thalia smiles tightly. "hi momma, we're here for dinner, remember? you're meeting my boyfriend?"

her mom nods, opening the door wider. "i only forgot a little bit, come on in."

techno can feel her eyes follow him as he walks in. it's a nice house, he has to admit. the entry walls are painted a muted dark blue, fake white daisies on the table. it smelled good– he wanted whatever was cooking.

he held onto thalia's hand firmly as they walked into the house, her talking to her mom tensely. he gave it a squeeze, and felt her squeeze back.

they had walked into the kitchen, and thalia immediately sat at the island, patting the seat next to her. "sit down, tech. don't be shy."

"is that a nickname? tech?" thalia's mom butted in.

they both turned to look at her. "yeah, my real name is techno. tech is just kind of what people call me, i guess," he said, sitting down next to thalia.

she narrowed her eyes. "that's a weird name," she turned to thalia. "¿realmente trajiste a casa un niño blanco con un nombre así?"

thalia nodded. "si mamá," she spoke, putting her hand on techno's thigh, just to remind herself hes still there.

he turned to look at her, leaning into her ear. "since when could you speak spanish, thal?"

she laughed lightly, whispering back, "i'm rusty. can't really speak much, just understand it. my parents aren't even hispanic, they just learned spanish so people didn't understand every conversation they had."

he smiled at that, but a loud ahem made him turn his head.

thalia's dad walked in, coming up to them. he must have been 6'2, 6'3 at least. techno was just a little shorter than him.

"hey, you must be thalia's boyfriend. i'm john, it's good to meet you."

he was friendlier than her mom. "i'm techno, nice to meet you aswell." he smiled tightly.

john looked up at thalia's mother. "call for jason, dinner should be ready."

thalia immediately stood up, leading techno with her. she grabbed forks and knives, handing them to techno before getting napkins. he just looked at her confusedly.

"we've gotta set the table, babe." she says, taking him into their dining room, where he set down a fork and a knive at every spot.

she led them back into kitchen, where everyone was already loading up their plates. techno leans over, talking into her ear once again. "i'm gonna be honest, dear, my mom has always made my plate when i go over for dinner."

she just laughed, handing him a plate. "get as much as you want."

so he did, following her back to the dinner table, where they were already eating.

he sat down, beginning to eat his meal as john spoke up. "so, what do you do for a living?"

techno tried to chew faster. "i make youtube videos and such, sir."

thalia's mom made a look. "did thalia get you into that shit? it's an awful career choice, you have nothing to fall back on."

he glanced at thalia for a moment, who was looking down, embarrassed, before looking back at her mother. "i think i'll be okay, i have a college degree if it ever stops working out."

it wasn't a complete lie, he told himself. he didn't graduate or anything, but he was close enough.

she rolled her eyes. "alright then. but don't you think modelling is a terrible choice for her? i mean, what if one day everyone decides they hate her? it's not unlikely, she's really not pretty enough for that job. she'd be much better doing something else."

he couldn't believe that he heard what he did. thalia hadn't prepared him for this. "with all due respect, i think she's absolutely pretty enough for that job. and she makes more than enough money. it's a perfectly respectable job."

"you have to say that, you're her boyfriend."

the whole table fell silent. uncomfortable.

jason cuts in. "so, did anyone watch the game last night? lakers did alright, but honestly could've been a bit better."

"definitely, but it's not like they will this season."

techno still sits bewildered in his seat. thalia had spoken a little bit about how little support she got from her parents, but he didn't realize how little it actually was.

he zoned out the rest of dinner before it was finally time to leave.

he shook johns hand absentmindedly, smiled tightly at thal's mother, and did his handshake with jason before leaving.

the second they got into the car, thalia burst into tears, and techno just hugged her over the center console.

"i'm sorry, that was so embarrassing. they're better than that." she said through tears and it broke his heart more than he liked to admit.

"you aren't responsible for the things she said about you, my love. nothing to apologize for," he said, kissing the top of her head, pulling away. "are you alright?"

she nodded, pausing for a moment before laughing. "when did you have time to make a handshake with jason?"

he smiled. "he texts me sometimes. just to check up on you, or the other day he asked me for help on his computer and i immediately sent him phil's way."

"i'm glad you two are getting along, at least." she sighed. "you probably never want to see my family again after that."

techno shrugged. "i'd eat with them everynight if it meant staying with you."

thalia blushed. "you simp, start driving before they get suspicious of us just hanging outside their house."

"yes ma'am," he smiled, putting on his seatbelt and turning on the car.

yeah, she was right. he was a simp. and it didn't hurt him as badly as he thought it might.