(BL)Alpha Made
Chapter 125: A prized pony

Chapter 125: A prized pony

Maxwell was waiting behind for him as everyone else headed after the newly married couple. The concern in his expression made Andrew want to laugh.

"What?" Andrew asked as he reached his side. Maxwell was the first to grab his hand and give it a squeeze.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright. That was..." Maxwell gulped, looking a little green and Andrew chuckled. He bent down to press a kiss against his cheek.

"I’m alright. Funnily enough, I got used to it because of my Mom’s illness. I know that I’ll have no issues with changing diapers or anything of the sort." Andrew gave a thumbs up. "I’ll be a great Uncle Andy." He said with a grin and Maxwell softened. He glanced around and noticed that the room was clearing out. No one was paying attention to them.

Maxwell pulled Andy down and kissed him deeply.

"Uncle Andy? Who says anything about Uncles? I’m keeping you to myself." Maxwell muttered. "They can hire a nanny. I’m looking forward to you in nothing but an apron running around with a baby on your hip. That’s going to be very hot." Andrew laughed at the image Maxwell painted.

"And impractical. Babies throw up a lot, Maxwell. At least give me a blanket over one shoulder in your fantasies." Maxwell narrowed his eyes at Andrew’s cheeky response.

"I’ll consider it." He told him.

"Boys! Hurry up!" Mrs. Beckett called and Andrew grinned, squeezing Maxwell’s hand.

"We should go." Andrew told Maxwell, who sighed heavily.

"If we don’t, she won’t stop nagging us." His tone was harsh, but his eyes were sparkling. He squeezed Andrew’s hand back, and tugged him towards where the others were. Andrew felt his heart squeeze. He’d never felt this included in a partner’s life before.

~

Andrew now understood why they had several outfit changes throughout the day.

It was to take a break from all of the socializing.

As soon as the wedding itself was over, the Beckett’s were hounded. Amir and Ben were shuffled away for a moment for Amir to clean himself up, but that meant that everyone else hounded the rest of the Becketts.

That also, apparently, included Andrew.

It wasn’t obvious at first. It appeared as if everyone was going for Maxwell. That, of course, made Andrew very proud. Who wouldn’t be? Maxwell was a very smart man and was at the forefront of his industry. He was also attractive, young, and well educated. He was a great catch.

Andrew? Well, he had a doctorate, but that wasn’t the same. He wasn’t the head of a huge company, and he’d been small enough in his previous company to get chased out of it with lies and threats.

So, he was Maxwell’s giant shadow. Until he started catching everyone’s attention.

For some reason, people wanted to speak to him. Andrew had smoozed before, so it wasn’t as if he wasn’t able to handle himself in this kind of condition, but as it kept happening he was having a hard time understanding why.

They would ask about his name, who he was with (it should have been obvious, he was glued to Maxwell’s hip), what he did for a job, etc. Andrew answered to the best of his abilities, but he kind of felt like some of these people were idiots. They asked him obvious questions. He’d been sitting with the Becketts. What the hell did they mean by how he knew the grooms?

He had hoped that the others would jump in and help him, but that wasn’t the case. At least, not until the whole Beckett clan was swept up and moved to a changing area set up with all of their next outfits. It kind of felt like a changing room, but each area was separated just enough to give them privacy.

Andrew would be the first to admit, it was kind of funny to watch all of the Beckett’s smile and wave until the door closed and then as if they planned it, exhale loudly. Even Amir did it, and Andrew couldn’t help but chuckle.

"How do you do it?" Andrew asked as a few of the people they hired ran around with refreshments and showed everyone their respective change room. Mrs. Beckett practically collapsed onto a chaise lounge in a class brown suede shade and within seconds she had a martini or something of the sort in her hand.

She looked at Andrew over the rim of her glass, her expression grim.

"Liquor." She declared, and Mr. Beckett chuckled.

"Just a little bit. Some liquid courage. It’s gotten better. These events used to be so draining. Weddings at this scale are a little bit easier to manage. We can openly offend people by not inviting them and they can’t say anything mean about it. ’Oh! The venue was simply too small! I’m so sorry!’" He raised his voice into a falsetto as another helper came by with a snifter of what appeared to be whiskey. Andrew was surprised when some was offered to him.

"Uh, am I allowed?" He asked, and several sets of eyes stared at him in surprise, before they jerked to Maxwell. Andrew couldn’t say that his gaze didn’t go to Maxwell, but it wasn’t for the same reason everyone else was looking at him.

"I think the medication is going to be okay. If you feel overwhelmed, you have permission to just," Maxwell mimed grabbing someone by the shoulders, picking them up, and moving them. "Pick me up. I won’t mind. Even if I’m talking to someone I like. I will especially be grateful if it’s someone I don’t like." Maxwell took one of the offered snifters. Ben refrained, and Amir had another coffee ready for him.

It was quite cute watching him take a deep sip and relax. Ben thought the same since he pulled his groom close and whispered something into his ear. Even from here, Andrew could tell that Amir was flustered while Ben chuckled.

"Well, I was worried there for a minute." Mr. Beckett teased and Maxwell huffed.

"Why would you be worried? Were you thinking I was policing Andrew’s drinking? The man can hold his liquor better than I can. It still makes me angry." Maxwell grumbled. Andrew stayed where he was, not quite near Maxwell or the rest of his family, but close enough that he felt included. He just wanted to...watch them interact for a little bit.

"Is that true, Andy?" Ben asked and Andrew chuckled.

"Well, I’m not so sure. I’ll hold off for drinking right now. You said Michael was coming tonight, right?" Andrew turned to Maxwell who nodded.

"Yeah. He should be at the last party. Are you thinking of asking him? Why don’t you just message him now?" Maxwell asked and Andrew laughed.

"I left my phone in the bedroom. I don’t have anyone else I would want to message right now. Everyone I would want to message is all right here." Amir made a soft, awe noise and Maxwell’s ears flamed pink. Andrew didn’t think he’d said anything that bad. He could be worse.

"Andrew, I admit, that is adorable, but can’t you save that for later?" Maxwell asked through gritted teeth. Andrew blinked his big, brown eyes.

"Do you dislike it?" He asked, and watched as the flush snuck to Maxwell’s face. That was the answer that Andrew needed. Maxwell covered his face with the glass in his hand. Well, knowing them, probably crystal, and turned away from him. Andrew knew he had to be grinning like a fool.

"Max’s embarrassment aside, when you are feeling up to it, you should come over. Have a scotch night. Amir’s not so into the stuff, so it’d be nice to have someone new to drink with. We didn’t exactly get to spend a great deal of time when we had dinner together to go over it." No one said it, but all turned to glance at Will.

He huffed.

"Fine! I’ll apologise!" He muttered, clearly not wanting to, and Andrew shook his head.

"No. You don’t need to. I would rather you be yourself and for me to know who you are authentically then for you to lie to me." Andrew shifted on his feet, glancing at Will’s fiance. "Also, you haven’t upset me with your comments. Ever. It’s hard to actually upset me with words, and yours certainly aren’t going to do it." Will seemed stunned by Andrew’s words, along with everyone else.

Well, except Maxwell.

"He only gets upset when others try to take advantage of me." Maxwell said into his snifter and Andrew winced.

"Well, yes, but honestly, I just don’t like liars, I don’t like people who try to take advantage of others, and I don’t like people who make assumptions about someone just because of their secondary sex." Andrew tapped on a finger for everything he listed off. "So, Will, you’re on thin ice, but you’re also Max’s brother, so you get some liberties." Ben started cackling, but buried his face into Amir’s shoulder.

Even his own Mom was having to hide her smile.

Will, for the most part, seemed to actually be taking Andrew’s words to heart. His expression was thoughtful, and he swallowed.

"I take it...there aren’t a lot of people you truly hate, are there?" He asked Andrew. Andrew nodded.

"If it makes you feel better, you couldn’t even make the list. Not with your current behaviour, but you also aren’t helping yourself either. Only really bad people are on that list." Maxwell smirked.

"Your father’s on that list?" He asked and Andrew’s expression hardened. He wasn’t aware of his eyes turning amber.

"He’s at the top of it. Hell, he created the list." Andrew muttered darkly and Maxwell chuckled.

"Come here. Have a sip. It’ll soothe your nerves. If only you knew the name of your father we could have made sure none of his relatives besides you showed up." Maxwell raised the rim of the snifter to Andrew’s lips, not really giving the other man a choice. Andrew felt the slight burn as the liquid went down his throat. Andrew licked his lips before he sighed.

"Well, you could ask Kim, or Amir’s grandmother. It appears that he thinks he knows who my father is." That brought interest from the rest of the family.

"He does? Well, I’ll have to poke then. I know you don’t want us to know, but-" Andrew shook his head, raising a hand.

"I just don’t want to know." Andrew told them. It was a weird line to draw, but there it was. He never wanted to know who his father actually was. He thought, no, he knew it would hurt him more if he ever found out about how Andrew had changed. That the son he had discarded didn’t give a goddamn about him.