The Society Boys

The Society Boys By Connor Matthews

Chapter 202

"Dad!" Blake screamed, as he and J.J. raced into the house as if they were being chased by cheetahs. "DAAADDD!!" He yelled louder and longer.

"Holy crap. Calm down. I'm here. What's up?" I asked, as Colin came down the main stairs in a hurry to join us.

"Shit is hitting the fan, and we're all about to be splattered," he announced as he panted loudly. "We need a rescue squad immediately."

"Take a breath, and tell us what's happening," Colin said as I watched Blake closely.

His body language did seem to indicate that something was seriously agitating him, and when I took a look at J.J., his eyes were red as if he'd been crying. This didn't appear to be normal Blake drama.

"Boys, sit down and I'll get you something to drink. What's happened?" I asked, now focused in concern.

The boys sat at the kitchen island and I got them a couple root beers. They likely needed a couple shots to calm their nerves.

"Well, me, Darcy, Layne, and J.J. were hanging out and stopped at Safeway to get some food. We were hungry," Blake added, in case that was somehow relevant to his story. "Then we ran into Mr. and Mrs. Campbell."

Colin looked at me at the same time I looked at him. I'm pretty sure we're telepathic on this subject.

"Not ideal. What happened?" I asked, knowing how they felt about us.

"It was like we went from peace time to the middle of a nuclear strike," Blake said, with what I hope was exaggeration. "That is sort of the shit that hit the fan. I think it might have been bad anyway with Layne hanging around me, but it was way worse. I'm talking major shit storm bad."

"Blake, just tell us what happened, please. Let's try to limit the dramatic inserts," Colin told him, as I'm sure he was now feeling as anxious as I was.

"Well, they saw us before we saw them, which was the real problem. Darcy and Layne were holding hands at the time."

"Oh. That's not good," I said quickly.

"That's the understatement of the week," Blake replied shaking his head, as he paused and took a sip of his root beer. "They grabbed Layne and asked what he thought he was doing. Then they looked at Darcy and shrieked at him. They said `keep your filthy deviant hands off our son.' And Dad they weren't exactly quiet. They screamed it at him. Then they looked at me, and said that they knew it was me and my sick perverted family that was trying to groom their son to be a twisted as we were. They tried to take J.J. away from us too, but I stepped in front of J.J. to stop them."

"Wait. They tried to take J.J." Did they touch him?" Colin asked, as the realisation of the event began to sink in.

"No, I stopped them, but they were sure causing a scene. Layne tried to explain it to them, but they just kept telling him to shut up, and that they'd deal with him later. They said he'll never be seeing us again. Mr. Campbell threatened me and Darcy by saying that if we ever touched their son again, we'd be up on charges, and he'd make sure we were punished by the wrath of God. Not sure what that meant, but he sure seemed to mean it."

"With their God it's usually stonings, hanging, turning them to pillars of salt, gouging out eyes, something horrible like that. Don't worry, in the civilized and non-crazy world, those are all illegal. J.J., you've been quiet. Are you okay?"

He looked up and his eyes had tears forming. I grabbed a tissue and wiped them for him. He gave a big sniff before replying. "I know they're my mom and dad, but they scared me. I hope they don't hurt Layne. He wasn't doing anything wrong, was he?"

"No, he definitely wasn't doing anything wrong. Holding hands with someone is pretty nice. Do you think they might hurt Layne?"

"Dad will probably spank him pretty hard, and ground him for a long time. I mean we got grounded for a day if we didn't do the dishes, or take out the garbage on time, and they barely get mad when they do that. This time they were both super red in the face," J.J. reasoned.

"Did anyone from the store help?" I asked Blake.

"No. They were being super loud and one customer came up to see if we needed help, but he was told by Mr. Campbell to mind his own business as he was rescuing his son from perverts."

"What happened after that?" Colin asked.

"They told J.J. not to worry, that they'll rescue him from us as soon as they could, and to just stay strong for a little while longer. They called us sick again, and stormed off, literally dragging Layne by his shoulder."

"I do love the religious people who preach from the rooftops about how Jesus is love and peace, and prove it using violence every time," I said shaking my head. "No wonder young people don't go to church anymore. Do we need to be worried about Layne?" I asked, looking at Colin more than at the boys.

"He's their son, not a lot we can do there, unless we believe he'll be in real danger. Not illegal to ground your kid, or even spank him. Although it's a bit weird to spank your 16-year-old," Colin replied. "Most importantly, how are you boys? Where's Darcy?"

Now might not be the right time to point out that I'd be okay spanking a 16-year-old.

"We're okay. It's a good thing I was there, or they might have taken J.J. No way that's happening on my watch," Blake said defiantly. "Darcy's pretty shaken up. We told him he should come back here with us, but he wanted to go home, so we dropped him off there first. Then we came right here to tell you guys. What do we do, Dads?"

"Let's give it a bit of time to allow the Campbells to calm down," I suggested. "I'm guessing they'll, for lack of a better word, interrogate Layne for a while to see what's been going on. We'll have to wait and see what Layne tells them before we know what will happen next. I'm thinking we should contact Colleen to let her know of the interaction the boys had, especially as it relates to J.J."

Colin jumped in as well. "Agreed. Why don't you guys go do something fun like watch a movie, or go play video games downstairs for a bit. It'll help you calm down for a bit."

Blake stared at us for a few seconds and then nodded. "Come on J.J. let's go see if we can beat our high scores on pinball."

The boys took off, leaving Colin and I alone together.

"That's a bad development," Colin said first.

"Certainly not the best way for Layne to come out, that's for sure. It does give him a chance to tell his parents the truth now," I said trying to add a positive to the negatives.

"Do you think they'll be the type of people that'll listen?"

"No, not at all. I'd be worried that they'll do something irrational. My immediate concern if for Layne's safety, but I'm also worried that they might go on some crusade to try and stop us adopting J.J.," I said feeling strong emotions beginning to boil up in me.

"We've already been cleared to adopt him. Maybe we should move up the timetable on that and get it done. I know we were worried about giving J.J. more high-pressure things to deal with, but we'd be better positioned to protect him as his actual parents rather his foster parents," Colin reasoned.

"Agreed. Let's jump on that first thing Monday morning. Maybe we can talk to J.J. and Blake about it tomorrow." I added, as I am in agreement that this is now a priority for us as a family.

We went to bed, all still feeling a little unnerved by the actions of the day, but did manage to get to sleep. At least for a little while, until my phone went off around 2am. I answered it as I tried to snap out of my dream state. It's weird how the phone in my dream rang at the exact same moment as it did in real life. This is that multiverse thing crossing over again, isn't it?

"Yeah?" I croaked as I tried to get my voice to work.

"Justin. It's Steve. Layne's uncle," he added, likely in case I knew another Steve. I was instantly more awake and sat up.

"What's up Steve? Is Layne okay?"

"He showed up at my house about a half hour ago. As to whether he's okay, that remains to be seen. He wanted me to call you as he was concerned about J.J. and Darcy. His parents took his phone, so he wasn't able to contact you directly."

"You can tell him that Darcy and J.J. are both worried about him, but they're okay. How's Layne doing?"

"Here, I'll let you speak to him," Steve offered.

As the conversation paused, Colin sat up as I'd woken him up with the call. "What's up?" He whispered.

"Layne's at Steve's place," I replied as I put the phone on speaker so he could hear as well.

"Hi Justin," said the familiar voice.

"Layne. We heard what happened. Are you okay?" I asked quickly.

"Yeah, they didn't beat me or anything, but they said we're going to move to the States so they can get me back to God and save me from sinners."

"Well at least we know they won't be sending you to a Catholic church, not with the reputation of their priests," I replied, getting a thump in the side from Colin. What? If you don't want him around sinners, don't be putting him near a preacher is all I'm saying.

"Right?" He said with a small forced laugh. "They locked me in my room and said that's where I'll be staying until they find a place to send me. They're freaking out like crazy about how you guys were trying to turn me gay."

"Well, you did take the rainbow pill. We clearly said to take the blue pill," I joked before returning to serious. "If they locked you in your room, how are you over at Steve's right now?"

"Mainly because they don't know how locks work," he chuckled. "Actually, I went out my bedroom window after they were asleep. I even put a chair under the bedroom door handle. No way they're getting in my room unless they break the door down. That should have interesting results."

"Hi Layne. It's Colin. I've been listening. "What's the plan?"

"Hi Colin. I dunno. I just wanted to get out of there first. I heard them talking about some church camp in Oklahoma where they have corrective therapy. I'm not going there."

"You may not have a choice because you're under 19," I advised.

"You mean 18, right?" He replied.

"No. In B.C., you're not an adult until 19. Until then, you're under parent's authority," I advised.

"Can he become emancipated?" Steve asked, obviously on speaker as well.

"I would say it's highly unlikely, but hitting them with papers to start the process might make them pay attention. He'd have to have a place arranged to live if he did it though. I wouldn't suggest here, as we'd only serve to enrage the Campbells further," Colin replied.

"He could stay here, but there's no way Charles and Vanessa are agreeing to Layne becoming more independent. They want him to follow their beliefs," Steve added. "Could we claim child abuse for spanking?"

"I got this one," I said to Colin. "No, spanking is legal with conditions."

"What conditions?" Layne asked.

"They can't use violence or excessive force when doling out punishment. They also can't use anything other than a hand to spank, and they can't hit you in the face," I revealed.

"What if I commit a crime and get sent to jail? They couldn't send me away then, could they?" Layne inquired.

"That would be a tricky one," Colin answered. "Depending on what you did, it could go wrong in so many ways. You could get a longer sentence than you expected which would be terrible. You'd have a criminal record, and at 16, you stand an off chance of being charged as an adult. Then there's the whole issue of being remanded to the custody of your parents, making it even worse if you tried to get away from them, as you'd be seen as the problem, not them."

"Oh, then I won't do that one. Just tossing out ideas. What if me and Darcy run away until we're 19?"

"Ever hear of Amber alerts?" I asked. "You wouldn't get five kilometres before people started reporting seeing you."

"So, am I totally screwed?" He asked. "Why the hell won't they just listen and accept me?"

You could hear the tears welling up inside him as the emotions began to overwhelm him.

"I don't think that people with this skewed sense of religion are open to other interpretations of their belief. Some come around when they're faced with it personally, but others don't. I'd like to believe that your parents might eventually see the real light, but it could be a long road," I said offering him the best answer I could. I thought just saying, `you're likely fucked' wouldn't be as comforting.

"Guys, I wonder if maybe we could get together and discuss this in person. I know its not really something you need to get involved in, but with three of us in Layne's corner, we might be able to find options for him."

"It's definitely something we need to get involved in as we still have J.J. to worry about, and they've already indicated they're not done with that situation yet, either. Should we arrange to meet in the morning?" Colin asked.

"I know it's late, but maybe we could meet now?" Steve suggested. "I'm sure once Charles and Vanessa realize Layne is gone, this will be the first place they look."

"With their frame of mind, this is more likely where they'll come to look," I reasoned.

"Either way, we should have some sort of plan of action," he said.

Layne agreed as he joined back in. "We gotta do something. I don't want to move, and I still want Darcy as my boyfriend. Right now, neither of those are going to happen, and I don't even know where Oklahoma is."

"It's just west of Arkansas," Colin replied being our resident American, so therefore an expert on all things United States.

"Not really helpful," Layne replied as I nodded in agreement.

"North of Texas," Colin clarified.

"We'll come over. Hang in there," I said, before our geography lesson took our focus away from the issue. We ended the conversation and prepared to go over to Steve's.

"And you wonder why I hate religion and everything associate with it," I said as I got out of bed to head to the bathroom.

Colin followed me. "Nope, you've been pretty vocal about your opinions on religion, and I'm not in disagreement, especially when it relates to things like this. You're welcome to follow the teachings of your overseer, but you don't have any right decide how others should live. This cherry picking items to suit themselves is exhausting. Not one word about cherries..." he said as he turned to stare at me as we jumped in for a quick shower.

We were barely dressed and dried before Blake wandered into our room. At first, I thought he might be a sleep walking zombie, but then he spoke. "Where are you guys going? It's like 2am."

"We're going over to see Layne at Steve's," I told him.

"His parents let him go over to Steve's after all that crazy shit?" He asked waking up slightly from the apparent shock.

"Not exactly. From the way it sounds, he ran away."

"Nice. That's my boy," Blake grinned. "I'm going with you."

"Best if you stay here," Colin suggested.

"Not a chance. Layne is one of my best friends, and friends don't abandon friends in a time of need. I'm going. Any objections, or am I running away too?"

"Calm down, princess rampage. Go get dressed," I told him.

He spun around and ran off quickly.

Colin looked at me. "Is this a good idea?"

"As opposed to leaving him here? Better to have him help us with plans, than for him to be out on his own making plans."

"Truth to that," Colin nodded as we headed downstairs. Blake was behind us in seconds pulling his shirt over his head. We sent texts to the rest of the guys to let them know where we were.

We arrived at Steve's and were greeted at the door by Layne, who quickly hugged Blake, and then us. Blake then looked at Steve and began to remove his shirt.

"I think you can keep that on this time, Blake," Steve told him.

"Steve, this is my husband, Colin. Colin, Layne's uncle, Steve."

"Nice to finally meet you," Steve said holding his hand out. "I heard lots about you."

"Likewise," Colin said returning the handshake. I'm pretty sure Colin isn't a fan of Steve's considering all the stories he's been told, but one good fuck over the couch should get him to come around.

We made our way to the living room where I got a bit of a surprise. I mean it's Steve, so I really should have expected it, but under the circumstances, it was a surprise nonetheless. There were three naked boys asleep. Two together on the large couch, and one on the floor who looked like he'd passed out while playing video games. The controller was still in his hand.

"Sorry about them. They fell asleep a few hours ago. You know Clayton already," Steve said pointing to the guy on his back on the couch. "The one curled up with him is Kevin, and the guy on the floor is a friend of Layne's, Salish.

Salish had had a bit of an olive skin and dark hair. I'd guess him to be about the same age as Layne at 16. You wouldn't need Sherlock Holmes to figure out what had been going on here tonight. Salish had a couple of pillows under his stomach to lift his ass into the air a bit, and his knees were bent with legs apart. The shiny smooth ass made it pretty clear he'd been lubed up thoroughly, which would lead me to conclude that he'd been fucked at least once. Elementary deduction, my good man. The other two being wrapped around each other, made it pretty obvious that they'd likely fooled around as well.

"I wasn't expecting company as you can tell. Those two did a couple joints and a few lines of coke, so they could be out for a while. Salish only did one joint being that it was his first time here. He's a bit of a lightweight at the moment. The other two thought it'd be funny to strip him once he passed out, and see his reaction when he woke up naked. Anyway, let's sit over here and talk. Layne and I had an idea, but I think for the bigger picture we may need a back story."

"What's the idea?" Blake asked first, as we all sat down away from the sleeping boys.

"Are you sure you want to be hearing this Blake? It might be upsetting to hear about Layne's parents," Colin asked.

"Not as upsetting as it is for Layne to have to live with it. Friends don't abandon friends, no matter what," Blake insisted. "What's the plan."

"We figure the only way to avoid him being sent down the religion conversion path is to get him away from his parents. That either means emancipation, which as you said, might be difficult, or we claim child abuse," Steve reasoned.

"Go with that one," Blake said quickly.

"Blake. Calm down and let's make sure we listen first, and talk after our brains process what we hear," I told him.

"Is that a fancy shrink way of telling me to shut up again?" He asked, frowning at me slightly.

"That's the fancy way," Colin assured him.

"You might create a slight delay claiming child abuse, but once the story comes out, without proof, it would just look like a kid trying to get out of doing something he didn't want," I reasoned.

"What if we had proof of abuse?"

"Depends on the type of abuse. If they do a male rape kit on him, it's going to be pretty obvious that he's had sex before. No one would believe that abuse came from his parents. They'd likely use it against us and Darcy, claiming he was forced into it," I replied.

"True. I was thinking more along the lines of physical abuse. Using the spankings as a start. With the witnesses from today, maybe the security footage, if they have it, of him being manhandled out of the store and even J.J. accounts of being spanked."

"I don't want J.J. involved. He's been through enough," Layne said quickly.

"I'm with Layne," Blake added.

"I'd agree," Colin nodded.

"On the surface I'd also agree, but if it came down to J.J. having to testify as to how they were treated, to save his brother, he might be a good witness. The downside of your plan is that spanking isn't illegal," I reminded them.

"You said it was if they beat him with an object like a belt, or hit him in the face, right?"

"Did they do either of that to you?" Colin asked.

"I'd been spanked with Dad's belt before," Layne replied.

"Did they do it this time?" Blake asked, looking concerned.

"No, they were beyond spanking mad. They were almost foaming at the mouth mad, and talking about the conversion therapy. When I told them it was illegal, all I got was a `not where you're going, it isn't.'"

"It would be pretty hard to prove child abuse from that then. Did J.J. ever get spanked with a belt?" Colin asked logically.

If he says yes, then I'm heading back to our adult playroom to get the whips, then paying those pricks a visit.

"Not that I know of. They only used it when I did anything they considered seriously wrong. Most times it was an open hand spank over my clothes," Layne said quickly.

"We should check with Colleen in the morning, because there might be enough information in their file to create a concern for Layne's safety," I offered up.

"If we combine that with today and the threats, maybe we could calm it all down," Steve suggested. "If Layne had marks on him from beatings, that might swing the pendulum in his favour."

"Do you have marks on you?" I asked. Having seen him naked as much as dressed, I don't even remember so much as a zit on the boy.

"No, but my ass has been red a few times. I took pictures of it. That should be evidence, right?"

"Nice. That'd teach them," Blake said enthusiastically.

"Was the skin just red, or were there welts and broken skin?" I asked.

"No, just red," he replied. "I could take pictures of this time and maybe make it super red, if that'd help. I'd need someone to spank me though. Can't really beat myself."

"I'll do it. I should wear gloves though so I don't leave fingerprints," Blake offered.

"Thanks," Layne smiled as he leaned over to hug him.

"Not sure lying would be the right way to go," I said concerned. "It could go sideways pretty fast."

"It wouldn't really be a lie as they do spank me from time to time. I could even bruise a few things like my shoulder or my head to show how they abused me after they grabbed me in the store," Layne said. "It'd be easy to get all that done."

"I'd say that's not a good idea, if we're voting here," I told them. "Our immediate problem is that you aren't at home right now. As soon as your parents realize it, they'll come looking for you, and if I were your parent, the first place I'd show up would be here or our place, and failing that I'd be at Darcy's."

"I'd agree with that," Steve nodded.

"No worry about Darcy's place. They don't know where he lives. I was thinking what if Darcy and I get married? Then they couldn't send me away."

"You can certainly get married at 16, but the problem with that is you need parent's permission," Colin advised.

"There goes another good idea. Seems like this whole thing is rigged against kids," Blake said shaking his head. "Would you let me get married when I'm 16?"

"No," I replied bluntly. I looked over at the three naked boys in the living room. "Refocusing on our real issue...first thing I'd do is get rid of those boys. That'd be kind of hard to explain to ragingly homophobic parents."

"Layne and me will dig the holes, you guys bring the bodies," Blake offered, getting a laugh from Layne.

"Maybe not that," Colin said shaking his head. "Bodies buried in the backyard seems like it would be worse than just having naked guys sleeping in the living room."

Steve looked at the guys. "Layne, Blake. Go wake the boys up and get them dressed. We'll drive them to Clayton's. No one is at his place tonight."

The guys jumped up and headed to the living room. We continued to talk to Steve about ideas. Let's be honest here, this must be a serious situation as we're all still wearing clothes.

"Would it help Layne if you talked to Charles and Vanessa? Try to get them to see reason," I suggested.

"I could talk to them, but they aren't exactly the reasoning type when it comes to homosexuality. They're adamantly in favour of fixing people who identify as gay or trans. If they had any idea I was gay, they'd not let Layne see me, never mind live with me six month out of the year. I'm already bracing for the call tomorrow that asks if I knew he was gay."

"How's that call going to go?" Colin asked.

"Not well, that's for sure. I think it'd be better if I said I knew he was exploring his sexuality, and didn't see anything wrong with it, over saying I had no idea. He needs someone from the family in his corner. If they ask about Darcy, I can honestly say I've never met him and leave it at that. It'll give me a chance to advise them that if they keep going down this path, they're likely to lose him forever. Not sure how they'll respond, but knowing how they are, they'd have been onto the church the second they got home, with plans already in progress."

"People like that stun me," I said, feeling the anger boil up inside me. "What fucking business is it who anyone falls in love with? I wonder how they'd like it if one of them had been sent off to be fixed if their parents hadn't liked their choice of partner."

"That wouldn't factor into their thinking. Even if Layne successfully petitioned to get away from them, they wouldn't blame themselves for losing their son, they'd likely blame you and the gay groomers. They'd go even more off the rails."

"If they show up here to take Layne home, do you have any legal grounds to stop them and let him stay here?" Colin asked.

"None at all. I only have permission to speak for him, and make decisions, while they're out of town and he's staying with me. If they showed up to take him, there'd be nothing I could do. All he's really done is given himself a few more hours, and perhaps a chance to speak to them in a safer setting. Won't change anything though. My guess is he'll be in Oklahoma by this time tomorrow."

"I wonder if the Ministry could get them to admit they're sending him for conversion therapy?" I said thinking out loud. "Maybe that'd be enough to stop them taking him over the border. Maybe he could ask for asylum."

"Pretty sure you can't ask for asylum in your own country," Steve replied.

"He doesn't have a lot of options, but he's old enough to be heard in court," Colin added. "Why don't you get him a lawyer to file some sort of injunction against being removed from the country. Force them to give their plans to a judge, which may start wheels rolling towards emancipation."

"You don't know Charles and Vanessa very well. If it went to court, they'd turn on the charm and agree to let Layne stay, and work with him. Then the second they were out of the court room with everyone's guard down, Layne would be on a plane out of here."

"You're forgetting their Achille's heel. They can't help but show their contempt for homosexuality. Rage them up enough and they'll show their true colours. They won't be able to help themselves."

"How would we do that?" Steve asked as we continued to toss ideas around.

"I'd have Layne show up in court holding Darcy's hand for one. Then we'd bring J.J. and Blake to court and make sure they see us. If that doesn't boil them over, nothing will. Maybe Colleen from the Ministry could speak to what she's seen regarding the proceedings with J.J."

"First things first. Let's get a plan for the next 12 hours. Starting with getting those boys out of here," I suggested as we looked to the living room.

"Blake!" Colin yelled. "You're supposed to be waking them up."

"And you don't think this will wake him up?" He chuckled.

He was on his knees between Salish's legs, with his hands on each cheek. He obviously had been giving the boy one of those wake up rimmings you hear about in the `How to wake up your teenager' manual. I got up and headed to the living room, followed by Colin and Steve. I grabbed Blake and pulled him away from the sleeping boy.

"Oh my god, that is child abuse right there. I was just about to give him the Blake special. I'm so hard I might explode, Dad."

"You'll live. Let's try focusing on the current situation, not your obsessive need to stick your dick in everything," I told him as he stood back up.

"Like father, like son," he grinned.

"He's got you there. Seems like it's an inherited trait, honey," Colin said patting me on the back.

Steve just laughed. "Salish is worth a fuck if you think you have a few minutes. Colin, you're a stunning looking guy. Why don't you take one of the boys for a ride and let me see your body. I'll bet it's magnificent."

"Right now isn't really the time," Colin said bluntly.

I agreed wholeheartedly, but I'm sort of surprised it took Steve this long to hit on Colin. Normally he'd have had his hand inside pants before the front door closed.

"Even asleep, Salish is seriously tight. He doesn't last long when he's getting blown, but you could ride him for hours when he's relaxed like this," Steve told us.

He has a strange definition of relaxed. The boy is passed out. I wouldn't do a boy who was passed out like this. At least not as a first time. If we'd hooked up before, and I knew he was okay with it, then I'd be fine to use him in this state.

"I'll pass," Colin repeated.

We worked to wake the boys up, and I think they were surprised to see more people around. Clayton and Kevin were obviously more used to Steve's place as they didn't react to being naked, and simply got dressed. Salish, instantly covered his junk with his hands and panicked to find his clothes. Guess he's going to be rethinking smoking pot after this. We managed to get them mobile enough so that Steve could take them over to Clayton's. We waited at the house with Layne.

"Think Salish will come back again?" Blake asked Layne as we sat together.

"Sure. He's in my school. He's been over a few times. Mostly to smoke pot and play video games."

"Have you done anything with him before?"

"I've blown him, which he doesn't object to. Mostly he ignores that it's happening as he plays the video games. Until tonight, I'd never seen him do more than that."

"Shit, sorry. Did you wanna fuck him first? I should have asked," Blake apologized.

"No, it's all good. He's not really my type, and I always enjoy watching your big dick enter someone. It would definitely have woken him up. Guys, what if my parents win, and I never get to see you again?"

"Let's not go down that rabbit hole just yet," I said trying to comfort him a bit.

"Does conversion therapy work? I mean could they really change me to the point where I'd not like boys anymore? Would that mean I'd end up hating other gay guys?" He said, the panic becoming obvious in his voice.

"I think they'd like to believe that's how their therapy works, but no. They might fuck with your mind enough to confuse you, but deep down you'd still be you, and that would resurface once you're away from their influence," I said.

"What do they do for this conversion stuff."

"Oh, I read stuff about this," Blake said enthusiastically. "They give you tons of ice baths to keep you from getting horny, and they give you pills to stop your dick getting hard. Then they strap electrodes to your nuts and show you erotic pictures of boys. If you react, they zap the fuck out of you. I think they try to teach you to associate pain with being gay, and pleasure with being straight. I heard they might even try to hook you up with girls to try and show you how being straight is better."

I don't exactly know what they do at conversion camps, but the movie version is very much this, so I didn't add anything.

"They make you sleep with girls? Gross. I'd probably ask for more ball zapping," Layne said making a face to emphasize the disgust at the idea. "Do they really do all that?"

"I honestly can't tell you for sure," I replied, "but I do know they do try to train your brain to associate anything homosexual as being unpleasant, and related to the devil's work. I think graphic images are definitely part of it. In this country it's deemed a cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore goes against the Charter of Rights. I think some states ban it too, but likely not the crazed bible states."

"I don't want to go through that," he said quietly. "I'd rather be dead than not be allowed to be me."

"Layne. Let's not talk like that," Colin said quickly putting his hand on his back for support. "We'll do everything we can to stop it from happening."

"I don't think anyone is going to change their mind. If I can just hide from them until I'm 18, I'd be free, right? That's like a year and a couple months."

"19," I reminded him.

"I'd run away to Alberta where it's only 18."

"Not how it works. Your parents live in BC, and therefore the rules of British Columbia would apply, not where you choose to live. They can have you brought back until the day you turn 19. Sorry."

"Looks like the next time you guys see me will be when I'm 19," Layne shrugged.

"I know this may not be what you want to hear, Layne, and I don't advocate for it, but under the circumstances, maybe try to convince them that you were just joking or goofing around. Boys being boys kind of thing. Maybe tell them you have a girlfriend," I suggested. "I hate the idea of you having to lie, but it might be the only way to calm them down."

"What if they ask to meet her?" He asked.

"Dude. Sienna would totally help you out. Geez, she'll have sex with you right in front of them if they need proof," Blake offered. You could see the idea taking hold of him as he became more animated and excitable.

"That ball zapping thing is looking better by the minute," Layne joked.

"Seriously dude. That's the answer. Totally the answer," Blake said loudly. "Do the whole freaking out in front of your parent's thing. Scream at them how wrong they are. How they don't even know you're not a virgin, and that you and Sienna have done it a lot. Mostly in your room when they're out of the house, or that you sneak her back there when you're staying at your Uncle Steve's."

"I wouldn't want Uncle Steve to get into trouble for that. They'd likely find a way to blame him for corrupting me."

Colin laughed. "I think they'd actually be relieved that you're sticking it to a girl, over even holding hands with a boy. I think we should run this idea by Steve when he gets back. It has the potential to work, or at the very least confuse them enough to calm down a few degrees."

"Would Sienna really be okay playing my girlfriend if I needed it?" Layne asked, and I think our simultaneous stare at him gave him the giggles. "Okay, dumb question. What if my parents want proof of us being together?"

"I'll send you pictures I have of you with her. I'll even do some photoshop editing as soon as I get home to crop others out of some of them. You probably have tons of pictures on your phone too that you could use."

"Any pictures I take that have you or Darcy in them. I send everything to the cloud so I don't get caught with them, just in case of shit like this. Most of the stuff left in my phone is people I hang out with from church, friends from school, or family pictures. So generic they could come with frames in stores."

"Think how badly they'd freak out if they saw the picture of you and Darcy standing shirtless together while touching tongues. That could cause nuclear meltdowns."

"No shit," Layne agreed with a weak nervous laugh.

Steve returned a few moments later, letting us know that the boys were all back at Clayton's. I refrained from asking if they'd remained clothed or not. My mind just naturally assumes that they're all in an active three-way right now. It's how I deal with the world. We filled him in on the plan, and he was as enthusiastic as Blake.

"I'll confirm that she's been over here with him before, but of course, if asked, I'd deny knowing anything about them having sex. I'd simply say something like, I assumed they had since they appeared very close. Holding hands, hugging, kissing, things like that. In case they don't believe it, you should bring Sienna over here so she knows the layout and could describe it if asked."

"Good idea. I'll bring her over in the morning," Blake said as he remained excited at the proposed solution. "Maybe she could roll around on Layne's bed to get her girl smell into his room. Everyone says a girl smell is better than a boy smell. Especially the crusty socks under the bed type smell."

"Blake, a skunk mating with a rotting fish, has a better smell than you or your room," I joked.

"No way," Layne said quickly, jumping to Blake's defense. "Blake smells awesome. So does his room."

"Thanks," Blake grinned as the boys' fist bumped.

We decided we had at least a short-term plan that might work, so we called it a night and headed home. I still find it surprising how much traffic is still on the road at 4am. You sort of figure everyone is asleep and that you'd have the road to yourself.

"Let's get to bed so we're fresh in the morning," Colin suggested.

"You guys go ahead. I'm way too hyper to sleep right now. I've gotta get some pictures sorted out for Layne, and then I need to contact Sienna as soon as possible to get her over to Steve's to check it out. It's a good thing Layne and Sienna have seen each other naked lots of times. That way if they get asked to describe each other, it'd be super easy. She's even seen Layne's boner, so she could describe that too."

How do you even reply to that? "Good night, Blake," I said to him. "Don't panic about this too much. We'll do what we can to help him."

"I know. Me too," he said as he rushed off to his studio.

Colin and I slept soundly, although my brain was apparently trying to process help for Layne, as it had Charles and Vanessa on an ice flow in the arctic, followed by them all tied up waiting to be thrown into a volcano. I have a feeling my brain hates them more than I do in real life.

I eventually got out of bed and wandered over to see if Blake had given in and gone to bed. He wasn't in his room, but I did find him asleep at the computer in his studio. I gently woke him up and he looked at me with half open eyes. He reached over and took hold of my dick.

"Is that for me?" He said with a scratchy voice, before leaning forward as if he wanted to suck it.

"Blake," I warned as I pulled back.

"Shhh...I'm sleep sexing. Never wake someone up when they're sleep sexing. You could traumatize them," he said quietly.

"I'm okay traumatizing you. In fact, it's what I live for. Why don't you go to bed and a get a couple hours sleep, or you'll be groggy all day."

"I should go take a shower to wake myself up. That always helps. Would you come with me? I'm still sort of tired and don't want to fall over in there. I could get hurt," he replied, obviously playing it up.

"I can, but keep those grabby hands to yourself," I said, as I needed a shower anyway.

"What about my sucky lips?" He chuckled.

"Those too," I nodded.

"My winky butthole?"

"Please stop. And keep everything attached to you to yourself," I said before we cycled through every body part.

We made our way to his shower, and as we got under the nice warm spray of the shower heads, he turned to look at me. "I'm scared for Layne, but I just wanted you to know that I'm happy you and Colin are my dads. You guys let me be me, and are always there if I need you, even if I screw up."

"That's what being a parent is all about. We give you the knowledge and wisdom to go out in to the world, and stand by you as you experience it, good or bad," I said in one of those moments of truly great parenting that I'm getting known for. I could give TED (Totally Expert Dad) talks on it now.

He brushed the wet hair out of his eyes, then leaned in to give me a big hug. I returned it and he just held onto me. You could feel how much he needed it, which also confirmed just how upset he was about Layne's situation. It was a hug that easily went on for more than a minute, and I was happy to stay like that for as long as he needed.

When he finally looked up at me and backed up, he just smiled. "You're a really good hugger."

"You too," I said, returning the compliment.

"A really good hugger," he chuckled as he looked down, forcing me to glance as well. Yes, the morning wood had arrived. He turned around and backed up against me, pulling one of my arms around his chest for another hug. I held him, and really tried to ignore the fact that he was now masturbating to try and solve the wooden issue at hand.

I didn't say anything as I let him take care of it, and except for bringing his free hand up to hold my arm that was around him, he didn't make any comment either. He was really into his morning activity.

"I'm getting close," he panted. "So close."

I rolled my eyes, and with my free hand, reached around and cupped his tight nutsack to help him finish.

"Oh yeah. That's the good stuff," he cried out as he sank against me, and I watched several large jets blast out of him.

"Now are you tired enough to get some sleep?" I asked as we finished up in the shower.

"Normally I would be, but I've got tons to do today. I should get Sienna over to Steve's so she can see it and maybe workout a few details with Layne. Then I should go see Darcy to make sure he's okay. Think I should take him with Sienna and me?"

We made our way downstairs to grab some breakfast as we talked. "No. In fact, I think you should stay away from Steve's for a day or two. As soon as the Campbell's realize Layne is missing, I have no doubt they're going to contact Steve first. If they go over in person, the last person they should see over there is you."

"I'd only be going over there to corrupt him and make him my sex slave," Blake said, adding some sarcastic humour to the day. "So what should I do?"

"For now, let's just wait to see how this plays out. Maybe hanging with Darcy and Sienna is a good idea, but let Steve and Layne deal with this themselves. Family working it out is always better than outside influences interfering."

"Says the shrink whose job it is to interfere as an outside influence."

"You know the saying `do as I say, not as I do?' This is that," I reasoned. Colin joined us, probably as soon as the smell of the coffee got into the vents and drifted to our room. Either that or the alarm went off. "Morning, honey. Want some coffee?" I greeted.

"Morning. Definitely," he replied

"Morning, honey," Blake mimicked.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Colin chuckled as he gave Blake a kiss on the cheek.

"Gross," he said wiping the side of his face. We all knew he found it anything but gross. "Why are parents so weird?"

"To embarrass our kids. That's our mission in life," I assured him.

"It works."

"Blake, Colin and I wanted to ask you something."

"About Layne?" He asked, stopping to pay attention.

"No. About J.J. actually," I clarified.

"He's okay, Dad. I promise I looked after him, and didn't let the Campbells touch him," he said quickly.

"We know, and it's a good thing you're his big brother."

"After what happened because of the fire, I'm never letting J.J. get hurt again. That's my only job, Dad," he said adamantly.

"It's a responsibility for sure, but it's not your only job, I assured him. That's our job too. That's what we wanted to talk to you about."

He nodded as he took another spoonful of cereal before talking again. "I get it. You want me to teach you some karate huh? You're probably too old to go to a dojo to learn with all the little kids, huh?"

"I'm sure they have adult classes that we could take our walkers to, but no, that's not what we want to talk to you about. Now, are you gonna stop interrupting and let us talk?"

"Sure. I like talking to you guys. Mostly to see how it was back in the day," he grinned.

I'm pretty sure he's joking about the `old' thing, but sometimes you just can't be sure. "We think it's time to adopt J.J. After what happened, we should have a way to protect him legally."

"Damn right we should," he nodded.

"Not that we expect you to object, but are you okay with us adopting him?"

"Are you kidding? Of course. He's already family, no matter what a court says. I mean me and J.J. have the same DNA so he's always gonna be my brother. You guys are awesome dads, so I approve."

"Good. We'll need to tell J.J., and as it's a family thing, you should be there if you're comfortable with the idea."

"Like I'd let you tell him without me," he said quickly. "Are you going to ask him if he wants to be adopted? I mean he still calls the Campbells mom and dad, so do you think he figures he might go back there one day?"

"We've discussed it, but no, we will simply explain it to him the best way we can, but giving him a choice isn't the right approach," Colin replied.

"What if he doesn't want it?" Blake reasoned.

"Then we'll have you there to explain the benefits of being part of this family. He's been here long enough that he knows what it's like and how things are. It'd be important that he knows that Layne is still welcome in his life, despite how the Campbells are about it."

"We already agreed on that before," Blake said, totally focused on our discussion. "Layne is his brother too. Maybe not a flesh and blood brother like I am, but still a brother. Kinda like Ben, Kyle and Chance are to me. Troy too, but he's officially my uncle. When are we going to adopt him?"

"If everything goes well talking to J.J., we'd do it as soon as we could get a court date. I'm guessing the Ministry could set it up faster than we could on our own."

"Want me to call Colleen?" Blake asked.

"We'll handle that. Your focus as a big brother is to help J.J. become settled into his new life and make sure he's safe. All of us still believe that the more of his past we share with him, the faster his memories will repair themselves. Having a stress free and stable environment, moving forward, should also make it easier for him to heal. No one is better situated than you to provide him with that information."

"I'm trying. Best thing is to take him all the places we used to go and share fun stuff we always did. One thing that was fun was me and John...uhhh...J.J., used to team up as brothers to bug my sister. She always said we were being gross boys, so we did lots more gross stuff to get her mad. J.J. came up with ideas, but always checked with me to make sure I approved. He totally looked up to me as his mentor."

"From what we see, he still does."

"Yeah, but if it's me and Layne in the room together, he always goes to Layne first. I sort of feel bad when he does that."

"Just give it time. Layne's really all that he remembers, so that's his comfort zone. He's coming around though. He's crawled into your bed plenty of times when he needs company, and he sure looks to you for advice when he needs something. More than he does with Colin or I."

"That's `cause I told him to check with me first so he doesn't get boomer advice," he grinned.

"Better to get the wisdom of a boomer, which as I've said before, we're not, than the crazy ramblings of a zoomer," I said quickly.

"Zoomer? Hey, that's a good one. I know you guys aren't boomers, I'm just kidding. You're millennials, right?"

"Colin is. I'm a Gen Z, same as you."

"That's weird right? That one of my parents is considered the same generation."

"Generations are usually 15-20 years in length, so it makes sense since I'm only 9 years older than you."

"What do you think I'll be like when I'm your age?" He asked.

"You'll either be ruling the world, or in an institution with padded walls," Colin chuckled.

"Probably ruling the world. Oh, hey, I was gonna ask you guys, am I in your will?"

"Yes, but if you try to knock us off, you get nothing. Except a prison sentence. Just so you don't get any ideas," Colin replied quickly.

He grinned. "There go the plans for my next video. Once you adopt J.J., are you gonna make sure you include him in it?"

"Of course," I assured him.

"Who looks after us if something did happen to you guys? Do we get returned to social services?"

"No. They only do that if you don't have any next of kin. We have plenty of options. First there are your grandparents on both sides of the family. Then of course, Jason and Alex who would gladly look after you two, since they have their own kids. But honestly, I'm pretty sure everyone would step up to help."

"That's good. Who do you think we should go live with?" Blake asked bluntly.

"Right now, the will says you go live with my parents, since they live here and could keep your life as routine as possible. Failing that, Colin's parents are next. That makes it a little tougher as you're not an American and would face some hurdles, but not overly difficult hurdles," I assured him.

"So I'd be an American?"

"I think that would be up to you. I'm guessing that since your grandparents own a major studio, you could easily get a work visa and stay Canadian, or go with dual citizenship."

"Then I could get a gun, right? Walk around packin' heat?"

"Okay, so scratch the idea of sending you to California," I laughed.

"Nothing wrong with having a gun if you are responsible with it," Colin added, then looked at me. He saw my frown and decided to add more. "Of course in Canada, it's not legal to carry one, and you wouldn't need it anyway. In California, while we don't have stand your ground rules per se, you can use deadly force to defend yourself."

"I think it'd be cool to carry a gun. Like if the Campbells had tried touch J.J., I'd have pulled out the gun and said `let go of the kid, or do ya feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?" His Clint Eastwood was spot on.

"Anywho...back to who we'd give you to. At this point, we might not want to inflict that sort of mental damage on someone, although I'm willing to make the call and send you over later today," I joked. "If you were given a choice, who would you want J.J. and you to live with?"

"I've thought about it, and if I were 19, I'd probably just apply to be J.J.'s guardian, but if I were under 19, I'd think Uncles Jason and Alex would be best. They're pretty much like second parents anyway, and then we could stay in this house. Would we get to keep the house or would it have to be sold?"

"You'd keep the house. It's paid for, so it would just become yours automatically. If you wanted to sell it, that would be up to you after you turned 19."

"No, I'd totally keep it. I think I'll have my decorator come by in the morning to give me some ideas of how to make the place more me," he said trying to look serious, but I could see the look in his eye that said he was just being Blake. "Plus, James, Trevor, and Travis, are like brothers too. They'd feel really bad if we had to move away. So, if I get a choice, that's who I'd pick. Does J.J. get to pick too?"

"No. At this point, he'd likely say the Campbells, and that's the last place we'd send him," Colin replied. "No matter what, we make sure he went where you went."

"Good. Now what am I gonna do with billions of dollars? Hmmm..." he said as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. I'm still getting Dr. Evil vibes from him.

"Now that we've got that settled, once J.J. wakes up, we'll have a family talk about this and get him prepared for it," Colin said as we put the dishes into the dishwasher.

I still think we should have a houseboy to do menial chores like this. I mean I've seen TV shows with rich people. They come and fling your curtains open in the morning, and bring you a nice cappuccino. They run your bath or shave your balls for you. Maybe not that, but I'm sure the right houseboy could be trained to do pretty much anything. Like a puppy, except you don't need to take him on a walk so he can pee. Although having him on a leash and collar is a really fun idea.

Blake disappeared for a couple hours, and we assumed he was off talking to Layne, Darcy, and Sienna. Turns out he'd been hanging out with J.J. in his room playing videos games. They appeared in front of us mid-morning. "Okay, he's ready when you are," Blake said quickly.

"Great, so you want to talk now?" Colin asked, putting his laptop aside.

"Sure, but I meant he's ready to be adopted as soon as you guys can arranged it. We talked it through and he's okay with the idea."

I looked at Colin and he looked at me. I was sort of conflicted about that. On one hand I wanted Colin and I to be the one to talk to J.J. about us adopting him, so he could see how much we wanted him, but on the other hand, this just made it a non-event, all packaged up neatly.

The boys sat down and waited for us to do our thing. "So, what did you two actually talk about?" Colin asked.

"Blake said that you want to be my dads and that we just need to go to court so you can buy me from them," J.J. said precisely.

So much for all packaged up neatly.

"Not so much buy you, as sign an agreement that we'll be your official family, and that you and Blake are reunited as brothers again."

"Oh. So will Layne not be my brother anymore?"

"Layne will always be your brother. As Blake said, the same as Ben or Kyle are his brothers," I assured him.

"Could you adopt Layne too, so we could all live together?" He asked logically.

"No. Layne already has parents, so he doesn't need adopting, but once he's old enough, if he wanted to live here, he'd be welcome," Colin assured him. "How do you feel about us adopting you?"

"I wasn't really sure at first, but I like living here. I mean I miss my mom and dad, but I get to do more stuff here, and you guys never ground me or spank me or anything."

Blake looked at him with a smirk. "You can thank me for that, J.J."

"Why?"

"They grounded me once, and when they saw how it affected me, they never did it again," he bragged.

"Or...and just throwing it out there. You hated being grounded so much, you just actually behaved after that."

"Good one," he laughed patting me on the back. "We're kids. It's our job to test the rules, challenge the establishment to see what changes we can make to society. If it weren't for rebellious kids, you guys would never have had the right to marry. We'd all be living by the Campbell's rules."

"You're not wrong," I agreed. "But remember, those people also went through a lot of punishments and hardships to get to where we are. You got grounded once. Not really the same."

J.J. just grinned. "See, this is why it's more fun here. If I tried to talk to mom and dad about stuff they didn't agree with, I just got sent to my room. Layne too. I like that I can talk to you about anything. Even when I got into trouble, you guys didn't get mad or anything."

"There are certainly different kinds of mistakes," Colin told him. "Some you make because you didn't know better, and by learning from that, you don't do it again. Other mistakes you do intentionally to enact change, like Blake mentioned. Other things you do, knowing they're wrong, but hope to get away with it. Those are the type we'd likely get mad at."

"Like when I try to smoke pot or drink alcohol," Blake said to J.J. as an example. "I know it's wrong, but if I think I could get away with it, I'd probably do it."

"Oh, really?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

"You missed the part where I said if I THOUGHT I could get away with it. I know you guys would figure it out, that's why I don't. It's just an example."

"J.J., we'll contact Colleen at the Ministry and have her set it up so we can officially adopt you as our son. She might want to talk to you ahead of time to make sure you're okay living here."

"Yeah, they do that, but don't sweat it, J.J. She asked me a bunch of question before I was adopted, and even though I told them all about Colin and Justin, they still let me live here," Blake giggled.

"What sort of questions?"

"Usual stuff. Do you get enough to eat? How are you doing at school? Do you get tied up and beaten? Things like that."

J.J. nodded as he listened. "I get tons to eat, especially since Merrick and Dakota do the cooking now. I like school, so I do pretty good there, especially when you help me with my homework, Blake. No one ties me up and beats me either," he said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Don't worry about any questions, J.J. Always be honest and things will turn out okay."

"Ummm...I have a question," he said quietly.

"Go ahead," Colin told him.

"If you're gonna become my new parents, am I supposed to call you dad?"

"You can if you're comfortable doing that," Colin assured him. "You can also keep calling us Colin and Justin if that's more comfortable for you."

"Do it like I do," Blake offered. "I just call them dad or dads, if I'm talking to both of them, but if I'm in a crowd or something, I use their first names. Or if I'm talking to someone about them, I'd say my dad, Justin, or my dad, Colin. I was trying out J-dad and C-dad, but I'm not feeling it yet."

"Cool. I have another question. If I'm not gonna live with mom and dad, am I not a Campbell anymore?"

"I know it's hard to understand at this point, but you were only given the last name Campbell because you didn't remember who you were. Officially your name is John Tyler Jones. That's what is on your birth certificate and is still who you are legally. At the adoption, you can change it to whatever you'd like," Colin told him.

"I think I'd still like to be Jayce Jaxson. I think it sounds pretty cool," he smiled.

"We agree," I nodded.

"Yeah. Totally the coolest name ever," Blake agreed.

"Me and Blake were talking about this before and he said he changed his name from Jones to Worthington-Masters, to match your last names, but he kept his first two names the same. I guess it would make sense for me to have the same last name as Blake, right?"

"It's up to you, but it would make the most sense, as a family."

"Yeah, we'd finally have the same last name again. Like we used to," Blake said excitedly. "You'd officially be my little brother again. Think how cool it's gonna be when I get my driver's license and can drop you off at school everyday in a different car. After I graduate high school, you'd be right there to take over my place as the most prominent guy in school. I'd even teach you how to be cool enough to do it."

"Or we let him create his own identity and be who he wants to be," I suggested.

"I know, but he's got me as a big brother, so it's only natural he's gonna learn epic cool from me, right?"

"Right," I nodded. At this point, it's just easier to agree.

"When do you think we can adopt J.J.?" Blake asked.

"That's up to when a court date is available. Could be a couple weeks, or a month," I replied. I'm not sure how long the backlog is for kids waiting to be adopted, so for all I know it could be a year.

"J.J. let's go plan things we can do when we're officially brothers again. I can teach you to drive when I get older, I can show you how to captain the boats we have at the dock. When you're old enough I can teach you all about sex so you can impress girls, or boys; whatever you end up liking."

"I like boys. Girls are okay, but they're too weird to hang out with most of the time," he replied.

"Your taste will change when you hit puberty. Trust me dude. But I'll be there. Brothers are there for each other, always. Even if you rob a bank, I'll be there to drive the getaway car."

"How come I couldn't drive?" J.J. asked seriously.

I laughed. "That's your issue? Not driving. So you're okay robbing a bank?"

"No. I don't need any money, so I wouldn't do that," he replied. "Blake's just joking."

I dunno. Somehow I think he would volunteer to be a getaway driver, just to be helpful.

"Let's go talk about other stuff," Blake suggested. "Are you done talking to J.J.?"

"We are. As soon as we know when we can do it, we'll let you know."

"Thanks," J.J. smiled. "I think it'll be nice to be adopted."

That simple comment made me feel emotional, and I gave him a hug. I'm such a fag. I think it'll be nice adopting him too. With that, the boys took off and our day was looking up...but that only lasted until around 6pm when the front gate buzzer went, and we opened it to allow two police cars through. Here we go.

"Good evening," one officer said as he approached the door after they parked. "Do you know a Layne Campbell?"

"Sure. He's a friend of our son," I replied.

"Is he here?"

"No. We haven't seen him in a few days. Is there some trouble officer?" I asked trying to sound innocent. This is where my extensive acting skills come in.

"He's gone missing and his parents thought he might be here."

"Why? So they can grab him again. I hope Layne is alright," Blake said quickly as he joined us in the foyer.

"Grab him?" One of the officers asked.

"Yeah, they screamed at us for being gay, and hauled him out of there so roughly, I thought they were going to kill him or something. You don't think they did, do you? It happened at 4:50pm at Safeway on Georgia."

I rolled my eyes to myself and wondered if I should stop Blake from talking. At this rate we'll be down in an interrogation bunker black site for the next several hours.

"We're currently just investigating a missing person. May we conduct a search of your home for him?"

"Do you have a warrant?" Blake asked stepping up to the officers.

"Blake, relax," Colin said putting a hand on Blake's shoulder to pull him back. "He watches way too much TV. Have you checked with his uncle? I understand he spends six months a year there, so I'd guess if he was having trouble at home, he might head there."

"We've already checked. His uncle said Layne had shown up last night in distress, but this morning he was gone by the time he woke up.

I looked at Colin, and then at Blake who was obviously anxious.

"We understand that there was talk about sending Layne to a conversion therapy camp in Oklahoma," Colin added. "The Campbells are very religious and don't believe that their son could be gay. Is it possible that he's been taken there already?"

The second officer was making plenty of notes as we talked, while the first one kept asking the questions.

"Is Layne gay?" The officer asked.

"Kids our age aren't really into labels like you older people," Blake replied, stepping in again. "We're comfortable being affectionate around others. Like Layne was doing with our friend."

"That would be Darcy Aldridge?" The cop confirmed.

"It would. Have you spoken to him?" I said quickly, a bit surprised that they knew about Darcy.

"We have a unit over there right now," he replied.

"Good. Ask him about the showdown at Safeway. He'll tell you how crazy Layne's parents were," Blake said quickly.

"Is there anyone else in the house that may have seen him since yesterday?" The officer asked.

"There are a lot of people here. Hang on, we'll get them to come down," Colin replied. "ADAM, tell everyone to get dressed and meet in the great room. We have visitors."

The ding sounded, and we invited the officers further into the house. Since we have nothing to hide, there's no issue letting them in. Not sure I want them going through my unmentionables though. What the fuck are unmentionables? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't care about my dildo collection, or the dungeon, and I totally mention those lots. Maybe it's like an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Anything in those would be unmentionable, right?

Moments later, the guys began arriving and seemed surprised to see police officers. We asked each of them if they'd seen Layne at all, knowing full well that they hadn't.

J.J. ran up to Blake. "Whoa, are you in trouble Blake?"

"Why would you assume they're here for me, dude?" Blake grinned at his little brother. "They're looking for Layne."

"Is he missing? He went home with mom and dad yesterday after they got mad," he replied.

"Mom and dad?" the officer asked, not missing the comment.

Colin interjected quickly. "That's one way we know Layne. J.J. was a foster child with the Campbells until they found his next of kin, which is Justin. That can all be confirmed by the Ministry of Children and Families."

"We'll follow up if we need to investigate further. Maybe we search the premises?"

"I might be able to save you some time," I said to him. "ADAM, please locate Layne."

"Layne is not currently on the premises," he replied.

"ADAM, is there anyone on the property not currently in the great room?" I inquired further.

"Two unidentified persons are on the front driveway. They are both armed with hand guns. Should I contact the police?"

"They are the police," I replied. The ding sounded to let us know it was understood.

"Impressive technology, but we would still have to search visually," he informed us.

"I appreciate that you have a job to do, officers, but we've told you that Layne isn't here, and that none of us have seen him since yesterday," Colin said. "We've put enough with enough homophobia and bigotry from the Campbells, so we decline your request to search the house without a warrant. If you feel you need to, you're welcome to return and present a warrant to our lawyer. If we do have contact with Layne, we'll be sure to tell him that his parents are looking for him. Meanwhile, I'd look into the allegations that perhaps they're making all this up to fuel their bigotry. I'd also contact the Ministry for Children to advise them of the danger Layne is in from his parents now that they believe he's gay."

"Thank you. We'll conclude our conversation for now, and if we need to, we'll return with a warrant. Here's my card if you do hear from Layne at all."

We thanked him and escorted the two officers to the door.

The second the door was closed, Blake turned to us. "Holy shit!" He began to say, but I put my finger to my lips to indicate he should be quiet. Last thing we need is for him to say something while police were still within earshot.

We waited until we saw the cars leave the property before we talked about him. Of course everyone wanted to know what was up, so we gave them the story up to the point Layne was taken home by his parents. We left out the late-night visit to Steve's.

"ADAM, locate Layne on GPS," Blake said into the air.

"Layne does not have a GPS signal," came the reply.

"Good. He's at least smart enough to turn off his phone. He's gone dark. He won't resurface now until it's safe to do so," Blake said to all of us.

"So, he's Rambo now?" I asked shaking my head.

"In the field we had a code of honour. You watch my back, I watch yours," Blake said in his best Stallone voice, before quickly sending a text to both Darcy and Steve asking if they'd seen him. Darcy got back first, letting us know the police had just left and he'd told them what he knew, which wasn't much. Steve's return text was a little more surprising in that he also had no idea. He said that sometime during the night, Layne had left. He suggested he had an idea about where he'd gone, but wasn't about to send details over the phone.

We let everyone get on with their day, and despite trying to be normal, I have to admit my mind was focused on how to help Layne. About an hour later, Blake came rushing down the back stairs.

"Got a coded message from Layne. He's okay," he said quickly as he showed us his phone. "Check it out."

The text said. `Loving military lingo. Charlie Alpha Bravo Indigo November chow ++ working on rest of alphabet. Later.'

"How do you know its from Layne?"

"We planned it before we left Steve's, in case anything went wrong," he grinned. "He's probably grabbed a burner phone as I don't recognize the number."

"And you replied `50 recon. Stay frosty.'" I read.

"Yeah, 5-0 Like Hawaii 5-0, meaning police."

"Got it. So where is he?" I asked.

Blake just grinned. "He's Charlie Alpha Bravo Indigo November with plenty of food."

Colin just shook his head. "Good thing he's not using his own phone that could be intercepted. He's using the first letter of each word to tell you he's at the cabin. Clever, but not very secure."

"Hey, we only had a minute to come up with a code," Blake shrugged.

"You might have had more time if you hadn't stopped to rim Salish," I suggested helpfully.

"I'm good at multitasking. So, what do we do now? Should we go rescue him?"

"No, at the moment, I think if we raced off to the cabin, we'd likely be followed," I replied. Blake's not the only one to watch TV cops shows. "I've been to that cabin, remember. It's well stocked, so he'll be okay there for a bit."

"I'll keep monitoring the situation and report back. Sienna's on board to be his girlfriend, and we're just preparing the back story. They've gotta have an origin story about how they met and stuff."

"Just don't get over complicated or send it over text to Layne. Wait until you can meet in person."

"If you tell me where the cabin is, I can grab my camo gear, and come in from the back side, hide in the bushes to scope out the terrain. We could meet covertly and work it all out. If anyone has claymores we could set up a perimeter," Blake suggested.

That's it. I'm cancelling his Netflix. "Let's just see how the situation plays out. At some point he's going to need to surface and talk to his parents before the entire police force is out hunting for a lost teenager, possibly identified as kidnapped by a gay gang," I said to him. Okay, cancel my Netflix too.

Blake returned several hours later with his phone. "Dads, it's Layne," he said putting his phone on the table. "Layne, my dads are now listening."

"Hey Layne, you okay?" I asked right out of the gate.

"Hi. Yeah, Uncle Steve came up and brought my other phone. The one my parents don't know about. How is shit there? Uncle Steve said my parents came to talk to him."

"Yeah, the cops came here to search, but we turned them down. So far they haven't come back, but we gave them enough information to redirect their investigation into your parents."

We explained the whole interaction with him, and all agreed that he couldn't stay on the run for long.

"I talked to Sienna, dude, and she's totally in to help you. Me and her were thinking maybe you could go back home, but with her with you. You could say they scared you when they threatened to abuse you, so you ran to stay with your girlfriend."

"She'd do that? What if my parents wanted to check the story and confirm that I stayed there?" He asked logically.

"Simple, you say you snuck in and slept on her floor to not get caught. You've already met Sienna's parents a few times when we've been over there, so she's gonna explain things to them, and let me know if they'll go along or not. All they really gotta do is say yes that you two are together. Like most parents they won't know many details about the relationship though. I mean they don't know that much about me, and I'm over there all the time."

We were happy to hear that Steve had gone up to see Layne in person to make sure he was okay, but it's still stressful knowing the boy is going through this, and scared of his parents. That should never be the life of a child, teenager or not.

"Nothing has really happened here, except for a call from the Ministry saying that Charles and Vanessa had contacted them about our snatching kids to groom them," Colin advised Layne.

"Sorry about that. They've gotten a little unhinged since they were banned from fostering again, and were told there was no path to adopting Jimmy, sorry...J.J., moving forward."

"I'm thinking they were unhinged before; it was just under control as long as things went their way. That's how these types of people are," I said bluntly. "Sorry, I don't mean to talk bad about your parents in front of you."

"It's okay. I understand. Mostly they're good people, just not very good at adapting to change," he justified.

We let Blake and Layne go off and talk for a bit as we just let ourselves internally process the situation. I was thinking about process, which led to thinking about processed cheese, which made me hungry, so I went to make grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone. And by make them, I mean I told Dakota, who did fancy grilled cheese for us.

We hadn't heard from anyone in a couple days, so we figured Layne was hunkered down in the cabin awaiting the right moment to make another move. Either that, or he's fortifying the cabin with `Home Alone' type defenses. Have you ever noticed how easy it is in TV shows for people to surround their house with deadly explosives and trip wire bombs? I doubt I could surround my house with firecrackers, or find the right wire, never mind an explosive to attach it too.

"Dad, Sienna just called. Her and Layne turned themselves into the police station. I think shit is going down hard," Blake said as he joined us in the great room.

"Why do you say that?" Colin asked.

"Sienna was crying as I guess Layne showed her the marks on his back and butt from the beating his parents gave him."

"What? Why didn't he say anything when we were over there? That alone would have been enough to go to the police station with, instead of needing to run away."

Blake just gave a look that said he knew more than he was letting on, and wasn't sure if he should reveal it or not. Fortunately we knew the look well.

"Spill," Colin said, obviously recognizing the look too.

"He made sure to give himself some marks and bruises in case the Sienna thing didn't work the way we planned," he said quickly. I was pretty sure we said that was a bad idea. "I took Sienna over to Steve's so she could meet him, and see the house in case she gets questioned about it. Layne and her talked on the phone and got things all set up. They even created a story about why he was holding Darcy's hand."

"And that story is?" Colin asked.

"That we were doing dares. The girls gave the boys dares and we gave the girls dares. We're going to say that the girls were waiting outside while our dare was to walk around holding hands with each other."

I listened and nodded at the same time. It has plausibility. It's un-boy to turn down a dare when you're challenged, so that might work.

"Any word about what is happening at the police station?" Colin asked.

"Sienna texted to say they're just waiting for the Campbells to show up, and that she'll keep us posted."

We didn't have to wait long before Blake was rushing down with the next update.

"What's the story?" Colin inquired.

"Sienna said the Campbells are acting weird. They're all nice and concerned while also sounding like supervillains. She said they were worried about him and if he was safe, then said they'd go right to church so he could pray for forgiveness. She said Layne told them that he had nothing to ask to be forgiven for, as he did nothing wrong...they did. That's my boy!" he gushed.

"Are they still at the police station?"

"I think so. Sienna even said that the Campbells wanted to see her phone to see who she was texting," he replied.

"Damn, that's some next level control freak shit," I said shaking my head. "What fucking business is it of theirs who she's talking to?"

"That's what she said, although probably more politely. They said that if she was going to be an influence on their son, they would need to know if she was going to be a good influence. She better not let them see her phone...ever, or Layne's gonna be going to conversion camp, and Sienna is likely going to get kidnapped and sent to nun school."

While it's likely he's joking, I'd be curious to see a nun school. Is that where nuns teach you, or you learn to be a nun? Seems like it's something you'd be ahead of the curve on, if you knew that before you went.

"Sounds like it may not be over yet," Colin noted.

Blake just shrugged. "Not sure. I think his parents are always going to be the insane religious type, but all he's trying to do right now is not get sent away. From the way Sienna's describing it, they might be skeptical about her, but are buying it on some level."

"Why are they still at the police station?"

"Not sure exactly, but it sounds like they are recording both sides of the story for their record. Guess we still have to wait, right?"

"Not much else we can do," I replied.

Roughly an hour later Blake was back with news that Layne was home again, and Sienna had gone with them, but told to go home once they arrived. Figures that people like that wouldn't offer to drive her home. That wouldn't make it about them that way.

"Sienna said it sounded like they were pissed that they had to go deal with all of this, and be embarrassed at the police station. She said they sounded like really uptight people."

"She's got them nailed," I said seriously. No joking about anything when it comes to these people. I feel sorry for anyone in their church that doesn't fit into their cookie cutter mould. You go to church to talk to God and ask for guidance, and the only thing you hear in the background is some shrieky Karen going on about sins of others and freaking out. `Judge not lest ye be judged. For what judgement you use, can be used against you.' Some dude named Matthew came up with that, probably while stoned at a ye olde frat party. Seems like good advice. Totally eliminates an entire profession though. Sorry, Supreme Court dudes.

"What do we do now?" Blake asked.

"Nothing we can do," Colin replied. "Things are going to play out how they play out. You did a nice thing for your friend by getting Sienna to help out, but we, and by that, I mean you as well, need to stay out of it and let the Campbells calm down. I recommend putting some space between you and Layne for a time."

"How long? We have videos to produce," Blake asked frowning. "And what about Darcy? He's not getting any action while his boyfriend is being tied to the rack and flogged."

"One day your over active imagination is going to really come back and bite you. I think Darcy will be less interested in getting laid, than he will about making sure Layne is okay and safe. We should let him know that he needs to give Layne space as well. Especially since it was him they saw holding Layne's hand."

"We're debating that," Blake said quickly. "Since we're saying it was just a dare from the girls, it might seem stupid for Darcy to stay away, since they're just `friends' playing out a joke. It might be more normal if they try to laugh about it, where his parent might overhear."

"That sounds risky. It wouldn't take much for there to be a look or comment from one of them that the parents might pick up on, which could fuel this all up again," I said in my professional capacity as therapist. "Give it some time. Let it all cool down. Stick with your story, and wait for things to return to normal. The Campbells seem like the type that, if they believe Layne and Sienna, will put him on a very tight leash for a very long time."

Blake giggled slightly. "Layne might like a nice tight leash. We don't know how kinky he's gonna get. But I hear you. I'll just ask Layne if he'd like me to take care of Darcy's needs while he's out of action. Gotta keep my boys happy, right?"

"You do you, Blake," Colin said shaking his head.

"Dad," he said patting Colin on the back. "If I could do me, I've never need to leave my bedroom. See you later. If anything else happens, I'll let you know."

He'd barely been gone a minute before Steve was calling us. Turns out he'd been slightly involved by confirming Layne and Sienna's relationship.

"Are they buying it?" I asked.

"I think so. At the very least it's thrown them off course. They were all fired up about him being gay and preparing to take corrective action, that the introduction of a girlfriend, seems to have confused them. Believe it or not I think the whole thing may have short circuited them," he said with an obvious glee to his voice.

"Why's that?" Colin asked.

"First, they're so anti-gay, that anything LGBTQ infuriates them, but they're also anti-sex before marriage kind of people, so the fact that Sienna is as flirty as she is, has them wanting to address it, but relieved that their son might not actually be gay. They also don't want to say he can't see her; in case he starts to think of boys in her place. It's the best of both worlds. I did advise both kids to not mention sex though, or he could still be shipped off to church camp for his sinful thoughts."

"I dunno what religion they are, but I wouldn't want to live with someone dictating those kinds of rules to me," I said quickly.

"Trust me, most people don't. Why do you think less than 50% of people even go to church anymore? 70% of young people are not going at all, once they are able to break free of parental authority."

"Sounds like Layne is walking a tightrope. Goes to conversion therapy if he's gay, or to pray away his `sins' if he's thinking of sex with a girl. Wonder what would happen if they knew he'd been in gang bangs?"

"You DO NOT want to throw that in there," Steve said with a bit of humour mixed in with the serious. "I'd guess that none of us would ever see Layne again. I advised him to just look horrified at the idea of sex with anyone, and be friends with Sienna. He should have no trouble with that as he's not interested in sex with her, so that shouldn't be hard to fake. They took the door off his bedroom, so he's got absolutely no privacy. He's going to have a tough time for a while, but if he just acts like the good obedient son, he might scrape by this incident."

"What happens when the Campbells go away again? Will he be able to have his freedom back at your place?" Colin asked logically.

"Charles and Vanessa discussed that with me. Well, not so much discussed as told me that they were changing their schedules around so that at least one of them would be home at all times. He won't be staying with me anymore. At least not for now. Something tells me that they might have been pissed off that he ran to my place when he left there."

"Seems like they get pissed off easily. That would be a real shit way to live your life, if you ask me," I chirped up.

"So true. It seems they follow the pieces of their religion that give them the most to bitch about. Personally, I think they're happiest when they're in conflict with something. I'm just glad that, at least for now, Layne is staying home. Sienna seems like a nice girl, and if my nephew were straight, I could see those two really being an amazing couple. Right now, he's so gay, he doesn't even realize what a nice rack that girl has. Which might actually work in his favour, trying to convince his parents he's not into sex. Ironic isn't it?"

"What is?" I asked.

"Parents of a straight boy might be concerned if their 16-year-old boy didn't find a girl sexy, and wonder if he might be gay. Charles and Vanessa are relieved that he's not interested in sex, and that he's not into boys. No concept that he might not be drooling over her, because he's got a bone for Darcy. After what Layne has told me, I wonder how they'd react if they knew they'd seen each other naked, plenty of times."

"I think we know how they'd react," I chuckled. "He'd be back on his knees."

"What?" Colin asked giving me a confused frown.

"In church, pervert. On his knees, praying for forgiveness. Get your mind out of the gutter, and get off your knees too. This is no time to rest your head on my lap," I said chuckling louder.

"If you boys are going to be doing that, we should facetime. I could help direct the action, or better yet come over and we can hang out in person."

"I think we should leave it here for now. We need to get going," Colin said quickly. "Please keep us updated if you hear anything. Being family, you're likely to hear from them before we do."

"I'll be sure to keep you in the loop. We make a good team. The plan is working so far. Let's just hope we can keep it going."

"Let's cross our fingers," I replied before we concluded the call. "Is it me, or do you get the feeling Steve might be planning a three-way for Layne, Sienna, and himself."

"After meeting him, I have no doubt he would if he could," Colin agreed. We talked a while longer, but felt a real sense of relief that Layne was seemingly okay...at least for now.

There was no real news from the Campbell home front over the next few days. Just a few snippets from Sienna when she'd gone to hang out with Layne. They were not allowed to be alone together when she was there, and she said his parents were still suspicious. It turned out that Sienna was a good choice though as they knew enough about each other to work up a convincing back story, which for now was keeping the parents from overreacting.

A little over a week later, we were woken up to a visitor bearing a gift. It was some legal dude with a paper that he gave to both Colin and I, then he left. Not a chatty fellow, and not someone you'd invite to come in and take their clothes off. That always seems more friendly to me than inviting them in for tea.

We headed to the great room and sat down to open the envelopes we'd been given. I have a feeling it's not going to be an announcement that we've been given the People of the Year award, or won the lottery. I was right. It was a restraining order for Colin, myself, and Blake to stay at least 50 metres away from Layne and the Campbells at all times. It did not include J.J., or Jimmy Campbell or John Jones at all. Looks like they still want J.J. to be able to interact with Layne on some level.

"That's some seriously deranged shit right there," I said shaking my head.

"Agreed, but if it keeps Layne from being sent for conversion therapy, I'd say it's worth it, wouldn't you?"

"I would. I wonder how Blake is going to react to this. He's not exactly a rule follower."

"He's going to have to be in this case, or we could find ourselves in legal trouble," Colin advised. "I'll run this past Sam and see what he says about it."

"I guess we should abide by the terms of it for now, if for no other reason than to let the situation remain calm," I reasoned

"I'd agree with that. If the Campbells think they've won this round, they might just feel vindicated enough to let some of the pressure off Layne. It may not be what he wants, but at least he's safe."

We sat talking about a few things, during which Colin talked to Sam, our lawyer. He made Colin read the contents of the `Family Law Protection order' we'd received, and at the end he actually laughed.

"Sorry, was there something funny in there that we missed?" Colin asked, looking at me confused.

"Sure. It's not a valid protection order. I'm surprised a judge would have signed off on it. A Family Law order like this may only be filed against family members to protect children or spouses, ex-spouses, and such. There is no provision to file it against non-related persons. If they wanted a real restraining order against you, they would have needed to file a peace bond, which would go through the criminal court system. Nothing would happen unless you violated the agreement, should it be granted, but if you did, you could be charged criminally."

"What does all that mean for this order?" Colin asked for clarification.

"Nothing. You can legally ignore it as it cannot be applied to you. Knowing something of the situation you're in though, you might want to obey the spirit of the order. By staying away from Layne, you effectively eliminate any future conflict with the Campbells as it relates to him."

"Won't change the fact he's still gay, and would be having relationships with boys," I added.

"That may be true, but it doesn't in any way affect you. This order gives you an opportunity to walk away from the Campbells, and their beliefs that don't match with yours," he said professionally, before pausing slightly. "But you're not going to, are you?"

"I think it'd be hard to just walk away from Layne. He's good friends with Blake and they do a lot of activities together. The same as Darcy, his boyfriend. They all hang out together. Then there's J.J. who still sees Layne as his big brother. To just shut all that off doesn't seem ideal for anyone."

"The option is that you ignore the order and let the chips fall where they may. It's possible that the Campbells may refile for a proper Peace Bond when this one is invalidated, in which case, you'd have no choice but to comply, if it succeeded."

"What are the chances that they'd win in court?" I asked.

"Very high. They're using religious beliefs to protect their child, and since there would be no real hardship for the minor by denying him access to you, the order would likely be granted without much fanfare. My advice is to put some distance between yourselves and the situation and let things calm down naturally. Follow the order as if it were valid. That's my advice, but I'm here to represent you, should you choose to ignore it."

"Thanks Sam," Colin said as we brought the conversation to a close.

"As always, thanks again Sam," I added.

After we hung up, Colin looked at me. "So? We following the order or not?"

I sat there for a moment trying to weigh up all the pros and cons of it.

"What are you thinking?" Colin asked as his eyes roamed over my face. He knew me well enough to know when I was processing information. It's like when you have to pick between two hot guys, knowing you can only pick one and never see the other again. You have to really focus.

"Initially, I'd be inclined to say fuck them, and ignore it. But what Sam says makes sense. Right now, they think they've won. If we prove their attempt was invalid and idiotic, they'll just ramp it up and we could end up having no choice at all."

"So we're going to abide by the order?" he asked for clarification again. "Whatever we decide, we'll need to inform Blake as he's included in this."

"It's not fair to keep them apart as friends. I suppose they could always stay in touch virtually until Layne turns 19 when he's free of their rules," I said thinking out loud. "Not sure how that will affect their YouTube project."

"I think that's the least of it. Layne is currently having to lie to satisfy his parent's need for him to be straight. They've linked Sienna in with all of this now as well. What happens if they find Sienna with Blake one day. Maybe they have another accidental encounter."

"Getting Sienna out of this would be easy. I'm sure plenty of other girls would love to have a fake boyfriend who is gay. They have no pressure to have sex, while each get to show off their partners to their friends. That one seems like it would be the least of the issues." I said as we continued to spitball ideas.

Question. What is a spitball and why does it have ideas? Such a strange saying, and kinda gross too.

Blake returned home with Cory a few hours later, so we sat him down and let him read the restraining order. We didn't tell him it was invalid, as that would have fueled him up to go prove to the Campbells how stupid they were. Instead, it fueled him up to a rage of injustice, bigotry, and homophobia, and pretty much everything else he could pile on the soapbox with him.

"How's Darcy doing with all this?" I asked when Blake had stopped his tirade.

"He's hating it. Since the Campbell's took Layne's phone, the only news we're getting is through Sienna. Darcy is pretty depressed. The only funny moment is when Sienna gave him a kiss and said it was from Layne. He said `That's it? A kiss on the cheek?', so she gave him a kiss that pretty much curled his toes. I think she may have made him straight after that," he said grinning. "She's a really good kisser."

"Sounds like it. I do feel bad for Darcy. He's sort of stuck in limbo as he waits for his boyfriend to have freedom again," Colin commented.

"Yeah. It totally sucks. All of us miss him. Even J.J. is struggling with it a bit as he always enjoys it when Layne is over. I'm making sure I spend more time with him though to fill in the gaps. If I was a selfish type person, I'd be happy that Layne couldn't spend as much time with J.J. Gives us more bonding time as I try to help him get his memories back. He only ever had me as his brother, so maybe now that it's back like that, he'll recover faster."

"Let's not tell him that," I warned. "Just do what you're good at."

"Gross, Dad! I am NOT having sex with J.J. Not ever. You're so weird sometimes," he said staring at me. I honestly couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"I didn't mean that, Blake. I meant be his big brother. The guy who cares about others and how they feel. You're very empathetic and I think that trait is perfect for this situation," I clarified for him.

"Oh. Yeah. I'd protect J.J. to the death. But for the record, I'm even better at sex than I am at being empathetic."

"And so humble on top of it," Colin teased.

"Exactly," Blake nodded. Let me guess, that was sarcasm. "In fact, I'm so empathetic that I've had sex with Darcy a few times, just so he won't forget how, for when Layne is back."

I left it at that. No need to get details from him. Although if sex is all Darcy needs to help him deal with missing his boyfriend, I can line up a few (dozen) guys to help him out.

I did get an opportunity to talk to Darcy a couple days later, and he told me that he got a few chances to talk to Layne using Sienna's phone when she went over. Seems like his parents have come around to buying the story of it being a dare now that they'd gotten to know Sienna a little better. They also seemed to accept that Darcy was just a friend, and they'd planned to all hang out together again, but with parental supervision for the next little while.

"Guess a three-way isn't happening while you're hanging out?" I teased.

"Not a chance. They even took the door off his bedroom so he couldn't do anything sinful. Wonder if they know he can still jerk off in the shower?"

"Don't say that out loud around them, or he'll have to shower with a chaperone," I warned playfully.

"Fine. I'll volunteer to chaperone him. I suppose it's the least I can do for my best friend in need," Darcy sighed.

I laughed. "You do know that chaperoning wouldn't include getting in the shower and helping him with any morning wood, right?"

"Pass then," he chuckled. "I think I'd be jealous if Sienna was made the chaperone though."

"Yeah, that's never happening. I'm guessing if that happened, it'd be his dad that would get the job." I couldn't even imagine that being a thing, but what I've learned about the Campbells so far, I wouldn't put it past them. "How's the sex life if you can't hang out with Layne in private?"

"Almost nonexistent. Sucks," he shrugged.

"Almost?" I asked with a small grin.

"When Blake's around, you're guaranteed some action," he revealed.

"Whether you want the action or not," I added.

"True, but I like it. It just sucks not having Layne around, not just the sex thing, but to be friends. He's really my only friend, so it's sort of lonely right now."

"You have all of us as your friends," I reminded him. "Plus you still have Toby as your little brother. How's that going?"

"Great. He's a fun kid and he really looks up to me. He now thinks he's a full ninja. He's not. I just meant that Layne is the only friend I have that's my age. You guys are all fun to hang out with, but it's still nice to have friends exactly your age."

"True. But until Layne is able to hang around with you again, spend as much time over here as you want. Hell, if you want to meet boys your own age, I'll take you over to the Academy. You can meet dozens of boys who would love to get to know you."

"Are these guys that would also all want to have sex with me?" He asked.

"I'm sure they would enjoy that," I laughed. "Best way to make friends is when they have their dick in you."

"Normally I think I'd like that, but it would make me miss Layne that much more. I mean normally when we end up fooling around with another boy, it's usually me and him together, so I think it would make me sadder."

"I get that. Let me ask you seriously, though. Are you alright? I mean I'd hate for you to be as depressed as you were when I first met you. That was a little scary."

"I'm okay. I'm just a little lonely, but before when I was lonely, I had no one to talk to. At least now, I still have all you guys, so that helps. Plus, you're all awesome to be around," he smiled.

"Well, I love it when you're around," I said pulling him in for a good solid hug. I then lifted his face and leaned in to give him a kiss on the lips. Not a tongue action, looking for tonsils, type. Just a nice peck on the lips.

"See, this is why I like coming over here. You guys are nice to be around."

"If you want to see nice, would you like to continue hugging up in the bedroom? Maybe your ass would like some attention as well. I'm fine if you don't want to. I don't want it to upset you," I added, trying to respect his sensitivities.

"No, I like fooling around with you guys. I was mostly just talking about guys my age that Layne and I pick up sometimes. Sex with you guys is more like comfort sex."

Not sure what comfort sex is, but it sounds like he's saying yes to the bedroom. "I guess you're getting laid before you leave," I said as I reached out to take his hand.

He took it, and followed me up to the bedroom. I wasted no time giving him the attention he needed. I had our shirts off fast, before pulling him in for another hug. It's always better skin to skin and I could feel his heart beating at our touch. This time the kiss used a lot more tongue, and he reciprocated as if he hadn't kissed in months. The way he went at me; you could see the boy needed attention.

I was going to move us to the bed so we could roll around and start slowly, but he dropped to his knees and had my pants down so fast, I'm sure my legs have fabric burns. He almost choked himself as he gave me a blowjob, and I had to remind him we weren't in a timed event so he could slow down. Darcy's best asset is definitely his ass, as I've mentioned many times, so any opportunity to spend additional time with it is welcome. Today, he didn't need to be thrown on the bed, legs flung wide open and fucked hard; he needed something more romantic. Like being gently placed on the bed, having his legs slowly opened, and then fucked hard.

We did move to the bed when I got him up off my cock, although it was like trying to get an industrial strength suction cup off the wall. We rolled around together for a while, mostly so I could get him all revved up. We 69'd for a bit, before we lay on our sides, with him as the little spoon. I slowly moved his upper leg over mine and casually played with his tiny hole. I added lube and fingered it into him, which caused him to move back against me for as much as he could get. It didn't take much after that before I was rubbing my erection up and down his crack, teasing his entrance. I finally aimed the pink head of my penis against the winking rosebud, and began to apply pressure.

There's just something so sexy about watching a small ass take a big cock. When they first connect, you're absolutely sure there's no way it's going in. You can see the ring open like a portal, before sucking you in. Then no force on earth could prevent you from fucking something that sweet. I took my time and gave him a fuck so amazing that Blake will be reduced to the farm team, and only called up to the show when I'm not available. As I fucked him, I pulled his head around so we could kiss as well. Of course in this position, it also allowed me to jerk him off as he enjoyed the intercourse. I left a good size load in his ass before I slowly pulled out and watched his sphincter close back up, like a flower at night, ready to wait until next time.

"How was that? Will that hold you for a few days?" I asked, as he turned to face me.

"I'll say. I might actually be good for a whole week. Your dick is so big it feels like you're still in there," he replied with a big smile as he reached over to gently hold it.

"Part of me is," I grinned back. "We'll make sure to rinse you out before you leave. Who knows maybe you'll get horny again in the shower."

"You and Blake really are related," he laughed. "He does the same thing. We fool around and then by the time we hit the shower, he's ready to play again."

"The trick there is to shower alone. That way you don't reactivate him. Just for the record, that doesn't apply to me though. I'm always going to shower with you. Usually to make sure you're properly cleaned."

"Got it. Should I just put the extra lube in now, or wait until we actually shower?"

"Don't be silly," I said shaking my head. "We have lube in the shower."

He laughed and we snuggled together for a bit. He may have gotten a good fuck, but he's still a 16-year-old boy and never once lost his erection. I noticed that his kissing has improved as well. Having a boyfriend has been good for him, and not just for sex. He's overall more confident too, which I'd hate to see him lose if Layne isn't allowed to hang out with him again. I debated rolling him onto his stomach and going for round two, but I saved that for the shower, where I gave him a quickie against the wall as the water cascaded over us.

I was genuinely surprised, and actually relieved, several days later when I saw Layne and Darcy coming across the lawn, having arrived from the ocean side of the property. Slightly unusual, but maybe they'd been hanging out at the nude beach together.

"Layne! Great to see you in person again," I said as I rushed up and gave him a big hug. "You escape or are you being allowed out now?"

"I'm allowed out. Well, it's more like I don't have to be home right after school. My parents may not be travelling but they still have jobs, so I'm allowed to stay out until 6pm. I have to be home when they are though. They have eased up that much. It totally sucks, but not as much as if I were off being lobotomized."

"So true. Glad to see you two back together again. Darcy's been a wreck without you."

"He told me that you guys were making sure he was okay, so thanks for that," he said smiling.

"Anytime. That goes for you too. If you need some personal attention, you know where to come," I assured them.

"We know exactly where to `cum'. Mouth or ass. Right babe?" Layne said as he leaned in to kiss Darcy.

"Definitely," Darcy nodded.

"Justin, we were wondering if maybe Darcy and me could borrow a bedroom. You know, for some boyfriend time."

"Pick any place you like. I'll be sure to set a timer so you don't get lost in each other and forget to get home on time. Leave lots of time for a shower at the end though. Last thing you need is to be going home smelling of sex."

"True. Good advice. Can we use the guest room next to Blake's studio, and grab some lube from his bedroom?" Layne asked.

"Sure. Whatever you need."

The boys thanked me, and raced upstairs. I can only imagine the intensity of the sex about to take place. A big part of me wanted to go join in, but the reasonable and logical side realized they needed alone time. Sometimes that side, which I sometimes refer to as the adult side, really pisses me off. At the very least I could pull up a chair and watch. I mean sure, I could watch the video playback, as I doubt they'd remember to shut it off, but it's just not the same as being there.

By the time they came down, the smiles on their faces said it all. Even if you couldn't smell sex on them, those grins gave it away. They really did have a glow emanating.

"We needed that," Layne said as they joined me in the kitchen. "At least I did. Sounds like Darcy's been getting some while I've been held prisoner. Worst part is I can't have any privacy at home. If I even want to watch a movie, I have to get it approved first. They don't allow shows with any gay characters or sexual scenes. We're basically down to Disney shows from the 70's, or Paw Patrol."

"I dunno dude. I think that has some doggy style stuff in it," I teased, getting a laugh from the boys. "Think they'll ever ease up?"

"I'm sure they will. Maybe not like all the way back to what it was, but they're already getting tired of staying home so much. They like travelling, so I'm trying to be super well behaved so they go back to letting me stay with Uncle Steve for six months out of the year."

"That would be awesome," Darcy said enthusiastically. "I guess we can tough it out until then."

"Uncle Steve has already been working on them a bit, so hopefully they'll come around soon."

"Then I can come around and we can make out in your bedroom, where I can cum around you a lot!" Darcy teased.

"I still don't think it's a good idea for you to meet Uncle Steve. He's gonna wanna fuck you for sure, and once he sees how cute your ass is, you may get more sex than you could handle," Layne warned.

"I'd still like to meet him. Even if it's just once and he did want me."

"There is no question he'd have sex with you. He'd probably have you naked before I finished introducing you. The trouble with letting him meet you is that once he had you, he'd keep insisting I take you over to hang out more and more. No, for now you're better off not being there. I think if we need a place to have sex, Justin would be okay if we came here, wouldn't you, Justin?"

"Anytime boys. Anytime. But to make sure you're not getting up to something you shouldn't, you'll have to leave the bedroom door open," I joked.

"Huh?" Darcy asked.

"I mean if you're going to be alone in a bedroom together, we want to make sure you're not doing something inappropriate like reading or watching TV. If you're in there together, you better be naked and having sex."

"I think we could live with those rules," Layne laughed. "Darcy?"

"Yep, I think I could live with that, but wouldn't an open door with us having sex, just get everyone else horny? We have been here before, you know."

"And if others joined in, would you be complaining?"

"God no. I was just wondering if we needed to moan louder so they could hear us, or would pheromones be able to travel easier without the door closed," Darcy smirked.

"Trust me, around here, door open or not, we'll know you're having sex. I know everyone is anxious to welcome you back, Layne."

"And I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. It's been shit being home alone so much. It's actually been nice having Sienna over, even if we weren't allowed to hang out in my room. She brought me news from the outside world, but really had to watch what she said, as I had to have a parent in sight at all times when she visited."

"Wow, that's really strict," Darcy commented sympathetically. "At least when I have friends over, I'm allowed to be in my room. Although now that my parents know I'm gay, they are always suspicious of my male friends. At least until I tell them he's straight, then they're mostly okay with it."

"That doesn't seem to be a foolproof system, since Blake is allowed in your room," Layne laughed.

"But Blake is very good at acting straight. Plus, he's made a point of talking about Sienna a lot, when we hang out at my place. If anything, my parents want me to be more like him. If they only knew the real Blake," he laughed.

"We could offer a kid swap for a month," I suggested. "You live here and Blake stays at your place. They'd never complain about you again."

Layne laughed. "That's so true. Your parents would likely need therapy after that."

"That's how I get all my clients," I grinned. "I introduced them to Blake to let them spend concentrated time with him, and presto, I have a new client for life."

"I should get going. I don't want to get home after my parents," Layne announced as he looked at his phone. "The next bus is only a couple minutes away."

"Bus? You don't need no stinkin' bus. I'll drive you," I offered.

"Thanks. But don't take a fancy car to attract attention, and drop me off a few blocks away so they don't see me with you."

"Trust me, we don't need to rock that boat again," I assured him. "Darcy, what time do you have to be home?"

"About now, as well. Mostly it's the `be home for dinner' rule, unless I let them know ahead of time."

I drove both guys home and the smiles never left their faces. It was good to see them back to their old selves again, even if it was still heavily monitored. Layne had dodged a major bullet on this incident, but any future mistakes would likely get him sent away without hesitation, or warning. I look forward to the day when he's 19 and walks up to his parents and says,' Mom, Dad, I'm gay and I'm moving out. See you when you drop the homophobia.' That's going to be both a great and sad day.

I felt happy that at least for now, Layne was safe and getting his life back. We just have to find another girl for him, or the next issue we'll be dealing with will be the Campbell's planning Layne's marriage to her. I wouldn't put it past them to marry him off at 16 so she could start having babies. If anyone is having babies with Sienna, it should be Blake. Wait...what am I saying? Blake better not be getting anyone pregnant until he's at least 31. That would make me 40, so I'd probably feel old enough to be a grandpa by then.

Colin strolled home one day with a bunch of rolled paper under his arms and walked over to the main table to dump them.

"What's all this?" I asked, as Colin unrolled what looked like blueprints onto the dining room table.

"Plans," he said as he grabbed a couple heavy glasses to keep them from rolling back up.

"To take over the world? Nice," I said as I leaned over to look at them.

"Almost," he chuckled. "They're plans for some renovations I think we should do. What do you think?"

"Didn't we just do a big reno with the garages and new guest house?"

"We did, but I think it's time to upgrade a bit more."

I looked at the plans and nodded thoughtfully. Then gave a couple uh huh's and mmm hmm's, as I looked over the several pages on the table.

"You have no idea what you're looking at do you?" Colin finally asked with an amused grin.

"No, not a clue," I said as I still pretended to study the drawing.

"This is for a car lounge bar," he said flipping back to the first page.

I laughed. "What do cars drink? Gas and oil cocktails with a windshield washer chaser?"

He ignored me as he continued to explain. "We would dig out under the front yard and double the size of the underground garage. We'd add a large lounge area with bar to really showcase the cars. It would also give us a good place to host events."

"Cool. Sounds like it's gonna take a ton of work," I replied.

"It is. If we do it all at once, it'll take about four months and require we tear up the entire front yard. We'd move out again for that."

"I'm okay with that. What are these other plans?"

"This one is for a waterpark in the backyard."

"Waterpark? Don't we basically have one already?"

"We do, but this would be better. We'll make it look like rock, and double the size of the waterslide. Underneath we'll build sort of a grotto with a water curtain entrance. It'll lead to what will look like a natural hot spring hot tub. It'll have a random shape to it instead of just being round."

"Sounds cool. You realize though that we'll never get anyone out of the back yard if we build this."

He flipped to the third page. "This is where we rip out the new tennis court and use the space underneath where the old pool is. We'll reshape it and two have diving platforms off the deck next to the waterslides. That whole area would be self contained with the waterslide, and we'd add a few features that could be turned on and off."

"What sort of features?" I asked as I studied the plans to see if I could imagine what he was proposing. I didn't have to wait long as he pulled out his laptop and showed me an artist rendering.

"The pools will be built in such a way that the water can circle around. If you turn on these jets, it'll push the water around like a lazy river. You can also turn the water into a bubbling pool, almost making it look like the water is boiling."

I laughed. "Nice way to scare the kids."

"Especially if you do this," he said as he clicked on another simulation. This turned the water to red and orange with smoke jets coming out from the side. "It'll make the whole waterpark look like a giant volcano."

"Fuck, that's epic. All you need is a dinosaur, and I'd be terrified to use it, never mind the kids. I'm guessing it can be changed to any colour?"

"Of course. There will also be jets to spray water up like a fountain and it can be made to react to music."

"Where's the tennis court going?" I asked as I surveyed the plans. I hardly ever use it, as my plans to be a world tennis champion are on hold right now. Actually, let's face it, the only parts of tennis I like is playing with the fuzzy ball I get to keep in my pocket, and the jumping over the net part at the end.

"We'll move it down behind the hedge maze, lengthways against the property line. This here, is a new trampoline," he said pointing to the rendering of it. "Since we're doing this much work on the yard, we'll bury it in the ground, and go with a large rectangular pattern instead of the temporary round one we have now."

"Nice. The boys will like that," I nodded. "You should almost put two of those in, so they can have competitions against each other. "Is this part of the four-month timeline as well?"

"This could take a little longer, but the finishing work shouldn't stop us moving back in. All the major construction will be done in four months."

"Do I dare ask how much it'll cost?"

He laughed. "Not as much as some of the collector cars," he said giving me a hug.

"That doesn't help. One of your cars is 27 million, or 20 million in U.S. dollars if you need to convert it," I said, trying to tease his American side.

"Like I said...it's not that much. I figure if we're doing it, we should do it right. We'll budget 2.5 million for it. Most of that will be the underground lounge. It'll be a showpiece of the house," he said flipping the plans back to the first page.

"What's that part?" I asked.

"That's an elevator from the lounge up to the top floor. Best place is at the end of the hallway by J.J.'s room. It's the easiest way to hit all four floors."

"How big is that lounge?"

"Around 3600 square feet. That's about 335 square metres, not including the existing garage, which will all be redesigned. We'll remove the maintenance area we have down here, as that duplicates what we put into the new upstairs garage. The whole area will now be a showroom and lounge, slash, bar."

"I'm going to have to up my drinking to be able to justify being down here," I joked.

"This will be the bar area with seating. The center is a mix of leather couches and chairs. This entire wall will be state of the art LED panels, he said pointing to the short wall at the end opposite the current car garage. A few cars will be displayed along these two walls with a fire suppression curtain that can drop down in case of emergency."

"Wow. I'm glad I don't have to design something like that. Is that the colour scheme of the room?"

"That's the plan, but it's not finalized yet. What are your thoughts?"

"Are you kidding, I love it. Black marble floors with the gold trim. Dark brown leather couches and the lighter bar stools. Damn. Even the ceiling chandelier type lights are amazing."

"Those will all be colour changing LED lights."

"Is that car on some sort of a lift?" I asked pointing to the one in the back of the display.

"Yes. Each car that's in place can be lifted up so you can view it from the underside."

"Cool. Ummm...not to point out the obvious, but how do you get the cars in and out?"

"Cars we actually use will stay almost where they are now, so they can easily be maneuvered to the elevator. The collector vehicles that aren't driven, we'll move to the new lounge area, and place on the lifts as display pieces. We'll swap out the current extraction fans for larger ones so that exhaust fumes don't affect the lounge. There are also clear window partitions that can be rolled into place between the original garage and the new area."

"You know most billionaires just collect artwork, right? Easier to place on the walls than cars," I joked.

"What fun would it be to be just like everyone else?" He said smiling. "I'm actually looking forward to this lounge. It's something I've dreamt of ever since I started collecting cars."

"Then let's get this bitch built," I nodded. "I'll grab my shovel."

"Is that the same shovel you want to use on J.J. to get his memories back?"

"It's one of those all-purpose shovels. Wait until I get a cereal bowl big enough to use it with."

"Maybe we'll just use heavy equipment to get it done faster," he laughed, "but I do want to see the cereal thing."

"When would we start?"

"As soon as the building permits arrive, which I expect any day now, as I sent the plans in as soon as we had them. If we make any modifications, we can adjust the permit as we go. We'll also make sure everything is here before we start. Last thing we need is to dig a giant hole in the yard only to find out that they don't have to car lifts ready to install. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to start in a couple weeks though as the suppliers have assured me that everything is available."

I think this will be a fun addition to the house. I mean the kids are basically using the pools and backyard constantly. If we make it this much better, we may have to start charging admission to all the friends they bring over. That'll justify the new bar downstairs where we can go drink to get away from them all.

We discussed the ideas with the family at dinner, and began working out plans. Everyone was excited at the upgrades to the house, and I could already see them thinking about how best to use it to suit their individual tastes.

"We had an idea that would make it easier for you guys to rent a house. Me and Ben could go live on the Just Us League, which would be fun," Troy suggested as we discussed everything. "Garren and `Marvin' could join us there too if they wanted.

"I'd be cool with that," Garren agreed quickly. "Never lived on a boat before. We likely wouldn't be there all the time anyway, as we have some engagements to attend in various cities."

Colin nodded. "There're five berths on that boat, so that'd be good use of that space. Not to mention we still have the `56 that we haven't sold yet. There are another three berths in there."

"If this renovation is going to affect Alex and Jason, maybe they would like the '56. That'd be the perfect size for them," I suggested, knowing that the three boys would love it. Of course they'd likely want to go out on the water every day, and stop at Bare Island all the time.

"Kyle and Chance have the spare room in the penthouse, and they've already told me I'd be welcome to stay there anytime. I'll ask if they mind a house guest for 4 months," J.P. added. "So, really, the only house you'd have to rent would be a three-bedroom place for you guys, Blake and J.J."

"Sounds like we have a plan. Troy and Ben, if you decide the boat isn't working for you, let us know and we'll rent something else for you," Colin offered.

"It'll be fine. I mean it's bigger than most apartments," Ben reasoned. "I'll tell people I live at sea."

"Arghhh, that'll just be fine matey," I said in my best pirate voice.

The others just groaned. I think they're all getting used to me now. Now what does one pack for a four-month trip? I'm gonna need a shitload more suitcases. Part of me thinks this will be fun with just the four of us living together as a family, but compared to the activity around here all the time, it's likely going to seem very quiet. It might help J.J. as we'll share more concentrated time together, so hopefully it'll allow him to reset his brain and settle into his new life. Living in a concentrated environment with Blake for four months? Well...it's a good thing I'm a therapist and can self diagnose, or this could get really bad. Guess we're about to find out. Time to go pack.

End of Chapter.

Thanks for continuing to read along. Comments and suggestions, as always, are welcome at outinwest@gmail.com.