Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2022 04:37:50 +0000 (UTC)
From: Alex Century <alexcenturyerotica@yahoo.com>
Subject: Takeoffs and Landings Part 2: Chapter 1

Hey everyone! Alex here. If you haven't read the first part of Takeoffs and
Landings, stop right here and read it right now. You can find it here:
https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/college/takeoffs-and-landings/ As always,
thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story. If you feel so
inclined, please donate to Nifty.

Jared

The night of June 8, 2007 was one Matt and I had been looking forward to
for a while. I hadn't had a Friday at home in months and Matt and I had
planned to make it a date night. We had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen,
one of our favorite restaurants, and we made sure to have a glass of
wine. My heart fluttered as I sat there looking into his brown eyes, a
sight that hadn't gotten old after almost ten years together.

"I have some news," Matt said flashing me that damn mischevious smile.

"Oh yeah?" I replied a bit surprised.

"I got offered a promotion at work. They want to make me a manager."

"That's great!" I said as my face lit up. Matt came to love his job with
the state of California though he hadn't talked about a promotion at all so
it must have been a surprise.

It was a really happy time in our family. Sam had just moved in with his
boyfriend Jordan after dating for four years. Brady had been married for a
year and a half. Brady was notoriously tight-lipped about his love life and
my parents had started to think that he'd never get married. He'd been in a
steady relationship with Jessica for almost three years until they decided
to get married when they found out she was pregnant. In September 2006 they
welcomed my nephew, Daniel Thomas Ryan, or Danny for short.

Since I had gained seniority Matt and I had been taking vacations since I
could hold more desirable schedules. We'd been to London, Rome, and
Ireland. We made many quick trips back to Illinois to see my family and to
Delaware to see Matt's parents. We thought we'd settled into our life
together and were hitting our stride.

After we ordered dessert, butter cake with a scoop of Haagen Dazs, we
headed back home and while neither of us said it directly we both knew what
was going to happen. We'd both been giving each other the side eye and as
we pulled into our neighborhood he slid his hand into mine on top of the
gear shifter. As soon as we were inside the house there was no stopping
what happened next. I came in for a kiss and then his hands were under my
shirt. Before I even realized it we were both naked and then we landed on
the bed. My boner pressed up against his and before I knew it Matt had the
lube bottle in his hand.

I got on my side and he entered me slowly. He made sweet, sensual love to
me before pounding me like a jackhammer. We went back and forth from slow
and easy to raw and intense and I loved every minute of it. Matt tends to
be the more submissive one but every now and then he decides to be the man
in charge and it gets me so fucking horny.

After 20 minutes or so he started to squirm and moan before he let out an
eruption of cum. He panted for a minute before he rolled over so I could
lube him up and take care of my own needs. I got on top of him and fucked
him face down until I came, trying to make things quick since we were both
tired after that session. We then took a shower and got into bed. The only
plans we had for the next day were for me to mow the lawn.

We cuddled in bed together until we fell asleep with me as the big spoon. I
don't remember what I was dreaming about but I was jolted awake in the
middle of the night by the phone ringing. My eyes were wide open and my
heart was pounding as Matt slowly came to. I got out of bed and headed into
the living room to check the caller ID. It was my mom. I knew this couldn't
be good.

"Mom?" I said with the fear rising in my voice.

"Jared!" she said sobbing harder than I'd ever heard her cry before.

"Mom what's wrong?" I asked as I started crying. I didn't know what I was
crying about but I knew it had to be bad.

"Brady and Jessica were killed in a car accident," she managed to say
clearly enough for me to understand. That was the moment when Matt came out
of the bedroom and saw a look on my face that couldn't be unseen.

"N-n-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" was all I could manage. It was
a blood-curdling scream that could have woke the neighbors up. I crumpled
to the floor like I'd been shot. The closest I'd ever come to feeling that
level of emotional agony was when Sam told me he'd been molested. Matt took
the phone from me as I bawled on the floor.

They talk about your life flashing before your eyes when you die, well
Brady's life flashed before my eyes. Blowing out my birthday candles with
him at the dinner table, riding our bikes through the neighborhood in
elementary school, the way he hugged me when I came out to him and how
proud he was of me, the time he almost knocked me over in the airport when
they came for Matt and my wedding, watching him kiss his new bride. And now
it was all over.

Matt fell to his knees when my mom told him the news. I sat up and we held
each other as we cried together. My mom was still on the phone and looking
back I can't imagine how much worse it had to have made it for her to have
to listen to that. I resolved to take a few deep breaths and get myself
back to rational thinking.

"What about Danny?" I asked.

"He was with Dad and I. We were babysitting. They got hit by someone going
the wrong way on the freeway," she said and I lost it again.

"Do I have to tell Sam?" I asked when I finally regained the ability to
speak.

"I already did. Can you check on him?" she asked.

"Yeah. We'll all be on a plane tomorrow, I'll make sure of it," I replied.

"I love you Jared," she said with tears in her voice.

"I love you too Mom. Here's Matt," I said as I handed him the phone so she
could tell him she loved him too.

Matt and I sat down on the couch and at this point I was just lost. I was
waiting to wake up, like this was all just a horrible nightmare that I'd
wake up from. I even told myself that as soon as I woke up that I was going
to call Brady and tell him how much he meant to me. Maybe five minutes
later I saw headlights pulling into the driveway and there was a knock on
the door. Sam came in and collapsed into my arms. He didn't say anything
because he couldn't speak. He didn't have to.

Naturally I'm always the calmest person in the room but in that moment Matt
and Jared were the only things keeping me from coming unglued. Without
saying a word I stood up and went to our spare bedroom where my computer
was located. I booked the first flight to St. Louis for the three of us the
following morning and went back into the living room. I could only stare at
the ground as I started to take in how unfair all of this was. Of all the
people in the world who actually deserved something like this to happen,
why the fuck did it have to happen to fucking Brady?

I wandered into the kitchen and looked at the time on the microwave. It was
2:30 AM. Our flight left at 6. The initial shock and devasation had turned
into numbness. Speaking in a flat tone of voice I turned to Sam and said
"Sam you should go home and pack a bag."

"Okay," he said and turned to leave,

"No wait for me," I replied. "Matt can you get a bag together for the two
of us? It's nothing against you but I just really want to be with Sam right
now. Is that okay?" I asked turning to Sam. He brought me in for another
hug.

We got into Sam's car and my mind was swirling like a whirlpool. I didn't
think about whether or not it was the best thing to say in the moment but
it was what my head and my heart decided on.

"Sam I need you to know that I forgive you for anything and everything bad
you've ever done to me. It doesn't matter anymore. I don't care what it is,
I don't care when it was. You and I have never been as close as Brady and I
were. But now you're all I have. I love you dude."

He pulled into his apartment complex and as soon as he put the car in park
he cried with his head on the steering wheel.

"I'm so fucking sorry for how I treated you when we were in high
school. I'm so sorry for how shitty I was to you when you came out. I still
haven't forgiven myself for what I did to Matt," he let out. All I could do
was put my arms around him and sob.

"I love you more than you'll ever know Sam. Don't ever forget that."

We came back to the house and sat on the couch waiting for the time to come
to leave for the airport. It was at that moment that the entire world felt
like it was just going on around me. At 4:00 AM we left for the Sacramento
airport and when Matt asked me if I wanted the front seat I couldn't even
think of the right answer. I just got in the car and let Sam drive. The
city just went by as I sat there and stared at the windshield.

We pulled into the parking garage and I just had to focus on one task at a
time. I had to put my focus into putting one foot in front of the other and
walk through the parking garage into the building. It was that much of a
challenge. My brain was on autopilot as I went through the ritual I'd
undertaken hundreds of times at security: empty my pockets into the bin,
shoes off, step through the metal detector, collect my belongings, try to
put my shoes back on as fast as possible while feeling incredibly awkward
the entire time, and then figure out which way our gate was.

I lost count of how many times Sam and Matt asked me if I was okay during
our trip. Don't get me wrong, they were sad and hurting but I was almost
catatonic. I was trying not to think about what was waiting when we
arrived. It still felt like a dream I could wake up from. I knew that once
I saw my brother's dead body in that casket that the reality of it was
going to hit me with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. I knew that my
parents needed us but deep down I didn't want to see them in this state.

Sam had his arm across my back as Matt and I held hands when the gate agent
announced that Continental flight 1816 to Houston would begin boarding
shortly. I was like a robot as I walked down the jetway and took my seat. I
sat there and stared at the seat in front of me the entire flight. I almost
ignored the flight attendant when she asked me if I wanted anything to
drink. I decided to ask for a Coke, though only after the beverage cart
went by did I think that I should have asked for some whiskey in it.

3 hours and 52 minutes later we landed in Houston and we had to hustle to
make our connecting flight. We only had 48 minutes but our ride to
St. Louis was on a tiny ERJ. I spent most of the flight with my head on
Matt's shoulder as the walls of reality started closing in. This wasn't a
nightmare I was going to wake up from. My brother really was dead and the
last time I was going to see his face was in a casket when he was 35.

A couple hours later we touched down at Lambert Field, the airport I'd
flown out of so many times growing up. No matter how much I'd like to I'll
never forget the look in my dad's eyes when he spotted us in the
terminal. He went for me first and cried on my shoulder harder than I'd
ever heard him cry before and then he moved onto Sam.

"I love you like you're my own son," he said to Matt and hearing those
words gave me a fleeting feeling of joy in the midst of all the trauma.

We got in the car and made the drive back to my hometown of Belleville,
Illinois, just across the Mississippi River and when we arrived we went
through the same cycle of hugs and tears with my mom. I noticed that my
parents kept looking at each other as if they were hiding something from us
and that's when they called everyone into the living room.

"Jared, Matt, can you guys come in here please?"

"Am I welcome?" Sam asked poking his head out of his bedroom.

"Of course," my mom replied and we all sat down. She took my dad's hand and
then drew in a deep breath.

"We've all got some tough decisions ahead of us so we wanted to be open
about this from the start," my mom began.

"We only found this out a couple hours ago but," she paused to let the pain
subside.

"Brady put in his will that he wanted you and Matt to be the first ones to
be offered custody of Danny if he ever died."

Those words took all of the air out of my lungs and I felt like I was going
to pass out. I jumped up and ran for the patio door because I needed some
air. I leaned over the railing and vomited.

***

Hey everyone, thanks for reading! If you want to leave me some feedback or
just chat drop me a line at AlexCenturyErotica@yahoo.com. I always write
back. This story is just getting started so stay tuned for more!