Chapter Text
James Wilson takes a deep breath and tries his very best to act like he’s paying attention. The first PTA meeting of the year and this shit is already exhausting. The meetings are every Friday after school, so the children can wait in the auditorium while the parents and teachers butt heads for an hour. James wishes he had a job that would make him miss these things. Unfortunately for James, the local GameStop has pretty lenient hours. It's not even his fault that his mind is wandering, especially when some empty-headed parent is taking way too long to explain how the Kindergarten playground is unsafe.
Whatever, James thinks to himself; your kids probably eat paste. Of course the poor fuck fell off the slide.
He snickers quietly, and then quickly bites his tongue when he realizes Empty-Head is now staring at him.
“Is something funny about my child getting hurt, Mr. Wilson?” She snaps, voice grating and reminding James of his seventh grade science teacher. He had hated that woman. James is about to shake his head and make some pathetic excuse for himself when he feels a hand on his shoulder.
“He was just laughing at something I said, sorry.” Comes a voice from next to James. When he turns to see who it is, he is immediately confronted with brown eyes and a soft smile. The woman huffs and tells Mystery Man to please pay attention to the meeting. And thus James narrowly escapes public humiliation. Sweet. He nods at Mystery Man and attempts to not space out for the rest of the meeting while Mr. Hundley, the third grade teacher, brings up different points they're supposed to address. Unfortunately, James's mind keeps wandering back to the guy sitting next to him.
After about 45 minutes that feel more like hours, Mr. Hundley announces that the parents are allowed to leave. When James rises from his seat, he feels someone tap him on the shoulder. Mystery Man is smiling at him again and holding his right hand out. His left hand is nonchalantly in the pocket of his pink khaki shorts.
“Hey, Mr. Wilson, I’m Mr. Marchant. Well, you can call me Aleksandr, or Aleks, or Mr. Marchant I guess. I’m Joe and Aron’s father.” The man rambles as James hesitantly shakes his hand. He seems friendly enough, if not a little eccentric. Mystery Man, who James now knows is called Aleksandr Marchant, has short brown hair, sleeve tattoos that are showing because of the rolled up sleeves on his blue button up, a watch on his right wrist, reading glasses resting on the breast pocket of his shirt, and pink lips. James doesn’t know why he notices that last thing. That was probably weird. James knows that Aron is in Trevor’s class. James think Trevor once mentioned Joe being a grade above them.
“James,” James says helpfully, running a hand through his tightly curled hair. He should have tied it up for this, but he gets self-conscious about it, “James Wilson… Is my name. I’m Trevor’s dad. I think he’s friends with your kids. Although I thought Aron was…”
“My sons are both adopted, if that’s where this is going. I was adopted too, which is partly why we did it. My wife and I adopted them years ago. When she was still alive.” Mr. Marchant smiles, and there’s only a hint of sadness behind it. James doesn’t know what to say. He feels like now would be a shitty time to mention how Trevor’s mother left them one night, said she was going on a vacation, and never came back.
“I’ll see you at the next meeting.” James says instead. Mr. Marchant, Aleks, grins at him and the corners of his eyes crinkle. Aleksandr smiles a lot. Maybe James could learn to like this guy.
James learns to hate that guy.
James learns a lot about Aleksandr after the first meeting. For one, he’s way more immature than James could have prepared for. James can be a fun guy, in fact, he prides himself on his impeccable sense of humor. However, PTA meetings are bad enough without Aleksandr playfully kicking James’s feet under the table. Not to mention the other man is way too handsy. James swears they don’t get five minutes into each following meeting before Aleksandr is touching James in some way; even if it’s just sitting close enough so that their shoulders brush. James is starting to realize why none of the other parents pay that much attention to Mr. Marchant, and regret his decision to do so. The fucker even brings store bought brownies to their first bake sale. James and Trevor put their heart and soul into their mostly ignored lemon bars. Who does this guy think he is? Another thing James learns about Aleksander is how much the guy really loves his kids. For instance, when Joe shows Aleksandr the little drawings he's done at school and Aleks's face genuinely lights up in one of the sweetest smiles that James has ever seen. Aron has a cat named Lucky that Aleksandr got for him because he had worn such an adorable puppy face that his father couldn't resist. Hell, Aleks is even good with Trevor, and that's saying something. James loves his son more than anything, but even he can admit the little gremlin loves to start trouble.
He does admit that Aleks can be hilarious sometimes. But only at bad times. Like when someone else is speaking and Aleks leans over and whispers, “Her hair looks like ramen.” Into James’s ear and James can’t help but crack a smile, even when he hisses at Aleks to shut up.
James decides that he has to start avoiding Aleksandr at all costs. Of course Trevor starts hanging out with Aron more. In the true epitome of cause and effect, this means James sees Mr. Marchant more often. Between PTA meetings and their sons bonding James starts to see Aleks about every other day, and it’s entirely his asshole son’s fault. Trevor decides that Aron is his new best friend, based solely off of the fact that they are both eight years old. Aron occasionally even gets off of the school bus at James's apartment, and vice versa with Trevor. This bestfriendship means more playdates. More playdates mean that Aleksandr and James both know where each other live. James’s weakness is that he can’t deny his son anything. Even when giving in leads to things like Aleksandr inviting him in for coffee.
Aleksandr’s apartment is a bit of a mess. That being said, it feels homey and lived in in a way that's hard for James to describe. He thinks about it sometimes, like when he's tucking Trevor into bed after struggling just to get the kid to agree to lie down for about an hour. James lies in his own bed, stares at the ceiling, and thinks about how weird Aleskandr Marchant is. How nice his family is, even though it's just the three of them. Aron is a good kid, although James tends to pick on him. He's small for his age, not short but thin, gets beat up on the playground (according to Trevor), and loves computers. Joe reminds James more of Aleks. He's short, even for a 4th grader. Joe giggles a lot, is very friendly, but also shy. All three of the Marchants smile often and love video games. James wonders if the boys learned those traits from Aleks, like how Trevor learned his excessive potty mouth and gaming abilities from James.
Helen is stirring up trouble in the PTA. Again. James had thought that last year was the last he would see of that devil woman, since her daughter was graduating that year. Apparently, because James can never catch a break, she has another kid entering the school system. Halfway through the year. Because she tried homeschooling and failed.
Of course you failed, Helen, James thinks, you’re a stupid asshole.
Helen is worse than Aleksandr by a long shot. Not that James likes Aleksandr. Even if they do see each other often, or if Aleksandr asks James in for coffee whenever James goes to pick up Trevor or drop off Joe and Aron, or if James accepts when he has time and they sit and talk and sip instant coffee until Trevor is pulling on James’s sleeve and begging to go home.
No. He doesn't like him.
But Helen is much worse. Helen doesn't just buy things for the bake sale, she buys things for the bake sale and pretends she baked them. Helen takes one look at James Wilson: his kinky shoulder-length hair, his beanie, his tattoos, his Overwatch T-shirt, and sticks her nose in the air. It's what she does best.
James tries to ignore Helen, just like he did last year. Just like he thinks he'll do every year until his son graduates from this God forsaken place.
In the present however, they're in the middle of another meeting. James has forgotten that this is Aleksandr's first year in the PTA, and that the other man has never encountered Helen until he mistakenly walks up to her hoping to exchange pleasantries. James doesn't notice quickly enough to stop the poor bastard: he can only watch in absolute horror as Aleks strides over to The Beast and offers her a smile she doesn't return and a hand that she doesn't take.
"Hey. I'm Aleksandr Marchant." Aleks says casually, ignoring Helen's tight frown and calculating eyes. She looks at the attendance list she's probably stolen from Mr. Hundley.
"Why is your name spelled like that?" Helen sneers. Aleks blinks at her. James considers getting out of his seat and interrupting, but decides that the rookie has to learn the hard way. Even Mr. Hundley is choosing to ignore it, chatting with other parents off to side even while he occasionally glances back toward Helen with an expression that is both tired, annoyed, and worried.
"It's Russian. Well, I'm Russian. Funny story about my name actually, I chose to change it..." Aleksandr is still making an effort to be polite, and it makes James smile a little. Leave it to that idiot to not sense the mood even when 150 lbs of pure c*nt is staring him in the eyes. Helen stares at him for a moment.
"What are you? Like a communist?" She asks, stone-faced. Aleks finally looks back at James, face expressing disbelief as much as indignation. James shrugs at him and motions for him to continue. It's what must be done. Besides, the longer Aleks distracts her, the more time James has to doodle on his 'PTA Expectations' sheet. Aleksandr rolls his eyes at James and turns back to Helen.
"No, actually. I'm no-"
"Where's your wife? Are you here alone?"
"My wife is... gone." Aleks breathes. James can barely hear it from where he's sitting. He doesn't know why, but he can feel himself tensing up. The instinct to rescue Aleksandr from that Satan incarnate is getting stronger and James bounces his leg to keep himself from getting involved.
"Well that's got to be bad for the kids. They need a mother you know. You can't possibly be raising them correctly by yourself, that's ridiculous. At least you have a girlfriend?" Helen inquires. Her arms are crossed and her head is tilted. James can only see Aleksandr's back, but he notices the way the other man's shoulders get tense.
"I have to go." Aleksandr mutters, not looking back as he flees the room. Well, shit. At this point, half the PTA is watching as Aleks disappears into the hallway.
Fuck it, James's brain tell him, let's go.