There was silence within the small space they were gathered in. Tiza hung his head low; his platinum hair covered his face. Along with him in this confined space were both of Aosh's parents, Ryuji and Kellan, and Aosh himself. Somber looks were present on all their faces. This was not a rather happy occasion. Ryuji opened his mouth to speak.
"What is life, but a fragile entity? A single individual's life can have a huge impact on others, as we can see today, many have gathered to pay their respects to the lost life here today."
He paused for a minute to compose himself, tucking a few stray ink colored hairs behind his ear.
"Violet lived a full and happy life. She never asked for much; never wanted much. But she gave joy to us all. She will always be remembered, even though she is passing from this world to the next today. We give you our final goodbyes Violet and tokens of our love to you."
Ryuji held out a bowl to them, filled with some small flowers and pellets. Kellan stepped forward to grab some of the contents in the bowl. Saying a few words to himself he threw the offering into the nearby water. He brought a hand to the coffin and laid it there.
"I'm going to miss you…" The brunette steps back to let his son pay his respects.
Aosh approaches, offering in hand; very choked up by all this. The offering is cast into the water's depth as he approaches her. He stares at her for a moment before he presses his fingertips to his lips and then to the coffin.
"Goodbye...Violet."
Aosh returns to his spot next to Tiza. He wipes a stray tear from his eye as he nudges the Omega to go next.
Tiza didn't know what to think about all this. His eyes tried to look anywhere but where the ceremony was held. 'This was all totally ridiculous' he thought to himself; he regretted even coming even if it was his idea. He fidgeted in the spot where he stood for a moment before reluctantly approaching the offering. Taking a hand full, he cringed as he threw it into the water. Quickly he touched the coffin and returned to his place by Aosh.
That was by far the stupidest thing he had ever done. Ryuji continues.
"Goodbye, Violet." Kellan and Aosh say the same in response. There is a moment of silence.
Then Ryuji flushes the toilet.
Tiza cringes as he hears the contents swirling down into its porcelain depths.
'That can't be good for their pipes' he thinks to himself.
Ryuji proceeds to pick up the small coffin, closing it in the process. He leads them all out of the bathroom and towards the backyard of his house.
This family was so weird!
When Aosh got the call earlier that a family member had died Tiza felt so bad. Aosh had tears welling in his eyes after the phone call. The Omega had asked if he could come; along with paying his respects, Tiza thought it was something he should do. Aosh looked so sad and this was something that friends did right? Comfort one another when they were sad? But he wasn't expecting to be coming to a fish funeral! He didn't understand it at all, why were they all getting bent out of shape for a damn fish!?
Aosh opened the door, ushering them all out to the backyard. His parents' backyard took Tiza's breath away. The grass was green and lush and cherry blossom trees littered the perimeter of the yard, some of them already changing colors as the summer turned into early fall.
In the middle was a gigantic weeping willow tree with long leaves that scraped the surface of the koi pond below it. Inside the pond swam about 10, no, maybe 12 fish. Settled next to the pond was an ornately constructed gazebo and beyond that, a flower bed containing more flora than Tiza could name.
They stopped at the bed of flowers and Tiza noticed a hole dug next to it. Carefully, Ryuji sets the small coffin in the hole. As he and Aosh begin to shovel dirt on top Kellan pulls out a wooden flute and plays what Tiza can only guess is a sad song.
It sounded horrible, to be honest, and Tiza begins to wonder if it's too late to go home; but Aosh was his ride here so he already knew the answer. The song ends and there is another moment of silence until Ryuji stands back up and claps his hands excitedly.
"Alright! Now that that's done why don't we get something to eat! The food you've been preparing all morning smells delicious, honey." Ryuji says, patting Kellan on the back while he walks towards the house.
Kellan smiles and follows his husband, resembling a puppy at the small amount of praise he received.
"Dad cooked today? That's not fair, he didn't cook when I was here last week!" said Aosh sauntering in after them.
The three of them left Tiza in the backyard more confused than when he was chucking fish food and daisies into a toilet.
.........................................
Aosh had given them all a short introduction before the funeral, introducing the Omega with him just as 'my friend'. Now that it seemed the mood had lightened, the Omega properly introduced himself before he took a seat at the dining room table.
This led to quite a few back and forth stares between Ryuji and Kellan. The looks on their faces could only be described as disbelief.
Maybe it was because they were fated mates, maybe it was because they had been married for almost 20 years but Kellan and Ryuji had an unspoken conversation in their head at the realization the guest in front of them, Aosh's friend was THE Tiza Jeannot.
The same Tiza Jeannot he had been obsessed over since he was a six. The same one that Aosh would write unsent love letters to and celebrate his birthday with. The same one that the two men had long assumed would never appear in their son's life and for just about as long have been trying to break it to their son that maybe the thing he'd been chasing after his whole life wasn't going to come to fruition.
Kellan received a text after their phone call that Aosh would be bringing a friend along. The two fathers thought it would be his little Omegan friend that's living with him. They had hoped, oh how they hoped, that this friendship with the Omega was a sign he was moving on and when they temporarily moved in together it brought Kellan near to tears of joy.
The fact that he was so worked up during his rut that he had to come back home for a week only strengthened this notion that the pair were becoming a thing! Aosh was such a gentleman! Leaving a helpless Omega in heat alone at his apartment and voluntarily leaving during his rut. Where did his little boy become so gentlemanly? Ryuji thought. It surely wasn't from him.
But now in front of them stood the equivalent of Aosh's imaginary friend turned real boy Pinocchio style. Their telepathic conversation went as follows:
'What!?'
'Tiza??'
'And he didn't tell us! Why didn't he tell us? Doesn't he tell us everything!'
'Is he some kind of player dating two people?! My son, I was so proud of you for moving on with your life but this!? I'm ashamed!'
'Family meeting now!'
An awkward stretch of silence filled the dining room and the hand that Tiza had offered out to be shook was left untouched as the two fathers pulled or rather dragged their son into the kitchen.
"H-hey what's-"
Aosh's space was quickly breached and he had two expectant pairs of eyes staring at him. Kellan's mouth opened and closed like he was trying to say something but nothing came out, Ryuji butted in starting the interrogation.
"Tiza?! This Tiza?!" A finger jabbed at his son's arm and he let out a small 'ow', "Why didn't you tell us, you found him let alone that you were bringing him over!?"
They could've saved Aosh some face, they were fully prepared to embarrass Aosh in front of his girlfriend with this little tradition they had but Tiza?! They couldn't afford to scare the man away! Had they known they would've nixed the whole ordeal and went straight to dinner!
"I guess I forgot-"
"Oh forgot my ass! What about that other Omega you're seeing? Does she know? I didn't raise a cheater I swear to god-"
"Other Omega? Daniella?! Pops it's not like that, calm down!"
Aosh tried to diffuse his fiery father. Ryuji was small but he was more intimidating than his Alpha mate who was still currently at a loss for words. Sometimes his Pops made him feel like a kicked dog with its tail between its legs.
"Why didn't you tell us." Came Kellan's calm baritone that cut through Ryuji's manic questions like a knife. The edge of hurt was there, Aosh knew it would be. He didn't want to say it was because he one hundred percent knew they would act like…this.
Ryuji, coming down after hearing the disheartened tone in his husband's voice, fixed his son with a hard stare, and set a soothing hand on Kellan's back.
"Well?" Ryuji said, gesturing Aosh to speak.
The Alpha waited for a second making sure they were both done and peeled himself off the cabinets he had plastered himself against.
"Look whatever you think is going on between Daniella and I isn't happening. She's just a friend, that's all. As far as Tiza…," Aosh glances back towards the dining room where he knows said Omega is still sitting alone and probably confused, "... can we talk about it later, we have a guest waiting."
Kellan huffed his dissatisfaction but nodded his head, which was all Ryuji needed to stop interrogating their son.
"Fine, far be it from me to let all the hard work your father did making dinner go to waste trying to get the truth out of you."
Intense black eyes pinned Aosh in place before Ryuji turned around and sauntered into the dining room offering Tiza a cheerful apology and greeting. Kellan gave his son a glance, a sigh, and joined his mate in giving Tiza a warm welcome.
Aosh was going to get an earful later, he just knew it.
...............…
Tiza had taken to looking around while he waited on...whatever was going on in there. Currently, he was looking at the wall of pictures that made up one side of the dining room. There was a multitude of pictures. A tiny baby Aosh with wild black hair sleeping in a swing, school-age Aosh smiling with some teeth missing covered in dirt while he planted flowers in a garden, Aosh with cake all over his face and birthday decorations in the background, an older Aosh being held up by a baseball team a large trophy in his hands, teenager Aosh in his graduation gown with both fathers on either side of him, that all too familiar grin on his face, a look of pride on the other two's. And those were just a few of them.
Even when the Alpha was younger it looked like his personality didn't change much. He looked so happy. His parents looked happy. They looked like what Tiza pictured a perfect family to look like.
Tiza wondered for a moment what that felt like.