paused, then looked at Vincent and smirked, "With a smile."

Vincent's eyes widened and he almost choked on his ice-cream, but he had no time to react to that comment, because Scott had paused, and this was his chance to get ahead. He scooped up a monster spoonful of ice-cream and piled it into his mouth.

Scott's smirk dropped off of his face.

Vincent finished the ice-cream as fast as possible, quickly scooping up another just-as-large mouthful. Now there was just a little bit left in his bowl.

Scott blinked at him, and his shoulders fell, "Huh. I guess you beat me. Oh, yeah, apart from the brainfreeze you're about to get."

"The wha-Aaaah!" Vincent clutched at his head, bending over, "Oh my gawd, that's the worst brainfreeze I've ever had..."

Scott chuckled, then leisurely gathered the last of his ice-cream and placed it into his mouth, enjoying the flavour.

"And Scott wins!" Linda burst out, "Never has ice-cream been so interesting! Or so flirtatious, Scott. Oh me, oh my. I think you gave Vincent a nosebleed with that comment of yours~"

Scott laughed, "That was the point."

Vincent straightened up. Scott heard him mumble, "Good at swallowing. If his parents weren't here, I'd hold him up to that". He felt heat rise to his cheeks and he gave Vincent a quick kick on the shins under the table.

Vincent looked at him, wide-eyed. He whispered, "You heard that?"

"Between you and me, hon, we all did," Linda grinned wickedly, "You want us to leave the room for a moment? It seems there's quite a bit of tension that needs to be relieved~"

Scott snapped his gaze up to Linda, "Linda!"

"I'm only acknowledging the elephant in the room, brother," Linda shrugged, "It's so obvious, it's practically written on your face, 'I want him to suck-'"

"Okay!" Scott yelped, feeling himself blush, "Okay! I get it! Shut up!"

Linda laughed, apparently satisfied, "You get flustered too easily."

Andrew cleared his throat - he and William were looking extremely uncomfortable, "I'll, um, clear the plates."

"You know? I think I'll help you out," William said, and they both stood up, picking up the bowls and walking into the kitchen.

Scott tilted his head slightly, confused, "What's that all about?"

"I think your father's still adjusting to this... new you," Robin flashed him a small smile.

"New me?" Scott asked, frowning, "No, you don't get it. I'm still me. Nothing's changed. I-I've always been gay. This... this is exactly what I didn't want. You guys to think I'm someone else."

"Oh, hon. No, that's not what I meant..." Robin suddenly looked a little nervous, "I just meant... your Dad has to really re-think how he looks at you - I mean - no, that's not what I mean. I mean, he has to adjust his thinking about you... no, that's not right either..."

Scott's face fell more with every word that came out of his mother's mouth, "You guys really think I'm a different person now? What, do you think I'm not a proper man anymore, just 'cause I'm homosexual? D-Do you think I'm weak? A girly, flamboyant gay guy?!"

He felt arms on his shoulders, and Vincent turned Scott so he was looking him in the eyes, "Scott. That's not what anyone here thinks. You know, I never came out to my parents. And you know what? I think you're more of a man than I'll ever be for it."

Scott looked Vincent in the eyes for a moment before breaking his gaze, "That's just what you think. Look at us. Who's the man in this relationship? I'll give you a clue, it's not me."

"Labels are overrated," Vincent said, "We're both men, otherwise you would be gay, would you? I'm no more dominant than you, Scott, I just put on a show. Listen, what your Mom is trying to say is not that your Dad thinks any different of you as a person. It just means he has to adjust to your relationship. He wasn't used to two men flirting openly like that. Especially when he's not entirely got over the shock of his son coming out to him. It's not his fault, Scott."

Scott didn't reply, still looking to the side.

"Scotty, love, nobody said that coming out was going to be easy. There's no nice way to say this: things are going to be different from now on. Things have changed. You have changed, as much as you hate to admit it. Your relationship with your family - particularly your Dad - is going to change, but that was bound to happen, and soon, things will return to normal. Doesn't it feel better than having to deny it? From your family, and from your own heart? Doesn't it feel like there's a huge weight off your shoulders?"

Scott slowly met Vincent's eyes, "Y-Yeah... I guess It does."

"That's my man," Vincent smiled.

--

"How are you feelin', Drew?"

Andrew leaned against the kitchen, his eyes conflicted, "This is big, Billy. This is a big, big change for me."

"I know," William replied, "One moment, you've got a huge family planned out. Next, your son's making out with a man in your living room."

Andrew lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, "You think it was me that caused it? The breakdown?"

"I think it was a mixture of a lot of things," Will replied simply.

"I support him," Andrew said, "Of course. I'd support him if he turned up and told me he wanted to become a woman. But it's still a big shock, Billy."

"I know," William said, "And I know you're not gonna like to hear this, but it's probably worse for Scott right now. Can you imagine the guts that took, Drew? Can you imagine going to your old man, looking him in the eye, and telling him you were gay?"

Drew laughed, "My old man would have kicked me out of the house."

"Exactly," William pointed at him. "Look, Scott's probably out there with his knees knocking together, worried that you're going to think he's not a man anymore. I mean, look at him. The first thing he did before he even said he was gay was apologise to you. He said sorry for something he can't even control, Drew."

Andrew felt guilt pile onto him. He never thought about that. It was true, Scott couldn't control how he felt and yet he felt terrible about it. As if he believed he'd let the family down. "You're right."

"'Course I am," William sighed, "I know this is a huge thing for you to get used to, but right now you need to push your emotions out of the way. I recommend you and Scott have some real father-son time over the next few weeks. You're going to have to learn all kinds of new things about him, and he's going to have to learn all kinds of new things about you. The best way to do that is to get to know each other all over again."

Drew nodded, "It's too bad you never got married, Will. You'd have made a great Dad. It's been almost 30 years and you're still giving me the best parenting advice."