Challenges

Part XV

***

Note: If you missed Part 14 due to a mix up on my side with mislabeling you may want to go back and read Part 14.

If you have comments, please send them to sockingsaw@hotmail.com. I also now have a mailing list so if you wish to sign up for when I get a new chapter posted, please let me know.

With thoughts,

Matt

***Modern Day ***

Jason stopped wiping the tears from Justin's face, and just held his hand against his head. "Why did you not tell me?"

Justin started to sob even harder as he stood and ran up the stairs. Chris, who had decided to take an interest in the adults in the room, watched. "What happened?" he asked looking from Justin to his dad and then back to Justin.

"Why didn't he just tell me back at the restaurant? Or on the drive over?" Jason leaned back into the couch. He had the urge to run up after Justin, but resisted, as he wanted to give some time for the shock of this information to sink in.

"I wouldn't know." Matt looked up the stairs. "But I am sure he had his reason. You will find him in the first room on the right. That's the guest room he stays in."

Matt and Lori stood up and headed back into the kitchen that was attached to the living area. Chris watched his parents leave, and then back as Jason. "Are you and Uncle Justin dating?"

"I think so." Jason said, looking up the stairs and then back at Chris and smiled.

Chris shrugged and went back to his game. Jason chuckled at how this kid just took things at face value. It would have been unheard of for a boy to fall in love with another boy growing up. In fact that is what put him in this current situation. He had fallen for a guy he never met, and via a letter. Jason took a deep breath and started up the stairs. He was going to find out why Justin acted the way he did.

He reached the door and opened it to find Justin standing at the window staring out. The landscape showed the city lit up. He was no longer crying but was hugging himself.

"I always dreamed I would find the man who had saved me." Jason walked in and sat on the edge of the bed looking at a dressing mirror that sat directly opposite the bed. "It was so simple of a letter, but it was enough."

"I have dreams about you." Justin said with his voice on the verge of breaking. "I didn't even know who it was. I just assumed it was some form of sexual dream I had. A way to release pent up energy."

Jason nodded; coming to a conclusion as to why Justin had not told him, and had broken out in sobs and ran. He stood up and slipped his arms around Justin and hugged him tight. "You feel ashamed."

The electric spark was familiar again. It calmed him and he sighed deeply. He pushed his body against Jason causing him to hug even tighter. It was so familiar and warm.

"I wanted to tell you." Justin turned around and put his arms around Jason. "I was ashamed. I was afraid you wouldn't believe me if I told you. Some whack job that was just trying to get into your pants."

"Well," Jason grinned, "I wouldn't mind a shot."

***

Justin and Jason were naked in bed, arms and legs twisted together sleeping. Justin had never been so calm and satisfied from having sex. No, he thought to himself, this was more then sex. This was passion and love making like never before.

A cell phone jolted them both awake and they clamored for their phones.

"It's mine." Jason said as he pushed the talk icon. "Jason."

Justin haad a short conversation. “No, I will hold over.” He nodded his head. “Thanks.” He pushed the end icon and put the phone on the nightstand. "My flight was canceled, not sure why, but they said there wouldn’t be another flight scheduled till Wednesday." He grinned. “They wanted to know if I wanted to wait here or head back to Seattle on another plane.”

“Is that what you meant by hold over?”

“Yep.”

"More time with me then." Justin said pulling Jason in for a kiss, which was returned passionately by Jason.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, which caused them to scurry to cover up with blankets.

"Are we decent?" Lori called through the door.

"As best we can be." Justin said, trying not to laugh as he pulled the covers up over his lower body. Jason followed suit.

Lori opened the door and poked her head in. "Just wanting to know if you wanted breakfast." She giggled a bit seeing Jason's face flush with red out of embarrassment. "And Chris wants you to take him to school, Justin."

"Sounds good." Justin responded. "We will be down as soon as we dress."

***

Justin and Jason walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Chris was sitting eating waffles with a large glass of milk sitting in front of him. Matt was sitting at the head of the table reading the morning paper before heading to work. Lori was at the waffle iron pulling off two more waffles.

"Boys sleep well?" She asked with a grin as she placed the plate of waffles on the table.

"Um, yeah." Justin said as he pulled out a chair for Jason to sit in as he took the one next to him. "I am sorry we spent the night here."

"No problem." Matt said, flipping the paper closed and placing it on the table. "We understand it was late. When is your flight Jason?"

"It was canceled and he is staying here for a few days.." He smiled as Lori pushed the plate of waffles closer to him. "Thanks."

"If you don't get full here, it's your own fault." She pointed at Jason with a spatula, and laughed. "Chris you better run up stairs and get cleaned up and get your stuff for school."

Chris mumbled about having to go to school when he wanted to stay and hang out with Justin and Jason.

"You are not going to miss school unless you're sick." Lori said with a stern look. "Now get."

"Teenagers." Matt said with a laugh. "I remember when you were like that Justin." He grinned and took a bite of his waffle.

Justin shrugged and grabbed two waffles and poured syrup over them. The fact that he was sitting in his brother's house, with the guy he just had sex with sitting next to him, and Lori and Matt acting like nothing was abnormal was surreal. He looked at Jason who looked like he was going to faint.

"Oh honey," Lori said, grabbing Jason's hand. "No need to be embarrassed or nervous. Not like we could hear anything."

"Much." Matt retorted. Jason's face went white and he looked as if he was going to pass out. Lori and Matt just laughed. "Sorry."

"Don't worry." Justin said, grabbing Jason on the back of the neck and pulling him closer. "Matt and Lori are always like this. When I was younger Matt always interrupted me at inopportune times. I learned the best way was to ignore him."

"I give up eventually when it is no longer fun." Matt retorted, giving a wink to Jason.

Jason laughed a little as he poked his waffle. He was taking slow deep breaths to avoid making him look even more foolish.

"So what are you boys going to do?" Matt asked, directing his attention to Justin.

"I don’t know. I thought he would be leaving this morning. I have some ideas..." Justin said with a frown on his face.

"Are you going to take Chris to school?" Lori asked as she heard Chris tromping down the stairs.

"Sure." Justin looked towards the stairs with a smile. "You wanna go with?" He looked at Jason.

"Sure." He looked at his clothes. "I wish I had a change."

"I probably have a change of clothes that will fit you if you want." Matt said, looking Jason over. "You look about my size." He stood up. "Let's go see."

"Thank you." Jason said as he stood up and followed Matt up the stairs.

"I thought you didn't put out on the first date." Lori said with a sly grin. "Broke your rule didn't you."

"I don't." Justin said, rubbing his eyebrow. "I had no intention of going that far with him, but his touch. It was as if I had known him my entire life. Like we were meant to be."

"I understand." Lori rubbed her nose as if she was trying to avoid sneezing. "I think that was what it was with me and Matt."

"Are you taking me Uncle Justin?" Chris said, interrupting their conversation.

"Yea." Justin got up and walked over to give Chris a hug. "We are just going to wait for Jason. He is going with us."

"Great." He muttered going off to the living room. "I get the backseat."

"I think he is jealous." Lori said watching Chris go off to the living room. "He thinks you are replacing him with Jason."

"Oh." Justin frowned. "I didn't realize that. Maybe I should just take him by myself."

"Naw." Lori giggled. "He will learn sooner or later."

***

Justin turned down the road as he headed towards the middle school Chris attended. Matt had gotten lucky and was close to all the schools from elementary on up to middle school. Chris would have to get up a bit more early when he started high school the next year, as it was farther away.

"So what is your favorite class?" Jason had opted for the back seat and let Chris sit in the front, which caused Chris to be all smiles.

"I like history." Chris responded, turning his head. "I am not good at math, and science is boring. English is okay, except when the teacher reads to us. I hate being read to."

"Hey!" Justin chided. "I read to you all the time."

"When I was little." Chris squinted his eyes at his uncle. "You haven't read to me since I was 5."

"Maybe I will read you the Three Little Pigs when you get home from school." Justin winked at Chris who just grinned.

"So are you two going to get married?" Chris looked down at the floor as he asked.

"What?" Justin asked with a quick glance in the mirror at Jason who just covered his mouth so as not to let his laugh escape.

"Mom and Dad said that now you can legally marry another guy." Chris fidgeted with his hands. "I just wondered if you two were going to get married."

"Well we have known each other for a long time." Jason interrupted what Justin was going to say. "But I think we need some more time before that decision is made. But your uncle is very important to me."

"Okay." Chris looked out the window. "I like Steven."

"Who is Steven?" Justin recalled Chris saying he was much like himself. He never was sure what that meant, but this must be it.

"A friend at school." Chris plays with a piece of thread that had come out of the seat cover a bit. "We have made out."

"Do your parents know?" Justin wasn't sure if he would be blamed for this, or if Matt and Lori would be cool with it just as he was.

"No. I don't think they would like it."

"They are good with your uncle and I." Jason said, putting his hand on Chris' shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "They will be fine with you.

"Oh I am sure they will be." Chris laughed out loud. "That's not the problem. They won't let me date until I am 16. You know that rule."

"Oh." Jason blushed. He had overstepped his boundaries'. "That makes sense."

"Mom and dad didn't let me start `dating' until I was 16. Only had one boyfriend through high school." Justin looked in the mirror at Jason. He wasn't sure how Jason would react to talking about old boyfriends.

"I only dated two guys." Jason looked out the window as they pulled up in front of the middle school. "One was abusive, and the other was nice, but we just had a hard time connecting." Justin winced as Jason said he had been abused by one of his boyfriends. That would turn anyone off from dating.

They pulled up to the middle school and Chris opened the door and climbed out. "Are you going to be at home tonight, or going back to grandpas?" He looked back in the car as Jason got out of the back seat.

"We will come by for dinner. How about that?." Justin asked.

“Awesome.” He jumped out of the car and ran towards a group of friends.

"He is a cute kid." Jason said watching him tackle one of the boys that had shown up. "That must be Paul."

"How do you know?"

"Because," Jason turned and looked at Justin with a lustful twinkle in his eye. "That is how I look at you."

***

Jason collapsed on the bed of the hotel room, taking deep breaths and wiping sweat off his brow. Justin collapsed next to him also taking deep breaths. They were both naked, with Justin's leg resting over Jason's leg.

"I love when you look at me lustfully." Justin turned his head to look at Jason.

"I love you." Jason said, putting his head closer to Justin's as he ran his fingers down Justin's side. "It's not lust."

"I bet you tell that to all your airplane passengers." Justin giggled. "A service of the friendly skies!"

"Only to the cute ones." Jason took a deep breath.

"What?" Justin asked with large eyes.

"When did you decide to reconcile sex with the Chruch?” Jason laid his head on the bed, turned to look at Justin.

“Oh.” Justin thought for a bit. “I think it got to the point that I had to expand my relationship. It was something I had to do, and the Church was what it was, and I was who I was.” He thought back to Nate. “The guy I was with since high school; we both decided to take that leap.”

“Was it worth it?”

“To me it was. It solidified who I was.” He put his head on the bed as well and had it turned to face Jason. “What about you?”

“After I came out to my mom, I stayed with the Church. I didn’t have anyone, so I didn’t have an issue.” He turned his head to look at the ceiling. “When I met my first boyfriend, the abusive one, the step came more from pressure, than from want.”

Justin watched Jason face with amazement. How could anyone be abusive to this good person?

“I had a little torment about it, but I was able to handle it. I stopped going to Church. There really was nothing there for me anymore.”

They laid for a while in silence.

“Hey.” Justin said, sitting up. “Do you like ice skating?”

“Sure.”

“Well,” Justin looked over at the bathroom. “What say we take a shower?”

***