"Jack? You coming out? You've been sitting in there for five minutes."

Yes. He was coming out. He really didn't want to, but he was. He just couldn't get his head in an appropriate mindset and his anxiety had yet to be tamed. If only he could toss a lasso over it and cowboy toss it out of his thoughts. The best he could do was converting it into a mental motivator to not turn this meeting into something from hell.

He pressed his forehead to the steering wheel of his car. Damn him to hell if he wasn't going to get his bearings and haul himself out. Jack felt bad for stalling, but he assumed Jamie would rather have him collect his thoughts than go to dinner with his parents unprepared – even if it took a while.

"I'm coming," Jack grumbled. He rubbed his palms down his face and took in a deep breath. "I'm coming," he said, more to himself so his brain would understand that he was supposed to start moving.

He pulled himself out by grabbing onto the car frame, his sweaty hand almost slipping completely off.

Jamie was watching on the other side of the car, smiling smugly. "You said you wouldn't be nervous."

"It's different when you're parked right in front of their garage." Jack locked the car and found his steps to the front door to be short and heavy. "I want to cry," he said.

"They're not the in-laws from hell."

"I've never met them, and I'm supposed to ask for their permission before I propose to you. I just threw that tradition out the window and in the garbage."

"We're not a traditional couple either. Gay, remember?"

They reached the front door, Jamie quickly wiping his feet on the doormat, Jack taking his time.

"Of course. How could I forget?" Jack said sarcastically.

Jamie rang the doorbell, the sound ringing in Jack's ears like the chorus of the damned. "I'm going to be – good evening Mr. Bennett!" Jack knew the smile he had quickly slapped on looked psychotic. Mr. Bennett gave Jack the look that spoke trouble on many levels.

"Oh! Jamie! He's gorgeous!" Mrs. Bennett gently nudged Mr. Bennett out of the way. She looked up at Jack with sparkling eyes. Jack hoped happiness could physically make one's eyes water; if the moisture was due to tears, Jack wasn't prepared. His mother had died when he was young, and he recalled little times when she cried, so he had no experience with sobbing mothers.

If this should play out like the meetings he had seen in movies, then Mrs. Bennett would be the happy in-law while Mr. Bennett had a loaded shotgun waiting in his bedroom. Then again, Jack watched few movies, but he was sure Mr. Bennett's sour look was synonymous with those on unhappy in-laws.

"They let you out the asylum early?" Mr. Bennett had a gruff voice, one that sounded like it could reach impressive volumes.

"Huh?" Jack said, stepping back onto Jamie's foot. He toppled a little. "S-sorry. What'd you say? Asylum?"

"I'm only joking." And just like that Mr. Bennett snapped from a scary old man to a beaming ray of holy light. "I'm so glad you could make it. Come in!"

"O-okay. Thanks, Mr. Bennett." Jack stepped, Mrs. Bennett watching him as if he was an angel in the physical realm.

"Call me Dan. We'll be family soon enough." Mr. Bennett winked and clapped a strong hand on Jack's shoulder. "I hope the wedding will have room for all of Jamie's family. We're a pretty large lot."

"It will. Jamie has told me a lot about your family." Jack couldn't stop his smile from twitching. Everything appeared to be going well, so why did he feel so damn uptight?

"We can talk about the wedding later. Right now is about getting to know you." Mrs. Bennett practically flounced down the hall. "Dinner's still cooking, but you can seat yourself in the kitchen. Call me Juila!"

"Dan, Julia… I think I can remember that," Jack said. 'Of course I can remember that! They're short names. How the hell would I not be able to remember them?'

Mr. Bennett laughed and pulled Jack a strongly toward the hall. "Lock the door, Jamie, would you?"

Jack's shoulder felt damp from sweat when Mr. Bennett pulled his hand back. Did he feel the wetness? Jack was afraid to look at his face. It was a sad habit of Jack's to break out into thin layers of sweat when nervous. It wasn't noticeable unless touched.

Jamie glided to Jack's side and seized his hand. "Calm down. You'll sweat through your shirt if you don't."

"Can't help it."

"Oh Jack… You're a sad case." Jamie pressed Jack's hand flat against his shirt and dragged it up and down. "You'll be fine. They already love you."

Jack tried to disguise his deep breaths as the family gathered around the circular table. Jack found himself between Mrs. Bennett and Jamie, across from Mr. Bennett, and with a thick glob of spit that wouldn't go down. When he managed to swallow it down, it sounded like a gulp. A loud gulp.

Mr. Bennett chuckled loudly, startling Jack into jumping. "We're not going to eat you!"

"Sorry," Jack apologized, "I'm just – this is my first time meeting the parents of someone I loved – I mean, Jamie's the first person I loved. The others weren't as important – I'm going outside." Jack excused himself from the table, face and neck blazing.

Jamie grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to his chair. "It's okay, Jack. Just act like yourself."

"I understand how you feel," Mr. Bennett said. "When I first met Julia's parents I almost shit my pants."

"This is about Jamie and Jack, not you," Mrs. Bennett said.

"I know, but maybe it'll help if he knows that I spilled coffee all over your father."

Jack retook his seat. "I hope I don't spill any coffee on you."

Mr. Bennett smiled. He didn't look too scary. If Jack stopped thinking of how painful those thick hands would be around his neck, he'd be able to get through this dinner.

"If it helps your nerves, I already like you. I liked you when Jamie told me about you, and I liked you even more when you popped one on Jakob. That bastard had it coming."

"You know about that?" Jack grinned at Mr. Bennett's eager nod. "Well, he totally had it coming. You don't hit someone like Jamie and get away with it."

"Jamie's a gem," Mrs. Bennett said, eyes still sparkling. Okay, Jack thought, so maybe it was possible for happiness to manifest itself as sparkles in someone's eyes.

"And I'm the lucky miner."

Jamie squeezed Jack's hand under the table. They shared a smile.

"Oh look at them. Such in love." Mrs. Bennett sighed and wiped away at the corner of her eye. Something in chimed in the kitchen. "That'll be the rice." She attended the steaming rice cooker and looked at Jack over the island counter. "How'd you know it was time? To get married?"

"Um…" Jack chuckled. "It was a feeling. I've known Jamie for a long time, dated him for a year, and… We were walking in the park – he probably told you."

Mr. Bennett shook his head. "He actually said he wanted to leave the story to you."

"You'll tell it better than me," Jamie explained with a sly smile. He knew Jack wasn't fond of telling stories. Jack always felt like he did inadequate jobs.

"Oh really? Okay. So…we were walking in the park. One of our favorite things to do at night."

"Among other things," Mrs. Bennett said.

"Mom!" Jamie shouted. "No! Just no!" He laughed and then hid his face in his hands. "Ignore her."

"Honey, let Jack finish his story," Mr. Bennett said with a grin.

Jack hoped he wouldn't let anymore double meanings into his speech. He usually let them slip in when Jamie was the only one around. Now wasn't the time to give the Bennett parents a sample of what he was capable of.

"Sometimes we like to watch movies at night or go swimming-"

Jamie cleared his throat.

"Sorry. It was night and a full moon. And I pointed out how unnaturally big it looked. Jamie looked up and the moon made his face glow, kind of. Like in the movies. When the girl looks up and her face lights up and the boy is like, 'woah'. You know?"

Mr. Bennett looked at his wife. "I know."

"And that's when it hit me. Jamie was the one and I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I just knew. I don't know if Jamie ever told you, but I'm not good with traditions. So I just said, 'let's get married' and we talked about it and…yeah."

"He made a ring out of a flower and put it on my finger," Jamie said, leaning against Jack, leaning his head against his shoulder.

"I was going to get down on my knee as an afterthought, but there's a lot of geese poop at the park so…"

The Bennett family laughed.

Jack smiled. It was all going to be alright. He knew it.

A/N: This is for the in-law prompt on tumblr. I'm taking bennefrost/jackie requests. I'll try to do them all, but it's not certain. Please keep them short. I don't do multi-chapter requests.

My tumblr account should be posted on my author's page.

Submit your requests in my ask box or here as a PM. :)