If you are not of age of consent in your area (18 or 21), please do not read on. I never got that rule, I mean who needs access to erotica more then lonely gay teenagers? Anyway, that's the rule. If you're offended by gay men having sex, or being in love, then what the heck are you doing here? Go away.
This is my story, I wrote it from my own mind. Any relations to events in real life is purely coincidental. Do not reprint this story without permission.
This is going to be a multi-chapter story, there will be no sex for the first couple of chapters, sorry to disappoint.
Please be nice. If you don't like it I don't care, unless you can tell me why you don't like it. Then I am very interested.
***Thank you guys for all of your positive coments and encouragement in the past month. I am moving tommorrow, so I will not be connected for a couple of days, I will get to my email though, so feel free to send me your comments.
Later, Mason
Finally Home
Chapter 3
The first three days living in my new home I spent trying to organize the mess my life had become. I'm not a real neat freak or anything, the only thing I'm picky about is my books, so I spent the better part of a Tuesday putting them away in the exact order I liked. I was sitting on the floor surrounded by piles of books in a big circle when Michael came in as he got home from school and sat on my bed watching me with a mild fascination. He looked absolutely delicious wearing black dress pants, a dark blue shirt, a black tie and a black wool jacket, which he discarded on my bed before he made himself comfortable.
"You this anal about everything?" He asked, motioning towards my stacks of books.
"Nope, just my books. Why?" I asked as I scanned the authors for all the U's.
"Just wondering. Brian's anal about everything."
"Really?" Michael nodded. "I wouldn't have pegged him as anal about anything."
"You should see his room. I think it comes from managing all that inventory and stock at work. A place for everything and everything in it's place."
"That's weird, he seems so laid back." I said mildly as I began scanning for V's and W's.
"He's the money man too."
"Really?" I started arranging the u-w section on the shelf.
"Oh yeah. He always has been. He handles all the bills around here. I hate managing my money. Brian even keeps track of my retirement fund."
"Really?" I was suddenly impressed.
"Yeah, under that goof ball front is a great mind."
"I can believe that." I smiled. "How was your day?"
"Good, actually. I looked you up in the year book." I glanced up in surprise. "You were cute."
"I was?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Yeah." He grinned at me.
"Past tense?" He laughed.
"Nah. You're still cute." He looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes. I blushed and turned back to my books.
About an hour passed and I was rechecking the order of my books. Michael had stretched out on my bed and was flipping through my one of my photography books when the phone beside my bed rang. It was just an extension so Michael picked it up.
"Hello...Hey bro, what's up? ... Just hangin' out... Yeah? ... Cool, let me ask him." Michael looked up at me. "Brian's picking up Chinese, you want?"
"Oh yeah." I grinned. "Get me General Tso's chicken, and crab Rangoon."
Michael repeated our orders to Brian and hung up with a grin on his face. "That's just like him."
"What?"
"We take turns cooking, tonight's his night."
"Can't he cook?"
"No, he usually gets those frozen family diners, you know Salisbury steak, or Mac and Cheese. Stuff like that."
"That's funny." I said with a smile.
"Do you cook?"
"Yeah, my roommates made me take cooking classes for two years after I started a fire trying to make toast one day." Michael laughed and I smiled to myself remembering how clueless I was after having had a hired cook in the kitchen for my entire childhood. "So now I'm pretty good. What about you?"
"My mother taught me to cook so I could help my sisters when she had to go work."
"What did she do?"
"She's a nurse midwife."
"Wow, that's really cool."
"My sisters are both nurses now. Julia works in pediatrics at Hope Hospital, and Lilly and mom run a Midwifery center on the north side."
"So they both deliver babies. That's so cool."
"Yeah." Michael had a far off smile on his face.
"I had a sister." I said suddenly. I surprised Michael and myself with the admission.
"Had?" His voice was gentle and soothing, urging me to go on.
"She was born two years younger then me. Stillborn. My mother named her Angelica. She always wanted a daughter. And so when my brother was born healthy two years after, she really lost it. She left us with Father and moved into the family home on the Mediterranean. She's still there." My mind was flooded with images of a distant and dazed mother that we used to visit on summer break.
"So your Father raised you?" I laughed at that.
"God no. Father found us the most wonderful woman, our Nanny Francis. She raised us both. She's the reason I'm so sane."
"She still alive?"
"Yup. She lives out in Oakdale with her nephew and his family. She loves being around kids, and he's got four, so she's happy as a clam."
"I'll have to thank her some time."
"For what?"
"For raising you so well." I blushed again. Was he trying to flirt with me? I looked back up at him and his eyes were twinkling and I was momentarily lost in their intensity as he looked back at me. I don't know how long we just sat there staring at each other. Time seemed to slow, and the room suddenly seemed warm. The moment was eventually broken however by a slamming door and a boisterous voice filling the silent apartment.
"Dinner's here, come and get it... Guys?"
"We're back here." Michael called, without taking his eyes off me. I managed to tear my gaze away to see Brian's patented grin appear in the door. He was clutching a big brown bag that smelled like a Chinese restaurant. I noticed that he was more dressed up then I had ever seen him, wearing khaki's, a white button down shirt, and a tie that had loony toons on it. But it was a tie non-the-less.
"Wow, you clean up good." I couldn't help but return Brian's grin.
"Yeah I know."
"Smart ass."
"Yeah I know. Come on, let's eat, I'm starving."
We all trooped to the kitchen and dug into our food while Brian filled us in on his day. It was actually pretty entertaining, for some reason people can get really stupid in malls, so he had some entertaining stories.
He had just finished talking about a four year old who had spent twenty minutes chasing the staff members around with a bat when Michael interjected.
"You remember that time with Pop, when he went after that kid with a bat?" Brian started laughing so hard he started chocking on his food. He nodded as he covered his mouth with a napkin and continued to laugh.
"Ok, tell me." I demanded to Michael who was laughing almost as hard.
Once he calmed down he started, "Ok, Our oldest sister was 14 at the time. And she had this kid in our neighborhood who was bugging her, always asking her for a date and stuff. Our family is Italian, and this kid was Irish, and in our neighborhood, all the Irish kids would hit on the Italian girls because they thought they were sluts. So it was a real slam to Julia to have this kid bugging her. Our father wasn't happy about it at all. So this one day Brian and I are sitting on the stoop waiting for our dad, and Julia is coming home from the store, my mother had sent her for some last minute things for dinner. So we see Pop coming up the block in one direction, and then we see Julia coming from the other direction with the groceries, and the Irish kid on her tail. And Pop sees this, and then suddenly the Irish kid grabs my sister and lays a big sloppy kiss on her. Now you gotta remember that Pop worked around coal all day, so he comes home dead tired and covered in soot, right?" I nodded, Brian was still snickering at the memory. "So Pop sees this kid kiss Julia, and he grabs this bat that happens to be laying on someone's stoop and he takes off after this Irish kid, screaming at him in Italian, and so covered in soot he looks like a big black blur. It was hilarious, the Irish kid saw him coming and went so pale he looked like he was about to pass out. Pop chased him three blocks, all the way back to his block, swinging that bat a cussing in Italian all the way."
"You see Toby, in our family the only Italian we learned were the cuss words. You know your father's mad when you can't understand a word he's saying." Brian said once we had started to calm down.
"So the Irish kids never bothered our sisters again." Michael said with a grin. I had to laugh at the picture.
We ate in silence for a few minutes as I tried not to let my curiosity get the better of me, but finally it did. "So you're father has passed now?" I asked quietly. Brian nodded solemnly, and Michael smiled sadly.
"He warned us. He knew that plant would kill him, it killed his father too. He warned us. 'Don't ever do what I did boys. You go to college, stay out of that plant.' He was a good man, and his insurance money helped put us all through college, and helped my mother and Lilly open their clinic. So we miss him, but and honor him, he lived life to the fullest, so we do the same."
I smiled with tears in my eyes and I noticed Brian cross himself. "Sorry to bring the mood down guys."
"Don't worry about it." Michael said and reached over to pat my shoulder. "We heard your sad story, now you've heard ours." He smiled at me. We finished our meal in a silence filled with unspoken memories.
After we had rinsed the dishes Brian brightened up. "Toby do you play soccer? I mean Play Station soccer?"
"Play Station soccer, sure." I grinned, I was a master at play station soccer; I loved the game. I had played soccer in high school and had manager to destroy most of the cartilage in my knee doing it, so now my only avenue was in video games, and I had yet to meet a person I couldn't beat.
"Let's have a tournament!" Brian grinned from ear to ear now and bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet. So for the next two hours we did just that. I beat Michael easily, as did Brian, and so Michael sat back and graded papers, listening to Brian and I fight it out. In the end it got too late and we ended in a draw because my wrists were starting to hurt.
Brian was incredulous. "I can't believe I can't beat you. I can beat everyone." He pouted.
"Me too sport, looks like we've met our matches." I smiled at his pout.
"Thank God." Michael muttered without looking up from his papers.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Brian looked angrily at his brother.
"Well now you can stop making me play against you just so you can beat me at it." Michael glanced up, amused at his brothers still pouting face.
Thus we began our routine. Michael and Brian were always gone in the mornings when I got up at around 9am. But that was no big deal since my morning's involved activities outside the apartment. Twice a week I would cycle down to the YMCA and swim laps. Once a week I had Karate, and once a week I saw my shrink. I usually filled my free mornings by cycling in the park, or helping Father Patrick at the center. I was usually home by 11am and went right to work on the book I'm currently writing. I would write until Michael came home. He would, without fail, come in and visit me, which gave me a reason to end my writing for the day. Michael and I would hang out in my room or in the kitchen cooking dinner until Brian got home and he entertained us with tales of crazy mall rats and quirky employees. Three evenings a week I volunteered at the center. On Monday's I taught creative writing, on Wednesdays I assisted the Karate class, and on Thursdays I ran the activity hall and later met with my guys in the support group. Brian was the first to show interest in helping me at the center, so I took him along one Thursday and left him having a blast in the activity hall while the support group met. Michael was slower to volunteer, and finally out of desperation I asked him to run the English tutoring room on Monday nights, since we had just lost our previous volunteer English teacher, and he agreed, and fell in love with it immediately. Michael loved it so much that he even started coming with me and Brian on the other days and helping Brian run the activity hall while I was in Karate or my support group. Although he teased me that he only came to see me in my "sexy karate outfit."
Saturdays were different, neither of the guys worked on the weekends, and they began waking me up early every Saturday, which had previously been my sleeping-in day, and dragging me with them to a pick up basketball game in the park they attended weekly. I tried to resist the first couple of weeks, but I finally realized it was hopeless to resist Brian's enthusiasm and dug my knee brace out of the closet and went along happily. Saturday's were the activity days I discovered, and after a morning of play in the park we would do our weekly shopping at the Super Wal-mart uptown. This was rather comical because it was the only time in the week that the boys used their car. It was a 15-year-old Ford Escort with more miles then I've ever seen on an American car. They'd bought it in college, and since they both took the train to work and walked or biked everyplace else they found little need to buy a new one. They had a point, but the car had some very strange noises, and I swear that something had died in the back seat, but hell if I could find it. I also discovered, as I suspected, that Brian was the worst driver on the face of the earth. After shopping we would all load up our laundry and head to the laundry mat. Saturday evenings were club nights. Even though I do not dance I love people watching, and drunk people watching was even more fun. So Michael and I would sit huddled together in a booth, him nursing a Guinness, and me a Pepsi, we would watch as Brian danced and flirted like a maniac, breaking heart after heart. Watching both Brian and Michael on the dance floor was truly a beautiful thing. Physically they were gorgeous, and they could both dance really well. Watching their muscles ripple through their tight shirts was like a living wet dream. I definitely enjoyed myself.
Sundays were relaxation days for the boys. I was the only one who ever went out. My Sunday excursions soon became a topic of much interest in the household. Since I left too late to make the nearby mass but I always dressed like I was going to church, the boys were very curious. Since Brian had a habit of being nosy I decided not to tell them that on Sundays I had brunch with my Grandmother. She was my father's mother, and the only family that still talked to me. My grandmother was the daughter of an Iowa farmer, and her marriage to my grandfather was frowned upon, as it was a love match, but not a social match. As a young woman she delighted in giving her mother-in-law heart palpitations by refusing to behave in the manner befitting her new station. She is still just as full of fire, and besides my brother and Nanny Francis she was my only true friend growing up. Even after my father disowned me she helped me, paying for all of my college classes and insisting on having me for brunch every Sunday. She also knew all about the fact that I was gay, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing about my life. She was already asking to meet Michael and Brian, but agreed to wait until I was done teaching them a lesson for being nosy.
It was about two months after I had moved in with the boys that my little game came to a head. It was Sunday, and I took a cab to my grandmother's brownstone on the other side of town. It's one of those huge places that have mostly been renovated into apartments with 15 units. My grandmother's is just hers, no apartments, it's been in the family for years, but she tells me when she dies she's going to leave it to me just to make my father's blood pressure go up. My grandmother greeted me happily that day, and with a big hug as usual. We filled out plates at the buffet in the dining room and she was busily filling me in on the 'stupid women' in her gardening club when Chen, the head body guard came in looking perturbed.
"I'm sorry to disturb you ma'am, but we have a slight security problem." Chen was a nice guy, and very good at his job.
"What's the problem Chen?" I asked.
"Two men appeared to have arrived right after you did Master Tobias, and we found them loitering on the front stoop, when they refused to move on, we detained them." My grandmother looked a bit concerned, and gazed at me not sure what to do. Suddenly I realized that this sounded remarkably like a stunt Brian would pull.
"Chen, what do they look like?"
"They appear to me twins sir. Tall, light brown hair, very handsome if I may say so sir." Chen colored slightly at the admission. My grandmother recognized the description from me talking about them and an evil smile came to her face.
"I do believe we should scare some respect into you're scheming roommates before we invite them to brunch Tobias. Chen, please show them in, and then go tell cook that we will need two more place settings, and Tobias, please get me some more coffee." My grandmother said sending me to the other side of the room, so the boys wouldn't see me when they came in. I smiled broadly and quickly obeyed.
I watched unseen as two security guards brought a very nervous Brian and Michael into the room and stood guard as my grandmother regarded them critically. Finally she spoke.
"Tell me, young men, why were you loitering on my stoop?" I winced at her tone, my grandmother was using that voice I remembered her using when she caught my brother and I smoking when we were teenagers.
Brian started, sounding more scared then I had ever heard him. "I'm sorry for the mix-up, we were just walking along and ..." Michael reached over and stopped his brother, noticing the obvious fact that my grandmother was not buying it.
"We were following our roommate, he has a Sunday date on this side of town every week and he won't tell us where he goes. We were very curious, and so today my brother suggested we follow him. We thought we saw him come into this home, but we must have been mistaken, we are very sorry to disturb you, we honestly meant no harm to your home or your person." Brian nodded like an excited puppy, relieved not to have to speak.
My grandmother's face was unchanged and she studied them closely for a tense minute before speaking in that same tone. "I think I understand now, and tell me if this is wrong gentlemen. Brian," She said as she pointed correctly to Brian, "is the one who makes the messes, and Michael," She continued pointing at him, "is the one who cleans up for him. Is that correct Tobias?" Everyone in the room turned to look at me, my grandmother with the old twinkle back in her eye, and Michael and Brian looking big eyed and shocked. I laughed and picked up the coffee and returned to my grandmother's side.
"Yes nana. You have them figured out completely." I set her coffee in front of her and kissed her cheek before sitting back down beside her. Michael and Brian were rooted to the spot looking like they had seen a ghost. Nana waved a hand, dismissing the two body guards, and studied the shocked brothers with an amused look on her face.
"I trust you gentlemen have learned your lesson about being nosy?"
"Yes ma'am." Michael managed to speak.
"Good, because I have been asking Tobias to bring you to brunch for a month now. You may close your mouths now gentlemen. Tobias, do introduce us."
I stood, "Grandmother this is Brian and Michael Franklin. Brian, Michael, this is my grandmother, Mrs. Louise Cleveland." Just then three servants came bustling into the room setting two extra place settings and quickly leaving the room. Michael recovered first and stepped forward to offer his hand and try to recover from his embarrassment.
"Mrs. Cleveland, it is an honor to meet you."
"And you Mr. Franklin, but you must call me Louise, Mrs. Franklin was my mother-in-law."
"Of course," Michael said with a brilliant smile, "but only if you will call me Michael."
Brian stepped forward and greeted my grandmother as well.
"Tobias, show these boys to the food," She turned to me and handed me her empty plate.
"Certainly nana." I led the boys over to the buffet, they trailed behind me like two lost puppies. I refilled mine and Nana's plates. Michael and Brian looked on silently. Finally I turned to them.
"Would you guys relax, nana has been dying to meet you two. Now fill up your plates and be yourselves."
"So you're not mad at us?" Brian asked timidly. I laughed aloud and shook my head.
"No, I think you two have learned your lesson." I smiled as Brian's grin returned and Michael relaxed visibly.
"Good, because I'm starving." Brian said loudly as he began to pile food on his plate.
As we sat back down my grandmother dropped another bomb shell. "Tell me about this dance club you boys go to Brian, my grandson tells me you break all the boys hearts."
I laughed aloud as both the brothers turned pale again and looked at me in shock. "Did I ever tell you guys that Nana was the first person I told I was gay?" They both recovered enough to shake their heads mutely. "I told her and she marched me down to the community center and signed me up for the GLB youth league, and herself up for PFLAG."
"So tell me Brian, my grandson leaves out all the juicy details." Nana persisted. Brian suddenly broke out into a huge grin and soon they were dishing like two drag queens. Michael just looked at me in amazement and shook his head.
An hour later I had run to the kitchen to get another pot of coffee, Nana goes through coffee like she goes through air, and both Michael and Brian were drinking it as well, so we were out. When I returned Nana had turned the conversation to Michael, and was enjoying hearing about life a Cleveland Academy, and telling him bits of gossip about some of the older faculty members.
"Tell me Michael, if I am speaking out of turn, will you?" Nana was suddenly serious.
"Of course." Michael looked curious.
"I just wanted to be sure, you did get your raise last week didn't you?"
Michael looked shocked, and nodded mutely. I turned to my grandmother suspiciously. "Nana, what did you do?"
"Now hear me out, both of you, before you yell at me. When you told me that Michael taught at Cleveland I was curious, so I took the liberty of looking into his teaching career. You must understand Michael that the academy was always a pet project of mine. So I was curious about this young man the Tobias told me about. I must say that people had nothing but good things to say about you, I even talked to some of your former students. You are very, very good."
"Thank You." Michael was blushing.
"Now Tobias, you must not be angry with me, you know I have access to all the schools financial records, and the salaries there are blind, no one knows what anyone else makes. This can cause some problems, you see, because it allows the teachers who come from rich families or who suck up to certain members of the board to get bigger raises then others. And that's one thing I learned about you Michael, that you refuse to suck up, and I respect that. So I just made it known to the board that you were a friend of mine. I didn't demand anything, I just pointed out what a good man you are and suggested that it would be a shame if we were to loss you. And I let those kiss-ups do the rest."
"Dude, you got a raise?" Brian asked.
"Yeah, a big one." Michael said as a smile spread over his face. "Louise I'd like to thank you, you should have seen the headmaster, he was nicer to me then I've ever seen him." Michael laughed.
"He is a bit of a prude isn't he?" The boys laughed.
Our brunch lasted until 2pm, when Nana finally let us go, insisting that now that my secret meeting was no longer a secret that the limo would take us home and pick me up every Sunday, as it had in the past. She took my arm as she walked us to the door.
"Now I know Sunday is usually your lazy day boys, but you must start coming with Tobias every two weeks, you are both such delightful company." She said with a twinkle in her eyes.
"We wouldn't miss it for the world Louise." Brian said with a grin.
"Good, and I want you to teach me how to cuss in Italian, I have an Italian assistant and I would very much like to know what those words are that he mutters at the computer so often. And I hear you are experts on the subject."
"That we are." Michael smiled. They both kissed nana on the cheek and stepped out on the stoop as nana hugged me tightly.
"Such nice boys." She said as she pulled away. "One of them has a crush on you."
"Nana, don't be silly."
"I'm not being silly, I can tell by the way he looks at you."
"Nana ..."
"Oh stop playing the innocent virgin, he has a crush on you."
"Which one?" I asked in wonder.
Nana smiled at me as if I were a small child. "Why the same one you have a crush on my dear."
"Nana, I don't have a crush on either one of them." I stated firmly, trying to convince myself as much as her.
"Of course you don't dear." She patted my arm condescendingly letting me know she thought I was full of shit. "You have a good week, my love." She called as she pushed me out the door. Leaving me very confused. Which one did I have a crush on? I wasn't even sure myself.