Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2021 02:00:00 -0700 From: John Henry Subject: Growing Up Charlie Chapter 17 (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 17 By the time September came to an end, the Barton house was almost back to normal. Ry and Billy went back to not really talking. Ry went back to disliking Justin, and Justin continued to ignore his classmate. Rick was busy with work and raising his sons, and Will, well, he was just Will. Charlie, however, was profoundly changed. His dad stopped bringing Brenda around and never brought her up, which decreased Charlie's anxiety and prevented most of the fights between his dad and older brothers. Being friends with David made school much better, and even his grades started to improve. The only downside was that Rick kept finding excuses to not go back to the prison. Charlie knew why. After the last visit, Rick didn't want another fight, but it nagged at Charlie that he was being denied access to his mother. "Are we doing lessons tonight?" Billy asked Rick at dinner. "Can't. Sorry," Rick said, looking at his phone. "I have a report due on Monday, and I'm only now getting the other departments' reports." "I can take you out," Justin suggested. "Is that alright, Dad?" Billy asked, getting excited. "Sure," Rick said, engrossed in his messages. "Awesome!" Billy said, kissing his boyfriend. "I want to get in as much time as I can before my birthday." "What's so great about driving anyway?" Charlie asked. "Um, freedom?" Billy said sarcastically. "The ability to go where I want, when I want." "Don't you have a boyfriend for that?" "Yes he does," Justin replied, "but it would be nice to be driven around for once." Billy kissed Justin again and said, "But I still get to pick the music." "No chance." After dinner Billy and Justin took off, leaving Ry and Charlie to play video games before bed. Rick said he needed to go into the office for a bit and left without a reply. Ever since their accident, Charlie had taken pity on Ry and his poor hand-eye coordination, so the normally competitive boy let his eldest brother win more often than not. What Charlie didn't know was that Ry often faked his trembling and was wondering how long it would take his baby brother to figure it out. Ry sighed and said, "Well, I guess I won again." "Sure looks like it," Charlie said, getting up to get another glass of milk; his third of the night. "You might want to save some for breakfast," Ry called out. "Plus, you don't want to wet the bed." Charlie came back with a full glass and said, "I haven't peed the bed since I was, like, four." "There's a first time for everything." Charlie sat on the couch and got lost in thought. He didn't know how or why it happened, but his mind jumped back to his kiss with Justin and when they said they loved each other. He hated that his brain did that, because it did it a lot, even in class. "What's wrong?" Ry asked. Charlie, like his mother, wasn't good at hiding his emotions, and the pained look on his face was very plain. "Just thinking," Charlie said. "About?" "Nothing." Ry moved over and pulled Charlie into his arms and hugged him. Charlie started crying. He didn't understand why, but being held by his brother opened the floodgates. Ry just held him. He wanted to ask a million questions, but he was wise enough to know that it wasn't the time. Charlie didn't need to be interrogated. He just needed Ry to be there for him. When Charlie stopped, Ry grabbed his shirt and wiped Charlie's face clean. "Ready to talk?" Charlie nodded. "How about we get ready for bed and cuddle. Would that be okay?" "Yeah," Charlie said, getting to his feet. They each got into their pajamas, brushed their teeth and got into Charlie's bed. Ry had brought the bear that Charlie had bought him for his thirteenth birthday, while Charlie held its twin. The boy had stopped sleeping with the bear that Justin had won for him. That bear seemed to have lost its significance ever since their last kiss. Charlie put his head on Ry's bare chest and let the teen's heartbeat calm him. When they stayed at Will's, they would often fall asleep in that position. "Okay, what's bugging you?" Ry asked. Remembering they weren't allowed to lie to each other, Charlie said, "My friend and I kissed." Ry took a second to remember their past conversations. "So...the friend you told me about? The boy?" Charlie was glad that Ry couldn't clearly see his face. His eyes began to water, so he absentmindedly played with Ry's chest hair. "Yeah. We kissed." "Oh," Ry said. He didn't want to be insensitive, but Ry was very eager to hear about Charlie's experiences. Deciding that tact was the best approach, he asked, "When did it happen?" "A few weeks ago." "What kind of kiss was it?" "The first time was on the lips." "You kissed more than once?" "Yeah, we kissed a couple of times." "But you two kissed with tongues, too, right?" "Yeah," Charlie said, his voice had gotten noticeably small. "How did it make you feel?" "I don't know." "It can be confusing and scary. I remember the first time Billy kissed me in my sleep. I freaked out and left the room." "Why did you stay friends with him after that?" "I realized that the kiss wasn't bad and that he didn't mean anything bad by it. He and I started off cuddling at night, so I could sleep, and I think he just wanted to know what it was like to kiss me. I felt like I overreacted to it and we were fine after that." "Until you two broke up," Charlie lemented. "Well, some people aren't meant to be together, I guess." "I wish you two didn't break up." "I think it was bound to happen. I mean," Ry said, as he started to tickle a very squirmy Charlie, "We had this annoying little kid screaming whenever we kissed." "Stop!" Charlie cried out between giggle-fits. Ry stopped and kissed Charlie on the top of the head before hugging him. "Can I ask you a question?" "You can even ask me another one," Charlie said. Ry groaned and said, "Did you like kissing your friend?" Charlie thought about it for a while; in fact, he couldn't stop asking himself that very question. Hearing it from Ry, though, seemed to make a difference. "Yes," he replied. "Well," Ry said, "If you liked the kiss, and you like your friend, then why are you bothered by it?" Because there's something about Justin that scares me, Charlie thought. He almost started crying again. He finally figured out part of what was bothering him after weeks of hurting inside. He still didn't know exactly why he was scared of Justin, but Charlie at least knew he was, which made a lot of difference. However, not knowing what was going on in Charlie's head, Ry said, "If you like your friend, and he likes you, and you like kissing each other, there's no reason why you couldn't keep doing it if you want." "I guess," Charlie said. Ry hugged Charlie once more and said, "It's bedtime," and made to get out of the bed, but Charlie held on and asked him to stay. "Yeah, I can do that," he said. "But if you pee on me, I'm going to be mad." "I didn't drink that much milk," Charlie said. He paused, then added, "But, I think I should go to the bathroom again...just so you feel better." Charlie found himself in a familiar hallway. It was dark with a faint amount of light; just enough to make out shapes and shadows. In the living room of the house, he saw a shadow, black-on-black, swaying back and forth. He couldn't see any definition to the shade, which only added to the terror he felt. Charlie moved down the hall away from swinging form. He felt his heart pounding against his chest. Charlie wanted nothing more than to leave. He found a door. It creaked open, and on the floor was a mound of clothing covered in wet, red paint. He couldn't breathe. Charlie didn't know why, but he felt his heart breaking. He called out to Ry, but got no answer. Frightened, Charlie backed out of the room. At the end of the hall he heard another door open. A voice called from the inky blackness within the room, "Come here, boy." Charlie didn't want to, but his legs carried him against his will. He entered the void and heard the door slam behind him. He jumped and cried out in shock and horror. He felt droplets fall upon his naked flesh. He looked down and saw it was the same red paint from the other room. He called out for his brother again, but only heard a guttural laugh in return. Red paint poured from the corner of his eyes, as Charlie looked into the void to find the source of the laugh. He saw a tall, thin, pale figure standing across from him. The man was also naked and covered in red paint, and he carried a long staff in his right hand. Both ends were covered in the paint, except the top of the staff had the same crimson liquid that covered Charlie pouring from it. The naked man flashed an abyssal grin of yellow and brown teeth. The voice that came out was high pitched and menacing. "You're too late," the man said, "There's no way you can save them now." Before Charlie could say anything, the man slammed the bottom of the staff onto the jet black floor, and a violent explosion rang out. The man spat a fount of paint and fell into the void below. Charlie let out a shriek as he felt himself fall into the void below.... "Charlie," Ry called out, gently shaking the screaming boy next to him. "Charlie, wake up!" Charlie's eyes were open but he wasn't present. In his mind's eye, he was still falling into the void. He could only hear the pale man's laugh as they fell further into Hell. "Dad!" Ry yelled. "Help!" Ry started to cry, as he tried in vain to wake his baby brother from his mental prison. Rick ran into the room and moved to the bed. Charlie was screaming and flailing around. A look of abject fear contorted his son's face. Rick got on the bed and pulled Charlie into his arms. "Come on, Charlie," Rick said, trying to hold Charlie still. "You're safe, baby. Wake up, Charlie, Come on. Daddy's here." Billy and Justin came to the door, and Billy turned on the light out of habit. Charlie saw the light flare, and it was enough to pull him from the night terror. He looked quickly around the room. He saw and felt his dad holding him. He saw Billy tearing up, and Justin holding his boyfriend. But it was the boy next to him that he sought. Charlie pushed his dad away and flung himself into Ry's arms and melted down. Ry held Charlie tightly as they both cried. "I'm okay, Charlie," Ry said through his own sobbing. "You're okay, too. He can't get us anymore. I promise." Ry didn't remember much from the night his birth father tried to kill him, but he knew Charlie at least saw the aftermath, and Ry hoped that was all the then 6-year-old witnessed. "Okay, you two," Rick said to Billy and Justin, as he got to his feet. "Go back to bed." "Is Charlie going to be okay?" Justin asked. He had only heard of Charlie's night terrors, but had never witnessed them. His heart broke seeing the 10-year-old in such distress. It only made him hate Brenda and the way she treated Charlie even more. "We'll see in the morning," Rick said, nudging the teens from the doorway. It took at least an hour for Charlie to calm down. When he did, he realized that he had wet himself. Charlie started to get upset again, when Ry said, "It's okay. It used to happen to me a lot when I came home from the hospital, remember?" Charlie nodded, remembering that Ry had to wear diapers for over a year. Ry got up and told Charlie to take a quick shower, as he stripped the bed. Charlie took off his urine soaked night clothes and took his shower. Charlie came back to the room and saw that Ry had remade the bed and was fast asleep. Not wanting to wake his brother to find something else to wear, Charlie dropped his towel and got into bed naked with Ry. As he wrapped Ry's arm around him, Charlie became aware that Ry also wasn't wearing anything. "You're not wearing anything," Ry whispered. "I didn't want to wake you," Charlie said, feeling embarrassed. "Why are you naked?" "You drank too much milk," Ry giggled, which made Charlie giggle as well. "Sorry," Charlie said. He started to move away from Ry, but his brother held him tighter, stopping him from moving. "No sense moving over now. We just won't tell Dad or Billy. I don't want them getting the wrong idea." "True," Charlie said, snuggling deeper in his brother's embrace. Charlie kissed Ry's arm and said, "I love you." Ry hugged Charlie, kissed his shoulder and said, "I love you, too." They both fell back to sleep quickly. Charlie didn't have any more nightmares that night. Ry, on the other hand, had a rather peculiar dream. In it, he was a full grown adult, waking up to the sound of tiny, bare feet running across a hardwood floor. He opened his eyes and saw a small, pudgy, ginger boy, with an infectious smile, jump onto the bed. "Daddy!" The boy laughed, throwing himself onto Ry. "Hey Buddy," Ry said, holding his son and kissing him all over the face. "You're awake!" "So are you," Ry said. He looked about the room and said, "Where's Papa?" "Right here," said his husband. The tall, muscular man came into the room, holding a cup of coffee. Ry leaned over, accepted the mug and kissed his husband. He admired the man's brown eyes and saw the love he felt in them. "Papa," the boy said, as he jumped from Ry into Charlie's arms. "Hey Little Man," Charlie said, hugging and kissing his son. "You didn't wake Daddy, did you?" "Nope!" Quentin said. "He was already awake!" "Good boy," Charlie said, kissing his boy once more. He then looked at his husband and said, "Time to wake up, Baby." Ry kissed his husband back and said, "What?" "Time to wake up," Charlie said. Ry opened his eyes and saw his baby brother. Charlie was dressed and shaking Ry awake. Ry looked around and groaned. "I'm awake," Ry said. "Okay," Charlie said. He climbed on the bed and kissed Ry on the cheek. "What's that for?" Ry said, clearly remembering his dream. "Being the best big brother ever," Charlie said before leaving the room. Ry dropped his head on the pillow and sighed. Charlie had brought in clothes for him. As he got out of bed, he noticed something odd. Ry reached a hand under the covers and felt his groin. For the first time in nearly four years, he had an erection. "This isn't right," he said, as he grabbed his clothes. ***Coming Soon, Chapter 18***