Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2012 13:45:34 -0800 (PST) From: Tchase Mcphee Subject: STReNGTH FRoM WeaKNesS 05 The story below is a work of fiction, set in the format of reality. Any resemblances to real people, alive or in the hereafter, is entirely coincidental in nature. It is not meant to accurately reflect upon persons, of continents or islands, in countries, counties, cities, towns, villages, neighborhoods, streets, cul-de-sacs, nor governmental or non-governmental areas, which the story is staged. If a sexual scene involving male-to-male relationships offends you, then why are you here? Seriously, if guy-to-guy sex stuff makes you barf or is going to screw up your mind, you should not read this story. Additionally, if you are under 18 years of age, in most states and countries, you are not allowed to read this story, by law. Check with your local laws regarding such. % Sexual safety matters. Remember guys, this is fiction. In real life, use protection. % STReNGTH FRoM WeaKNesS 05 WriTten by T. Chase McPhee % Dean had to laugh. It was fun playing `policeman' at the pool, first cautioning Michael and Miguel not to do stuff which influence Scott, daring him to do something which would dangerous for the fourteen year old. Miguel had shared with them, he had been cliff diving since he was eight years old, showing no fear when it came to diving off of Michael's shoulders. Too, the three slowly became aware of Dean slipping into the position of law and order, but didn't mind it. With Miguel and Michael, they loved being tamed by a hot, muscled man. From early on in the day, Scott's opinion of Dean's interaction with him was more on the level of an older brother, watching out for him. Next test for Dean's authority came, when two of the models, Josh and Dmitri, show up for a swim. Draped over one shoulder, each had a long towel, but falling over their left or right pecs, it clearly missed covering up their junk! "You guys can't come here right now, unless you're wearing `gear'?" The models quickly glance down upon themselves, seeing the place Dean meant covering up, Josh reciting from the most high, "Gerard doesn't have a problem with it?" "He does now," Dean directs to the two, taking the tip of each towel, swinging it upwards till it hid cock, balls and hairy masses. "Who are you to tell us?" Dmitri questions, slapping Dean's hand away. When put in position of Scott's welfare, Gerard more or less gave Dean reign over the whole of the compound. He even questioned Gerard on certain terms, repeating, "If you have a problem with it, take it up with Gerard." "Hmm," Dmitri, whom seemed the alpha of the pair, grumbles. Turning, he said, "We'll be back!" Dean just smiled, turning back to the fun to be had in the pool. He was a little disappointed, Michael taking away his new responsibility, teaching Scott how to swim. In the back of his mind he wondered if Dmitri and Josh would be back at the pool, though he knew, if they went to Gerard to discuss the matter, they would be returning in speedos. In a way, he had a good feeling the two would not even confront Gerard. After all, where else could they hold up at where they had unlimited exercise, meals, grooming for a position in the fashion world, not to mention a healthy stipend for personal spending. He giggled, thinking of one last reason, in the company of other beautiful men! Coming out of a backstroke, Scott says, "Dean, you just broke your own rule!" "I did?" he asks, coming up from a deep dive in the pool, right in front of Scott, almost exhaling his spit in his face. "You just spit in my face!" Scott wipes his whole had over his face. "I did?" He asks facetiously, "I'm so sorry." "You said if I dove in the pool, for punishment I would have time out." "You did say that, amigo," Miguel reinforced. Michael, giggling says, "It's good enough for Scott, but not for you?" Getting even for Michael's remark, the twenty-two year old wrinkling up his nose for effect, Dean says, "Right. I agree and since Miguel and I broke the rules, we should have time out." "Me?" Miguel questions. "Why me?" "You dove off of Michael's shoulders, right?" Rather than fight `city hall', Miguel asks, "How long it time out?" as he and Dean exit the pool. Dean, jumping down on his belly, "As long as it takes you to do fifty pushups!" Scott and Michael were all ears and eyes, watching Dean go down first, Miguel hesitating and then scrunching down to his stomach against the slate tiles. "What are they doing?" "Looks like pushups," Michael replies. "We used to have to do them in school. I could never do more than five or six. You?" Scott asks. "Oh, I can do a lot more than five or six. Maybe thirty or forty. Having a good core is good for surfing and other sports. Even good for walking!" "What's a core?" Michael explains, "This part of your..." he realizes in the water is tough to see the outline he's drawing on his front, switching to, "it's like an apple core. The membrane where the seeds come first and then the rest of the apple is built around it. Most fruits are like this. The core holds everything in place. If humans didn't have cores, which is a square forming the chest and stomach, we wouldn't be able to perform things like walking, bending over and kneeling down, while keeping our bods upright. A strong core is important." "I wonder if mine is strong?" "If you're not sure, it doesn't matter, because a strong core is something that is constantly ongoing. You have to work at keeping it strong all the time." About the time they finished their talk on the core, Dean was finishing up, doing his last rep and jumping up. He watched Miguel `trying' to pump out his last five. Squatting down, he mentions softly, so Scott could not hear, "Also helps to develop your `fuck' muscles!" Stopping, rolling to one side, Miguel can't help it, but see the bulge of Dean's speedo, "Wow! You're right Dean. Nice fuck muscle you got there!" "Nah," Dean says, "it was watching your hot ass going up and down!" There was no time for rebuttal, Scott coming towards them in a light gallop, yelling, "Dean, you gotta help me get a strong core. Michael says!" "He does, does he?" Dean focuses on Scott. "Like you, only trying to help the kid out!" Michael replies. Telling it like he saw it, Dean says, "You better think of helping your boyfriend out!" Picking up on it, Scott asks Michael, "Seriously, are you and Miguel boyfriends?" Michael looks to Miguel, "Are we?" "Sure. Why not!" Miguel replies. They had that certain smile between themselves in which two guys settle on the mental aspect of feeling a together relationship. As for Dean, "Ready for some pushups, Scott?" "Why? What'd I do wrong?" "Nothing. I just thought maybe you would want to start on becoming a muscle-man like me?" Dean poses, showing off his swimmers build, rippled six pack. Scott looked up, eyes taking in every detail, pec fuzz, stripe, which seemed like it was leading to Dean's deep innie, then the treasure trail. He wanted to look further, out of curiosity, but didn't feel it proper. "You sure look `built', Dean!" "More than two other characters we know," Dean looks to his side, Miguel and Michael standing there. Scott comes up with a brilliant plan, "Then how come we all don't work out? Cool! You can be our trainer, Dean!" Michael had his arm over Miguel's shoulder. When Miguel suddenly pops up with, "Uh, I think I better get back to the restaurant," Michael caresses his boyfriend's neck muscles, "You're not going anywhere!" "Hey, mind if I take a dip?" Their attention was drawn to the side of the pool, Louis LaFeet, `Louis' being pronounced `Louie', entered the scene in a rather baggy swimsuit, a little stomach propped over the eighteen year old cub's drawstring. Taking matters into his own hands, Scott replies, "We don't mind, but first you have to work out with us!" Dean smiled, thinking about it, like Miguel, Louis was ready to lay some story on them about having something more important to do. The last laugh was on him, Louis saying, `sure', but quickly directing his attention to Michael and Miguel, "Who are you dudes?" "Michael and Miguel," Scott replies, leaving who is who for Louis to figure out. However, as Scott returns his attention to Dean, trying to find how many pushups is expected of him, Louis more importantly finds how which name applies to whom. "Me Michael, him Miguel," Michael squares it off with Louis. "Hey, ya know, you two could be brothers?" Miguel says, "Yeah, right Louis. I'm the brother with the dark tan?" "Almost brothers? That okay?" Louis asks. "Uh, guys?" Dean calls their attention, "You want to get your butts over here and catch up to Scott?" "We better get going!" Michael taps his boyfriend in the stomach, steps between Miguel and Louis, then hikes over to where Dean is drilling Scott on the exercise. Soon enough, Miguel and Louis join them. "Owch, this is hot!" Louis says, his stomach touching the hot tiles each time he lowered his bod. The others had no problem. Dean, `feeling pity', suggests, "If you do them faster you won't have that problem, Louis?" "Yeah, faster, right," Louis replies, already at the end of his ability to do another pushup. Scott was amazed he could still pump out the pushups, but it might have been he was trying to keep up with Miguel and Michael, who were racing against each other. In between breaths, Scott yells out, "Why don't you help him, Dean?" Scott meant Louis, trying to push his chest up, with his knees to the tiles. "Help him, huh?" Walking over to Louis, Dean straddled the cub with his feet. Reaching down, he slid his hands under Louis chest. He smiled, his hands passing right over both pecs. "Get ready, Louis!" Louis smiled. This was way too sensuous. He wondered if Dean meant it the same way, Louis claiming, "Oh yeah. I need a lot of help!" For the first two, Dean lifted, as well as cheered Louis on, "Yeah that's it Louis. You can do it." Scott pay more attention to Dean helping Louis, thinking it kind of him. Miguel says to Michael, "I think I need some help too, amigo!" "Oh-h-h-h-yeah," Louis suddenly says, turning his head to look at Dean, smiling, because he was tweaking Louis' nips by scissoring his fingers together. Then with suddenness, he made Louis whimper, dropping the load from his hands. "Okay! Jumping jacks, men!" They stood in a straight line, Dean in front of them, facing them, starting them out. Michael stood next to Miguel, then Louis, ending with Scott. Into the second jumping jack, Scott couldn't help but spy on Louis, his pecs wobbling up and down, but more than that, even though he had boardshorts on. After twenty-five reps, Dean sent them all into the pool, Scott letting the other three go first. Dean hung back, asking, "I suppose if you never learned how to swim, you don't know how to do a cannonball?" There was another look on Scott's face, some Dean deemed possible it did not have to do with swimming, asking, "What?" "Nothing," Scott just smiled at Dean. "Nothing means something, so what is it?" Dean got him there, Scott replying, "You won't get mad at me?" "If it's something that's going to make me mad, I'll get over it. What?" Having all the answers, Scott figuring Dean would have good followup after popping the next question, he replies, "It looked funny when you were doing jumping jacks and your swimsuit was bouncing up and down!" he giggles, possibly out of embarrassment. "Oh really?" Dean replies. "Well get used to it. It's something guys can't help." "How come you can't use duct tape to tie it down?" Scott laughs. "Are you going to cannonball into the pool or do I have to make you?" "Okay," he accepted the challenge, but hesitated for a time. "Here, take my hand. When I jump, you jump," Dean says, shaking his hand out. Taking it, Scott says, "You won't let go?" "What? And let you drown? Not with all the plans Gerard has for you this summer!" He didn't give Scott much time to think, but it set his brain moving, like a pinball machine, each facet touching on a subject, including surfing, learning Spanish, doing exercises, swimming, but the big splash cutting off his trail of thinking. They wanted to horse around, but knowing Scott's swimming abilities, instead opted out to share in the responsibility of keeping the kid afloat. "Yeah, let's see that again, Dean," Miguel says, when Scott asks him to dive under the water from a standing position. "Nice!" Michael, who was in cahoots with his boyfriend, watching the tight-wadded buns pop up, before going under. Not wise to their shenanigans, Scott looks at it from a learning point of view, "That was cool Dean. Can I try?" "Sure," Dean replies, but before returning to where Scott was waist deep in the water, scopes out the lounging chair, where Louis had retreated to. Already Scott was getting it on with his summer education, maybe not in the way Gerard had provided for him, but sensed something from Dean's gaze. When Dean popped up from under the water and with Michael and Miguel in the deep end of the pool, there wasn't any other pair of ears to hear him say, "Were you checking out Louis?" Dean knew had been snagged, let alone by a fourteen year old who seemed to be catching on mighty quick, especially after his education today in the restaurant, Michael and Miguel making plays for each other. "You're a pretty smart guy, Scott." From the way Dean replied, Scott knew he was on the money, but there was an obstacle in his thinking of Dean and Louis matching up as a pair of guys, "But Louis is fat!" "Louis? Fat? No, trust me, Louis is not fat. Kevin James... now that's fat!" Sheepishly, Scott says, "I like Kevin James." It made Dean smile, the twenty-eight year old saying, "Do I detect a crush here?" It made Scott's smile turn into a grin, him barely saying, "Maybe?" For a moment they smiled at each other. Scott finally broke the ice, "Oh, but Louis. You and him don't match up at all!" "We don't? And why not?" Dean folds his arms over his wet abs. "You're so muscular. Aren't you looking for a boyfriend who is more like you?" "How can you talk like that, when you're madly in love with Kevin James?" "I'm `not' madly in love with Kevin James. I just think he's cool." "Oh right," Dean says, like he's unbelieving. "And what do you think is `cool' about him?" Using hand gestures, as well as words, Scott replies, "I saw a picture of him with no shirt on. He's got like these round pecs and stomach and it's all covered with hair. I just thought it looked awesome." "Hey, Dean?" They put their conversation on hold, Dean turning around and saying, "What is it, Louis?" From his lounge chair to standing before them, Louis places a hand on each side of his hips, saying, "All this swimming kind of kicked up my appetite. What do you say we call out for pizza?" "It's almost dinner time, Louis and one thing you don't need on top of dinner is pizza!" Bending over a little, Louis addresses Dean, "Am I hearing you correctly," he shakes his head, "are you saying I'm fat?" Getting Dean off the hook, standing right next to him, like showing his support, Scott says, "Not as fat as Kevin James, but if you don't watch what you eat, you could be?" "What is this, a conspiracy?" Scott didn't know exactly what Louis meant, but with Dean laughing his ass off, he was sure it was okay to laugh, so did. Feeling a little guilty, Scott says, "But it's okay if you are, because we like you anyway, Louis." Nudging Dean in the arm, "Don't we Dean." "Yeah, right," Dean replies, "we love you as much as we love our mothers!" Feeling a hand slide down his arm and sensing it plop into the water, Dean asks a frowning Scott, "What'sa-matter?" "I think I loved my mom, but I never really knew her. They say I was three years old when she died?" he looked back up to Dean. "Oh I'm really sorry. I'm such an idiot." His wet ass landing on the tiles, made the two look at Louis, who slid off the side and into the pool, saying, "You know this is cool, because I never got to know my mother either!" The eighteen year old's words brightened Scott up a little, "Really? What happened?" "Complications, is what the doctors say happened when I was born, though I don't really know the extent of how it all made her... pass away. My dad brought me and my brother up until I was thirteen years old and then we got shipped out to my uncle's farm in Minnesota." "Why? What happened to your dad?" While listening, Dean slowly dipped his bod into the pool, leveling out to a floating position, but still listened intently to the two conversing. "He got all upset over Jason, that's my brother, telling him he was gay. He went out to a bar, got drunk and when he came home, starting getting mad at Jason all over again. I watched for a few seconds, him slapping Jason around, but then felt so bad for him. He was only sixteen and having a big guy like my dad punch and kick him, well I knew I couldn't take him on myself, so picked up a lamp and smacked him right in the back of the head!" The excitement of the story, the way Louis was telling it, made Dean sit up, "You didn't kill him, did you?" "No. It knocked him out though. Jason was hurting real bad, so I called for help. They took our dad out in handcuffs, because by the time the cops came he was awake. But Jason couldn't even stand up, so they had to take him out in an ambulance." "That sucks!" Dean replies. "That sure does suck," Scott tries out the phrase. "Anyway, he went to jail and Jason and me wound up milking cows!" Louis laughing it off made Dean and Scott feel a little bit chipper. So much, Dean says, "You know, I could go for a couple of slices of pizza myself?" Instead of having pizza delivered, Dean was sure Gerard was in his office, so trekked, with damp suit, through the house and knocked on the door. He heard some commotion going on and smiled, almost figuring out what was going on behind the door. With disheveled hair, Gerard answers through a crack in the door, "Hey, what's up Dean?" He could tell Gerard didn't have a shirt on, probably nothing from there on down as he says, "Louis, Scott and I, we're going out for pizza and thought you might like to come? That is if you're not `busy?'" "Matter of fact, I'm on a conference call right now. Maybe another time, thanks!" With nothing else left to say, the door was closed, Dean walking back to the pool, a smile on his face and not meaning to condemn, but singling out that Gerard had just fibbed to him, shaking his head. When he didn't find them at the pool, he figured Scott went on upstairs to change. "Knock, knock," he said, banging on Scott's door. "Who is it?" Scott looks up at Dean in crack. "Did you order two pizzas, sir?" Opening the door, Scott asks, "Where's the pizzas?" "I just wanted to tell you I'm going down to my dungeon room and changing and will be right back up." Scott asks, "Why do you call it a dungeon room?" "Um, does four dreary walls, no window and a few throw rugs on a concrete floor give you a clue?" "Really?" One of his history teachers always used a quote, one Scott liked, "Sounds like the dark ages!" "Dark is right. Be back in a second, okay?" "I'll be ready," Scott replied, closing Dean out and scuttling around for clothing. As he did, he had a short thought, not thinking it at the time, to check, if Dean was checking him out from not having any clothes on. It was a temporary thought and five seconds later was looking through his new closet wardrobe, matching up shirt and pants. All ready, lying down on his bed, hands behind his head and looking at the ceiling, Scott finally checked out the room, from window to wall, the other wall, the other wall, then the last wall, the window on the other side of his bed. He then voice out loud, "It's not fair!" Scott was thinking about Dean's `dungeon room'! "Knock, knock?" came a voice and two raps on the door, sequenced with the thuds. He knew it wasn't Dean's voice, could have sworn it was, "Oh hi, Louis." "Nice pad," Louis says, inviting himself in. "Dean says the same thing." "Says what?" "`Knock, knock,' when he knocks on the door." "Does he?" Louis replies. Little did anyone know, it is how Louis came by the way of approach, hearing Dean do it, but sometimes it was used to shame one of the models in the gym and Dean knocking his fist on a head, instead of a door! "Yup. You both have a lot in common," Scott says. "Oh really?" Louis asks, with his signature hands on hips stance. "What else might we have in common?" Thinking on it, it's all Scott could come up with. So, rather than name things they had in common, thought oppositely, "Your chubby and he's muscular?" It didn't cut it, Louis standing there for a moment, trying to make sense of it. "Not, I guess?" Scott says. Rather than make Scott out to be a total failure, Louis replies, "Y'know, I bet if I got some muscles, we could be?" "Yeah, we can all workout together. Hey, do you know how to surf, Louis?" "Oh sure," Louis replies, "I always `surf' when I'm at the beach!" Of course Louis didn't mean standing on a surf board! "Cool! If you aren't doing anything else when we go, you could go surfing with Dean and me when Michael teaches me how." "If I'm not busy around here," Louis replies. Curious, Scott asks, "What do you do to be busy, Louis?" "You don't think they make clothes for only guys with zero fat, do you?" "You model fat guys' clothing?" After saying it, "I mean, plump guys?" "For future reference," Louis puts it, "it's chubs or cubs, unless it's an older dude, then say, `bear'." In the middle of explaining it, Dean showed up, but stood outside the door, listening through the crack in the door. Entering with his famous, `knock, knock', he says, "Ready to go Yogi?" Placing his hand to the side of his mouth, like Louis was only talking to Scott, he says, "I think we've been spied upon!" Miguel, cluing them in to the best pizza in town, wasn't the town Scott now resided in, but rather off of Peek's Pike, a medium-sized hamlet just on the other side of the mall. Far as the county geography went, Cavenpot Commons was central to the upscale communities surrounding it. Dean pulling one of Gerard's trucks into the parking lot, Scott, all eyes, says, "You call this a pizza place?" "Wait!" Louis bends his head to look through the dash, "I think I've been here before!" "A hot date?" Dean asks, joking. No joke to Louis, "He was probably the hottest cub..." then, minding his manners, a minor in the cab with them, saying to Scott, "Forget we mentioned anything," he changes view, looking at Dean. "Oh right," Dean replies. He had a lot of superlatives going for him, one, no nonsense. However, when it came to Scott, he judged the fourteen year old being able to take something and instead of application to a teen world, put it in an adult perspective, "Like we're going to forget you mentioned meeting Mr. Wild-cub-in-the-woods, Louis?!" He could have said a lot about meeting Aldo, being one arm of Casadio's Italian Family Restaurant, yet waited to see if his former boyfriend ever progressed from waiter to a more important level of the family business. Their first meetup, two years ago, would make Louis sixteen, his ideal cub at the time, eight years older. Louis figured it might get him into trouble with Dean if he mentioned anything about meeting up with an older guy, while he was underaged, not being sure how Scott would take it. But `dammit,' Dean had to bring it up, "Oh really? And when was this?" Louis could have kissed Scott, in a thankful sense, him stating, "I thought we came here to eat? Can we talk `General Hospital' another time, guys? I'm kind of like, starved?" From sitting behind the wheel, Dean asks, "He look starved to you, Louis?" "About as starved as me!" Louis replies, humorously patting his slightly protruding stomach. "You, Louis?" Dean hits on him, "You look like you just put away a ten course meal!" He laughs. Louis, leaning over in front of Dean, with his right hand, reaches for the door handle, reprimanding, "Shut up and get out!" If Scott wasn't there, Dean would have accused Louis of reaching for something else, but just minimally adjusted his words, "Watch it, Louis!" One thing he could not contain himself from doing, is looking to see Scott's reaction. Handling himself beautifully, in Dean's eyes, Scott scolds, "Yeah, Louis, be careful where you put your hand!" He smiled back at Dean. "Are you two ganging up on me?" Louis asks, Dean sliding out of the car. Both Dean and Louis are struck-silent, Scott replying, "You would like that, huh Louis?!" Pulling on Louis' arm, Dean tells him, "See what you did, Louis? You went and corrupted the kid!" Temporarily Scott was put on hold, Louis' stomach getting wedged under the steering wheel. "Hold on," Dean says, "I'll dial 911 and have them bring the jaws of life!" Scott has a better idea, saying, "This might work!" Reaching both hands in, his feet hanging out his door, Scott grabs hold of the side of Louis' pants, both hands wound over his belt. With a hefty, "1-2-," Dean joining on, "3," giving a push, Louis slides out, Scott sliding over the seat, his tee shirt riding up his bod, collecting under his chin. When Scott stood, his tween bod could be viewed, but neither Dean, nor Louis were into `kids', Louis saying, "Thanks Scott! You saved my life!" Meeting at the hood of the truck, Scott planing his hands down his front, fixing his shirt, Dean comments, "We should have left you behind the wheel... Curb your appetite and keep that big bulge from getting bigger, Louis!" Forgetting his manners, Louis says, "Oh? Which `big bulge' would you be referring to Dean?" "Louis? Are you forgetting the company you keep?" Dean gave a subtle hint, scratching his right arm with his left hand, his index finger pointing towards Scott. "Oh! Sorry `bout that!" Louis apologizes. Scott giggles, says, "I know you're talking about a guy's junk. It's okay," he tries placing Louis back in Dean's good graces. "Smart kid!" Louis says. "C'mon," Dean directs Louis towards the entrance to Casadio's, tugging on his arm, "let's see if the former love-of-your-life is still working here!" It causes a new commotion, Louis claiming it was a one-night-stand and nothing more, just some horny waiter wanting a cheap date. "Waiter, Louis? You have to be eighteen to work, in this state!" "You dated an older guy?" Scott asks. "Like, how much older was he?" Neither Dean, nor Scott got their answers, Louis spotting the maitre'd, "Is that you Aldo?" "Hey, Louis, what's up?" but Aldo Casadio had no interest in Louis, instead the muscle-dude he toted on his left arm, not breaking eye contact. Scott figured either Aldo didn't see him or thought he wasn't with Dean and Louis, but the next customer in line. Though, he was fascinated by Aldo, supposedly having had some kind of relationship with Louis, not speculating, but such a fixation on Dean. Then again, as Scott had scoped out Dean, with and without the tank top, he was a handsome guy with some good definition. Unknown to Dean and keeping some thoughts to himself, he thought Dean looked real good in a speedo! "Oh," Louis realizing he wasn't going to get the attention he deserves, "this is my very good friend, Dean." `What about me?' Scott finds it humorous, but knows this is `older guy stuff'. Really. His major attention was drawn to tables of food and the variety of dishes other people had in front of them. Sending a message, one he was sure no one would mind, Scott says sarcastically, "Uh, do you think you can find us a table for 3, Aldo?" Right away, the light switch goes off, Aldo turning his head towards Scott, "Who's this little man?" "I'm not a little man. I'm fourteen," he does the proper thing, like his aunt taught him when meeting someone formally, and since Aldo was decked out in a tux, he sticks his hand out in recognition, "I'm Scott." "Hey, nice to meet you, Scott," Aldo says upbeat, like a big brother, in reality a `big' and `little' brother to other siblings. Keenly though, he looked for Dean's reaction, asking, "Someone's son or little brother?" He knew Aldo was fishing for info, Dean replying, "I'm too young to be a father and to set the record straight, I'm still single." Louis makes a corporate decision, representing the party of three, his hand reaching up, ready to grab three menus, since Aldo's attention was subdivided in one direction. It got Louis some attention, "Off-off-off, Louis!" Aldo barked, "You trying to get me fired?" Two years ago, Aldo wasn't one who could be intimidated, working his way up the totem pole of the family restaurant business. His younger brother happens by, "Take over for me, Gianni." "Hi," Louis says to Gianni, but getting snubbed by the snob, as Aldo leads them to a table, utters under his breath, `fuck you!' Strangest thing, Louis never thought of himself in this circumstance, but felt a tinge of `wanting to' fuck, though let the feeling escape him. His luck, probably Gianni was straight! With second consideration, `so what!' Dean, knowing Aldo's motives here, says, "Nice of you to show us to a table personally?" Maybe he thought Aldo was out to pick him up, which Dean didn't mind at all, because he was being quite suave and knowing Aldo didn't have a hand in it, handsome as well. "I'll take care of these people," Aldo's action was suddenly cut off, his older brother, stepping in, grabbing the three menus right out of Aldo's clutching arms. "Giulio!" Aldo stands, mouth gaping open. Scott could only laugh. He very well knew Aldo's intentions. What gay guy, young or old could not see it, Aldo making a play for Dean. As Aldo gawks, his brother is tearing the three away, guiding them to a table. "Best seats in the house," Giulio says, calling attention to Scott, "over here, young man," formally holding a chair out from the table. "Cool! Thanks!" Dean and Louis went for a chair each, Giulio jumping to help out, "Oh no, let me get those for you gentlemen." However, Louis seemed to get the shit end of the stick, a quick, one-handed pull out, Dean pushed under with two hands, Louis doing much of his own scooting! "Cocktails?" If Scott were not present, Dean knew how he would handle the order. "I think we'll pass." "And you?" Louis' attention was back by the door, whereas Aldo, summoning Gianni to man his post while absent, switches back to their table-setting, "Water's okay." Scott speaks up, "You got any chocolate milk shakes?" Probably because Scott was with Dean, Giulio says with promise, "If we don't, we'll get you one!" "And we'll have a cheese pizza," Dean throws in. Scott exclaims, "Can we have pepperoni on it?" "Um," Dean says hesitantly, "I'm more for plain," but turning his attention to their waiter, "um, do you think you can split it half and half, Giulio?" Giulio smiled, saying, "No problem. You want half'n'half, you got it!" He hadn't formally introduced himself, but knew his name was picked up by his younger brother, getting all huffy about stealing his patrons away. He didn't want to act forwards, so getting around asking for the muscle-man's name, he confronts the youngest member, "I'm Giulio." Because Scott knew he was being talked to, "Hi. I'm Scott," and saving Giulio the grief of finding out on his own, "and this is," Scott hadn't had the opportunity before, says, "my friend Dean. And this is Louis." Having a delayed reaction, Louis' mind was still on Aldo, "Hey." Giulio didn't mind that Louis' attention was drawn to the front entrance. His main concern was the dirty blond bombshell, "Nice to meet you." Scott smiled, because Dean was the only one being offered a handshake. He seemed to pretty much have the whole scenario figured out, Louis more interested in what Aldo was doing, Dean smiling and acting cordial back, which in his mind was the beginning of something. Like Dean had said, about jumping to conclusions, Scott couldn't help but think there was going to be more to them sitting there and eating pizza. "I'll have your order out, `pronto!'" "Nice dude," Scott says. "Excuse me," Louis says, "I gotta find the men's room." Dean wanted to say it, something about Louis wanting to find `the man' and maybe `the room,' but kept his thoughts on ice. "Giulio is a nice guy, huh Dean?" Picking up a bread stick and taking a munch, "He's okay." He has a delayed reaction to crunching, "A bit stale," he scrutinizes the bread stick as if trying to figure out if a cock is small, medium or average thickness. "How's everything today, gentlemen?" Scott looks up and instead of it being Giulio, another waiter is standing above him, handing out glasses of water. He wanted to ask who he was, but first priorities, "The bread sticks are stale!" `Oh my god!' Dean says under his breath, then audibly, "They're not so bad," he takes another crunch. Reaching for the clear glass jar which held them, their waiter says, "I'll inform the management." Before Dean could right the wrong, telling Scott he should have been polite, Scott is telling him, "He's telling Giulio what you said." "What `I' said? As I recall, you're the one who... That's besides the point. You should have let it go." "But you said..." "Did `you' taste a breadstick?" "No," Scott replies. "Then you should have left it to me to say something," Dean reasons. "Were you?" Scott asks. "No." "How come?" "Because," Dean tries explaining, "it's really no big deal. Besides, it doesn't matter if a breadstick is a little dry." Giulio was a go-getter, making things happen. Perhaps it was `Dean' who produced the magic, Giulio, their waiter trailing, hustles over to their table, "I am so, so sorry about the breadsticks. Your lunch is on the Casadio family today." Feeling guilty, Scott says, "I'm sorry for complaining, because I didn't have any breadsticks." "Thanks, pal," Dean says to Scott, for singling him out. Paving the way for a pickup line, Giulio says, "I would really like to make it up for you Dean?" "Um, uh..." he got flustered. Scott butts in, "By the way, are you still making the chocolate shake I ordered?" Turning his head towards the waiter, Giulio dictates, "Lorenzo, you want to check on the young man's shake?" "Sure," he smiles, "no problem!" Regardless of gay or straight, Scott was making up his mind, which of the Casadio brothers he liked the most. Gianni, he didn't like at all, so he was easy to cross off his list. It was a toss up over Aldo. Giulio, he was okay, but a little bossy. Somehow, he thought Giulio was saying stuff just to please them, not being his real true self. Too, he didn't like the way Giulio bullied his way into taking them on as his personal customers. Of all of them he met so far, the one whom they were not formally greeted with, he liked Lorenzo, who had just walked away. `Yeah,' that's how Scott reassesses, on a scale of ten to one, `Lorenzo, Giulio the runner up, then a tossup between Gianni and Aldo.' However, if he had to pick from the non-Italians, Dean would the perfect ten spot! He was shaken from his deliberations, chocolate shake placed right in front of him, "Here's your shake," Lorenzo says, pounding an end of the straw on the table, sliding the paper halfway down. "Oh for god's sake, Lorenzo," Giulio takes the straw, with intentions of making the whole straw nude. How dare Giulio put Scott's number one Casadio man to shame! Scott doing likewise, pulling the straw out of Giulio's hand, "I can do it!" He had the straw in his fingers, then he didn't have the straw in his hand, Giulio looking at bare fingers. He looked to Dean for explanation, Scott's chaperone saying, "Kids!" Comparing the two, Dean rather thought the two brothers stood for day and night. Whereas Giulio was brash and pompous, Lorenzo was more subdued, kind in tempo and temperament. Squatting down to be on Scott's level, Dean couldn't help see Lorenzo's tailbone stick out, as the waiter asks, "How do you like it, Scott? Do I make a good chocolate shake?" It was obvious to Dean, Giulio tiring of his brother stealing the show, so marched away to find new business. "It's good. Real good." "You're not saying that to make me feel good, are you?" Watching the two interact, Dean's thoughts ran wild, him thinking of what he could do to make Lorenzo feel good! "No," Scott replies, "I don't do like some people do. If I like something, I say so. If I don't... well sometimes I don't say I don't." Lorenzo, not knowing anything about the two, turns to Dean, "You're little brother has some good values. Rare these days in boys his age?" Scott and Dean stare at each other. Since Dean was asked, he answers, "Thanks, but he's not my little brother." When Lorenzo stood, to Scott he looked like a tower. As for Dean, he looked just adorable! "Adopted? Reason I ask, is because I don't think we two are very much different in age?" Lorenzo asks. Scott smiles. Was Lorenzo just being friendly or trying to be more to Dean? "Twenty-eight. You?" "Seven," Lorenzo replies. Even though Scott knew, he asks, "You're big for seven!" "Twenty-`seven', dodo!" Dean crowns Scott with the endearing charm! Being they were centering their conversation around stats, Scott asks, "Do you workout, Lorenzo?" "During the summer almost everyday. During the rest of the year, four or five times a week. You?" Lorenzo includes Scott in the conversation. Scott reveals detail, "Dean's going to take care of me for the summer. He's going to teach me how to work out in the gym and we're going to go surfing." "Cool! You good at it?" Lorenzo asks. "I don't know yet. Michael hasn't shown me." "Michael Ballant?" Scott looks to Dean for recognition of the surname, Dean saying, "We never got his last name, did we?" "If it's `Michael'," Lorenzo says, "then it's probably Michael Ballant, or as surfers who know him, `Michael B'." Scott says, looking at Dean, "Next time we see him we should ask!" "I'll take a mental note," Dean says. Probing, Lorenzo asks, "So, you and your wife looking after Scott for the summer?" It slips out, Scott thinking it totally ridiculous, Dean, a gay man, having a `wife', "He doesn't have a wife! He's gay!" Dean sat up, rearranged the napkin on his lap, folding the fabric a few times. Scott got the message loud and clear, "Um, but like I'm not supposed to say stuff like that. It's private." Lorenzo replies, "Tell you what, I'll keep Dean's secret, if you keep mine?" "Okay," Scott replies. Dean states, "Don't tell Scott anything you don't want the whole world knowing!" "I said I was sorry," Scott argues back. "That he did," Lorenzo says. "It takes a big man to admit he's wrong." "Yeah, okay. I'll let you slide this time, but remember Scott, it also takes a big man to keep a friend's private information private!" "I can't help it if I'm weak sometimes and tell." Like he was on the level with a shrink, Lorenzo says, "And from this, what happened here today at this table, you should think about it and next time a situation like this happens, figure out what you should do with it. Go ahead. When I ask if Dean has a wife, what would your answer be?" "I don't know," Scott jumps to conclusion. In a nice manner, Lorenzo says, "You didn't even think about it. I'm going to go check on the pizzas. When I get back you can give me your answer." "Wait," Dean catches Lorenzo before he disappears. "Need something?" "Yeah. I need your secret!" "Me too!" Scott exclaims. Leaning in, almost bent in half, Lorenzo whispers, "I'm gay!" "Oh really?" Dean replies, smiling. Lorenzo says, "Not a word to anyone. I've got to check on the pizza!" Scott asks, "You going to ask Lorenzo out on a date?" "Why?" Dean knew darn well why! "Because if you don't, maybe I will?!" Dean had a way of communicating without words, squinting his eyes, which meant he was trying to scope out the situation, figuring out what the idea the other person was trying to present. This was easy to remedy, both well-knowing Scott was fourteen, underaged and it ludicrous to even think Lorenzo would even consider `dating' a tween. However, instead of shooting Scott down, Dean says, "You go right ahead and ask him." It put a slight dent in Scott's intentions. He wasn't trying to play matchmaker, but rather match up a guy he found he liked, as he perceived, around Dean's age and of his estimate, Lorenzo feeling the same towards him. Lorenzo did come back, but wasn't alone. "Hey there, Scott! The pepperoni's for you, right?" Lorenzo chides, "This is my sister, Gabriela." Dean began taking inventory. When he first came into Casadio's a few years ago, after being hired by Gerard, the first family members he met were mom and pop Casadio, along with their son, Giulio. Shortly thereafter, the Casadio's retired and went back to live in Italy, leaving the family business in the hands of their heirs, primarily Giulio. Aldo, new on the scene, returned to the family business after achieving a degree in business management and securing a job at a business in Chicago, which eventually failed, due to the terrible economic times. However, Casadio's was flourishing, primarily due to the chef. The family restaurant's chef was not young and soon followed in the original founders' footsteps and retired. The siblings' sister, Gabriela was still in cooking school when they talked her into coming on board. However, it was not without reservations, Gabriela voicing intentions of finishing up school. They got around this temporary situation by convincing their twenty year old brother, Gianni, who was currently working towards a degree in restaurant management, to work part time as a cook. It was something he showed interest in, always being on the coattails of their mother, when she was in the restaurant kitchen. Unknown to the whole Casadio clan, while most of the siblings had chosen restaurant-related career vocations, twenty-four year old twins, Tony and Vito, had settled their minds on architecture and engineering. They didn't remain apart from family doings for very long, a family meeting bringing up the fact they had to tweak up their business or go out of business. Home on spring break, the one true `defector' of the family, nineteen year old Tommaso, a science student, returning from Alcapulco, mentioned how the Mexicans were raking in the bucks with their hotels and spas. It was from this Giulio had the idea they needed something of this sort to attract local and distant patrons. Tony had said he didn't mind taking a small fee to draw up some plans. From there, the brainstorming turned into a full scale monsoon and eight months later they broke ground behind the existing restaurant. A little over a year later, they were putting the finishing touches on the new motel and spa. % Noticing someone, other than an adult doing chores, picking dirty dish bins from cleared tables, carrying them to the unseen portion of the restaurant, Scott asks Gabriela, "Who's that?" She knew right away whom Scott meant and as he thought, somebody `other than' an adult working at the restaurant, "That's the `baby' of the family, but don't tell Donatello I said so. Want to meet him?" All of the Casadios had been brought up properly, so, when Gabriela introduces, "Donatello, this is Scott." Drying a glass, the fifteen year old slaps the towel over his shoulder and extends a hand, "Oh hi Scott. How's it going?" "Okay," Scott hesitated, but then took Donatello's hand in friendship. "You work here?" If in the frame of mind, Donatello could have replied, `No, dah,' but instead cordially answers, "Sure do. At least for the summer." "Cool!" Because Gabriela was so easy to talk to and downright friendly, Scott asks, "You got anymore jobs like this?" "We might," Gabriela replies. "I'll have to ask Giulio." Sibling to sibling, Donatello asks his sister, "Um like, when?" She was as sweet as pie to Scott, but to her pushy brother, "Keep your shirt on. When I'm ready." "Problem here?" Dean appears, placing his hands on Scott's shoulders. Excited, Scott looks up, staring Dean under the chin, "Gabriela is going to ask Giulio if they have a job for me here." "Did you forget about Michael and surfing lessons and Miguel teaching you Spanish?" Dean cautions. "I can do them too," Scott replies. Unknown to Scott, nor Dean, as they conversed, Donatello was checking out Scott's build, summing up he was a well-proportioned dude. Another unknown, they had no clue that Donatello was checking out Scott way before Gabriela brought him over for introductions. % Copyright 2012 T. Chase McPhee `STReNGTH FRoM WeaKNesS',may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author. The more you stretch, the more you can fit in... 'spread' happiness! TCMcP % Nifty needs monetary donations to host stories like those written by myself on the web. Please consider making a donation. Any amount would be appreciated; $5, $10 or more, it all adds up. Thanks! I freely publish to the Nifty Archives and `do not' receive a royalties paycheck at the end of the month! TCMcP :)