Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2021 01:00:00 -0700 From: John Henry Subject: Growing Up Charlie Chapter 15 (Gay/Incest) DONATION: Nifty is a not-for-profit organization that heavily relies on our donations to keep the site free and accessible. Your donations pay for web hosting fees and other day-to-day activities for the wonderful staff of editors/publishers. You can donate on the website at http://donate.nifty.org/ Every little bit counts. DISCLAIMER: This story is a work of fiction, and contains explicit, sexual content involving adults over the age of 21 and minors under the age of 16, and scenes of incest involving step-parents/step-children. If viewing this material is illegal where you live, OR you're a minor under the age of 18, please stop reading this. If you're not sure about this legatilty, please stop reading until you have looked into your own, local laws. Any likeness or similarity between persons, places, products or concepts are purely coincidental. If you would like to leave any positive feedback, please let me know. Thank you. Chapter 15 "Come on, Charlie, you're going to be late!" Ry yelled up the stairs. "I'm hurrying, alright?!" Charlie yelled back. In truth, he was hoping to miss his bus. Their dad had already gone to work, so the only people forcing him to go to school were his brothers. Unfortunately, he had to be at school before them. There was a pounding on Charlie's bedroom door, and Billy's voice was heard on the other side. "You have five minutes," he said, "or I'm coming in there and dragging you to the bus, naked or not." "Alright, alright! Hold your horses!" Charlie barked. He finished tying his shoe and grabbed his bag. Billy, Justin and Ry were in the kitchen eating breakfast. He looked around for his bowl of oatmeal but didn't see it. He looked puzzled at Ry who said, "You took too damn long, so I gave it to Justin." "What?" Charlie asked, wounded. Justin saw the pain on Charlie's face and said, "No he didn't. You should know Ry wouldn't give me your breakfast." "Not even if you were starving," Ry added. He then removed a bowl from the microwave and handed it to Charlie. "Next time," he said, "You'll have to go without breakfast. I'm not going to keep getting up early if you're not going to be on time, okay?" "Sorry," Charlie said, as he tucked into his bowl. In years past, Charlie had hyped himself up. This is going to be the year! He'd say to himself, but the end always held the same result: few or no friends. He never understood why. He wasn't a bully, and even stood up to bullies. He tried being nice to everyone, but hardly anyone talked to him. At his old school he had a ton of friends, but since the move to Washington, he hardly made any friends, especially the previous year, when nobody talked to him. Charlie stood on the sidewalk waiting for the bus to pull up. He knew that where you sat denoted your social status in school. The fifth and cool fourth graders sat in the back. In the middle were the rest of the fourth graders, along with the third and and some of the second graders. For the last two years, he had been forced to sit at the very front with the first graders and the little kids from the morning kindergarten class. As much as he wanted to tell the bus driver that nobody would move over for him, he thought it would be a bad idea to tell. "Hey," Justin said, as he came up to Charlie. "What are you doing here?" Charlie asked, thankful for the company. "Your brothers are still getting ready, and I didn't want you facing your first day by yourself." "Thanks," Charlie said, hugging Justin, who returned it. They talked a bit about what Charlie could expect in the fifth grade. Justin said that he didn't have a lot of friends. He wasn't considered cool enough, but he managed to find a few people to hangout with at lunch and recess. Charlie wondered if Justin had been talking to Billy or if he was psychic. "Here's your bus," Justin said. The bright, yellow bus turned the corner about a quarter mile up the street. Charlie started to get really nervous and felt himself shaking from anxiety. Then he felt a strong yet gentle hand on his shoulder. In his ear, he heard Justin softly say, "Come on. I'll drive you to school." "What? Why?" "The bus looks really full, doesn't it?" Charlie knew there was no way that Justin could see in the bus, but he accepted the excuse, nonetheless. After sending a text to Billy explaining the situation and assuring him that he'd be back in time, Justin drove Charlie to school. When he wasn't turning the steering wheeling, Justin held Charlie's hand, caressing it with his thumb, trying to reassure the little boy. He pulled up to the front door and said, "You have my number. If anything happens or you need to talk, make an excuse to go to the bathroom and send me a text. If I don't respond right away, I'm probably busy in a class, but I will respond. Okay?" "Okay," Charlie said, thankful for the constant support he didn't feel he deserved. "Have a great day, and I love you." "You too," Charlie said, and exited the vehicle. It was the second time Justin had said those three little words, and it was the second time Charlie hadn't said them back. He didn't know what to say. He cared about Justin, but it seemed too much, too big to say he loved him. "About time," Ry griped, as he got into Justin's car. "We're not going to be late," Justin said, patiently. "That's not the point." "Then you're just bitching to bitch?" Billy asked his brother, as he got into the front seat next to his boyfriend. To Justin he said, "Thanks for taking Charlie, but he's going to have to take the bus at some point." "He'll have to take it home, won't he?" Justin asked, rhetorically. They made it to school, with approximately 20 minutes to spare before the first bell. Washington City High School was an old, post-World War II style secondary school. It had two stories, with long hallways and large windows in each classroom. Elevators were installed after the initial construction to accommodate the physically impaired, but most were broken down on such a regular basis, students like Ry just took the stairs, anyway. Ry was met out front by Amanda, who nearly took them both to ground, as she hugged and kissed her boyfriend. Not wanting to be outdone by his brother, Billy wrapped his arm around Justin's neck and kissed him. There were a few wolf-whistles, which got Billy's middle finger in return. "What was that for?" Justin asked, smiling and turning a little pink. "For being the best boyfriend in the world," Billy said. They held hands into the building. Once they got near the office, Billy said, "I need to check in with the Student Union, so I'll see you at lunch?" "Sure," Justin said, kissing Billy one last time, before heading to his first class on the second floor. The school was rather progressive and promoted diversity and student unions, especially among the school's minorities. They had their own, designated hall full of small rooms off of the main office on the first floor. Billy went down the hall, saying hi to people he hadn't seen since the end of the previous year. He came to the last room on the right and opened the door to the LGBTQIA+ Student Union. There was an old teacher's desk opposite the door, and several student desks and chairs lining the walls to the left and right. Posters, flyers and pictures of members from the past hung all over the place. "Billy!" Said Michael, the Union President. They waved Billy over to a corner near the door. "How was your summer," they asked? "Not bad. Yours?" "Great! My mom took me to Portland for a feminist rally." "Nice," Billy said. Michael was all about their protests and activism. Most students, like Billy, seemed to join the union as a means to socialize, but a small handful were like Michael and did everything they could to further the cause of equality. "Wanna hear a joke? Why doesn't it ever flood in Portland?" He didn't know which Portland they were talking about, so he said, "I don't know." "Because there's a dyke on every corner!" They laughed. Billy wasn't sure if he found the joke funny but laughed anyway to not hurt Michael's feelings. Michael was raised by a single, lesbian mother, so Billy was sure Michael had heard it from her. Even before Michael came out at non-binary, they were telling uncomfortable jokes about the community that their mother had picked up, but the jokes only seemed to get more extreme after coming out. Billy, Michael and the VP, Terra, gathered supplies for the meeting later that day. On his way out of the room, he saw a tall, brown skinned boy, with short dreadlocks talking to the Black Council's president. "Trevor?" Billy said, as the boy turned and walked his way. "Kyle?" Trevor said, with a placid grin. "Kyle? Michael and Terra said in unison. "Long story," he said to his friends. To Trevor, he said, "It's Billy now." "Oh yeah. Sorry, man. I totally forgot." Trevor gave Billy a short hug. This caught Billy off guard, since they had never been friends in middle school and hadn't seen each other in just over four years. He returned the hug, anyway. "It's okay," Billy said. "Here to check out the student unions?" "Yeah, I thought I'd see what everyone has going on, and see if there's something worth joining." "Well, I'm in the LGBTQIA+ Student Union, and we're always looking for new members." "Yeah, I talked to someone named Davie, who said I could come by at lunch." Michael said, "You're more than welcome, but we really need to get going before First Bell." About that time, a loud ringing was heard by the students. "Shit!" Michael said, before they started running down the hall. Billy and Terra had first period together. She asked how Billy knew Trevor and about 'Kyle'. He explained about his name change without getting into the worst of the story, and explained that Trevor was the nephew of his lawyer's gay assistant. He further explained that they hadn't seen each other since Pride the year his family moved to Washington. Unlike Billy, Charlie's first day didn't start off as well. His new teacher, Mrs. McGrady, didn't seem to have any kind of sense of humor; in fact, she was quite stern over all. They had assigned seating according to their last names, which put Charlie in the front row. He tried making eye contact with a few of the other students and giving small smiles, hoping someone friendly would respond in kind, but everyone averted their eyes and ignored him. The first hour was spent on math. Charlie thought he was good at the subject. They worked on multiplying large numbers and reviewing the multiplication table. The second hour was spent reading. Mrs. McGrady had the class reading Treasure Island. Everyone took turns reading out loud. Whenever someone stumbled on a word, the whole class had to write the word down as part of their homework. Charlie hated reading in front of people, so when it was his turn, he kept fumbling over words, which made him more nervous, which only made him mess up even more. The third hour was spent working on the words everyone messed up on. His teacher made a spelling list out of the most frequently missed words, so they had to learn how to spell each word and had to write the definition from the dictionary. All three boys went to lunch around the same time. Ry sat with Amanda and her friends. His girlfriend was rather popular, so there were a lot of people hanging around. Ry didn't know most of the students in the crowd and felt a little awkward. He knew if it wasn't for Amanda, he'd be having lunch with the other nerds and geeks, talking about the latest sci-fi show or comic book movie. He mostly sat quietly, doing homework, while she talked to anyone who walked by. "What are we doing this weekend?" Amanda asked. "I don't know," Ry replied. "I hadn't given it any thought, to be honest. What do you want to do?" "Well," she said, rubbing his thigh. "I was thinking we could have a picnic by the river. Find somewhere private, and you know, be alone." Amanda's hand brushed Ry's crotch. As usually, there was no response, but that didn't stop her from trying to look lustful. "Yeah, that sounds cool," Ry said, turning back to his advanced chemistry textbook. "Hey, Ry," a casual voice said. Ry looked up and saw Trevor walking passed. "Hey Trevor," Ry said questioningly. "Since when have you been going here?" "Just transferred this summer." "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Amanda said, reach out a hand to Trevor, who gave it a quick, awkward shake. "Yeah, sorry. Trevor, Amanda. Amanda, Trevor." "Nice to meet you," Amanda said. "Same," Trevor replied. "I'm Ry's girlfriend," Amanda added. Trevor looked confused and said, "Girlfriend? What happened to you and Kyle?" Amanda's eyes lit up. Ry had a panicked look on his face, but recovered quickly and said, "We ended things a long time ago." Seemingly unaware of the unfolding situation, Trevor said, "That sucks, man. You two seemed good together. Catch you later, yeah?" And Trevor walked away. "So," Amanda said in hushed tones, "you're ex-boyfriend's name is Kyle." Charlie sat down at a table away from the hot food line. He pulled out the lunch Ry made him: A meatloaf sandwich, a bag of baby carrots, a small brownie and a bottle of apple juice. Mrs. McGrady escorted the class to the cafeteria in alphabetical order, so he was one of the first students in his class to sit down. Everyone else in his class sat elsewhere. He was bitter at being ignored yet again and jealous at the seemingly good time they were having without him. "Can I sit here, please?" Said a small, mousy voice. Charlie looked up and around. Standing in front of him was a small, slight boy. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a superhero logo on it. He made eye contact, but it looked like it was hurting him to do so. "Sure," Charlie said, amazed at the situation. The boy sat across from Charlie. He set down his tray and poked at the food on it. Charlie didn't blame him. It was fish and chips. Everyone knew that the fish was sometimes still frozen and the french fries were barely baked till they were just thawed. "I'm Charlie," he said. "David," the boy said. Charlie got a better look at him. His dark hair looked unwashed and his clothes looked like they were pulled off of the floor; they were clean, just frumpy, as his mom used to say. "Are you in Mrs. McGrady's class too?" "Yeah," David said, taking a test bite of his fish and deciding it wasn't worth the risk. Charlie felt his pocket vibrate. He covertly checked his phone and saw it was a message from Justin asking how he was doing. Charlie typed a quick message that he was okay before putting it away. "Who's that?" David asked. "My brother's boyfriend," Charlie said, warily. He had received some backlash in the second grade when he mentioned his gay brother. Charlie often wondered if that was the reason he was being ignored. "How many brothers do you have?" "Two older brothers. You?" "Two brothers, both younger. I also have two older sisters and one little sister." "I don't have any sister." "Lucky you. Mine are a pain." "So are my brothers," Charlie said. They spent the rest of lunch talking about their siblings and how annoying they could be. Feeling bad, Charlie shared his sandwich, carrots and brownie with his new friend. At recess later that day, they had found a place to sit during recess, and continued to talk. They both like video games, though David rarely got to play. David was more into the roleplaying games on his cousin's PC, so Charlie asked about them. The topic energized David, which Charlie wasn't going to take for granted, so he let his classmate spend most of the time talking about them. Charlie and David took separate buses. "Charlie said to David at the end of school, can I send you a text?" David said that he didn't have a phone; instead, David gave Charlie the number to his home's landline and said to call later. Charlie found a seat in the middle of the bus. As the other kids came in after him, they tried to avoid him, but in the end, a boy in his class named Jack had to take the empty seat; they didn't speak to each other until Charlie reached his stop, when Charlie asked for Jack to move, who didn't get out of the way until Charlie asked the third time. Charlie was so wrapped up in the joy of having a friend, he mistook the car in the driveway as his father's. He opened the front door and headed towards the stairs. "Hi Charlie," Brenda said. Charlie froze mid-step. His blood turned to ice. He slowly looked over his shoulder and saw the bitch sitting on the couch watching T.V. "Where's my dad?" He asked. "He's working late, so he asked me to watch you till he gets home," she said, not taking her eyes off the screen. Not wanting another fight, he went to his room and changed his clothes. Charlie came down and went into the kitchen. He came out with an apple and started to take a bite, when Brenda said, "Who said you could have something to eat?" "No one," He said, defensively. It had been his routine for years to come home and have an apple before working on his homework. "So maybe you should put it back." "I'm allowed to have an apple." "You just said that you didn't have permission, so put it back. You'll spoil your dinner." "No I won't. Dad says it's okay--" "--Your dad isn't here now, is he? I said put it back, so do what you're told." "No," Charlie said defiantly. He took too large of a bite and almost choked on it, but he was determined to win this fight. "Are you purposefully trying to piss me off?" She asked. "I'm allowed," Charlie said around his bit of fruit. "I didn't say you could, so no, you're not allowed. Now give it to me, before you get in even more trouble." "How can I be in trouble for something I'm allowed to do?" Brenda got up and walked towards Charlie, who stood his ground. She reached her hand out and said, "Give it here, Charles." "Don't you EVER call me that! For the last time, you're not my mom!" It was shortly after that Billy opened the door, home early due to a canceled class. He and Justin were in time to hear Brenda say, "I'd never have a son as fat as you!" Both Charlie and Brenda jumped at the sound of Billy's bag hitting the floor. "Bitch! The fuck did you just say?!" Charlie had pissed his brother off many, many times, but he had never seen Billy so full of rage before. "Maybe we should all just take a breath," Justin suggested halfheartedly. Brenda spun on Billy and said, "How dare you talk to me like that?" "You can fuck yourself, you stupid cunt. Is that any better?" Billy said. He looked at his brother and said, "Go to your room." "I'm not done--" Brenda snapped. "Oh, you're done. In fact, get the fuck out of my house. That's how done you are." "Come on, Charlie," Justin said, guiding Charlie up the stairs and away from the verbal conflict. However, when Charlie got to the top of the landing, Ry and Amanda came in. Ry asked what happened, and Billy quickly explained. Ry came unglued. He called Brenda names that even made Billy tell him to calm down. Amanda for her part threatened to kick Brenda's ass. Justin went back downstairs to try to settle things, but it only caused Ry to turn on him too; however, Justin wasn't willing to take the bait. The fight continued for a long time. Brenda refused to leave. Billy called their dad and Will several times, each time ending in a loud, aggressive voicemail. By the time Rick came home, the scene was reaching an all new high. Justin sat with Charlie. Billy was on the phone with the police, claiming Brenda as a trespasser and sexual predator. Ry and Amanda both took turns calling Brenda everything from a bitch to a child molester for looking at Charlie naked. Brenda gave back as good as she got, calling Ry a gimp, Amanda a whore and Billy a faggot. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Rick shouted. "YOU!" He yelled, pointing at Billy, "EXPLAIN!" Billy recounted his side of events from the moment he walked into the house. Rick then went around the room asking everyone. The stories were largely consistent, except for Brenda's, as she took a victim's stance. She said that Charlie disobeyed her and started the fight by not doing what he was told. Charlie explained what happened, but as usual, his dad didn't want to hear it. "You were told no," Rick said, his anger still tight in his voice. "It doesn't matter if you've had permission before or not. When an adult is watching you and says to do something, you do it." Charlie was beyond livid. "It was just an apple," Billy said, not bothering to hide his disgust over the whole situation. "He always gets an apple. Always. He's been doing it since before Mom went to prison." "That's not the point," Rick said, turning on Billy. "He needs to learn to behave." "No," Billy said. "I think you need to remember who your priorities are. Us. Me, Ry and Charlie, and not this fucking sad-sack of a frigged bitch. We're your kids. She's just some rough trade you found along the side of the road!" Rick looked like he was about to strike Billy, but stopped when a very cold, menacing voice came from the door. "If you do what I think you're about to do, they'll never find your body." There was something in Will's voice that sent chills down everyone's spines. "Would somebody please explain what's going on here?" For the second time, the story was told. Will looked at Brenda and said, "I think you need to leave if you know what's good for you." There was a dead look in his eyes that made it clear to Brenda and Rick that there would be no negotiating. Brenda grabbed her purse and stormed out of the house. Will looked at Rick and said, "A word," and walked into the garage. Ry and Billy tried overhearing the conversation but they couldn't hear a word. They barely had time to move before the door opened. Rick was the only one who came in. He looked very shaken. He took a moment to calm down, then he said, "Justin, Amanda, go home. The rest of you are grounded." Amanda said goodbye and left quickly. Ry and Billy protested further, but Rick didn't say anything. Charlie cried and begged Justin to stay. "Don' go! Please don't leave me!" Justin started to cry, as well, and said, "Your dad doesn't want me here. There's nothing I can do." "Please, I'm scared," Charlie sobbed. "What are you scared of?" Justin asked, holding Charlie. "I'm scared of my dad." Rick had been coming up the stairs to tell Justin to leave once more, when he heard what Charlie said. His heart broke. The last time he felt like that, he had hit Billy for the first time, which he almost did again, and now, Charlie was afraid of him. He began to cry and said, "Justin, can you stay please?" Justin looked scared but said he would. Rick walked past Justin and Charlie. He went to touch Charlie's head, but thought better of it and went to his room. Justin took Charlie to his room and laid down with him. Ry and Billy came in periodically to check on their brother, but it only made Charlie more anxious. Ry brought them dinner, and was even polite to Justin, which Justin appreciated. Billy suggested that Justin sleep with Charlie, since it was likely that he'd have another night terror. Justin helped Charlie get undressed and into bed. Justin and Charlie were in their briefs and snuggled up. Charlie had been holding his bear ever since they came into the room. "You don't have Mr. Unicorn," Charlie said, feeling bad that Justin didn't have his stuffy. "Actually," Justin said, grabbing his bag and pulling out the plush animal. "I take him everywhere I go." "You don't get teased at school?" Charlie said, amazed. "One of the benefits of being gay," Justin said, making Charlie laugh for the first time since he came home. Charlie held both stuffed animals, as Justin held him. Justin said, "Good night, Charlie. I love you." "I love you, too," Charlie said, and kissed Justin. ***Coming Soon, Chapter 16***