83 83- Consideration

Michael really wanted an omega's view on all this, but beggars can't be choosers and he only had about an hour until Edwardo's plane landed. He needed to decide what he was going to do. He flopped on his bed and considered his options.

Talking to Edwardo face to face would have been ideal, but that wasn't going to happen. Councilman Sanchez had told him he made his son get on the plane against his wishes. Apparently Edwardo hadn't wanted to leave without making up with Michael first. The issue was though that Edwardo's grandma had dementia, and since he and his brother were twins, having one there and not the other confused her too much. It's the only reason he couldn't get out of going in the first place. Well, that and she was old. You don't flake on old people. There's no guarantee how much longer they'll be around.

Councilman Sanchez even offered to escort Michael himself to Mexico to spend the holiday with his family, since he wasn't leaving until after tomorrow because of work. Never mind that Michael couldn't go in the first place.

And never mind that Edwardo had apparently called his father after their fight last night to "heroically profess" that he was in love with a man. Never mind that Edwardo's family already knew Michael was a guy, thanks to a gossipy limo driver, and assumed the whole issue with Edwardo referring to him as female had something to do with gender identity. Although, the fact that Edwardo's folks were cool with that was a real plus… And never mind that Councilman Sanchez himself apologized for his son's behavior, citing "bad parenting" and the fact that male omegas were such a rarity he hadn't considered the possibility his son would fall for one. Apparently there were only five male omegas in the entire city and all the outlying suburbs according to the last census.

Besides all that, Michael wasn't sure if he was ready to forgive Edwardo or not.

And that's what he needed advice on. Councilman Sanchez had urged Michael to call Edwardo after his son's plane landed. Michael hadn't even checked any of Edwardo's numerous texts, voicemails, or social media messages yet. He needed a pep-talk, for someone he trusted to tell him what the right thing to do was. He wanted to talk to Ryan more than anyone, but since he wasn't the only one to have a rough night last night that wasn't happening so… Ryan's fiance was the next best thing, right?

So, Michael info-dumped all his relationship drama. From the lack of sex, to Edwardo's lie, to their fight, he told Scott everything.

"Well first-off, I think it's very big of you to admit trying to force him to have sex with you was wrong." Scott's voice came through slightly distorted from the phone speaker.

Michael pouted. "But what about how he lied to his family about me?" Michael asked insistently. "Isn't that something people break up over? What should I do?"

"That's really something you'll have to come to your own conclusion on. Do you want to stay in a relationship with him? If not, call and break up. But if you do want a relationship, you still have to call and work it out. Sure, talking in person would be best, but either way you need to let him know what he did hurt you. And a sincere apology from your side wouldn't be a bad idea. That's the only way you'll be able to move forward."

Michael rubbed his face with a frustrated groan. "Why can't I have one of those smooth-sailing no-fuss relationships like you and Ryan have? It's not fair…"

"Now wait a minute," Scott was quick to defend on that point, "Ryan and I don't always have a perfect relationship, and it took a lot of communication and trial-and-error to get where we are now. It didn't just happen overnight. Both of us put in a lot of work, and continue to put in a lot of work. We're only human."

"But you guys always look like you're on the same page, and I've never seen you argue-"

"We had an argument this morning."

Michael was surprised to hear that. "Really?"

"Yup." Scott told the story about Ryan not wanting to wake him up for some pain meds, and how Ryan had woken up irritated and combative.

"That's not really an argument though…"

To prove his point, Scott listed a couple of their more notable altercations. From their early ones about Ryan's long working hours, to more recent ones about what to eat for dinner. Though to be fair, the ones about food were less argument and more "please give me an honest opinion on what you really want to eat."

"The point is," Scott continued, "if you want a relationship where you treat each other as equals, there's going to be some kind of conflict somewhere. Unless you're going to meekly follow whatever the other person says and does, and honestly you don't seem like the type, you're going to have to be open and honest about what you want. And you're going to have to encourage them to be open and honest about what they want. Not only that, you'll have to consider how they feel about things. It's not always easy, but it's worth it."

Michael chewed his lip as he thought about what Scott said. He hadn't considered Edwardo's feelings about any of this at all. He let out a long and frustrated groan.

"Edwardo's plane is supposed to land soon." Michael sighed. "I still don't think I'm ready to forgive him. Honestly, I don't know what I want, but I guess you're right. I think I'll call him, at least to let him know I'm still bothered by what he did. Wish me luck, I guess?"

From the other end of the line, Scott wished him good luck, and left him with some simple encouragement. Michael was still nervous as hell. Edwardo's plane was landing any minute now. He stretched, forcing himself to relax.

He looked over at his dresser, where his Christmas presents from Edwardo sat in their box. Councilman Sanchez had passed them off to him after they were done talking. The dye he ordered to finish Edwardo's present finally showed up today too, and was sitting next to the box.

He really did have to call Edwardo, didn't he?

Michael's voicemail was full, all with missed calls from Edwardo. He had over twenty unread texts from Edwardo. He had messages on every one of his social media platforms from Edwardo. Ugh, why did this have to be so awkward?

All of a sudden, his phone started vibrating in his hand. It was Edwardo of course. Michael hesitated. He needed to get this over with. He forced himself to press the little green phone icon.

"Hello…?" Michael said with uncertainty into the receiver.

Ecstatic and slightly slurred Spanish came through the phone speaker. It was definitely Eddies's voice, but was he drunk? Michael couldn't figure out what he was trying to say at all, but he could pick out a few words. "Lo siento," I'm sorry, "Te Amo," I love you, and one other Michael had no clue the meaning of but Edwardo was using a lot, "Dolcito." He was also using the word "sexy" a lot, which Michael was pretty sure translated directly.

"Eddie please, slow down. I don't speak Spanish. I have no idea what you're saying…"

Te amo… lo siento… te amo… Over and over those phrases repeated. Edwardo was clearly very drunk, and the only thing he could think to tell Michael was, "I love you, I'm sorry, I love you…"

The string of apology cut off abruptly, and a tired sounding male voice Michael wasn't familiar with came through the line.

"Hello? I'm guessing this is the amazing and wonderful 'Dolicto' we all just spent six and a half hours hearing about?"

"I guess…?" Michael answered. "I don't know what Dolcito means. This is Michael. Who are you?"

The voice on the other end let out an almost annoyed sigh. "This is Eddie's brother, and I'd like you to know he's been absolutely insufferable this whole trip. So, I'm guessing our father talked to you? Can we expect to see you for the holiday?"

Michael could hear Edwardo's voice in the background. It was almost kind of cute, but it made him feel bad for waiting so long to talk to him.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not coming. Or more like, it's not safe for me to come. But, I really was hoping to talk to Eddie…"

"After I get him sobered up, PLEASE promise me you'll answer his call? I can't take much more of listening to this knucklehead gushing about some guy I've never met."

"So, he told you I'm a guy too? And that we were dating? And that doesn't bother you?"

"Look, my brother is an adult. Supposedly he can make decisions like an adult. Unfortunately, I've known how dense he is since we were kids. I don't know how he got that weird idea stuck in his head. It's his life. I never thought he'd go for a guy, but frankly that's between the two of you. As his brother I just want to see him happy, and- WAIT, EDD DON'T YOU PUKE IN THAT- Shit. He'll call you later. Answer the phone."

With that the line went dead. Michael giggled trying to picture the scene wherever Edwardo and his family were. Edwardo really spent six and a half hours talking about him nonstop? Okay, so he was obviously drunk during at least part of it, but still. And apparently Edwardo's family didn't care that he was dating a guy? The absurdity of this whole aftermath did wonders for Michael's anxiety. He STILL wasn't sure he was ready to forgive Edwardo yet, but at least now he felt better about the prospect of talking it out.

--------------------

As afternoon gave way to evening, Michael slowly worked his way through Edwardo's numerous messages. The first few voice messages were about the same, with an apology and a plea for Michael to call him. By the fourth on Edwardo had apparently figured out the reason why Michael had gotten so upset, and apologized for having lied to his family. The fifth one detailed Edwardo's very heroic phone call to his father, and how his father had basically called him an idiot for his behavior. The next few that filled up his voicemail were little stories of Edwardo's favorite things about Michael and when he'd noticed them, with a plea for Michael to please call him back. Michael's heart melted at those. He didn't even realize he made a duck-face when he was thinking about something…

The next thing Michael sorted was the text messages. They started off like the voicemails, lots of apology, and begging for Michael to respond. There were pictures sent of a very sad Princessa Bonita Esperanza pouting by the door, and even a very short video of her sniffing the doorframe and crying. Michael hated that Essie got put in the middle of the whole thing without being able to know what was going on. From that point, there was a continuation of the same kind of thing from the voicemails. Michael figured since Edwardo had filled up his mailbox, this was his solution to continue repentance.

It was all very touching, and he was almost- ALMOST ready to forgive Edwardo. Almost.

That being said, it was getting late. Michael readied for bed after a quick and easy supper since his parents were working late again. He was almost ready to go to sleep, when his phone started ringing.

Apparently Eddie was finally sober enough to talk?