Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:46:26 -0800 (PST) From: T. Chase McPhee Subject: Adventures In Nature 06 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, in towns, cities, countries, nor governmental areas, which the story is staged. If a sexual scene involving male-to-male relationships offends you, then you should not read this story. Additionally, if you are under 18 years of age, in most state 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. % "Adventures In Nature" 06 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee % "I can't believe Denis snapped. He seemed to be doing so good after this business with Harry Morse was out of his life," Darryl says to Julian, as they sit at the kitchen table, having a beer. With sweaty palms, rolling around the cold beer bottle between two hands, Julian veers off course, saying, "Darryl, I'm returning my house key to you." "What was that?" He asks, with his mind intent on Denis' welfare. "I think we should end what we've got going here and..." "What brought this on?" "I feel it may be a little unethical for me to be here while you are supposedly `dating' Denis." "Putting it that way, it sounds like you think I'm promoting something shady, Julian?" Darryl replies. "Call it whatever you'd like, but I think it relates to how you are starting out, with intentions of building a serious relationship, Darryl. Now come on... ." "I hadn't realized... I..." Darryl gets to thinking. Julian cuts in, "Well the other thing I wanted to bring up is... well, truth of the matter, I've decided to settle down.. find a man for myself." "What's wrong with what we have now? The sex is good, right?" Darryl asks, in all honesty. "Sure, but there's other parts that are lacking." Darryl persists, "It's you who always went on and on about how good we have it. What gives?" "Darryl... it's obvious you're not getting it. Our friendship goes back a ways, but I want more than the sexual part of a relationship. More than what it seems you are offering Denis." "I see. Since when did this come about?" Darryl asks, as he downs his beer, getting up for two more. "What I've seen other gay couples have. I thought maybe it's time I've had the same," Julian tells him. "Plus, I'm not getting any younger here and maybe I'm tiring of only the sexual aspect of a relationship... like we have... I want more than..." Thinking it over, Darryl says, "Well, it's your decision, Julian. I can't make up your mind for you, but will you do one little thing for me?" "Sure, if I can." "Can you just stay til Denis is released from the hospital? It gets awfully lonely here without anyone else around." What Julian is really deciphering is Darryl's plea. As he sees it, Darryl's cock will be lying dormant, with only his hand to firm it up, instead of a tight ass. Still, call it for `old times sake', Julian agrees to hold on to his house key for now. % Late Monday afternoon, both dads at the Barr-Bridges household made it a point to be home by the time Jeremy let out of school. "There ya go!" Matty says, opening the garage door to Chad, putting on the finishing touches. "Wow! For me? Thanks dads!" Jeremy says, holding his new bike by the handlebars, his feet planted on the driveway, his crotch riding the middle bar. "I didn't know you had it in ya, Preppy," Matty says. "It's building a bike... not the Taj Mahal!" Chad says, giggling. Taking his handkerchief out, Matty wets it with his spit and rubs it against the grease spot on the left side of Chad's blond pec. "I hope you're not coming down with anything," Chad says, looking down at the spit-soaked rag, wiping off the spot of grease. "Don't let anybody ever accuse you of being romantic!" Then Chad turns to Jeremy, who still stands there with the bike, looking over the shiny blue metal. "Well, are you going to take it for a spin?" "I'd like to, but I don't know how," the ten year old replies. "Don't know how? Never learned how to ride a bike, is it?" Matty questions. Low-keyed, Jeremy tells them, divulging a previously unknown fact, "Nope. I didn't have one. My dad had enough money for his booze. When my mom was alive, she always told dad I needed things that kids need, growing up, but dad said there was never money to buy me stuff." It put a damper on the dads, as well, to hear of Jeremy's down-on-his-luck story. However, as quick as the atmosphere turned bleak, it turned around, Jeremy cheerfully telling, "But I betcha the guys will help me learn. That's why I want to be in the bike club!" "I think it's a good idea, too," Chad smiles, Matty following. "It's not tough to learn how to ride a bike. I bet you'll be riding all over the neighborhood in no time," Matty cheers him on. "Cool! Will you show me, dads?" "I didn't think I'd need to put these on, but..." Chad bends over and picks up the set of training wheels. Holding the bike in place, Jeremy looks down as his dad goes about bolting them to the frame. Both dads liked what they were hearing, as Jeremy talked about his first experiences with the bike, incorporating his dads in the talk. Sure, Jeremy could have learned to ride from the pack of squirts, but it would be more memorable, in years to come, if his dads had a hand in it. % "Sorry I couldn't get here earlier, Steve. What's the prognosis?" Barry asks, upon meeting Steve, coming out of the hospital psychiatry office. Steve's silence became the prelude to the grim task of filling Barry in. "Come on Steve. Let me have it," Barry coaxed, meaning to share the burden. "If it wasn't for Tony Gagliardi, we may have had to retain Owen Bergne's services once again." Barry looks at Steve, shocked, saying, "What are you taking about Steve?" "Seems Denis burst out in a fit of rage, during his tutoring with Julian." "Rage?" "Yeah. Seems a diagreement ensued, involving Denis and Darryl," Steve explained, hitting the tip of the iceberg of the longer story. "Wait. You lost me. What does Darryl have to do with Denis and Julian?" Barry asks. >From what he understood, Steve explained as best he could, laying out the facts regarding Julian Bergne's past and present relationship with Darryl, then Denis' interpetation which didn't give much room for Julian to explain things before he flew off the handle. "So what you're telling me, if Tony hadn't intervened, Denis could have....." Barry left the inevitable off the end of his supposition, Steve catching his drift, "Right." "And what about Julian? He pressing charges?" Barry questioned. "Not that I've heard. As I understand it, Julian blames himself, figuring he shouldn't have said things which provoked Denis." "Y'know Steve, I don't like the sound of all this. You head on home. I'm going to go have a talk with Darryl Tudyk and get to the bottom of all this." "I'd like to be there to get to the bottom of all this, but I better head on home to the rest of the troops," Steve recommends. "I hear ya," Barry says, patting Steve's shoulder, as he gives him a quick hug and departing kiss. After dropping Steve off at the end of their driveway, Barry continued on his way, his mind preoccupied with both, what his partner had divulged, plus trying to reformulate his thoughts, upon when he would present them to Darryl. "Oh shit!" he called out to himself, when after turning out of Bridges Lane, onto the countrified part of van Dusen Blvd., sirens appeared behind him. Looking in his side mirror, a long arm stuck out of the patrol car window, vigoriously pointing towards the side of the road. He made a sigh of relief, seeing Riley Sanchez exit the drivers side of the vehicle. Opening his door, he got out, just in time to meet the tall, Hispanic police officer, and friend. "New van, huh?" Riley confronted him with, right off, running a hand over the shiny coat of pearl blue paint. Anxious to proceed to his destination, Barry quickly dispersed the information, "Right. The van the kids and I were in, during the accident, was totaled, so we thought we should start out fresh. I guess you pulled me over so you can get a better look?" "Actually, I didn't know it was you, until you stepped out of the SUV." "Oh?" Barry questioned, with incriminating thoughts on his mind to why he was curbed. "Stop sign, back there," Riley points over his shoulder, from whence they came, "at Bridges Lane. You failed to come to a complete halt." Expecting to be treated like `everyday Joe', Barry watched Riley's hands. But instead of taking out the long pad, from which he served up a ticket, he followed Riley around, as he checked out the van, answering questions like `how many miles per gallon?', etc. Very anxious to proceed with his trip, before losing his will or train of thought, Barry directs to his immediate thought, "Um, I hate to rush you and all, being that you're in the line of duty, Riley, but if you don't mind, I'll just take my ticket and be on my way?" Squatting, inspecting one of the shiny hubcaps, Riley looks up, at Barry, stating, "Nice wheels, but get real," standing, slapping his palms toether, dusting them off, he tells, "I'm not issuing you a ticket. I can imagine, with school, home and two of your boys in the hospital..." "One. Mark came home on Friday," Barry informs him. "Well, okay, but still, I betcha you have tons of things on your mind," Riley says, taking the passenger side windshield wiper in his hand. "Actually, I was on my way to..." "I know, probably to visit with your boy, at the hospital," Riley intercedes, trying to read his friend's thoughts. "Not really, but I have to deal with a problem, regarding him," Barry truthfully spat out, careful not to mention names, well-knowing Darryl Tudyk to be Riley's partner. Always with a nose for sticking into other people's business, especially friends, when inferred it could mean helping them out with a problem, Riley lets the wiper bounce back onto the windshield as he intercedes, "Problem, eh? So what's up?" "Um, nothing much. Really, I think I can handle it," Barry says, praying Riley drops the subject. To help throw him off course, he adds, "And by the way, thanks for giving me a warning, instead of a ticket." Riley watches, as Barry rounds the front of the van, as if rudely ending their conversation. Thinking it totally out of character for his friend to do this, he asks, "You know, it's up to the police officer to say something like, `you can go'?" He hangs at the driver's side window, his forearm on the ledge of the open portal. "Oh, I thought you were through with me, but I really need to get going." "Pop the door on the other side. I want to get a look at the interiors," Riley says, with more expectations on his mind. Right away, he swings open the passenger door and parks his ass in the seat. Barry looks to his right, wishing it wasn't the case, on edge with his eagerness to deal with Darryl. "Nice and comfy, huh?" "Not bad," Riley states, sinking back into the cushy seat, reclining, placing his hands behind his head, relaxing. "So, is this problem you're having with Denis, related to my partner?" Thinking the old `mindreader trick', Barry is thrown back, turning as best he can to stare at Riley, as he asks, "You're partner?" "Darryl? Darryl Tudyk?" Reilly jars Barry's memory. "I know Darryl's your partner, but...." "And I'm sure you, being a parent that keeps tabs on all of your children are well aware of the impending relationship brewing between your eighteen year old and my partner? Denis has mentioned it to you, hasn't he?" Riley asked, cagily, hiking up in the seat, upright. "Um, he has said...." Barry started to say. Getting cut off, Riley frankly admits, "Well then why don't we cut the crap and get everything out in the open, shall we? You know Darryl has another guy living with him?" "What did you say?" Not repeating himself, Riley sat there, watching Barry's temperature rise, sweat start to break out on his brow, seeing him jack the handle on his door, leave the van, walk around the front and stroll to where the shoulder met the wooded area. Exiting the vehicle, he approached his friend, sensing the disturbed nature, as Barry rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. Silence prevailed, as Riley let Barry lead into their conversation, with, "That's where I was headed. On my way over to your partner's house, to confront him. But I had no idea he had another man living with him. Wait... that wouldn't be Julian Bergne, would it?" "One in the same. I heard about the fracas he and Denis got into at the hospital. Even though no formal charges were filed, an incident report needed to be written up," Riley tells. "Oh, so you know all about Denis almost dropping a chair on Julian's head, if not for his teammate stopping him?" Barry asks, looking for Riley's recognition of the incident. "I know I shouldn't have been doing it, but when the officer filing the report, mentioned Denis' name, I `felt obligated' to steal a look at it," Riley confessed. "I know your intentions would be to the good," Barry replies. "The thing is, what do I tell Denis, now?" "Why should you have to be the bearer of bad news?" Riley asks, placing his hand on Barry's shoulder. "I don't know what to do now, Riley. To Denis, this seems like a budding relationship between he and Darryl. He's already stressed out to the max. I'm afraid this will send him over the edge," Barry speaks with conviction, his usually worry-free attitude caving in. "You trust me, don't you?" "Of course I do, Riley." "Then I want you to do something." Riley waits til he has Barry's attention. "What?" He asks, looking to Riley. "We're going to get back in our cars. I'm going to head east on van Dusen, but you're going to head west..." "No, you don't understand. I need to go talk with Darryl.... get this straightened out," Barry pleads, as he hears the directive to make a u-turn and head towards home. "Oh believe me... it's going to get straightened out, but you're going to go home, kick your shoes off and relax, leaving it up to me to handle," Riley Sanchez said calmly, his hand patting Barry's back, in trying to calm his nerves. "You?" Barry strongly questions his motive. "Listen, Steve and I go way back, nearly growing up together, but a few years apart in age. He's almost like kin to me. When you decided to shack up with him, I adopted you and your family into the same closeknit family. Kin helps kin. So, I want you to trust me on this... you do trust me, don't you?" Having no reason to doubt him, Barry responded, "I guess." Riley was hoping for more, so waited for a definitive response. "Um, sure I trust you, Riley," came the undisputed truth. "Good," Riley said, dropping his hand down Barry's back, turning to head towards his patrol car. "Wait! What should I tell Steve?" Barry summoned from Riley's back. He shouted out, "Don't do anything until you hear from me. I'll give you a call later on tonight." Standing by the front of the van, Barry watched as Riley whisked away down van Dusen Blvd., doubting whether he should head home or proceed to add backup, at Darryl's house. Keeping his cool, he opened the door to the van and jumped inside, made the u-turn, heading in the opposite direction, trusting Riley would find some sensible solution to this kaos. % After hearing the knock on the door, Kirk opened it. Seeing Kev on the bed, John asks, "Mind if I come in?" "John!" Kev shouts, astonished, hopping to his feet, from sacking out on his bed. "Yeah," John said low-keyed. "I wondered if we could talk?" "Um, sure," Kev replied, looking at his roommate, hand still attached to the doorknob. "Let me grab a shirt and some sneakers." "I don't want to disturb you, if you're working on something important," John says, spying the loose papers and pencil on the bed. "Oh that. No. I was just proofreading a paper for Psych class. It'll be there when I get back," Kev reports, more elated than the last few days, after laying eyes on John. Feeding his arms into his shirt, he lets it hang open, as he stuffs his bare feet into a pair of sneakers. "Later," he says to Kirk, Kirk responding in the same to both. As Kev holds the door to the stairwell, he says, "It's really good to see you." "You see me everyday at Barr's & Bridges," John retorts. "Well yeah... I mean, it's good to see you `here'," Kev utters. "Yeah, well," John starts into the reason, as they reach the bottom of the stairwell, "a lot has transpired since I reamed you out." "Oh?" Kev provokes, as they enter the open campus. Some guy, venturing to check him out, makes him realize he hadn't buttoned up. John offers, "After work today, I decided to bury the hatchet." Thinking, the only guy they both know who had a beef with John, Kev asks, "With Tom?" "Right. I figured I was acting immature. If I'm going to be working there, I should start treating him with a little more respect." His comment made Kev smile, as he said, "And he was okay with that?" "He stopped what he was doing and invited me to sit down in his office. He whips out a sixpack of Dr. Pepper and offers me one. After talking for awhile, we started to `get along' better," John comfortably relayed. "So, what did you talk about?" Kev asks, with some downsides of his past on his mind. "First I apologized for acting like a jerk." Smiling, John reports, "Tom told me he was sorry for acting like a `bigger jerk'!" An outburst of laughter ensued, Kev saying, "That's my bro alright!" Calming their humor, Kev asks, "So, what did you two chat about?" Pausing, John's demeanor became of a serious nature, him replying, "We talked mainly about you." "Oh," is all Kev said, followed by a period of silence, as the two walked a few feet. Then he inquires, "So, I suppose he told you all about my `delinquent daze', huh?" To make sure he was being on the level with Kev, John spewed out, "Tom told me about your parents.... um, passing on. He told me how you did drugs, drank, practiced reckless sex, were headed straight to hell, til he picked you up out of the gutter." In front of a bench, Kev dropped the whole weight of his body down on it, making the wood squeek, as he exhaled deeply, saying, "So he virtually told you all about how I managed to fuck up my life?" "I suppose," John said, placing a hand on Kev's thigh, as he sat. "Yup," Kev went on to expose himself, "I managed to screw up royally." With the weight of depression on Kev's mind, John tread carefully onwards, "You're not the only one who screwed up." "Huh?" Kev says, his head perking up, looking into John's eyes. "Last night," Is all John said. "What about it?" Kev asked, knowing John wanted to be led on. "Actually, it kind of got started in school. I..." "Something bad happen?" Kev asked, sliding his arm down from over the bench, to John's shoulders. "Depends on how you look at it. I kind of got feeling sorry for myself. You know those two guys you met the other day on campus?" "The blond and brown-haired guys?" Kev summed up. "Yeah. Connor and Jim," John named them. "What about them?" "I've heard rumors from guys that they get it on with other guys," John sketched in the details. "Huh?" Kev asks, not sure of what John's saying. "In other words, they have had threeways." "Oh," Kev said in a low tone, commenting, "not saying that I'm any better," regarding his past. "I know," John says, not really wanting to revive any dead skeletons. "Um, anything Tom `didn't' tell you?" "Do you want to hear about me?" John asks, overriding the past. "Yeah. Sure. Go ahead. So, what happened?" Kev asks, anxiously. "I usually sit with a bunch of guys, for lunch, but there happened to be an away game, so it was only the three of us... Connor, Jim and me. Of course they wanted to know all about you. After explaining our `disagreement', not going into detail, other than saying we had split... well, by the end of story, I was feeling pretty down," John explained, abruptly ending his tale of woe. "That's it?" Kev quizzes him. "Not exactly. I'm also in Connor's last period Spanish class. He asked me if I wanted to hang with him and Jim after school." "But you had to be at work," Kev says, almost like a reminder. "Right, which I told him. He said if I wanted to, come by after work and hang out with them, if I felt like it. Spend the night, if I wanted." "You spent the night?" Kev asks, almost in astonishment. "Yeah, well, after work I wasn't feeling any different than before. I called my folks from the store and said I was staying with you, then drove over to their place." "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! What a bad boy," Kev reprimanded him, a ounce of humor thrown in. Seriously, John rendered, "No kidding. I've never lied to my mom before. You don't know how guilty it's making me feel." Kev, sitting to John's left, worked his arm around John's right shoulder, in a response of comfort. "Truthfully? Yes," Kev said with straightforwardness. "So many times I lied to Tom, feeling guilty, til it became such a habit, it seemed like the natural thing to do." "I'll probably never tell them the truth." "Don't worry about it, John. You'll get over it," Kev advised. "I suppose," John said, shying away from the subject, figuring Kev the authority, here. "So, you spent the night? You... you got it on with them?" Kev rushed ahead of John. "Almost... well, not really.. I mean..." Being an artist, it wasn't tough for Kev to picture in his mind, the likeness of a blond and brown-haired guy, touching the outskirts of John's bod, as he lay between them in the bed, nor changing positions, the three tied up in a human knot. % Copyright 2007 T. Chase McPhee This story may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author.