Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2022 12:07:36 -0700
From: Dave <outinwest@gmail.com>
Subject: The Society Boys Part 188

The Society Boys
By Connor Matthews

We thank the people at Nifty for hosting all these wonderful stories that
take us on a mind journey away from reality. Edibles do that too, but they
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for all.  Now on with this story...


Chapter 188

Blake and J.J. arrived for breakfast together and worked as a pair to get
the things they needed.  It was nice to see them like this, and I looked
forward to their bond getting even stronger.

"You boys get enough sleep last night?  I figured with the sleepover you
had, you might have been up half the night," I asked.

"Nope, we played one video game and then went to sleep."

"Blake snores," J.J. giggled.

"I do not snore," Blake said defensively.

"You do when you lie on your back."

"I mostly lie on my side though."

"Yeah, but last night I was kinda lying partially on you while you were on
your back, and after a bit you began to snore.  It wasn't loud or nuthin',
but you did it.  As soon as I moved, you turned over and were quiet again.
You sure get a lot of boners though."

Kyle laughed.  "He knows you well.  No makeup today, Blake?  Going
natural?"

"Yeah, it's hump day, so I have gym just before lunch.  It would all wash
off in the showers and would look terrible.  I've been tanning, so I'm not
as pale as most of the guys anyway.  Well, the white guys.  You can't
really compete with the other guys as their skin is naturally more dark."

"True," Troy agreed.  "I know this is probably gonna sound racist, or maybe
just naïve, but when I was younger I always thought dark skinned guys
would have brown cum too.  It was a bit of a surprise when I saw it was
actually the same as ours."

We laughed.  "I'm guessing you were one of those that thought brown cows
gave chocolate milk?"  Chance said teasingly.

"They don't?  Then where does it come from?"  Troy said doing his best to
look confused.

"Thought so."

"Wednesdays are the best day, I think," Blake revealed.  "I mean it's
called hump day, so how could that be bad?  I have gym just before lunch,
so you don't have to rush in the shower afterward.  You can take your
time."

"Please tell me that the taking your time just includes the shower and
nothing else," I said hopefully.

"Okay.  It just involves the shower and nothing else," Blake shrugged as he
grinned at me.  "Oh, just so you don't worry, I'm gonna be late home
tonight.  Maybe after dinner.  North invited me to hang out with him, so I
think we're either going to his place or his friends.  Not sure, but either
way, I'll be late.  Might toss the pigskin around for a bit.

"Are you the pigskin?  Is that what the cool kids are calling sex these
days?" J.P. inquired with a smirk.

"No, J.P.  That's what EVERY kid calls throwing a football around.  You've
been hanging out with Justin too much.  Now when we start talking about
greasing the little squealer, that's probably sex."

We all laughed, and J.J. just looked at Blake.  "I don't get it."

"You will when you're older.  You might even be the squealer.  Who knows.
But you're my brother so you'll likely be hung like an elephant."

"Okay, Blake.  Dial it back," Colin warned.

"Dialed!" he replied.

"Would you like toast and jam?"  I asked as I held up a couple pieces of
bread.

"I like my toast like I like my sex.  Raw!" Blake said chuckling as he
stared at me, and then at J.J., who was looking even more confused.  "Got
it!  Dialing further."

I arrived at University and met Nate in the food court before we headed to
the library to work on our final paper for class.  I was laser focused.
Mostly on cute guys that walked by, but at least I was focused.  I nudged
Nate at one point and nodded my head towards where I was looking.

Nate smiled and just shook his head.  "If you want Justyn, just go get
him."

"Already had him," I replied to reassure him I wasn't losing my touch.
"Anyway, it looks like he's picked up someone."

We watched as he grabbed the guy's hand just before they disappeared
through an exit door.  I didn't think much more about it until Justyn
bounced up beside us and sat down next to me a short while later.

"Hey Justin with an i," he grinned.

"Hey Justyn with a y," I replied.  "Someone's overly chipper.  Was that guy
really that good?"

"You saw him, huh?  What'd you see?"

"Just you heading off with him.  Where'd you go?  Stairwell?"

"Girl, please.  I have class.  I took him to my home."

"The motorhome in the parking lot?" I clarified.

"That's the one.  You could tell he was sexually frustrated, so a good
blowjob really helped him relax before finals.  Told him if that didn't
hold him long enough to come back and I'd bang that sweet virgin bussy for
him."

"Bussy?" Nate asked curiously.

"Boy pussy.  Girl, you look like you could use an hour of Justyn time
yourself."

"I had an hour of Justin time...this Justin," he clarified.

"Nice one.  I'll bet you're good in bed."

"I am, but you two will never know," Nate said directly.  "The hour of time
I was referring to was getting this paper ready.  We still have at least
another hour ahead of us."

"Why don't you both come back to my place?  You can study naked while I
give you stress relief.  I'm betting your ass would love a nice tonguing."

"It's bad enough around just one of you.  I can't imagine being naked
around two Justin's.  That might be the text book definition of stressful."

"Your loss, but you know where I live if you change your mind.  If you need
references feel free to ask around.  Catch you later, guys."  He got up and
left.

"Are you one of his references?"  Nate smirked as he looked at me.

"Why?  You thinking on taking him up on his offer?"

"Nope.  Just curious.  You two would make an interesting case study."

"Yes we would," I grinned.  "Wanna conduct that study with us at my place
or his?"

"Pass, but just know, when I start to self medicate and have an opioid
addiction, it'll be your fault."

"But you're just so darn cute," I said reaching up to pinch his cheek.  He
slapped my hand away before I got to him.  Then it was back to studying.
Only one week to go and I'm a licenced psychologist.  Shrink J to my
friends.  I haven't decided on a specialty yet.  Nate wants to eventually
be a forensic psychologist, but we're both going to start with counselling
psychology to get some experience.  Nate will continue to take classes in
addition to working. I suggested he might want to think about child
psychology, but he was quick to shoot me down.  Something about Blake
having made up his mind.  He recommended that I should be a sex therapist
and take myself as my first client.  He was either trying to insult me, or
give me a wicked compliment.  I may never know.  We spent the next two
hours finishing our final term paper before agreeing we were ready to hand
it in.  I might need a therapist to help me deal with all my anxiety on
this.

All we had to do now was wait and see how we did.  The fate of the entire
civilized world hangs in the balance.  Well, maybe not the entire civilized
world, just our future patients.  Of course if we don't pass, we wouldn't
have patients, so this is like one of those paradox things...I think.  How
do I feel about that?  I dunno.  Maybe I should lie down.

I got home pleasantly surprised that Colin was already there, proving it by
giving him a big hug and kiss.  He even helped me make dinner.  I'm getting
really good at it.  Peeling that plastic film back to vent the food use to
be a challenge, now I can do it one handed and know the perfect timing for
most of them.  The cooking instructions used to be confusing.  It would say
cook for 4 to 4½ minutes on high (1100 watts), or until thoroughly
cooked.  First...how do I know how many watts my microwave has?  It's not
like it shows up on the display or anything.  And I haven't found any sort
of button to change it from high to anything else, so I just assume it's
already on high.  And which is it 4, or 4½, or just cook until it's
done.  Pick one and let's go with it.  Good news is, I was more of a chef
now, so I knew it usually ended up closer to the longer time.  Might have
something to do with altitude, or the actual microwave.

Colin set the table with me, and it was nice just hanging out together.  I
think when he's at work like 10 hours a day, I kinda miss him.  Hopefully
that'll change once Nate and I open our offices in his building.  I can
have coffee breaks and lunch with him all the time.  In my mind that will
include me being spread out naked on his desk, but we can mix it up from
time to time.  I'd happily let him lie on my couch, or we can go for
couple's therapy in Nate's office and give him quite the show.

Ben got home and came over to see us.  "Ummm, I think the garage door is
broken.  I couldn't get it to open," he said as he gave us both a hug.

"That's why all the cars are out in the driveway.  It's not broken, though.
I just reprogrammed it for a surprise later," Colin revealed.

"What sort of surprise?"  I asked.

"Well...it's a SURPRISE, so you'll have to wait to find out, and don't even
try," he warned as he pulled me in for a hug.

"Don't even try what?"

"Your usual trick of threatening to withhold sex if I don't tell you," he
chuckled.

"I don't do that," I replied innocently.

Ben just stood there nodding.  "Yeah, you do that," he said, agreeing with
Colin.

"Just for that...see if I ever have sex with either of you again," I said
giving them a pout.  Wait, did I just do what they accused me of?  Damn it.
"So speaking of withholding things, what's the surprise?" I asked.

"Not even a good attempt," Colin replied.  "Don't worry, I'm gonna show you
right after dinner."

"Whatever.  I don't even care," I said as I went to get a glass of water.

"Let's see how long that lasts," Colin said, looking at Ben and grinning.

I could just wait for them to leave and go through the side door into the
garage, just to ensure his surprise was still set up, or inflated, or not
inflated yet, whatever was appropriate.  Turns out he'd reversed the door
lock so that it was now locked from the inside, preventing us from getting
in.  That's rude.  Like any of us would want to go in there anyway.

"Oh hey, thanks for letting me use your car while mine is in for service,"
Ben said to Colin.  "What did Tesla have to do to it?"

"Nothing major.  Just a routine service call.  You'll have it back soon,"
Colin replied.

We'd all gathered for dinner, during which Colin announced to everyone that
he'd be revealing his surprise out in the garage when we were done.  He's
not usually this excited, except about cars, so I'm guessing this is a car
thing.  I wonder if I should tell him that this isn't as big a deal as he
thinks it is.  You see one 20 million dollar car, you've seen them all.  I
mean it was cool when I saw the first Lambo or Bugatti, but now we dozens,
and quite frankly I find some of them hard to tell apart.  Others can tell
you the year, model, and added options, just from seeing them a half
kilometre away.

Everyone worked quickly to clear the dinner dishes away as they wanted to
get out and see the surprise.  Colin had us wait in the driveway as he said
he had to set it up, and raced back into the house.  He returned a minute
later and stood with us. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah!"  Travis and Trevor said excitedly as they jumped around.  I think
the other boys were just as excited, but managing to control themselves.
Colin hit the garage door button, and as soon as it was halfway up, he used
his phone to start some app.  By the time the door was open, music started
blaring, and I stood there wondering what I was actually witnessing.  There
were three Tesla vehicles facing us in almost a quarter circle format.  The
ceiling of the garage was now adorned with LED lights.  As the music
intensified, the cars began flashing their lights in sequence.  It almost
looked like the cars were having a dance off.

"I saw this on YouTube and had the guys program a show for us.  This is the
Mission Impossible theme," Colin explained.

I was amazed.  Each light on the car was operating independently, and even
the windows and side mirrors were playing along.  All we need now is for
the hood to open and make it look like the car is singing and I'm gonna
freak out.

We all stood there entranced by the light show, which was definitely
enhanced by the ceiling LED lights reacting in time to the beat, but they
added colour that the cars couldn't.  At one point, the doors on two of the
cars began opening upward.  The twins shrieked in delight and began
wiggling to the music.

"They're trying to fly, Daddy!"  Trevor yelled as he raised his arms to
match the car.  Travis copied and I wasn't sure where to look now.  The
cars really did look like they were trying to fly with the rear doors
flapping up and down like that, and I couldn't stop watching.  Then
suddenly, the front doors began to slowly open, and the trunk on the middle
car lifted up.  Jesus, they're transformers.  They've hypnotized us into
watching them, now they're going to take over and kill us all.  I got ready
to run...and scream.  Apparently screaming is required in any sort of alien
attack.  Just ask the residents of Tokyo.  Then just as quickly as it
started it was over, and the cars returned to their starting position.  We
actually all clapped.

"That was epic!" Troy gushed as we stood there in awe.

"I thought this would be a fun way to introduce the new cars," Colin said
as he handed Ben one key fob and Troy the other.  "When I say.  Push this
button."  He showed his own key fob to them indicating where to press.  "I
thought this looked epic in a video, so I had them duplicate it.  But this
time each car is individual, not programmed to play off each other.  On
three.  One, two three," he said, and they all pushed their buttons.  We
saw the front windows on all cars go down and then the music started.  I
actually know this song, which was Sandstorm by Darude, or Darude by
Sandstorm, I'm not sure.  This music was much more dramatic.  The boys had
all moved closer so they could see better.  Being that the garage was
darker than just having the cars outside, you could see that the rear
lights were also part of the show.  They were reflecting off the back wall.
This might even be better if we added floor to ceiling mirrors back there
so we could see everything.

"Ummm, I think there's something wrong," Blake pointed out.  "There's smoke
coming from under the cars."

"It's okay.  That's a smoke machine.  It's supposed to do that," Colin
assured him.  I wasn't that convinced, but trying to put out a fire in a
lithium battery vehicle wasn't going to happen.  We'd lose the entire house
and most of the neighborhood.  Explain that to the insurance company.
Yeah, we were just watching our cars dance when they whole place went up.
Oh, and yeah, by the way, we had a hundred million dollars in others cars
that are now toast.

Doors and trunks began opening again, causing more squealing from the twins
as they also tried to fly.  Only this time, all the boys started flapping
their arms."  The smoke seemed to make the light show more dramatic as it
enhanced the beams of light from the cars.  Each one had a slightly
different sequence, probably because each car had different lights.

Once it was over, and the smoke cleared, the boys started yelling `again,
again!'  Typical.  If they ever learn how to start the show, they'll be out
here for days.

"Is it just the two songs?"  Ben inquired.

"For this demo, yes, but I had them download another four songs that I
liked.  Each one is on a separate USB stick, so you just load it up and let
it play.  I have one other surprise.  Everyone come stand over on the front
steps and I'll introduce the new cars to you."

Shouldn't we be going into the garage to check out the cars?  This seems a
little backward.  As soon as we were all at the front door, Colin used his
phone again and played around with it for a second, before telling us to
watch the cars.  I'm still waiting for Optimus Prime to show up.  Suddenly
the middle car began to move forward out of the garage and rolled slowly up
in front of us.  Colin fumbled with his phone some more and the other two
cars came up behind the first one, forming a line.  Okay, that's both fun
and scary.  Someone please call Miles Dyson to see if he's activated Skynet
yet.  This could be the end of us all.

"These are our new Tesla's," he announced.  I think we'd all figured that
out now.  "The first one is the Model S Plaid edition."

"Plaid?  It looks black to me," J.P. commented.

"It's a Spaceballs movie joke," I explained.  I'd read about this when we
first started looking at Tesla's.  First you had Ludicrous speed, then
beyond that was plaid.  Which I'd learned from the movie was pronounced
plad and not played.  "I mean that's the fastest speed.  First you have
light speed, then ridiculous speed, and if that wasn't fast enough, you had
ludicrous speed.  Beyond that there's plaid," I announced, with everyone
looking at me like I was a giant geek.  What?  I like weird comedies.

"Wait until you see the pickup on these cars.  We'll take them out for a
drive later.  They can go from 0-60 in 1.9 seconds," Colin explained.

"Oh, that's bullshit," Kyle said shaking his head.  "The Bugatti's and
Lambos aren't even that fast, and those suckers move.  I think they come in
at 2.4 or 2.8.  No way a Tesla beats a supercar."

"Guess we'll have to find out.  That'd make a good video. Take all the cars
to the race track and test them.  We could go viral," Chance suggested, and
we all liked that idea.  Personally, I'm with Kyle on this one.  Why would
you spend a few million on a supercar if an electric Tesla could just whip
your ass in a race?

"I read that too," Ben confirmed.  "I saw some Tesla drivers being kicked
out of races because they're cars were too fast."

"Now I know that's bullshit," Kyle laughed.  "Why would you get kicked out
of a race, which by definition means going fast?"

"Because I guess there's a limit on street vehicles.  Faster than that and
they need a roll cage and fire suppression, proper harness seatbelts,
things like that," Ben replied.

"How about we just check out the cars," I suggested.  "What's the second
car?"

This is the model X.  Also in plaid.  Ben, I know you wanted the roadster,
but it's been delayed again, so the Model S is yours in the meantime.  I
know you liked the red, so I hope this is okay.  Your current Model X
Ludicrous we're giving to Jason and Alex.  Of course you're welcome to use
the Model X anytime if you'd prefer that."

"Is this why you wanted my car to go in for service?"  He smiled as he
looked at the third car, which was his Model X, only in the Ludicrous
edition.

"Yep.  On each vehicle, I made sure we had all the upgrades and newest
features added.  You'll notice that the two new vehicles now have a yoke
instead of a steering wheel."

J.J. laughed as he looked at Ben.  "Now you have to drive with an egg!
That's gonna be messy."

"I think it's a different type of yoke," I clarified.  English, the
language designed by road scholars while on meth.  You get consoled with a
pat on the back while the guy says, `there, their, they're'.

We opened up all the doors to the new vehicles and began checking them out.
They definitely had been upgraded from the previous model, but not
dramatically.

"Now, they all have the upgraded infotainment centre as well, so that
should be good for road trips.  Ben, since you've been a perfect driver in
your Model X, I was able to purchase the full self driving mode for all
vehicles, but just so you know, this tech isn't perfected yet, so you still
have to be ready to take over for the car at a moments notice."

"Yeah, I noticed that even with the autopilot," Ben nodded.  "It does
awesome on the highways and open roads, but busy city streets, not so much.
It's way less stressful to just drive it than let the car decide.  I do
like all the warnings and other features though.  Thanks for the Model S,
Colin.  I love it."

"I thought you might like the S while we wait for the roadster to go into
production."

"I love it, and I can't wait to try out plaid mode.  Plus the yoke just
looks sic, dude.  It's like that car from the 80's.  Cat, or something.
The Trans AM with Hasselhoff."

"Oh yeah!"  Jason laughed.  "Knight Rider, and I think the car was Kitt.
It does kinda look like that.  All you'd need would be the lights up front
and have it talk, and you're there."

"I have a feeling those would be easy to install," Ben grinned.

We spent the next half hour checking out the cars, which for the boys got a
little boring as there really weren't any knobs or buttons to play with
like the traditional cars.

"Can we see the cars fly again, Uncle Colin?"  Trevor asked.  Oh sure,
Colin gets his name used when the boys talk to him, meanwhile, I'm still
Uncle Daddy.  I kinda love it though.

"I think we could play one more song," he said as he pulled out a USB stick
and swapped it for the one in there already.  "This is for the Model X, and
I had it downloaded especially for the twins."

As soon as it started, Jason laughed.  "God, just the first note and I know
what this is."

Alex also laughed.  "Christ, now we're going to be in the garage three
hours a day."

The boys started yelling, or more like shrieking, as they began to run
around the car like they'd been wound up tight and let go.  They were
waving their arms in the air and opening and closing their hands while
singing `Baby shark, do do, do do do do, baby shark'.  I laughed as I saw
Alex and Jason doing the same hand gestures.  God, they really were parents
of little kids, weren't they?  It didn't take long before J.J. and James
were running around as well, while the car was going crazy with lights
flashing, doors opening and windows going up and down.  I wonder how long
this novelty will last. I nudged Colin.  "Check out the garage.  The lights
are reacting to the music still."

He laughed.  "Nice.  We basically have a Tesla babysitter now."

"Wait until the kids figure out how to tell the car to take them to the toy
store," I joked.  I wonder if that'll become legislation in the future.
`Do not let your five-year-old have access to car navigation commands.'
Parental controls on your car.  Who could have foreseen that?

Ben was exploring his Model S and trying out the steering wheel yoke thing.
I think all our supercars should have this type of steering.

"How did you make the car move to us?"  Troy asked.

"It's the new summon feature," Colin explained.  "I guess the idea is that
you can have the car come meet you at the door."

"Seems like it may take more time to do that than just going to get it."

"Probably, but I'm guessing they test all this technology in real world to
see how to better improve it in future updates," Colin nodded.  "A couple
other things to announce.  Tomorrow contractors will be here to do some
work on the garages.  With so many new electric vehicles and it being the
way all cars will eventually go, we're going to upgrade the power.  I've
ordered several Powerwalls to be installed, as well as more charging
stations.

"I've heard of the Powerwalls.  How do they work exactly?"  Kyle asked.

"They stay charged up from solar panels on the roof, or from the grid.
Then if the power goes out, they take over and keep us running."

"Don't we have a generator for that already?"  I asked.

"We do, but it uses diesel and is as noisy as hell.  It's left over from
the last owners.  That's being removed as part of this upgrade so that we
are more environmentally friendly."

"I'm in favour of that.  What's a Powerwall worth?"

"Around 15 grand each.  With the size of the two houses and to make sure we
have a good supply of reserve power, I ordered ten of them at once, which
actually reduces the price overall.  We're basically getting them for 11
each."

I stared at him.  "So we're spending $110,000 to have backup power?  Will
it ever pay for itself?"

"If we use it right, it will.  We'll charge the batteries using the solar
panels in the day, and drain them at night avoiding the power grid as much
as possible."

"I read that if you use solar power during peak times, when electricity is
more expensive, you can save even more," I said finally able to put
something of use into this conversation.  Some days I felt less
knowledgeable than the twins.

"In many jurisdictions, yes that's true, but here in B.C. electricity is
just a flat fee.  It doesn't fluctuate based on demand. Plus more than 90%
of our energy in the province is already from renewable sources."

"Go us!"  I grinned.

"Mostly we're installing it as an emergency measure.  If something went
wrong, at least we'd have power to keep things going.  Especially fridges
and freezers to protect the food," he reasoned.  "But because of this we're
going to upgrade the garages again.  This time we'll add on to the back of
the garages and blow out the interior walls to make it one giant room.
I've talked to Jason and Alex, and we'll remove the back wall and attach it
to their garage, which we'll also expand.  Basically, we'll have a massive
facility for the cars where you can leave from either this side or the far
side.  We'll add the new power centre to the extra space and make sure we
set up enough charging ports for future vehicles as well.  Right now, we
have seven vehicles that can be charged, and I suspect it won't be long
before we have more than double that."

"That sound like a pretty major upgrade," I remarked.

"It is, but it'll be worth it.  The roof of the new garage will be the new
solar tiles to charge the Powerwalls, but with the design we're going with,
it'll look pretty cool.  I'd like to sell the Maserati's if you guys are
into giving them up yet," Colin suggested.

"I'm fine with it," J.P. said quickly.  "I mean it's an awesome car, but
I'm loving the Hellcat.  I don't need two cars.  It's just a waste of space
and costly to insure."

"Yeah, I'm good with it too," Jason admitted.  "With the other vehicles we
have, and now the Model X you're giving us, it's way more than we need."

Colin looked at me.  "Sure, fine by me too.  I suppose I can somehow make
do with the other 35 vehicles we have."

"Great, I'll have them sent out for detailing and get the dealer to sell
them for us.  With three identical like that, we should get top dollar.  So
one last surprise.  Everyone come over here," he said leading us to the
single garage doors.  "I know we're moving to electric, but when these
became available, I just couldn't resist."

He pushed the button on the transmitters and both doors began to open.

"Holy shit!!  No fucking way!!"  Chance yelled out first as we moved
closer.  "Bugattis.  Holy fuck!  Is this the new Chiron?"

"Chiron Super Sport," Colin grinned as we focused on the impressive black
car, complete with gold trim.  As if our regular Bugatti doesn't turn
enough heads, this was gonna cause crashes with drivers staring at us as we
drove by.

"And this is the Divo, right?  How the hell did you get your hands on
that?"  Chance asked as he moved over to the second car.  This one was a
dark red with black trim; a very intimidating look.

"I had a lead on one, and just happened to know someone that could put me
on track to bid enough for it."

"And how much was that?" I whispered to him.

"A steal at 8.2," he grinned, "and before you ask, the Chiron was only
3.9."

I really should be used to this, but he'd just spent another 12 million
dollars on cars.  That's like buying 12 small starter homes in Vancouver.
This is insane, but it's his hobby so who was I to judge.  I was still
thrilled with my Pokémon card collection, so what do I know about
collecting things?

"Oh dude, I know the Tesla's are impressive and all, but there's no way
that those, beat this in a race.  I'd bet my life savings on that," Chance
challenged confidently.

"Define the parameters of the bet," Ben challenged.  I'll race you.  Any
car of your choosing against the Model S."

"Okay, I'm choosing the Chiron.  You'll be choking on my dust."

"On your carbon emissions you mean?" Ben laughed.  "At 47 litres per 100
kilometers, you'll need to fill up twice before you get to the track."

"How much is that is miles per gallon?"  Troy asked.

"Like 5," Ben shrugged.

"5!?"  J.P. exclaimed.  "Forget that Powerwall thing, Colin.  You should
install a gas pump."

"So what's the bet?"  Ben said confidently.  "We doing 400 metres or a full
lap?"

"How about both?  See how both cars do in each type of race," Chance
suggested.

"Deal.  So what are we betting?" Ben asked.

"For the short race, how about loser has to take public transportation, or
ride a bike for a week?"

"Do you even know how to catch a bus?"  Ben laughed.

"Yeah, I didn't always live like this ya know.  Basically, you jump out in
front of it and hold your arms wide open," he teased, causing laughter from
the kids.

"That's not how you do it Uncle Chance," Trevor said.  "You gotta wait on
the side until it stops.  Then after it kneels down, you get on it."

"Oh, thanks for that, Trevor," Chance said to the youngest.  "Good thing I
have you to help me.  Anyway, it's not me that'll be riding the bus.  How
about if you win, you get Kyle for a week.  If I win, I get Razor."

"Hey!  You can't bet me, I don't give consent," Kyle said, fake pouting.

"Like anyone cares.  Whoever wins gets the others boyfriend.  He can be a
personal assistant or a cum dumpster for a week."

"Hmmm," Ben said putting his thumb and forefinger up to his jaw.  "Turn
around, Kyle.  Let's see if that'd be worth it."

I laughed, as did Colin.  "Sick burn."

"Oh, I'd be worth it.  I can last a lot longer than your current boyfriend,
and I'm really good with two guys at once.  If I were you guys, I'd also
add to the bet that the loser can't replace the boyfriend with anyone else,
meaning they go sexless for the week."

"That ups the stakes," Chance nodded. "That week is gonna suck for you.
Having to ride the bus AND no sex.  You're gonna be a mess by the end of
it."

"Ditto," Ben shot back.  "Okay deal.  Kyle, the second I cross that finish
line, you're mine."

"Sweet.  Anyone know how to put a limiter on the acceleration pedal of a
Chiron?"  Kyle grinned.

"So I can lose?  Rude," Chance said shaking his head. "You know that if I
win, we get Razor to share for a week, right?"

"Oh, yeah.  I mean he is cute, but then if Ben wins, I get both him and
Razor anyway," Kyle said pulling out his phone.

"What are you doing?"  Chance inquired.

"Googling how to limit acceleration on a Bugatti," he grinned.

"Okay, we have our bet.  Now all we have to do is arrange the track," Ben
announced.

"I'll make a call and set it up so we can have the track to ourselves,"
Colin said.  "I'm interested to see the outcome of this myself."

Ben was excitedly checking out all the new features on the Model S, and
announced he wanted to go show it to Razor.  He even took a light show USB
that Colin said was Shake it Off by Taylor Swift.  Might as well really
impress the boyfriend.  Colin let Chance and Kyle take the Chiron out,
while Jason and Alex drove the older Model X over to their place.  The
younger boys all ran inside to play.  They'd had enough of the cars for
now.

Colin and I went back in the house, with Blake tagging along and sitting
down beside us.  "Guys, can we have a serious talk?"

"Sure.  What's on your mind," I asked.

"It's about J.J.," he said, causing us to give him our full attention.

"Did something happen?" Colin asked, instantly concerned.

"No. Nothing like that.  Remember when I first came here and there was a
trust fund set up for me from my family's life insurance and other stuff?"

"Of course.  That's still sitting in investments for you," Colin assured
him.  "Worth a lot more too."

"I know, but I was thinking about it.  That money wasn't just for me.  It
was really there to help our family if something happened to someone
right?"

"Of course," Colin nodded.

"Well, technically half that money would be J.J.'s wouldn't it?" Blake
asked, looking at both of us one at a time.

"Yes, it would," Colin agreed.

"Then I'd like you to open an account in his name and give him the money
plus interest it's earned since I got it.  How much was there?"

"You initial inheritance was 1.62 million.  Since then, it's earned about
$400,000, give or take."

"Cool.  So can you give J.J. a million dollars please so that he's also set
up for a future?"

"That's pretty mature thinking, Blake," I said proudly, and patted him on
the back.  He leaned in to get a hug from each of us in turn.  He may be 14
and desperate to be an adult, but he still liked being hugged, which was
nice.

"I'll have the change made to the trust in the next few days.  You actually
have a lot more money than that in your name," Colin said.

"I know.  You told me you'd put some in for me, but I don't need it yet.
Plus we're investing the money I get from acting, right?"

"You are, yep.  The inheritance is in a separate account though as we need
to keep the accounting for it separate.  We'll draw up legal papers for the
split of the trust."

"Cool.  Just bring them to me when they're ready and I'll sign them," Blake
said confidently.

Colin laughed.  "That's not required.  At the moment, we're in charge of
the trust, so it doesn't need your signature, but once you're 18, the
entire account will be transferred to your control."

"Then I'm buying my tiger for sure!" He said grinning.

"Sorry, I meant when you reach 21, or maybe 25," Colin joked.

"Not a chance.  I hope neither of you are allergic to cats.  Like really
big, bad ass, cats," he chuckled.  "You cool if I tell J.J. about his
inheritance?  I think it would be good to come from me."

"I think that'd be a great conversation to have with him," I agreed,
looking at Colin, who nodded back.

"Thanks.  I'm gonna go see him now," he said standing up.

Once he'd left, I turned to Colin.  "I'm pretty proud of him.  Not many
kids would have thought like that."

"I'd agree.  I know we tease him sometimes about his personality, but in
fairness, we couldn't really ask for a better kid," Colin remarked.

"True.  Maybe less hyper sexual would be good until he's a few years older,
but other than that, he's a pretty decent human being," I agreed.  We
returned to what we were doing, but now basking in a warm glow all over our
bodies.  Or maybe my cat allergies are kicking in early.  I don't actually
have any allergies, but if he's seriously thinking of a tiger, I'm gonna go
get some.  But for the record, if he gets a tiger, I want a panda.  Fair is
fair.

A short while later, J.J. and Blake came rushing into the room.  J.J. sat
down beside Colin, while Blake sat in the armchair.

"Hey boys?  What are you up to?" I asked.

"Is it true what Blake said?'  J.J. asked.

"What did Blake say?" I asked.  You learn that in psycho school...sorry,
psychology school.  (It doesn't abbreviate well.)  Never assume you know
what the hell anyone is talking about.

"He said he's giving me a million dollars."

"Technically yes.  He is," Colin confirmed.

"Wow.  That's a lot," J.J. said wide eyed.  "Umm Blake said I should ask if
I can have it all in loonies."

I laughed.  "Blake would say that.  No, the money stays in trust for you
until you turn 18, when it'll be worth a lot more than that.  For now you
just use your allowance to buy what you need."

"Or ask dads to buy it for you, if what you need is too expensive," Blake
added.

"I don't need nothing, I just wondered if I really got a million dollars?"

"Just so we're clear, J.J.," Colin said to him, "the money isn't actually
from any of us.  It's life insurance from the accident, left to make sure
you and Blake don't have to worry about money as you grow up."

J.J. just sat there looking at both of us and he appeared to be deep in
thought.  "So do you need me to give you some of it for food and stuff?"

"No, that money is just for you and Blake.  We don't need any of it, but
thanks," Colin smiled.

"Actually dude, social services pays money for food and clothing, and stuff
like that.  Mainly to make sure you don't starve or have to run around
naked," Blake explained.

"I like running around naked," he replied, looking at his big brother.

"Me too buddy, but they pay it anyway."

"Just to be clear J.J., any of that money we get is also put into the bank
for you.  We don't spend any of it," Colin assured him.

"So you're not gonna feed me and get me clothes?"  He asked, confused.

Colin and Blake laughed.  "Of course we're going to feed you," Colin
clarified.  "It's just the law that social services has to pay us for any
foster placement, but we don't see you like that, so we don't think it's
right to take their money.  Anything they give us, we put in the bank under
your name so you have it when you're grown up."

He sat thinking again.  "Did my mom and dad get that money too?"

"The Campbells were foster parents, so yes, they would have."

"But they don't get it anymore," Blake said, almost a big smugly.

"Oh.  You think that's maybe why they're mad at me?  Cause they don't get
money to feed me?"

Oh shit, we're going full speed into a hairpin curve.  This is gonna go off
the tracks in an explosively spectacular fashion!  Too dramatic?

"No, they're not mad at you at all J.J.  No one is mad at you.  Like we've
explained before, it's just because you lack memories from when you were
little that you can't fully understand all of this yet.  I promise it'll
get significantly better once we can get one or two of those memories
back."

"Okay, but if someone needs money to feed me, I think you should use some
of that stuff I have."

"That's a generous offer, J.J.," I smiled.  "You're just like your big
brother in that regard."

"Let's go finish your video game.  I wanna do VR next," Blake said to him.

"Me too!"  J.J. agreed.

"I'm gonna sleepover with J.J. tonight if you're looking for me."

"Sounds like fun.  Don't stay up all night, you both have school tomorrow."

"Don't worry, we won't.  I figure we'll be asleep no later than 1 or 2,"
Blake said giving us his `challenge me' eyes.

"Or 9," I countered.

"9?  Like 9pm?  Dude, I'm barely starting my homework by then.  Let's
compromise at midnight."

"If you're staying in J.J.'s room on a school night, you're both in bed to
sleep, not play more games, by 10."

"11," came the counter offer.

"11 if you sleep in your own bed, 10 if you're sleeping in J.J.'s room.
Non-negotiable."

"I'm okay with 10," J.J. replied.  "At my other house I had to be in bed by
9.  Uncle Steve let me stay up until 11 if we were watching a movie or
playing a game or something.  Could Blake play video games later than 10 if
he was quiet and I went to sleep?"

"You're quite the negotiator," I said, complimenting J.J.  "Okay, 10pm for
you, 11 for Blake as long as he doesn't keep you awake."

"Deal," J.J. said sticking his hand out.  I shook it and Blake just rolled
his eyes, smiled, and shook my hand too.

I checked on them just after 10, and was actually surprised to find them
not only in bed already, but asleep as well.  I chose not to disturb them
and left, although I did have to return in the morning to wake them up.
Boys may go to sleep easily, but they rarely wake up that way.

"Good morning, boys.  Time to get up," I said being super overly cheerful,
like a YouTuber in an intro.

Blake groaned and opened his eyes slowly, and looked up at me.  "Go away!"
he mumbled and pulled the covers over his head.  J.J. gave a little giggle
and did the same thing with his covers.

"You both know that's not how it works.  I count to five and then pull the
covers off."

"Come back in an hour," Blake mumbled.

"One..." I said in response.

"Fuck," came the more mature voice from under the covers, as another giggle
came from the less mature side.

"Two..."

"Alright, we're getting up.  So harsh.  Never thought of maybe some nice
music first, or a head rub to pleasantly start our day?"  Blake said
pushing the covers off his head and looking at me again.

"Three..."

He sat up and swung his legs off the bed.  J.J. looked out from under his
covers and skooched over behind Blake.  The both had similar bed hair that
was all over the place, although with Blake it's hard to tell that from his
regular hair sometimes.

The two boys padded off to the bathroom looking like naked zombies.  They
were awake and moving, that's all I cared about, so my job was done.  I
returned to my regularly scheduled day.  I decided to have some fun, and
while Troy took Blake to school, I took J.J., using the new Bugatti Chiron.
I might have chosen the Divo if it wasn't for the fact it was 8 million
bucks!  I normally don't drive these cars, not only because I have this
intense fear of even getting a scratch on one, but because it attracts an
insane amount of attention.  You can barely go two blocks before people are
taking pictures of it.  I personally think these cars look like
transformers, but as long as it's from the friendly side, I'm okay with
that.  That reminds me of a joke I heard.  A guy is talking to his buddy.
"My wife totalled my Ferrari."  "Oh my God!  Is she hurt?"  the other man
asked.  "Not yet.  She locked herself in the bathroom."  He replied.
That'll be me.  I'll be the one locked in the bathroom.

I knew I'd picked the right car when J.J. came out of the house and his
face lit up so bright I could have used him as headlights.  He got in the
car, strapped in and started looking all over it, touching pretty much
everything...like everything.  Good thing the interior was basically
fingerprint proof material or it could have taken weeks to get it clean
again.

"This is one of my favorite cars," J.J. said as he smiled at me.  His face
was basically all teeth.  He sat there looking so proud, and when we pulled
up at a light, a few people waved to us, so he waved back.  I have a
feeling we'll see hundreds of these pictures online by the end of the day.
If J.P. ever becomes an A-list celebrity with his acting, I might not be
able to go out in these cars without a bodyguard, as they'll think I'm him.
I could get even by posing for nude photo shoots though.  Although with how
awesome I look, that's just gonna get even more crazy attention.

J.J. was still grinning as we pulled up to his elementary school, where we
instantly had kids running over to see us.  J.J. stepped out of the car
like he was arriving on the red carpet, which was immediately followed by
half a dozen heads peeking in at me, all grinning and saying hi.
J.J. introduced me as `his big brother's dad'.  Not gonna lie, that kinda
hurt a bit.  We obviously still have some work to do to assure him that
this is truly his home now.  Thankfully the school bell went to clear the
kids, as I had just begun contemplating running a few over to get away.

I returned to pick him up after school, only this time I switched cars and
pulled up in the bright yellow McLaren P1.  I always thought it was a GTR
model until Colin corrected me that those weren't actually street legal,
whereas this model was.  It was also a hybrid which I personally think is
pretty cool.  I couldn't have attracted more attention if I'd shown up with
Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift...holding puppies.  I made sure to park away
from the main traffic area as the last thing I need is some Karen with her
screechy voice coming for me.  Good thing with a supercar is you can just
rev it up and totally drown out her bullshit.  The Karen countermeasure
feature is not available on a Tesla.

J.J. was grinning wildly as he made it known that he was with me, and that
this was just one of the cool cars we had at home.  At least he called it
home.  That's encouraging.  The biggest comment the kids had was about the
spoiler going up and down, which I did manually for them, and of course the
cool door.  The kids all liked it, and I'd made sure to stand outside to
let them climb about in it.  J.J. was eagerly showing them that there was
no engine in front and what it looked like in the back.  Kurt is going to
earn his money getting this car clean again.  If this is ever evidence in a
crime scene, it'll take forensics a year or more to sort out all the
different fingerprints.

When I started the car up, several kids immediately put their hands over
their ears as it was so loud, but the smiles on their faces said they
weren't really about to complain.  I'm not sure if they were expecting
flames to shoot out of the tailpipe or something, but they all looked
around as if expecting something to happen.  When I hit the e-mode button,
the engine shut off but the car was actually still running.

"Say goodbye to your friends J.J.  We should get going."

"Okay," he said still grinning from ear to ear.  He waved to all of them
and then made a point of fastening his seat belt tighter.

"Should we leave in quiet electric mode, or hit the big engine and leave
noisy?"  I asked, almost knowing what the answer would be, and he didn't
disappoint.

"Noisy!" he said almost cheering as I moved the car slowly forward in
electric mode, which I thought would be a fun affect for the kids.  I hit
the e-mode button again and the engine roared to life, making even more
noise as I accelerated.  I'm not stupid enough to pick up speed in the
school area, so we left with just maneuvering thrusters instead of warp
drive, but the kids were still watching even as we pulled out onto the
road.

"Think I could invite more of my friends over to see the other cars
sometime?"  J.J. asked.  His face now permanently locked into a grin.

"Anytime you want," I assured him.  "Just make sure that anyone that wants
to be your friend isn't just doing it for what you have.  They should like
you even if you have nothing."

"I know that stuff already," J.J. said quickly.  "Like this one kinda loner
kid got a wicked cool new laptop and everyone wanted to hang with him to
check it out.  Then some other kid got a better one and he was alone again.
I don't think that was very nice."

"Did you keep hanging out with him?"  I asked as a slight judging of his
developed character.

"No, I never hung out with him.  I didn't really like him," he answered
with absolute candor.

"At least you didn't fake it to enjoy something he had."

"I wouldn't do that.  My mom and dad said you should never be jealous of
other things people have, but should look after the things you do have."

"That's good advice," I nodded.  Can't believe I just agreed with Charles
and Vanessa.  I think I'd like to puke now.

"Umm, speaking of stuff.  Blake said if I needed something I should just
ask you.  Is that okay?"

"Of course.  What do you need?"

"I sort of need blue sneakers."

"And you don't have any that are blue?"

"Not solid blue.  I told Blake I don't really need them as you already
bought me some shoes, but he said that if I wanna be cool, I should get
shoes to match my outfits.  Is that what I should be doing?"

I tried not to laugh as I could almost hear the conversation in my head.
"If Blake is giving you advice, then I'm sure he's doing it to help you.
He's closer to your age than I am, so he'll have a better idea of what's
currently trendy.  Do you know what type of shoes you want, other than
blue?"

"I think so.  They're all blue with a white bottom part and white laces.
Blake said it should be a sky blue and not like a dark one or really
light."

"I think I know that colour.  How about we stop by the mall and get you
what you need."

"Are you sure it's okay?"  He asked concerned.

"I'm sure.  I'll let you in on a little secret, I like buying things.
Especially things for you and Blake.  You know what we should do?  Any shoe
we buy for you, we should buy for Blake too so you can match," I grinned.

I think girls hate that kind of thing, but boys find it cool.  J.J. was no
different as he got excited again.  We stopped by the mall and found a good
sports store for shoes.  It was fun watching him look through the large
collection, stopping to check out several pair, before spotting the one
he'd been hinting at.

"These!" He grinned and showed them to me.  They were indeed a solid blue
with a white sole.  They were basically classic lace up sneakers, and they
did look really good.  I had him grab a sales person so we could get him
the right size.  Once he measured J.J. foot, he looked at him and asked if
he was about 12.

Of course every boy wants to be seen as older than he is, so
J.J. immediately sat up taller.  "I'm actually 10," he replied.

"Well I think you're going to be tall when you grow up.  You already have
feet a little larger than most boys your age, and that's a good thing."

We won't be telling Blake that J.J.'s feet are big for his age, or it'll
turn into a talk about his penis.  Let's avoid that for a few more years if
we can.  I told the salesman to bring out a size 11 as well, which was
Blake's size.

Once J.J. confirmed that they looked good on him and fit properly, I told
him to pick out a couple more pairs he liked as well.  Might as well have a
fun shopping trip.  He quickly ran to grab the two pairs he'd checked out
earlier, and we bought them, but only in J.J.'s size.  If Blake wanted to
match all their shoes, I'd leave that idea to him.  One pair was just a fun
novelty for them, but more than that could feel `parent creepy' if I was
the one suggesting it.

We looked around the store and bought a hoodie and some t-shirts he liked.
Once we had our purchases, I took him down the mall for something to eat,
and he surprised me by going for the Chinese food instead of burgers.  I
supported him by getting some of it too.  Food court Chinese food isn't my
favorite, but once in a while it's not bad.  J.J. ate like we'd been
starving him.

"How come you're so hungry?  Didn't you get lunch?"

"Oh sure, I get lots of food there, but we had gym and had to do running.
That always makes me hungry."

"Me too.  Do you shower at the school after gym?  I figure I should ask in
case you should be bringing your towel home to be washed."

He giggled slightly.  "No, we don't use the showers.  Blake said you only
do that once you move to secondary school and start getting hairy.  Guys
our age don't need to."

"Makes sense," I nodded.  Could you imagine trying to herd boys this age
through showers?  It'd be a nightmare.  By the time they hit secondary
school at grade 8, at least they're 13 and a little more
responsible...ideally.

We got home and I told J.J. to give Blake his sneakers at dinner, which
would be in a few hours.  Meanwhile he could go do his homework.  He
thanked me and said he'd had a cool day.  I even got a nice hug out of it.

When it was finally time for dinner and we were all seated, J.J. was almost
giddy with anticipation of giving his gift to Blake.  He looked at me with
those big eyes and I nodded at him.

"Hey Blake!  Guess what me and Justin got today?"  He asked almost a little
loud considering his big brother was right beside him.

"Crabs?"  Blake replied without missing a beat, then looked at Colin and I.
"Dialed," he said quickly as he grinned.

"No, we didn't go fishing," he chuckled.  "Remember when we talked about me
needing blue shoes?  Well I got some!"

He lifted his foot up to show everyone, and got the required compliments.

"That's what I'm talking about little dude.  Those are some sweet kicks,"
Blake nodded.

 "Guess what else?"  He smiled.  "We got you the same ones too!"

He picked up the bag he had beside him and handed it to Blake.  He opened
it quickly and tried the shoes on.

"Do you like them?"  J.J. asked excitedly.

"I love them.  They're a perfect fit too.  Dude, we totally match," he said
lifting his foot up beside J.J.'s.  "Now all we gotta do is figure out what
outfits to wear with them.  We'll figure that shit out after dinner if you
want."

"Cool."

Blake looked at me and grinned.  I have no idea if he really liked having
shoes to match his younger brother, but he wasn't about to disappoint
J.J. by telling him anything other than what he did.  I couldn't be prouder
of how he acts when the situation calls for it.  I keep waiting for the
stupid to take over, but so far we had avoided most of it.  Another brother
bonding moment had just taken place and they both seemed thrilled about it.

Once everyone had helped themselves to some food, Blake over at Troy.  "You
want some peas, Troy?"  He asked, holding up the bowl.

"Maybe later thanks.  My plate is pretty full," he replied.

"Come on Troy.  Give peas a chance!"  he grinned putting the bowl down and
then began pounding his fist on the table lightly.  "Give peas a chance!
Give peas a chance!"

As he chanted, J.J. joined in, followed by Ben and then J.P.

"Fuck it," I grinned as I added to the noise and chanting.

Troy rolled his eyes and took a spoonful.  "Happy?"  He said shaking his
head at Blake with a smile.

"Oh no!  I peed on the table," Blake chuckled as he dropped a pea from his
hand.

J.J. of course had to copy him.  "I peed on the floor," he giggled getting
a fist bump from Blake.

Troy took two peas and flung them into the air and caught them in his
mouth.  "I just..."

"Don't!" I said quickly, cutting him off, which got a big laugh out of
everyone.

"The good thing about these peas is that they're from China," Ben said as
he looked around at us.

"Why is that a good thing?" J.P. asked, probably as confused as the rest of
us.

"Because that means we now have world peas!"  He chuckled, getting another
round of laughter out of the rest of us.

"This should solve it," Colin said as he used the spoon and poured a bunch
into his hand, then went outside and flung them off the balcony and sat
back down.

"You don't like peas, Colin?"  J.J. asked frowning slightly.

"Love peas.  But now we have...wait for it...peas on earth!  Let's get back
to dinner."

"Nice one," I said leaning over to give him a kiss.  "If everyone can just
eat now, please.  Maybe we can have some peas and quiet!"

"I think we've worn out the peas jokes," Troy laughed.  "I'll be sure to
turnip tomorrow to see what we can beet up on next.  I hope it's not
something corn-y though as I've bean almost leek-ing today as it is.  Let's
squash this for today though, or we could be in a pickle."

Once the groaning calmed down, we got back to eating.

After J.J. had gone to bed later that evening, Blake came and curled up
against Colin and me on the couch.  "That was a nice thing you did for
J.J.," he said as I put my arm around him.

"Getting him some new shoes and clothes?  You know I like shopping."

"I mean letting him buy me shoes.  That was smart.  He's like super excited
that we match.  He did that when we were younger.  We used to wear the same
pyjamas bottoms, like the lounge pants.  Mom bought us matching ones all
the time.  So whatever I wore, J.J. would run back and put the same ones
on."

"Were you okay with him copying you?"  Colin inquired.

"Sure.  I mean our pyjamas were only around the house, so it was kinda
cool.  I mean he slept with me a lot when he was feeling scared or lonely,
so it was sort of nice that he looked up to me.  He sometimes tried to wear
the same clothes when we went out, but fortunately we had different tastes,
so that didn't really happen.  I don't think I'd have been as cool with
that."

"In general, or around your friends?"

"Mostly out in public.  I guess I was worried that my friends would see him
dressed like me and make fun of us.  That' wouldn't have been cool at all.
Just so you know though, I was way younger then.  Now I'm more confident,
so if my friends don't like it, they can go fuck themselves."

I laughed.  "Great.  That'll save a ton of time on shopping.  I'll just buy
two of everything from now on.  Oh! Oh!  Wait!!  I could buy four of
everything and we could go out dressed alike as a family in the same
outfits."

"Holy fuck!  Don't you dare.  I'd lock myself in the panic room until you
changed, if that ever became a thing.  I can handle the shoes if J.J. wears
them at the same time as that's just really cool, but if you start wearing
things like me, I'm out."

"How far out?  If there actually hope of that?"  I teased as I put my arm
around him and gave him a hug.

"I know you're just joking, but I really wanted you to know that it was a
super cool thing you did today.  J.J. may not have any memories back yet,
but things like this sure can't hurt."

"You're an amazing guy, you know that?  I couldn't be prouder of you," I
said as I actually leaned into kiss him on the head.

"God, Dad.  Don't make it weird.  If you're horny just say so," he teased
as wiped his head.

"Now who's making it weird," I laughed.  We stayed on the couch together as
the three of us watched a movie.

Friday, Blake and Darcy had arranged to go over to visit Toby as promised,
so I drove them and opted to stay to ensure it went okay.  I'm sure it
would have, but with the way boys get carried away, I figured it wouldn't
hurt to be there for the first visit.  Shawna welcomed us in and Toby was
eagerly hugging all of us, excited beyond any words.  Which in words meant
he was grinning, and leaping around like he was on fire, and seemingly
talking about 30 things at once.  I guess maybe that means he wasn't excite
beyond words...hmmm...strange saying.

At one point I think Toby said he'd been practicing his karate moves with
his Power Rangers action figures.  Not sure how you do that, but I'm not
getting into the middle of this verbal tornado.

"I brought some of my old gi's for Toby to try on.  I wasn't sure what size
would fit him best," Darcy said to Shawna as we moved towards their great
room, or living room.  Maybe it's a multipurpose alcove, since it seemed
both living room-esq., and playroom-ish.

"It's so nice of you boys to do this," she said.  "What do you say, Toby?"

"Thanks Darcy!"  he replied as he took the suits out of the bag and checked
them over.  Darcy suggested the one he thought would fit best.

"Try it on and see," Blake suggested.  Toby grinned and quickly pulled off
his shirt and pants right there in the front of us.

"Toby, I think they meant try it on in your bedroom," Shawna said with a
small grin.

"It's okay, Mom.  This is faster," he said as he held up the pants against
himself.

"Toby, your underwear is on inside out," she said to him like a typical
mother.

"That's how they were in my drawer.  I guess you musta left them that way,"
he said putting the pants down and quickly dropping his briefs to turn them
the right way.

"Toby!"  Shawna said loudly.

"What?  They already seen my butt, Mom.  Remember I'm Buttman and Darcy is
Pee Tube boy."

I looked at Shawna and smiled with a shrug.  "Wait until they're teenagers,
you'll be wishing you had these days back."

She rolled her eyes as he got dressed again.  Darcy helped him tie the
pants and jacket, and agreed that they appeared to be a good fit.  He
wrapped the white belt around him and secured it.  I have to admit he
looked adorable dressed like that.  Shawna took several pictures, which of
course required that he pose for them.  Somewhere along the line Karate Kid
turned into Spiderman with his superhero stance.

"Where would you like to practice Toby?"  Blake asked, mainly looking at
Shawna for guidance.

"Why don't you boys go down to the basement.  There's a lot less to break
down there," she smiled.  She's been through this before...you can tell.
"Darcy, are you okay with the stairs or would you like to stay up here?
It's warm enough that you boys could probably go outside if you wanted."

"I'm fine with stairs.  Outside might be a bit messy for grass stains on
the white clothes."

"That is true," she nodded.  "Okay, Toby take the boys downstairs.  I'll
grab some snacks for you."

The boys were gone in an instant.  Three instants for Darcy as he was a lot
slower with those crutches.  I volunteered to give Shawna a hand.

"It's too bad my husband isn't here.  I'm sure he would have loved to see
you boys again.  You're all Toby's talked about since coming back from the
hospital, and considering he was supposed to rest his voice, it was no
small feat trying to get him to be quiet."

I laughed.  "I could see that.  I was thinking of having Blake's tonsils
removed.  Not that they need to come out, it just seemed like a good way to
have a few days peace and quiet."

"You'd think so, but no.  You substitute talking with texting, and that is
way more time consuming.  Trust me."

"I guess that's true.  Maybe we wrap his hands and tell him it's just part
of the surgery."

"NOW you come up with that?" She laughed.  "Where was that suggestion on
surgery day?"

We took the snacks down to the boys who were already into the first
training.  Blake was now in his own gi, while Darcy was directing Blake and
Toby, which in itself was cute.  Shawna put the snacks and drinks down and
began filming it.  No doubt to show her husband later.  Toby was listening
intently to Darcy and really focused on doing what he was told.  They
practiced for the better part of an hour, with the highlight being when
Blake flipped Toby and turned to kneel on his chest.  I'm assuming he
didn't use all his weight on the much smaller boy, but it didn't seem to
matter anyway as Toby wanted to do it several more times, before getting
taught how to flip Blake.  I'm sure Blake wasn't exactly resisting as he
allowed himself to be flipped and knelt on.  Once it was over, Toby had a
smile that looked like it might now be permanent.

"Thanks for teaching me that stuff," Toby said through the mouth full of
teeth he was showing.  "When can we train again?"

"Toby, let the boys catch their breath.  I'm sure they are busy.  When does
this karate school happen?"  She asked.

"The dojo has classes everyday, but we go on Wednesday," Darcy replied.

"Can I go on Wednesday?"  Toby asked quickly, to the surprise of no one.

"I'll check our schedule to see if that works.  We have to make sure we can
take you and pick you up," she told him.  "But since they have classes
every day, I'm sure we could find something that works."

"I'd only want to go on Wednesday," he complained.  "The other days
wouldn't be as much fun."

"You wouldn't be in the same classes as us, Toby," Darcy told him.  "I mean
we'd all be in the same building and do warmups together, but the actual
training would be separate as we're different levels."

"We could pick him up and drop him off if that would work for you," Blake
offered.  "We basically have to pass by your place anyway."

We do?  Not sure what route he's taking to the dojo, but as far as I know
this is at least two kilometres in the opposite direction, but I applaud
his offer.

"I'll talk it over with his father, but I'm sure that'll work.  What time
does it start?"

"We go for 7 o'clock, so we'd pick him up at 6:45."

"Yay!" Toby cheered.  "I'll see you guys on Wednesday."

"Thank you.  We'll see how long this lasts," she grinned.  "Toby you should
probably give Darcy your outfit back."

"No, that's okay," Darcy replied.  "He can keep it until he outgrows it.  I
wouldn't need it anymore, and I have tons of them from over the years."

"That's very nice of you Darcy.  Can I at least pay you for it?"

"No thank you," he smiled.  "It was basically just sitting around my room
waiting until I got around to doing something with it.  I probably would
have just given it to the dojo for some other student to use, so it's nice
Toby can get it instead."

"That's very nice of you, Darcy.  What do you say Toby?"

"That's very nice of you, Darcy," he copied, then followed it up with a hug
to both boys.  "You guys wanna see my room?"

"Is it clean?"  Shawna asked like every parent.

"Sure Mom.  It's boy clean."

"That's what I'm afraid of.  Go ahead."

"Just let me change first," Blake said as he took off his gi jacket and
pulled on a shirt.  Then he changed out of his pants.

"Like I said earlier...boys.  Just be thankful they haven't got to the no
underwear phase."

"Been there.  Done that," she laughed as the boys took off leaving a wake
of flying papers everywhere.  You know...the movie version of leaving in a
hurry.

I helped Shawna take the remnants of the snacks and drinks upstairs, and
fortunately the boys weren't long in returning.

"Can I go to Blake's house, Mom?"  Toby begged as they entered the kitchen.

"Now?  No," she replied quickly.

"No, Mom," he said as if she should know that.  "After I do some karate
lessons so you know I like it.  The more times I practice, the faster I'll
become a ninja.  Then I'll be invisible and quiet."

"Twice daily practice it is then," she joked.

"Toby's welcome anytime, but maybe the best time will be once Darcy gets
his cast off so he can participate," Blake explained.

"Thank you.  Let's see how his enthusiasm is after he's been to a few
lessons.  He usually finds something else to get his attention once he
realizes what's involved in his latest interest.  He can be a handful."

"We are used to a lot of people at the house.  He's more than welcome.  I
know the boys would love to make a new friend.  He's right between Travis
and Trevor, they're my brother's twins at five years old, and James and
J.J. who are nine and ten."

"Yeah, and I only have small hands, Mom," he said holding them up, and then
grabbing Blake's hand to show how much smaller they were.

I gave a small laugh.  "See not such a big handful after all."

"You know how to swim, Toby?"  Darcy asked.

"Yeah.  I been doing it since I was a baby."  Toby replied.  "Can you swim
with your cast on?"

"No, but I won't always have it."

"You should do the tanning booth between now and then," Blake grinned.
"Then when they take the cast off, your whole body will be tan, except for
one leg which will be bright white and super hairy, like you're a
Frankenstein monster."

"Cool.  I'm totally doing that.  We should tape fake scars on me too.  That
way when I tan, it'll leave that part white too."

"Get one down your chest like a zipper," Blake added as Toby listened and
giggled.

"You could put one across your cheek," Toby offered.

"I'd probably avoid the face since I still have to go to school."

"You could put it on your other cheek," he giggled again.  "Your butt
cheek."

"Toby!"  Hi mom warned.

"What?  That'd be funny," he replied.

"I think that's our cue to go," I said to them.  "Say goodbye boys."

"Goodbye boys," Darcy and Blake said in unison.

"Like I said, it gets worse before it gets better."

"Goodbye boys," Toby copied as we all headed to the door.

"See you Wednesday at 6:45," Blake said as we left.  Toby was still waving
as we drove away.

"Looks like you two have a new little brother."

"He's a pretty cool kid," Darcy replied.  "I just wish I didn't have this
cast on so I could participate more."

"On the plus side, if you didn't have that cast, you'd have never met Toby
in the first place, so you'll always have that as your story of how you
became friends," I reminded him.

"It's the origin story of Buttman and Pee Tube Boy," Blake teased.

"And what would be your origin story, Wee Willy Wonka?"  I asked.

"It'd be an ironic tale of how I got that name, like a huge man is called
Tiny, or a bald man is curly," he said not missing a beat at my insult.

"So I'm curious how you two are going to handle Toby?  He's already formed
a very quick bond with you.  Are you planning on being like big brothers to
him, or just around to take him to karate each week?"

"Me and Blake talked about that," Darcy replied.  "Blake's pretty busy
already, and we figure J.J. might not appreciate having to share Blake as a
brother.  I'm an only kid, and so is Toby.  Once I get my cast off, I'm
gonna be able to teach him karate myself, so I figure he can be my little
brother, if he wants to be.  If his parents think it's a good idea too."

"That's really nice of you, Darcy.  I'm sure it'd be good for both of you.
Just don't overdo it.  Outside of karate, once a week is probably more than
enough.  I know what it's like making a new friend, you have a tendency to
spend as much time as you can together, but just be aware that you both
have other lives too."

"I get it.  He's got other friends and so do I."

"Exactly, plus once he's a ninja, you're not gonna see much of him anyway,
I laughed.  "Am I taking you home, Darcy?"

"No, he's sleeping over Dad.  I invited Layne, but he's at his parent's
place and they don't allow him to sleepover anywhere."

"Especially not at our house," I added.  "He's probably not allowed in the
same neighborhood as we are."

Darcy agreed quickly.  "Not only that, they even warned me about how
mentally ill you guys are.  That if you ever tried to touch us in our
bathing suit area to do disgusting things, we should run and call the
police."

"They actually said that?"

"Word for word.  Obviously they have no idea that me and Layne are
boyfriends, or I'm sure I wouldn't be allowed to be his friend anymore."

"I can guarantee you wouldn't," I assured him.  "And what do they think is
disgusting about getting into your pants to give you a blowjob, a rimming
and a nice fuck?  You'd think they'd never had sex."

"Don't worry Dad, I'll find out for you.  I'm planning on doing that stuff
to Darcy tonight, so I'll let you know if any of it is disgusting."

"That's another overshare, Blake."

"If you say so.  Wanna join us?  I know how much you like fucking Darcy,
and I'm gonna have his legs wide open, so he'll be available.  Be a shame
not to get full use out of his ass."

"Such a shame," I smiled.  "You two just go hang out.  I'm sure if Darcy
wants more than you can give him, he knows how to find me."

"Did you just insult me?"  Blake asked frowning slightly.

I just shrugged and walked away.  The boys took off upstairs.  I admit, I
did go up later and take a ride in Darcy while Blake fed him his cock.  I
was almost impressed that Blake didn't try to do something with me,
although he did look like he was about to fall asleep, so I'm guessing all
the activities of the day caught up to him.  Maybe their sleepover will
actually have sleep in it.  I made sure Darcy got a good session, while at
the same time being careful not to bounce him too hard because of his leg.
As soon as I came and pulled out, Blake was right there pulling Darcy's ass
cheeks apart to see how big a reward I'd left.  Sometimes you gotta show
them that experience and maturity beat teenage hormones.

Saturday morning, we were all up early as the new boat was being delivered.
It was coming up from Seattle and would be in False creek at 10:30
according to the salesman.  He still hadn't sold our old boat, so we'd had
to rent a temporary slip for it.  Personally, I think we should deduct the
rental fee from the salesman's commission, but Colin said it could take
awhile to sell the '56.  It's not like selling a house apparently.

Blake and Hoppy had to be shaken awake at 9:30, and I was surprised to see
that they'd slept in separate beds.  While they were complaining about
being woken up at the `crack of dawn' (according to Blake), they explained
that with Darcy's cast it was just more comfortable to have more space to
sleep.  He has king size beds, how much more space could he need?

I assisted in getting Darcy's leg wrapped so they could take a shower, and
left them to it.  I did warn them that if they stayed in there too long,
we'd leave without them, and I know Blake wants to be there when the boat
arrives.  After breakfast had been scarfed down, we loaded up all the
lifejackets and other equipment we'd removed from the other boat, and piled
everyone into the cars and swung by to pick Cory up.  No point in leaving
him out since he was with us when we bought it.  The pre-teens all had
their captain's hats on, and I had a feeling they were each going to want
to be in charge.

We arrived at the marina early, and moved our old boat to the rented slip
to make room for the new one in its permanent home.  Of course all the boys
had to ride in the boat during the move so it took a lot longer than it
should have.  J.J. wanted to know why boats didn't have seatbelts, which
got the answer that it was the same as school buses.  That led to asking
why school buses didn't have them.

In our wisdom, we said that bigger vehicles didn't need them.  James then
took it upon himself to remind us that you had to wear them in planes, so
we countered with that was to prevent you bouncing out of the seat during
turbulence.  Yes, you guessed it, they then wondered why we then didn't
need seat belts for bumpy water like tidal waves.  You just can't win with
kids.  And why don't boats have seat belts for bumpy water?

I asked Colin as I agreed with the boys, and I just got a look that said
don't encourage them, or maybe it was a `really'?  It could be that he was
maybe feeling nostalgic about our old boat and wanted to screw my brains
out one last time in the bedroom before we sell it.  I'm not really good at
most facial expressions.

The new boat was pretty much on schedule, which was a good thing because
the boys were announcing the time like we were counting down to a rocket
launch.  `t-minus five minutes.'  The salesman arrived and greeted us,
asking the boys if they were excited, which strangely seemed to get them
even more excited.  The boat came into the false creek inlet about 15
minutes late, but that's not bad for it having come all the way from
Seattle.  I see now why delivery was so expensive.  We'd have to play for
the labour of the guys driving it to us, the gas to run it and no doubt the
plane tickets to fly the guys home.  If they're just from Seattle we could
stick them on a train, but I guess you don't want to look cheap when you
just spent 12 million on a boat.  The Riva Domino was so much more
impressive in the water than it had been in the stadium.  The boys waved as
it arrived and the captain waved back.  I'm guessing to the youngest, it
probably looked like a cruise ship pulling in.  It was considerably bigger
than the Sport Riva.  I mean it is 88 feet long compared to 56, so that's
like an extra 32 feet long which is ummmm...over 50% bigger.  Math is hard.

We were all welcomed on board, which, as promised, took a lot longer than
it should as each boy asked for permission to come on board, and then
saluted the captain, who played along with them.  Once Colin and I were on
board, we were introduced, and the keys were handed over.

"Enjoy your new boat," the captain said as he and his crew left us to it.
The salesman made a point of going over the entire boat with us in an
inspection, and of course, had to show the boys the dinghy and jet ski in
the back storage area, or as I'll be calling it...the cargo bay.  Once we
were satisfied that it was in good order, we signed for it and it was ours.
He informed us that he had a couple of parties interested in our old boat,
so that was encouraging.  We'd be able to recover around 3 million, which
means the kids won't go hungry.  How many egg McMuffin meals could you buy
for that?  Probably a lot.  How much are they anyway? Like twenty bucks or
something.  This just sounds like more math...moving on.

I looked it up while we were saying goodbye to our sales guy and rounding
up the kids.  It's kinda like rounding up Jell-O.  Egg McMuffins meals are
$6.50 and that's with a hash brown and coffee.  That's way cheaper than I
thought it was.  Seems like that's a good deal.  Anyone else got a craving
now?

We decided that since we were all on board, it'd be good to take it for a
spin.  Do boats go on a spin, or is it a float?  We'll ask Wikipedia later.
The kids all scrambled for a seat that they claimed as their favorite,
while Colin took the bridge as Admiral.  Seems like since he owns two
boats, he should be more than just the captain, so I promoted him.  I would
have gone with fleet admiral, but I think you need three or more boats for
a fleet.  We only have two.  If the plane had pontoons on it, they maybe
we'd have a fleet.  The bridge controls were impressive, but similar enough
to our last boat that we were able to figure them out easily.  And of
course by we, I mean Colin.  We eased out of the harbour and made our way
for the opens seas with the boys running all over to check things out.  It
was a seriously nice boat.  Like a floating hotel.  I almost hated to get
it wet.  We spent about an hour out on the water before turning to head
back.  I think Blake was disappointed that we didn't drag out the dinghy
and ski doo, but we promised him a full day of those activities soon.

Colin came and sat down with us.  "What does everyone think, now that
you've had a chance to look around?"

"This boat is lit!" James explained.  "It even has a shower on the deck for
when you get out of the water.  And tons of bedrooms."

"I like the TV that comes up out of that table," Travis said pointing to
the cabinet where the TV was housed.

"Me too," Trevor agreed.  "I mostly like the front part of the boat, so you
can watch where we go."

"That's the bow," Jason said providing that required parental education.

"Yeah, that part," Trevor nodded.

"Ummm...Colin... aren't you steering this thing," Ben asked looking around.

"It's on autopilot," he revealed.

"So it just goes somewhere by itself?"

"Yep.  We set a destination on the GPS and it'll head there for us."

"What if there's another boat in the way?"

"We run over it and keep going," Colin joked.  "Unless it's bigger, then we
hit it and sink.  So I hope you all know some good music to play as we go
down."

"When I go down, I just like to hum," I added, as I participated.  No one
seemed amused, nor did they appear to get the joke.  Hum...like a
hummer...like when you're giving head...boy, some jokes just aren't worth
the extended explanation.  Now it's just not funny.

"Actually, the autopilot is just a tool to help us steer straight.  It
helps with fuel consumption and fatigue.  Ideally someone needs to be on
lookout the entire time to avoid obstacles.  The boat doesn't recognize
those like a self driving car would."

"So who's on watch, since you're down here, Admiral?"  I asked with a
smile.

"Kyle and Chance are on the flybridge," he revealed.  That makes sense.

We returned to the marina and headed for something to eat.  We decided on
fish and chips since it was a boating day.  If I'd known that's what we
wanted, I could have thrown a line in while we were out on the water.  Grab
some sushi, slap it in a bun and boom, lunch!  Not sure how I'd get the
chips though.  There're not exactly any potato trees out here in the ocean.
Over the next week, we'd probably be stocking the boat with things we
needed for trips.  Beer, vodka, weed, lube.  Basically the essentials.  It
had a much bigger kitchen area than the old boat, so we would be able to
stock a lot of non-perishable food.  We'd only load fresh and perishable
when we were actually going somewhere.  I'm still planning a trip up to
Haida Gwaii and around the island and back down to Victoria.  I think it
would be amazing.  Then I think of having the kids on a boat for a few
weeks, and I come to my senses.  It'd be an adult only trip.

The next day at breakfast, Colin made an announcement to all of us.

"Thursday, I've rented the speedway for your race.  I figure we have an
early dinner and go for around 6."

"How come Thursday and not the weekend?"  Ben inquired.

"Because they won't let us rent the speedway on a weekend as that's their
busy time. It even took a bit of negotiating to get it for Thursday."

"You better be worth the price when I win, Kyle," Ben laughed.

"Don't worry, babe," Chance said patting his boyfriend on the back.  "I've
already made lots of plans for our new Razor next week.  We'll use it so
much we'll be smooth for years."

"No matter who wins, it should be a good race.  I can't imagine the
bragging rights Tesla would have if they can actually beat a Bugatti or
Lambo.  That'd be insane," J.P. added, with all of us agreeing.  Personally
I can't see it.  How could a battery-operated car outperform a powerful gas
engine?  My money is on the Bugatti.

A couple weeks later, the big showdown had arrived and we had quite the
entourage for it.  The entire family was there and it seemed like they'd
all invited friends.  Ben had Razor along.  J.J. had invited Quinn and
Karl, but was still a bit mad at us for not letting the rest of his friends
come along too.  From the list, it pretty much sounded like his entire
school.  Blake of course had Layne, Darcy and Cory with him, but to keep
the peace, Cory was being identified as going along with J.P. That would
avoid the `it's not fair' chant at Blake having three friends when J.J. was
only allowed two.  You pick up this parenting thing pretty fast.  Troy
didn't invite anyone but was just as excited about the racing as the
others.  Kyle was hyping Chance up with last minute driving advice.

"Remember honey, the trick with racing is to watch the track and when the
lights turn green, go fast!"  Kyle said staring at Chance.

"That's your advice?  Go fast," Chance laughed.  "I hope I remember that
under all the pressure of waiting for the light to turn green."

"I'm surprised you didn't invite Sienna," I said to Blake as I put my arm
around him.

"Nah, cars aren't really her thing.  Girls are more into fashion shows and
tea parties.  Guys are into cars and pub crawls."

"Oh yeah?  When's the last time you were on a pub crawl?"

"I'd tell you, Dad, but then I'd have to kill you," he joked.

"Let's get going," Colin announced.  "We'll take more than just the Chiron
and Tesla.  Since we have the track, we might as well test out a few other
cars as well."

That got everyone excited as we all tried to inject our suggestions on
which cars to take.  One was quick to make the list as it seemed to fit the
theme of the race.  It was the hybrid Lamborghini Sian.  That also meant
the McLaren P1 was in the game too.  The other two cars we picked were the
Koenigsegg Trevita and the Ferrari Enzo.  Although no one really thought
the Ferrari had a chance against the others, but we figured having one car
of each brand would make it more interesting.

We headed to the garage to grab the helmets we'd bought the last time we
went to a race track, and loaded them up.  I had to laugh when I saw
Blake's helmet, as at some point he'd really `Mayhem' written on the side
of it.  I still think that could be his actual street name.  I'm not sure
who was more excited to be heading to the track; Ben and Chance for their
race, or James and J.J., who had been told they'd get to go for a fast ride
in the cars.  Of course the twins wanted in on that, but who ever heard of
a car seat in a Lamborghini?  Maybe that's why Mrs. Lamborghini insisted
her husband make the Urus SUV.

We arrived at the speedway and found that we didn't completely have the
facility to ourselves, although we were assured by the manager that the
track was completely ours.  I guess they had a few crews in working on
their cars for the weekend.  That seemed more than interesting enough to
keep the boys happy as they ran around checking out the professional race
cars.  While they did that, I checked out some of the professional race car
crew.  There's something interesting abut a really fit guy with grease all
over him.  Maybe it was time to pay more attention to race cars from now
on.  You gotta love a hot man glistening with sweat that comes pre-lubed.
I could take him for a few laps, making sure to go fully inside on the
tight corners.  After a few pit stops to be serviced, I could roar go for
the finish line as I got cheered on.  Yeah.  This and football could become
my two favorite sports.  Well, right after diving and swimming...and
wrestling...

We had a meeting to let us know some of the rules and safety features of
the track.  They also went over how the starting lights worked and that
part of our rental agreement included their emergency response team.  I
didn't ask about that as I didn't want to know.

"First race is the 400 metre between the Chiron and the Tesla," Colin
announced, once the orientation was over.  "Ben will drive the Tesla, and
Chance the Bugatti.  Everyone that doesn't already have one, grab a helmet.

He handed them both a couple of helmets and they pushed them on.  I always
feel claustrophobic in them, but I guess that's better than being a head
omelette if you crash.  There were no helmets for the twins as they were
too young to be allowed in the cars while on the track.  They were
obviously upset about it, but Jason and Alex, being the great parents they
are, had planned ahead.  The twins were dressed in overalls, similar to
what the pit crew was wearing.  Alex took the boy's shirts off and helped
Trevor tie his overall around his waist, while Travis kept one strap on his
shoulder and untied the other one.  If they'd had mini Lamborghini's to
work on this would have been extra cute.  They had baseball caps on as
well, so they really looked the part.  Jason handed them both stop watched
and showed them how to use them and said they were the official race
timers, which seemed to please them.

Ben and Chance got into their vehicles and moved them to the line to await
the start of the race.  Colin had a two-way radio, which he said was to
talk to the guy in the control booth.  I'm guessing that's the traffic
light guy.  I was thinking of getting into a tank top and my Daisy Duke's
and standing between the cars, but I'm guessing that would have bene way
too distracting for the guys, so we were going with the lights instead.

"Driver's ready?"  Colin yelled.  We'd been through a quick orientation on
protocols, so they knew to give him a thumbs up.  Colin spoke into the
radio.  "Drivers are ready.  We're a go."

If I hear the Thunderbird's theme, I swear... I don't actually know what
I'd swear as I think that's actually a cool theme song.  In my head I was
already doing the 5...4...3...  Thunderbirds are go!

We all watched the lights as the three reds went one at a time before the
green lit up, and the cars took off like rockets.  It was over almost as
fast as it started.

"Holy shit!" Kyle exclaimed as we looked at the scoreboard/race timer clock
thing.  "The Tesla won by like half a second.  That's impossible."

"Guess their hype claims were accurate," Troy said.  "Looks like you're
going to be the meat in a Ben/Razor sandwich.  Sorry, bro."

"Like that'd be a bad thing?"  Kyle replied.  "Anyway, that just the
quarter mile race, let's see how battery car does after a couple kilometres
at full speed."

We raced the other cars on the 400m, or quarter mile track, and compared
their times.  None were even close to the Tesla.  They were all pretty
close to each other, with the Ferrari doing the worst, but only by a
fraction of a second.  We pit the Lamborghini Sian up against the other
hybrid, the McLaren P1, and they both did better than their gas
counterparts, but still not as fast as the Tesla.  One of the professionals
that was there said that electric cars had the advantage because of a
torque ratio something or other.  Like I understand any of that.  I think
he said it's because the power from the electricity goes straight to the
motor, whereas gas had to go through a bunch of things to provide power to
the engine.  Sure, sounds logical enough to me.  We didn't race the Tesla
on the quarter mile again as we wanted to save maximum battery for the full
lap race.  It was only two kilometres, but we figure we'd let the Tesla
cool down, and we could always race it against other cars later.

 I had to laugh when we stopped to watch Blake, Layne, J.J. Cory and James
walking across the asphalt towards us.  They all had helmets on with the
visors up, but they were walking in slow motion.

"What are you guys up to?"  Colin inquired.

"We're doing a movie thing," Blake replied.  "Darcy's filming it, since he
can't really join us with his cast. We're doing that cool walk out to the
track as a group."

"Oh.  Carry on," Colin said as he put his arm around me.  "He's your son."

"Why is it when he does weird shit, he's my son, but when he brings home
all A's and volunteers to feed injured wildlife, he's your son?"

"We each have our own influences on the man he'll become," he teased before
kissing me, and took my hand so we could go over to the cars.

"Now where are they going?"  I asked as all the boys ran back to the garage
to begin the walk again, only this time at normal speed.

"I'm guessing this is take two.  Probably someone reminded them that they
could walk normally and slow it down in editing, making it look more movie
like," J.P. replied.  I guess he'd know about this stuff.

Each boy picked the car they wanted and stood beside it as Darcy filmed
along the line of cars.  Then Blake had the camera turned on himself.

"This is the Vancouver Speedway..." he said into the camera.  It isn't
actually.  It's the Mission Raceway Park, in Mission, a couple cities over
from Vancouver.  He should probably be accurate.  "...located in Mission,
British Columbia.  In just a few minutes, you're going to see which of
these supercars takes the title.  First up is the 400 metre, or quarter
mile race.  We're pitting this two $200,000 Tesla Model S Plaid against the
incredible 3.4 million dollar Bugatti Chevron Super Sport, and I get to
keep the losing car..."

"No you don't!" Colin yelled from behind the camera.

Blake chuckled.  "No, I don't, but this is like the modern-day version of
the Tortoise and the Hare if you ask me.  The other cars we'll be racing
for the time trials are from Lamborghini, Ferrari, Koenigsegg, and McLaren.
Who will win?  YOU decide!  Actually, the cars will decide.  I just always
wanted to say that.  After the 400 metre challenges, then we're going to
really put these cars to the test and see who does better in a full lap,
two kilometre, race.  I'll be driving the Chiron for the first race."

"No you won't!" Colin yelled to him again.

"No, I won't," Blake repeated as he grinned at the camera, then leaned in
closer.  "But if just one of these suggestions slip past them, this is
gonna be a great day!  While I might not be driving for the race, we are
being allowed to ride shotgun.  To keep it fair and make sure cars aren't
being disadvantaged, we're going to ensure the passenger and driver for
each vehicle have roughly the same combined weight.

I leaned in to Colin.  "He does know that we already did the short races,
doesn't he?"

"I think this is one of those filmed out of sequence things that they do in
movies.  He'll edit this into the front of the video to make it look like
it was done pre race," Colin explained

"Sneaky.  Now I'll never know what's real or not.  Of course, with all the
cameras out filming the actual races, I'm guessing he'll have lots of
footage to edit at the end of the day."

"True, plus the speedway has plenty of cameras up as well," Colin said as
we looked around.  Blake climbed into the passenger seat of the Chiron and
gave a thumbs up to Darcy. Who paused and then yelled cut, and Blake
climbed back out.  I could see how this made sense for filming.  He'd even
made sure to climb into the same car he'd been in for the 400 metre.  I'm
looking forward to the finished product.  I'm hoping they add rocket flames
and maybe some explosions in post editing.

The Chiron and the Model S lined up for the start of the big race, and we
all placed our bets with the track side bookie in his fedora.  They were
symbolic bets with an imaginary bookie, but even they look good in a
fedora.

Darcy was riding along in the Chiron and Layne in the Tesla.  The two cars
took off with the Tesla taking the early lead as it shot off the line
again.  It looked as if the supercar was going to lose its status as super.
But about a third of the way around the track, the Bugatti began to gain on
the Model S and by halfway, it was out in front.  As it crossed the finish
line, it was ahead by a good couple car lengths.  I guess the electric is
good off the line and has the power to kick ass for a quarter mile, but
after that it looks like the gas engine was just superior.

We all ran over to congratulate them and the smile on everyone's face
indicated that, win or lose, they'd had a good time.

"Who actually won the bet?"  Ben asked as they took off their helmets.  "I
won the first race, and you won the second one, so I'm guessing it's a
tie?"

"Or..." Chance grinned.  "You won the first race and get Kyle for a week,
and I won the second race and get Razor for a week.  What do Kyle and Razor
think?"

"A bet's a bet," Razor grinned.  "Sorry babe, I guess I'm gonna have to go
with Chance for the week."

"Yeah, I'd agree with that.  I'd never want my rep to be that I welched on
a bet," Kyle said as he put his arm around Chance.  Guess you're gonna be
without me for a whole week.  Ben, you prefer top or a bottom?"

"With what you're packin', I'm gonna want to bottom," he said grinning
wide.

Razor laughed.  "I'm versatile, so your options are unlimited," he said to
Chance.

"Guys, since this was a bet, I should probably be there to verify you both
meet the conditions," Troy grinned.

"I'm good with that," Ben grinned, with the other three agreeing as well.
Do you get the feeling this would have all happened no matter who had won
what?

"Okay, now check this out," Blake said as he spoke into the camera Darcy
had in his face.  He stepped up and slid into the car through the window.
He does know the door still opens even though we're at a racetrack, right?
"It's my turn to drive.  For real.  I'm not allowed to race since I don't
have a licence yet, but I am allowed to drive the car, and my Dad is coming
with me, just in case you think I'm not being supervised.  This is a
Lamborghini Sian supercar.  Zero to 100k in 2.8 seconds.  9.1 seconds the
way I'm gonna have to drive it, but in just two years, I'll have a licence
and watch out pedestrians!  Let's go."

He looked at the camera he'd mounted on the dashboard and spoke to it.
"I'm not ignoring you, I'm concentration on driving," he said as he
adjusted the mirrors.

Colin remained quiet over in the passenger seat, and I stood back from the
car after wishing them good luck.  I debated calling our insurance broker.
Not the car one.  The life insurance one.  I should make sure that the
premiums are paid up on both Blake and Colin.  I don't want to be getting
ripped off if something happens to either of them.

I watched them drive away and stood beside Darcy who was still filming it.
At first Blake moved pretty slowly, but as he got more comfortable, he sped
up.  By the end of the first two-kilometre lap he was easily doing 120k as
he passed by us and waved.  I'm pretty sure I heard Colin yell at him to
keep both hands on the wheel.

As Blake crossed the finish line of the second lap, he was easily doing
180, maybe 200.  Not fast by any race measure, but for a 14-year-old, not
bad at all.  He stopped and we all approached.

"How was it?"  Darcy asked as he held the camera out for Blake to reply.

"That was epic!  Total fire!  Next time I come out here, we're going balls
out.  Today I just wanted to get the feel of it.  Thanks Dad!" He waved to
Colin who had got out of the car.

"Whiskey!"  He said coming up to give me a little hug.

I laughed.  "It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"No.  He's actually a surprisingly good driver.  That's my boy though!"  He
teased, looking at me with a grin.

"See!  Something good and he's suddenly your son again.  When he challenges
his friends to try humping the tailpipe, he's my son."

"Well let's face it.  Out of the two of us who's most likely to actually do
that?"

"Not me.  Last thing I need to do is get my massive dick stuck in one of
those small tailpipes.  Although one good rev of the engine and that'd be
the blowjob to remember."

"Yeah, we can see who Blake gets each side of his personality from," he
laughed.

We let Darcy, Layne and Cory drive next, with each one getting a different
adult to supervise.  Jason went with Cory, as you'd expect from a big
brother.  I went with Darcy, while J.P. rode along with Layne.  All of them
had different comfort levels as they drove, but at the end they had one
thing in common; the giant smiles on their faces.

We didn't leave the pre-teens out either.  Kyle and Chance took J.J.,
Quinn, Karl and James around the track at full speed and from how excited
they were when it was over, it was as if they'd driven it themselves.  I
felt bad for Travis and Trevor as they were not allowed in the cars at all,
but I think the crew in the garage had picked up on that and taken the boys
under their wings to help work on the cars.  Seeing little kids do adult
things is beyond cute, and it was no different seeing the twins on steps
leaning in to work on the engines.  I couldn't help but laugh when I saw
that each of them had a grease mark on their chests to really look the
part.  They were super excited to be helping, and even more so when they
were given headphones as ear protection when the cars were fired up.  Jason
and Alex took tons of pictures of their little mechanics, and I even made
sure to help and get pictures of all four of them together.  I snuck in a
few of the actual bare-chested mechanics too.  Just for comparison as to
how authentic the twins looked.  I'm sticking with that if anyone asks why
there's 50 pictures that don't have the kids in them at all.

We spend the next couple hours racing cars and having a really good time
together.  I really think that we're going to have a problem driving home.
Who is going to only do 60k when we're used to going 200k, or faster?  I'd
really like to drive in one of those demolition derbies, but I'm pretty
sure Colin won't agree to let me use one of our cars.  Alex's Corvette was
about the least expensive non-collector car we owned, but I'm still pretty
sure I wouldn't be allowed to use that either.  The best option I can see
is to rent a car and get the full insurance package.  That way I'm not
responsible for damages.  See, y'all thought I was just a dumb sex crazed
overly horny fag...it's pretty obvious now that I'm not dumb.

One of the pit crew that had been working on a car in the garage came
towards us, and I almost needed a valium, or whatever the pill is that
helps you calm down.  He had his overalls tied around his waist, exposing
his tanned, toned, sweaty, dirty, and smooth chest to us.  His long, messy,
medium brown, hair falling across his dark blue eyes, only accentuated his
full red pouty lips and button nose.  Is that enough of a description?
Wait until I describe how my penis is reacting to that view.  He walked
right over to Blake, so I moved closer to make sure he wasn't some sort of
pervert.  I really don't need the competition.

"Great races!" He said complimenting Blake.  "Saw you driving as well.
Good job.  You like the Sian?"

"Thanks.  The Sian's not bad.  I prefer the Veneno roadster though, but Dad
wouldn't let us bring that one to the track.  For my money, the Chiron
performs and sounds more like the supercar that I'd want," Blake replied
sounding like a car expert.  "The hybrids like the McLaren and Sian just
don't get your dick as hard.  You work here?"

"I just help my buddy with his car.  I'm a pretty good mechanic, so he
calls on me when he's having issues."

"Yeah?  You know a lot about these types of cars?"  Blake queried.

"More than most, I'd say.  You interested in being a mechanic?"  He asked
Blake.

"Not really.  I'm more interested in doing a mechanic," he said bluntly,
getting a laugh out of the guy.

"Blake!  Seriously?"

"Oh, hey Justin.  This is one of my dads.  Justin this is..."

"Kline," the guy said nodding at me.  "I'd shake your hand, but I'm a
little greasy."  He said holding up his hand to show me.

"Holy fuck you've got big hands!" Blake exclaimed holding his up to
compare, and then placed their palms together.  "Your dick must be
gigantic!"

"Holy shit, Blake!!  Dial it," I said quickly.  There's outgoing and then
there's this.  This would get him beat up in the back alley of a bar one
day.  I'm guessing this is one of those times where he's my son?

"It's true though, right?  The bigger the hands and feet, the bigger the
penis.  I mean I kinda know that's true.  My hands are bigger than my
friends, and I know how I compare to them in other regions, so it's like
scientific research."

"It's a good thing the size of your mouth doesn't correlate to a penis, or
you'd be dragging yours along behind you like a tail," I said as a sic
burn.

"Like it doesn't already," he said just shaking his head.

Kline laughed.  "Damn, how old are you?"

"How old do you want me to be?"  Blake grinned as he licked his lips.  "I
could whisper it in your ear while we're in bed."

"I'm sorry about him.  I think the adrenaline rush from the driving is
really messing with his entire operating system.  We may need to get him to
the E.R. if it doesn't stop.  With needles and scalpels and others such
things," I warned with a stare.

"This is why you're a dreamsexual," Blake said rolling his eyes at me.

"What's a dreamsexual?" Kline asked.

"He only has sex in his dreams," Blake laughed loudly.  "Unlike some of us
who are outgoing and just super hot.  Like Kline here.  He's obviously
isn't just having sex in his dreams.  I'll bet he's more active in bed than
ants at a picnic."

Kline laughed. "Dude, I don't know what's going on right now, but if I were
into guys, I'd probably enjoy getting to know you.  Oh, and yeah.  Big
hands, definitely a thing."

Blake nodded. "Told you.  And Kline...," he said patting him on the back.
"If you were into guys, you and I would already be in bed together."

"On that reveal, I should get back.  Nice meeting you guys," he said
smiling, as he turned to head over to the garage.

"Way to come on too strong, Blake.  I was gonna tap that."

He laughed.  "You couldn't tap a keg at a frat party.  But he was hot,
right?""

"He was really hot.  Maybe it's because he looked like some model you'd see
coming out of a cloud of smoke, moving towards you in slow motion while
holding a massive wrench.  Those little grease marks on his sculptured
chest would just top it all off perfectly."

"Calm down there, Dad, before you nut off in your pants.  You didn't pack
spares," Blake chuckled.  "So...you know how I like pretty much everyone?"

"Yeah.  So far," I nodded as I put my arm around his side.

"Well, I think if I had to pick just one type to settle down with, he'd be
it.  Older, toned as fuck.  The rugged, but smokin' hot, man type.  Massive
penis and intelligent."

"You're assuming the penis thing."

"Oh, it's big. You could see the outline of it swinging between his legs as
he walked."

"At least no one can accuse you of lacking imagination."

"I should go see if he'll let me take a picture of it to prove I'm right."

"Now who's the one who should calm down?"  I joked.  "We didn't bring ice
packs for the black eye you'll get.  How about we both just accept the fact
that he's some serious eye candy and add him to our spank bank?"

"We could spank it together while we talk about the things we'd want to do
with him," he said as he stared at me.  "God, my dick is so hard right now
that it's painful."

"Well don't just stand there, go take care of it.  Last thing we need is
you in pain. The bathroom is just over there," I said looking towards it at
the end of the building.

"I don't think spanking it is gonna be enough," he said as he actually did
look in pain.  We've all had those types of erections at one point, so I
felt for him.

"So go grab Darcy or Layne.  I'm sure they'll appreciate being the
recipient of your current state of readiness."

"I'd probably fuck him so hard that I'd end up slamming him through a
concrete wall," he bragged.

"Now that I'd pay to see.  Go take care of it so we can get you calmed
down.  Last thing I need is for you running over to the garage, seeing
mechanic bent over the engine of a car and getting your signals crossed."

"Yeah, but what a fun few minutes that'd be," he giggled.  "We're still
gonna have to compare spank banks later," he said grinning.  He moved off
and loudly yelled "LAYNE!!"

It was seconds later that I saw Layne and Blake bolting for the bathroom,
and I prepared to listen for the crashing concrete.

Darcy and Cory had just gotten back from rides in the McLaren and Ferrari
Enzo, and were now filming all the cars and surrounding areas.  "How were
the cars guys?"

"Awesome!"  Cory grinned.  "Wish we could always go that fast."

"What are you up to now?"

"Blake wanted us to get some B roll for the videos.  That's where you get
stuff to fill in the story," Darcy explained.

"Nice.  So who does the editing?"

"We all do.  We're not professionals or anything and we can't do everything
on the computers we have, but it's good practice anyway.  One day I think
I'd maybe like to be a cameraman or director."

"Good careers.  Where is Blake?" I asked pretending not to know.

Cory laughed.  "It's been a couple hours; he's probably needing to get laid
and went in search of something."

"I saw him checking out some of the crew in the garages earlier," Darcy
suggested.  I'll say one thing, Blake's friends know him well.  I went to
hang out with Troy and J.P. who were with Colin and Razor.  Their
discussion, as expected was all about cars.  I mostly just listened.  Isn't
that like some Confucius saying like better to remain silent and have some
think you're an idiot, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt? This
bitch is keeping quiet.  Wait, does that mean some of them actually think
I'm an idiot?  Not sure that's actually better.

Once we'd had enough and were starting to get hungry, we loaded up the cars
and headed into Mission.  We thought it'd be fun to hit Rocko's 50's style
diner.  I think they use it for a lot of film shoots and I'm pretty sure it
was used as Pop's Chock'lit shoppe on Riverdale.  That's what we told the
kids anyway, which made it more exciting.  The part I found interesting was
that it wasn't some diner made to look like a 50's diner, it had actually
been there since the actual 50's.  God, who'd even be alive to remember
that far back?  Now that's some history right there.  The place is nothing
to look at, and if you didn't know it existed, you'd drive right past it
and stop at DQ across the street.

I'm pretty sure their wait staff had a serious panic attack when our large
group of 20 arrived.  They only had booths with those padded seats, which
by the way is how it all starts.  First the padded seats, next the padded
room with locked doors...just saying.  Each booth could only seat four
(five if you have small twins), so it was a scramble to get everyone
seated.  Ben had already claimed his prize and sat with Kyle, while Chance
and Razor sat opposite them.  The kids were the most difficult.  Ideally it
would have been Jason and Alex with the twins and James all being able to
fit one booth, then Colin, myself and our boys in another, and so on.  But
no, that would have been too simple.  They began arguing over who was
sitting with who...whom?...who...whom?  Trust me, they were arguing.  So,
it was seating by decree, and the threat of no food, and a time out.  Not
sure that applied to me though, so I didn't pay a ton of attention.  It
worked out that Blake, Cory, Darcy and Layne sat together.  J.J., Quinn,
Karl and James got a booth of their own while the twins were left out
again, but they seemed to perk up when they were shown the milkshakes they
could have.

I promised Colin no matter what flavour he chose, his milkshake would bring
me to the yard.  I'm hoping that actually means something sexy, and not
like I'll have to mow the lawn once I get there.  Someone suggested that my
flavour should be `tutti-frutti'.  I suggested theirs be `shut the hell
up'.  But I've never seen that many flavour of milkshake...ever.  Blue
Raspberry, Black Raspberry, Blackberry, blueberry...there were SO many
berries!  They even had Jughead, Archie, Betty, and Veronica shakes, as
well as ones only for adults.  Mmmm...the boozy bozo sounded like me.  Not
sure what a birthday cake flavour is, but I went with tutti-frutti.  Shut
the fuck up!  I'm seriously susceptible to suggestions.

They had so many burger choices that you really shouldn't be hungry when
you come here as you'll want to order them all.  Plus, dude!  Deep fried
pickles!!  I mean like wow.  Okay, honestly, full disclosure...I've never
actually had a deep-fried pickle.  I tried a deep-fried Mars bar once and
those were disgusting, but the picture on the menu seemed to indicate the
pickles were popular.  Like I said, susceptible to suggestions.

Everyone ordered a burger of some sort.  The Riverdale burger was the most
popular, so I'm guessing I was right about it being used for the TV show.
I honestly think our eyes were bigger than our stomachs as there was more
food on our tables than I'm sure we could eat in a month, but I'd happily
stay there to finish it.  Strangely, everyone had room for dessert, and
let's face it, you can't go to a 50's diner and not have a sundae, although
we did share them and not each have our own, which turned out to be a good
decision.  They had let us know when we arrived that because of the size of
our group, they automatically added a 10% gratuity to the bill, but we
figured it was worth way more than that, so we doubled the tip.  I think
I'm going to make this my favorite go to place.  Of course, it is more than
an hour's drive from our house, so I'd have to plan ahead lots.

By the time we were done, I'm pretty sure an outdoor belching competition
would be required before we'd be able to get back into the cars.  That was
going to take a while as either the diner had suddenly become insanely busy
all of a sudden or someone had tweeted out about the cars, as it was a
small mob scene.  Okay, like 10 guys, but that's sort of a mob.  If they'd
all been cute gay guys, it could possibly be a harem.  But since they were
all mostly middle age guys, like in their mid 30's or early 40's fresh from
their doomsday prepper meeting, it was a mob.

We entertained their questions and let them take pictures inside and out,
which eventually satisfied them and we were able to leave.  If you don't
look them right in the eyes, they don't recoil as fast.

The trip home was fun as we kept all the cars together the best we could
and attracted a ton more attention, like we do.  The only time I get more
attention is when the triple J's go out together...naked.

Once we got home, we let the kids go play and began rearranging cars in
preparation for the construction to being on the garages. The everyday
cars, we left out on the driveways of both houses.  The really expensive
cars that we knew we wouldn't need we took to the underground garage.
There wasn't enough room for everything, so we took some of the less
expensive cars like the two Rolls, Ferrari, Marussia, and such, to Colin's
office building and secured them on the lower floor of the parking lot.  It
was only accessible to executives of the company, so it felt pretty safe.
We didn't store the crazy expensive cars there, mostly anything worth under
a million. The underground garage had never been this full and we'd really
stuffed them in to make sure we maximized all the space available.  I mean
this could be a problem as there was barely going to be enough room to bend
Kurt over any of the cars while he worked on them.  This is true first
world gay problems right there.

A couple days later construction began on the garage, and while it was
noisy, it sure wasn't as bad as when we had to move out so they could do
the underground garage and other renovations.  It was scheduled to take a
month to complete and as the equipment rolled in, I realized just how big a
job it was, despite it sounding simple.

The twins loved the construction and it wasn't long before they were out
there with their plastic hard hats on, sitting in the dirt with all their
big yellow trucks to join in.  It was cute watching them use their
front-end loader to fill the dump truck and move it over to a separate area
to unload it.  Then they used their bulldozer to flatten everything and
make quite a detailed road and parking system.  One of the construction
workers with the bobcat came over with a small load of sand for Travis and
Trevor and dropped it near where they were playing.  The boys cheered and
went to work moving it all, one truck load at a time.  At one point or
another even the adults got involved.  I noticed when Jason and I were
playing with Travis and Trevor, some of the construction guys were taking
pictures.  I have to admit, it must look pretty funny seeing twins playing
with twins.  If we added J.P. to the game, it might throw off the whole
feng shui feeling.

Colin was in charge of the real construction work, so we didn't interfere
as he knew what he wanted and it was always best to just let him go to it.
He did take Kyle's advice about utilizing the attic space for additional
storage.  They'd even designed a platform that could be raised up and down
to make it easier than hauling things up and down stairs.  We could store
things like the paragliders, helmets, lifejackets, etc.  You know, normal
garage stuff that was currently around the outside edges of the main
garage.  This new garage would have more of a showroom feel to it.  Nothing
visible but cars, cabinets and power stations.  Like I said, I'll leave
that to Colin. The only time I perked up is when I heard Kurt suggest we
have a lubing station.  Turns out it wasn't what I thought, and it was
scrapped anyway as Colin said we would stick with the one in the
underground garage as he wanted this area to be minimalistic.

I kept sticking my head in to see what they were up to, but it really just
looked like a mess.  All interior walls had been removed and new supports
were being installed.  I guess you have to compensate for such a wide-open
space.  I think the original dividing walls were supporting the roof. The
new section of the garage was being built and I think I'm going to like the
fact that I can walk through the garage and be in the other driveway.  I
saw the new stairwell had been installed to the attic, but I didn't go up
to look as I wasn't sure it was secured for use yet.  I'm liking the open
concept look of the place though.

A week later, I was reviewing the website design being done for my new
business venture with Nate, when I was interrupted.

"See you later!"  Blake yelled as he leapt off the front stairs and grabbed
his backpack.

"Where you going?"

"Darcy's getting his cast off and I wanna see that shit.  Do you think they
ever slip with that saw and cut into the skin?"

"No.  I'm pretty sure it's not a real saw."

"Oh, it's real.  I'm betting they've hacked up a few kids getting those
things off.  I'll video the whole thing so that we can have one sic video
to show off.  Plus we'll be able to sue for millions.  Later!"

He raced out and I just shook my head.  At least Darcy would be happy to
get out of that cast.  Having Blake there...well, that should at least make
it interesting.  He's liable to come back with a cast over his mouth.

When he finally did return home, his first mission was to show us the cast
being removed, which was actually pretty interesting, but as he pointed
out, there was no slipping to cut into the skin at all, but I have to admit
the saw sounded terrifying.  If I'd been a little kid, they'd have needed
to sedate me.

"Oh, when that cast came off the smell was awful.  Like his leg had been
zombiefied and the flesh was rotting, or like someone had put a wet dog and
old gym socks in there."

"Notice how much hairier his legs is?  We asked the doctor if we should
shave it off.  He told Darcy that the hair would go lighter after a few
weeks, but if we did plan on shaving, we should wait a few days until the
skin calms down.  It was all gross and flaky."

"Sounds like you learned a lot," Colin remarked.

"I did.  He still has to use some crutches for a few weeks, just until he
can build up the leg muscles again.  You can kinda see how much smaller
that leg is compared to his other one.  The also gave him a boot to wear to
help support his leg when he walks.  But at least he can remove it for the
shower and stuff.  Plus his sweatpants fit right over it.  He has to do a
bunch of exercises everyday to build up his leg again, and I promised I'd
help with those."

"That was nice of you.  I'm guessing it'll be a while before he can go back
to karate?"  I asked.

"A few weeks, yeah.  His doctor doesn't want him doing kicks or anything,
so I totally agreed with that."

"I'm sure that made his doctor feel validated knowing that you approved," I
joked.

"Yeah, probably.  When we got back to Darcy's place, we took a shower so I
could help him wash the dry skin off.  God, it stunk so bad, but we used
soap and water to get him basically all clean again.  I think he was happy
just to be able to bend his knee.  Layne's probably going to be excited
that Darcy can finally go do all the activities again.  Those two are
probably gonna screw each other into comas this weekend."

"Surprised you didn't while you were there," I teased.

"Well not into a coma, but since he could kneel on the side of the bed..."
he said grinning at me, "you know how it goes."

That was it for the Darcy video and I was happy that he was recovering from
his ordeal.  At dinner, Blake was still telling everyone about the cast
removal, and things Darcy would be required to do before he was fully
healed.  "I still think those bullies got off too easily," he said.  "I
told Darcy that he should use that lawyer guy and make sure charges were
pressed and that he sue for damages."

"That's not a bad idea considering that I'm sure plenty of other students
would testify to their bullying," Colin nodded.  "Tell him that I'll
happily pay for the lawyer to see justice.  I'd hate those guys to think
they can just get away with it."

"Don't worry, they won't think that ever again," Troy laughed.  "Ow!" he
said looking at Kyle.  "What the fuck? I didn't say anything."

"Say anything about what?" I inquired.

"Nothing," Troy replied.

"Come on.  Since when do we have secrets in this house?  Spill bro."

Kyle just shrugged, then spoke.  "We gave those kids a taste of their own
medicine after Darcy was attacked."

"What kind of medicine?" Colin asked.  "Please tell me that they're not in
hospital with their own casts."

Troy gave a small smirk. "No, we wouldn't do something like that.  Let's
just say they have now seen what it's like to be on the opposite side of
the bullying."

"What'd you guys do?" Blake asked almost way to excitedly.  There is some
serious level of demon in this boy.

"Even after attacking Darcy, they were still picking on kids.  We saw them
push a few smaller boys, then take backpacks and dump them out.  Just a
pure reign of terror.  This was before the school took action, just so
we're clear.  We decided to give them a taste of their own terror."

"Who was the `we'?  Colin asked.

"Myself, Chance and Troy."

"And me and Razor," Ben added.  "Figured they could use some help."

"Okay, come on.  What did you guys do to those assholes?"  Blake said
moving around on his chair like he was badly in need of a pee.  "Please
tell me you beat them to a bloody pulp and then pissed on their open
wounds."

"Harsh...and graphic," I replied staring at him.  Like I said...demon boy.

"No, we staged a mugging after following the guys for a bit.  We waited
until they were alone in a fairly secluded spot and we surrounded them,"
Chance explained.  "At first they were your typical bully assholes, but
when they realized we weren't kidding, their attitudes changed."

"We told them we wanted their money," Ben grinned.  "But as you might
expected, they told us to fuck off, so we took their backpacks and dumped
them out like they'd done to the smaller kids.  Razor picked up some report
one of the kids had, and threatened rip it in half and then burn it.  I
guess it was some major homework assignment as the kid begged and pleaded
for him not to destroy it.  He actually handed over all his money.

"The others followed his lead right after that," Troy added.  "But we
weren't convinced they had learned anything, so Razor ripped his assignment
in half anyway, only once though so the kid could easily tape it back
together.  We did the same to the others...just to be fair."

"Think that taught them not to bully kids?"

"No, but what we did next might have," Chance said.  "We made them give us
their clothes which we stuffed into the backpacks we'd emptied.  That had
them begging us to let them go.  We gave them a lesson about never bullying
anyone again, and reminded them that some of the kids they pick on had
older brothers that would protect their siblings.  They got the message,
but Troy decided to scare them even more, and asked if any of them had even
been fucked before.  The look of terror in their eyes was perfect."

"Of course their response was that they weren't gay," Troy smirked.  "I
told them that that wasn't the question.  When they replied that they
didn't do that, I just reminded them that they just hadn't done that YET."

"Damn.  That's awesome.  You guys should have called me.  I'd totally have
been up for kicking their asses," Blake said with a grin that took over his
face.

"Yeah, we know," Kyle nodded. "But the guys might have known who you were
since you're friends with Darcy.  They have no idea who we were, just some
older guys giving them a taste of their own medicine."

"So what happened next?  You rip them all new ones?"  Blake asked eagerly.

"I told them that one of them was about to get fucked, they just had to
decide who," Troy said continuing.  "We got the usual type reply of we're
not gay and you're not fucking any of us, you faggots!  That sort of thing.
I grabbed the guy who seemed in charge by the hair and talked directly into
his ear.  I said that their choice was one of them get fucked by one of us,
or all of them get fucked by all of us, repeatedly."

"Nice!" Blake said becoming even more animated. "So?"

"None of them answered, so Troy asked Ben for the lube and actually opened
it and slapped some between one of the kids' cheeks saying he'd start with
him, since he had the tightest looking ass," Chance laughed.  "Never seen a
kid jump so high from having his ass slapped.  Once Troy did that, their
whole attitudes changed from bullying to begging, and some sobbing.  I told
the kid closest to me that it was too late for begging since they'd bullied
the wrong kid at school, and now it was payback time.  I told him that I
was actually going to enjoy opening his ass up for the next half hour.
Troy and Ben bent the kid over into position and made him think he was
really about to get fucked.  The others had gone instantly quiet."

"That's when I suggested to Kyle that he might want to go first since he
had the biggest dick to really open the kid up so the rest of us go easily
after that," Troy laughed.  "Trust me, these aren't the type of kids you
want to bring home for sex.  My guess is the only type of sex those idiots
will ever get will be in prison.  They began begging and pleading for us to
let them go, and since it looked like we'd achieved maximum fear and
terror, we made them a deal that they be nice to everyone from now on.  If
we heard of them even looking at someone the wrong way again, we'd be back.
We reminded them that since they had no idea whose big brother, or brothers
we were, they might not want to test us."

"When they agreed and Kyle said we'd let them go, Troy was hilarious,"
Chance added.  "He actually pouted that he'd already got the kid lubed up
and wanted to pop the little bitch's cherry, saying it wasn't fair that we
couldn't hurt them like they'd hurt others.  We had to act like we were
pulling him off to stop him from doing it.  Those kids are probably going
to help old ladies across the street after that.  That's if they ever got
home of course.  We took their backpacks filled with clothes and tossed
them in a dumpster.  Should have been a nice humiliating walk home."

"Fuck! That's fire!!  Dude, I would have so loved to see that.  Only way it
could have been better is if you'd broken some bones too," Blake commented
with a giant grin.

"Nah. That wouldn't have been cool.  It's best to give them a taste of
their own medicine.  Let them see how it feels to be intimidated and
humiliated," Kyle replied.  "We'd never do anything like rape them or break
bones.  That crosses the line making us worse than they are.  We've planted
the seed as to what might happen if they keep bullying.  I have a feeling
they'll be a little less aggressive now."

"Think it'll stop them bullying?"  I asked.

"Probably not entirely as that mentality grows over years, but I have a
feeling it'll reduce it considerably and certainly make it less brazen.
The next thing that has to happen is the kids at school should band
together and stand up to them.  If they show they're not scared, it takes a
ton of leverage away from kids like that.  They only get off on making
someone cower in fear of them."

"True.  I'll tell Darcy to pass that on.  After dinner, you guys wanna go
act out how you did everything?  I can play one of the bullies."

Chance laughed before the others. "Dude, if you were the bully, you be
defiant to the end just so we would all actually fuck you."

"And your point?  Who knows, I might actually agree to stop bullying if you
guys really pounded me hard enough to teach me a lesson.  We won't really
know until we try."

"Are you kidding?"  Kyle said joining in.  "You not only not learn the
lesson, you'd be back there the next day already naked, waiting for us."

Blake gave a little giggle.  "That's probably true, but what can I say.  I
don't not learn real quick, duh."

We didn't say anything else about it, and I suspect Darcy will just want to
let it all go.  Especially since the head bully had been expelled and the
others hadn't seemed to have caused much trouble since.

It had been a while since I'd seen Toby, but the boys had told me about him
going to karate and really enjoying it.  It was Saturday afternoon, and
Toby had come over to hang out with Blake and Darcy, and continue his
Karate training.  Personally, I think he was having more fun just having a
couple of big brothers to teach him things.  They'd been downstairs for a
few hours by the time Shawna arrived to pick Toby up and asked how the
lessons were going.

"So far, I think he's enjoying it and taking it very seriously.  I'm
guessing part of that is trying to impress Blake and Darcy," I told her.

"They've certainly made an impression on him already.  He talks about them
as his brothers.  I think it's been good for him, although I could do
without all the yelling just before he kicks something.  That's going to
get old real fast."

I laughed.  "They outgrow that pretty quick.  It's when he asks to flip you
that you start to become concerned.  Even more so when he can actually do
it."

"I think I'll let his father deal with those requests," she laughed.

"They're all down swimming.  You're welcome to come down with me to get
him, as long as you don't mind seeing naked boys running around."

"I see one every day," she said giving a bit of an amused smile.

"It's a boy thing, I think.  They have Blake's cousins down there with them
today."

"Maybe I should wait up here.  A woman in the room might make them a little
embarrassed."

"No, they'll be fine with it.  They either won't notice you're female, or
they'll forget they don't have clothes on."

She followed me down to the pool where Blake and Cory had Trevor and Travis
on their shoulders ready to toss them in to the water.  Toby and James were
sitting on the edge of the pool watching.  I'm assuming they were awaiting
their turn next.  Darcy seemed to be racing J.J. in laps.

"Toby," I yelled to him.  "Your mom is here."

Toby waved and jumped up.  He grabbed a towel and ran over to her.  "Guess
what we did, Mom?" He said excitedly.

"Hi to you too," she smiled.

"Hi Mom.  Guess what we got to do?"

"No idea."

"We got to do bowling and go on a trampoline, and run in a maze thing, and
then went swimming.  We didn't even need swim suits or nothin'.  I went
down a waterslide and almost wrecked my nuts when I landed."

"Toby.  We don't use that kind of language, remember."

"Sorry.  I almost busted my balls when I landed.  They're okay though.
Blake's Uncle Alex is a paramedic, so he coulda helped if I needed it.  I
figured you'd be mad if I came home with my penis in a bandage."

That would be quite the look," she said.

"Would have been worse if my penis was all stiff and I broke it when I
landed.  Do they put penises in a cast, Mom?"

"And I'm out," I laughed.

"Sounds like you had a good time, despite the near catastrophe on the
slide.  Where did you do all these activities?"  She asked looking
confused.

"Here.  Mostly in the back yard.  They have another pool outside.  They
even have cars underground in a giant garage.  They gots Lamorghinis and
Bugeratis and Ferraris and a Shitty car too."

Blake laughed from the pool.  "Booger-atees.  It's `snot' a booger-ati,
they're Bugatti's and the other car is the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car."

"Yeah.  Those.  Plus they have a super cool treehouse that is like another
whole house."

"And who are all these other boys with you?  Are they all in karate with
you," She asked trying to engage with his day.

"No.  They're mostly his family.  Blake's brother J.J. is 10.  James is 9,"
he said pointing them out.  "Then they have twins Trevor and Travis who are
5.  Cory, that's the other big kid, is Blake's best friend."

"Sounds like a busy place.  I guess you're used to having your hands full,"
Shawna said looking at me.

"Most days aren't quite this busy, but I think they all enjoyed playing
together."

"Darcy couldn't throw no one from his shoulder `cause his leg's not totally
healed yet, and he's not supposed to put extra weight on it," Toby
explained continuing to be hyper active.  "But he did do some bowling.  I
beat him at that though as he still sort of had to hop to the line."

"Where did you go bowling?"  She asked looking more confused.

"I already told you Mom!  Here.  They got a bowling alley in the basement.
It's in the playroom."

"When the boys got older, we did some renovations to their playroom.
Figured a bowling alley might be better than the ball pit," I explained.

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun.  Thanks for spending time with him.  Did
you get to do any karate?"  She asked.

"Tons.  Me and Blake did stuff on the mats while Darcy gave us
instructions.  I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be a ninja soon."

"The ninja thing I could handle.  The jumping off the stairs yelling
`hi-yah!' to scare me I can do without," she laughed.

"You have to do that, Mom.  It's how your enemies know you're a serious bad
a...uh serious," he grinned.

"Alright.  How about you say goodbye to your friends and get dressed.  Your
dad will be expecting us for dinner."

"He should eat you first, Mom.  Then he'll be too full to eat me," he
giggled.

"Huh?"  She asked being caught off guard.

"You said he'd be expecting us for dinner.  I expect chicken fingers most
of the time."

"Funny.  Go get dressed," she said smiling at him.  He ran off as the
others were getting out of the pool, completely ignoring the fact that they
weren't wearing anything.

Blake walked over to us drying his hair with the big towel that thankfully
was hanging in front of him, hiding most of his favorite asset.

"Toby's doing great at karate, just so you know.  Darcy said he's better at
it than most kids who first start out."

"Thanks Blake.  And thanks for being such good friends to him.  He really
looks up to you guys.  Seeing everyone here today, I'm guessing you are
pretty used to dealing with kids."

"Sure.  Travis and Trevor are the youngest, but my own brother is 10
already, so I get used to dealing with them all."

"I can see that.  You appear to be a good role model."

"Thanks.  I try to be.  I should go help the twins," he said as he turned
to run off.

"He's certainly not shy like most boys his age, is he?"  Shawna smiled as
we watched Blake's bare butt walk away.

"No. That he's not.  Sometime I wish he would be, but he's confident to the
extreme."

"They seem like they all get along."

"They do.  Like all family, they have their bad days and good days.  Mostly
good days thankfully."

Toby returned, now dried and dressed.  "Okay, I said goodbye to everyone.
Can I come back next Saturday, Mom?  Blake said they're gonna be
Christmassing their new boat and go out on the ocean in it, and maybe have
a barbeque."

"I think he means christening," I clarified with a smile.

"I figured.  You learn to read between the lines at this age."

"And at 14 too," I laughed.  "We got a new boat, so the boys are excited to
go out on it and we promised them next Saturday."

Shawna looked down at Toby.  "I don't see why not, but we'll confirm it
with dad.  You can let Blake and Darcy know after that."

"Okay.  See you Saturday, Blake," Toby yelled as he turned to head off.

"He hears what he wants to here," she said looking at me.

"I heard that," Toby giggled.

"You and your husband are welcome to join us too.  Make a day of it," I
offered.

"Thanks.  I'll talk it over with him and let you know.  I have a feeling we
may not be able to say no, even if we wanted to."

"Great.  We'll look forward to seeing you Saturday."

"See Mom.  Justin only hears what he wants too," Toby reasoned as I walked
them out to the front door, then returned downstairs to sit next to Darcy.

"How's the leg doing?"

"Good.  I'm doing lots of exercises so it's getting stronger all the time.
Don't even need the crutches any more.  I just use the boot for extra
support until I get up to full strength again, but it's sure nice not
having a cast."

"I see your legs are smooth.  Did you shave both of them?"

He grinned.  "Kinda.  Me and Layne used that hair cream to get everything
smooth so when it grows back it'll be even again.  Of course he did it too,
so neither of us have like any body hair," he grinned lifting his arms as
if to prove it.  We looked hilarious standing in my room for 15 minutes
covered from head to toe in that white cream stuff."

"Too bad I wasn't there to take pictures, but for the record, you look even
cuter all smooth like that.  Where is Layne today?  Surprised he's not here
with all of you," I asked.

"Yeah.  He's at his parents.  He has trouble getting away from there
sometimes.  It's easier when he stays at his uncle's as he has more
freedom.  His parents are as strict as mine, but at least I'm allowed out.
Mostly they prefer it if I'm not home."

"Hopefully that's not the case after the cast and everything.  I'd assume
they were helping you with things you need."

"You'd assume wrong, my good man.  Carl just got annoyed at me for taking
so long to do things.  Especially getting in and out of the car.  He's
pretty impatient."

"No offense to your family, but it seems like Carl isn't exactly suited to
be a parent."

"Oh, I'm sure he'd rather I not be there.  I came home one night and he was
on the couch on top of my mom banging her like a caveman.  I barely had
time to react before he was screaming at me for being a peeping pervert.
Saying things like I should stop looking at his ass, and knock before I
enter a room.  I mean it's the living room.  It doesn't have doors.  What's
he expect?  That I'm gonna go around banging on walls before I enter a
room?  I sure wasn't looking at his ass, until he said don't look at his
ass, then I couldn't stop looking at it.  It was so hairy that I thought
maybe he had a rug over his butt.  I might be traumatized for life.  I can
never unsee that now.  Surely that's grounds for child abuse."

"I'm sorry you have to deal with that, but you're welcome here anytime.  Of
course if you want to look at all our butts, go for it.  Have you met
Layne's uncle yet?" I asked cautiously.

"No.  Layne said he agrees with you that meeting his uncle is a bad idea
right now.  He's pretty sure his uncle would wanna fuck me as a way of
saying hello."

"I can guarantee he would.  One look at that incredible ass of yours, and
he's gonna make you his dinner platter.  Steve's not really the right type
of guy for you.  He's a little aggressive, actually he's a lot aggressive."

"Yeah.  Layne told me about some of the things his uncle does at parties,
and I don't think I'd like a lot of that.  I prefer just being with Layne
when we have sex.  I mean Layne and you guys, of course."

"Of course," I laughed.  Trevor ran over to me, dripping wet. "Uncle Daddy,
are you gonna come swimming wif us?"

"Only if I can give you a shoulder ride and toss you into the water," I
grinned, getting an excited response as he jumped around in the deck.  "I
guess that's a yes."  I almost instantly had my hand grabbed as he dragged
me to the pool.  Don't ever expect swimming to be a calm affair when you
have a half dozen little kids in the water.  It's a noisy, splashing, climb
all over you, type of event.  But let's face it, fun.

We went from that fun to a much more sobering, slam reality in your face,
moment later that evening.  The boys had all drifted off to do their own
thing.  Blake and Cory were hanging out in Blake's room, while the twins
had headed off to bed early.  I went to check on J.J. to see if he was okay
and heard him talking as I got closer to his room.  It sent a weird
shivering sensation through me as I stopped dead in my tracks.

"How come I can't, Mommy?"  He said.  "I promise I'll be good."

There was a pause before he spoke again.  "It's not fair.  If I didn't do
nothing wrong, how come I can't come home?  I miss you and Dad and Layne.
Even Uncle Steve said I can't visit him right now.  Why do you guys all
hate me now?"

There was another pause and I could hear him sniffing.  I wanted to go in
and comfort him but I knew that wouldn't be the right move at the moment.

"Please Mommy.  Let me come home."

Another pause.

"No, it's fun here.  Everyone is super nice, and Blake is a good big
brother, like Layne.  But I miss you guys and being able to hang out with
Layne.  When can I come home?"

He stopped to listen to her reply and then reacted.  "I pinky swear that
I'll be extra good.  I won't eat lots and I'll always keep my room clean
and everything," he pleaded.  "...no, we don't go to church on Sunday.
Blake said he'd take me if I wanted to go, but Colin and Justin said I'd
have to go to a different church than you guys, so I don't really wanna
go."

He listened some more and I could hear the sniffing getting louder.  I
could just imagine the mess of his shirt sleeve by the time this call was
done.

"No.  They don't do that.  Their house has lots of cool stuff to do.  We
had ninja day today.  Darcy and Blake are teaching a kid named Toby about
karate, but I don't get to do it so you don't have to worry about me
getting hurt.  They didn't even ask me if I wanted to learn.  I guess
that's okay because we went swimming once they were done.  It's funner here
because we get to swim in our birthday suits..."

"No, no one does that, Mom.  It's just boys goofing around being boys.  No
one cares if you don't have clothes...okay, sorry.  I'll make sure I do
that.  It's just no one else does and it's kinda fun."

"...I'm sorry.  Okay, I'll make sure I ask in my prayers.  I didn't know.
No one touches my penis on purpose though, Mom.  Sometimes you bump into
someone when you fly off the end of the waterslide or try to dunk someone,
but it's not like anyone is trying to touch it."

Holy shit!  She's trying to get information to use against us.  Nasty
bitch.

"No, Blake has a girlfriend.  She's pretty cool, for a girl.  They let me
hang out with them lots, even when Quinn of Karl are over...Ummm...yeah,
they sleepover sometimes...I'm allowed to have them in my room `cause I
have two bunk beds and my own super big bed so everyone gets their own."

There was a large pause while Vanessa was obviously downloading bullshit
into his head.

"If you guys don't want me to come home yet, when do you think I could see
you guys again?"  He asked almost quietly.

I wanted to show him the ice age chart where the lowest depths of the
underworld were frozen over, but now might not be the right time.

"How come?  Don't you guys get to say when I can visit?...Okay, I'll ask
them.  That Colleen lady said I could call her if I needed anything.  I'll
maybe call her tomorrow.  I love you Mommy.  Tell Dad I miss him too,
okay?"

Another pause before he said a quiet, "bye" and then silence.  I quickly
turned and made my way back down the hall to go find Colin and relay the
information.  I guess that's what we get for giving him his own cell phone.
Now he had a direct line of communication to Charles and Vanessa which
could rapidly derail our attempts at integrating J.J. with us.

"How do we deal with that?"  I asked Colin after explaining the
conversation.

"His phone is on the family plan, so we already get a copy of any texts and
emails he sends or receives.  Maybe we should monitor the phone numbers as
well.  At least we'd know how much he's contacting them."

"True.  I'm a little concerned that he may become desperate enough to get
home that he spills the secret he's been keeping about Steve and Layne this
whole time.  That could also drag us into it if he says anything about how
I know them."

"That's always a possibility, but since no one actually had sex with him,
and Layne is 16, there's technically nothing you did wrong.  It's just
going to be hard to explain why it wasn't revealed earlier."

"Should we tell Colleen?" I asked concerned.

"I think we should let her know that he's contacting them.  I'm sure she's
dealt with that before, so maybe there's already an S.O.P. for it."

"S.O.P.?"

"Standard operating procedure," he clarified.

"Cool.  It might also be a good idea to let Steve know though.  He and
Layne might be able to keep J.J. from having a meltdown."

"It pisses me off that we even need to do this.  Those redneck, right-wing,
assholes could have just accepted that we live a different lifestyle, and
they'd still have the ability to visit and keep in touch with J.J.  Why
traumatize the boy unnecessarily?  I mean if J.J. wanted to go to church,
and believes in God, we'll let him do that.  If he wants to marry a girl,
or a boy, we'd accept whichever way he goes.  We're not going to demand he
does it our way or no way.  That's the wrong approach for any kid."

"You're preaching to the choir, no religious connotation intended," he
said, smiling at me.  "What if we ask Colleen to get permission for Layne
and J.J. to be able to hang out.  At least then it would minimize any
problems with him being here."

"That would be a good start, but I doubt they'll let Layne hang out here.
Colleen might be able to figure something out, but I'm not really a fan of
letting J.J. spend time alone with them.  Not after I heard them probing
him for information about us, and not good information either."

"Agreed.  What about if we offer J.J. someone to talk to?"

"I guess I'd be a hypocrite if I said no to therapy.  I could ask Nate if
he would be interested in having J.J. as a client too.  The boys could even
go together for some sessions.  It'll be a real-world situation for him to
get started with.  He's already had Blake as a client, so he's used to the
chaos in there already.  He can explain to the boys that whatever they talk
about with him is just between the three of them."

"Wouldn't we want to know how it's going?"  Colin asked logically.

"We would, and Nate could tell us any breakthroughs he's made, and he could
do it without revealing their confidences.  I think it's worth a try.  It
could be good for both boys, and even Nate.  I'll set it up."

"Are we going to let the boys know they're having therapy with Nate, or
just let it develop organically."

"It'll be organic," I replied with a smile.  "And vegan, as well as
lactose, sugar, and gluten-free."

I decided not to wait and made the call to Nate, who as expected was eager
for the opportunity.  He expressed concern that he might not be ready for
such a monumental task, especially considering it was our boys he was
dealing with.

"You already know Blake, so it's a natural progression.  He'll help you in
dealing with J.J. if you take him into your confidence, and done right, he
won't know he's part of the therapy going on."

"It's a challenge, but I agree with you that I think it'd be worthwhile to
give it a try.  If J.J. does reveal some memories that Blake identifies, I
can let you know to make sure it doesn't go the wrong way."

"I'd agree.  I know you'll have the confidentiality thing going on, but
since we're both psychologists, I think it's okay if we share more
information that we normally might."

"I can agree to that I part.  I still have Blake as my client, so anything
personal he tells me that doesn't involve J.J., I'll keep to myself.  When
it comes to J.J., technically you and Colin would be the clients asking me
to help a minor, so I'd be able to share a lot more information with you.
It'll be a fine line, but I think you guys are both open enough with each
other, and cool enough as parents that I think we could resolve most issues
without a breach of professional ethics."

"Wow, you really sound like a therapist.  Having Blake as your first client
is either going to make you amazing at this, or drive you into the crazy
house before you finish your first year."

"Isn't that the truth.  You may want to tell Blake that going for therapy
isn't like going for a massage.  At no time does it have his definition of
a `happy ending', nor does it require he take his clothes off.  For that
same reason, I suggest that any of the activities I do with the boys should
not include anything like swimming or diving."

"I agree with that.  I can see that changing the focus away from where
you'd want to go."

"Definitely.  Especially for Blake.  I can tell you that I've already
learned that if I take Blake away from a setting he associates with sex,
he's much easier to talk to.  Once he's out of his clothes, partially or
fully, for any reason, even a shower, his brain seems to completely switch
to another channel."

"I never noticed that.  I always figured he just had one channel.  Maybe
because I use the same channel," I joked.

"That's certainly true, but try it one day.  Take him for a walk on a beach
or through a park, and his head swivels like he's a big game hunter looking
for prey.  Then take him to a mall, or along a sidewalk in town.  He's a
completely different person.  Same as sports.  Play basketball with him in
a public space and he's all boy.  Put him in the pool, and he's all
octopus."

"I never actually paid any attention to that, but I can see it, sure.
How'd you figure that out?"

"Isn't that our job?" Nate laughed.  "It sort of started the first time he
came over and sat next to me on the couch.  You could see he was more
focused on checking me out than he was on talking about himself, so when I
changed the environment, it was much easier."

"You could have just taken him to bed and told him you wouldn't have sex
with him unless he talked.  He'd have sung like a canary," I said, not sure
if I was joking, or offering real advice.

Nate just laughed.  "But it would be superficial conversation, as his brain
would be mostly focused on what he was enjoying more."

"Not to brag about Blake, but at least you'd have gotten amazing sex."

"Justin, one day you and I are going to sit down for an hour with some
charts and graphs as I try to explain to you the difference between gay and
straight, and the variables in between."

"Will we be in your bed or mine?"

"Maybe you're the one that should be in therapy as I can see a lot of you
in Blake...Wait...I heard it.  Not what I meant and you know it...before
you say something Justin-like."

"I wouldn't," I chuckled.  "I'd prefer a lot more of me in you, but that's
a different session.  Seriously though.  Thanks for tackling this for us.
If you think it's not helping, make sure you let me know and we'll see if
we can find a different approach."

"Agreed.  It may need a more experienced child psychologist to get
involved, but I think that for now, having someone that could be considered
more a friend than a therapist is the right approach."

"We agree.  Of course, we'll pay you for this.  Not fair to ask you to do
it for free.  A client like Blake alone would be worth double your fee all
by itself.  Add J.J. and you'll definitely be earning your money."

"I wouldn't feel right asking you to pay.  I'm happy to help.  You've been
there for me, so this is me paying it forward."

"You paying it forward is taking Blake on, no matter what the fee.  No,
we'll pay you as we would if we sent them to anyone.  Might as well get
used to charging, or you and I are never gonna make money as therapists.
What did we decide on to start?  $150 an hour?"

"I was gonna suggest we go $100 an hour until we've built a clientele and
have more experience.  I'm okay with that if you are?"

"I'm fine with it.  I'll set something up for the three of you to get
together for a couple hours.  Just casual hang out sort of thing."

"How about you let me do it?  I'll contact Blake and invite him to
something and have him bring J.J.  Maybe we'll go to a Canucks game
together.  I know that's not really your sort of activity, so it wouldn't
be strange to exclude you."

"Sounds good.  Just make sure we get the bill for the tickets.  We'll cover
all expenses as well as the $200 an hour fee."

"I thought we just said a hundred an hour?"

"We did.  $100 per person per hour.  There's two of them."

"I'm not comfortable taking that kind of money from you, Justin," Nate
remarked.

"Is that resistance something fueled by issues you had as a child?  Do you
need to come over and talk about it?"  I asked grinning to myself.

"Nice try, but no way we're shrinking each other."

"You've never been in cold water with me, have you?"  I teased.

"And our time is up," Nate laughed.  "I'll let you know when I've set
something up with the boys."

"Cool.  And thanks Nate.  I really appreciate the help."

After I hung up, I told Colin and he approved of the approach.  Not sure I
needed his approval, but I'm glad I had it anyway.  I told him Nate's
theory about Blake being radically different in varied environments, and he
wholeheartedly agreed.

"You're the same," he added.

"How?  I'm pretty much the same all the time?  It doesn't matter if I go
for a walk on the beach, in a park, or to the mall, I notice cute boys and
think whether they'd be fun in bed."

"True, but there is one thing that changes your focus."

"Which is?" I asked, almost throwing down a gauntlet to challenge the
absurd statement of untruth.

"This," he said leaning in to grab my head and kiss me passionately.  I
think I had an instant boner.  If he's trying to prove that something will
change my focus away from sex, this wasn't the right approach at all.
Guess that's why I'm the psychologist, not him.  I grabbed his ass and
pulled him in closer as I ramped up our kiss.  No way I'm letting him start
something like this and not get the full benefit.  I wanted him tight
against me with his tongue right down my throat as I felt his firm, tight,
ass through his jeans.  All I wanted now was to take him upstairs and have
him fuck my brains out.  Definitive proof that nothing can stop me thinking
about sex.

Once we stepped back to get some air, I quickly looked down to make sure I
didn't have a wet spot anywhere.  "So what did that prove, exactly?"  I
said grinning like a 14-year-old that just got laid for the first time.

"What were you thinking about while we made out?"

"That I hoped we were heading upstairs for an hour," I said with a big
smile and a large throbbing... ummm...part.  "Didn't exactly prove your
point."

"Sure it did.  Were you thinking of other boys, or just me?"

"Just you," I admitted.

"That was my point.  All I have to do to change your focus is kiss you and
everyone else goes away."

"That seems like an unfair test," I complained as we hugged.

He moved his hand to grope my crotch and squeezed playfully.  "Is it?  Are
you saying you think of others when I'm horny and looking for some relief?"
He asked as he leaned in and kissed my neck.

"I'd definitely only think of you," I said almost melting into him.  He
grinned and took me by the hand as we raced upstairs.  Due to privacy
issues of me being a therapist, I can't reveal what happened behind the
closed door, but damn my ass has never tingled more, and our shower
together was very thorough.  I'm clean inside and out.

There is nothing more special in my life than when Colin makes love to me.
Every part of us fits together so perfectly, and even just smelling him is
intoxicating.  I could have sex with a hundred boys and, even if I did them
all at once, it wouldn't give me even a fraction of the excitement I get
from a night with Colin.  When he fucks me, each thrust sends a small
electric charge through my body.  Every.single.thrust.  The little hairs on
my body stand up, and I get tingling that shoots through me from head to
toe.  I could have sex with him for six hours and still not want him to
stop.  He's complained about that a few times, but I think he likes it as
much as I do.  Maybe that's why he lets me do so many other guys; in hopes
that'll it'll calm me down enough to only have six hours of sex with him at
a time.  But I'm not kidding, there is nothing more exciting in my life
than the intimate time I spend with Colin.  That's closely followed by the
regular time I spend with him, and of course, Blake and J.J.  Without them
I'd just be an empty shell.  Well, empty except for when I was being
stuffed.  Then, not so empty.

I slept soundly cuddled up with my husband...that's the Colin guy I
mentioned just a second ago, in case you get lost in my world of chaos.  I
woke up and just stared at him until he opened his eyes and looked back.

"What are you doing?"  He said with that cute sleepy voice of his.

"Watching you sleep," I grinned.

"Kinda creepy," he said as he shuffled closer so we could kiss, and we were
off again.  Don't watch!  This is private stuff, and on a need-to-know
basis.

After I'd had him face down on the bed with my morning wood deep inside his
perfect ass for an hour, we figured we should get up and face the day.

"Or we could stay in bed and see if the day does okay without us," I
suggested as we lay cuddled together as we both came down from our morning
orgasms.  I'm not saying we did have them...you know privacy and all, but
we were getting heart rates and breathing back to a resting state.

"I think the day would be fine without us, but do you really just want to
lay in bed all day?"

I leaned up on an elbow and just stared at him.  "Is that a real question,
or did you just say it wrong?  I'd love to get laid in bed all day," I
chuckled.

"You're incorrigible," he grinned as he pushed up to kiss me again.

"Mostly Caucasian though," I added before we reluctantly got out of bed and
had our morning shower.  We dressed and headed down for breakfast with
everyone.  We stopped to look at the back stairs, as J.J. arrived, thumping
down the stairs sounding like a bowling ball.

"Good morning, J.J.," I said as he took a seat at the table, his head down,
looking miserable.

"Hi," he quietly.

"You okay, J.J.?"  I asked.

"I guess," he said with just as much disinterest as someone watching sand
being created.

"Are you sick or something?"

"Yeah.  I think so.  I wanna go home but I'm not allowed," he replied,
bringing the entire room to a screeching halt.

Blake glanced at me with a look in his eyes that said `do something'.
Colin just sat down next to J.J. and rubbed his back.

"J.J., it's pretty complicated, and one day I hope you'll be able to
understand all this.  I realize that all you remember is the past three
years living with the Campbells, which to you is your whole life.  We're
hoping that living here, with your biological brother, may trigger memories
of the first seven years, which I'm sure will show you some of the great
times you two had together."

"I'm mostly biological," Blake said grinning.  "Part cyborg though too."

"No you're not," J.J. said with a partial grin.

"True, but it would be so cool if we were," he replied.  I think we're
being steered off course.

"Please let me go home.  I've been trying to be really good so that they'll
want me back," he pleaded, almost breaking my heart.  I think it's maybe
time for a hypnotist.  I know the ministry wouldn't use one, but there's
nothing says we can't.  Maybe throw in some shock therapy while we're at
it, in case the boy thinks of being straight when he's older.  If we'd done
that with Blake when he was ten, we might not be having shirtless girls
running around here as often.  Actually...wait...when conversion therapy
was legal, they used it to try and change behaviours.  What if we show
pictures of Charles and Vanessa to J.J. and each time he smiles at them, we
shock the shit out of him until just seeing them gives him night terrors.
We could also throw in some of those subliminal pictures.  Flash one for a
microsecond that your eyes don't see, but your mind does.  We'll give
Charles and Vanessa horns and a pitchfork in a sea of fire.  Then we'll
flash that inside other images.  By the time we're done with J.J., he'll
cower from them as if they were the devil themselves.  Muah ha ha!!  Now
who thinks the hypnotist isn't such a stupid idea?

"J.J.  It's not that Charles and Vanessa don't want you back, I'm sure they
love you as much as they always have," I said supportively.  It's a good
thing he couldn't hear my inner thoughts finishing that sentence with a
`but they're homophobic sociopaths that only want you to live their lives,
not your own.'  But I continued supportively.  "It's just that they were
made your foster parents while everyone searched for your real family.  Now
that you found Blake, this is where you belong.  Is there something
specific about living here you don't like?"

One thing you learn in psych class is to never ask yes or no close ended
questions.  That's like our prime directive.  Like if I'd said, aren't you
happy here?  He could just answer no, and then you'd have to ask why not.
You've wasted one of your twenty questions by going close ended.

"It's okay.  You guys are all super nice and stuff.  Plus there's tons to
do, and Blake is really funny, but I miss my mom and dad.  My whole stomach
hurts when I think of them.  I miss uncle Steve and Layne too, but at least
I get to see them sometimes."

He turned to look at me and his eyes were welling up with tears.  I think
my whole body went cold.  This is the worst.  He's homesick and there's not
a lot I can do about it, except pull him in for a hug, which I did.  I
wonder why we stopping using the method from back in the old days.  You
grab the kid by the shoulder and shake him, while yelling at him.  `Stop
yer sniveling, boy. You want people to think you're one of those sissy
boys?  Now go do your chores before I really give you something to cry
about.'  Seemed so direct and efficient.  I'm sure the kid still kept
crying, but at least it was easier for the adults.

"J.J., I know it feels terrible right now, but as you develop more of a
relationship with Blake and all of us, it'll get easier, I promise.  I'm
pretty certain that once we figure out how to unlock the memories in your
head, you'll be a lot happier and excited about how close you and Blake
used to be, and hopefully will be again."

"I just wanna go home," he cried as he stood up and ran off towards the
side stairs, racing up them to his bedroom.

"That went well, Dad," Blake said staring at me.  "What do we do now?  You
aren't gonna let him go back to the other house, are you?"

"Not ever, if I have anything to say about it.  I mean originally the plan
was to transition him over us in a systematic manner, but the Campbells
with their bigotry, forced our hand.  Now we have this to deal with."

"So J.J. didn't get to transition?"  Blake said shaking his head.  "That's
terrible.  He could have been our first CtWM."

"Huh?"  Colin asked.

"Campbell to Worthington-Masters," Blake clarified.  I wondered if he were
being serious right now.  Best not to ask.  "You want me to go talk to him.
I mean if you think about it, all the kids that live here went through
something like this at some point.  I think I know how he feels.  We're not
exactly the poster family of normal."

"He's not wrong," Colin commented.  "Blake was pretty introverted and
unsure when he arrived here when he was 10.  James and the twins saw their
mother killed, and then were kidnapped.

"It's amazing the three of them turned out okay," I added.

"Uhhh...there's four of us," Blake said frowning at me slightly.  "Oh, and
I was 11.  You keep saying 10, but I was 11 when I can here.  I was just
small for my age."

"Yeah, I don't know why I keep thinking you were 10.  Maybe it's because
Cory was 10, and you two got along so well.  I know there's four, but we're
still hopeful that the oldest will turn out okay."

He suddenly jumped up excitedly.  "Oh shit.  I'm so fucking stupid.  I know
how to solve this.  Why the fuck didn't I think of it earlier?"  He bolted
out of the room at a sprinter's pace.

"What do you think that is all about?"  Colin asked.

"Who knows, but I hope we have top secret clearance to find out," I
replied.  Before I had time to refocus back to J.J., Blake was back with
his laptop.

"This!  This is the answer," he said waving it at us.

"Not following," Colin said, as I wondered how his porn collection would
help J.J.

"You remember when we got all the stuff from my old house, and there was
that disc of videos and pictures?"

"Sure," I nodded.

"Well..." he said staring at us.  "It has pictures and video of my family.
The whole family.  Including J.J.  This is how we get his memories back.
We show him his entire life.  Why the fuck didn't we think of this on day
one?  God damn it, he could have already been cured."

"Justin?"  Colin asked, looking at me.  "What do you think?"

"I think that we should have thought of this on day one," I agreed.

"Great, I'll go show him.  That should snap his memories back in place
fast."

"Slow down, Blake.  I think we should only give him short pieces of it at a
time.  I wouldn't show him everything at once," Colin suggested.

"How about you go check on J.J. to see how he's doing, while Colin and I
think about the best way to share this.  Good idea, though," I added,
giving him support as well.

"Okay, I'll go check on J.J.  If it doesn't go okay, I'll come get you
guys," he said maturely, and headed off.

"How do we deal with this?"  I asked Colin.  I may be the shrink, but this
was way above my pay grade, and my current parenting level too.

"Let's circle back to Blake's idea, second.  First, is J.J.'d request to go
home.  I'm guessing this is one of those things we should talk to Colleen
about.  I'm sure they've been through things like this a lot.  I think her
advice would be invaluable."

"Is it a good idea to let him see them, even if it's just for a short
visit?"  I asked.

"From what you said you overheard in the conversation; I'd say it would be
a terrible idea to let him anywhere near those people."

I was in full agreement, but it was nice to hear it from Colin as well.

"So, we'll contact Colleen in the morning and bounce this off her," I
recommended.  "Now what about the pictures and video?  My thought is that
we start with the newest pictures from when J.J. was 7, and Blake was 10.
He'll recognize himself easier, and then maybe we ease back in time so he
can not only see himself younger, but with his family as well."

"Hmmm...Is it a good idea to show the rest of the family?  I mean he's
already struggling with being removed from Charles and Vanessa, who he sees
as his mom and dad.  If he remembers his other family suddenly, isn't that
going to be overwhelming for him?" Colin reasoned.

"I'm not sure.  I'll add it to my list of things to ask Colleen.  Maybe we
just start with pictures of him and Blake by themselves," I suggested.
"Show ones of their early years together, but leave everyone else out for
now.  That would at least help assure him that Blake is indeed his brother,
which may help him realize that we're actual family."

Colin nodded.  "Good.  Yeah, I like that.  We'll go through the pictures
and videos first and make a folder of ones we think he should see."

Blake came down about a half hour later, which was good, as I had run out
of fingernails, and was seriously thinking of moving to toenails, as we
waited nervously.  Parenting 101 said Colin and I should be up there, but
Blake had a point.  He'd been through this in a similar sort of way, so he
was uniquely qualified to talk to his brother, and in true retrospect, it
couldn't really hurt.

"How is he?"  Colin asked as soon as we saw Blake.  We rushed him like he
was like a doctor returning from surgery.

"He's calmed down, but he's still homesick.  I promised that he and I would
hang out after school and go do some go-karting.  He already told me that
his foster parents wouldn't let him do dangerous things like that, so I
figure I'll throw things at him like that so he knows how much better his
life will be with us.  Maybe we go bungy jumping, zip lining and bear
hunting.  Stuff like that."

"Bear Hunting?"  Colin asked quizzically.

"You know...stuff to teach him how to be a guy," Blake clarified.

"Except for the bear hunting, it's a good short-term idea, but don't overdo
that.  We don't want to be bribing him every time something goes wrong," I
said quickly.

"It's not a bribe, really.  Just two brothers hanging out together.  We
used to be each others best friends and I'd like that to happen again."

"So would we," Colin agreed.  "Speaking of that, and your idea earlier.
We'd like to limit what we show J.J. for now.  Any pictures and video that
we start with, should just be the two of you.  No sister, or parents."

"How come?"  Blake asked as he sat down and opened his laptop.

"We don't think it'd be a good idea to introduce another negative memory.
Let's let him see the sort of good times you two had together, to work on
retrieving memories.  Positive ones at first, and then moving to introduce
the tougher ones," I suggested.

Blake nodded.  "Yeah, I can see that being better.  Sometimes when I look
at these, I get really sad, so I think maybe it's not good that J.J. see
them.  I agree with you guys."

"We'd like to go through the files you have, and sort them into a separate
folder before we show them."

"I can do that if you like," he offered.

"How about we do that together.  Maybe once you return home from school,"
said Colin.

"Do you have a lot of pictures of just the two of you?" I asked.

"Tons.  Even a few videos with just the two of us.  When we used to have a
boy's day, or weekend, dad would film us, so there's a few of just J.J. and
me.  Of course, he isn't called J.J. in the videos.  Would that matter?"

"No, I don't think so," I replied.  "He already knows his name was John, so
it might actually be a good thing for him to hear it."

"Wait until he sees the ones with him and me in the bath and shower
together.  When he was just a baby, we took baths.  When he got older, I
showed him how to use the shower, and mom and dad used to love taking
pictures of all the `firsts' we did.  There's even a few of us asleep in my
bed together.  It's cute, but embarrassing if any of our friends ever saw
them."

"They're only going to see them if you show them.  We wouldn't," Colin
assured him.  "At least not until your wedding day, when those types of
pictures are required."

"Thanks for the warning.  I'll go through and photoshop my wiener out of
all of them first," he laughed.

"Sure, that makes sense.  Have the pictures go up with you looking like a
Ken doll," I laughed.

"Better that than everyone thinking I ever had a small penis.  We should
get going to school," he said suddenly.  "You okay if I take J.J. to school
today?"

"Like for show and tell?" I chuckled.

"Dad, I know you think you're funny, but no...you're not.  I'm 14, we don't
exactly have show and tell.  I meant I'd take him to his school.  Big
brother looking after little brother type stuff."

"Sure.  I think that'd be nice," I nodded.

"Cool.  Can you toss me the keys to the Koenigsegg?  His friends will blow
their wads when they see us pull up in that."

I wonder if he knows that the only wad a ten-year-old has is in the form of
gum.  "Nice try."

"I'll drive you guys, Blake," Troy offered as he entered the room.  "For
best waddage per seat we'll use the Urus or one of the Rolls."

"The Lambo for sure," Blake replied quickly.  "We don't wanna be showing up
in some old person car like the Rolls.  I wish more of the super cars had
four seats.  I guess J.J. will have to wait until I'm 16 before he I can
take him to school in style.  Just brothers out on the open road."

"First, you need to be 17 to drive by yourself here, and second it's hardly
the open road during rush hour traffic on the way to school."

"It's a figure of speech.  God, when I'm 17, J.J. will be a teenager.
Where does the time go?" He said looking up at the ceiling.  I looked up
too.  Not sure why, but it's pretty much that whole susceptible to
suggestions thing again.  "Troy, I'll go grab my stuff and come down with
J.J."

"Cool," he replied.

J.J. still seemed overly quiet as they all scrambled into the SUV and
headed off to school.  Hopefully that familiar setting would distract him
for the day.  I quickly made a call to Colleen and explained our situation,
including the call I'd overheard.

"You think we should let him have some sort of supervised visit with the
Campbell?"  I asked with Colin sitting right next to me as we had the phone
on speaker.

"I don't recommend that at this point.  Not only would it fuel the hope in
his mind that he might be going back one day, but we are also still in
court with the Campbells as they are insisting that they be the ones to
adopt him."

"I thought they'd let that go," I replied, somewhat shocked.

"No, they're still at it despite being told several times that as foster
parents, they have no claim to J.J. whatsoever."

"Will we need to go to court on this?"  Colin inquired.

"Not with the current proceedings.  Our legal department said that since
they've used your same sex lifestyle several times in court, there's a
possibility that may come after you directly, trying to prove that you're
unfit as parents."

"Would they do that?"  I asked feeling a lot of anxiety starting to build.

"From what I've seen, I would hope not.  They've been shut down multiple
times and warned about discrimination, even by their own attorney.  We've
cancelled their foster parent qualifications as a result of it, so even if
they were successful and J.J. was returned to care, there would be
absolutely no chance that they'd gain custody."

"Is there a chance we could lose J.J.?"  Colin asked.

Holy shit.  How did we get to this conversation?  We're supposed to be
figuring out how to get J.J. out of his homesickness.

"I'll be honest, depending on the ferocity of their claims, there is always
a possibility that a child could be removed until the situation was
investigated.  I feel confident though that under these circumstances, the
Campbells would be dismissed based on their past actions.  With Blake being
J.J.'s biological brother, and you being a direct relative, that holds a
lot of weight with both the court and the ministry.  There'd be no way
their claim would supersede yours if it came down to that."

"God, it would crush J.J. if he was removed from us and the Campbells.  He
may shut down to the point of no return," I said horrified at the idea.

"We agree, and I can't say anything officially, but we've been talking
around the office, and as soon as this last court case is concluded, we're
going to fast track your adoption of J.J.  Once he's yours, and not a
foster child, the benchmark for removal is a lot higher."

"You just tell us the second that option is available and we'll be there to
sign," I said quickly with Colin nodding. "Meanwhile what do we do about
this homesickness?"

"I hate to say it, but it could get worse before it gets better.  Best
thing I'd recommend is to keep being honest with him.  Have Blake spend as
much time as he's able to with J.J.  Talk about the past and see what
memories you work free.  When he gets homesick, maybe talk about some of
his favorite things.  Steer them to memories of activities and what he
liked about them.  Maybe take him to some of those and let him experience
it with you instead of Charles and Vanessa.  It's a form of replacement
therapy.  Eventually his memory of each activity will be of what you did
together as a family.  It won't be easy at first, but do things a couple
times and he'll start to adapt."

We told her about the pictures and video, and she agreed that it would be
beneficial to introduce those.  She did advise that it wouldn't hurt to
allow a few pictures of the entire family to be shown as well.  She said it
may trigger strong reactions that could assist his memories.  She did
advise that we perhaps not tell him who they were, but simply to allow the
pictures to be shown without context.  Sort of like a subliminal flash
memory.

"We'll give it a try," I replied, adding that sort of therapy to my already
impressive knowledge of how to mind fuck humans. "I just hate seeing him so
unhappy, especially when we're powerless to do anything."

"If it doesn't get better after a few days, let me know and I'll come over.
Maybe I can bridge the gap to help him deal with it.  Not my first choice,
obviously, as we want him to find his own way to his memories, and to you,
as his new family."

"Thank you for the advice and we'll keep you posted," Colin said as we
brought the conversation to an end.

After we hung up, I turned to Colin.  "I was hoping for some magic piece of
advice that would just return him to happy."

"I like the idea of taking him on activities he's previously enjoyed.  That
makes a ton of sense.  If we do something that he liked often enough, his
memory of that will be with us and not the Campbells.  We should try and
find out all the things he used to do with them."

"I draw the line at some kid dunking thing, followed by a church barbeque."

"You mean a baptism?"  Colin laughed.

"Yeah, those.  We're not going to do church things.  I don't care if some
guy in a robe, pointy hat, and waving a magic wand says he has the cure for
J.J.'s memories.  That's where I draw the line."

"You might be getting church mixed up with a trip to Hogwarts," Colin
teased.  "But honestly, if that were an option, you really wouldn't go and
let the magic wand cure him?"

"If it were an absolute, sure, I'd be there," I admitted.  "But I have one
question.  Do you even know where platform 9¾ is, 'cause I sure don't?"

He ignored the question.  "How about we try and cheer J.J. up tonight and
pick him up at school?"

"Under the circumstances, we should take Blake along.  Let me see if he's
available," I said as I texted a message to him.  He replied quickly.

"And the response?" Colin asked as he waited for me to read it.

"He said I should pick him up early and bring cool cars."

"That's a good plan.  I'll take one car and you take another, so we can
pick both boys up."

I spent a few hours at university, mainly talking things through with Nate.
One guy sitting next to us got into the conversation, which led to others
joining it.  It was like a G7 summit on J.J.  There were a variety of
suggestions like taking his phone away so he couldn't contact the
Campbells.  Some thought that would be too restrictive, but alternatively
suggested that we simply remove the number from the phone as he reasoned
that no one knows actual numbers as they never use them.  A suggestion that
I'd never thought about was to add the kids help line number into the
phone.  They said that they used it when they were a kid and it helped.  I
wasn't sure that that wouldn't lead to other problems.  Like if J.J. said
something like, `the guys I'm living with won't let me go home to see my
parents.'  We could have the police at our door in minutes expecting a
child trafficking ring or something.  Under the circumstances, it might be
better to just put Colleen's number in his phone.  At least that would have
a controlled response.

Some suggestions made sense, like keeping him busy at all times until we
were as much a part of his life as the Campbells used to be.  One said even
doing homework with him, or watching his favorite show together would help.
Another said that doing things with him that had previously been restricted
might show him the differences between the two homes.  He's already
experienced that with his Uncle Steve and Layne, so it's not out of the
realm of possibilities.  It was suggested that Blake would be the biggest
asset in all of this as he was the key to unlocking memories.

One train of thought was to have Blake bombard him constantly with things
they did in the past.  Maybe show him old books they read together, or let
them have sleepovers together.  Just do all the things they used to do.
The other thought was to not try and force memories out, but have Blake
respond if J.J. mentioned something that was recognized as something from
the past.  We already did that, so that was definitely on my list.  The
last thought was for the boys to just create all new memories together.
Things that were unique and just between the two of them.  No other friends
along.

I liked that approach too as it seemed more positive.  There was a 50/50
mix on how they felt about hypnotism.  Some felt it could help a lot.
Others felt it might push things to the forefront that weren't ready to
come out yet.  If memories are being repressed due to the trauma, then
forcing them to be recognized before he was ready to process it could be
dangerous.  I was still thinking about hypnotism, but now mainly for Blake.
I'd want to implant a variety of suggestions so I could control him with
keywords at any time I felt it necessary.  I could think of plenty of
controls I'd add.  It'd be like having my own live version Alexa.  `Blake,
go turn on the TV.'  `Blake do the dishes.'  He'd say okay after each
command and then go do it.

At the end of the J.J. summit, it was basically agreed that keeping him
busy and focused on creating new memories was the way to go.  All agreed
that only time would heal this.  Fat bunch of good these idiots are.  I'd
have paid them money for a session only to get told to just do what I was
doing.  Yeah, psychology is a crock.  Don't tell our future patients though
or we'll never get rich.  Well, Nate will never get rich.  I'm married to
Colin, so I'm technically a rich trophy husband.  That's fine though.
Trophies signify a win...and they're shiny.  I Iike shiny things.

Blake surprised me a little by being home almost right after school.
Normally he's a lot later as he runs off on one activity or another, but he
was eager to sort out pictures for his little brother.  That say a lot
about him, and his character.  I couldn't be more proud.

He and I sat together for an hour, moving a good selection of pictures and
video to a new folder.  Even I have to admit it was cute seeing Blake and
J.J. playing in the bath together.  Bubbles and floating toys were the
highlight.  I had us stop before we were done as I wanted Colin to be part
of this as well.

"We should do one of those pictures where we duplicate what we did as
kids," Blake grinned.  "We could have another bubble bath together."

"We have to use extra bubbles to hide your extra pieces this time though.
Not as cute when you're 14, and modelling a much bigger appendage."

"I dunno.  I still think I'd look pretty cute," he grinned.  "We could say
that the toy boat is now a toy submarine and that's just the periscope
sticking up."

"And this is why you don't have `cute' kid pictures of your 14-year-old in
the tub," I laughed.

"Just think, Dad.  In 4 years, you'll be able to take live action video of
me having sex, and modelling my fabulous body for the world to see.  Just
not at my wedding," he laughed.

"Trust me, by the time you're 18 no one is going to want to see you naked,
or in porn."

"Why?" he frowned.  "You think I'm gonna get fat or ugly or something?"

"No.  Because in four years, we'll be so over seeing you naked.  You spend
enough time out of your clothes now.  I can't imagine what it'll be like in
four years."

"Oh, that reminds me, I have to take another comparison picture.  Once a
month I take a picture of myself naked, so I can compare how I'm
developing."

"I hope you're keeping those off the computer.  Last thing you want is to
get hacked and have those out in the world," I reminded him.

"Is it though?  I mean pictures of me all over the world showing off how
amazing I look?  Seems like I'd only get more popular," he grinned.  "Don't
worry, Dad.  I put the pic on a flash drive and lock them in my safe.  No
access to the net at all.  I'll show them all to you one day.  It's
actually pretty interesting when you put them into a slideshow.  You can
see how every part of me grows as the years passed.  I started doing it
just after I moved here, so I went from pre-puberty to stud in just over
three years."

Actually, he wasn't wrong, I would like to see that.  Especially if he was
doing it every month.  It would truly be like a timelapse of him growing.
A few more years, and we'll have a full run of him going from a little kid
into a man.  I wish I'd thought of that when I was a kid.  I watched as he
went and took the pictures in front of the full-length mirror.  He took
them from a few different angles, using the camera on a tripod, which
ensured he got shots of his back and ass too.  I tried not to laugh as got
himself hard and took closer pictures of his penis.  I have a feeling those
might be a slide show of their own.

At dinner, we all tried to include J.J. in our conversation to make sure he
knew he was part of the family.

"How was school today, J.J.?"  Troy asked.

"It was okay.  We are learning about Africa.  Did you know that Lions,
Elephants and Giraffe's just roam around everywhere?"

"And Tigers," Blake added.  God forbid we forget the tiger.

"That's something I'd like to do one day," Chance nodded.  "Go on an
African safari and see all those big animals."

"My teacher said that they have a real problem in Africa with people trying
to poach Elephants and Rhinoceros," J.J. told him.

"I could see that," I nodded thoughtfully.  "You gotta admit that's a
seriously impressive skill though."

Everyone looked at me as if I'd suddenly become the Russian president.

"What?"  Colin asked bluntly, as he frowned at me.

"I mean come on!!" I said trying not to grin.  "I have trouble poaching an
egg.  How the hell do you poach a Rhinoceros?  How big are THOSE fucking
pans.  Honey!  Your poached rhino is ready.  Would you like it on toast?"

Everyone laughed and when they calmed down, J.J. looked at me.  "That not
what it means, Justin," he said bluntly.  "It means they kill them for
things like their horns and tusks."

Kid sure knows how to kill the laughter.  "I know buddy, I was just joking.
I think it's terrible that people kill beautiful animals like that,
especially for sport and money."

"Have you seen the ass on a rhinoceros?"  Ben asked.  "It's like looking at
the back of a Kardashian."

Troy laughed the loudest.  "You didn't just say that."

We did all agree that it would be an amazing trip to go to Africa and see
animals like that in their natural habitat and not locked up in a zoo,
although I wouldn't mind visiting the Australia zoo to meet Robert Irwin.
I'd get him into a crocodile death roll before squeezing him like a python,
and bounce on him like a kangaroo.  That's about all the zoo metaphors I
can come up with.  Damn it! Now I want to ride a Rhinoceros into battle
while carrying a jousting pole.  How cool would that look?  They say that
the way you stop a rhinoceros from charging is to take away it's credit
card.  What?

Colin and I talked to Blake about some of the other ideas we had to help
J.J. with his memories, while we were finished sorting the pictures and
videos together.  He liked most of the suggestions we'd come up with, as I
know he was just as anxious to get J.J.'s memories as we were.  First up
was a trip down memory lane; we'd just temporarily renamed it
`J.J. Causeway'.

"I know one thing I could do, for sure," Blake announced.  "I'll get us
some matching lounge pants that we can wear around the house.  It's subtle,
but something we used to do.  I also read books to him at bedtime.  He's
probably too old for that now, but maybe I could do something else like
that.  Maybe play a video game before bed, or play some music we both used
to like."

"Good suggestions.  I'd agree that the book thing might be a bit young for
him now.  Was there anything else like that you used to do together?"  I
inquired.

"Go karting was one of his favorites, although we used the kid's go karts
and not adult ones.  I also taught him how to throw a baseball, and we used
to toss one back and forth a lot in our yard.  I could do that again. I
think there're picture of us doing that.  Once he sees them, I'll suggest
it again."

"Good," Colin nodded.  "Anything like that is great.  Meanwhile we'll all
find out what sort of things the Campbells did as a family, and see if we
can enhance on that."

"I can ask Layne.  I'm sure he'll know what things J.J. liked the most.
You know what I still think though," Blake said moving to position himself,
as if about to reveal something profound and life changing.

"No, but we can't wait to hear," I smirked.

"What if we give him another trauma.  Hear me out on this one.  Like when a
person with amnesia gets hit on the head, you hit them on the head again as
if you're rebooting them.  What if we had another big trauma for J.J. to go
through, only this time we are there to help him deal with it as it
happens.  Makes sense, right?"

"On paper it does," I agreed.  "You've heard the saying you've got to get
back up on the horse...that's sort of the same thing.  Face the fear and
it'll help you deal with it.  It's possible that the fire is a traumatic
PTSD thing."

"Are you two saying we should burn the house down so he can go through it
again?"  Colin asked staring at the two of us.  He was probably wondering
how to call 9-1-1 for help and not let us see.

"No," I laughed.  "Not the whole house."

"I'm just going to assume you two are high, and we'll ignore that
suggestion," Colin said frowning at us slightly. "The rest of it, I think
if we all focus, we could have some real results."

Like what?  We're high because we're suggesting burning down part of the
house to help our kid.  I'm pretty sure we're insured.  It'd be way faster,
and probably cheaper, than taking him to tons of activities over the next
few months or year.  Colin's really gotta work on that thinking outside the
box thing.  Only thing I have to figure out is which part is best to set
ablaze to not block an obvious escape route.  We don't have fire ladders at
every window...or any window, actually.  I mean all of the second-floor
rooms are pretty much attached to a balcony.  For the ones at the rear of
the house you could go out there and jump into the pool.

If that's gonna be too much trouble and concern for everyone, maybe we just
set fire to the treehouse during a family outing sleepover.  Blake could
help J.J. escape and he'd be able to deal with the trauma.  This is
probably one of the reasons I became a therapist.  To come up with creative
solutions.  While Blake is off talking to Layne about their past
activities, I'll look up how to burn things to the ground in a controlled
environment.  Not like you want to toss in C4 and have the whole thing go
up at once.  You want it to start slow with lots of smoke to alert you
first.  That'll give you time to react before the flames take over and
really throw in the terror to help his trauma situation.  I have lots of
people with expertise on subjects, but I don't really have an arson guy.  I
should get one.  We're gonna solve this J.J. situation one way or any
other.  Let's see the Campbells try to convince a judge that we're unfit
parents after we get J.J.'s memories back.


End of chapter.


Some good parenting ahead for sure.  If you have ideas and suggestions, be
sure to email them to me.  Specifically, how to burn down a tree house and
not really hurt the tree in the process. outinwest@gmail.com.

Follow on Twitter @outinwest for updates on new chapters.

Just when you think the story can't get any more exciting, here comes
Justin with his new shrink skills.

Stay tuned, plenty more ahead.