Warning: This story does not contain any sex. None of the characters are based on real people nor are they meant to resemble any living or dead people.

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Blake Saga III

Chapter 7

We Need To Be

 

Blake is in the park laying in the grass looking up into the blue sky. He is trying to determine if this plan is the best method to deal with his problem. He knows both of his dads love him, but he is not sure if his dads still feel affection for each other.

`There are too many kids who have to split their time between parents, and I don't want to do that.'

The only thing that matters is his dads coming back together again.

`Is living with Ben a good idea?'

He loves Ben, but will they survive living together? The Fates are the only ones to know the truth of their future.

`It would hurt if I broke up with him, but it would hurt him even more if I just left.'

All he wants to figure out is, what will happen if he leaves Indiana, and how it will affect Ben? He realizes that his house, or even Ben's residence, may not be the right place for him to be right now.

= = =

Blake is not sure that Indiana is the right place to live anymore. Maybe his birth parents could find another family member for him to live with, like his cousin. As if struck by lightning, he wakes up to the fact that he is acting out in reaction to his dads' arguing, and that makes him look like a brat. He wants his dads back at home, but he figured that Trace would have figured out that Ian was not lying and come home ten minutes after he left the house. If Ian does not matter to Trace, then maybe Blake no longer matters to him either.

Leaving Indiana presents too many hurdles, and Blake is scared that his plan will not work. Seeing a couple of kids that he recognizes from his days on the streets makes him decide to leave everything and everyone behind here in Indiana. If all Ian and Trace can do is fight, then he isn't sticking around in their house, and he doesn't want to be a burden to Ben's family, even if his parents would let him stay there. Opening his backpack, he reaches for his cellphone so he can call Ben to say goodbye. He remembers that his phone is sitting on his bed, which is where he left it so that his dads couldn't call him or use the phone's GPS to find him. Blake can't call anyone because he forgot his phone, so he can't say goodbye or let anyone know where he is right now. Knowing what would happen if he left without saying goodbye, Blake finally decides to stay put in Tylerville and not move on with his life in some other city.

= = =

As Blake watches, a cop car pulls up to the park where he has been sitting for a good part of the afternoon. The officer seems to be watching him, which is making Blake very nervous. Ten minutes after his arrival, the officer gets out and Blake notices that he is definitely watching him. It's not long after that, that the cop walks away from his car and out of Blake's sight. Blake feels a lot better now that the officer is gone, and he relaxes a bit. What Blake doesn't know is that the cop is talking with his dads just a few feet away from the squad car. He gets up, sits on the grass, puts his head down, and says a quiet prayer in his heart, asking for his dads to figure out where he is, so he can go home. Blake is starting to miss home, he is hungry, and he's getting a little tired. Besides, if he is sitting in the grass, maybe it will look like he is just enjoying the park instead of looking like one of the street kids. He is counting on Ian and Trace showing up at the park together. His eyes close, hoping that the police will ignore him, and that the two most important people in his life won't miss him.

= = =

Meanwhile, near Trace's car, Blake's dads are being shown where their son is by Officer Reed. With their son in sight, Trace turns to Ian. "Ian, I really messed things up between you and Blake, so would you mind if I went first?"

"Trace, go, and when you're ready for me, just give me a signal."

"I will. Thanks, Ian."

He is still not saying words that Ian wants to hear, but this is at least a step in the right direction. Trace moves in as he would with a criminal that he was following. If Blake really doesn't want to be home, then Trace's presence might make him run, and that isn't a part of Trace and Ian's plan. All he wants is to get Blake talking and then to get him home, from there it's all ad lib. Whatever happens in the next few minutes might just decide which direction this family goes. Trace is now standing practically on top of Blake. He carefully reaches out a hand to tap his son on the shoulder.

= = =

Trace's finger gently touches his son's shoulder to get his attention. Blake jumps to his feet and his heart is almost beating out of his chest from fright. He turns and sees Trace, but then he doesn't see Ian and his heart sinks just a bit.

"Where is Dad?"

"He's waiting for me to talk to you, and when we're okay, he'll come over and see you."

Trace looks into Blake's eyes, because he's hoping that Blake will believe what he has to say.

"First off, I am sorry that I didn't listen to you when you said that Dad wasn't lying. Second, I never meant to hurt you in any way. I love you, Blake."

Trace gave the best apology that he could give to his son, and he'll be hurt if Blake doesn't accept it. Now that Trace is here, Blake is surprisingly feeling angry with him, but at the same time, it's good to have him back.

"I'm sorry, Dad, but I can't accept your apology until Ian does."

Trace isn't happy with the fact that his son won't accept his apology.

`I suppose that I deserve to have him act this way.'

As he finishes that thought, he takes a second to cool down before looking down at Blake and smiling.

"If I apologize to Dad, will you come home?"

Blake looks at his dad, wanting to answer him, but also wanting to hear the apology given to Ian. He wants to believe his dad, but he does not know if he should believe what his dad is saying to him. Trace can see the hesitation in his son's eyes. A knot forms in his stomach, he is ready to chalk this up as a failure, and then he has a thought.

"I never once stopped loving you or Ian, and I promise that I will never stop loving the two of you."

Blake decides to get over his issues and give Trace a hug, and his dad just wants to cry, happy tears. Sometimes Trace comes across as being a little stern, but his son knows that Dad is just a softie. It's a fact that Blake has put to use when he pieced this plan together. Sure, they've only been separated for about 24 hours, but it feels good to have his dad back.

= = =

The teenager looks at his dad and smiles, because he knows that he's going home.

"What's the first thing you're going to do when we get home?"

"I suppose Dad and I are going to have a talk."

It's not the answer Blake was expecting, but it's okay. "So how much trouble am I in, Dad?"

 

Trace just gazes at his son, and all he can do is smirk at Blake and say, "A lot." Blake suddenly gets a chill up his spine, and he isn't happy about it at all, but he deserves any punishment that his dads might give him.

`I wonder what they'll say when I admit to this being a silly plan.'

Trace sends a text to Ian, `Blake wants to know his punishment.' Ian quickly responds. `Either one month grounding or one month grounded with no allowance.'

"Okay, son, Dad and I are thinking that you're punishment is either going to be one month grounding or one month grounding plus no allowance for that entire month. We have not decided on the exact punishment yet, but there will some form of punishment, so don't sweat it."

Trace gives Blake a sly grin, just enough to make his son a little nervous. The fact that his dad smiled after talking about punishments did not make Blake feel good at all, and so, Trace's grin worked just the way he wanted it to. At least his dads are talking and he can be happy about that.

"Can we get rid of that note?"

Trace loves the idea of throwing that horrid piece of paper away.

"We are definitely getting rid of that note."

`No more secrets and no more notes.'

Getting rid of the note is the second best thing that Trace and Blake have agreed to so far. Trace hugs Blake and then looks right into his eyes, and his mind begins to wander a bit. He sees his son's eyes and wonders, `Why would he punish Ian by running away?' Dad and son face each other and smile, knowing that in some way, today changes everything.

= = =

Trace pulls out his phone and sends a text to Ian, telling him to come over and see their son. Ian wastes no time. As he nears them, his eyes get a little wet, so he pauses long enough to get himself under control. Ian does not want Trace or Blake to see him upset, but since he is not sad, it really does not matter. As he continues walking, he smiles when he sees Blake smiling, which does wonders for his soul. Now standing next to Trace, he too smiles, but only because he's happy to see his son is safe.

= = =

Blake approaches Ian and with each step, he feels more and more remorseful.

"Dad, I am sorry for running away like that and making you worry."

What Blake does not understand is that Ian is glad that their son is safe and within their sight.

"It's okay, son, I'm just glad that you're safe."

"Blake, you know that Dad and I love you, don't you?"

He has heard this from Trace and he knows that they mean it, when they say, "Dad and I love you."

"Yeah, I know you guys love me. I just wish that this didn't have to happen."

His dads look at him and wonder what he means by that.

"Blake what are you talking about?"

He looks at his dads, knowing they won't be happy when they find out about his plan.

"Well, I knew that you both love me, so I figured you would come back together if you thought something happened to me, so I ran away."

Trace and Ian are in shock that this plan actually worked. They're actually finding it hard not to be mad at Blake.

"Don't ever do anything like that again."

"Okay, I promise, as long as you guys promise not to fight anymore and listen to each other, I won't do anything like that again."

"Well, it's something that we can work on together, I suppose."

Trace nods his head in agreement with what Ian said, but he thinks it needs to be clarified just a little bit.

"I think what Dad means is that we can't promise that we won't fight, but things will be better."

Blake cannot ask for more than that from his dads, and he's happy to hear that they're both willing to work on things.

"I'm ready to go if, you'll take me home me home."

"Sounds good, let's go."

The family heads to the cars with Blake deciding to ride home with Ian. Deep inside of himself, Blake is smiling, all because he is seeing the result of his plan. Now he just needs to wait and see what happens when they get home, and he hopes they keep their promises.

= = =

Blake knows that Ian would have called Ben, so he had better make sure to call him as soon as he gets home. Trace is taking way to long to open the door, but the minute Blake enters the house, he heads up to his room. He puts the backpack on the bed and grabs his phone, but when he goes to turn it on, the battery is dead. He knows that he can't put off making the call for too much longer. Placing the phone on the charger, he heads back down towards his dads.

= = =

Trace and Ian are sitting on the couch talking when Blake appears.

"What's up, son?"

Blake looks at Ian and answers, "Nothing." His dads turn back to each other and continue talking. Blake walks past his dads and enters the dining room, so he can hide behind the wall that separates the dining room from the living room. Worried that his dads might not allow him to call Ben, he decides to sneak in a call before they notice. Grabbing the phone, he calls Ben's cellphone, and almost instantly, Ben answers.

"Hello, Mr. Richards, any word on Blake?"

Blake grins when he hears the unease in his boyfriend's voice, though he worries what will happen when Ben realizes this isn't Ian on the phone.

"Ben..."

"Blake, you're home and you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm home and, yes I'm okay."

Ben wishes that he could kiss him, but then a different emotion creeps into his mind.

"You idiot, what were you thinking?"

Blake is upset that Ben thinks he's an idiot, but he's hoping once he hears his side of the story that he'll understand.

"I had to do something to get my dads back together again."

Ben is confused as to how he thought he could go about getting his parents back together.

"So how did you manage to get them back together?"

"I ran away from home and I knew that Ian would call Trace, and then he would come home as soon as he got the word."

"Okay, but why didn't you just call me and fill me in on what was going on, so I wasn't sitting here worrying about you?"

"If I told you what I was doing, then you were going to have to lie to Ian, maybe even to the police, and I couldn't let you lie for me."

Blake is right about Ben lying for him, but it never crossed his mind that Ben might have told the truth.

"Promise me, the next time you have the urge to pull off some crazy scheme that, you'll let me take part in it."

Blake hopes that he never has to do anything like this again. He knows that he took a big chance by running away, and all of this could have ended badly. There was a time that he felt threatened while out on the streets, but this time he didn't feel vulnerable at all.

"I promise, next time I'll include you."

"Blake, I need to run, but I love you."

"Bye, Ben\. I love you too."

The call ended and Blake feels so relieved that Ben isn't too terribly angry with him.

= = =

While Blake was on the phone, Trace and Ian were busy talking and setting things right in their relationship. Trace starts by taking Ian's right hand and then smiles as he looks into his husband's eyes. Without warning, Trace starts to tear up, so Ian grabs a tissue and wipes the tears away. The guys lean in and kiss each other before they start talking, and they needed that kiss just to say, "I love you."

"Ian, I am so sorry for the way that I treated you. I should have listened and I'm sorry that I didn't."

Trace tightens his grip on his husband's hand and then softens it to emphasize his feelings.

"I owe you an apology too, because I was an ass. I got a hot head and egged you on while we were arguing."

The guys are not sure what they were thinking during the argument, but what is important is that they're talking. More importantly, they want to put the events of the past two days behind them.

"Can we please move past the fight?"

"Consider it forgotten; are you going to kiss me?"

It doesn't take any more prodding from Ian to get a kiss from his lover. Trace could have simply stolen the kiss and that would have been fine with Ian.

"What are we doing for our anniversary?"

Ian wants something small, like going out for a dinner and then maybe a nice walk out along the lakeshore, while Trace always wants something big, like a river cruise along the Mississippi River, like they did a few years ago. This year, Trace wants to involve Blake in their celebration.

"I'm not sure... can I think about it for a couple days?"

`I am going to propose again and then get married all over again. I think Ian will love it.'

Excited over the idea, Trace winks at Ian and then embraces him in a hug and a kiss.

"I could get use to this treatment."

"Mmm... me too, babe."

The guys stop their make out session when they realize that Blake is still in the dining room.

"I think we need to do something special tonight."

Ian is quiet while he thinks about what the family should do. An idea pops into Trace's mind. "Let's have a bonfire and burn the note."

"I think it's a great idea, but I think we should have s'mores too."

Trace loves s'mores almost as much as he loves Ian. "That's an awesome idea. Ian." Ian reaches in and kisses Trace; Trace loves the attention.

"Sounds like a sweet way to end the evening, but I know something sweeter."

Trace loves the way that the evening seems to be headed, thanks to the suggestions given by Ian. Ian cannot wait for the events of the evening to unfold.

= = =

At 8 o'clock, Trace and Ian start gathering the equipment and supplies to make s'mores. Ian gathers up some wood. He starts building up the wood and kindling for the fire, and then he uses the some matches to get the fire going. Trace walks into the kitchen and grabs the chocolate, graham crackers, and the marshmallows.

"Here the food, now what else do we need?"

Ian gets up to grab the marshmallow forks, and heads into the house and into the basement to get the materials. Passing through the kitchen, he grabs the note and a pair of scissors too. Ian comes out with Blake, who has a bit of excitement running through him.

"What's the occasion, Dads?"

Trace smiles as he looks at his son, and at the piece of paper in the hands of his lover. Happiness is in the air and they can all feel it... and it is awesome.

"We thought that we might just burn that ugly note and then make s'mores."

Ian tears the note into three pieces and hands one to Trace, another to Blake, and he keeps the third piece for himself. Blake's face lit up, just like Trace's face did when he heard the word 's'mores', and he's just as excited as Trace and Ian are about burning the note.

"On the count of three, we are going to throw our piece of the note into the fire. One, two, three, throw your piece into the flaming abyss!"

One by one, each piece of that note meets its end in the flames, and the guys feel so good as the paper catches fire and turns to ash. The smoke seems to lift any lasting effects that the note caused amongst the members of the family.

"Okay, now that we have burned the note, it's time for the food."

Trace grabs the bag of marshmallows, rips into it, and pulls out two marshmallows for himself before passing it on to the Ian, who then passes it on to Blake. Three members of the household are anxiously awaiting their fire-roasted marshmallows.

"Mmmm!"

The sound seems to come from all three guys at the same time, and it only makes them more excited for the s'mores. Trace watches as Blake blows out the flames on his marshmallows before letting them cool, prior to pulling them off to construct his s'more.

"Hey son, how about giving me that?"

In one quick bite, Blake puts a halt to his father wanting his well-earned delight.

"Guess, I'll just have to wait for mine."

"Sorry, Dad, but this s'more is all mine."

Almost in the blink of an eye, the graham cracker delight is gone, residing now in Blake's stomach. Trace smiles. "Looks like you demolished that s'more, Blake."

And Ian chimes in, "It must have been good."

Ian and Trace are now completing their own s'more and beginning to consume them. Just like Blake, they waste no time in eating their dessert. Blake hurries into the house so he can go up to his room. Shortly after he gets inside, his dads follow, but they don't make it to their room.

= = =

Ian has missed Trace's touch and his torturous tickles. They knew that they have to hold back since their son is upstairs, but neither of them wants to keep quiet. For Trace, this evening is all about giving his lover and best friend some pleasure. Trace kisses his guy on the lips and then rubs his tongue along Ian's soft lips.

"Babe, before we get on the path of no return, I think Blake needs to visit Ben so we can play without the worry of corrupting his teenage mind."

Trace grins at the idea, pats Ian on the back as he gets up, and walks upstairs.

"Hey, Blake, how would you like to see Ben for a couple hours tonight?"

Blake's afraid to answer, thinking that maybe this was Trace's way of being mean, but Trace's grin tells him this is no joke. "Yeah!"

"You need to call him to get permission before I drop you off."

Trace turns and walks out of the room as he heads back downstairs to Ian, and hopefully, he can keep his hands off him.

"Blake is calling Ben now, so why don't you head up to our room? I'll be up there when I get back."

"Okay, babe, but I hope Blake doesn't take a long time getting off that phone."

"I hope so too, because I want to get back to these arms."

Trace places a tender kiss on Ian's lips and massages his lover's right bicep.

"Dad, get your keys," Blake yells from the top of the stairs, and then he proceeds to run down them, almost tripping at the bottom. Ian and Trace exchange a quick kiss, and Trace gets up and grab the keys as he walks out the door. He unlocks the car using the button on his remote, and then he gets into the car, followed by Blake. The minute their seatbelts are on, Trace wastes no time in pulling away from the house. Somehow, the drive seems to take forever for Trace and yet for Blake this trip is one the fastest drives with Trace that he has had in a long time. Arriving at Ben's, Trace parks the car long enough for Blake to get out and to make it into the house. Trace has perfection in human form waiting for him back at the house.

= = =

Arriving at the house, Trace turns off the car, gets out, closes the door before he turns to the car and clicks the lock button on his remote. Rarely has his heart raced as he opens his house but today his heart isn't just racing, it feels like he's in a marathon. Upstairs, Ian drops his clothes as he strips down and then climbs on to the bed, he doesn't even take time to cover up in the bed sheets. Trace drops the keys in the small basket near the door and then removes his shirt and tosses it to the couch. He begins to climb the stairs and removing his belt as he goes up. Ian begins to feel some stirring from his crotch as he can hear Trace's steps on their stairs. As he climbs the stairs, Trace is pondering what he'll find inside their bedroom and it makes him start to get a little horny as well. Opening the door to the bedroom, Trace slowly strips as he struts towards the bed. Meanwhile across town, Ben and Blake are heading to the backyard to look up at the moon and maybe shares a few kisses as they look up into the sky. Back in the bedroom, Trace plants a kiss on Ian's lips while the teens exchange their first kiss of the evening. Trace looks into the eyes of his lover and he swears that he sees passion burning in them.

"Babe, we need to be here... now and forever."

As he says "here", Trace moves his right hand towards his heart and then slowly brings it back down to Ian's chest. Ian pulls his hand away and takes Trace in a deep embrace before whispering into his husband's ears, "Now and forever."

Trace kisses Ian prior to getting lost once more in the passion that is burning between them.

= = =

 

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