Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2022 01:00:00 -0800
From: John Henry <niftyjhenry1988@gmail.com>
Subject: Growing Up Charlie Chapter 35 (Gay/Incest)

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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.

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Thank you.

Chapter 35


Ry took a cold shower. He didn't want to but his hard-on wouldn't go
away. He had another dream about Charlie and woke up with morning wood
that just wouldn't settle down. It wasn't even a sex dream, which pissed
him off, as it always did. He admitted that if it had been a sex dream,
Ry would've felt more disturbed by it, but it would've at least explained
the erection.


This particular dream had him and the adult Charlie sailing some kind of
desert ship across the Sahara. They were looking for a dragon that owed
them a favor of some unknown kind. Ry was at the helm, while Charlie
stood behind him, arms wrapped around Ry, his husband. Ry couldn't
remember most of the details, but he woke up feeling happier than the day
he was adopted by Rick; however, that happiness shattered as reality sank
in. He was nearly 17 and somehow, someway, he thought he was falling in
love with his 10-year-old brother.


He tried jerking off but all he ended up doing was severely edging
himself, as Charlie's face kept popping up in his fantasies, and Ry
didn't want to make that connection any worse than he already had. Thus,
he optioned for a cold shower.


As he got dressed, Ry heard some thumping sounds in the hall, which he
thought was weird since he didn't expect anyone else to be awake. Ry
walked over to his door and poked his head out, then hastily pulled his
head back in. Joey and Charlie, who were both naked and giggling, had
sneaked into the bathroom. He got a good look at both boys, especially
Charlie. He gave himself an angry rebuke as he felt his dick stir in his
pants.


Deciding to not embarrass the boys nor having them notice his stiff cock,
Ry did the best he could to listen for the 4th-graders. He heard them
giggling in the bathroom next door and prayed they were just hurrying up.
There was a part of him that questioned why they were naked, but another
part in the front of his mind didn't want to acknowledge what he saw. He
loved Charlie, but Ry didn't like sexualizing his baby brother or his
friend.


Amanda pulled up to the house around seven. The sun was just coming over
the horizon as Ry walked to the passenger side. They kissed as he buckled
himself in. Amanda was wearing a new white, winter jacket with matching
boots. She looked very pretty.


"Happy anniversary, Baby," She said, opening the glove box and pulling
out a wrapped gift.


"I thought we agreed on no presents," Ry said, slightly annoyed.


"YOU agreed," Amanda said, all smiles, "and I ignored you. Come on!
Open it!"


Ry sighed and carefully unwrapped the small box. His heart nearly stopped
as he saw a small, black felt container the perfect size for a ring. Ry
was certain that, had he eaten before leaving the house, he would've
thrown up in that very moment. He looked at Amanda whose smile was so
wide, Ry was sure it must have been painful. With a shaking hand, Ry
lifted the lid.


"So?" Amanda asked, unable to contain her excitement any further.
"What do you think?!"


Ry felt his head spin as his anxiety vanished. Inside the box was a
two-part necklace in the shape of a heart. On it were the words, "LOVE,
ALWAYS AND FOREVER." There were two, silver chains, one for each piece
of the heart.


"Well?!" Amanda nearly punched him, taking the box back.


"I love it," Ry blurted, hoping to recover the conversation and his
mental stability. "I thought you were about to propose."


"What?!" Amanda said, then laughed. "I love you, but I don't want to
get married, at least not yet. Oh Babe." Amanda leaned in and kissed Ry
and patted his knee, which Ry felt was rather patronizing. "Can we at
least wait till after high school before we talk marriage?"


Getting irritated with feeling mocked, Ry asked where they were headed,
hoping a change of subject was in order. Amanda had made the plans for
the day; she insisted. All of Ry's attempts to get any kind of
information were promptly ignored. This time was no exception.


"What the hell?" Amanda exclaimed as she pulled into the mall parking
lot. The place was packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Angry shoppers
honked their horns and yelled at other drivers for taking their intended
parking spots.


"It's Black Friday," Ry groaned. The unofficial, American, commercial
holiday that established the beginning of the holiday buying season. For
those who work retail, it is the single worst day of the year, as
millions upon millions of Americans swarm stores looking for the best
deals advertised on television, while being the absolute worst pieces of
shit imaginable. People have literally been trampled to death in the rush
to get the latest electronics. "Please tell me we're not here to go
shopping."


"Fuck no," Amanda said, while maneuvering her car at a snail's pace
looking for any kind of open space to park. Even though Ry was
technically handicapped and qualified for a parking placard, there were
so few designated parking spots that his permit made no difference. "I
thought we could get something to eat and watch a movie. I saw that the
theater was opening earlier, so I got us early tickets, but I wasn't
expecting this shit."


Amanda pulled over near the entrance to let Ry out, so he wouldn't have
to maneuver through the packed snow and traffic. It was several long,
cold minutes before she met up with her boyfriend, as the only parking
spot she found was at the far end of the parking lot.


The couple made their way to the food court, where they got cinnamon
rolls and coffee. "I'm so glad to be out of the house," Amanda said,
taking her seat across from Ry. "My brothers are driving me crazy."


"How have the little bastards been?" Ry asked.


Amanda gave him a puzzled look and asked, "Do you really care?"


"Not really," Ry said, taking a sip of his coffee before adding more
sugar. "I just thought it was the polite thing to ask."


"Well, they're still assholes," she replied. "I'll trade you if you
want?"


"Um, no," Ry said, chuckling. "I'll take Billy on his worst days over
your brothers on their best."


"I know the feeling. I wish I had a sister, though. I think that would
make things a lot easier."


"Maybe," Ry said. "I can barely remember my sister."


"Oh," Amanda said, reaching out and taking Ry's hand. "Sorry. I didn't
mean to bring up sad thoughts."


"You didn't," Ry replied, squeezing her hand. "She and my bio brother
died so long ago, it feels like another lifetime. Hell, it pretty much
is."


"What were they like?"


"Bethany...she liked to be called Beth...so, Beth was all over the place
and always had to have her way. My bio father spoiled her; she was his
favorite. She got anything and everything she wanted. My mom hated it and
they often fought about how much my bio father gave in to Beth's demands.


"James, my bio brother, was cool. He always wanted to hang out with me.
He taught me what martial arts he knew. James was the one who got me
interested in reading, writing and playing roleplaying games. I hero
worshiped him. Mom said that James and I had to share a room, because I
would always seek into his room at night.


"Everything changed when my bio father started using drugs. He got a
promotion at work and his bosses insisted that he go out with clients. He
was an investment banker and often had to schmooze clients. Several of
them did drugs, and in order for my bio father to make the sale, he had
to do it with them. After a while, Mom got addicted, too.


"James began to hang out with a group of kids at school who did drugs
and stole things. At first, James got in trouble a lot, which only made
things worse. Then James started dealing drugs and my parents bought
drugs from him, and they all started using together.


"Beth dated James's best-friend, Tommy, who was a lot older than James.
She wasn't very old, but Tommy had the connections the others needed to
feed their habits. In the end, Beth was really just a payment for the
others to get high. Then Beth started doing drugs, too."


"My god," Amanda whispered. She knew her parents smoked pot and did a
little coke from time to time, but they never got out of hand like Ry's
family did. "What happened to you?"


"I was ignored. Mom wasn't as bad as the others, so she did the best she
could to take care of me. My bio father, however, began to get paranoid.
He would freak out and attack my mom. Once, James saw what happened and
kicked our father's ass for it. From that point on, James wasn't allowed
to take any more martial arts classes, but my bio father didn't hit my
mom in front of James again.  .  CPS took use away a few times, after our
neighbors complained, but we were always returned


"Then, when I was 6-years-old, Beth died of an overdose."


"Oh god," Amanda gasped. "You were three when it all started? I
thought you once said your sister died when she was thirteen?"


"Fourteen, actually. She was just over eight years older than me."


"So, your parents sold her for drugs when she was what...twelve?"


"Something like that," Ry said, dropping his head. "Tommy was in his
twenties, I think. I remember seeing him only a few times."


"How old was your brother if he was hanging out with a 20-year-old?"


"James was about seventeen; he was the oldest. I was the 'accident.' My
bio father said he got himself fixed so he couldn't have any more kids
after Beth, but Mom insisted that I was his kid."


"Holy fuck!" Amanda nearly shouted. She caught herself a little too
late, looked around to see if anyone heard her, and then went back to
speaking quietly. "So, your brother was about fourteen when he was
dealing drugs?"


"I think so," Ry shrugged. "Anyway, Beth dying affected my bio father
the hardest. He blamed everyone except himself. He even blamed me, which
eventually turned to him accusing my mom of having an affair and that I
was a bastard. I didn't understand what he was saying at first, but as
time went on and he did more drugs, the worse he got.


"Then James ended up going to jail. He found out that Tommy had given
Beth heroin and put the needle in her arm. My mom talked James out of
killing Tommy, but it didn't seem to matter. James went to Tommy's house,
but he couldn't go through with killing him; instead, he beat up Tommy,
like bad, and Tommy called the cops. James was arrested and I never saw
him again."


"Where's James now? What prison is he in? We could go see him."


"James died in prison. He told on Tommy about Beth to get a lighter
sentence. Tommy was arrested for raping my sister and killing her. My
parents testified...well, Mom did most of it. My bio father almost left
the country instead but was caught by the police and forced to testify.
Of course, they denied knowing anything about Tommy having sex with Beth,
let alone that they facilitated it in order to get drugs.  It was around
this time that Mom's drug use increased, and she was almost just as bad
as my bio father.


"After James testified, it got around the prison that he was a rat and
he was killed for it. From that point on, it was just me, Mom and my bio
father. They continued to use drugs and pretty much left me on my own,
until the night my bio father killed my mom and nearly killed me."


Amanda just shook her head. She knew Ry was telling the truth. She had
done her internet research after the first time Ry started to tell her
everything. It seemed so fantastic that she couldn't believe what she was
hearing. There wasn't a lot of coverage but enough to verify most of the
largest details, but Ry had never opened up so much about his biological
family before.


"I'm so sorry, Babe." Amanda leaned over the table and kissed her
boyfriend.


Ry just shrugged, then said, "It was so long ago, and after everything
that happened the night of the accident, I'm surprised I remember as much
as I do."


"I understand that. It makes everything I've gone through seem so
petty."


"Yeah," Ry said, wiping his eyes clear. "Whenever my brothers annoy
me, I remember what it was like before them."


"It explains your attachment to Charlie."


Ry's stomach lurched at the sound of his baby brother's name.  He said,
"I want to be there for him like James was for me...before the drugs
took over, you know? I want to be the big brother I had."


"You are," Amanda said, drying her own eyes.


"I hope so. Anyway," Ry said, clearing his throat and looking at his
phone, "we've got a movie to watch."


They finished their food and coffee quickly as they made their way
through the crowded building. The theater was full of parents with
children. Ry assumed that in most cases it was one parent taking the kids
to the latest cartoon, while the other parent did most of the shopping. A
brief fantasy flashed across his brain of him taking Quentin to a movie,
while Charlie bought their son the latest video game system. He shook his
head to clear the thought. It was already painful recalling his older
siblings, he didn't need to add the unexplainable grief he felt every
time Quentin came to mind.


The movie proved to be the perfect distraction. Amanda wasn't necessarily
into romantic comedies, so she found a thriller that had a minor romantic
storyline. They held hands the entire time. Ry half expected his
girlfriend to try jerking him off, as had been her habit in the past, but
Amanda behaved herself, much to Ry's pleasure.


After the movie, they wandered around the mall for about an hour, as
Amanda did need to do some shopping. Ry mostly stood outside the stores
and waited. He didn't feel like trying to move around hurried people, who
would be more inclined to knock him over than wait for him to get out of
their way.


Amanda drove them to a little restaurant for lunch. She was becoming more
and more excited, which was making her boyfriend nervous. He knew she had
something up her sleeve, and he never considered it a good thing. After
they were seated, Amanda, who had brought in a gift bag, passed it over
to Ry and said, "This is for you."


Ry gave her a sideways look indicating his skepticism and apprehension;
however, he pulled it towards himself and opened the bag. Inside was a
wrapped gift. It was obviously a book, given the dimensions. Ry took it
out and carefully unwrapped it, as if it might explode. What he saw
nearly made his heart stop.


"Well, open it!" Amanda squealed.


He couldn't. His hands shook as he looked at the cover of his sixth grade
year book. He barely noticed a piece of paper marking a specific page. He
didn't need to open it to guess where that tab led. "Where did you get
this?" Ry asked, forcing the bitterness to stay down inside.


"I have a cousin who goes there now. She took it from the library and
sent it to me. Do you like it?"


"So, this is stolen?" Ry asked, hoping to delay the in coming conflict.


"Technically, but I plan to return it, so don't get anything on it,"
Amanda said dismissively. "Open it already!"


With shaking fingers, Ry opened the book at the tab. He looked down and
saw faces he hadn't seen in almost four years. Several stood out,
including members of his old roleplaying group. He found himself and
almost cried. Remembered that day well. It was taken during the first
week of school. His parents had had a huge fight over the cost of the
picture. Ry's mother wanted him to get a yearbook, since it was to be his
first, while Ry's father wanted to spend the money elsewhere. In the end,
Ry's mother sent the money with her son, and when the boy got home, his
mother had a black eye and swollen lip for her insubordination. He could
see the pain in his own eyes and wondered how nobody else could see it.
He glanced over at his name: Ryland Doernbecher. He had gone by Ry Barton
for so long it was alien seeing his birth name. I wonder if Billy feels
the same way? Ry thought.


"Why are you showing me this?" Ry pleaded, unable to hide his pain the
way his 12-year-old self once had to.


Taken aback, Amanda said, "I thought you might want to see your life
before your dad attacked you."


Not wanting to argue semantics, as Rick was his dad and no longer Terry,
Ry went back to looking at the book. That's when he saw the smaller tab.
Ry opened that page and saw the other 6th graders at the end of the
alphabet. His throat went dry. One name was circled: Kyle Wells; however,
there was no picture available. He breathed a little easier, but he knew
that Amanda had a last name, which meant she was getting closer to
figuring out who his first boyfriend was. Ry also remembered that Billy
had been suspended by their bastard of a vice principal for fighting,
even though Billy was the one attacked for being gay, which meant that he
wasn't able to get his picture taken.


"I want to go home," Ry said, as the waitress arrived with their menus.


"What? Why?" Amanda asked in shock. "I thought we were having a good
time?"


"We were, but now I want to go home."


"I'll come back in a minute, okay," said the waitress, as she awkwardly
set down the menus and backed away.


"Damn it, Ry," Amanda said bitterly. "It's our anniversary. Can't we
just have lunch then I'll take you home?"


"Fine," Ry said, steeling his nerves," but answer me this: Is the real
reason you got this book was to find out who my ex is?"


"No," Amanda said, obviously lying. Her voice shook a little and she
avoided eye contact. "I got it because I thought you might like it."


Ry pushed back his chair, grabbed his crutch and made his way to the
door. He ignored the look from the waitress and the cries from his
girlfriend. As he walked outside, he saw that it was starting to snow
again. Ry didn't care. He wasn't going to stay anywhere nearby for Amanda
to come after him.


The bus came about twenty minutes after Ry got to the stop. He debated
whether or not to call someone, but decided that the bus was the best
option. He didn't want Rick or Will to ask a bunch of uncomfortable
questions, and he knew Billy would've had a fit, which he didn't want to
deal with after seeing the yearbook. Amanda sent several texts, but Ry
ignored them. He ended up putting his phone on airplane mode, so he could
have some time to think.


He didn't like Amanda digging into his relationship with Billy. He wasn't
ashamed of it, but he didn't want it getting around the school. The
thought of people teasing him about having fucked his brother sent
shivers of anxiety throughout his body...but, then there were his dreams
about Charlie.


Ry shook his head once more. He loved Charlie but he couldn't sort out
how exactly he felt. He never had a sex dream about his baby brother, but
he felt a love in those moments that he longed for. He hadn't felt that
way since he was with Billy before they broke up. Amanda was great, but
she was either preoccupied with sex or just having her own way.


If he was truthful with himself, he just wanted to be loved. Amanda said
she loved him, but her actions never seemed to indicate it was more than
lust or a way to fight being lonely. In fact, Ry often wondered if their
relationship was really a means to piss her parents off. He was an
imperfect, nerdy, disabled kid, which was a huge slap in the face to the
seemingly perfect Tangetti family.


Breaking up wasn't an option either, he thought. Amanda was the only
person interested in dating him since Billy, and he couldn't imagine
getting another chance at a relationship...except maybe Charlie....


"Stop it," Ry quietly scolded himself. A woman nearby gave him a scared
look and moved to another seat further away.


The walk from the bus stop to the house was a long one. It was only four
blocks and a bit, but with the mounting snow, the walk took easily three
times longer. He saw a few kids having snowball fights and narrowly
missed a few playful throws. Luckily, the kids were too small to pose a
serious threat to his stability.


It was after four in the afternoon when Ry walked into the house. He was
quickly and unexpectedly grappled by Charlie, who hugged him almost too
tightly. Ry hugged his brother back and said, "What's this for?"


Charlie looked up with wet eyes and said, "We thought you ran away from
home."


"What?" Ry asked, very puzzled. "Where did you get that idea?"


"Amanda texted Dad," Billy said, coming around the corner from the
kitchen, Joey at his side. "Dad, Will and Justin are out looking for
you."


"What the fuck?" Ry took out his phone. He forgot he silenced it. After
putting the settings back to normal, his phone blew up with texts and
voicemails. As he sent texts, Billy explained that Amanda told Rick that
he had run away and she didn't know why or where he had gone. Instead of
trusting him to manage himself, his parents (as he included Will as a
parental figure) went looking for him. "This is fucked up," Ry said
sending the final message explaining he was fine.


"Why did you leave?" Charlie asked, refusing to stop hugging his
brother.


To Billy, Ry said, "Amanda got our 6th grade yearbook." Billy looked
puzzled then realized the implications. Unlike his ex, Billy didn't have
a complex with people knowing they used to be together; however, he kept
it to himself for Ry's sake. Billy thought it would've been rather
hypocritical to have a hang up about having had sex with his older
brother but not their father.


"I see," Billy said, "Well, people are probably going to find out
sooner or later, won't they?"


"Whatever.  What's for dinner? I'm starved," Ry replied.


***Coming Soon, Chapter 36***