This Is Us - Chapter 69: Chapter 69

*LUCA POV*
"You guys look tired,"
Pierce mentions as Luca and I sat across from our fathers-in-law in the corner of a small cafe in downtown Bridgeport. I rolled up my sleeves as I went to take my first sip of coffee in the past three days. Both of my wrists held the waterproof rubber hospital bracelets with four pink ones in total with each of my babies names on them and one green one with the name of my beautiful husband who was still in the hospital getting some much-needed rest.
"Oh, we're beyond exhausted," Thomas says with a smile as he picks up a small latte and takes a gentle sip.
"Can you pass the sugar please, papa?" Jaydean asked politely as she sat at the head of the table with a small cup of mint jasmine tea. I nodded and handed the small bowl of sugar to her, watching her put in three small scoops.
"But that's okay. Our tiredness is nothing compared to Matty's and all the babies are healthy and ready to come home. That's all that really matters," Thomas mentions and I nodded in agreement, feeling his hand rested on my thigh.
Mika takes a sip of his own tea with a smile that hadn't left his face since we met here. The two grandfathers had lovingly taken on the responsibility of watching after Jaydean while the three of us were occupied. It was the first time our little Jayde spent the night without any of her parents around.
"How was she?" I asked and Pierce chuckled a bit, gazing at his granddaughter who sipped her tea in her little hands with delight.
"She's definitely something else, but I guess I never expected my son's kids to be anything less than spectacular and amusing," Pierce says which didn't sound good. I start to get concerned because Jaydean is never the type of child to misbehave.
"That wasn't a bad thing, she was surprisingly well behaved is what he tried to say," Mika corrects Pierce and quickly shrugs.
"Matty was such a terror when he was little and Jaydean certainly has an attitude but it's never disrespectful. It's kind of charming," He adds and Jaydean pouts.
"Are you guys talking about me?" She asked, pointing to herself and snapping.
"Were you a good girl with your grandparents like your mommy asked you to be?" Thomas asked her and she nodded, reaching out and taking a finger sandwich from the tray.
"Mhm, I was super good cause I don't want to make mommy angry again. He's scary when he's angry." She mumbled as she took a monster-sized bite of the tuna fish sandwich. Pierce and Mika both gave Thomas and I a look as if they were judging our household environment for a moment there.
"What do you mean nugget? When is mommy angry with you?" I asked her and she shrugged.
"He's not really mad at me, he just cares about me a lot remember daddy," She points out and Thomas nods in understanding while the rest of us were still confused.
"She's talking about the night we left for Bridgeport. Remember when Matty had a panic attack?" Thomas points out and I could never forget that night.
I'm glad Matty brought us here to the island. We haven't regretted it since and we even considered moving here, but home is back on the farm where we belong.
"Are you guys excited to meet your new grandchildren?" I asked them, changing the subject and Mika quickly went off on a long rant on how excited he was to pinch their little cheeks and snuggle them close.
"Did he really name one of them Mika?" He suddenly paused all excitement and the three of us looked at him confused.
"Of course? The little one's name is Mika-Ji Hakeem Jackson, I mean his name kind of repeats itself since both Ji and Hakeem mean wise but it's what Matthias really wanted," I told my father-in-law and he gulped a little.
"I just still don't understand why he named the baby after me. All these years I thought he hated me so much..."
He drifts off, carefully telling us the story of how Matthias Grayson came to live on Bridgeport by himself for five years.
***
Flashback to when Matty & Kailani [Then known as Elias] were twelve years old
Mika Grayson was officially beyond exhausted.
With Pierce away on a business trip, his workload as a lawyer at the company doubled, and the twins constantly acting up the stress was eating him alive. So much so, that all he wanted to do was go into the house, run up to his room, take a bubble bath, and go to sleep.
But the small scrawny father of four could barely find the time to eat nevermind do any of those things.
Mika sat in the garage of his mansion with his head between his hands, gently tugging at his own silky strands of light brown hair as some sort of stress relief. He already felt like crying after being yelled at by a co-worker saying he wasn't working hard enough.
He gulped down his stress and gathered his things before stepping out of the car and gently closing the door behind him. The soft click of his dress shoes on the concrete could be heard as he opened the garage door and walked into his house to a high shrilled scream.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
"WHAT? IS THE TRUTH TOO HARD FOR YOU?!"
Mika heard the twins arguing and closed his eyes, nearly passing out right then and there before the sound of footsteps snaps his eyes open once more and his little boy wrapped his arms around his small waist.
"Appa! Matty is being mean again," Elias cried into Mika's shirt and the tired father wrapped his arms around his son, who was currently in one of his favorite blue dresses and had his long black hair tied back in a ponytail.
"What did he say peanut?" Mika asked him as he gently kissed the top of his head and embraced Eli.
"He said that I'm not a real boy cause I wear dresses and he said I'm a mistake of nature," Eli sniffled as he cried out his heart to Mika who instantly saw red with fury and anger in his eyes.
"Is he still crying?" Matthias sarcastically asked and Mika snapped his head up, eyeing the smartass twelve-year-old with spite in his eyes.
"Apologize to your brother young man," Mika started but Matty only laughed out loud and rolled his eyes.
"My brother? That...thing isn't my brother. I don't know what IT is," Matty chuckled and Mika had enough. Elias was so hurt that he started shaking like a leaf in Mika's arms as he sobbed. Mika gently rubbed his back and pulled away from him, standing up to face the monster in front of them.
"He is your twin brother no matter what! I raised you to protect him more than any other person in this world not become his biggest bully! What has gotten into you?" Mika asked but Matty shrugged, unaffected.
"Eli is too different and now my friends are starting to pick on me cause we're twins so they think I'm like him but I'm not. I'm a boy! I don't know what IT is!" Matty pointed straight at Elias who just quietly hid behind his Appa in fear.
"It doesn't matter! It's okay to be like Eli. People like what they like and they can't change that. It's just who they are and Elias is the same way! Matthias Piers Grayson, I'm so disappointed in you. I raised you to love other people no matter what!" Mika fought and Matty rolled his eyes again.
"Well, I don't care about how you raised me! I'm going to think what I want to think and I wish Eli wasn't my twin. I wish he had never been born!" Matty screamed at the top of his lungs and Eli collapsed behind me. Tears filled Mika's eyes as he looked into the boy's eyes and didn't see his son, but a monster.
"Sometimes Matthias! I wish I never gave birth to you!" Mika screamed right back at him and Matty stopped. For a second the monster disappeared and his son had returned with a hurt in his eyes like Mika had broken his heart.
"Good! Because I wish I wasn't in this stupid family either! I hate you Appa! You are the worst father in history!" Matty grunted before turning around and stomping away.
"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" Mika commanded and he could hear Matty's bedroom door slam so hard that there was a shattering of glass coming from the hallway and I knew he broke one of the family photos.
Mika turned around and faced his other son who had turned into a tiny puddle of tears on the floor. Elias had always been special from the moment he could speak his mind, always choosing girls things over boys things and Pierce and Mika always told him it was okay to do just that. Knowing in their hearts that one day, he would stay a girl.
And later on he became their beautiful baby girl.
But for now he was still their son and they had to protect him at all cost since he's in such a fragile state right now. Eli might like looking like a girl but pretty soon he's going to start changing with hormones and look more and more like a boy. And even though right now he's just a boy who loves girly things, he's never told us that he wants to be a girl, so it's been a waiting game.
A game Matthias might have just destroyed.
Eli looked down at the beautiful dress he was wearing and quickly tore it off before speeding towards his room on the opposite side of the hall. Mika sped up behind him and caught the door before he could slam it closed as the little boy ran up to his closet.
"Eli what are you doing?" Mika asked, fearing the worse as tears streamed down Eli's face when he reached in, wearing just his boxer briefs and an undershirt to tear his closet apart, taking out everything that was shimmering, sparkling, or feminine in general and tossing it on his bed.
"Get rid of it! Get rid of it all!" Eli screamed and Mika held some of the dresses in his hand. It tore him apart to have both his children in such distress.
"No, Eli let's talk about this," Mika tried to gently communicate but Eli was choking on his tears now as he slammed down nearly everything he owned.
"No! I don't want Matty to be ashamed of me anymore! I don't want you to be ashamed of me Appa! I just want you to love me! But to love me I have to be normal!" Eli wailed and Mika's own tears were uncontrollable now.
"Eli, I'm not ashamed of you. Peanut please listen to me, I think you're beautiful just the way you are," I tried to explain but Eli wasn't having it.
"No! I'm going to be normal!" He said again and there was a burning pain in Mika's chest. He decided nothing he could say would make Elias change his mind so he took a step back, giving him some air as he went to go check on the demon that started it all.
He knocked twice only to hear no response in return. He knocked again, this time pressing his ear to the door and heard the soft sobs and sniffles coming from inside.
"Matty-ah, open the door please," Mika pleaded and there was a gentle creek coming from the bed.
"No, you're not my appa anymore! You said you wished you never had me, well fine! I won't be your son anymore," He heard Matty cry back and Mika bit his lip, knowing he shouldn't have gotten so riled up but he was just so tired.
"Matty-ah, that's not how this works...I will always be your appa," Mika sniffled, wiping his own tears with the sleeves of his work suit which. Even though he said the words he didn't actually mean what he said. Sure, he was a pain but Matty was still one of the greatest things that ever happened to him.
"Matty-ah, I love you," Mika whimpered a little, knowing his son might never love him again.
"And I hate you so go away!" Matty yelled back at the door and Mika took a step back, still hearing his other son's choking sobs from the other side of the hallway.
"What the fuck did I just walk into?" Pierce's voice surprised him and he turned to see his husband standing in the hallway with his suitcase. Mika instantly felt like a complete failure of a parent since Pierce always had the solution for everything.
"Pierce, they got into another fight but this time Eli is throwing away all his clothes and Matty refused to leave his room and...and," Mika was on the verge of a panic attack and his husband's face softened, quickly pulling the smaller man into his large arms.
"Hey, it's okay. I'll take care of it." Pierce said, kissing the top of Mika's head. Without thinking twice he left Mika's side and busted into Matthias' room.
"Dad!? What are you...DAD!" Pierce came out of the room with Matty on his shoulder kicking and screaming.
"You better apologize to your Appa because this is the last time you're going to see him for a while," Pierce warned and Mika wondered what he had in store for their son.
"No! I never apologize!" Matty yelled and Pierce continued walking past me.
"The one who doesn't confess his mistakes is the weakest person in the room and no son of mine is going to be known as weak," Pierce grunts as he walked off to the garage.
That was when he took Matthias to boarding school.
And Mika had failed to save him.