Visiting his grandmothers was always a whole affair. He almost preferred to visit the other set of grandparents that he sort of had except he knew less about his mother's aunt and uncle compared to Halmi and Bella - what everyone calls his grandmothers because they just can't be simple and be called Grandma or Grandmother like everybody else. Ah. That must be why he sometimes preferred his father's grandparents. Of course, it was going to be even more of an affair now because he was bringing Elio with him to this family reunion. Was it too late to back out? Probably. Because one, he'd already told Elio - he was not dealing with his boyfriend asking if Mikael did not want his grandmother to meet him. Two, he was pretty sure his mother had already told his grandmothers that he would be bringing his boyfriend - they would be insufferable if he postponed this meeting more than he'd already had. He was due to leave as soon as Elio arrived at the Manor.
When Elio walked through the floo, Mikael was there to greet him with a kiss, put two items in his empty hands - expensive wine and expensive tea - and then marched him back to the floo before he - Mikael, not Elio - could change his mind. He led his boyfriend through the reception area of the inn his grandmothers owned, giving the receptionist - Aunt Talia - a nod before heading straight to the area that said Staff Only. And within moments, he and Elio were inside of the family area and he was whisked away from his boyfriend's side to be encased in hugs and greetings of varying degrees of whatever his grandmothers preferred. "Halmi. Bella," he greeted. "The others should be here shortly," he knew his parents would be flooing with the younger kids. He didn't know when Jai and Tiziano would be arriving, but probably sometime during the day. He doubted any would like to upset Bella by cancelling. "Elio. My boyfriend," he gestured towards the Gryffindor that had been fortunate enough to be left alone. Though not for very long.
Shiloh was, by definition, a fusser. She’d been one all of her life, but she could barely hold a candle to her Grace. Her majesty. The Queen. She wasn’t a real queen of course, but it was the joke most people at the inn made. Shiloh of course as always was in charge of guest operations, making sure everyone had what they needed, left in a better mood than they arrived, etc, but dear Grace was awarded the position of beverages. Tea and cookies, as Shiloh liked to say. Not a single person in this building got a tea or cake that didn’t have the official Grace seal of approval - which is what they were working on when Talia alerted them that Mikael and Co. had arrived. The women looked between each other excitedly, and Grace, in all of her Italian finery looked very much more put together than Shiloh in her overalls rolled at the calf. She was sure the boyfriend… Elio? Would be incredibly confused.
She was right, she realised, when she pulled Mikael into a hug and smothered his face with kisses as she complained that he didn’t come to visit nearly often enough. As she looked up to see this Elio boy, she noted the confusion on his face and the two expensive bottles in his hands. She clocked they were from Mikael immediately, since she knew herself she had never been a gifter, and Elio would not have known the brand of wines, or teas, she and Grace liked to drink. She let Mikael go, (Grace took over) and walked over to Elio. “I’ve heard not at all enough about you, love,” she said, smiling at him. She looked over at Mikael. “Darling, did you not tell him?” The poor boy looked as if he had been expecting two significantly older ladies. Shiloh should take offense. She was only 49.
Mikael turned his head just a fraction as Halmi asked him a question, though it was hard to turn his head with cheeks smooshed by Bella's hands. What she was inspecting him for, he had no clue. Never did, never will. He'd given up understanding the elderly. "Tell him what," Mikael didn't really think there was anything he needed to tell his boyfriend aside from You will be meeting my grandmothers, dress nice. Sure, it was probably off that his grandmothers were hardly Asian, but it wasn't like it was some big secret that neither of his parents had livingbiological parents. His dad was raised by his aunt and grandparents. His mother was, as far as they all knew, raised by Halmi and Bella. They didn't know why his mother was raised separately from Uncle Conan, but that's just how it's always been. "I told him I was bringing him to meet you."
Unlike her brothers, Eury loved to visit Halmi and Bella. They always had such nice snacks for her, and they were always willing to sit and have tea with her, and sometimes she could even coax them into letting her read cards for them. So it wasn't really surprising when Eury had run on ahead when her parents had said she could use the floo on her own this time around. She was a teenager now anyway - an independent young lady - so she was perfectly capable of using the floo on her own to visit her beloved grandmothers. She greeted Aunt Talia as she passed the reception and made a beeline for the family room, catching sight of Kael-nii and Elio-nii already being greeted by her grandmothers. "Halmi! Bella!" Eury ran towards Bella because frankly, Kael-nii looked like he needed rescuing more than Elio-nii did. And Kael-nii could always be the one to rescue Elio-nii. "I missed you," she said with a grin as she wrapped her arms around Bella's waist.
Elio had certainly never been to an inn like this before, or really many at all to be honest. They sometimes stayed at hotels and things when they travelled but they didn’t travel often and his mother knew a lot of people. He had definitely never been marched through a place like this with expensive gifts thrust into his arms. He barely had any time to register Aunt Talia or the Staff Only sign before he was almost tossed into the doors and into what was almost headfirst for a family he really didn’t know all that much about actually. he felt like he was stood there like a decorative lamp or something. And honestly nothing was making any sense to him, both of his supposed grandparents, looked nothing like anyone else in the family and to be honest, they looked a lot younger than he would have expected. He knew wizards aged differently but even his grandparents had agreed seemingly normally.
“I - thank you for having me,” he said when one of the grandmothers mentioned she hadn’t heard nearly enough about him. He felt like he was trying to meet the King, and he didn’t want to sound like that because it felt too formal. “I brought gifts,” he said, because his hands were full and he didn’t know how to drop the gifts without dropping them. Was he supposed to put them on the ground? On the table? Hand them to her? And then - “Darling, did you not tell him?” Tell him what? What wasn’t he being told this time? He looked desperately at Mikael. “Tell me what? “You said they were your grandmothers. You didn’t say they were, like…” He didn’t know what else to say so just went with, “…this.”
Shiloh was doing her utmost not to laugh, but bless him, she thought this was quite hilarious actually. The poor boy. He looked like he’d been dropped into the middle of court and given no instructions on how to behave. The Nightrays could indeed be quite cruel. Especially Mikael. She tapped him lightly on the cheek. She shook her head and gestured between herself and Grace. “That we are us, darling.” she said fondly, because it was clear that Elio didn’t understand what was happening and probably didn’t know the circumstances of the situation either. She then turned her attention back to Elio and decided to have pity on the kid. “You brought the good tea, excellent choice,” she could tell this was chosen by Mikael, he was the sort to not even allow Elio to try and pick something on his own, but then, she didn’t know Elio either, so perhaps this was how things were between them. She didn’t know. “Put them on the table behind you please darling,” she said softly, giving him some direction before he completely lost it. And then of course, like chaos summoned, Eury came flying into the room and she raced to Grace who wrapped her arms around the girl. Shiloh smiled fondly and winked at Elio. “Welcome to the family, dear.”
It was a complete mystery to Mikael why his boyfriend was acting more formally than he was acting with his dad. They were only his grandmothers. He nodded as his boyfriend showed the gifts over to Halmi, while Bella was being completely distracted by Eurydice's presence. His sister had a much better and excitable relationship with their grandmothers. His face remained impassive as Halmi saw fit to tell him that he should have told Elio that his grandmothers were his grandmothers? They were odd old ladies and he'd completely given up on understanding them. "They are, most unfortunately, my grandmothers," he said as he looked at his boyfriend and then Halmi, silently thinking of what else he needed to say. Then he understood. "That's Halmi. Her name's Shiloh and she owns this inn with Bella over there. Her name's Grace. They don't like being called Grandma because they like to overcomplicate things," Mikael explained with a shrug as he walked back over to his boyfriend's side. There. He'd introduced them and explained things.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
