This work is copyright. I have given permission for a copy of this story to be placed on the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission agreement. But This work may not be copied or archived onto any other website or newsgroup without the prior written permission of the author.
This story is fiction, it didn't happen, to the best of the author's knowledge no one in the story exists in real life.
If you have a problem with reading stories of a homosexual nature, then bugger off. Also you shouldn't read on if you are below the age of consent, or you have the misfortune to reside in an area where reading and downloading this kind of material is against the law.
I owe a huge debt of thanks to Tom W and Lars for nipping and tucking, generally working the below into a much more readable narrative.
Chapter 22
The final lecture of the week was drawing to a close. Scott Blake was trying hard to concentrate, but it wasn't easy. He'd soon be heading back home to his two lovers, and he couldn't wait. As he watched the professor talking enthusiastically about upper respiratory infections, illustrating his words by pointing to a series of diagrams on the overhead projector, Scott looked down at the laptop computer which he'd been given as a going away present.
The Blake's had gone up to Robbie and Carl's house for their usual Saturday swim the day before Scott was due to leave for his new life in higher education. Scott had asked Chris if they could stay at home because he just wanted to be alone with his brothers, but Chris had put his foot down and told him that they were going. The youngest Blake was unaware that he was about to be treated to a going away party.
On entering the house, Carl had ushered the three brothers into the large dining room; Chris and Danny were in on the surprise, and Danny had had tremendous difficulty in keeping his mouth shut for the past week.
When Scott walked into the dining room, he gasped. The place was decked out with coloured streamers and balloons. A huge sign saying 'Scott's Surprise Party' was strung across the far wall.
"But, but . . . " he was lost for words.
His mother and her husband, as well as Larry Finch and Eric Townsend, the Blake brother's unofficial fathers, were there, as were Ralph and Ian.
"We couldn't let you go off to university without a send-off, could we?" Penny, Scott's mother, said, advancing on her youngest son.
"Oh, mum, I didn't think, well, all this fuss just for me."
"Silly boy," she crooned. "You are a very special person, Scott. Barry and I love you very much, and so does everyone else in this room."
"Now you've got to open your presents before we eat," Robbie said. He'd had a huge amount of fun organising the party. Chris had asked him a couple of weeks earlier if they could do something a little special for Scott on the last weekend before he headed off. Chris certainly hadn't expected anything as lavish as this, but Robbie and Carl had really taken to the shy and soft-spoken teenager, and they wanted to send him off in style.
"Presents? Oh I, I . . ."
"Scott, your mum's right, although we haven't known you for long, Carl and I, and Ben too, have grown to love you very much. Now here, start with this one." Robbie handed Scott a long thin box. "I'm told this'll come in useful later on, maybe not quite yet, but it'll be there when you need it."
Scott tore off the paper to reveal a black leather case, opening it up, he saw a stethoscope. "Oh, wow!" He put it round his neck. "I'll really look the part with this, won't I?" Although he was still rather surprised and a little uncomfortable with all the attention, Scott couldn't help sporting a huge grin.
"Now, Cub, Danny and I have bought you this, but Robbie had a hand in choosing it." Chris handed Scott a large wrapped box, which he tore into.
"Oh God!" Scott stared at the printing on the box. Robbie had, through his contacts, got a state of the art laptop.
"It should be powerful enough for most of the applications you'll need to run, there's another box around here somewhere with all the CD-ROM's and what have you, but the software has all been pre-loaded. The thing should be portable enough for you to take to lectures, too."
"Oh, wow, um, it's, well it's great, thank you, thank you very much." Scott was at a loss, he knew that such things were rather expensive; he'd used the PC at home, and had wondered how he'd manage at Uni without it.
Larry and Eric had bought Scott several large reference tomes, which they knew were on his reading list. Penny and Barry gave their son a whole load of new socks and boxer shorts. Penny could never shake herself from the notion that 'you can never have enough underwear'. Believing that all doctors' handwriting was illegible, Ralph and Ian gave Scott a gold-plated pen set.
Once all the gifts had been opened, examined and gushed over, the food was then brought in. Scott noted that many of his favourites were on offer.
"Our Scott's always had a sweet tooth, haven't you?" Penny observed as Sarah wheeled in a trolley laden with all kinds of desserts. Fortunately Scott had left room to get through three different puddings.
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, that, I think, wraps up all I want to tell you about some of the little nasties which can befall the upper respiratory tract," the Professor said as he switched off the OHP.
Scott saved his notes, switched off his laptop, slung it over his shoulder and made his way out of the rapidly emptying lecture theatre. His weekend had officially started.
Scott's Peugeot joined the steady stream of traffic that chiefly consisted of other students who were making their way to one of the other campuses, to their halls of residence, or, in Scott's case, home. He was glad that his timetable of lectures and lab sessions allowed him to leave university fairly early on Friday afternoons. He'd only been in classes for a couple of weeks; despite the fact that he thought he'd not be able to cope with being away from his two lovers, Scott had surprised himself, and he was really enjoying university life. He was aware that the burden of work was still pretty light, but he found the whole thing fascinating.
Scott had decided, despite concerned reservations from his family, to study medicine. He could pinpoint the day, the hour and the minute that he realised he wanted to become a doctor. It was when his big brother and lover, Chris, had injured his knee on the rugby pitch. Scott who was one of the spectators had been rather frightened because he didn't know what was going on or how he could help. Chris and Danny had questioned their brother about his motivation for wanting to pursue such a career path. Chris had also enlisted the services of Larry Finch, who was a doctor, to further test Scott's resolve.
"You could just take a first-aid course or something," Larry had told Scott. "If you want to be a doctor you'll have six years of university, and it's a full-time course, there won't be any long summer breaks which most other students have. After that you have one year of supervised work, and when you've survived that, there's the joys of being an underpaid and overworked junior doctor to look forward to. I know the government have made things a little better recently, but I promise you, Scott, you won't know what tiredness is until you've been on call for several days on the trot."
"I don't care, I want a career in medicine," Scott insisted.
"It's not like you see on the TV, you know. Dr Kildare wasn't real."
"I know that. I know it'll be hard, and there'll be times when I'll regret my decision, but, oh, I don't know, I just want to help people. You know, have someone come to me who's in pain or whatever, and I'll have the skills to cure them."
"You won't be able to cure everyone. Many conditions are chronic, the best you'll be able to do is to alleviate their symptoms a little. Then there are the heartrending cases where you'll watch someone as they slowly fade away in front of you. Death isn't a pretty thing, and you'll feel so bloody impotent at times because despite your many years of training, there'll be bugger all you can do to help them."
"I could help make sure that their last few days are as pain-free as I can make them. And anyway, I'm not sure which branch of medicine I want to go into. I might want to specialise in Paediatrics."
"That can be very rewarding," Larry said. "But if it's tough to see an old person die, just think what it would be like to try and look after a little child, who has spent most of it's life being irradiated and having toxic chemicals injected into it, because the poor mite was born with an incurable cancer."
"Well, I'll just have to keep a professional distance from that kind of thing, won't I?"
"Do you think you'll be able to do that? You're one of the sweetest young men I know. I'm not sure you'll be thick-skinned enough."
"Why are you trying to put me off, Dad Larry?"
"Because, love, you have to be sure that medicine is what you really want to do. It's a vocation, something you have to feel passionate about. You can't just base it on the fact that your brother hurt his knee once and you felt helpless."
"I know that's what started me off, but of course it's grown a lot since then."
"Scott, I have to say that if I were to choose a career for myself now, I wouldn't touch medicine with a barge pole. Being a GP, a family doctor, has got more to do with accounting, paper shuffling and politics than you might first think. Sure there's still the patient contact, but honestly, it isn't the romantic patting the patient's wrist as you visit their sick bed a la Doctor Finlay's Casebook, you know."
"There must have been a reason why you chose to do it?"
"Oh, yeah, my reasons were pretty similar to yours, love. I know I've painted a bleak picture for you, because I think you need to know what it's really like, but every now and again you come across a case that you've managed to catch in its early stages, and because of your diagnostic skills, you're pretty certain you've helped to save someone's life. Okay, if you end up being a GP like me, you'll have to pass the patient on to a specialist for treatment, but it'll have been you who first spotted it. That kind of thing makes all the other crap you have to shovel worth it."
"So you don't mind me following in my dad's footsteps, then?"
"Scott." Larry wiped a stray tear from his eye. "I'm a gay man, I never thought I'd have kids of my own, but you and your two brothers have brought more joy into both my and Eric's lives than you'll ever know. I'm so goddamned proud of you that you want to follow in your father's footsteps. Yes, Scott, if medicine is what you want to do, then I'll help you in every way I can."
Larry had been as good as his word. He'd called in a few favours, which got Scott interviews at some of the local universities; however, he'd told his son that he'd need almost perfect exam grades to get into medicine, something which the intelligent teenager had no problem in achieving. Much to Larry's delight, Scott had chosen to study at his alma mater, Liverpool University.
Scott parked his car outside his house. He knew that his big brother Chris would still be at work doing whatever he did in the Department Of Work And Pensions, but Scott was equally aware that his unofficially adopted brother, Danny, would be at home, as he was on the early shift at the hospital that week.
"Cub, I'm home!" Scott called out as he ran up the stairs to their bedroom. Pushing open the door, Scott saw a naked Danny lying on the bed. "Fwore, just what I've been wanting to see all the time I've been driving."
"You better not have speeded," Danny said, lifting up his head and seeing his lover do a rapid undress.
"No, course I didn't." Scott discarded the last of his clothing before leaping onto the bed and into Danny's arms.
The pair spent a couple of minutes with lips welded together, before Danny had to break free in order to breathe. "Jeez, Scott have you been saving up your passion?"
"Yeah, course I have. Who else do you think, apart from Lion, I'd be snogging?"
"There's that cute girl in the bedroom opposite you," Danny laughed.
When Danny and Chris had gone with Scott to see him safely installed into the halls of residence a couple of weeks earlier, Darla, a fine arts student, dressed in the traditional uniform of black clothing from head to foot, had spotted Scott and made it her business to get to know him. Her eyes almost popped out of her head, though, when she saw Chris emerge from the lift carrying a couple of suitcases. She soon realised that Chris was merely visiting, but the younger, and maybe slightly cuter Scott was the one who was moving in. Darla had 'simply insisted' on helping Scott unpack. Even a man as unused to feminine whiles as Scott couldn't fail to notice the barely concealed desire which Darla was exhibiting.
"Cub, don't remind me of that woman. She was knocking on my bedroom door last night, must have been nearly eleven o'clock, she had a jar of make-up or something and she said 'Oh, I was wondering if a big strong man like you could help a poor defenceless girl open this jar . . . ' I wouldn't care, but the lid on the darn thing was pretty loose anyway."
Danny laughed. "And was my brother cub in his PJ's and preparing for bed?"
"I don't wear Pyjamas as you know," Scott said, feeling along Danny's muscular abdomen. "God, I can tell rugby season's started again," he said as he moved further down to Danny's muscular thighs.
"You're not telling me she saw you in your birthday suit?" Danny lightly squeezed Scott's bottom, he traced a finger down the arse crack, lingering around the opening.
Scott groaned at the pleasant feelings of having his anus played with. "No, I put on a pair of boxers before I opened the door. Though when I'd finally gotten rid of the pesky woman, I noticed that the fly of the shorts was gaping open."
Danny laughed.
"I wondered why she kept looking at my crotch. God, she's becoming a menace. Though I don't like coming out to people, I'm really tempted to with her."
"She might look upon you as a challenge, you know, turn the cute gay boy straight?" Danny's finger slipped inside Scott's arse and he began to wiggle it around.
Scott groaned even louder. "I'll tell her that my brother Danny fancies her, and he's asked me to give her his phone number."
"You git." Danny found Scott's joy button and began to rub it. He then moved down to Scott's dripping manhood and engulfed it with practiced ease.
Once they'd relieved one another of a couple of rounds of stored up semen, the two men cuddled together and began to talk about their week. Although Scott had spent at least half an hour every evening on his mobile phone discussing what had happened to him, and finding out what was going on at home, they still found plenty to talk about.
Scott was starting to realise that his absence wasn't causing his other lovers to grow away from him. He was beginning to accept how much of a valued place he held within the pride, a point that Chris had tried to make to him long before Scott had gone off to university.
Scott knew that during his time at home he'd be reminded on numerous occasions how much he was loved. He gave Danny another deep soulful kiss, then lifted up his head and stared into his lover's eyes. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For just being there for me, at the other end of the phone. Knowing that you and Lion were batting for me has made all the difference. There's loads of kids, cause that's what a lot of them are, who sit in the student union celebrating that they've gotten free of their families. I just sit there and I know that I've got a family, okay, it's an unusual one. But I know that they love me, and they'll be waiting for me with open arms, and, yeah, stiff dicks, too," Scott giggled as he rubbed the said member.
"We're so proud of you, Scott. I've not got the brains to go to Uni, and Lion didn't go, so we're so glad you're going."
"And I'm really liking it."
"Despite the despicable Darla?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, despite her."
The phone rang then, Danny answered it, but soon passed it to Scott.
"Hello?"
"Hi, son, I thought you'd be home as soon as you could."
"Hi, Dad Larry."
"What are you doing?"
"Well, um, me and Danny are, well, getting re-acquainted."
Larry laughed.
The pair talked for a few minutes, Scott telling his dad the things he'd learned that week, Larry recounting how different it all sounded from his student days.
"Listen, love, I'll have to get off now, afternoon surgery's about to start."
"Well, if you've got any tough cases you want some advice on, just give us a ring."
Larry laughed, "Cheeky monkey, you've only been at college for two weeks and you're already trying to take over the profession."
The pair said goodbye, and promised one another that they'd have a more detailed discussion during Robbie and Carl's Saturday swim the next day. Ever since Larry and Eric had attended Scott's surprise party, they'd been included in the Saturday get-togethers, too.
Morgan Smith stared at the calendar on his PC's screen. He had less than two days of freedom remaining before he had to go back to the hell that was school. To Morgan, school was an exercise in survival. The constant games of cat and mouse with Lenny Short and his gang were taking their toll on him.
Loneliness was Morgan's constant companion. He lacked the confidence to form a bond with any of his fellow pupils, so he tended to drift along with the tide, very much by himself.
The nightly rounds of instant messaging with Darren were one of the few bright spots in Morgan's life. His parents' marriage, which had never been particularly strong, was heading rapidly towards its close. Morgan had lost count of the number of times he'd put a pillow over his head to block out the accusatory voices of the two adults as their seemingly endless arguing continued to rage.
Darren had found out that Morgan had enjoyed a tenuous friendship with Ben Powers, when the pair had gone to middle school together. When half term started, Darren had advised his 'cyber son', as Morgan had asked him to call him, to get in touch with Ben and spend some of the holiday with him. Morgan had rung Ben's old number, but it was no longer in use. He then remembered that he often called for Josh, the coloured kid who lived opposite. Morgan gathered his courage, and went across the street to ask if they knew what had happened to Ben.
Nancy informed Morgan that Ben now lived up at 'The big house,' but he was away during half term with her son Josh.
With drooping shoulders, Morgan re-crossed the street, went back into his house, and ascended the stairs back to his bedroom. Darren wasn't online, so Morgan sent him an email, pouring out more of his troubles to his 'cyber dad'.
The half term holidays passed all too quickly for Morgan. He'd resisted his mother's seemingly constant efforts to get him 'out to play with the other kids.' She, Morgan thought, just didn't understand what it was like to be an unpopular kid, one who none of the others would associate with. So he'd spent the holiday sequestered in his room, listening to music, reading the latest Harry Potter novel again, and Instant Messaging with Darren.
On the last Saturday before half term ended, Morgan rang Directory Enquiries and got Ben's new number.
"Can I speak to Ben, please?" Morgan had asked tentatively when Sarah, a voice that Morgan didn't recognise, answered the call.
"Is that you, Josh?"
"Err, no, it's Morgan."
"Oh," the voice obviously didn't know the name. "I'll go and get him for you."
Morgan heard the phone receiver at the other end being placed on a table. A moment or two later he heard, "Hi, Morgan did you have a nice break from school?"
"Um, well, it was okay, I suppose."
"Oh, right, me and Josh went to see my mum and her husband in Hereford, it was really great."
"Oh, I see. I was kinda wondering if you wanted to come over today and, um, well, do something?" Morgan asked hopefully.
"Err, no, sorry, Dad and, um, Uncle Rob have got people coming round this afternoon and I can't really get out of it." Ben didn't want to get out of going to the pool party; they were always a load of fun, and he'd felt distinctly uncomfortable when he'd last gone round to Morgan's house anyway.
"Oh, I see. What about tomorrow?" Morgan crossed his fingers.
"Oh, um, I always go to my Grandma and Granddad Powers for Sunday dinner, then Josh said he was coming over."
Morgan wanted to invite himself round, too, but if Ben had said no, he didn't think he could have handled the rejection. "Right, well, um, that's it then, I suppose. Glad you had a nice holiday, bye." Morgan put the phone down before his voice gave away his feelings. Sitting on his bed and staring out of the window, Morgan blamed the whole mess on his parents for not letting him go to St Winifred's with his friend. St Winifred's didn't have the likes of Lenny Short, he'd have been okay at that school, and his only real friend went there. But 'oh no,' his dad had been firm on the matter, he didn't want his son learning things Popery. Morgan had insisted that there wasn't much religion taught at the school, but George Smith had been adamant. Morgan stood up, pulled out a book from the shelf, and tried to lose himself in it; he'd speak to his cyber dad that night when he finished work.
As he watched over the gathering of his friends at the now traditional Saturday afternoon swims, Robbie was glad that he was able to provide a safe meeting place for like-minded people. The most recent recruits, Eric and Larry, fitted in well. They already knew Chris, Scott and Danny, so there had been no awkwardness about explaining their rather unusual situation. The unlikely pairing of Ian and Ralph were in attendance as usual, too. He could see that his son Ben was having a great time riding on Chris Blake's back as the latter coursed along the far lane of the pool. Robbie, of course, was most thankful for the presence of his partner, childhood sweetheart and all round good guy, Carl Powers.
Robbie had just returned from the kitchen with a tray full of soft drinks for his guests. "Okay, folks, refreshment time," he called out. Everyone climbed out of the pool and collected their drinks.
"Great set up you've got here," Eric announced.
"Yes, don't know why dad had the thing put in though, he couldn't swim, but I'm glad it's being put to such good use," Robbie said, wondering if he oughtn't to consider having more changing rooms built, there had been a little waiting around as people queued to change earlier that afternoon.
"Since the pool in town closed, Larry and I haven't managed to get in our usual exercise."
"Oh, I don't know about that," Larry leered.
"Please forgive him, he's just a dirty old man," Eric said, slapping his partner on the behind. "Behave, there are children present."
"Oh, don't worry about me," Ben spoke up.
"Thanks, it's great to be able to lark about a little more freely than we could when we went to the public pool," Eric continued.
"Yes, I agree," Larry said.
A few of the younger members of the group decided to play a game of Frisbee, however, Robbie, Eric, Larry and Ralph opted to sit round a table and talk.
"Scott seems to be enjoying himself at university," Robbie observed.
"Oh, yes, it all sounds so different from my university days, but I'm glad he's settling down to it. We worried that his, well, shy and fairly sheltered background would make the transition too hard," Larry said.
"He's made a couple of acquaintances at Uni, but no one he feels confident enough about coming out to," Eric added.
"No, I didn't come out to many during my university days, either," Robbie said.
"Oh, what did you read?"
"Mathematics."
"Oh, maths was something I was never fond of. I knew enough to pass the exams I needed, but I could never figure out why it was necessary to learn complex equations, I mean, do they have any practical uses?" Eric asked.
Ralph was feeling rather lost with the conversation. He'd left school with very few qualifications.
"Well." Robbie didn't want to embark upon a long dialogue of how maths played a key role in many professions. "Yes, I admit some of the more esoteric aspects of the subject are hard to fit into one's daily life. But you'd be amazed at how statistics, for example, come into play when dealing with things like market research, the analysis of stocks and shares and, oh, well, plenty of other trades." Robbie was fully aware that many didn't share his enthusiasm for the subject.
"And where did you read maths?" Larry asked.
"At Exeter College . . ."
Ralph saw his chance to contribute to the conversation and spoke up quickly. "Oh, I've always loved Devon. Mum and dad used to take me there as a kid. I used to love getting an iced-cream with a large dollop of clotted cream on it."
"Yes, they are nice, aren't they?" Robbie didn't want to show Ralph up. He, as Eric and Larry knew, was actually talking about Exeter College at Oxford University.
The four moved onto other topics, Ralph was asked how the pool maintenance business was fairing.
Eric then told a humorous tale concerning one of his patients who was so afraid of his dentist's drill that she "clutched a copy of the Gideon's Bible so tightly in her hand through the whole thing, you could see the nail marks in the book's cover once I'd finished."
Robbie then spoke of the story of the misunderstanding he'd had with Simon Featherstone and his late mother.
The four adults enjoyed themselves very much.
"Well, I suppose we better not let the youngsters have all the fun," Larry said, rising to his feet.
"True," Robbie replied, getting up, walking to the deep end and diving into the water.
Morgan kept looking at his watch; he knew that Darren would most probably be online after six that night. Darren was the joint manager of a PC repair business; Morgan liked computers, too, so they had often spent hours mulling over the various attributes of a new piece of hardware, which had just come onto the market. It was almost six, so Morgan fired up his PC hoping to get hold of Darren.
Potterfan1208: dad, need ur help, it's just so shitty at the minute.
Daz693: what's wrong son?
Potterfan1208: took ur advice about my friend, Ben. he got back from his holiday yesterday, rang him up, but doesn't want to see me.
Daz693: why?
Potterfan1208: dunno, just too busy with his new friend.
Daz693: u've got no other friends u can go to?
Potterfan1208: nope, no one, the olds have just started arguing again, am sick of it. gonna run away.
Daz693: son, don't do that. u've nowhere else to go. i know it's not nice at home, no friends and all that, but don't run.
Potterfan1208: why not? parents don't love me, Ben don't want to know, i get picked on at school all the time. i'm fed up with it.
Daz693: i know it isn't easy for you at the minute, son, but it'll get better, I'll help you.
Potterfan1208: can I come and live with my cyber dad? i need someone who'll love me, who'll give me a cuddle when I need one, and who won't shout at me.
Daz693: i can't do that, son. u know you can't live with me. u have to live with your mum and dad, that's the law.
Potterfan1208: the law is an ass.
Daz693: yep, son, it is, but it's still the law.
Potterfan1208: well if you won't let me live with you, then I'll do myself in then.
Daz693: NO, MORGAN, DON'T DO THAT, YOU MUST PROMISE ME YOU WON'T DO THAT!
Potterfan1208: y not, no one loves me.
Daz693: is there a teacher you can talk to, the school counsellor or someone? son, please, please don't do anything stupid.
Potterfan1208: no one will listen. I told them about Lenny, he stopped picking on me for a bit, but he's started up again, i daren't go back to school on Monday. crying.
Daz693: son, please don't cry.
Potterfan1208: let me come and stay with u. ur my last hope. god mum and dad are really going at it now. one of 'em will slam the door in a minute and leave the house, they always do. i hate it, mum's got some pills in the bathroom cabinet, i can take those, won't hear 'em arguing anymore, then.
Daz693: please, Morgan, don't do anything until tomorrow, once you've had a sleep on it, it'll all seem a bit easier.
Potterfan1208: y, it never has before. dad, I'm frightened, i don't like my life anymore.
Daz693: killing yourself isn't the answer, trust me, son, it isn't. Promise me you won't do anything until u talk to me tomorrow?
Potterfan1208: and if i still think the same tomorrow, can I come and live with u then?
Daz693; we'll talk about it tomorrow.
Potterfan1208: thanks dad. it's gone quiet downstairs, hope it stops like that.
Daz693: yes, son. speak to u tomorrow.
Morgan took himself off-line, and crept downstairs to see if he could get something to eat. His mother was sitting on the sofa her head in her hands. His dad was nowhere to be seen.
"You okay, mum?"
Sue Smith looked up; she had tears in her eyes. "You want some tea?"
Morgan was hungry, but he also needed some physical contact with another human, too. He needed to be reassured, valued, loved. He advanced towards his mother to give her a hug, but she pushed him away. "You go and get yourself some food, then love." She stood up and went upstairs.
"Is it alright if me and Josh play some games on my computer?" Ben asked Carl when Josh turned up at the house on Sunday afternoon.
"Yes, but, well, behave," Carl said. He'd talked to Ben earlier that day when he'd learned of Josh's visit. Carl had sat his son down and asked him to act responsibly with Josh.
"Dad, we're not gonna start making out in the middle of the hallway, you know."
All this was coming about far too soon for Carl's liking. Ben was only twelve, 'nearly thirteen,' Carl could hear Ben say in his head, but he thought he'd be spared this onerous parental duty for a few years yet; 'and to have him fall in love with another boy'. He just hoped he'd be able to cope.
Ben and Josh raced upstairs, no sooner had they got behind Ben's bedroom door before Josh picked him up. "Has my bear cub missed me then?" He treated Ben to a kiss. Ben had prayed that Josh wouldn't somehow go back on his feelings whilst the two had been separated after returning from Hereford. He was overjoyed to see that Josh felt just as strongly as he'd done previously.
"Oh, Bear, I've missed you, I really have. And has my big brown bear missed his cub, too? Oh sorry, shouldn't call you brown, it's kinda racist."
Josh treated Ben to a wide grin, exposing his beautifully white teeth. "Don't be silly, I am brown, and I know you don't mean it in a nasty way. And, yeah, I've missed my little 'white bear cub' very much. Couldn't sleep right last night without having him snuggled up next to me."
"No, I couldn't sleep properly, either. We'll have to see if we're allowed to have a sleep-over, maybe next weekend?"
"Okay, I'll try and work on the olds."
Ben laughed. "Wanna see this cool game on my computer? It's great with the high speed connection."
"Sure."
There was only one chair in the room; Josh didn't know where he should sit.
"You have the chair, I'll sit in your lap," Ben giggled.
"Sure, okay."
The boys sat down, though it would be fair to say that they didn't give the game their full attention.
Robbie and Carl were sitting together in the Drawing room. The weather had turned chilly, and Robbie had set the fire earlier that day, so he and Carl could snuggle up together in front of it. Robbie had adopted his usual position of laying against Carl's left side, with Carl's arm loosely draped over him. If he concentrated hard, he could hear the wonderfully reassuring sound of Carl's heart beating.
"What you thinking, love?" Robbie broke the silence to ask.
The two had reached a stage in their relationship where they didn't need to constantly fill the silences with speech; they could quite contentedly just sit in the same room together and not feel uncomfortable about it.
"Ben, and how quickly he's growing up. It'll be his thirteenth birthday at the end of November."
"Does it make you feel old?"
"A bit, yeah. As a parent you kinda get ideas for what you'd like to have your kid do."
"I guess so." Robbie hadn't been a parent for very long.
"He asked me a few months ago, I think it was about when we first got back in touch, if I was disappointed with him because of his arthritis. He told me that he'd not be able to play sports like I did, or even become a joiner like me."
"What did you tell him?"
"I suppose before we found out about his disability, I wanted him to be a carbon copy of me. Suppose that's what every dad wants for his son, but when I realised that he couldn't be, I wasn't disappointed. Ben's got his own talents, he's brainy, and so he'll be able to do things with his mind, not like his dad."
"Car, you know what my answer to that one is."
Carl leant down and kissed the top of Robbie's head. "I know, sweetheart, three A-levels, two at the highest grade, doesn't make me stupid."
"Exactly. But you've always wanted to work with wood, like your dad."
"Yeah, though dad was more of a general builder, but I wanted to be like him, yes."
"I'm glad that you're not disappointed with Ben. I know I'm really new to this parenting game, and I'm very biased, but Ben has a special sensitivity which, oh, I don't know, he could use in one of the caring professions, nursing, psychology, anything like that. But it'll be years before he'll have to make up his mind."
"I know."
"All we want for our son is for him to be happy, and Car, Ben's a happy kid."
As Morgan listened to his parents rowing again, he determined to take action. He'd had enough. He'd slept on his decision as Darren had asked him to, but nothing had changed. He'd tried to approach his mother the previous evening, but she was too tied up with her own problems to want to deal with his. There was little point in telling a teacher, they didn't help all that much last time when Lenny and his gang were picking on him. 'The worm is about to turn,' Morgan told himself as he packed a few of his clothes into a holdall. Once he'd got everything he thought he'd need, he put the bag in the far corner of his room and threw a blanket over it. Not that his parents entered his room that often, anyway.
In his small flat above his PC repair business in the Stretford area of Manchester, Darren Phillips sat at his computer waiting for Morgan to come online. He'd spent a restless night unable to get the image of the small and frightened twelve-year-old boy out of his head. The two had exchanged pictures some time ago. Darren had printed out Morgan's photograph, he'd framed it and put it on his desk, telling everyone that it was a picture of his nephew, it being too complicated and embarrassing to go into an explanation of their true relationship.
As a child, Darren had been very shy, he'd fallen for Peter Gibson, one of the bigger and most popular kids in his year. The two had become friends; Peter was agreeable to the friendship so long as he could pretend to himself that what they were doing wasn't gay. Darren was a useful repository for Peter's stored up semen; none of the girls who Peter knew would put out often enough for him. When Darren had become more comfortable in their admittedly uneven relationship, he'd asked if Peter could give him a blowjob for a change. That, as far as Peter was concerned, would make him gay, and he refused. Darren continued to press the point; Peter saw it as Darren whining, something he couldn't stand, so he decided to end their relationship. Peter told everyone in school that Darren Phillips was a queer; he'd tried to kiss him in the toilets. The reality was far different; Peter had never permitted Darren to kiss him, but Peter was a member of the 'in crowd', Darren was not. Not surprisingly, everyone believed Peter's version of events.
The remainder of Darren's school career was spent in a seemingly endless vortex of pain and misery. It wasn't surprising, therefore, that Darren so readily identified with Morgan's plight, though Morgan had never given Darren any indication as to his sexual orientation.
Once Darren had reached the age of 16, he very gratefully left the confines of the comprehensive school, and studied at a sixth form college across the city, where few people knew him. The fact that everyone who was there wanted to be there also helped. Darren had shown an aptitude for computers, and his skills happened to come to the attention of William Thompson, the manager of a small independent PC repair business. Darren had entered the shop one day in search of weekend employment; although William wasn't hiring, something about the rather shy, brown-haired, blue-eyed teenager appealed to his latent paternal instincts, so he decided to take the lad on for a month's trial.
The years rolled by; William never regretted his earlier decision to employ Darren, and the two formed a very tight bond. William was gay, he had no son to pass on his knowledge to, and as Darren's own father had died at an early age, the two found themselves fulfilling a need within the other.
Darren remembered looking up from a shop display one day, only to be confronted with a rather old and haggard-looking Peter Gibson. Darren kept his cool, even though he wanted nothing more than to punch the bastard's lights out for causing him so much pain during his early life. Darren was secretly pleased by the way Peter bowed down to his gorgon of a wife as she proceeded to belittle and undermine him in public.
The couple left after Darren had sold them an overly priced and insufficiently powerful machine, which Darren was fairly certain would provide them with endless hours of frustration.
The dinging of the instant messenger programme, indicating that Morgan had just logged on, broke into Darren's thoughts of his past life and forced him to confront what was happening in the here and now. He was beginning to realise that he'd stepped into a real minefield regarding his online friendship with Morgan. When the two had instant messaged one another the day before, he had asked for a twenty-four hour breathing space. Thinking up a plan of action, Darren had decided to try and get Morgan's address. Although he hated the thought of betraying his cyber son, he knew that he'd have no choice. When a child threatens suicide, things became serious.
Potterfan1208: dad, thought about what u said.
Daz693: that's good, son.
Potterfan1208: tried to tell mum how I feel, but she wasn't interested.
Daz693: sorry to hear that.
Potterfan1208: still want to run away, nothing's changed, still shitty living here.
Daz693: i know it isn't nice at the minute, but it should get better.
Potterfan1208: won't. mum & dad still argue every night, can't go back to school cause i'll get hit, teachers don't do anything, no friends, it's horrible. crying.
Daz693: don't cry son, please. i know it's not nice.
Potterfan1208: want to come and live with u dad, u understand, u love me, no 1 else does.
Daz693: That's not easy son. I could get into trouble, u could get into trouble, too. Ur not old enough to leave home.
Potterfan1208: ur my last hope.
Daz693: isn't there a friend's mum or dad u could talk to?
Potterfan1208: got no friends, nobody likes me.
Daz693: what about a teacher?
Potterfan1208: all useless, dad, if you don't want me either, got this bottle of mums pills, took it from bathroom cabinet yesterday.
Daz693: SON, NO!
Potterfan1208: no hope, no friends, no love, no point.
Darren read the last statement on his screen and began crying, 'Oh, son, I feel for you so much, I honestly do. I'll have to do it.'
Daz693: give me ur address, son, u need rescuing.
(two minute pause)
Daz693: did u get my last?
Potterfan1208: Can't tell u my address.
Daz693: can't get u safe otherwise.
Potterfan1208: were u gonna tell the authorities where i live?
Darren didn't think that Morgan would have worked that out in the emotional state he was in. If he answered 'yes' to the question, he'd lose the tenuous contact with Morgan, and given that he was in a very fragile state, Darren didn't know what Morgan would do. Trust, Darren knew, was vital.
Daz693: what if u meet me somewhere, then.
Potterfan1208: Yes, dad, thank u, u live in Manchester, don't u?
Daz693: yes, son.
At his end, Morgan maximised the window of his Internet browser, and looked up the times of trains to Manchester.
Potterfan1208: can be at Piccadilly at ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
Daz693: u sure son? it's a big step.
Potterfan1208: will u be there, know what u look like, if any cops or social workers with u, i'll run away, u'll never see me again, i'll take bottle of pills with me.
Darren realised that he didn't have any other option. He'd hoped to remain out of it by contacting Social Services, but Morgan had been too sharp; Darren would have to meet him and not have anyone with him. It was just too risky to tell anyone and have Morgan see them. Darren realised that Morgan was on the edge, and he didn't want to be responsible for pushing him over it.
Daz693: i'll be there, son, i'll be on my own too. Dad's promise.
Potterfan1208: u've saved my life, i luv u dad.
Daz693: i love you too son, now get a good night's sleep.
Potterfan1208: till tomorrow, bye bye dad.
Darren hoped that he knew what he was doing. He doubted that he did, but he realised that he'd little option; his heart went out to the troubled pre-teen, he just hoped that Morgan wouldn't take the pills he said that he'd got. Darren stiffened; he hoped that this wasn't some elaborate hoax, or a means of entrapping a paedophile. 'God, what have I gotten myself into?' Darren decided he'd talk to Morgan in a public place; there were plenty of seats in the railway station, maybe he could persuade the boy to go back home again.
Darren picked up the phone and rang his business partner and father in all but the genetic sense, William, to tell him what he'd done. If the shit hit the fan, maybe telling William in advance might help.
"Okay, boys," Robbie called out from the top of the stairs. "I think it's time we took you back home, Josh."
Robbie didn't want to get any closer to the bedroom, he really didn't want to know what his son and his, well, friend, were getting up to.
In point of fact, Josh was giving Ben a massage. They'd discovered a site on the net that gave details of erotic massages. As Ben's back was a little sore, they thought they'd combine the need for the massage with something a little more interesting.
"Okay, Dad Rob, we'll be down in a minute," Ben called out.
Robbie retraced his steps; he was joined a few minutes later by a couple of giggling schoolboys. "Ready to go home now, Josh?"
"Yes, thanks for letting me come over."
"That's okay, you'll have to come and have a swim next time."
"Cool, thanks."
Robbie wasn't surprised that when both boys got into the back of the car, Lady, who had been with Ben up in his room, went with them in the car, too.
Once Robbie had parked up at Josh's, he said. "Pick you up tomorrow as usual, okay?" As he was turning his head, Robbie just managed to catch sight of the two boys letting go of one another's hands.
"Um, yeah, thanks, Robbie." Josh got out of the vehicle.
From his bedroom window, Morgan saw Robbie's car arrive at Josh's house, he couldn't fail to notice Ben's smiling face. 'You never looked that happy when you were my friend.' He watched Josh get out, close the door and wave his friend off. 'And even though I tried to make friends with you, Josh Pearson, you were never interested. I'll be much better off with my new dad'. Morgan let the curtain fall back into place; he got undressed, laid out his clothes for the next day, and settled down in his bed, hoping to dream about his new and happier life in Manchester.
To be continued.