Chapter Eight – Fetch!

It was suspiciously silent upstairs. April mixed the pasta with the carbonara sauce he had just made and carefully turned off the stove and wiped his hands on a towel. The kitchen needed a bit of cleaning up, just like the entire house, but he had been too busy to start. There were just so many things he had to do.

One of them was to convince Jett that he needed to go to classes. For some reason, Jett was seriously against that. Was it because he wasn’t in college? Somehow, April couldn’t imagine Jett being jealous over such things, but who knew?

It was strange enough to feel so familiar around Jett, yet to try coping with the fact that they were grownups now – sort of – and not the same as their thirteen-year-old versions. The truth was he felt at ease, and that could mean that Jett hadn’t changed that much.

Or maybe he was projecting his wants and dreams onto this gangster-type Jett of whom he knew nothing about. If Jett had a gay best friend, he should have, at least theoretically, tested already whether he was attracted to guys or not.

But, if he were to listen to what Jett was saying, the guy had never attempted anything with another boy, which meant …

What the hell did it mean? April still couldn’t get his head wrapped around having had jerked off with Jett. It was like that was from another movie, or better said a dream, and he was bound to wake up soon.

Jett had been cool about it, too. How could a straight guy be so unbothered by being jerked off by another dude? April shook his head. It was a premiere for him, too, only that he was pretty much shaken if he thought about it.

He went upstairs and knocked softly on the door. There was laughter coming from the inside, so he went in.

Only to witness Jett throwing toys toward the edge of the bed while lying casually against the headboard. At the same time, Jay happily crawled to get the thrown toys.

“Good boy, now bring it back,” Jett said, and it looked like his kid was listening to him and was hurrying back with the toy clutched in his mouth.

April remained nonplussed for a second, and then he moved quickly. “Jay, give me the toy.”

The boy looked up at him. April sighed and made a move to remove the toy. Jay turned away, shaking his head just like a puppy up to no good. Exasperated, April caught him, tickled him a little to make him release the toy, and then grabbed the squeaky thing and threw it straight to Jett’s head. The object made a high pitched sound as it connected with the crown of Jett’s head and ricocheted, bouncing against the wall above the bed.

“Your kid is not a dog!”

Jett stared at him and then burst into laughter. “Come on, man. He’s so good at taking directions; it’s frigging amazing!”

April pursed his lips and balanced Jay on his hip, as he had seen his sister doing with his nephews. “Have you any idea how ridiculous that looks?”

“Really? Look at him. He’s happy.” Jett pointed at Jay, who didn’t seem bothered by being interrupted, and now tried to eat some of April’s hair.

“He’s growing teeth, and he would chew anything. That doesn’t make him a dog! And I thought you were going to change his diaper. Oh, god, what’s that smell? Great! You didn’t change him.”

Jett shrugged and put his arms up, his hands under his head. “You’re the mommy.”

“I didn’t know we were playing house,” April pointed out. “Get off the bed. Bring me that thing over there.”

“This blanket-like thingy?” Jett asked as he kept the object in his hand and stared at it dubiously.

“It’s a changing pad, and seriously, since you bought everything, how could you forget already?”

“I just showed the shopkeeper your list, and she put everything in a basket.”

“Of course. Always minimum effort with you, right?”

“Oh, fuck, why does he smell so bad? And why is he laughing?”

“Obviously, because he is a bit of a punk, just like his daddy, and he enjoys this.”

April worked efficiently, hoping Jett wouldn’t realize that he could count on the fingers of his hands how many times he had done that until now.

“Now,” April said, after scooping Jay into his arms, “we need to talk about your responsibilities as the father of this baby.”

“I don’t know for sure if I am, though,” Jett protested. “But the kid is fun.”

“The kid is not fun,” April said in an even, hopefully menacing voice. “He is a responsibility, and first of all, yours. And hey, we can establish that. We need to send some DNA samples from you and Jay and see if they match. You know, send them to one of those websites they use on TV.”

Jett looked away. “What the hell do we do if they don’t?”

“Maybe we start digging more to find out who left Jay on your doorsteps. Don’t worry; we won’t give him away, just like that. Don’t you want to know?”

Jett seemed to ponder. “I suppose. But it takes a while until we get the results back, right?”

“It could take a couple of weeks, I think. But we should do it. In the meantime, no dog training for Jay. How could you have the heart to treat him like that?”

“Hey, we were both having fun until you showed up. You really don’t like to party, do you?”

“Not really, no. I hope your tastes go beyond playing fetch with human beings,” April said.

“All right,” Jett said with a sigh. “But he’s my kid.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Yeah, we’ll see. But I know he is.”

“Do you now?”

“Yeah. I just feel it.”

April stopped for a moment. That was a pretty sweet thing to say, and coming from someone like Jett, it meant a lot.

“Also, he wants to kiss you, just like me,” Jett pointed out with a smile.

“Ouch!” April pulled away. “He’s trying to bite me, just for the record.”

“See? It’s better if he chews on toys, and not your cheek.”

“You’re such a joker. How about you go on a little trip to the store to get a crib and some teething rings? I forgot to tell you about those,” April said, feeling secretly guilty. He still depended heavily on Google, and he still didn’t know everything.

“I’m hungry,” Jett replied.

“All right. I wonder who the bigger baby here is. Let’s get downstairs.”

“Why are you taking Jay with you?”

“You’re obviously not the only man in the house I must feed,” April replied over his shoulder.

“Hey, you left something here,” Jett said.

April looked only to see how Jett was pointing at the used diaper carefully wrapped and put in a plastic bag. He watched it like it was something of an alien nature. “It’s packed. So throw it away. You won’t lose a hand.”

“Me? Seriously?”

“Yeah, you. Having a baby is not all fun.” Damn, he was such a fraud pretending to know everything about raising babies and whatnot. But somehow, he wanted to annoy Jett just a tiny little bit.

“Can we potty train him already?”

April made a mental note to ask Google about potty training, too. “I think he’s a bit too young for that,” he said promptly. “Ah, and get a diaper pail from the store, too, okay?” he hurried to change the topic a little.

“This kid is going to ruin me,” Jett said, shaking his head.

“Better him than strange girlfriends,” April replied.

“Strange? Where did you come up with that?”

“They must be. One of them left Jay, this beautiful little baby, at your door. Seriously, who does that?”

“Maybe she had a reason.”

“Yeah. She hated your guts and wanted you to suffer by getting you to change diapers and endure having pureed food thrown in your face.”

“Good thing I have you,” Jett said, and his grin became larger.

“Yeah, right?” April said in the most sarcastic voice he could muster.

It was a bit unfair that he couldn’t be upset with Jett. It was enough to look at him with those pretty eyes that somehow looked at home on his face, despite his punkish exterior, and April was sold.

He had always been, but that was a different story, from another time, and he needed to stop thinking of that.

“Are you daydreaming?” Jett asked. “We’re hungry.”

April rolled his eyes. “One can’t have a peaceful moment around here, can he?”

“Not when we’re hungry.”

“Funny how you now include Jay in your demands.”

“It’s easy. We are your men, and you should take good care of us.”

April sighed. “All right, men,” he said the last word with another roll of his eyes. “Let’s get you fed already.”

They were playing house, joke aside, April thought as Jett placed one hand on his shoulder and guided him toward the door.

***

It was completely normal to watch April feeding Jay. Jett had a feeling Jay played at being fussy only because April dotted on him so much. He would have liked to see April fussing about him, too. The dweeb was too easy.

“Let me try,” he said, after a while, seeing how April had half of the food from Jay’s bowl already in his hair. The kid was having way too much fun torturing April.

“Be my guest,” April said and passed Jay over, then pushed the bowl across the table.

“Shouldn’t he have his own chair or something?”

“Yeah, a high chair,” April said while fiddling with his phone for some reason, his eyes buried in it. “I’ll put it on your shopping list, too.”

“Damn, expenses just never end with this kid, don’t they?”

“I guess not,” April said with a shrug. “Now, let me see your technique, daddy.”

Jett smirked. He somehow liked it when April teased him like that. “Watch and learn, dweeb.” He turned toward the baby. “Jay,” he said in the most serious voice he could muster. “You’re old enough now, buddy. One year old is like ‘yeah, I should start eating on my own now’, get it?” Jett handed the baby the spoon. “This is the thing you eat with. And that’s the food. Dig in.”

He turned toward April and grinned in satisfaction. Who said parenting was hard? April crossed his arms over his chest and watched him, his lips pursing. Even when he was pissed, he was cute. Jett wanted to reach across the table, grab him and kiss him, just like that.

He was about to say something when something warm and mushy landed on his face. April started laughing, grabbing the table with both hands. Jett needed to think this through. He scooped some of the food in Jay’s bowl, and then lobbed it onto the kid’s face.

“Jett, what the hell?” April jumped to his feet.

“He started it!”

“He’s just a baby!”

“And? He can take one in the face!”

They both stopped and looked at Jay. His bottom lip was trembling, but he wasn’t crying yet. April took another step, but Jett put one arm up to stop him. “I read a little about that. They’re like animals, but a little more clever,” Jett whispered. “He needs to know who the pack leader is.”

“Are you for real?” April replied, but he whispered, too.

“If we let him do what he wants, he’ll think he’s the boss,” Jett continued.

“But look at him, he’s almost --”

“A-ha, almost. Not yet. Let him get this.”

Jay looked at the two adults in the room with curious eyes. He no longer seemed upset about the glob of food descending his nose. Instead, he put his tongue out and grabbed the pureed carrots.

“Eww, gross,” April protested. “Is this what you want to teach your kid? To eat with his nose?”

“Hey, at least he’s eating,” Jett pointed out.

April sighed, and then his eyes grew wide. “He’s grabbing the spoon! OMG, he’s doing it!”

Jett puffed out his chest, careful to balance Jay on his knee. “That’s my boy.”

“Oh, no,” April said and seemed to deflate all of a sudden.

“What?”

“Look at him. And here comes a new bad habit.”

After studying the spoon in his hand, Jay placed it, along with its contents, on his nose, and then put out his tongue. April smacked his forehead. “Just look at him.”

Jett shrugged. “Hey, he’s not throwing everything in your hair. Be thankful for it. And we’ll take baby steps, okay? Get it? Baby steps for a baby boy.”

April dropped on his chair. “I guess it’s better than nothing.”

“Now that I made the kid eat, put some food in me, too.”

“All right,” April agreed as he stood up. “Just make sure not to eat with your nose, okay?”

“It won’t happen if you feed me with a spoon. Hey, we could eat together.”

“We’re sitting at the same table. Of course, we’ll eat together.”

“Nah. My hands are busy with Jay. And I have a free knee. Come here and feed me. I’m not kidding.”

“You’re serious,” April confirmed as he looked at Jett.

“Come on. It’s not like I’ll let you starve. Get food and a spoon. You’re going to feed me and you both.”

“With the same spoon? What the hell am I talking? The same fork. It’s pasta.”

Jett laughed. “I had my tongue in your mouth. Now you can’t stand the idea of eating with the same fork?”

“Let’s just say that I’m starving, and that’s why I’m making this compromise.”

“You said that out loud,” Jett teased him.

“I did?” April said, but he smiled, too.

Jett was satisfied to watch April fill a bowl with what looked like pretty tasty pasta and coming back with it and a single fork.

He didn’t flinch as April sat down hard on his knee, to make a point. A fork wrapped in spaghetti was pushed into his face. “Eat.”

Jett didn’t protest. He let out a moan of appreciation as his taste buds were regaled with the tastiest food he had ever had. “Are you sure you’re still single? I’d marry you,” he said.

“Shut up, moron,” April mumbled. Jay pushed his spoon toward April. “I’m not going to eat from your spoon, Jay,” he warned.

“I think he wants to be fed, too. See? It’s all about setting an example,” Jett said.

“Fine. Babies,” April agreed and took Jay’s spoon to feed him, too.

“Don’t forget to eat, too,” Jett advised him. “Except for your juicy ass, you’re all bones.”

“I just have a fast metabolism.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Shut up. I mean, open up, ‘cause here it comes.”

Jett let April push the fork into his mouth again. “You know your thing, April. This is the best home meal I’ve ever had.”

“Good to know I’m better than the worst fast food places around here.”

“Hey, I eat at restaurants, occasionally.”

“Let me guess. When your girlfriends want to be treated right.”

“Are you jealous, dweeb? You want to know a lot about my girlfriends.”

“One of them might be Jay’s mom. I mean, she has to be.”

“Sure. And that’s the only reason? Keep that food coming.”

April skipped his turn and offered Jett another mouthful.

“Nah, nah, you should eat now. Don’t tell me you want to be skinny for someone special.”

“Yeah, right. I’m not a girl.”

“But, you’re a gay dude.”

“I didn’t come from Mars. I’m just like any other guy, just that I like guys, that’s all,” April replied.

“You’re not like any other guy. You’re way prettier.”

Jett hadn’t intended to let that compliment slip, but if it was out in the open, he didn’t care to pull it back. After all, April had to understand that. Jett wouldn’t kiss him or do naughty stuff with him if he didn’t think that.

“I’m curious more about Zane than your girlfriends.”

Hmm, April had dodged the compliment. Jett decided to take a small break from talking as he chewed his food.

“Why are you tight-lipped about him? Are you guys still friends?”

“Yeah. Why do you want to know about him, again?”

“I am curious. Since you seem to apply some particular knowledge to me, I can only assume Zane is responsible for it. How is he, for real?”

“About the same height as me … Hmm, his eyes are … some color … And he has dark hair.”

“Wow. So many details. Are you sure you didn’t just describe some random person you saw today?”

“I don’t stare at my friends, dweeb.”

“Because you’re straight,” April concluded.

Jett couldn’t explain it to April. No, correction. He wouldn’t. Because then he would have to talk about Theo, about that kiss, and how he … No, he wouldn’t go there at all. April might look like Theo, with his now dyed hair and big green eyes, but otherwise, there was no reason for Jett to start pouring his heart out.

“What color are my eyes?” April asked.

Jett stared at him, and April had his eyes closed shut, and he was squeezing his eyelids shut. “Green,” he replied right away.

April opened his eyes and turned his head to look at him. “How do you know that, and you don’t know what color your best friend’s eyes are?”

“I don’t know,” Jett said with a shrug. “I never wanted to kiss him, I guess.”

“Ah, damn, you make me so curious about him,” April said, and continued to feed Jay.

“Me next,” Jett asked right away. “You’ll meet Zane. He had to be somewhere these last few days, but as soon as he’s back, he’ll be all over the place, drinking my beer, and now probably eating your food, too.”

“Have you thought about asking him to take care of Jay?”

“Zane?” Jett snorted. “He’s not that kind of gay guy.”

“Really? What kind of gay guy is he?”

Jett pondered. How was he going to say that? “What did you call me when we looked for Jay’s mom through my pictures?”

“A womanizer?” April asked.

“That. Zane is like that, but the gay version. He hits on guys faster than I hit on women.”

April sighed. “You’re two peas in a pod, then, I guess.”

“Hey, I’m good now,” Jett protested. “I only slept at home for the past two days. And I didn’t bring anyone over.”

“So, that’s a record?” April asked, and he appeared impressed.

Jett grinned. “It must be.”

“Well, it’s tough when you have a kid, isn’t it?” April teased him.

Yeah, there was Jay, sure. But that wasn’t the only reason. Jett now had what he wanted at home, and there was no need for him to go out to hunt.

***

“There is something I want to talk to you about,” April said, decided that he had to get it all out in the open and establish some ground rules.

Jett had been to the store and came back with the supplies for Jay, and now the baby was sleeping happily in his crib.

“Step into my office,” Jett joked and pointed toward the living room where he plopped on the sofa as soon as they were inside. “You can come to sit on my knee,” he offered.

April shook his head in exasperation. “I can’t quit school,” he said in one breath.

Jett shrugged. “You can’t go.”

“Dude, you can’t ruin my life. I need to go to school.”

“Why? Who the hell likes school?”

“I do,” April said matter-of-factly.

He didn’t like at all the way Jett’s eyes were darting away when college was brought up.

“Well, tough luck,” Jett replied. “You need to take care of Jay.”

“Not all the time. And you seem to have a flexible schedule, the way I see it. We could decide on something that could work for both of us.”

“My schedule is none of your business.”

Jett was impossible. April wanted to scream in frustration. “Why are you so annoying? I really have to go to school. I understand that you don’t care about getting an education, but I --” He stopped himself in time.

“You’re right. I don’t.” Jett seemed upset.

Great. He was terrible at negotiating this, and that was enough reason to cuss at himself. April placed himself in front of Jett. “Look, I didn’t mean it like that. To each their own. I have crypto and college; you have your job that’s all about breaking bones and many girlfriends.”

“Are you going somewhere with this?” Jett asked and cocked his head to one side.

The way Jett was looking at him made April feel very much self-aware. A stupid quote from an old movie about certain men’s abilities to undress the object of their interest with their eyes came to mind.

“I am trying. Come on, Jett, what would you like me to do so that you’d let me go to school?”

Since Jett looked away again, April squatted and tried to catch his eyes from below.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jett asked, and there was a hint of a smile on his face.

“Like what?”

“Like you want me to kiss you.”

“I’m not!” April protested. “Jett, pretty please, let me go to school!”

“Nope.”

“Why are you so unreasonable? Are you afraid that I would abandon you and Jay? I’d never do that.”

“Afraid? I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Of course, you’re not. You’re Jett,” April said and looked away, too, not wanting to keep eye contact for too long.

“April,” Jett said, “come sit on my lap.”

“Your mind is a one-track thing,” April complained, but moved and plopped himself on one of Jett’s knees.

“How much do you want to go to classes?”

“What? Hasn’t my begging convinced you that I’d stop at nothing for that? Well, maybe not at nothing, there are plenty of things I wouldn’t do --”

“Sleep with me,” Jett interrupted him.

“What?” April tried to get up, but Jett caught him by the waist and held him down. “You can’t be serious!”

“Why? What’s so outrageous about sleeping with me?”

“Are you pulling my leg? I get it about the handjobs and that --”

“You do? Are you in the mood right now? If you let me kiss you, I could get it up,” Jett said.

April moaned and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. “You are a complete joker, an absolute prankster, an incorrigible --”

“Hey, what do you think I mean by sleeping?”

“Hmm, sex?” April said, in a voice he hoped sarcastic and filled with righteous anger to the brim.

“Nah. When I sleep, I sleep.”

“Seriously? So you want me to … what? Sleep in the same bed with you?”

“That’s the idea.”

“But I can’t leave Jay alone. He’s just a baby.”

“He has his crib, and so far he sleeps like a log. Also, you have that monitor thing. I bet I can set it up to have a loud alarm that could wake up the dead.”

“It’s true, but --”

“Hey, do you want to go to school or not?”

“I do.”

“Then problem solved. Sleep with me, and I’ll let you.”

“Fine, but just tonight.”

“No. Every night.”

“Are you sure I’m not going to cramp your style? Where will you put your girlfriends when you bring them over?”

“Hey, I’m a dad now. I have responsibilities. I won’t bring anyone over.”

“But you might sleep at their places, right?”

“Nope. I like my bed. With you in it.”

“I thought you said we were just going to sleep. Hey, why do you want me in your bed, anyway?”

“I’m a child at heart. I need a fluffy toy to hold so that I don’t have nightmares.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“It’s true. You’d be a good replacement for my body pillow.”

“Your body pillow?” April asked. “You don’t strike me as the type.”

“Forget about that. I’m just pulling your leg.”

Jett looked sideways, and from the corner of one eye, April noticed that, too.

“I’d say we should go to sleep,” Jett said.

“It’s not even nine o’clock,” April pointed out.

Jett squeezed him in his arms. “I’m tired. All this going back and forth with Jay and you --”

“Jett, you’re beating people up for a living. How could we have managed to tire you?”

“You have. Jett, take us to the park,” Jett made a lousy impersonation of April, “now let’s play fetch, and who’s going to change diapers, and now make a run to the store --”

“Are you going to complain all evening? And I didn’t ask you to play fetch with Jay.”

“I’m cranky when I’m sleepy. Let’s go upstairs and sleep together, April.”

The last words were spoken as a whisper against the back of his neck, and April shivered. This wasn’t a good idea, was it?

TBC