Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2021 02:00:00 -0700 From: John Henry Subject: Growing Up Charlie Chapter 19 (Gay/Incest) DONATION: Nifty is a not-for-profit organization that heavily relies on our donations to keep the site free and accessible. Your donations pay for web hosting fees and other day-to-day activities for the wonderful staff of editors/publishers. You can donate on the website at http://donate.nifty.org/ Every little bit counts. DISCLAIMER: This story is a work of fiction, and contains explicit, sexual content involving adults over the age of 21 and minors under the age of 16, and scenes of incest involving step-parents/step-children. If viewing this material is illegal where you live, OR you're a minor under the age of 18, please stop reading this. If you're not sure about this legatilty, please stop reading until you have looked into your own, local laws. Any likeness or similarity between persons, places, products or concepts are purely coincidental. If you would like to leave any positive feedback, please let me know. Thank you. Chapter 19 Will stopped the car. Charlie was still crying, and Will didn't want the older boys making a scene. He unbuckled his seat belt and turned towards his nephew. He took Charlie's hand and held it, hoping the boy knew he was safe and with someone who cared about him. "Why does my dad hate me?" Charlie croaked. "Your dad doesn't hate you, Charlie," Will said. "Then why did he hit me?" "I think he reacted without thinking. I'm not excusing his behavior. He shouldn't have hit you, and I told him that. He knows he messed up. When you go home on Monday, I'm sure he'll apologize." "Monday?" Will explained that he wasn't sending Charlie or his brothers home till then, but left out the part about seeking custody if Rick didn't sort himself out. "What about school?" Charlie asked. "Billy will take you, and I'll pick you up," Will said, as he got back on the road towards his place. Charlie nodded his approval. He secretly wished that he could live with Will. The rest of the night went better. Will made Billy swear to not enter the garage, which got his son too excited. Once Charlie and Will entered the house, Billy begged his father to go into the garage. Will shrugged and told the teen he could. Billy flung the door open and saw it was nearly empty, aside from a few unpacked boxes and a tool chest. Billy was crestfallen. "I thought you got me a car," Billy said, unable to hide his disappointment. "You did?" Will asked. "What gave you that impression?" "I don't know," Billy said. "All the car stuff everyone got me; I guess, I just thought that's what was coming." Ry, hobbled into the garage and said, "Well, you could always ride the personal massager Charlie got you." Justin added, "It might fix your posture." Everyone laughed. Even Ry couldn't stifle a chuckle. As they turned to leave, the garage door opened and a pair of headlights flooded the room. An older, dark blue sedan pulled in. A man wearing dark overalls got out and said, "Sorry, I'm late. I wanted to do another check before coming over." "You're right on time," Will said, as he gave his mechanic a large tip. The mechanic thanked him and went to hand Will the keys. Will then said, "Actually, they belong to the owner." He pointed at Billy, who nearly squealed with delight. "I love you, Dad," Billy said, hugging his father. "I love you, too," Will said. Billy and Justin got into the car and went for a drive. Will and the other boys went back into the house. Will looked at the clock and said that it was time for bed. Ry looked confused as it wasn't that late. "I think you two probably need to have your time early," Will clarified, looking at Charlie. "Okay," Ry said, looking at his brother, who started to tear up again. The brothers went to their room, changed into their night clothes and got into bed. Charlie quickly curled up to his brother and cried, retelling what happened after Ry and Billy left. Ry was irate. He couldn't believe Rick would ever hit them, let alone Charlie. He knew that Rick's stress over the years had been on the rise and things with Brenda were going south, but it seemed so out of character to Ry. When Charlie mentioned that they were all staying till Monday, Ry thought it was a bit extreme but for the best. The pair decided to not tell Billy till the next day, as they didn't want to ruin his birthday. Charlie fell asleep first, using Ry's chest as a pillow. Ry laid awake thinking. It was the first time since his dream about Charlie that they had shared the same bed. He hadn't had a repeat of the dream, but he could still see his son clearly as if the small child were in front of him. The boy looked a lot like Charlie, and Ry couldn't help but smile. Then, there was the Charlie from the dream. Gone was the pudgy faced, ginger kid, who snored next to him. Instead, the man in his dreams was muscular, fit and happy. Ry hadn't seen his brother that cheerful since before the accident, and it broke his heart. And, of course, there was the kiss. It seemed natural and loving. And we had a son together, Ry thought. He even had a name: Quentin. Was Quentin adopted? Did Charlie have a girlfriend that he got pregnant, since their son looked so much like him? The more Ry thought about it, the more he felt sad. Ry never thought about Charlie in a romantic or sexual way. Charlie was his baby brother, the person he wanted to protect more than anyone, and the thought of having sex with him didn't settle well. However, everything in that dream seemed to fit perfectly, as if it were meant to be. Ry's mind wandered to sex with the adult Charlie. Ry imagined what it would be like and how much he would've liked to have a man like that. It was then that he felt it. His penis started to get hard again. Ry almost cried out in frustration, but held his shock and annoyance back, not wanting to wake or frighten the little boy in his arms. He was so amazed that he got hard, that he forgot about what caused it before falling asleep. Sure enough, Billy was quite upset at Rick's treatment of Charlie. He didn't care that Brenda apologized. Like his brothers, he questioned the earnestness of it. He drove Charlie to school and hugged him before Charlie got out of the car. "Dad was in the wrong. You know that, right?" Billy asked. "I do," Charlie said, opening the door. "Have a good day at school," Billy said, "I love you." Taken a little aback, Charlie said, "Love you, too." Billy rarely showed him any kind of affection, let alone said he loved him. "Hey," David said, meeting Charlie at the main entrance. "Who was that?" "My brother, Billy," Charlie said, as they walked into the building. "He turned 16 yesterday and his dad got him a car." "You don't have the same dad?" David asked. Charlie explained his family dynamic the best he could without getting into all the details, like his mom being in prison and how his brothers used to be boyfriends. "Wow," David continued, "and I thought my family was complicated." "I mean, I only have two brothers, so your family is probably more complicated." "I guess. My parents have been married to each other and nobody was adopted that I know of." The two friends walked into the cafeteria for breakfast. Will had given Charlie a twenty dollar bill for breakfast and lunch, which was overkill, but the boy didn't correct the older man. He bought himself and David each a breakfast tray that consisted of a cinnamon roll, bowl of oatmeal, some fruit and a milk. Feeling inspired, Charlie asked, "Are you doing anything this weekend?" "No," David said, pouring some milk into his oatmeal, "I usually just stay home and go to church on Sundays with my parents." "Want to stay the night at my place? I mean at my uncle's place with me and my brothers?" David thought about it. He had never stayed the night with anyone outside of family before. The thought kind of scared him a little, as he was nervous around strangers, but the idea of not being around his siblings was also greatly appealing. "Sure," he said, "but I have to ask my parents first." "Yeah, I get it," Charlie said, with a wide smile. "I mean, I have to ask my uncle, too, so we can figure it out tomorrow." "Okay," David said. "What's up, losers?" said a gruff voice from behind Charlie. Charlie grit his teeth as he looked over his shoulder and saw the class bully, Joey Bell. Joey was taller and larger than most of the kids in their grade. I had cropped, brown hair and squinty, brown eyes. It was rumored that he was held back a few times, and his parents changed his age to hide the truth. Charlie had seen Joey pick on kids before and it always angered him. He also suspected that it was Joey who kept the other kids from talking to him. "Go away, Joey," Charlie ordered. "Make me," Joey said, shoving David over and taking the smaller boy's tray. "I'm warning you," Charlie said, trying to sound as serious and intimidating as he could. Joey looked defiantly at Charlie and took a huge bite of David's untouched cinnamon roll. Charlie, without thinking, grabbed his tray and slammed it across Joey's face. The rage he had been holding inside fueled him. He barely heard the other kids shouting, "Fight, fight, fight!" Charlie stood up and punched Joey in the face as hard as he could. Joey fell back in his seat, as Charlie jumped on top of the bully, punching every inch he could. "What are you gonna do about it?" Joey said, stabbing the cinnamon roll with David's fork. Charlie snapped back to reality. He watched as Joey lifted the roll to his mouth. "Mrs. McGrady!" Charlie shouted. "Joey took David's food!" Before Joey could protest, their teacher came over and said, "Joseph, I know that doesn't belong to you, so give it back or you can go straight to the principal." Joey dropped the fork and roll, got up, looked right at Charlie and mouthed, "You're dead," before leaving. "Wow," David said, reclaiming his seat. "I can't believe you told on Joey." Charlie, with a shaking hand, drank his milk. "He's lucky that's all I did." They finished their breakfasts and went to class. Unfortunately, due to the seating arrangement, Joey and Charlie sat next to each other. Whenever he thought he could get away with it, Joey would whisper threats, take Charlie's supplies or knock them onto the floor. At lunch, Charlie and David sat as close to the supervising teachers as they could. David was very nervous and hardly ate the lunch Charlie bought him. Charlie wasn't very hungry either. Joey's harassment continued after lunch and at recess, things escalated. The playground monitor, Ms. Jensen, spent most of her time on her phone instead of watching the students. It was common knowledge that several of the other fifth graders would leave school and go to the nearby store without her even noticing. Charlie and David were so caught up in their conversation about comic books, they didn't hear Joey till it was too late. David felt Joey's fist in the back of his head, sending the boy to the pavement face first. Before Charlie realized what had happened, he felt Joey's fist punch him in the face. Although Joey was taller than Charlie, they were about the same weight, and Charlie wasn't easily knocked down. Joey was caught off guard by Charlie's resilience, and Charlie managed to hit Joey square on the nose. Both boys heard the crunch of bone and cartilage. Joey's eyes widened as blood freely flowed out of his broken nose. Charlie didn't care. He hated bullies. He swung again, and hit Joey in the mouth, knocking the bigger boy back a few steps. Seeing how unstable Joey was, Charlie charged and tackled Joey, taking them both to the ground. Joey slammed his fists on Charlie's back, but it was no use. Charlie, meanwhile, punched Joey in the ribs and a few more times in the face. Charlie heard Ms. Jensen's whistle, as a crowd gathered around them, but he didn't stop. He didn't care if he got in trouble. Charlie had been in trouble so much for things recently that weren't his fault, he felt he earned at least one moment of misbehavior. The gym teacher, Mr. Stowe, ran to the playground and pulled Charlie off of Joey. Charlie looked down at his creation and saw what truly laid beneath Joey's tough exterior. Joey curled up in a ball and sobbed. He bled from his broken nose and swollen lips. Charlie was sure he had knocked out at least one tooth. After admiring his work, he looked over and saw Ms. Jensen tending to David. His friend had a few scrapes and looked mortified, and Charlie sensed that he was the cause of his mate's fear. He looked around and saw the rest of his classmates with the same terrified expressions. A few of the kids whispered to each other. Charlie thought he heard the words "Crazy" and "Monster" muttered by a few of them. Mr. Stowe took Charlie to the principal's office. Charlie watched as the school nurse ran from her office and, presumably, to the playground. Several minutes later, Charlie saw David and Ms. Jensen walking to the nurse's office. They were soon followed by Joey and the nurse. Joey was still crying and holding his bloody nose. "Mr. Barton," said Mr. Caldwell, the school principal. "My office, now." Charlie stood and entered. The room was lined with shelves of books and awards for teaching and educating. There were also pictures of his family. He had a son and daughter about his brothers' age and wondered if they went to school together. Mr. Caldwell told Charlie to sit before taking a seat behind his own desk. "So," Mr. Caldwell said, "mind telling me what happened?" Charlie told the Principal everything since breakfast, and how Joey started it. He realized that it didn't matter. He was going to get in trouble, and he doubted that Joey would get more than the beating he just received. "I'm going to call your dad and see what he has to say about this." "Don't!" Charlie said, thinking quickly. "Why not?" Mr. Caldwell asked. "Call my uncle instead," Charlie said, hoping that his hastily formulating plan wouldn't backfire. "My dad is at work and won't be able to come without getting fired. My uncle is at home, though." Caldwell considered Charlie's request and called Will. A few minutes later Charlie saw Will enter the school office. He was wearing a nice light gray suit and tie. He was pointed towards Mr. Caldwell's door. Will entered saw the blood on Charlie and asked in his casual tone, "My, what happened here?" Mr. Caldwell introduced himself and explained what he was told by the teachers and paraphrased what Charlie had said. Without changing expression, Will asked Charlie for his side. As Charlie was about to explain, Mr. Caldwell interrupted, "I just told you what happened." "Yes," Will said with a polite smile. It was the same smile that Charlie knew his dad hated, and he tried desperately to hide his own grin. "You gave me your version. I'm asking my nephew for his version." Confused, Mr. Caldwell asked, "You don't believe me?" "It's not a matter of whether or not I believe you," Will said, "I'm duty bound to ask my client for his side of the confrontation before proceeding." "Client?" "Oh, didn't Charlie tell you? I'm not just his uncle, I'm also his lawyer." Charlie couldn't contain his grin any further as he watched the color drain from his principal's face. Will ignored the shocked expression and repeated his question to Charlie, who told Will the truth about everything that had happened. When Charlie finished his tale, Will looked at Mr. Caldwell and asked, "I noticed that you have security cameras throughout the school. By chance, do any of them cover the playground?" "Yes," Mr. Caldwell said. "Excellent," Will said, as if it were his birthday. "May we look at the footage to corroborate my client's statement?" Will noticed that Mr. Caldwell looked uncertain about the request, so Will pressed on. "I could easily get a hold of Judge Wilkins, who would be more than happy to provide me with a court order for the footage as part of pending litigation against yourself and the school for permitting bullying and assault on its campus. And, I also wonder what else that footage may reveal?" Mr. Caldwell involuntarily shivered and agreed to show Will the recordings. It took less than ten minutes to show that Charlie was telling the truth, and Will was quick to point out that Ms. Jensen was on her phone the majority of the time, while the boys fought less than twenty feet from her. "Let's discuss punishment, shall we?" Will said. Charlie looked like he had swallowed a frog. Will picked up on Charlie's dismay and said, "I think it's only fair after the damage you caused, so there's little to no point fighting it, as it were." "Yes," Mr. Caldwell said, regaining some of his composure. "I'm going to suspend Charlie for a week." "And what of the other boy, Joey, was it?" Will asked. "What do you mean?" Mr. Caldwell replied. "What do I mean?" Will scoffed and raised his voice. "Clearly, Charlie was defending himself and his friend. True, Charlie took it a bit too far, but your staff member stood by taking a selfie, while my client was being assaulted and forced to defend himself. You want to suspend him for a week, while the instigator merely and literally licks his wounds? What kind of message are you sending with that punishment? It's okay to bully but it's not okay to defend yourself or others? What kind of shit is that? "Here's an idea" Will continued, with less volume, "Suspend Joey for a week, in school, and make the brat work off his punishment cleaning toilets, and suspend Charlie for a day, in school and make him do his work in a private room, with no recess." "That hardly seems fair and balanced, Mr. Parker." "Oh, now you want to be fair and balanced. My nephew wants peace and an education, and I'm certain his fellow students do too. How is suspending Charlie for a week while letting Joey off fair and balanced? In fact, how many other kids has Joey been allowed to bully at this school? Maybe I should look into it and see what kind of legal remedy we can come up with? Maybe one that removes you from the district?" "Fine," Caldwell stammered. "Fine, you win. Charlie and Joey can start their suspensions tomorrow." "And one last thing, if Joey so much as speaks to Charlie or David in a negative way, I'll make sure you and he are removed from this school for good. If I were you, I'd make that abundantly clear to him." "Yes, Sir," Mr. Caldwell said. "Come Charlie," Will said, as he walked towards the door. "I'm taking you home. You're a bloody mess." Charlie got up, looked at Mr. Caldwell and said, "Thanks for not calling my dad. I'll see you tomorrow." As Will and Charlie walked out of the building, a tall, muscular, bald man walked towards them. He looked very angry and mean. Will gently pushed Charlie behind him as the man approached. "Is that your kid?" The man demanded, pointing a stubby finger at Charlie. "What is it to you?" Will replied, still smiling. "Is he the bastard who attacked my kid?" "I assure you," Will said, "the only bastard who did any kind of attack was Joey Bell. So, if Joey is your kid, then no, Charlie isn't the boy you're looking for." "Smart guy, huh?" Mr. Bell said, drawing himself to his full height, which was about five inches taller than Will. Will looked unbothered by the man and said, "I suppose you think you're intimidating me. Well, I could be wrong, as that would lend to the assumption that you can think." Mr. Bell clenched his fist as if getting ready to hit Will. Will dropped his tone to the one he spoke to Rick with and said, "You tell your kid to leave my boys alone. He'll know what you mean, because if he doesn't, I'll send someone into your home one night. They'll cut your tiny dick off and choke you to death with it, while whatever whore you're shacking up with sleeps soundly beside you. Do I make myself clear?" The man looked into Will's emotionally devoid eyes and saw the truth in them. He relaxed his hand and moved around Will, giving him a wide berth. Before Mr. Bell entered the building Will called out, "And that goes for beating your son, as well." Mr. Bell turned and gave Will a frightened look, before continuing to the office. Charlie looked up at Will as if seeing him for the first time. Will's expression changed instantly back to normal, which seemed to scare Charlie even more. Will crouched down, looked Charlie in the eye and said, "I'm sorry you had to hear all that. That man was looking to hurt both of us, especially you, and there's no way I would ever let that happen. You understand that, right?" "Yes," Charlie said in a small voice. "I'm sorry that I scared you, but I needed to scare him too. I promise that I will never do anything to hurt you or your brothers. Do you believe me?" "Yes," Charlie said, knowing that Will wasn't lying. "Good," Will said, getting to his feet. "Let's take you home, so you can change before we get ice cream." "I'm getting ice cream?" Charlie said, his fear disappearing. "Of course," Will said, opening the door for Charlie. "Bravery in the face of adversity must be rewarded." ***Coming Soon, Chapter 20***