Bird came down

[CharmedFan28]

That was interesting learning about some of Joey’s history. Sounds like Tom was just using him for sex. I look forward to reading where things go with him and Felix. Great writing and I look forward to more after Easter! I hope you have a great Easter!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Easter: so far so good. Do I need a shower? Yes. Tom is a fifteen year old being fifteen. He's not really bad, but he isn't courageous or wise enough to be good.

 

[ChrisGibson]

“Hey, little bro!”
“What are you doing here?” Joey was leaving the house, looking at his brother.
“I was about to get some work done. Shouldn’t you be at the building?”
Joey shrugged.
“Taking lunch off. Wanna go with me?”
“Yes,” Scott smacked him in the back of his head with his wallet. “And my treat.”
Joey appraised his brother. “You look chipper.”
“Well, you look pretty chipper yourself,” Scott said.
Joey looked at his brother again. “You look in love.”
“Well, it takes one to know one.”
Joey blinked.
“Are you in love?” Scott restated.
“Uh…” Joey began. “I don’t know.”
“That’s odd.” Then Scott said, “No, it isn’t. You don’t always know love. You don’t really know it right away. I was married for years, and I wasn’t in love.”
“You can’t stop thinking about the person.”
“You wanna wake up with them.”
“Even if you do you just keep thinking about it.”
“Who you been waking up with? You’re twenty?”
“Old enough,” Joey blushed.
“You wanna talk about her?”
Joey looked like he was mulling over something, and then he said, “If you want to talk about your girl?”
“Uh…”
“How’d you get a girl so quick?” Joey punched his brother in the shoulder.
“Cause I just broke up with Jen?”
“No, cause you’re so damn ugly.”
And then Scott fell on his brother and they began wrestling on the floor, which was how their mother found them, and they just looked up at her, grinning.
“Really?” Mrs. Flowers said.
“You ready for lunch?” Scott said to his brother who was pinned under him.
“Yup,” Joey said.
As they left , Mrs. Flowers heard Joey, slamming down his ball cap, insist: “You’re still ugly.”

They were headed down the street when Joey said, “Is that Felix and Rule?”
“Uh?” Scott looked over. “That’s definitely Felix.”
“Let’s invite them to lunch,” Joey said, and without waiting for an answer he swung the car to the curb. Felix was looking at them in horror.
“You almost killed us!”
“You want lunch?” Joey said without apology.
Felix looked between the two white men he was currently fucking, whom, as far as he knew, were both closeted to each other. He put a smile on his face, and ignoring the perspiration popping up on his forehead said, “Who’s paying?”
“I’m paying,” Scott said. He looked at Rule, “I’m paying for you, Felix. Cause you asked.”
Felix opened the back door for Rule and then slid in beside him. He hadn’t seen fit to tell Rule anything about Scott, but wondered how much he knew. He certainly hadn’t told Rule anything about last night.
“Where are we going anyway?” Rule said.
“Chinese restaurant,” Joey said. “Unless anyone objects.”
“I just had Chi—” Rule began, but Felix said, “No one objects.”

“I always get a chicken something,” Joey said.
“I used to just get noodles,” Felix shook his head. “We used to live down the street from a Chinese food restaurant, and one day my dad rode with the owner to get supplies. They loaded the back of the truck, and when he looked at the meat it was marked Grade A Dog.”
“No!”
“It feels like a lie,” Felix agreed, “but whenever he tells that story, he looks pretty serious.”
“Well, I don’t care,” Joey decided as the woman brought their plates. Joey’s was sesame chicken and Felix had ordered the sweet and sour chicken. Joey thanked the hostess politely, and when she left he said, “This dog is delicious.”
Joey pounded his plastic wrapped fortune cookie, and then pulling the plastic open, salvaged the fortune.
“That’s not really a fortune,” he decided. “I’m pretty sure it’s more an evaluation.”
“What’s it say?”
“It says I have an open heart and a clear eye.”
“I agree,” Felix said. “At least about the heart. I don’t know what the fuck the eye thing means.”
“What about you?”
“Huh?”
“Aren’t you going to open yours?”
Felix shook his head.
“I never open the cookie until after I’m done eating.”


After the waitress had brought their checks, Scott, looking like he was humoring them, opened his cookie and read, “The Mandarin word for pig is zhu so…. Not a fortune.”
He shook his head.
When they all looked at Rule he said, “Oh!” then he read:
“What you endeavor to do you will gain success on.”
“Good one,” Felix said and Scott nodded saying, “That should have gone to me.”
“And now you?” Joey said to Felix. “You’re done eating.”
Felix nodded and pulled open the cellophane. He broke the cookie in two and Joey explained, “He always reads it to himself before he reads it out loud.”
Scott, elbows on the table, cleared his throat and said, “How… oracular.”
Felix pulled out the strip of paper and read: Danger! You are caught between two lovers who love each other.
Felix’s eyes bulged. He balled up the fortune, stuck it in his mouth, swallowed it, chewed up the cookie and then chased it with the remains of the water.
“What the fuck?” Scott demanded.
“Cookie,” Felix reproached the cellophane wrapper, “you know too much!”

END OF CHAPTER FOUR AND END OF PART ONE

 

[CharmedFan28]

So Felix is caught between two brothers? Things are getting very interesting indeed! I look forward to part 2 and more of this excellent story!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Well, we've seen that for the last four chapters, and we've seen Felix start sleeping with Scott in this one, so, yeah. And there is more to follow.

 

[ChrisGibson]

P A R T

T W O




F I V E
F I V E





B R O T H E R L Y

L O V E









Theme Song: Don’t Panic, Coldplay

They sat on the porch together watching one car and then a second and then a third drive up Milford Street.
“I’m going up to Michigan this week?”
“To see the kids?”
“To at least convince Jen to move down here. I don’t know why she insists on staying up there.”
“To punish you,” Joey said, simply.
Scott nodded.
“But you know what?” Joey said.
“Huh?”
“She can’t live in a house you’re not paying for.”
“We’re going to put it on the market.”
“Is she putting it on the market?” Joey asked.
“Not yet, but…”
“Listen, brother,” Joey said, “this chick is so treacherous she got herself pregnant by poking holes in your condoms.”
“You gotta point,” Scott said.
“How about we go up a few days early?” Joey said, “you and me? And Matt, and see about getting rid of the house?”
“Could we do that?” Scott looked doubtful.
“You’re just worried about the twins,” Joey said. “And once you got rid of that house they’d be back down here. I bet we could totally do it.”
“Alright then,” Scott nodded his head. “Okay.”





“We need to go shopping. I need something to wear.”
“You’re a priest. You wear black.”
“Bob’ll be there.”
“Oh,” Felix blinked.
“Well, don’t say it like that.”
“Ah, sis, but you meant it like that.”
“Well, speaking of Bob… Scott.”
“Scott?”
“He’s like your Bob. What did you tell him?”
“I told him the truth,” Felix told his sister.
“What,” Val said “that you were sleeping with his brother?”
“No,” Felix gave his sister a dim look. “I told Scott that we couldn’t really be together because I still had someone else.”
“But… is he still staying over?”
“Yes.”
“And are you still….?”
“It’s only happened twice. And yes,” Felix said. “And he doesn’t stay over every night. Sometimes you need to sleep like a starfish.”
“And then Joey… Is still…?”
“It only happened once.”
“But you are actually sleeping with both of them at the same time.”
“Well, you make it sound so bad,” Felix shrugged.
Valerie blinked at him. “How else is it supposed to sound?”
“I don’t know,” Felix shrugged. “Like a timeshare?”



Scott could not come over every night. He worked long hours, and then he went to his family’s house. He always wanted to go to Felix’s, but he realized without being told that you could not go from cherished almost lover to live in husband, especially not with someone like Felix. Those nights when he did come to Felix, always after nine, often past eleven, were treasures to him. He knocked. He heard Felix’s muffled voice say: the door’s open, Scott, and he would come in, leaving his travel bag by the door and bringing his brief case. Felix was always typing at the card table in the kitchen, which left the desk in the common room bare for Scott to work at. Scott would enter the kitchen for something to drink, running his fingers over the back of Felix’s head, and as he walked out, Felix would gently caress or squeeze his ass, maybe touch his hand, then go back to work.
“Scott, I didn’t tell you. I got a call from the community college. I have an interview.”
“What? When?” Scott turned from his work, putting his pen down.
“I can’t remember.”
“You can’t—?” Scott stopped, caught between disapproval and unbelief.
“I wrote it down.” Felix said. “And I will know when it is. I think it’s next week, though. I’m glad. I need work. I’m a little nervous. I’ve never taught before.”
“You’ll do great,” Scott said, unintentionally putting the emphasis on the G so that Felix was reminded of Tony the Tiger. And when Felix seemed unconvinced, Scott touched his knee, and then turned around and went back to work.
A little while later, Felix said, “I just did the math, and if I get this teaching gig, at even half time it’s actually more money than I’ve ever seen.”
“Half time cause you still need your writing.”
Felix liked how Scott wasn’t asking the question, he was stating the fact.
“Yes.”
“Then you better be up to it,” Scott said. “Even if you don’t feel up to it, make yourself up to it.”

Felix asked, “Do you want me to come with you? To Michigan?”
“Joey’s coming,” Scott said. “And besides,” he looked up from his legal pad, “I know you don’t want to.”
“Anything you wanted me to do I would be glad to do,” he said in a voice so sweet Scott wondered if he was being mocked.
“I know,” Scott said, “and that’s very kind, but… I’m kind enough to say don’t worry about it.”
Sometime in the discussion, or without the discussion, Felix would get up and touch Scott’s head, or Scott would come and touch him, or they would look at each other and stand face to face. Scott would bend to kiss him deeply, and then they would begin to undress and move to the futon, pull it out or pull down the mattress to the floor and taste each other, moving together, pressing together. For Scott, Felix’s body was a playground, and the way Felix cherished him, kissed his eyes, his mouth, even his arms, going down his whole body, taking his cock in his mouth, licking up and down the shaft, paying attention to his balls and the secret places, was a complete delight. Everything Felix did to him, he wanted to do to Felix in return. Every night Scott came to visit, whether it happened as soon as he stepped through the door, or long after when they’d drifted to sleep and were weary, they fucked each other. The first time Felix sat down on Scott and brought Scott inside of him, Scott’s eyes opened wide in surprise as Felix, mouth forming an O, looked down at him. Scott whispered, “are you alright?”
“Don’t move,” Felix whispered. He tried to laugh, lowering himself. “You’re bigger than I thought.”
That same night, the very first time, Scott wanted Felix inside of him. and he learned that it always hurt. It never just went in lightly. There was always that moment when it seemed like it wouldn’t work, where the eyes burned, where one thought, this is a mistake, this is pain, this is… And then you settled into it, and having him inside of you, there was nothing better.



The Friday morning before Scott was leaving for the weekend, he and Felix woke up nearly the same time. He touched Felix’s head and said, “Do you want me to shave you before you go?”
“Is it looking bad?”
“Not at all, love,” Scott said, lying beside him. “I just wanted to do something for you before I go.”
Felix laughed and sat up, still chuckling. “You’ve done plenty for me.”
Scott sat up with him, “I don’t get tired of fucking you.”
Felix ran his hand over Scott.
“Or being fucked by you,” Scott added. “Or sucking you or kissing you. Or any of it.”
“Do you think we will, though?”
“Will, though, what?” Scott said.
“Get tired of each other?”
“No,” Scott said, looking offended. “I don’t. I could never get tired of us being together.”
“That’s,” Felix began looking at Scott with a half smile. “that’s couple talk.”
“I’m not offering any ultimatums,” Scott climbed out of bed, and Felix lay on his side looking at Scott’s naked body, his tallness, the straight shoulders, the long back, the surprising full ass and athletic thighs.
“No,” Felix said, reaching for his cigarette case, then remembering not to smoke around Scott. “It’s only… maybe you should ask for one.”
Scott was headed to the bathroom. He left the door open when he peed and the sound of his urine shooting into the bowl was always strangely comforting.
“If you got another guy, maybe you should let me meet this other guy,” Scott said over his piss, “and we can go toe to toe in combat.”
“You’d maim for me?” Felix cried.
Scott hit the flusher and came out of the bathroom his heavy dick swinging between his legs. He jumped onto the bed and kissed Felix.
“Maim and bomb and kill,” he said. “Now take a shower with me. I gotta get ready to go.”



“Are we staying all night, or heading back here?” Joey asked.
“I’d thought we were heading back, but, I don’t know.”
“Uh, you know we’re best buds and everything,” Scott said, looking to Joey like a kid in a suit dressed for picture day, “but do I need a special lawyer?”
Matt frowned across the booth at him.
“Like a father’s interest attorney,” Scott said.
“What’s that?” Taylor looked up at Scott.
“Uh,” Joey looked at Taylor and Nathan then said, “Why don’t we go to the Sundae bar.”
“Sundaes!” Nathan shouted, climbing over Scott while Taylor climbed across Matt.
“Manners,” Scott reminded them, but by then it was too late.
Matt looked after Joey and the kids and then, when they were at the bar, he turned to Scott and said, “That “fathers’ rights attorney” bullshit is bullshit. Alright? There is no special knowledge. The law is the law.”
Scott opened his mouth.
“Dads are just like moms,” Matt said. “They get joint or sole custody when they show the court it’s in the best interest of the kids.
“That’s not to say,” Matt continued, “dads don’t have certain issues that are unique to them. But those issues have to be looked at in the context of the children’s best interest, because that is what family law judges are trained to focus on.
“Like, it’s important that fathers with full-time or heavy work schedules obtain a custody and visitation schedule that gives them lots of time to spend with their kids.”
“I can do that,” Scott said.
“Does Jen work at all?”
“Not… so much.”
Matt raised an eyebrow.
“She works part time.”
“Oh, come the fuck on!” Matt lost patience.
“What?”
Matt opened his mouth, then looked around and remembered himself. He leaned in and hissed.
“After all that bitch did to you.”
“What?”
“After all that bitch did to you, you just let her sit on her ass and have babies while you….”
Matt shook his head.
“How could you be so dumb?”
Matt looked at his embarrassed friend.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I just...”
“I feel so dumb,” Scott said. “Everyday I just...” Scott looked away from his friend.
“Every day I feel like such a fool.”
There was a catch in Scott’s voice and Matt looked around the restaurant. He reached across the table and touched Scott’s shoulder.
“Buddy, you need a minute?”
Scott didn’t look at him. He was looking hard at the table, unable to talk. He nodded rapidly.
“Alright, buddy.”
“Stop calling me that,” Scott said quickly. “That’s the whole reason Jen’s even in the picture. I would have been myself a long time ago if… You had been yourself.”
“Sundaes!” Joey shouted by way of warning.
Scott blew his cheeks out and shook his head, laughing as he moved out of his booth and the boys slid in.
“You better get yourself some,” Joey said merrily, though his eyes went cautiously from Scott to Matt. “Before we eat all the ice cream up.”
“Uh,” Matt turned to Joey: “Do you mind if me and Scott talk for a bit back at my place?”
“About c-u-s-t-o… oh, shit, I can’t spell it,” Joey said.
“Yeah,” Matt said.
“What’s custo?” Taylor asked.
Scott looked at Joey.
“It’s like custard.”
“Can we have some,” Nathan asked.
“You’re eating it,” Joey lied, quickly.

MORE TOMORROW

 

[CharmedFan28]

Wow lots going on now! I am glad Scott has Joey and others with him to help with the Jen situation. I don’t know how things are going to end up but I look forward to finding out! Great writing and I look forward to more tomorrow!

 

[ChrisGibson]

There is a lot going on with Scott, and he currently does have the help of his brother and Matt. Of course Scott is not who this story is about and the real trouble is he and his brother are having an affair with our protagonist.

 

[ChrisGibson]

A WEEKEND IN MICHIGAN YIELDS MORE MISCHIEF AND REVEALS MORE TRUTHS THAN SCOTT OR JOEY WERE READY FOR

Scott sat in Matt’s apartment while the lawyer took out what Scott, not wise in the ways of weed, called the blunt wrapper. Scott said, “Is that like a grape leaf?”
“Sort of,” Matt said, “Now… this is called White Widow…. Which is not to be confused with Purple Widow or Blue Widow. Blue Widow is actually blue by the way,” Matt explained, separating the seeds. “Which is largely a gimmick, and an expensive one at that, so I’ve got not time for it.”
“You… uh are pretty good at that.”
“Well, I do it a lot,” Matt said, lighting. He ran the light along where he’d sealed the blunt with his tongue, and then lighting it, hit it, and the smoke was strong. He passed it to Scott who put a hand up and then shrugged.
“You were always like that,” Matt said, holding the smoke in and letting it leak from his nose.
Scott took a hit and his eyes went wide.
“But you always smoked it in the end.”
Scott tried to pass it back, but then Matt said, “No, brother, you take a few hits off that.”
The smoke leaked from Scott’s nose and mouth, and then Scott took another hit and passed it to Matt. His head swam and his mouth was numb. Matt laughed.
“You look high as fuck,” he said, taking another long hit. “We’re going to smoke all this bitch and I’m going to give you legal advice.”
Scott felt too dumb to laugh and Matt raised a finger in the air and quoted:
“Now we were talking about making quality time for your kids. Quality time includes days that the father does not work such as weekends as well as evenings during the week. Vacation and holiday time is a critical part of a working father’s schedule.”
“I can do that. I do do that.”
“Can you work half time?”
“Not if she’s working half time.”
“You better have something that says you can work just enough, but support those kids. And you need to have something that says that bitch is crazy.”
“Too bad I can’t turn in the busted condoms as evidence.”
“I bet she’d fess up to it if you asked her.”
The room was filled with smoke, and they didn’t talk for a while and then Scott said, “What else?”
He was a little surprised to see that, even high, Matt was on top of his job.
“Depending on the age of the children, frequent and regular contact may be a must to continue the bonding process.”
“I never—” Scott coughed, “ever—let myself be distant from my boys.”
“I know, man.”
“Where are my boys?” Scott looked around, stupid.
“With Joey.”
“But where did Joey…”
“Fuck it,” Matt said.
“Fuck it,” Scott echoed.
“In situations where both the father and mother work full-time and the children are equally bonded with both parents… but that’s not your situation, no special preferences are supposed to be given to the mother. If two parents have similar work schedules... What was I saying?”
“Right,” Scott answered, glassy eyed.
“Exactly,” Matt said, his finger raised, while Scott took the blunt from his fingers.
“For fathers who travel extensively due to their work schedules, flexibility and make up time is an important part of any custody and visitation schedule…”
“What if I want full custody?”
“You don’t want full custody.” Matt shook his head, crossing the sofa to sit next to Scott.
“But… if I did?”
“Well, you have to be bonded,” Matt said.
“Man, I am so fucking bonded,” Scott said, touching Matt’s thigh, He clapped it over and over again, saying, “Bonded, bonded, bonded,” as smoke left his mouth and he passed the blunt to Matt.
“And Matty?”
“Yeah.”
“I forgot… she’s pregnant.”
“What the fuck?”
“It’s not mine. She told me.”
“Are you sure?”
“I never fuck her and she never fucks me, so…”
“Well,” Matt said, He was smiling, but his words were cautions.
“It’s all about the judge now. And about what you can prove your marriage was like in the past.”
“I’m bonded!”
“I know! No motherfucker is more bonded than you. But it doesn’t mean you should give up on your children and take whatever custody and visitation schedule is offered to you. If Jen gets crazy we get to make the choice.”
“We?”
“Fucking right we. Are your children a priority in your life or not? That means you do not pawn off the children to your parents, daycare facilities or babysitters... And… I can’t really fucking remember what I’m trying to…”
And then Matt shotgunned Scott’s open mouth, and the smoke went down his throat, out his nostrils. They parted and Scott took a long hit, and then did the same to Matt. This time his dick was stiff and he felt Matt’s hand on it, and then he reached between Matt’s legs and felt him hard too. Scott began to turn Matt’s erection like a joy stick and while they were stroking each other through their trousers they just kept smoking and then Matt crushed the blunt, pushed himself on Scott and began kissing him as Scott unbuckled his belt.




When the black Jeep swung into a parking space beside the house, and Joey saw his brother and Matt climb out looking like they’d just woken up and were late for something, he ran down from the porch to the street.
“We’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Scott shouted.
“Well, did you think we’d just be waiting at Applebees while you… did whatever you— Shit, you all are high!”
“Shusssssssssh!” Matt put a finger to his lip.
“So you came back to my house!” Scott demanded. “With my wife!”
“How was I to know you’d get fucked up when you were supposed to be—”
“Dad’s home,” Taylor shouted.
Jen came out onto the porch with Nathan and Scott glared at his brother and said, “Coffee. Make me coffee.”
“It’s best if I go,” Matt said. He touched Scott’s elbow awkwardly, and then turned to get in the Jeep. As the car started up, Jen came down to the street and demanded, “What the hell is going on?”
“This is supposed to be your weekend with the kids, Scott,” Jen said, pulling Nathan behind her. “You sit on the phone telling me about how much you love your kids, and then you dump them with your brother so you can hang out with Matt and…” she sniffed him. “Were you getting high?”
“What’s that mean, Mommy? Nathan said.
Taylor bounced off of Scott’s arm singing, “Get high! Get high!”
“Matt is my lawyer,” Scott began.
“Higher!” Taylor sang, “Higher.”
And to Scott’s credit, he began lifting his arm so Nathan could swing on it.
“Your lawyer!” Jen shouted. “Your lawyer. To take my kids from me?”
“To bring the kids back home. You can come too.”
“My life is here!” Jen said.
“How can you have a life here? You don’t even have a job. You live off of me, and my life is in North Fall!”
“You don’t even want those kids!” Jen shouted. She pulled at Nathan who would have fallen if he hadn’t clung to Scott.
“Get your hands off him.”
“You don’t want those kids!” she cried again. “The only reason they exist is cause I tricked you into getting me pregnant.”
Scott and Joey looked at the twins, terrified, but the boys didn’t know what their mother was talking about.
“He wanted to have you aborted,” Jen said to Nathan. “Your dad, who you love so much, didn’t even want you.”
“Shut up,” Scott said. Then he turned to Nathan and Taylor.
“You don’t want us?” Nathan said. “Is that why you’re gone.”
Scott picked up Nathan. He tried to pick both boys up, but rested his hand on Taylor’s head.
“Look at me, both of you,” he said. “That is not true. I left because I had to. If I could, I’d take you with me tonight.”
“He doesn’t love you,” Jen started.
“You stop that,” Joey snapped. “You stop that shit right now. Your dad loves you. We all love you.”
“Can we go with you tonight, Daddy?” Taylor demanded.
“Yeah!” Nathan said.
Scott looked at his brother, and then as Jen said, “See, that’s what I mean,” Scott said, “Yeah. Get in the car.”
The boys cheered and ran to his car and Scott said, “Joey, you get in the car and wait for me, and I’m gonna go get some clothes.”
“You can’t kidnap my kids.”
“No ones kidnapping your kids,” Scott shook his head. “They’re my boys, and you’re my wife, and I’m taking my boys for a very long vacation to their grandparents.”
“We’ll see how this turns out.”
“Yeah, I guess we will.”
“I know the judge,” she took out her phone.
Scott took it out of her hand and slipped it in his pocket. As he headed for the porch he shouted back, “Did you poke holes in his condoms too?



As the sky over them went from deep blue to blue black, and the turning road was nearly engulfed in blackness, Scott declared, “I can’t wait to get home.”
Joey turned around and saw the sleeping boys in the back seat.
“What did happen, though?” Joey said. “With you and Matt? I mean, you guys were gone for over an hour. You said you would be right back.”
“We went back to his place so he could council me about custody and… stuff.”
“And you came back high.”
“Yeah.”
“You got high for an hour and a half,” Joey whispered.
“That’s not quite true,” Scott said.
“Then what?”
Scott took a breath, and then turned around and looked at the kids. They were asleep and so he said, “Joey, I’m gay.”
“Shit,” Joey said.
“Yeah.”
“I’m gay too.”
Scott looked at Joey for so long there was the honk of a truck horn and then he looked back on the road and the kids stirred as Scott steered the car back into the right lane.
They continued driving, hearts beating, then Scott said, “Well…”
“Shit,” Joey said.
“I already gave Mom and Dad grandkids, so they’ll get over it,” Scott said. He smiled sideways. “I did my duty.”
Joey didn’t say anything for a long time. After a while he turned around to see the kids were asleep again, and then he said, “Does this have anything to do with Matt?”
Scott looked back quickly at the kids.
“In high school we almost made out. We had a thing for each other, sort of. A couple of years after Jen had the kids she started cheating on me, and she called me the biggest faggot she’d ever met. And then… I was tired of being straight. Tired of love I’d turned down. Tired of wanting things and not having them. I started messing with guys after that. And that was when I told Matt, and he told me how he felt. But nothing happened then.”
“But it happened today,” Joey realized.
“Yeah,” Scott said. “It happened for about an hour.”
Joey looked at his brother and then he shook his head.
“Fuck!” he whispered. “Fuck.”
“I know.”
“I can’t picture it.”
“I really don’t want you to,” Scott said. A truck passed, a white light filling the window for a moment.
“So… are you guys… an item or something?”
“No,” Scott shook his head. “He knows… That he’s not the one. That… there is someone else. Someone else I loved a long time ago who I never thought I’d have the chance to be with again. Matt was just… unfinished business.”
“But you guys are still friends. Right?”
“Yes. And he’s still my lawyer.”
Joey nodded. He was quiet for a while and then he said, “This guy you’re in love with?”
“Yeah?”
“Is it Felix?”
Scott coughed, and then he said, “Yeah. I mean yes.”
Joey nodded.
“Great,” Scott heard Joey say, tonelessly. “Felix is great.”

THIS AND THE WICKED WILL RETURN SUNDAY

 

[CharmedFan28]

The plot thickens! I think Felix will have some explaining to do with Joey and Scott. Jen seems like a real bitch. I hope she isn’t able to stop Scott from seeing his kids. Great writing and I look forward to more in a few days! I hope you have a nice weekend!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Sometimes there is something subtle in a character and I plea to see everyone's side, but this time around Jen is unmistakably, a bitch on every level. Felix will have some explaining to do, but at this point it looks like everyone will.

 

[ChrisGibson]

WE COME TO THE END OF CHAPTER FIVE WITH FELIX AND JOEY KNOWING SOMETHING NEW AND DIFFICULT AND FELIX BEING CARTWHEELED INTO A MOMENT OF INSTANT ACTION





As the sky over them went from deep blue to blue black, and the turning road was nearly engulfed in blackness, Scott declared, “I can’t wait to get home.”
Joey turned around and saw the sleeping boys in the back seat.
“What did happen, though?” Joey said. “With you and Matt? I mean, you guys were gone for over an hour. You said you would be right back.”
“We went back to his place so he could council me about custody and… stuff.”
“And you came back high.”
“Yeah.”
“You got high for an hour and a half,” Joey whispered.
“That’s not quite true,” Scott said.
“Then what?”
Scott took a breath, and then turned around and looked at the kids. They were asleep and so he said, “Joey, I’m gay.”
“Shit,” Joey said.
“Yeah.”
“I’m gay too.”
Scott looked at Joey for so long there was the honk of a truck horn and then he looked back on the road and the kids stirred as Scott steered the car back into the right lane.
They continued driving, hearts beating, then Scott said, “Well…”
“Shit,” Joey said.
“I already gave Mom and Dad grandkids, so they’ll get over it,” Scott said. He smiled sideways. “I did my duty.”
Joey didn’t say anything for a long time. After a while he turned around to see the kids were asleep again, and then he said, “Does this have anything to do with Matt?”
Scott looked back quickly at the kids.
“In high school we almost made out. We had a thing for each other, sort of. A couple of years after Jen had the kids she started cheating on me, and she called me the biggest faggot she’d ever met. And then… I was tired of being straight. Tired of love I’d turned down. Tired of wanting things and not having them. I started messing with guys after that. And that was when I told Matt, and he told me how he felt. But nothing happened then.”
“But it happened today,” Joey realized.
“Yeah,” Scott said. “It happened for about an hour.”
Joey looked at his brother and then he shook his head.
“Fuck!” he whispered. “Fuck.”
“I know.”
“I can’t picture it.”
“I really don’t want you to,” Scott said. A truck passed, a white light filling the window for a moment.
“So… are you guys… an item or something?”
“No,” Scott shook his head. “He knows… That he’s not the one. That… there is someone else. Someone else I loved a long time ago who I never thought I’d have the chance to be with again. Matt was just… unfinished business.”
“But you guys are still friends. Right?”
“Yes. And he’s still my lawyer.”
Joey nodded. He was quiet for a while and then he said, “This guy you’re in love with?”
“Yeah?”
“Is it Felix?”
Scott coughed, and then he said, “Yeah. I mean yes.”
Joey nodded.
“Great,” Scott heard Joey say, tonelessly. “Felix is great.”


“Well,” Valerie said as they walked up the sidewalk to the entrance of the Maron Arms, “we learned a lot today.”
“I learned you don’t know how to ask for a date.”
“I learned I can’t take you anywhere.”
“I learned I hate the Episcopal Church more than I thought I did.”
“Really?”
“We should have stayed Catholic.”
“Bite your tongue.”
“Tongue bitten.”
.Felix’s phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket:
“Hello?”
“Are you home?”
“Yeah,” Felix said cautiously, looking at Valerie.
“It’s me, Joey.”
They sounded so alike Felix was glad he hadn’t answered the phone, saying Scott’s name.
“Is there something wrong?”
“No,” Joey said. There was noise in the background. “No, nothing’s wrong. Just… Can I come over?”
Felix looked around. “Yeah… How long do you need?”
“I actually just got out of the shower.”
“Okay. Half hour?”
“About.”
“Alright.”
Felix closed his phone and said, “Valerie, I gotta go.”
“You have a man coming?” his sister said.
“I do.”
“Which one?”
“Don’t you worry about it?”
But Felix worried about it. He wanted to ask how Scott was, and where he was, but something told him not to.


From the bathroom Felix heard Joey knocking. It happened the same time the music from below began to shake his floors.
“Assholes.”
He turned off the shower and toweled his face. The knocking was more insistent, and if he didn’t know better he’d sweat it was Rule.
“Goddamn, Joey,” Felix muttered as he wrapped the towel about his waist and went to answer the door.
When Felix opened the door he asked Joey what was wrong.
“Can I come in?”
“Of course you can come in.”
As Joey entered, Felix closed the door behind him and said, “You look so nervous. You look so tense.”
Joey sat on the sofa and Felix sat beside him. Joey’s foot was tapping rapidly and his brow was furrowed.
“What the fuck is that?” Joey said.
“My neighbors. From downstairs.”
“Rude assholes.”
“That’s what I said.”
Joey said nothing more but kept tapping his foot.
“You’re being weird,” Felix said.
“Can we fuck?” Joey asked him.
“That was… the opposite of subtle.”
“I don’t want to be subtle,” Joey said. “Can we just… Can we please… fuck? I need it. I need you right now. Can we please fuck?”
Felix said nothing and Joey said, “You know we came home with my nephews, right? He took them from Jen. They’re here. So it’s great that you love him, and he loves you and I know that. That’s great, Felix. But I don’t think you want to raise his kids. And if the reason you’ve been holding out on me is Scott, well then, he had sex with Matt—his old friend, the lawyer. He fucked him today.”
Joey leaned across Felix and kissed him.
“I know you love him,” Joey said, kissing his throat, “but there’s got to be something for me too.”
Felix was going to say no, but Scott hadn’t made a claim on him, and he wasn’t even angry about what Scott had done. He’d thought about how he would handle the two brothers, but tonight he didn’t have to think about it, and tonight Joey was here and apparently Scott was with his kids, so he took up Joey’s shirt and Joey unwound Felix’s towel. They kissed fiercely and Felix opened his mouth for Joey’s tongue. There was a desperate violence in the way Joey’s tongue searched his mouth and Felix matched it, feeling the strength in Joey’s arms has his hands pressed him down to the sofa.
He reached Joey’s belt and tugged down his shorts. and Joey stopped to moan, and then buried his face in Felix’s throat. Joey shimmied out of his shorts and Felix tugged down his tight briefs, grasping his penis. It was so hot and so thick, and it grew and grew while Joey kissed him and moaned with his attention. Felix moved to sit down properly on the sofa, and he moved Joey with him, having the boy straddle him Felix pulled Joey’s fat cock into his mouth.
“God,” Joey moaned. “Goddamn.”
His voice was muffled as he buried his face in the ledge the mattress against Felix’s wall made, and he felt Felix’s hands on his hips and then on his ass, guiding him as he fucked his mouth. “You feel so good. You’re so—”
Felix slipped his wet finger in Joey’s ass and the boy moaned. It seemed to go on a long time before they pushed the futon out into a bed and leisurely pleasured each other. But in the end Felix was on his hands and knees, face pressed against the wall, and after a long day of a lot of foolishness and no enjoyment for either of them, they pushed together, sweating together and together breathing like furnaces. Joey’s mouth on Felix’s ears and on his throat, his hands grasping Felix’s hips while they both groaned and shouted with satisfaction, ass cheeks flexing in and out with his pumping, Joey fucked him.


TOMORROW WE BEGIN CHAPTER SIX

 

[CharmedFan28]

That was a very interesting end to the chapter! This whole Felix/Scott/Joey situation is getting very complicated indeed! I look forward to seeing how it all works out. Great writing and I look forward to the start of the next chapter tomorrow!

 

[ChrisGibson]

It really is anyone's guess what will happen? As a whole everyone is out of control and not very good at love. If Joey came to me and told me what he did, I can't say that I wouldn't sleep with him either. Things will get more confusing before they get less.

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER SIX

BEN....
AGAIN



Theme Song: More Than Words, Extreme

Felix woke to the sound of the passing train. His thigh was numb, and yellow sunlight was coming through the blinds. The covers were off the bed, and Joey was sprawled across him like a crooked cross, his mouth open on Felix’s shoulder, and drool on the pillow. Felix didn’t want to wake him. He looked sweet that way, and Joey had actually never slept in his bed. They had sex, sometimes long bouts of it, and then Joey always went home.
As the train noise died, Felix craned his neck. He couldn’t see what time it was from here, but he knew sooner or later the alarm would go off, and he would have to get up and go to church. It was Sunday. He stretched out his leg and Joey fit between his thighs better. Saint Margaret’s had no real claim on him except that Valerie had made him promise to come for a year. He’d much rather stay right here.
“Joey,” Felix whispered, tapping his buzzed head. “Joey.”
“Um,” the boy, who was a man, who had a man’s muscles, back and buttocks, pushed closer to him, and pressed his erection into him.
“You need to wake up,” Felix said, pushing him gently on his side so that Joey blinked his blue eyes and looked at him.
“Oh, shit,” Joey murmured.
“You can stay as long as you want,” Felix told him, stretching, “but I have to make coffee and get in the shower.”
Joey yawned and stretched while Felix got up.
“I heard those assholes downstairs half the night,” Joey said. “I wonder if they heard us.”
“I hope so,” Felix said.
When Felix was naked in the kitchen, Joey said, “Coffee sounds like a good idea. Can I get some?”
“Um hum,” Felix said.
A few moments later he heard Joey pissing in the bowl and thought about Scott. Was it a right that men seized on? Having fucked you, they pissed with the door open? Was it some anthropological thing from caveman days, marking territory? Joey hit the flush, and as Felix came out, the coffee percolating, Joey sat on the side of the bed, unshaven, very handsome, and he looked up at Felix.
“We should have sex again.”
“Again?”
They’d had good times in the past, but last night the sex had lasted well into the night, deep and aggressive, pushing past some deep need and all resentment. Joey reminded Felix of an old boyfriend whom he used to send clips from porn displaying all the positions he wanted to try. That boyfriend would show up in the morning and they would do them, sometimes successfully, sometimes, falling off the bed and laughing.
Last night so much had sprung to their minds, and they had done it, drifted to sleep, gotten up to do it again, finally falling asleep in each other’s arms.
“Should we do it before we shower or after?” Felix asked.
Joey sniffed his arm pit and said, “I like the way I smell.”
The dark hair on Scott’s body went to gold, Joey’s went to black. Joey’s sex came up thick and hard from a black bush. Ready. Felix moved to turn off the alarm clock.
“We’ll do it before we shower, then,” he said. “But I have to use the bathroom first.”



“So are you going to tell me what happened last night?” Valerie asked when they were at the Pub for lunch after church.
“I don’t know,” Felix said, spearing a piece of cod with his fork. “Are you going to tell me how your panties ended up on the chapel altar back at your seminary?”
“Felix!” Valerie looked around the Pub carefully.
“Exactly,” her brother returned.
“Well, I just won’t ask any questions, then.”
“That would be best. You’d probably just be disappointed, anyway.”
“Then I think I already know the answer to what happened. Where are you and Scott at now?”
“That would be a question, Val.”
Valerie sighed, and Felix said, “The truth is, every time he goes up to Michigan, I really don’t know where we are. But we shouldn’t be anywhere because he’s married.”
“He loves you, Felix!”
“Really?” Felix put down his fork, incredulous. “You’re a priest and you’re telling me about how much a married man’s love means.”
“I’ve seen him,” Valerie said. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. No one has ever loved you more.”
“No one?”
“Well, me. But I’m your sister. You know what I mean.”
“And he said we were not exclusive. I said we weren’t. And you know what Val? We were not supposed to sleep together. That just happened when he came back from Michigan all nuts. And now… Well, he came back again.”
Valerie said nothing while she watched her brother’s brow knit. He was decided something, she knew. Then he said, “Fuck it, I will talk about it.”
On the stage an afternoon band was setting up, and the lead singer began to sing:

Doctors have come from distant cities
Just to see me
Stand over my bed
Disbelieving what they're seeing

They say I must be one of the wonders
Of god's own creation
And as far as they can see they can offer
No explanation

“Ugh,” Felix muttered. “No one else should ever do Natalie Merchant.
“Anyway,” Felix said, playing with his cole slaw, “Scott has apparently brought his kids back here, and he’s going to set up house with them.”
“Felix,” Valerie said, gently, “they are his children.”
“Goddamnit I know that. I’m not one of your crazy parishioners. You don’t have to priest counsel me.”
“Someone is touchy.”
“I’ve been touchy for almost forty years,” Felix dismissed it. “Oh, and here’s the topper: he fucked his lawyer.”
“He….” Valerie started. Then she said, “Male or female?”
“Male. Which matters more,” Felix said. “They had sex yesterday. He told me how he loved me and wanted us to settle into a life, and then he went and fucked Mac or Matt or whatever.” Felix stopped, looking at a family looking at him.
“Could you…” the mother began, “tone it down?”
Felix opened his mouth. The kids were looking at him amazed, and Felix said to the children, “You just need to know shit like this happens. And it’s not fair.”
“Well, I never—” the father began.
“Oh, you know you have,” Felix frowned at him.

“She’ll make her waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy! She’ll make her way!” the singer caterwauled.

“Oh, who the fuck is that who cannot sing?” Felix stood up, but when he looked up he immediately sat down.
“Oh, I’m leaving!” the mother said, but Felix leaned over and said, “Valerie… look? The singer.”
Felix shoved his fedora on his head and looked away.
“That looks a lot like Ben,” Valerie said.
“Because it is.”
“Well, that’s….” Valerie looked at her brother. “That’s awkward. That’s awkward, isn’t it?”
“Maybe he doesn’t see me.”
“Uh…. Maybe. But… it isn’t likely.”
“Why not?” Felix asked, paying a great deal of attention to the floor.
“Because he’s coming to our table.”
“Felix, is that you?” a playful voice said.
“Felix stop looking at the table and say hi to Ben,” Valerie said.
Felix looked up miserably and Ben said, “It’s good to see you. Can I sit down?”
“Why are you dressed like me?” Felix said as Ben, wearing a Madras shirt, sat down, his fedora cocked over one eye.
“I wasn’t in such great shape last time you saw me,” Ben said, ignoring the question.
“Well, you look great now,” Valerie said.
“Yeah,” Ben touched the gold red beard growing along his jaw. “I’ve been getting my act together.”
“I could leave you alone,” Valerie offered.
“Why the hell would you do that?” Felix demanded, then hearing himself he said, “I mean… when we have to be back at Saint Margaret’s by three.”
Valerie’s expression changed and she said, “Oh, yes. To set up for the potluck. I almost forgot.”
“Good thing I’m here to remind you,” Felix murmured.
“Well,” Ben said, “maybe we can get together. You and me.”
He pointed from himself to Felix.
“Uh…” Felix began. “Okay?”
“I work here,” Ben told him. “I’m the lead singer too.”
“Yes,” Felix said, neutrally.
Ben laughed and said, “I know what you mean. I’ll never do Natalie Merchant again.”
Felix nodded, and this time he laughed.
“If I promise to never do Natalie Merchant again,” Ben asked him, “will you go to lunch with me tomorrow?”
“Yes,” Felix said.


MORE TOMORROW

 

[CharmedFan28]

Sounds like Felix is pretty angry at Scott for saying he wanted to settle down then having sex with Matt. I think he has a right to be but with the situation with him and Joey, there is a lot to be sorted out between them. I mean Felix and Scott said they aren’t exclusive but I don’t know if Felix wants to stick to that. I am glad he had his sister to talk to. Great writing and I look forward to more tomorrow!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Oh, I think you're right, but I think Felix wants a lot of things that weren't on the table until recently. He planned to have this life with Scott, but suddenly all of the other lives he could have are also before him, and there is Joey, of course, who was there all along and who is not a bad prize by any stretch,

 

[ChrisGibson]

BEN AGAIN
PART TWO

TODAY, A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE A LOT OF IMPORTANT CONVERSATIONS


The plans for a nap were ruined by Buffalo Soldier thrumming through the sixth floor and up onto the seventh.
“Enough,” Felix murmured.
He thumped on the door but no one answered. He thumped again, but still no answer. He breathed out of his nose and then thumped on the door again and, at last, the door opened and Bob Marley blasted him in the face while a short, not entirely unattractive unshaven guy in briefs answered the door half asleep.
“Other people live here,” Felix said. “Please turn your music down. Or better, turn it off.”
The broad shouldered, shirtless boy, who was a little shorter than Felix blinked at him, and Felix said, “Thank you.”
As the door shut he went up the stairs, but stopped, surprised when it was suddenly louder. Down his hall, Felix saw doors opening and when returned downstairs he saw other doors opening, heads peaking out in consternation. This is when Felix picked up the fire axe by the extinguisher, came to his neighbor’s door and began hacking into it, and a few minutes later he stood on the other side of a door whose top was demolished with four neighbors behind him, and the short guy in his underwear and his tall roommate standing on the other side of the hole.
“What did you just do?” the roommate demanded.
“See how that music is off?” Felix said. “That is the perfect volume.”
Behind him Leah in 623 began to clap, and then others nodded or clapped while the shorter boy said, “We’ll tell.”
“Tell what, that you were smoking large amounts of pot which we can all smell? Or tell that you were driving your neighbors crazy?”
“Tell that you fucking destroyed our door with an axe!” the tall one said.
But Leah took the axe from Felix’s hands and, polishing it with the edge of her housecoat, said, “I didn’t see anyone hack your door down.”
“Me neither,” Gus from 620 said.
“Now,” Felix said, taking a bow, “if you don’t mind, I’ll be catching up on my sleep. Welcome to the Maron Arms. This is how we do business.”
As Felix was heading upstairs, he heard Leah tell the boys, “This is how we always do business.”

Felix was in the middle of a fish and chips nap when his phone rang shrilly, and he rolled out of bed naked—the only way to sleep—and crawled on hands and knees about the apartment searching for the little buzzing phone.
“Huh…hullo?” he began.
“Felix?”
“Huh?” he said, because it sounded like Scott, but it could have been Joey.
“It’s me.”
Only Scott would say that.
“Hey.”
“Did I wake you?”
“You know I pretty much sleep in after church.”
“Yeah,” Scott said. “Sorry about that.” He sounded strange, like he was about to say something. Was he about to ask about Joey? Could he know?
“I’ve got the kids with me.”
Should he say he knew? Did Scott know Joey had spent the night here?
“That’s… Well, that’s good isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Scott said. “I just wanted you to know why I hadn’t called yet. Or… Yeah, I’m going to be looking at places so we can all live together. Maybe I’ll even get an apartment in your building.”
Felix woke up right away.
“That’s a terrible idea.”
“Whaddo you mean? It’s a great idea.”
“You need a two bedroom apartment, at least,” Felix said quickly. “It would be cheaper to get a house.”
While Scott tried to form a response, Felix added, “Besides, if you’re getting divorced and the judge has to look at custody, they’re going to see a woman with an empty house or a man with an apartment.”
“That’s true,” Scott noted. “I probably should look at a house.”
Then he said, “Wouldn’t that be neat? Instead of me staying over with you, you could stay with me. In a house. It would be like our house. No, it would be our house.”
“What? And we’d raise your kids together? You’d be the daddy and I would be the mama?”
There was a palpable pause on the other side of the phone and then Scott said “Are you pissed with me? You’re not yourself.”
“Scott, I’m fine.”
“Can I come over?”
“Not right now. I’m going back to bed.”
“Well, I didn’t mean right now,” Scott said, though Felix wasn’t sure if he was lying.
“My family wants to do Vespers at church tonight, and I’m gonna take the kids. But afterward can I come over?”
“Yeah,” Felix said, instantly ashamed of his attitude. The moment he sounded flippant, he realized he loved Scott and wanted to see him.
“Yes,” he said. “I’ll be here.”

“Put some clothes on,” Scott said when he arrived at the door.
“I’m wearing clothes.”
“You’re wearing basketball shorts and a dirty tee shirt, and if I know you, that’s not the way you want to go into the world.”
Felix was about to say, “Maybe you don’t know me,” but that sounded trifling, so he got up, went to his large closet, closed the door behind him and got dressed inside of it.
“Where are we going?”
“On our date,” Scott said. “Remember?”
“I had actually forgotten,” Felix confessed.
Scott gave a corny wink and said, “I never forget.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m offering you my arm,” Scott said, “Like a gentleman.”
“We’re in the Midwest, not California.”
“I don’t care,” Scott said. “Not if you don’t.”
Felix did care, but not about that, and Scott closed the door behind him. He looked so handsome in a dark blue blazer over a white shirt and a sky blue tie. Just for him? Just for him.
“I wish you’d tell me what was wrong.”
“I know you had sex with Matt yesterday.”
Scott blinked, looking slapped.
“Joey was here.”
“Yes.”
“Why would he…?”
Then Scott said, “Joey’s in love with you. Joey just told me. I mean, I just told him. About me.”
“What are you talking about?” Felix sat down.
“I just told Joey I was… gay.”
“That’s the word.”
Scott frowned at Felix.
“I just told him yesterday. And… he told me the same thing. I told him I was in love with you.”
“But… you slept with Matt.”
“I… I don’t know what was going on.”
“But you did fuck him?”
“Please don’t say that.”
“But—”
“Yes, Felix! Yeah, I did. I fucked Matt alright? He fucked me. Is that what you want to hear?”
“You weren’t going to tell me. You were going to pretend that it never happened.”
“That’s what you said you wanted!” Scott shouted. “You said you wanted someone who cared enough to lie! Well, this is me caring enough. We went back to his place. We were talking about the case. We got high. We fooled around and yeah, I fucked him. Do you want to hear about the sweat, and what it tasted like and if I went down on him?”
“Please stop.”
Scott shook his head.
“You said we weren’t exclusive. You said that. You knew I wanted to be. I didn’t break any promises. Not a one. And by the way, who are you fucking when you’re not with me?”
When Felix said nothing, Scott said, “Cause I know you’re fucking someone. I know you are.”
Scott looked at him suspiciously.
“Is it that punkass Ben? Or is it Rule’s crazy ass? No…” Scott looked down, squinting as if he were divining it from Felix’s face. Then suddenly his eyes bulged and he put his hand to his mouth, staggering back.
“No!” Scott decided. “No. That is not happening.”
He turned away from Felix.
“You’re fucking my brother.”
Felix said nothing.
“That’s why he’s so jealous. That’s why you know him. That’s why you came to pick me up at the airport.”
Scott said nothing after this. He just looked at the floor.
It was a while before he spoke.
“I thought we loved each other,” he said.
“Maybe we don’t really love each other that much,” Felix said.
Scott sat on the floor, under the door, and pulled his knees to his chest, folding his arms over his blue trousers.
“No, Felix,” he said, “I do love you.”
Then he said, “Were you with Joey before you found out he was my brother?”
“Surprised would be an understatement.”
“Then you actually cheated on my brother with me. He’s the one who should be pissed, then?”
“He didn’t want us to be serious. He… wanted to be bi. He did not want to date me. And he’s too young to date seriously. And then you came. And we were not supposed to be having sex. Not you and me. That was not supposed to happen. I didn’t cheat on anybody. But I’m afraid I did lie to the both of you.”
“I’ve been lying to everyone my whole life,” Scott said. “So I can’t get too mad. Only… I did cheat on you. It wasn’t complicated with me.” Scott looked up at Felix. “We slept together on Friday. I told you I loved you Saturday, and then I fucked Matt Saturday afternoon, and I really don’t know why.”
Felix crossed the room, getting on his knees before Scott. He took Scott’s hands in his hands. Scott looked up at him.
“Don’t you think before anything else happens between us you should figure out why?”
“I don’t know what you mean?”
“I’m not Jen. Just because we fell into bed you don’t have to fast forward this into a marriage. We can just be friends like we were. And be free till you decide what you want.”
“I want you!” Scott insisted. “I want us to be together!”
“Scott,” Felix shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere. Just… You just got out of something.”
“Felix, I know what I want. I’ve never had what I want in my life, and now—”
“If you really wanted it you would never have slept with Matt.”
Scott opened his mouth, but Felix said, “I’m not blaming you. I’m just saying I know what you want, but what I want is to never be in a relationship with someone who loves me so much they have to fuck other people.”
Felix stood up, shaking his head. “I’m not doing that again.”
Scott nodded his head.
“Do you want me to go?” Scott said, sounding a little sullen.
“No,” Felix told him. “I want you to stay. But not the night.”


“Daddy,” Taylor said sleepily from the big chair in the living room.
“He insisted on staying up for you,” Scott’s mother said.
“Did you, Buddy?” Scott whispered, picking Taylor up.
“You look nice, Daddy.”
Scott kissed him on the top of his head and he said, “And so do you, and now it’s time to go to bed. Say goodnight to Grandma.”
“G’night Grandma.”
G’night ma,” Scott said, hefting Taylor up in his arms and going up the stairs. He placed Taylor tenderly into bed, and when Nathan woke up he kissed him too.
“You too sleep tight,” Scott said, closing the door behind him. “Daddy loves you.”
Having done that he went down the hall, and turned the handle of the last bedroom. He walked in, closed the door behind him and knelt on the side of the bed.
“Wake up,” he said.
Joey woke up instantly and blinked up at his brother.
“Scott.”
Scott’s hand fell on Joey’s throat like a cuff and while Joey lost breath, Scott said, calmly, “I know… what you did…. You little fuck.”
Scott released Joey’s throat, and Joey sat up, gagging in bed.
“I’m watching you, asshole,” Scott told him.
And then he got up and left.



There was a very soft knock on his door, too soft for Joey. Felix answered and said, “That would be the wanna be rastas from downstairs?”
“What you did….” The tall one began.
“Use your words,” Felix said after a rime.
“People get fucked up trying shit like you did,” the short one said.
Felix smiled at him.
“Not by you,” he said, looking up at the tall one, then, looking down, “and certainly not by you.”
“This is not going the way it was supposed to,” the short one looked up at the tall one.
“Just behave like neighbors,” Felix said, “and no one gets their door smashed in. Oh, by the way, you should bring me up a joint.”
The shorter one blinked at him.
“A joint,” Felix said, “and no hard feelings.”
Suddenly, the tall one said, “Do you want to come down and get high?”
Felix thought about and said, “Yes.”

I got my mind set on you
I got my mind set on you
I got my mind set on you
I got my mind set on you

“Now a lot of people think George Harrison made this song, but this is the original,” the tall one, called Rob said, as he licked the blunt closed. “So much better.”

A whole lot of precious time
It's gonna take patience and time, um
To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it
To do it right child

It was a better version and Felix thought of saying something about white people profiting off of Black music, but just took the blunt and inhaled, holding the smoke in his lungs and letting his eyes water a little as he passed it to Kevin, the shorter one. He had noticed Kevin with his five o’clock shadow, wiry brown hair and stocky build before he noticed that Rob, leaking smoke from his nostrils now, had a certain attractiveness as he sang, smoke leaking from his nostrils:

Set on you
I got my mind set on you!

Rob gestured to Kevin, and for a moment, Felix had this sixth grade feeling, as if they were about to share a secret and leave him out, but just then, Rob opened his mouth, and breathed smoke into Kevin’s. They stayed that way a moment before Rob said, “You don’t mind, do you?”
“That is the last thing I mind,” Felix said.
On their way back upstairs, Kevin of the cargo shorts and snug tee shirt confided in Felix, “We get a little gay sometimes. Especially when we get high. Rob thought you might be freaked out.”
“Kevin,” Felix said when they reached his door, “I get a little gay every day. Sometimes a lot.”


MORE TOMORROW

 

[CharmedFan28]

Some important conversations were had! I want Scott and Felix to work out but it seems like there are a few obstacles at the moment. I think things are going to be difficult between Scott and Joey for a while. Great writing and I look forward to more tomorrow!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Yes, at this point everyone is--I don't want to say broken--but not very together, and there is a lot of work to be done. There is a lot of love, but there is also a lot of confusion.