[Fanfic] Meeting the Spicers
Ah... smell of new fandom... *sighs happily*
Fandom: Xiaolin Showdown
Pairing: Omi/Jack
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jack's parents find out their son has a boyfriend and demand to meet him.
Title: Meeting the Spicers
---
His life was over.
There was no way around it, but he supposed he’d lived a good, long life… seventeen was as good as any other time to die, after all.
He had enjoyed his childhood -somehow- and he could say he’d reached heights that modern technology would not be able to even glimpse for at least a couple more decades. And he had participated into the Shen Gong Wu race, which was something else on its own.
Yes, he had lived a good life.
Now it was over.
“I am sure you are worrying too much about this, Jack Spicer”.
Glancing up from where he was crouched, wallowing in self pity and depression, Jack grumbled and refused to dignify the other with an answer. Instead, he simply huffed.
“Easy for you to say that, pipsqueak,” he muttered after a couple of seconds, knowing too well that unless he answered, Omi would bother him until he did.
Although the expression on the monk’s face was one of deep concentration and seriousness, Jack knew that Omi couldn’t understand the reason behind his strange reaction.
Which was a problem on its own.
“I do not see what the problem is,” Omi continued, shifting until he was sitting at Jack’s side, patting his shoulder and trying to offer some comfort.
“Of course you don’t,” he grumbled again. “It’s not your parents we’re talking about”.
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted ever speaking them. Family was a sensitive matter for the younger teen, and Jack knew better than to touch that button. With a grunt, he grasped Omi’s hand before the monk could take it away from his shoulder.
Coughing to hide his guilt, Jack refused to look at him and muttered a quiet apology. “I… didn’t mean it that way”.
Omi sighed but nodded. “Then what is the problem with your parents? Are you… are you ashamed of me?”
Head snapping sideways, his grip on Omi’s hand tightening instantly, he shook his head, feeling panic soar up from his chest.
“No, no! Not at all! It’s just…” his squeak turned into a whisper, but the monk was close enough that he could still hear him. “They’re… embarrassing…”
Omi’s lips twitched into a smile, and Jack’s cheeks turned a light tinge of pink.
“I am sure we can survive a single meal with them, Jack,” he reassured, clearly convinced of his words. Then, puffing his chest out, he added, “they will love me!”
“…” Jack refused to dignify him with an answer.
…-…-…-…
The relationship between Jack Spicer, once Evil Boy Genius, now simply Evil Genius, and Omi, the Dragon of Water, was complicated. By all means.
While they still fought each other for the Shen Gong Wu, with time their showdowns had slowly turned into something closer to playful rivalry than plain enmity.
Without him noticing, Omi had managed to wriggle his way into Jack’s life, with small offhanded comments and shorts visits to his house (lair); before he could fully realise it, those visits had turned into afternoons spent together, and as much as it had pained him to admit it, Jack hadn’t truly minded Omi’s company.
In fact, it had actually been rather nice, despite the monk’s attempts to turn him to the Good side -which was never going to happen, no matter how much Omi begged.
With time, the hostility between them had blurred, until one day, albeit reluctantly, he had admitted to himself that Omi had managed a feat no one else had before -he had gained Jack’s friendship.
They were still on opposite sides, they still fought, and had fun doing so, but now, after a showdown, victorious or not, Omi hung around and it was pleasant.
The remaining Dragons had, of course, been vehement in their opposition. Jack wasn’t one to trust, especially since he’d betrayed them over and over again, and to see Omi willingly spending time with their enemy disgusted them.
They believed Jack would hurt their friend as soon as their backs were turned.
Jack himself had been sure he would. They were right, after all.
And yet nothing had happened.
Maybe some part of his heart that wasn’t rotten yet had latched on Omi’s offered friendship, or maybe Omi had finally cracked through his walls… but when Jack had finally realised what was going on, it was too late. He didn’t want to push the short monk away anymore.
How this weird friendship had progressed into something more was still a mystery, even after so many years. Awkward talks and afternoons together had started to include small touches, gestures of care and affection Jack hadn’t been aware he could receive, let alone spontaneously do…
Until one day Jack had simply stopped being in denial, and had fully accepted Omi’s affection for what it had grown to be.
Things had been… nice since then. They were both teenagers, bordering on adulthood, and they had tentatively explored a different sort of relationship for months, hesitant and embarrassed yet strangely content about it.
The innermost part of Jack that was still teetering towards evil, the one that had grown accustomed to being alone and ignored, still scoffed in indignation at that. The rest of Jack’s brain easily ignored it, enjoying the attention.
Then, as Murphy’s law had to come into the equation at one point, something had happened.
His parents, his normal, usually not-entirely-present-in-his-life parents, had finally started to notice a change in their only son and heir’s behaviour, and had then quickly come to a satisfying conclusion -their little Jack had gotten himself a girlfriend.
Which was true, in a way. But equally false.
Not appeased by Jack’s spluttering and denying any involvement with the fair sex, his mother had pressed and pushed until the truth had spilled through.
Contrariwise to his predictions, his parents had been rather accepting -they had always been open minded, after all- but then all his hopes had been crushed when his father had expressed his desire to meet his boyfriend.
At a family dinner.
A family dinner that would include both Jack and Omi, Jack’s parents, and his old grandmother.
The joy.
If it had been anyone else but Omi, Jack would have been at least a bit hopeful, but…
Keeping his family ignorant about what went on with his life had been easy -his parents were decent, yes, but they were normal. They didn’t know about magic, nor about the Heylin and Xiaolin conflict, nor about the Shen Gong Wu.
They barely knew Jack’s skills with mechanical stuff, and that was only because Jack had learned too late to hide that side of himself.
Yes, at first he had been quite open in his experimenting with anything mechanical around the house, but his robots remained hidden in the basement, where nobody could enter except for him -and Wuya. And the monks when they decided to raid his Wu vault. And most of Jack’s one-time allies, like Katnappe- and well, he hadn’t cheated on an IQ test for nothing.
Who in their right mind would rig a test to show less than it was supposed to?
Only an Evil Boy Genius, of course.
This was going to end in a disaster, that was for sure.
Despite that, Jack was not going to hide Omi away and hope for the best -if there was something he was sure of, that was Omi. Of all people who had been around him, Omi was the only one who had trusted him over and over, giving him many chances and never giving up on him despite Jack pushing him away every single time.
The part of Jack that allowed himself to be mushy was actually proud of him. Of all people he could have picked, Omi had picked him.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Jack felt the tingle in the air that signalled the arrival of his boyfriend via magic, and turned around.
Easily sidestepping the traps Jack had placed all around the garden, Omi made his way towards the taller teen, smiling and tugging at his hand, making the redhead tilt his head slightly to look at him; puberty had done wonders to the monk, who had grown taller -although not as tall as Jack- and yet his head still was void of hair.
Another subject best left alone in a conversation.
“Hello, Jack Spicer, I am here for the meeting of your parents,” he stated clearly, lips twitching into a smile.
Despite the fact that they had dated for over a year, whenever Omi wanted to make a point clear, or just whenever he felt like it, he still used Jack’s full name. Had it been anyone else, the teen would have found it irritating.
Since it was Omi, it was both irritating and cute.
Despite knowing that the evening was going to be hell, Jack was still grateful for Omi’s presence. “Yes, let’s do this… the sooner we’re done here, the sooner we can leave and go elsewhere,” he muttered.
“We should go watch a movie and make away in the dark!” Omi offered, knowing that movie-watching was something Jack enjoyed. He liked the kissing the most, so this way both of them would be happy.
Cheeks tinged red, Jack decided not to correct his boyfriend, and simply took a deep breath, muscles tensing, one hand moving to push the door open…
“Good fortune token,” he heard Omi whisper, then he was ungracefully tugged down, and turning around with a gasp, Jack felt Omi’s lips press against his own in a soft kiss.
Much like every other time Omi kissed him, Jack felt a mix of elation, embarrassment and mushiness flood his brain, and the tension in his body flooded away instantly at the familiar gentleness of Omi’s lips on his own.
Lips twitching upwards in a smirk, Jack shook his head. “Good luck charm,” he corrected dutifully.
“That too,” Omi agreed, nodding and licking his lips.
With a snort, the redheaded teen pushed the door open.
…-…-…-…
Omi had been sure everything would go well.
While he had been confused about Jack’s reluctance to let him meet his parents, Omi was secure in his knowledge that there was nothing that could go wrong.
Meeting families was, by what Clay had said, an important step in a relationship. It meant moving to a new level of closeness, and Omi liked being close to Jack.
He had asked Kimiko about what to expect from family dinners, and she had been most helpful with that, preparing Omi for the questioning that would follow, and even having him prepare some answers beforehand.
Some of the questions had been rather weird, of course (why would Jack Spicer’s mother care about whether or not her son used ‘protection’? Jack had won the Wushu Helmet earlier that week so there was no need to worry about that…), but despite the fact that he was sure at least a few of them were added by Kimiko simply to make fun of him (‘why is a cutie like you going out with my weird son?’ surely wasn’t something a mother would say, right?), she had helped him out until he was satisfied.
There was nothing, really, that would put him off balance.
Still, when the door of Jack’s house was pushed open and Omi found himself face to face with his family, his heart sped up just a little bit, and he straightened up, trying to look taller than he was.
Jack Spicer’s mother was tall, with brown hair curling around her shoulders, and had bright brown eyes. Despite the different colouring, she did look a lot like her son, and Omi could easily see whom he had taken from.
Had Raimundo been around, he would have probably teased Jack about that. Omi was secretly glad the Wind Dragon was not with them… Jack was so stiff already…
Jack Spicer’s father was nothing like his son, though. He was somewhat bulky, a bit like Clay, maybe, and had a small beard, and eyes that moved sharply to Omi the moment he noticed him, almost disapprovingly.
Then there was another woman. She was older than the previous two, so Omi decided this was probably the grandmother Jack had mentioned giving him his Heli-pack.
“Mom… dad… granny…” the last was uttered almost as an afterthought, and Omi glanced at the elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair, fidgeting under her gaze, “this… is Omi”.
Omi looked at the three adults, and bowed lowly, showing his respect for Jack’s family.
“I am most pleased to meet with Jack Spicer’s family,” he stated, his tone clear and levelled. “I am Omi, a dr-”
Jack swiftly cleared his throat, stopping Omi from finishing his phrase. “Omi, this is my mother, Lydia, my father, Tom, and my grandmother, Serena. Mom, dad, Omi is a monk at a Xiaolin temple up in the mountains,” he explained, noticing the way his parents was staring at Omi’s clothes.
For a moment, the room fell into an uneasy silence as Jack’s family looked down at Omi with unreadable expressions, then a small smile blossomed on Lydia’s face and she took a step forwards.
“You are such a nice young man… someone with your manners could do surely better than my son,” her tone was amiable, clearly showing she was not serious… mostly.
Of course Omi didn’t get that, and also stepped forwards, eyebrows lowering in a small frown. “Oh, Miss Spicer, you are definitely in the wrong! Jack is a great person and it is my pleasure to use time with him!”
“Spend,” Jack corrected, feeling his cheeks heat up at the honesty in Omi’s voice.
“That too,” Omi amended, eyes still focused on the woman in front of him.
“Ah, you are cute,” she replied, still smiling. “You don’t have to take it seriously, I was just joking… now, come on, dinner is ready and we wouldn’t want to let it go to waste!”
Jack’s father followed his wife down the corridor, and with a last glance at the monk, Jack’s grandmother directed her wheelchair towards the dining hall as well, leaving Omi and Jack behind.
Omi leaned on Jack, tugging at his sleeve. “Why would the food go to waste? We were just talking”.
Shaking his head, Jack smiled at the shorter teen and led him through his house.
Omi had never truly had the time to look around, as he usually took the short way to the basement -a trap door on the southern wall of the building- so he walked slowly and glanced at all the paintings on the walls, noticing that a few of them held some resemblance to Jack and his mother.
Jack walked at his side, fidgeting a bit. Without stopping, Omi gently patted his arm, and felt the redhead relax under his touch. Smiling to himself, Omi once again reassured himself that this was nothing to be afraid of.
The first part of the lunch was spent in silence, eating quietly the appetizers, but once those were gone, Jack’s father straightened his stance, and the teen knew he was about to speak.
“Omi,” the man attracted the monk’s attention, eyes twinkling a bit. “Jack said you live in a temple in the northern mountains, is that correct?”
Omi nodded slowly, doing his best to appease the man.
“Yes, Mr. Spicer,” he replied, smiling. “We devote our life to the Xiaolin way of living, purifying our bodies and souls and following the guide of our teachers”.
“Does that mean there is no real income?” much to Jack’s embarrassment, his father went directly for the killer question, not even having the decency to look ashamed.
Omi frowned. “The temple receives a lot of visitors,” he replied, not understanding.
Jack grunted. “No, dad. They are not getting paid. They rely on donations and on the money left by the older monks upon retirement”.
“Money has no real value to us,” Omi butted in, feeling like enlightening Jack’s parents about the virtues of life at the Temple. “Training ourselves takes the highest priority”.
The man was somewhat appeased by that reply, and nodded, sipping from his wine glass.
“At times I wish I had sent off my son to a temple as well,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Jack always had… peculiar tastes, and maybe a rigorous life with no distractions would have benefitted him more,” he added.
Jack flushed in embarrassment at the jab.
It was no mystery his father disliked his choice of wear as much as he disliked the way his only son refused human contact by busying himself in his basement.
Omi, once again, was left baffled by how Jack’s parents were acting. It was the second time they had commented against their son, and he didn’t like it.
“Jack is perfect the way he is,” he stated, one hand coming to rest on Jack’s arm. “Well, except for his alignment. He still valiantly refuses to turn to the side of Good, but I am most certain he will give in soon!”
Of that he was certain -Jack was not cut for a life as Heylin. There was much potential for him on the side of good, but as long as Jack himself kept deluding himself, he would not follow Omi’s suggestions.
Maybe appealing to his parents would help, and show them that their son was worth the praise?
At Omi’s words, Jack felt his chest grow warm. The fact that he was quite the disappointment for his parents was no surprise -there again, they still showed him love in their own way, with his mother baking him cookies and sending him to weird lessons instead of the ones he wanted… but still.
Unfortunately, he could not stop Omi from adding that last part, and winced as his grandma’s eyes snapped to the young monk.
“The good side?” she asked, her voice low and croaky from her prolonged silence. “You are a pesky hero, are you not?”
With a nod, Omi smiled. “Of course! As a Xiaolin monk, it is my duty to fight for the greater good!”
Jack groaned and hid his face with one hand.
“I didn’t coax my Jackie to the path of darkness only for a monk to come and undo my hard work!” she twitched and glared at him, eyes narrowed in anger.
Omi blinked, surprised.
“Mom…” Jack’s father tried to intervene, but she lifted one hand up, effectively stopping him.
“No, Tommy, you won’t shut me up. It was bad already that you refused to send my poor grandson to knife throwing lessons like I had suggested, but this…”
In that instant, Omi realised that the woman sitting across from him at the dining table was the one who had nudged Jack into the path of Heylin. Consciously.
“Grandma…” Jack looked flustered and uncomfortable, glancing from her to Omi and back to her.
She ignored him completely, glaring at Omi instead.
“My Jackie truly has had poor taste, if he chose to mingle with someone from the side of good,” she continued, shaking her head. “Such a waste of potential… falling for an enemy and even going as far as to bring him home…”
Jack’s parents glanced at each other, both convinced that the old woman was senile and in serious need of her meds.
“Miss Grandmother Spicer,” Omi placed one hand on Jack’s arm, tightening his grip when the redhead made an attempt to speak up. “I must assure you that Jack will turn to the Good side soon enough”.
“Shut up, sweet bean, I’m still evil,” Jack decided to intervene before anything else got out of control. “I’m not going to cross over anytime soon”.
His grandmother rolled her eyes. “As if. First comes the attraction to the Good side, and before you realise it, you’ll be lost forever… such a disappointment…”
“At least Knife Throwing lessons would have been manlier than Figure Skating…” Jack’s father muttered, rolling his eyes.
His wife threw him a scathing look. “Figure Skating might come in handy at one point!”
“Yes, just like knitting and sewing lessons,” her husband replied, tone growing darker with each word. “That is what a boy should learn, then?”
“Jack doesn’t need to learn manly stuff, dear,” Lydia replied, her eyes narrowing in anger.
The man looked pointedly at his son, who was shaking his head, both angered and embarrassed at the display; clearly his parents didn’t really care about Omi’s presence, because they usually didn’t like to air their dirty laundry in front of their guests.
“Maybe you didn’t notice the fact that his date is a male, then,” he replied, voice icy.
Suddenly uncomfortable, Omi looked at the redhead, noticing the pained look and the tense muscles, and gently tightened his hold on the other teen’s arm, trying to make him relax.
In a way, he didn’t know what to say -maybe Jack had been right to be unsure about Omi meeting his parents, because he really couldn’t understand why they were being so callous.
“Jack Spicer is most certainly manly,” he stated, receiving a raised eyebrow from the older man. “He might scream like a girl when he’s frightened, but he has a lot of other qualities”.
And he meant it.
So what if Jack had learned to skate instead of throwing knives? Omi had seen the teen use that to his advantage during a showdown.
Besides, Jack only needed a proper instructor, as he lacked the physical strength that Omi and the other Dragons had; there was potential in him, he just needed someone to help him out, and Omi rather fancied himself as a teacher.
Jack would only benefit from learning from the best of the Dragons, after all.
“Such a heartfelt defence… horribly good of you,” Grandma Spicer muttered, clearly offended.
Omi smiled brightly at her. “Thank you,” he replied politely, having caught the undertone of displeasure in the older woman’s words and taking pleasure in that.
“Oh, shut it granny, you have no say on who I choose to date,” Jack muttered, feeling uncharacteristically defensive over his boyfriend.
The elderly woman merely grunted, refusing to speak to him anymore.
Still, his words seemed to have the desired effect on both Mr. and Miss Spicer, because they calmed down instantly, and Jack’s mother offered Omi a small smile, which the teen returned tenfold.
The rest of the dinner was spent almost pleasantly, avoiding any sort of subject that could send the old grandmother into a rant; while Omi still felt a little uncertain over what to think about Jack’s family, at least nothing impolite was mentioned anymore.
When it was time to leave, Jack’s mother offered him a plate filled with homemade cookies to bring with him to the temple, and Jack’s father roughly patted his back, while the elderly grandmother simply glared spitefully at him from the other end of the room.
All in all, the evening hadn’t been that much of a failure.
Leading Omi through the halls and out of the front door, sending a couple of JackBots to make sure his parents were not following them, Jack let out a sigh and attempted to relax.
“It was horrible,” he murmured. “I’m sorry”.
“Oh, no, it was… most interesting,” Omi hurriedly reassured him, smiling gently as he nudged Jack’s side. “Your family is indeed peculiar”.
“That is a way of putting it,” the taller teen admitted, smirking as Omi tugged his arm. “Mom was right though… you’re too good for me”.
“Jack Spicer, never say something this stupid ever again!” Omi replied, looking up at his boyfriend with burning eyes. Then, he seemed to catch on his words and amended. “Well, I cannot ask that of you, as you seem to have a knick for saying silly things all the time…”
“A knack,” Jack corrected, cheeks burning.
“Yes. That. But still. If you were any different than what you are now, you would not be the person I like so much”.
While part of him wanted to react vehemently against the mushiness of Omi’s words, Jack flushed and muttered something under his breath, feeling stupid for actually beling so happy at the sweet declaration.
“I’ll get diabetes if you keep on saying stuff like that, Chrome-dome”.
“What? Words can increase the sugar in your blood?” glancing at the other teen with confusion clear in his eyes, Omi frowned. “Is that because of magic?”
Chuckling, Jack tapped Omi’s nose with one finger and shook his head. “So, you survived one night with my family. That deserves celebrating”.
Perking up, Omi tugged again at Jack’s arm -one action he seemed to be doing a lot lately. “Can we have cake?”
“Cake, sure. And a movie,” Jack agreed, deciding against going back home anytime soon. They were airing some horror movie at the nearby theatre, were they not?
“And kissing. That is a most satisfying course of action”.
“Yes, kissing too, Omi”.
“Freezing!”
“… you mean cool. Jeez, three years and you still mess that one up”.
“You still like me, though”.
Blinking at the unexpected quip, Jack stopped momentarily, and glanced down at the monk, who was staring back at him, smiling proudly.
“Yes. Of course I do,” he replied.
Omi’s smile shifted to gigantic proportions, and Jack felt his own lips stretch to return it, and when the shorter teen gently grasped his hand, he simply held him back, still smiling.
For a moment, they walked in silence. Then…
“Will you consider switching to the Good side then, Jack Spicer?”
“… Omi…”
A small pout. “Not even to defy your honourable grandmother?”
For a moment, Jack almost seemed to consider that. Almost.
“No”.
Omi simply smiled. “One day, Jack Spicer. Just wait. One day you will-”
Jack’s lips prevented him from finishing that sentence, and Omi quickly forgot his previous train of thought as he kissed him back, smiling in the kiss as Jack let out a soft, pleased hum.
“Don’t count on it, pipsqueak,” the redhead smirked when the two parted, cheeks flushed.
Omi smirked back and simply kissed him again.
They still had time.
Fandom: Xiaolin Showdown
Pairing: Omi/Jack
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jack's parents find out their son has a boyfriend and demand to meet him.
Title: Meeting the Spicers
---
His life was over.
There was no way around it, but he supposed he’d lived a good, long life… seventeen was as good as any other time to die, after all.
He had enjoyed his childhood -somehow- and he could say he’d reached heights that modern technology would not be able to even glimpse for at least a couple more decades. And he had participated into the Shen Gong Wu race, which was something else on its own.
Yes, he had lived a good life.
Now it was over.
“I am sure you are worrying too much about this, Jack Spicer”.
Glancing up from where he was crouched, wallowing in self pity and depression, Jack grumbled and refused to dignify the other with an answer. Instead, he simply huffed.
“Easy for you to say that, pipsqueak,” he muttered after a couple of seconds, knowing too well that unless he answered, Omi would bother him until he did.
Although the expression on the monk’s face was one of deep concentration and seriousness, Jack knew that Omi couldn’t understand the reason behind his strange reaction.
Which was a problem on its own.
“I do not see what the problem is,” Omi continued, shifting until he was sitting at Jack’s side, patting his shoulder and trying to offer some comfort.
“Of course you don’t,” he grumbled again. “It’s not your parents we’re talking about”.
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted ever speaking them. Family was a sensitive matter for the younger teen, and Jack knew better than to touch that button. With a grunt, he grasped Omi’s hand before the monk could take it away from his shoulder.
Coughing to hide his guilt, Jack refused to look at him and muttered a quiet apology. “I… didn’t mean it that way”.
Omi sighed but nodded. “Then what is the problem with your parents? Are you… are you ashamed of me?”
Head snapping sideways, his grip on Omi’s hand tightening instantly, he shook his head, feeling panic soar up from his chest.
“No, no! Not at all! It’s just…” his squeak turned into a whisper, but the monk was close enough that he could still hear him. “They’re… embarrassing…”
Omi’s lips twitched into a smile, and Jack’s cheeks turned a light tinge of pink.
“I am sure we can survive a single meal with them, Jack,” he reassured, clearly convinced of his words. Then, puffing his chest out, he added, “they will love me!”
“…” Jack refused to dignify him with an answer.
…-…-…-…
The relationship between Jack Spicer, once Evil Boy Genius, now simply Evil Genius, and Omi, the Dragon of Water, was complicated. By all means.
While they still fought each other for the Shen Gong Wu, with time their showdowns had slowly turned into something closer to playful rivalry than plain enmity.
Without him noticing, Omi had managed to wriggle his way into Jack’s life, with small offhanded comments and shorts visits to his house (lair); before he could fully realise it, those visits had turned into afternoons spent together, and as much as it had pained him to admit it, Jack hadn’t truly minded Omi’s company.
In fact, it had actually been rather nice, despite the monk’s attempts to turn him to the Good side -which was never going to happen, no matter how much Omi begged.
With time, the hostility between them had blurred, until one day, albeit reluctantly, he had admitted to himself that Omi had managed a feat no one else had before -he had gained Jack’s friendship.
They were still on opposite sides, they still fought, and had fun doing so, but now, after a showdown, victorious or not, Omi hung around and it was pleasant.
The remaining Dragons had, of course, been vehement in their opposition. Jack wasn’t one to trust, especially since he’d betrayed them over and over again, and to see Omi willingly spending time with their enemy disgusted them.
They believed Jack would hurt their friend as soon as their backs were turned.
Jack himself had been sure he would. They were right, after all.
And yet nothing had happened.
Maybe some part of his heart that wasn’t rotten yet had latched on Omi’s offered friendship, or maybe Omi had finally cracked through his walls… but when Jack had finally realised what was going on, it was too late. He didn’t want to push the short monk away anymore.
How this weird friendship had progressed into something more was still a mystery, even after so many years. Awkward talks and afternoons together had started to include small touches, gestures of care and affection Jack hadn’t been aware he could receive, let alone spontaneously do…
Until one day Jack had simply stopped being in denial, and had fully accepted Omi’s affection for what it had grown to be.
Things had been… nice since then. They were both teenagers, bordering on adulthood, and they had tentatively explored a different sort of relationship for months, hesitant and embarrassed yet strangely content about it.
The innermost part of Jack that was still teetering towards evil, the one that had grown accustomed to being alone and ignored, still scoffed in indignation at that. The rest of Jack’s brain easily ignored it, enjoying the attention.
Then, as Murphy’s law had to come into the equation at one point, something had happened.
His parents, his normal, usually not-entirely-present-in-his-life parents, had finally started to notice a change in their only son and heir’s behaviour, and had then quickly come to a satisfying conclusion -their little Jack had gotten himself a girlfriend.
Which was true, in a way. But equally false.
Not appeased by Jack’s spluttering and denying any involvement with the fair sex, his mother had pressed and pushed until the truth had spilled through.
Contrariwise to his predictions, his parents had been rather accepting -they had always been open minded, after all- but then all his hopes had been crushed when his father had expressed his desire to meet his boyfriend.
At a family dinner.
A family dinner that would include both Jack and Omi, Jack’s parents, and his old grandmother.
The joy.
If it had been anyone else but Omi, Jack would have been at least a bit hopeful, but…
Keeping his family ignorant about what went on with his life had been easy -his parents were decent, yes, but they were normal. They didn’t know about magic, nor about the Heylin and Xiaolin conflict, nor about the Shen Gong Wu.
They barely knew Jack’s skills with mechanical stuff, and that was only because Jack had learned too late to hide that side of himself.
Yes, at first he had been quite open in his experimenting with anything mechanical around the house, but his robots remained hidden in the basement, where nobody could enter except for him -and Wuya. And the monks when they decided to raid his Wu vault. And most of Jack’s one-time allies, like Katnappe- and well, he hadn’t cheated on an IQ test for nothing.
Who in their right mind would rig a test to show less than it was supposed to?
Only an Evil Boy Genius, of course.
This was going to end in a disaster, that was for sure.
Despite that, Jack was not going to hide Omi away and hope for the best -if there was something he was sure of, that was Omi. Of all people who had been around him, Omi was the only one who had trusted him over and over, giving him many chances and never giving up on him despite Jack pushing him away every single time.
The part of Jack that allowed himself to be mushy was actually proud of him. Of all people he could have picked, Omi had picked him.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Jack felt the tingle in the air that signalled the arrival of his boyfriend via magic, and turned around.
Easily sidestepping the traps Jack had placed all around the garden, Omi made his way towards the taller teen, smiling and tugging at his hand, making the redhead tilt his head slightly to look at him; puberty had done wonders to the monk, who had grown taller -although not as tall as Jack- and yet his head still was void of hair.
Another subject best left alone in a conversation.
“Hello, Jack Spicer, I am here for the meeting of your parents,” he stated clearly, lips twitching into a smile.
Despite the fact that they had dated for over a year, whenever Omi wanted to make a point clear, or just whenever he felt like it, he still used Jack’s full name. Had it been anyone else, the teen would have found it irritating.
Since it was Omi, it was both irritating and cute.
Despite knowing that the evening was going to be hell, Jack was still grateful for Omi’s presence. “Yes, let’s do this… the sooner we’re done here, the sooner we can leave and go elsewhere,” he muttered.
“We should go watch a movie and make away in the dark!” Omi offered, knowing that movie-watching was something Jack enjoyed. He liked the kissing the most, so this way both of them would be happy.
Cheeks tinged red, Jack decided not to correct his boyfriend, and simply took a deep breath, muscles tensing, one hand moving to push the door open…
“Good fortune token,” he heard Omi whisper, then he was ungracefully tugged down, and turning around with a gasp, Jack felt Omi’s lips press against his own in a soft kiss.
Much like every other time Omi kissed him, Jack felt a mix of elation, embarrassment and mushiness flood his brain, and the tension in his body flooded away instantly at the familiar gentleness of Omi’s lips on his own.
Lips twitching upwards in a smirk, Jack shook his head. “Good luck charm,” he corrected dutifully.
“That too,” Omi agreed, nodding and licking his lips.
With a snort, the redheaded teen pushed the door open.
…-…-…-…
Omi had been sure everything would go well.
While he had been confused about Jack’s reluctance to let him meet his parents, Omi was secure in his knowledge that there was nothing that could go wrong.
Meeting families was, by what Clay had said, an important step in a relationship. It meant moving to a new level of closeness, and Omi liked being close to Jack.
He had asked Kimiko about what to expect from family dinners, and she had been most helpful with that, preparing Omi for the questioning that would follow, and even having him prepare some answers beforehand.
Some of the questions had been rather weird, of course (why would Jack Spicer’s mother care about whether or not her son used ‘protection’? Jack had won the Wushu Helmet earlier that week so there was no need to worry about that…), but despite the fact that he was sure at least a few of them were added by Kimiko simply to make fun of him (‘why is a cutie like you going out with my weird son?’ surely wasn’t something a mother would say, right?), she had helped him out until he was satisfied.
There was nothing, really, that would put him off balance.
Still, when the door of Jack’s house was pushed open and Omi found himself face to face with his family, his heart sped up just a little bit, and he straightened up, trying to look taller than he was.
Jack Spicer’s mother was tall, with brown hair curling around her shoulders, and had bright brown eyes. Despite the different colouring, she did look a lot like her son, and Omi could easily see whom he had taken from.
Had Raimundo been around, he would have probably teased Jack about that. Omi was secretly glad the Wind Dragon was not with them… Jack was so stiff already…
Jack Spicer’s father was nothing like his son, though. He was somewhat bulky, a bit like Clay, maybe, and had a small beard, and eyes that moved sharply to Omi the moment he noticed him, almost disapprovingly.
Then there was another woman. She was older than the previous two, so Omi decided this was probably the grandmother Jack had mentioned giving him his Heli-pack.
“Mom… dad… granny…” the last was uttered almost as an afterthought, and Omi glanced at the elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair, fidgeting under her gaze, “this… is Omi”.
Omi looked at the three adults, and bowed lowly, showing his respect for Jack’s family.
“I am most pleased to meet with Jack Spicer’s family,” he stated, his tone clear and levelled. “I am Omi, a dr-”
Jack swiftly cleared his throat, stopping Omi from finishing his phrase. “Omi, this is my mother, Lydia, my father, Tom, and my grandmother, Serena. Mom, dad, Omi is a monk at a Xiaolin temple up in the mountains,” he explained, noticing the way his parents was staring at Omi’s clothes.
For a moment, the room fell into an uneasy silence as Jack’s family looked down at Omi with unreadable expressions, then a small smile blossomed on Lydia’s face and she took a step forwards.
“You are such a nice young man… someone with your manners could do surely better than my son,” her tone was amiable, clearly showing she was not serious… mostly.
Of course Omi didn’t get that, and also stepped forwards, eyebrows lowering in a small frown. “Oh, Miss Spicer, you are definitely in the wrong! Jack is a great person and it is my pleasure to use time with him!”
“Spend,” Jack corrected, feeling his cheeks heat up at the honesty in Omi’s voice.
“That too,” Omi amended, eyes still focused on the woman in front of him.
“Ah, you are cute,” she replied, still smiling. “You don’t have to take it seriously, I was just joking… now, come on, dinner is ready and we wouldn’t want to let it go to waste!”
Jack’s father followed his wife down the corridor, and with a last glance at the monk, Jack’s grandmother directed her wheelchair towards the dining hall as well, leaving Omi and Jack behind.
Omi leaned on Jack, tugging at his sleeve. “Why would the food go to waste? We were just talking”.
Shaking his head, Jack smiled at the shorter teen and led him through his house.
Omi had never truly had the time to look around, as he usually took the short way to the basement -a trap door on the southern wall of the building- so he walked slowly and glanced at all the paintings on the walls, noticing that a few of them held some resemblance to Jack and his mother.
Jack walked at his side, fidgeting a bit. Without stopping, Omi gently patted his arm, and felt the redhead relax under his touch. Smiling to himself, Omi once again reassured himself that this was nothing to be afraid of.
The first part of the lunch was spent in silence, eating quietly the appetizers, but once those were gone, Jack’s father straightened his stance, and the teen knew he was about to speak.
“Omi,” the man attracted the monk’s attention, eyes twinkling a bit. “Jack said you live in a temple in the northern mountains, is that correct?”
Omi nodded slowly, doing his best to appease the man.
“Yes, Mr. Spicer,” he replied, smiling. “We devote our life to the Xiaolin way of living, purifying our bodies and souls and following the guide of our teachers”.
“Does that mean there is no real income?” much to Jack’s embarrassment, his father went directly for the killer question, not even having the decency to look ashamed.
Omi frowned. “The temple receives a lot of visitors,” he replied, not understanding.
Jack grunted. “No, dad. They are not getting paid. They rely on donations and on the money left by the older monks upon retirement”.
“Money has no real value to us,” Omi butted in, feeling like enlightening Jack’s parents about the virtues of life at the Temple. “Training ourselves takes the highest priority”.
The man was somewhat appeased by that reply, and nodded, sipping from his wine glass.
“At times I wish I had sent off my son to a temple as well,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Jack always had… peculiar tastes, and maybe a rigorous life with no distractions would have benefitted him more,” he added.
Jack flushed in embarrassment at the jab.
It was no mystery his father disliked his choice of wear as much as he disliked the way his only son refused human contact by busying himself in his basement.
Omi, once again, was left baffled by how Jack’s parents were acting. It was the second time they had commented against their son, and he didn’t like it.
“Jack is perfect the way he is,” he stated, one hand coming to rest on Jack’s arm. “Well, except for his alignment. He still valiantly refuses to turn to the side of Good, but I am most certain he will give in soon!”
Of that he was certain -Jack was not cut for a life as Heylin. There was much potential for him on the side of good, but as long as Jack himself kept deluding himself, he would not follow Omi’s suggestions.
Maybe appealing to his parents would help, and show them that their son was worth the praise?
At Omi’s words, Jack felt his chest grow warm. The fact that he was quite the disappointment for his parents was no surprise -there again, they still showed him love in their own way, with his mother baking him cookies and sending him to weird lessons instead of the ones he wanted… but still.
Unfortunately, he could not stop Omi from adding that last part, and winced as his grandma’s eyes snapped to the young monk.
“The good side?” she asked, her voice low and croaky from her prolonged silence. “You are a pesky hero, are you not?”
With a nod, Omi smiled. “Of course! As a Xiaolin monk, it is my duty to fight for the greater good!”
Jack groaned and hid his face with one hand.
“I didn’t coax my Jackie to the path of darkness only for a monk to come and undo my hard work!” she twitched and glared at him, eyes narrowed in anger.
Omi blinked, surprised.
“Mom…” Jack’s father tried to intervene, but she lifted one hand up, effectively stopping him.
“No, Tommy, you won’t shut me up. It was bad already that you refused to send my poor grandson to knife throwing lessons like I had suggested, but this…”
In that instant, Omi realised that the woman sitting across from him at the dining table was the one who had nudged Jack into the path of Heylin. Consciously.
“Grandma…” Jack looked flustered and uncomfortable, glancing from her to Omi and back to her.
She ignored him completely, glaring at Omi instead.
“My Jackie truly has had poor taste, if he chose to mingle with someone from the side of good,” she continued, shaking her head. “Such a waste of potential… falling for an enemy and even going as far as to bring him home…”
Jack’s parents glanced at each other, both convinced that the old woman was senile and in serious need of her meds.
“Miss Grandmother Spicer,” Omi placed one hand on Jack’s arm, tightening his grip when the redhead made an attempt to speak up. “I must assure you that Jack will turn to the Good side soon enough”.
“Shut up, sweet bean, I’m still evil,” Jack decided to intervene before anything else got out of control. “I’m not going to cross over anytime soon”.
His grandmother rolled her eyes. “As if. First comes the attraction to the Good side, and before you realise it, you’ll be lost forever… such a disappointment…”
“At least Knife Throwing lessons would have been manlier than Figure Skating…” Jack’s father muttered, rolling his eyes.
His wife threw him a scathing look. “Figure Skating might come in handy at one point!”
“Yes, just like knitting and sewing lessons,” her husband replied, tone growing darker with each word. “That is what a boy should learn, then?”
“Jack doesn’t need to learn manly stuff, dear,” Lydia replied, her eyes narrowing in anger.
The man looked pointedly at his son, who was shaking his head, both angered and embarrassed at the display; clearly his parents didn’t really care about Omi’s presence, because they usually didn’t like to air their dirty laundry in front of their guests.
“Maybe you didn’t notice the fact that his date is a male, then,” he replied, voice icy.
Suddenly uncomfortable, Omi looked at the redhead, noticing the pained look and the tense muscles, and gently tightened his hold on the other teen’s arm, trying to make him relax.
In a way, he didn’t know what to say -maybe Jack had been right to be unsure about Omi meeting his parents, because he really couldn’t understand why they were being so callous.
“Jack Spicer is most certainly manly,” he stated, receiving a raised eyebrow from the older man. “He might scream like a girl when he’s frightened, but he has a lot of other qualities”.
And he meant it.
So what if Jack had learned to skate instead of throwing knives? Omi had seen the teen use that to his advantage during a showdown.
Besides, Jack only needed a proper instructor, as he lacked the physical strength that Omi and the other Dragons had; there was potential in him, he just needed someone to help him out, and Omi rather fancied himself as a teacher.
Jack would only benefit from learning from the best of the Dragons, after all.
“Such a heartfelt defence… horribly good of you,” Grandma Spicer muttered, clearly offended.
Omi smiled brightly at her. “Thank you,” he replied politely, having caught the undertone of displeasure in the older woman’s words and taking pleasure in that.
“Oh, shut it granny, you have no say on who I choose to date,” Jack muttered, feeling uncharacteristically defensive over his boyfriend.
The elderly woman merely grunted, refusing to speak to him anymore.
Still, his words seemed to have the desired effect on both Mr. and Miss Spicer, because they calmed down instantly, and Jack’s mother offered Omi a small smile, which the teen returned tenfold.
The rest of the dinner was spent almost pleasantly, avoiding any sort of subject that could send the old grandmother into a rant; while Omi still felt a little uncertain over what to think about Jack’s family, at least nothing impolite was mentioned anymore.
When it was time to leave, Jack’s mother offered him a plate filled with homemade cookies to bring with him to the temple, and Jack’s father roughly patted his back, while the elderly grandmother simply glared spitefully at him from the other end of the room.
All in all, the evening hadn’t been that much of a failure.
Leading Omi through the halls and out of the front door, sending a couple of JackBots to make sure his parents were not following them, Jack let out a sigh and attempted to relax.
“It was horrible,” he murmured. “I’m sorry”.
“Oh, no, it was… most interesting,” Omi hurriedly reassured him, smiling gently as he nudged Jack’s side. “Your family is indeed peculiar”.
“That is a way of putting it,” the taller teen admitted, smirking as Omi tugged his arm. “Mom was right though… you’re too good for me”.
“Jack Spicer, never say something this stupid ever again!” Omi replied, looking up at his boyfriend with burning eyes. Then, he seemed to catch on his words and amended. “Well, I cannot ask that of you, as you seem to have a knick for saying silly things all the time…”
“A knack,” Jack corrected, cheeks burning.
“Yes. That. But still. If you were any different than what you are now, you would not be the person I like so much”.
While part of him wanted to react vehemently against the mushiness of Omi’s words, Jack flushed and muttered something under his breath, feeling stupid for actually beling so happy at the sweet declaration.
“I’ll get diabetes if you keep on saying stuff like that, Chrome-dome”.
“What? Words can increase the sugar in your blood?” glancing at the other teen with confusion clear in his eyes, Omi frowned. “Is that because of magic?”
Chuckling, Jack tapped Omi’s nose with one finger and shook his head. “So, you survived one night with my family. That deserves celebrating”.
Perking up, Omi tugged again at Jack’s arm -one action he seemed to be doing a lot lately. “Can we have cake?”
“Cake, sure. And a movie,” Jack agreed, deciding against going back home anytime soon. They were airing some horror movie at the nearby theatre, were they not?
“And kissing. That is a most satisfying course of action”.
“Yes, kissing too, Omi”.
“Freezing!”
“… you mean cool. Jeez, three years and you still mess that one up”.
“You still like me, though”.
Blinking at the unexpected quip, Jack stopped momentarily, and glanced down at the monk, who was staring back at him, smiling proudly.
“Yes. Of course I do,” he replied.
Omi’s smile shifted to gigantic proportions, and Jack felt his own lips stretch to return it, and when the shorter teen gently grasped his hand, he simply held him back, still smiling.
For a moment, they walked in silence. Then…
“Will you consider switching to the Good side then, Jack Spicer?”
“… Omi…”
A small pout. “Not even to defy your honourable grandmother?”
For a moment, Jack almost seemed to consider that. Almost.
“No”.
Omi simply smiled. “One day, Jack Spicer. Just wait. One day you will-”
Jack’s lips prevented him from finishing that sentence, and Omi quickly forgot his previous train of thought as he kissed him back, smiling in the kiss as Jack let out a soft, pleased hum.
“Don’t count on it, pipsqueak,” the redhead smirked when the two parted, cheeks flushed.
Omi smirked back and simply kissed him again.
They still had time.